The intricacies of Weyrling training kicked up in intensity as G'ny and Saleneth's tenth month together approached. While flying and hunting were each new and scary experiences, G'ny knew that going between was one of the most dangerous things a dragonrider could attempt. A poorly envisioned destination could easily end a dragon and rider. You worry too much, and you forget I have already successfully gone between. This will not be so hard. Saleneth reassured her. The lessons for going between would be conducted with the combined group of all Weyrlings under T'mir. First, they practiced receiving coordinates from T'mir and Tolluth, vibrant images of illustrations they had seen in Teaching Hides and commemorative tapestries. However, their first true jumps would be small, to one side of the Bowl and back – destinations that could be seen directly and did not require a projected visualization. T'mir successfully hid the fact that he held his breath at each pair's first journey, but anyone standing next to him would have heard an audible whoosh when each pair reappeared.
G'ny's thoughts wandered to her beloved Radharc. Let's do it, come on, while T'mir's distracted, he won't notice! Saleneth encouraged her. Without much resistance, G'ny ruefully gave her partner the unauthorized coordinates. They burst out over Radharc in a place G'ny knew she would attract little attention from others but would satisfy hers. She knew they could only stay a moment, but it warmed G'ny's heart to see the familiar landscape spread out before her. Quickly, they returned to the Bowl to encourage their fellow Weyrlings in the new skill. T'mir cast a suspicious glance at them when their return must have caught just the corner of his eye.
Lessons increased in complexity, both moving out to larger ranges and honing in on more pinpointed locations. Although it was a binary determination of whether or not a pair emerged, once these tasks of greater finesse were introduced, Saleneth really shined. For one drill, Weyrlings had to emerge in a safe zone between older dragons' flame. Only once T'mir was satisfied by their control did they attempt to go between in formations. Once between had started becoming familiar, the Weyrlings moved onto learning how to flame with firestone.
"Alright lads, it's time for you to learn the time-honored method of flaming with firestone. In these Threadless times, it is less skill important for you to all to master, but enough of you need to know it well enough to teach future generations. We are also conscious of conserving firestone resources. Despite the discovery of the bountiful new firestone mines, due to the scare in the Third Pass, which you all know about from your written exams, the Masterminers have regulated us to a schedule, just to make sure there is a bounty when it is needed. Therefore, only the most successful of you will continue in your studies of firestone, and you will likely be placed in the Weyrleader's wing. But there is plenty allotted for today. Plus, as you all already know, and W'lan and Filith know firsthand, greens need to flame to maintain the quality of our dragon populations. W'lan, would the two of you step up for the first demonstration?"
G'ny watched as W'lan offered a bag of firestone to Filith. She dutifully inserted her snout and started chewing a mouthful. After a few moments, her eyes whirled a little faster, she perched back on her hind legs, and let a stream of flame about four feet long out of her mouth. Although G'ny had seen flashes as the Weyrleader's wing practiced in the distance before, G'ny had never been so close to a flaming dragon.
G'ny noticed T'tor watching the proceedings with interest from a shady spot at the side of the Bowl. While Saleneth had succeeded in many other aspects of dragontraining, it developed that this was an area in which she would struggle. She less than gracefully accepted her first mouthful, biting her tongue in the process and spitting out most of the portion. G'ny waited a few minutes for Saleneth's tongue to stop smarting and the grey whirring of her eyes to die down before she tried giving her a smaller subsequent batch. Over Saleneth's shoulder, Gny could see that R'nan and Branth spewed a sustained, eight foot flame. Comparatively, Saleneth had only managed a small trickle by the time the break was called after an hour of practicing. She supposed that the pair would not be one of those who selected to carry on the teaching of firestone; while she knew there were many other duties within the Weyr to fill her time, she was chagrined nonetheless at their performance. During a break in the lesson T'tor made his rounds commenting on dragons' flaming abilities. At last, he approached G'ny.
"I know this is last minute, but I have been preoccupied of late. I wanted to circle back to the request you relayed to me by Lady Holder Mirdella for transport to Gathers. The end of Turn Gather at High Reaches Hold is right around the corner, it would probably be the best time to make your debut, and Saleneth is looking quite capable at flying, if not at flaming. Would you like to commence your transport duties?
"Sure, Weyrleader, as long as you think it proper and us ready." G'ny accepted, appreciating that T'tor chose to focus on areas of her dragon's abilities, rather than disabilities.
"I do. Excellent, I know it is an imposition on your Weyrling training, but it looks like Saleneth have had enough flaming, and since Saleneth has had her serving," T'tor emphasized the word, "you two should be good to go. We will be having a meeting going over routes in half an hour. You are excused from the remainder of today's lesson, if you would like a bit of time to freshen up before meeting us in the Council Room."
Two dozen riders were gathered in the Council room for the dividing up of assignments. Before actually transporting passengers in two days, the riders would spend their time familiarizing themselves with the coordinates that would take them to and from the Gather. The visualization lessons from the preceding month were still fresh in G'ny's mind. There would be a rider assigned for each minor hold, and they would also be tasked with staying throughout the Gather to keep peace and ensure that anything that might need the skills of a dragon be taken care of.
G'ny had enjoyed the Gathers when she had gone as the guest of Radharc's Lady Holder. In addition to looking forward to stocking her garden, G'ny had always looked forward to seeing the dragon that would visit their hold. Because she had always proven herself to be a capable rider, G'ny had only made the journey via runnerbeast, alongside the wagons of goods brought to and from the Gather. Therefore, she knew what a special experience it would be for the holders to interact with a dragonrider and was honored to play the part.
Mirdella, Midenna, and Denalay were in their Gather finery when G'ny arrived. The two young girls abruptly stopped rubbing sleep out of their eyes when they saw Saleneth circling overhead. As instructed, she had brought along extra furs for the ride so that no one caught a chill. The Lord Holder, who G'ny had not interacted with as much on her previous visit, was present as well. G'ny knew that traveling between would be ideal because the journey would take about five hours if flown. However, given the young age of some of her passengers, G'ny knew going between could be a terrifying experience, so she would need to prepare them well, or else this journey might not be feasible. After explaining the situation to the Lord and Lady Holder, who acknowledged that the girls could stay home if needed, she knelt down to their eye level.
"Good morn! Are you girls excited for your first Gather?" G'ny asked sweetly.
"Yes!" The older one, Midenna, exclaimed. The other one nodded and stuck her thumb in her mouth, casting an eye at her sister.
"Awesome, this is my dragon, Saleneth, why don't you say hi? You can pet under her chin, if you would like." G'ny knew that it was important to instill trust in the girls a trust in their transport. They both reached up to do as G'ny suggested.
"Ma, you said we would ride a green dragon." The smaller girl said in her childish whine. Mirdella immediately cast a scandalized, apologetic look towards G'ny on behalf of her daughter. G'ny was familiar with bracing herself for comments about her partner's odd complexion by now. "This is a rainbow dragon, way better!" She exclaimed. The two girls clamored to point out different hues they saw in Saleneth's mottled hide. Mirdella softened a little as G'ny smiled.
"Okay, so have you heard about going between? It's pretty cold, and a little bit scary for some people, but Saleneth is really good at it. Do you think you could trust us? We've got plenty of furs to keep you warm." Both girls nodded bravely. "Okay, I am going to take your mother first, so that you have a nice friendly face to greet you when you arrive, how does that sound? Also, then you can see, I can go and come back, no problem. Mirdella, are you ready?"
"Yes, thank you." Mirdella accepted graciously. The two girls stepped back from the dragon to hold their father's hand as their mother progressed forwards. G'ny mounted up first and extended a hand to the Lady Holder. Saleneth leaped and with four wingbeats had cleared the height at which it would be safe to leap between. G'ny and Saleneth imagined the coordinates of High Reaches Hold. It was already bustling when she arrived with Mirdella, so she found a clear corner where the family could easily reunite. Her first passenger successfully delivered, G'ny returned to Ogren for the girls.
"See, nothing to it," G'ny announced when she landed. The two girls bundled up without a fuss, each with a gleam of excitement in her eye. Their father sat behind them, bookending them between himself and G'ny. G'ny verbally walked everyone through each step of the process. Denalay gave a small cheer when they emerged above High Reaches Hold. Mirdella maternally helped each of her daughters down. Before she turned to shepherd her family through the crowd into the Hold proper, Mirdella clasped G'ny's hand.
"Thank you so much for your patience and excellent explanation. I just know my family is going to have a wonderful Gather because of you!" G'ny was touched by the woman's gratitude as she watched them disappear inside.
G'ny and Saleneth ascended to the fireheights, where two other riders who had also finished with their transport duties had gathered. C'lin, as the highest ranking member of their entourage, would be going over watch assignments. Between the eight of them assigned to High Reaches, they would be paired up into three, three hour watches over the course of the day and a half they were stationed at the Gather and would have the remainder of the time to enjoy the event. Given their previous work together in the wing and G'ny's junior status, G'ny and C'lin would be paired up for these watches. Although G'ny had successfully progressed through the combat training, she knew that her figure would not cut nearly as impressively as C'lin's in the event that she needed to intervene on any occasion.
During her free shift, G'ny's thoughts wandered to her family and what they would be doing at the Tillek Gather as she wandered around High Reaches. G'ny and her brother, Jyrenry, always loved guessing the weight of the top Masterfishall catches once they were old enough to join the caravan in. Her father always had wares he brought to showcase. When he could wrangle G'ny and Jyrenry to man the booth with explicit instructions on how many marks he would accept for each, he would wander off perusing the trinkets of the other stalls, usually so lost in thought that one of them had to go scouting to bring him back. Jyrenry always tried to make a few extra marks off passersby by offering a performance on the pipes he always kept handy. It was no surprise when he was accepted to Harper Hall. G'ny wondered if her brother would be excused from his studies at Harper Hall for the Gather. Wherever he was, he was probably putting his studies into practice, either commissioned or gratuitously. G'ny and Jyrenry often split the tending of the stall because they could never plan for if her mother would make it out. The night before or morning the family was set to leave, she would announce that there were too many duties that would be left untended for her to possibly leave her home. G'ny knew that social gatherings stressed her mother out and hours in a caravan made her cross, but on the odd year she made it out, Diedra was unparalleled in finding thoughtful gifts at incredible deals.
G'ny looked at the stalls around her trying to imagine what kind of marvelous wares her mother would identify, but the inventories all just overwhelmed her. More interesting, she found, were the stories of how each merchant came to sell his wares, whether it be a family tradition or childhood obsession that led him to man his particular Gather stall. She lingered particularly long at one stall where a woman and her aging husband featured the kind of aromatic plants G'ny had collected back home. She wondered wistfully whether the Lady Holder or her mother had cared for her little garden back home. Periodically, she would cross paths with Mirdella, who would excitedly introduce her to other minor Lady Holders with whom she was friendly, or at least a little competitive. G'ny was grateful when C'lin caught her eye for their first shift together, effectively excusing her from a boorish conversation about Holder formalities.
However, when the time came for their next watch together late that evening, C'lin was a hard man to find. At last she found him, leaning against a Hold wall, a bauxom woman in his arms. Not sure how to catch his attention after waving failed, G'ny knocked a glass jug off a nearby table, causing a crash that roused his attention. She reasoned that cleaning up the broken shards was preferable to more direct attempts at disturbing her Wingleader. In hindsight, G'ny realized that having her dragon bespeak Ormath would have been a better option. The pair dispersed and C'lin quickly came to her aid to clean up the hazard.
"Ah, stealthy girl. You won't tell on your Wingleader, C'lin, will you? I'm totally functional. This is how we dragonriders often spend our Gathers!" G'ny could smell the wine on his breath, but his words still came out clearly. It hardly surprised G'ny that she was the responsible one when her counterpart outranked her given her track record back at Radharc.
As the second day of the Gather came to a close, G'ny loitered in the area she had arranged to meet back up with the Ogren Holder family. At last, she saw them striding gaily towards her. In her arms, little Denalay hugged a small pot.
"It's for you!" She said, outstretching her arms.
"Oh, thank you!" G'ny exclaimed happily, hugging each member of the family in turn after inhaling the scent of the herb, a sweet variant of lemongrass with delicate yellow flowers, deeply.
"I wanna be a dragonrider just like G'ny when I grown up!" Denalay exclaimed as she clambered up. G'ny scooted back a little to make a spot in front of her, where Denalay could sit and enjoy the view better.
"The girls really wanted to get you something, and when we asked around, we heard this might be something you would like. They insisted it have flowers." Mirdella explained. G'ny indeed loved the present. From her extensive flora knowledge she knew, however, that the fragile plant would not fare well between, so she would have to make a special trip for it. She quickly explained her plan so as to not seem ungrateful when she carefully placed the pot in a safe spot for her imminent return instead of packing it up directly. Although it was not a Gather precisely like she was used to, many of the highlights remained the same: fun memories, deepened relationships with others, and even a new plant. She would cherish them all long after she had returned to the Weyr. She was happy she had Impressed a color that allowed her to tend to rider duties outside of the Weyr. She was, after all, a Holder at heart, and the opportunity to return would always tantalize her. Had she Impressed a queen, she doubted she would be given such leeway. Allika never seemed to leave the Weyr, after all.