Weyrling

[Lark]

Impression/Weyrlinghood

So, a dragon decides to impress to a candidate. What happens you may ask? Well, the candidate is overwhelmed with many, many different emotions. In fact, it often dazes them at first and can be quite overwhelming. The love they feel instantly for their bonded, however, is able to defeat any other feeling, if for slight moments. A dragon, for instance, that hurt their best friend, but impressed to them, would still have the love of its rider. Even if the rider also dislikes the dragon a bit, too.

What happens after impression is generally the second question most people ask. There are two things in the back of the hatching sands; wet rags to clean your dragonet off, and a bucket of meat for it to eat. After doing both of these, dragonets and riders will often either rest or talk to each other until the hatching ends. Please note now, that ONLY IMPRESSED CANDIDATES CAN TALK ON THE SANDS!!! The fact is that candidacy is seen as a privilege, and there are more important things to do during a hatching than to chat with the candidate next to you. The only exception is in the case of an injured candidate and the others seeing if they can help.

Now, what happens in the days following an impression? The dragonet grows...a lot, and eats even more. Those first few days are going to be exhausting for the new rider, and tough. They are either bathing or feeding their dragonet, and on the off chance they have some free time, they are doing those same things to themselves. Sleep does come quickly at night, thankfully. During lessons, they will start off by learning how to care for their new bonded, then as time goes on they learn other lessons that deal with how to work in a wing.

Finally, around 6 months of age, the dragonets are large enough to fly for the first time with their rider, and they move into their own personal weyrs (rooms). By now, they will have learned to ride, like on a runner (horse), and have gotten their own personal saddles. The first flight is more of a hover than anything else though. By the age of 8 months, the dragons start to travel between (like teleporting) into different areas. By a full turn, they are betweening frequently and working on flaming and simple drills. The next six months of weyrlinghood consist of learning how to work more effectively in a wing.

At around 18 months, weyrlings graduate to wingriders, or in some cases, thirds or seconds. Also, around one turn is when the fighting females start to rise, and all of the male dragons will start chasing them for a chance to mate. Sub-Queens rise at approximately a turn and a half to two turns, and Queens start to rise anywhere from two turns to three depending on their rider's age and maturity, as well as the events going on in the Weyr and world.