Welcome to Gaia! ::

Ray waits until the weyrlings have assembled, wondering briefly at the exchange between T'thia and a strange green flit, but dismissing it.

"Good afternoon," Ray says cheerfully. "I want you to all meet my old teacher, B'loure. He and his dragon Telenth will be handling your Firestone lessons today." The wiry old man waved at the Weyrlings, squinting. "Now all of you, follow him and Telenth to the firestone pit so the lesson can begin. I must return to Wrath, she's getting somewhat anxious." Ray grimaces, trying not to mutter sourly about a lack of time.

"Enjoy the lesson."

B'loure snorted. "Come on children, off to the firestone pit we go." Walking beside Telenth's shoulder, he started walking.

The firestone pit reeked. B'loure was used to the stench by now, but he noticed the wrinkled noses of the weyrlings.

I like the smell. Used firestone means scorched Thread. I don't see what is so unpleasant about it.

B'loure shrugged. It's somewhat irritating to the nose, and can make a person's eyes water if they're not used to it. Telenth shrugged.

At least Ray had arranged for sacks of firestone to be heaped near the pit, a shovel leaning against the pile. It was only a short distance to the cave where firestone was stored--but it would have wasted time. Carefully picking up one sack, he lugged it to Telenth and stood in front of the class.

"This is a firestone sack. It's mined somewhere in Crom, as you can tell from the mark on the canvas." He gestured at a painted mark on the sturdily-constructed bag. "There are different grades of firestone; some of it has a better quality than others. The quality of the firestone results in the quality of the flame; the best gives you a huge long flame, with minimal regurgitation. The worst, which is what we'll be using today, gives a weak flame and a lot for your dragon to spit back up."

He undid the binding of the sack and pulled out a very large piece of rock. "This is firestone. Pretty, isn't it?" He turned it this way and that, showing off its unremarkableness. "It's because of Firestone, at the root of things, that we are all alive to be having this conversation about how great firestone is for us."

After that little speech, he held up the rock and Telenth delicately removed it with his teeth, then proceeded to chew it noisly with his back teeth. "Dragons don't normally chew their food. The have to chew firestone at least a little bit, or they won't be able to unlock the fire inside. That's why they have strong wide back teeth, like humans. While your dragon is chewing, remind them to think about their second stomach."

Telenth swallowed his mouthful and accepted another piece of firestone. "Of course, the actions of chewing themselves also help the dragon place the stone properly. It is only when a dragon is distracted and swallows firestone whole that we have difficulty. So always be especially careful with your dragon when feeding him firestone."

A few more pieces disappeared down Telenth's maw. "Okay, that should be enough for now," B'loure said, stepping back. Telenth nodded and tilted his head oddly, listening to his own stomach. After several moments, he seemed to hiccup, then opened his mouth to belch. Out came a weak yellow flame, only about three feet long.

"He should have about two more flames left in him." Sure enough, Telenth turned his head away from the class and made another small fire. "If I had used a higher quality firestone and given him the same amount of lumps, he'd be able to flame five or six more times, depending on how much he let out at once." As he finished that statement, Telenth made his third flame.

"Even a small dragon like a green can hold firestone residue in their gullet comfortably for five hours. Which is good--the average Fall is four hours. A bronze or brown can hold firestone in larger quantities for up to seven hours without becomming ill. Overall it balances out--the larger dragons burn the bulk of Thread, and thus need more flame, whereas the blues and greens work on the troublesome clumps, and don't need to use long bursts or frequent ones."

Telenth rumbled in his stomach again. "There's a reason I'm doing so much talking," B'loure added. "It's to give you something to think about instead of just standing here, waiting for me to finish the demonstration. Here comes the finale."

The blue opened his mouth wide, and at a silent suggestion from his rider, regurgitated a wet mass of stinky gray processed rock on the ground. "Normally a dragon will regurgiate in the pit, unless they must get rid of the residue and have no place nearby. Or unless they were asked to spit it up on the ground for demonstrative purposes." B'loure picked up the shovel and spread out the mess.

"It's much like sand now, isn't it? If I left it here, it would harden a bit, and lose its stink over a few days, and then wash away as sand with the next hard rain. However, we can't have the dragons leaving piles of this all over the Weyr, so they do their business in the pit, and every Turn or so, a disciplinary crew has to scour it out."

He scooped up the used stone and dumped it into the pit. Leaning on the handle, he blinked at the Weyrlings, then looked at one of the girls. "You, the queenrider? Your dragon can't eat firestone. But it's good to know the theory behind it. You can stay and watch the class, or fetch one of the practice flamethrowers and play with it for a while. The rest of you, grab a sack and start working. For now, only feed your dragon five or six lumps at once. They'll tell you when they've had enough, and also when they need more. Be sure to aim the fires up; I'm very proud that I've still kept a full head of hair, and I would hate to lose it now."

With that he stood back to supervise.

((Yes, I know that I'm behind. My computer keeps crashing))

Gabriel awoke as something insistantly pecked at his cheek. Groaning, he rolled over and cracked open his eyes. There was a blurry gold something there, too close for his tired eyes to focus on. Yawning, he stretched and rolled over again, trying to reclaim the dream he'd been having... With an impatient chirp, Isskio pecked at him again, this time attacking his earlobe. He sat strait up, yelping in surprise. That stung! Holding his smarting ear, he finally remembered what the arrival of the little queen was supposed to mean.

Jumping out of bed, he hurriedly dressed, not willing to miss the hatching of his fire lizard. He raced down to the lower caverns, heading strait for the hearth where he'd left the eggpot warming. It was already starting to rock. He watched it for a minute before he realized... he had nothing on hand to feed to the flit when it hatched! Scrambling to his feet again, he was about to rush to the kitchen when a drudge deposited a bowl of meat on the table next to him with a wink. Grateful that he wouldn't have to risk leaving the egg, he grabbed the bowl and knelt again before the fireplace.

At that moment, the egg pot gave a mighty wobble and tipped over. The lid skidded off across the floor, leaving the sand to pour out on the stones. The egg rolled out of the pot, past the cushioning sand, rolling end-over-end. Rapidly, Gabriel's hand shot out, his fingers just catching the side of the curved shell and stopping it's progress.

As the egg suddenly stopped, a little brown ball broke out of the smaller end of the shell (what would have been the top had the egg still been upright), leaving the rest intact. Surprised, his other hand left the bowl, barely in time to save the tiny ball from rolling right off the hearthstone. He watched in wonder as the ball uncurled itself into a brown flit about the size of his hand... right there in the middle of his hand! He quickly reached his free hand into the bowl, and before the the little brown could even begin to complain of hunger it found a lovely hunk of meat dangling before it's snout.

((Thanks again Ray!! I think I'll call him Mace))

Encouraging Misteth to chew, Snowi listened to the sound of draconic teeth crunching rock. It was an odd sound.

Remember to think of your second stomach.
I am, the ice blue replied, swallowing. More, please.

She fed him another block, watching carefully to be sure he didn't bite his tongue. As he swallowed that mouthful with his rider's encouragement, they were distracted when Arizath began belching flame. "Are you ready to try"
I think I am. Stand back. After she had taken a few steps to the side, Misteth opened his mouth and belched slightly, emitting a small flicker of flame.

"You did it!" She was about to run up and hug him when he belched again, this time sending out a jet of respectable size.

T'thia began to feed her bronze twice what he was given before. reminding him of his second stomach and his tongue. the bronze crunched the stone and swallowed it until his stomach rummbled. T'thia stood back as Arizath tilted his head back once more. a larger burst of flame spurt from his maw

"see how many of those you can let out Arizath"

i can let out many mine just watch

proudly Arizath let out several more strong bursts of flame before he felt his stomach rummbled ina different way

"into the pit! Arizath in the pit!"

the dragonet quickly turned towards the pit hovering over it as he disposed of the ash into the designated area. T'thia grinned at her dragon. now all they had was to leanr how to go between and their training would be complete. Arizath returned to his spot and opened his mouth

"i don't think you're supposed to take on more stone once you've deposited the ash, i'm pretty sure that means you're done"

she patted the large bronze head and beamed

"but you did verry well dear heart"

you used to call me that when i was little but then you called me love why?

T'thia smiled

"you are both, you're my love, and my dear heart"

she scratched the dragons eye ridges and waited for her next instructions on what to do.

T'thia smiled reasuringly and patted her dragon

"he's fine, he just ate before the lesson is all....right before the lesson. i was unaware of the class until after he'd eaten."

she looked up at the bronze

"he says he can handel more, it may also be the quality of the stone, you did say we were using poor quality stone, that may have upset his stomach too...he ate a lot of stone"

did i do somthing wrong?

"you shouldn't have had to dispell of the ash so soon is all"

sorry, but that stuff tastes gross, and it hurt my stomach after a while. will it always be like that?

"not if we use the higher grade stone, but that's for thread not class. care to try again with this stone?"

yes, the more practice the better

the bronze opened his mouth to recieve more stone from his rider who obliged and filled the dragon again who tilted his head back again and belched out a series of flames

"any pain in your stomach this time?

no, maybe i just wasn't used to it?

"that could be it"

the rider emptied the rest of the sack as the dragon decided instead of breaking up the flame into several small flames he belched out one marvelous flame with the last bit of fire power left in him from the last bit of stone.

"he seams fine to me sir, i think he just needed to get used to it"

T'thia nodded

"will do sir"

she looked at Arizath concernedley

"do you think you ate too much and got food in your second stomach?"

i made myself get rid of that stuff how would you like to have it sitting in your stomach?

T'thia burst out laughing

"you made yourself do that?"

yes, are you alright mine?

"i'm fine, but in the future don't alarm the other riders by doing that, you're a bronze you should be able to hold that ash longer then any of the other dragons

I know Arizath puffed out his chest his voice full of pride. Arizath definatley had an ego problem these days thinking he was better then any of the other male dragons in the wyre

"don't get full of yourself Arizath, i swear sometimes i worry about you these days"

B'loure feels proud of the class, they've done fairly well for beginners. "Attention everyone," he announced, "We'll have to convene tomorrow at around the same time for Between lessons. If your dragon is hungry, do not let him or her eat more than one smallish Wherry--a bloated dragon is susceptible to becomming ill while between and dragonkind has already lost too many lives of late."

He patted Telenth's neck, and the blue snorted. "Be sure to have your dragon belch up any remaining flames, and then disgorge the remaining used firestone before leaving the pit. If you have a rider to supervise you, you are permitted to practice here on your own using a slightly higher grade of firestone. You're all now dismissed." He let out the rest of the air in his lungs and leaned against the blue.

Let's go rest in the hatching grounds, Telenth suggested, The warm will be good for you, and for me. B'loure nodded and walked with his dragon toward the sands.