Lessons of Life (Candidates Manditory)

[adhoc]

Lucan nodded slightly as Itona spoke, glad that someone had the same questions he did regarding the song.

She seemed downright concerned about it, actually, which was frankly kind of weird. Both the holdless girls needed to relax: the tension and discomfort they introduced into the room was palpable. Then again, he supposed she was not particularly used to being in the class or the Weyr yet. He would probably walk on eggshells too.

No...That wasn't true. But he did refrain form judging her for her fear. What a miserable cycle: agitated as they were, he doubted many people felt comfortable around the two of them, which would make them more isolated.

He flirted with a few... introductory activities, but quickly discarded the notion. That agitation had to come from somewhere, and for all he knew it was meant in part to keep others away. He was not the sharding cuddle committee, and they were grown women. They'd figure it out.

[hrsegrl]

The young man smiled at the approval in A'rik's voice. He had done well, hadn't messed up any of the words although it seemed more than one person in the room was confused. He leaned back in his chair. This was old news for him unlike some of the others.

At least he had made himself show up, right? The young man put a hand through his blonde hair and made an effort to listen to Itona's question. Maybe he had taken for granted how obvious the ending was to him? Well most the others should know, he told himself while looking about the room. It seemed everyone was mightily concerned at the answer to this question.

Caselo was half tempted to answer it for them but that was not his job. Oh no. It did not help his reputation at all to be seen as a teacher's pet either. He reread the last lines. Maybe they did not seem to fit with the ballad but in the end the purpose of creating more dragons was to fight Thread. These ideas had been drilled into his head since he was a little boy. Anyone who had grown up here should know.

The purpose of dragons was to fight Thread except for Gold dragons, who had the most important job of all. Their ability to create more dragons set them apart. It was the reason the Weyr protected them so much and why losing Aliath and Gaelle was hard to accept by all. Nisurath was a small light Gold and it was doubtful she would live if she produced a Gold egg. In fact that was an almost dooming thought. Caselo had high hopes though and that optimism was something the Weyr needed. He shook his head, looking back towards the front of the room. Going off on mental tangents was probably not a good idea when one should be paying attention.

[E]

Somadin found himself raising his own hand before he began to speak. Turning to Itona, he pointed to the board. “See where it mentions silver in the sky? I bet that’s talking about Thread, and Dragons are all suppose to fly when thread is in the sky.” Turning back to A’rik, however, the small boy frowned. “But I don’t understand what it means by ‘with heat, all quickens’.”

The small boy gave a quick glance to the whole class then felt his face start to warm a little. Perhaps he should have waited till his hand was actually called on before speaking, instead of speaking while his hand was still in the air.

~~~~~~~~~

Deltontai watched her sister ask the question, then watched little Somadin answer what he could. It seemed there were still words that confused the both of them however. Lucky them, Deltontai was confused by the whole damn thing, but she wasn’t about to start asking questions while everyone was around. Especially that laughing fool Vaserlin.

Even as she thought his name, she found her eyes wandering over to the young man. His eyes weren’t so blue indoors, in fact if she hadn’t seen them as blue before she would have sworn they were a stormcloud grey, but it must be the lighting. Watching him, she found her short temper being heated as he looked comfortable, confident and cocky – as if he already knew all the answers. Well if he knew all the answers why wasn’t he volunteering anything?

Oh it made her want to hit him.

[starshine]

A'rik was pleased with the amount the students worked together to make sense of the oh so familiar song. He shifted on the desk, choosing to take a seat on it facing the class. He didn't usually like to monopolize the conversation and in lessons it always seemed to be the way things went. He would talk and the class would listen, not participating. This time around however he was blown away by their insights.

"But I don’t understand what it means by ‘with heat, all quickens’.” His ears perked up at the posed question. To him that line always eluded to how thread was recorded to fall more often and with more fervor then in cold seasons when it tended to crack and shrivel.

"Well Somadin, I've thought about that line as well, it's always seemed to point to the fact that in warm climate thread is recorded to fall more frequently, where as in cold weather it cracks and shrivels before hitting the ground. So when the song says 'With heat, all quickens' it could mean that the pace picks up with the warm season."

He grinned and sat back on the desk.

[adhoc]

Lucan frowned and followed Somadin's not so excellent example in speaking out of turn.

"Really? I thought that since the song was about mating, it would have something to do with birth. You know, quickening as in coming to fruition or being ready to be born. They say it about women who are visibly pregnant sometimes..."

He looked at the board, but was not focused on the writing.

"So it could mean the heat of the sands allows the eggs to gestate. In that case the very last line would be more of a reminder that the waiting will pass for all of us looking forward to the hatching."

He paused, his expression relaxing as though he was reentering the room from far away.

"Of course, you may be right as well. No reason it couldn't be both. What puzzles me is that line about "in a month who seeks". It seems to be linked to the next line about fighting thread, but there's nothing related to a dragon's growth that I know about that only takes a month. Weyrlings aren't allowed to fight a month after they're born."

[hrsegrl]

The talk was now easy throughout the room and Caselo listened to both answers and questions eagerly. There were many inquisitive and bright people in this room. People he would be glad to see on dragons. People who were more worthy than himself. All of this time keeping his mouth closed when he could be adding to the discussion.

Even if A'rik had thought of all the possible meanings of this teaching song, there was always a new perspective. Smiling at the question Lucan posed, he answered without raising his hand. Since this had become very much a discussion and not a question and answer session.

"I think you are missing what is being said before that. Count three months and more. And five heated weeks. Thats how long it takes between the Flight and the Clutching. A day of Glory means the day of the clutching. In a month, who seeks? That could mean Candidates seeking to Impress or the dragonets emerging seeking to Impress. Either way Impression is inferred.A strand of silver In the sky is obvious to us all." Caselo paused and looked over to Lucan.

"Although Lucan makes an excellent argument, I agree with A'rik about the next line, with heat all quickens. The only line that has ever puzzled me is the last one. And all times fly. Does that mean that the dragons fly at all times or that dragons from different times flly thread." Or and he would never voice it out loud, did dragons time travel to fight thread? He held it back so as not to start an open debate about the possibility of travelling through time.