H'lee instructed the weyrlings to gather in the eating hall after dinner, when they'd normally have a free period or remedial Harper lessons. When they arrived, they found several adult riders: two bronzeriders, two brownriders, three blueriders, and five greenriders. One of each color might be recognized by the weyrlings as the Weyrlingmasters in charge of the Snowflake clutch.

Once they were all assembled, H'lee rose to get their attention. "These are your mentors, boys and girls. Some of them you already know, all of them you've seen at one time or another in the last four months. Now, let me introduce you."

With that, he called each weyrling up by rank and introduced them to their mentor.

• A'lo and AWLM bronzerider K'then
• Zhlucarth's rider and Fort bronzerider P'zar
• Katarina and AWLM brownrider D'nif
• Niocth's rider and Fort brownrider S'ril
• K'so and AWLM bluerider L'ric
• Spindath's rider and Fort bluerider V'tor
• Shimarkth's rider and Fort bluerider T'sul
• Artemis and AWLM greenrider Ling
• Fayble and Fort greenrider Mergha
• D'rick and Fort greenrider S'len
• Pareilth's rider and Fort greenrider L'gar
• Basidith's rider and Fort greenrider Josei

After they were introduced, H'lee explained that for an hour every day after lunch, their mentors would be available to them.

"You're only required to attend one sessions a sevenday after today's, but your mentors will be here to answer any questions you have about your dragon, other dragons, your bond, mating flights, anything having to do with being a dragonrider. Tonight, get to know your mentor: share where you're from, what your Crafts are, introduce your dragons. However, they will be handing out assignments for you to complete. These assignments may require that you converse with them."

---

K'so
K'so scowled. As if he needed another nosy bluerider in his life. Why were blueriders so infernally interested in everyone's doings?

Well, at least he'd been landed with someone he knew: bluerider L'ric. He sighed and turned his attention to the older rider after H'lee's speech was over. He tried to at least present a neutral face to the man, but probably failed to fully control his expression. He waited for the older rider to speak. He didn't really want to share anything about himself if he could avoid it.

Artemis

As per usual, Artemis had arrived at the 'lesson' with her twin brother. The two of them were basically inseperable, especially after learning of the girl's condition. A condition that she wouldn't be able to hide from others for very long. In fact, her brother had been sitting right next to her up until they were given their assignments for who would be their mentors. Artemis was happy that her twin got their cousin, although she found that she herself was with another of the weyrlingmasters.

Slowly she rose from her spot and went off to speak with Ling, learning about the woman as much as she could... although she didn't really do a lot of talking on her own part. She really didn't feel as comfortable with this woman as she did with her cousin, and she wondered how well she would be able to open up to this woman. ~You are spposed to speak with her about anything you need, and I do not think that K'then will know all the answers,~ Jazz pointed out.

~Perhaps... but I'd feel better talking to K'then first. If he doesn't know the answer then I'll talk to her. I haven't told her about my condition even... and I won't until I have to. Although, I imagine she knows already,~ the green weyrling responded with a sigh.

A'lo

A'lo had stayed with his sister as long as possible before he smirked at the idea that he would be with his cousin. How exactly was he supposed to do this with someone he knew? After all he knew already that K'then was his cousin and that his parents were the lord and late lady holder of Benden Hold, and that he was a healer and an assistant weyrlingmaster... and he had obviously already met Baroleth. This was especially true since Baroleth was a part of Metis's wedding. Obviously, K'then had been introduced to both Jadziath and Rikraketh...

As a result, A'lo walked over to his cousin when they all broke and looked at K'then. "So... what does H'lee want us to talk about, Ky? Since I already know the answers to all the questions he suggested," he teased his cousin, although he was half serious.

L'ric

L'ric waited with the group of full riders who would be mentoring these particular weyrlings. He had already heard that he would be mentor to one of the 'problem' weyrlings. Not that he minded, he was there to be helpful and answer any questions K'so had. Once they got to know eachother... of course.

As it was, the kid walked over and was utterly silent, something that caused the bluerider to frown. "K'so, I presume?" he asked and waited only long enough for the question to be confirmed before he continued, "Where you from and what craft are you trained for?"

K'then
When it came time for H'lee to assign the newest weyrlings mentors, K'then had half-expected to be paired with A'lo. H'lee, afterall, already knew they were cousins. But when H'lee approached him to be a mentor, K'then had pointed out that, though he had no problems mentoring Zhulucarth's rider, A'lo was far more likely to come to him with questions than to anyone else since they knew each other; therefore, it'd be a waste of everyone's time to try and pair A'lo with anyone else.

H'lee had agreed and told him he'd already planned to assign him as A'lo's mentor anyway. It made sense for a lot of reasons and that he better not give A'lo any special treatments just because they were cousins.

Not that K'then had any intentions of doing so.

When it came time to meet their new weyrlings, K'then merely smiled and watched A'lo approach. He snickered at the boy's question and shrugged, motioning for A'lo to follow him off to a side where they'd have more space and a bit of peace to talk. "We're lucky that we already know each other. We get to skip all that. For now we can talk about whatever you like. I hear your dragons are doing their own hunting now. How's Rik doing with that?" He questioned, knowing that those first few hunts when the young dragons were unable to fly and still somewhat clumsy in their growing bodies, could be somewhat dangerous though very few serious injuries happened due to the sheer difference in size of a two month old dragon and a herdbeast.

Katarina and D'nif
Kat wasn't entirely thrilled to be losing her free period for this. Nor was Mccoreth since she'd promised him they'd visit with Niocth and the two dragons had cooked up some plan or another over their last feeding. She and Z'vier* had planned to spend their free time practicing her fencing, something she had never realized she'd liked until she'd stumbled upon Z'vier practicing one day and he'd agreed to teach her. Needless to say when they were given the go ahead to go meet their mentors, Kat did it with a scowl and found D'nif scowling right back at her. Before she could say anything, the elder Brownrider held up a hand.

"I've already been warned about you lass. Fiery, tempremental and you've got a sharp tongue. I also hear your young Brown's not much better. So we'll start off easy. You tell me where you came from and your craft and maybe I'll just let you off to do as you please." Kat mulled this over in her head a moment and scanned the room, finding Z'vier enjoying a light conversation with his mentor. She was also surprised to find V'tor chatting amiably with one of the Blue Weyrlings. He caught her looking and gave her a smile and a wave which she returned easily enough.

"Fine. I'll stick around for a bit since the person I had plans with seems to busy at the moment. I'm from a beasthold outside Ruatha where my parents breed racing stock runnerbeasts. I'm Journeyman trained in the care and training of said runners. I raised and trained my own little colt into a champion racing beast. Anything else you want to know or is it your turn to share?" She replied to him. He smirked and she found herself liking him in spite of her initial desire to dislike everything about him just for being there and making her miss her fencing lesson.

*Just came up with a name to stop from always calling him 'Niocth's rider' all the time. The name can always be changed if he's ever adopted =3

The day before their next Restday, H'lee had a surprise for them. For some, it would be a pleasant surprise...maybe not so much for the others. "You're going for a glacier hike with your mentors today, dragons and all. You'll go up and over the end of the glacier and should reach the other side just in time for your dragons' baths and oiling time. You'll come back along the base of the glacier and should be back here in time for their afternoon feedings. Alina's already packed up some lunches for you, and your mentors are waiting at the top of the training bowl for you. Dress warmly, but dress in layers; you'll be getting a workout and you may want to strip some layers off. You'll definitely want to pack your oil jar and some dry clothes for that part of your trek."

---

K'so
Qancith had clambered up the side of their weyr bowl that was opposite their weyr so that he could catch some sun while his rider bathed and headed down to the kitchens for some breakfast with the other weyrlings. The startling announcement of a glacier hike was dropped on them while they ate.

All K'so could do was blink in confusion. The only time he'd even seen snow was at Fort Weyr around the Hatching. He couldn't even conceive what a glacier looked like, let alone what hiking on it would be like. Oh, it can't be that bad. Cold, sure, but it should be like walking through the snow at the Weyr, right? he thought to himself. Well, forewarned was forearmed, so he packed a set of dry clothes for after Qancith's bath, carefully sealed the jar containing the blue's current favorite combination of oils (sage, basil, and walnut) and packed it as well. Then he layered himself up with light summer clothes from home closest to his skin and his flight gear over another layer of winter clothes - he'd traded a stained glass box (intended to be placed around a glow basket or candle) to one of the older weyrlings for their castoff flight gear; having grown up in balmy always-summery Southern Boll, even summer here seemed chilly to him, especially in the early morning hours.

Qancith grumbled as they wandered down to the bottom of their bowl to meet up with their mentor, L'ric, and his dragon, Scriath. He'd expected to have a couple hours of sunning before his bath, not a workout. When they arrived, he found that their mentors had riding straps sized for their dragons as well as riding gear for each of the weyrlings. K'so smirked as he realized he was the only one who had his own riding gear already.

The adult dragons were present as much to show the weyrlings what riding straps should look like when they were put on their dragons and then they were expected to put the straps on their dragons the same way. K'so stared at the seemingly disorganized heap of straps in front of him. Someone who had been around dragons for a long time would have realized that these were not normal riding straps. One of the mentors spoke up, explaining that these were actually rescue straps, designed for the dragons to help lift objects, people, and even animals without putting undue strain on their neck muscles; the straps passed down the chest and behind the dragons' shoulders and wings. They would also allow the young dragon to be lifted out of trouble by the larger, older dragons if something untoward happened during the trek.

To facilitate that, each weyrling dragon was harnessed to his or her rider; the rider would walk in front of the dragon to provide visual reassurance. The rider was then harnessed to his or her mentor, who was in turn harnessed to the next dragon in front.

Order of mentors, riders, and dragons: K'then, A'lo, Rikraketh; S'ril, Z'vier, Niocth; L'ric, K'so, Qancith; T'sul, Shimarkth's rider, Shimarkth; Ling, Artemis, Jadziath; Josei, Basidith's rider, Basidith; Mergha, Fayble, and Deasirith; L'gar, Pareilth's rider, Pareilth; S'len, D'rick, Haranth; V'tor, Spindath's rider, Spindath; D'nif, Katarina, Mccoreth; P'zar, Zhlucarth's rider, Zhlucarth. Someone explained that they were spaced out like this so that if something did happen to any one mentor, rider, or dragon, there'd be at least one bronze to hold them.

They were given a pair of sharpened poles to hold, one in each hand, and a few minutes to practice walking together in a line and to break the dragons' and riders' habits of walking to close to each other. The adult dragons would be flying over the entire group, ready to provide assistance as needed.

K'so found himself becoming nervous as all this went on. They were making such a big deal of how to handle "anything untoward," as one of the mentors seemed to be fond of saying. Did "something untoward" happen every time someone went out on the glacier? If so, why did they keep doing it? Of course, they were never given a chance to back out of the experience.

Finally, they started up over the eastern ridge of the training bowl which led through some other shallow bowls and over some ridges. After four or five of these, they found themselves looking down over the top of the glacier, which filled the bowl below them. By this time, it was when they'd normally have a short breather between their calisthenics exercises and the run around the bowl, and they were accorded a few minutes to look out over the rather impressive sight. It was not flat like K'so had expected. In fact, it was very uneven and here and there he could see fissures in the ice, a couple of which looked dark and dangerous. It actually looked a lot like the sand dunes along the beaches in Southern Boll, except for those cracks. It wasn't white and clean like he expected, either, it was rather dust and dirt covered.

Belatedly, he realized one of their mentors was explaining about how the glacier moved and something about "more rain" lines (which K'so couldn't figure out what he was talking about). He also couldn't conceive that this...mass was moving in any way, shape or form. Something this large couldn't possibly move. Melt, maybe, yes, but not MOVE. They were all given special cleats to strap to their boots at this point.

Then they were led out onto the ice, for it was more ice than snow, or perhaps very solidly packed snow. Parts of it reminded K'so of the frozen crust on the snow at Fort Weyr, but much harder than that easily-broken crust. He found himself grateful for the cleats and the pair of poles that helped him maintain his balance and his forward momentum. The dragons seemed to know instinctively to dig their claws in; the claws were tougher even than the glacier in most places.

He was breathing heavily after fifteen minutes out on the glacier and he knew, based on what time they'd started out onto the ice, that they weren't even a fourth of the way through this part of the hike. His legs ached in places he didn't know they could and he was sweating under the heavy clothes, but the wind bit at his nose and cheeks, and he had absolutely no desire to strip any layers off.

He heard a squeal from somewhere behind him and the whole line came to a halt. After a few minutes, he figured out that one of the girls had lost her footing and slid off the "trail" (if it could be called that). Someone told Qancith to back up ten steps; Qancith relayed to K'so, and they carefully backed up. Later, K'so would be told that was so the girl's mentor could get to her and help her to her feet and get them back in line.

After another twenty minutes of hiking, K'so felt ready to collapse, and so did Qancith. They'd edged around one of the fissures in the ice, which K'so had reclassified as a "crevasse" because it was a lot deeper than he'd expected, at least thirty feet down. It wasn't very wide where they'd passed it, but one of the adult dragons glided over what appeared to be the widest spot and it was easily large enough to swallow a small green dragon. Suddenly, a screeching went up and Qancith bellowed in surprise. K'so was jerked off his feet and dragged backward for a few terrifying seconds before he started sliding downhill. He'd lost his poles somewhere and scrabbled for anything to grip on, latching onto the safety lines that led back to his badly-frightened dragon who was flattened on the ice with his claws dug in and his eyes clamped shut.

Subsequently, lots of yelling ensued while most of the weyrling dragons just clung to the ice. One dragon and her rider was very clearly NOT happy, however: Artemis' Jadziath had slid into the crevasse when some of the ice crumbled beneath her feet. Her rider was also suspended in midair a few feet from the surface of the glacier. Josei was hanging half over the edge of the fissure, the safety straps between her and the dragon below her stretched taught; this unfortunately kept Jadziath's head pointing somewhat downward, since it meant the straps leading to her rider were longer. Josei kept shouting and Artemis and Jadziath to not struggle and try to hold still, something that would be very, very difficult for them, at least unless or until one of the adult dragons "gripped" Jadziath's mind and made her hold still.

In moments, adult dragons had landed carefully on the ice at least a dragonlength away from the fissure to avoid weakening the walls any further. The adult dragons instructed the young dragons to stay put and cling to the ice to support the weight of their dangling clutchmate and her rider and the mentors to either side (although most of them were doing just that already). Bronzerider P'zar instructed his dragon to try to subdue the green weyrling's struggles through mental contact while he had Zhlucarth and his rider move forward so he could transfer the safety straps connecting them to Mccoreth instead. D'nif then had Katarina, Mccoreth, and the bronze pair move forward again. D'nif's dragon picked him up and flew to the other side of the crack. Two other dragons sat, one to each side, next to D'nif's and P'zar's dragons.

D'nif and P'zar hooked their safety straps to both dragons' harnesses, then slithered on their bellies out to the edge of the crevasse so they could see what was going on. Josei was looking strained as she'd been pulled a little farther out over the edge and the lines between her and Basidith's rider were stretched taut; the young rider didn't look much better. P'zar scowled at the positioning and, through his dragon, confirmed that the best thing to do would be for him to climb down the inside of the fissure and attach the safety lines from both extra dragons to Jadziath's harness and detach Artemis' and Josei's lines once the dragons had taken up the slack. Artemis could be hoisted out the other side by her mentor while the adult dragons carefully lifted the young green out; meanwhile, Josei would lead the rest of the group farther up the glacier to get a greater margin between them and the fissure.

P'zar did just that, knocking bits of glacial ice down into the crevice where they echoed and chimed ominously. He froze every time one of them was knocked loose and didn't start moving again until the echoes had died away. A couple of them bounced off the hapless green, but there was nothing to be done about that. He passed close to Artemis and paused long enough to whisper to her what they were doing before he reached the green and attached the safety lines to the other dragon on his side and the extras that D'nif lowered down to him to the green, then had his dragon tell the others to take up the slack and lift her up a bit so he could get the riders' straps removed. He unhooked Artemis from Jadziath's harness first and Ling and her green immediately started hoisting the girl out. Josei had already slithered back onto the ice from the slack given her and was well out of the way before he gave the go-ahead to lift the dragon out. He stayed beside Jadziath to guide her out of the hole to try to minimize any further injury to her.

By the time they'd lifted the young dragon out of the fissure, Josei had gotten the rest of the group moving and were well up the glacier. The adult dragons deposited the poor youngster by her rider, several dragonlengths up the way. No doubt, they'd had to drag Artemis away from the edge of the fissure, but they were both safe now. Probably K'then would be on his way down the string if he wasn't already there to check them over.

K'so had just laid on the ice and clung to the straps linking him to his dragon in a manner similar to the one that Qancith had clung to the ice. When they were told to move forward, though, he found he was chilled and stiff and wasn't sure if he could move. L'ric had to pull him bodily back up to the "trail" where he got his walking poles back and finally got his feet under him. They moved several dragonlengths along and then he, Z'vier, and A'lo were allowed to sit with their dragons for a bit while their mentors went back to make sure everything went smoothly behind them; A'lo was under strict orders to stay put and not try to go back to check on his sister. It was while they were waiting out this part that K'so found out what happened and shuddered to himself.

After that, he couldn't get off the ice fast enough when they reached the end of their journey. "I NEVER want to do that again, thank you. Not even to get home. I would rather walk around that than do THAT again," he declared loudly, to the grumbling assent of others. Their mentors looked at them as though they'd missed the point of the journey, but K'so didn't care. Fortunately, H'lee had told them the return trip would be along the base of the glacier, not across the top of it, so he didn't have any worries.

Where they'd ended up was a glacial lake with a hot springs on one side. They were taken around to the hot springs and the dragons' harnesses were removed so they could dive in. The adults, especially those who had been directly involved in the "something untoward" that had occurred stripped down and jumped in as well. It was really quite warm near the springs and K'so had soon stripped down to his summer gear, and finally down to his shorts and climbed in one of the hot pools where he soaked away the tension and exercise aches and let the steam and water minister the scrapes and bruises he'd received skidding across the ice. Before long, though, his pool was invaded by a blue who was demanding scrubbing and coddling, by which point K'so was happy to oblige.

After the bath, they retreated to the shore and K'so soon struggled back into his winter clothing to finish oiling the blue. He'd set the jar of oil in their pool to warm and it smelled wonderful when he opened it. Several of the weyrlings downwind of them commented on it, as well, which made Qancith preen.

All too soon, they were packing up and heading down along the lake shore and around the end, which streamed off to join the ocean somewhere around Snowy Hold. This hike was much less dangerous, but no less hazardous as they navigated around pieces of the glacier that had broken off and were melting on the ground, huge boulders that were ground smooth, and pools of water. To their right was the wall of the glacier, in places only a foot tall where they could see up to the top, in other places looming a dragonlength over their heads. About halfway around, they stopped in a lush clearing full of flowers to eat their lunches while their dragons napped for a bit.

As they neared the end of their homeward trek, a low crack split the air and someone shouted, "SCATTER!" They'd been told if they heard that to run away from the glacier as fast as they could, and K'so and Qancith were off almost before the word was finished. They needn't have worried so much, however - the piece of glacier that calved from the parent was several dragonlengths ahead of them and nowhere near any of them. They quickly reassembled and moved forward to see what the freshly-broken glacier looked like. The base of a large tree trunk could be seen sticking out of the ice half a dragonlength over their heads, and pieces of its roots were still embedded in the chunk that had fallen down. This chunk, though small in comparison to the parent, was ten feet in diameter and at least three times that from end to end.

They moved around the ice in silence, awed by the ice which made even Rikraketh appear small. Qancith was complaining quite bitterly of hunger and assorted aches in his muscles by the time they reached home, where they found freshly caught and killed herdbeasts for each of them waiting in a nice, neat row, the last one was just being laid out by the dragon who had caught them for the youngsters. The dragons immediately fell to feasting on the carcasses while their riders dragged themselves up to their weyrs. To their relief, they found that classes had been canceled for the afternoon and evening.

K'so filled up his tub with hot water and immediately sank into it. It wasn't as nice as the hot spring that they'd soaked in earlier, but it was still soothing. He soon fell asleep in the hot water, waking when Qancith came in and asked to have his face cleaned and reoiled, by which time his water was getting cool. He cleaned and oiled Qancith, using the waste water from his soak to do so and refilling the tub while he oiled the dragon. This time, he scrubbed himself clean, wincing as he encountered his scrapes and bruises.

After cleaning up, he realized he was famished and headed down to the kitchens. He wasn't the only one to have gone down and there were large bowls of stew and platters of fruit to eat, and he gorged himself on it. A young apprentice Healer was attending them and gave him some ointment to put on his scrapes and bruises, for which he was immensely grateful. While he sat, he visualized another stained-glass box, to be used only for glows, he thought, that would mimic the appearance of the glacier as he remembered it: brown on top, white and blue on the edges, with some dark blue on the top and sides for the crevasses.

Artemis and A'lo had readily enough completed getting ready for the treck. In fact, they had managed to do the journey rather easily. Although the twins were seperated by quite a few other weyrlings, they kept in constant contact through their dragons. If only because A'lo almost constantly had Rik questioning Jazz for updates on how his pregnant twin was doing.

Suddenly, however, the ice beneath Jazz began to crumble and the green fell into the crevice with a loud yelp. Instantly her wings were flared in reaction to it, as her instincts took over. However, the actions wasn't overly helpful as she bashed into the side of the glacier, hearing the yelp of pain as her rider hit the side as well (Artemis had been pulled off the edge with her dragon). Both were rather freaked out by the accident and Jazz followed her bonded's instincts by demanding of Rik and Baroleth that they find someone to save them. Of course, it ended up being required for one of the adult dragons to subdue the hatchling and hold her mentally... although that didn't really help as Artemis struggled and panicked a bit. All she could tell in her hormone and fear raddled brain was that she was in pain, her dragon was in pain, and she was NOT supposed to be hanging over a crevice with only a safety harness to keep her from falling to her death.

When finally someone made it down to unhook her from her dragon, Artemis was not happy. She was scared out of her wits, worried about the baby and her dragon, and simply freaking out over the idea that she was dangling. When Ling finally got her up and a safe distance from the edge, Artemis was shaking like a leaf and wouldn't let Ling near her. She wanted her twin or at least her cousin. In fact, she was looking around for her dragon and either K'then or A'lo.

As this was taking place, the only thing that kept A'lo from rushing to his twin was the strict orders to stay... and the fact that he knew K'then would be of more help to her. Although, he did have Rik constantly talking to Jazz to make sure they were okay... which didn't give him the answer he wanted. Not that the bronze weyrling was happy, and he glowered at those that banned him from going to see his twin.

When Jazz was set down next to her rider, the green instantly started nuzzling and nudging her bonded. She was upset that the older dragons had kept her from moving, and even more so that they had fallen. Artemis was crying by the time her dragon was with her and one hand was wrapped protectively around her midsection, scared that something had happened. Of course, with her being sick as often as she had been the past while, anyone could think it was just another wave of nausea instead of her being worried about the baby.

After things were sorted and they started again, Artemis had a hard time moving forth. In fact, she was almost demanding that she be with A'lo and K'then, but she doubted that she would be allowed, regardless of how well her hormones acted up. Something they did the moment her mentor tried approaching a second time before hand. She had snapped at the woman to get away from her, and Ling backed off as she knew full well the girl's condition.

When they reached the half way point and A'lo was FINALLY given the chance to check on his twin, he held her to him before deciding that the next time H'lee thought up some hair brained idea for them to play in such dangerous terrain, he was demanding that she stay behind. The sharding weyrlingmaster should NEVER have considered sending a PREGNANT girl into such terrain.

K'then never liked taking these glacial trips. They were too dangerous and almost always someone invariably ended up getting hurt. Perhaps not badly but still. It was enough to set any Healer into a fit never knowing just what would happen. As always, the Assistant Weyrlingmaster had made sure he had bandages and ointments packed for any potential circumstance and checked, and rechecked the safety line. And he still wasn't reassured that this was a good idea. He and Baroleth had even done a flyover of the glacier and made notes about the terrain and were as prepared as they could possibly get.

That didn't mean he was any more happy about it than he had been any other time they'd made the trek.

He'd gotten the rescue strapes situated on his Bronze though, as the largest of the Dragons present and Senior to any of the other riders, Baroleth would largely be relied on to oversee things from the air and relay information to K'then who could then direct things below if he was in a position to do so. When the weyrlings were assembled and instructions given, he wandered the group, aiding with straps as needed and generally overseeing that things were going smoothly. This part always did. When the straps were situated correctly on each dragon, K'then lined them up and, starting with Zhlucarth, made sure everyone was strapped and secured properly. He stayed out of the line, instead having one of the older weyrlings stand in for him, and had them walk a bit around the bowl, instructing and correcting as needed until he was satisfied that everyone was as ready as could be expected. At this point, he took up his position at the front of the line and they started out with the adult dragons flying overhead and giving gentle reminders to any dragons or riders that strayed too close to one another and risked upsetting the line.

When they finally reached the glacier, K'then allowed the line to stop and look out at the sight as mentors up and down the line shared tidbits of knowledge about the glacier and they all caught their breath. The spiked cleats were handed out and, once he'd been assured everyone had theirs strapped securely, the headed out onto the glacier and the adventure was on. They hadn't gone too far when a squeal made him call a halt. One of the greenlings slipped. She is fine but need help back to her feet. Baroleth relayed after instructions to the young to halt since they couldn't exactly see what was going on. The line needs to move back ten steps for her to be reached. Baroleth added and K'then had him send the request to the dragon closest and when they were given the all clear they started back up again with K'then making a note to check on the girl that had slipped though no serious injuries had been reported.

It was as they were edging around one of the larger glacial canyons that K'then first felt the stirrings of real unease. He could hear the ice creak and grumble quietly under Rikrakath's weight but, as the largest weyrling dragon, the young Bronze was one of the most likely to fall. He did, however, have Baroleth pass on the message for the adult dragons to have their riders be alert for any signs of the ice beginning to crumble under the weight of the dragons. Not that there was much that could be done as there was no room to move the line away to avoid the possible mishap.

He was just beginning to relax a bit when there was a squeal, several startled bellows and bugles and he was suddenly yanked off his feet as the line snapped backward and he knew before Baroleth even passed the message what had happened. Jadziath and her rider have fallen. Shimarkth and Basideth are doing right and digging in as best they can, the others are telling the other dragonlings to do the same. The Bronze relayed, circling over the crevasse to oversee the beginnings of the rescue operation. P'zar's Bronze held Jadzieth's mind to keep her from struggling as the other dragons not involved in the rescue kept up encouraging commentary to those clinging steadfastly to the ice.

Baroleth kept up his running commentary to K'then who, was picking himself gingerly up off the ice. As much as he wanted to go back and assist, K'then knew he couldn't until the rest of the line was safe. When Baroleth informed him that Artemis was free, he encouraged the remainder of his line to more forward and out of harm's way. "None of you move until Baroleth gives you further instructions." He said, unclipping himself from the straps and giving a stern look to A'lo who had, by now, heard who it was that had fallen. Edging himself along the string and keeping careful hold of safety straps to keep from sliding too much and to reassure any weyrlings who questioned him that everything would be fine, K'then made his careful way back to where the rescue was taking place.

He arrived shortly after Jadziath was reunited with her rider, bypassing Josei as she led the rest of the line up to safety where he'd left the others. Mentally he had Baroleth contact the nearest dragonhealer, Bluerider A'dam, to meet them where it was safe and have a look at Jadziath. The Bronze complied and informed them Dranith and his rider would be there shortly. And indeed, while K'then was still checking Artemis for injury, the pale blue form of Dranith appeared from between several dragonlengths from the glacier and circled around above, landing gingerly not far off and allowing his rider a cursory glance at Jadziath, though he did not dismount on the treacherous ice unless he had to. Once had had the information he needed (which involved a brief but through mental conversation with the young Green and the involved adult dragons) and knew that, though sore, Jadziath could make it to the safety of the hot springs, agreed to meet the group there and have a better look and tend the worst of the Green's injuries. Baroleth took the opportunity to contact Seeth and relay the events to the Brown and H'lee, also his rider's displeasure with the entire affair.

Once everyone was situated (and K'then thoroughly annoyed with Artemis's insistence that she finish the hike despite injury) they resumed their trek and it wasn't just the weyrlings who were glad to be off the glacier and in the hot springs. K'then would have loved to be among the adult riders who took the opportunity to warm themselves in the water but instead he tended Artemis a bit more, trying to convince her again that she should allow A'dam to fly her back to the Academy. Once she was tended and Jadziath seen to by A'dam who patched up the worst of the cuts and gave the Green a light smear of numbweed on the worst of the sore spots and bruises, he took his turn to take a brief dip in the spring to warm himself and ease some of the soreness in his shoulders where bruises were forming thanks to being pulled backward so suddenly and forcefully as the line had slipped, while the last of the weyrlings finished oiling their dragons. A'dam opted to stay the rest of the trek back with them to relay Jadziath's injuries to H'lee directly.

The return trip, at least, they didn't need the safety straps and he was happy to let the weyrlings wander in whatever formation they chose so long as they stayed near their mentor and did not stray too close to the glacier or too far away. Lunch was as peaceful as could be hoped and he reviewed the events with Baroleth who snorted at the near tragedy and agreed with his rider that it was dangerous, especially when enough of the weyrlings weren't really understanding why they'd taken the hike (and even K'then was hard pressed to find a good enough reason for putting the weyrlings in such dangers before they could fly).

They picked back up and were homeward bound when another near disaster hit. Unable to see where the glacier was cracking, K'then shouted and had the weyrlings running before the last sounds of the ice breaking had died away. Luckily, no one had been in any real danger but without knowing where the ice would fall, it had been better than doing nothing. He led the group to the bit that had fallen and let them take in the sheer size of it, asking Rikraketh to step closer so the group could compare sizes. Even Baroleth landed so they could see how he compared to the ice.

They arrived back to the Academy with no further incident and K'then let the mentors oversee the young dragons as they fed and the riders as they dragged themselves off and sought out H'lee to give him a face to face, and far more detailed, report of what had happened with the aid of D'nif and P'zar who knew more of what had happened while he was keeping the front half of the line out of danger.

Baroleth requests our presence.

"Hmm...why? What would they need me for?" A'dam questioned his Blue, poking his head out of the small shed where he kept his garden as the Blue shifted and rumbled.

He says they are on the ice and a weyrling has fallen. You are the nearest Dragonhealer and I the lightest and smallest dragon. We are the best suited for seeing to any injuries.

A'dam groaned. Every time. Every sharding time someone went up onto that sharding glacier someone got hurt and they called him. But they were right. Aside from Warrelith, Drantih was the smallest dragon around that was capable of maneuvering the ice in tense situations. Because they were called upon so frequently for the rescue missions, A'dam and Dranith had amassed a full set of rescue straps and such gear as was needed for ice rescues and spent at least one day a sevenday overflying the glacier and practicing maneuvers that would aid them in actual rescues. In fact, everyone in the Hold knew to call him if a Search and Rescue was needed as he was one of the best around with the aid of Dranith.

So, he told Erin where he was going, situated Dranith with his rescue and riding straps, and was off before they even had the Green out of the ice. Dranith appeared out of between several dragonlengths from the glacier and circled overhead to get an idea of the situation. A'dam took the opportunity to get his first look at the Green they'd just set down, noting the most obvious of the injuries easily, in particular the way one wing wasn't folded quite right. Once they'd had their look, Dranith came in to land well out of the way so as not to cause and further problems. He gingerly edged his way closer to where A'dam could get a closer look at Jadzieth who had several cuts and bumps and bruises but nothing overly worrying except that wing.

Tentatively the Bluerider reached out to Jadzieth. "Jadziath? My name is A'dam. I'm a dragonhealer and I need you to tell me and Dranith how badly you hurt and where." He told her, following that initial statement (and Jadziath's approval of speaking to the rider) with a string of questions that got him a lot of information in a short amount of time, starting with 'can you let me and Dranith feel how you hurt?' If Jadziath was open to the idea of connecting closer with the HAD, he'd easily be able to 'feel' her body as closely as he could his own Blue's when he had need to and pinpoint areas of greatest concern. Then he focused on specific areas asking her to move this or that.

"I'll need a look at that wing, K'then, but for now if she keeps it as steady as possible I say she can get down somewhere safer. I don't feel comfortable trying to manage an injured dragon up here." He told the Bronzerider who had nodded and set about getting the group back in order and moving again. A'dam and Dranith kept overhead, A'dam keeping a close watch on Jadziath as she walked.

Dranith landed and A'dam dismounted quickly when they reached the hot spring and K'then had the green weyrling pair pulled aside already and was rechecking the girl, leaving the dragon to him. "Alright now...I need a look at your wing Jadziath. Can you open it up for me and stretch it out as best you can? I need to find out where and how badly it's hurt." Once he had Jadziath's wing outstretched (with help if need be), he had Dranith hold her still mentally, explaining that it was so she didn't hurt herself more and kept him safe too. Once he had the Green steady, he felt along the wingbone until he reached a particularly swollen spot and Jadzieth squalled her displeasure at his touch.

Leaving that spot alone, he felt along the rest of her wing and, aside from a few scrapes and cuts in the sail, found no more problem spots. He returned to the spot that Jadziath had reacted too and touched it gently again, apologizing for the pain it caused but putting enough pressure on the bone to feel where the break was. Luckily for Jadzieth, it wasn't as bad as he'd feared and she would have full use of her wing. He stiched up the worst of the tears in the wingsail and smeared numbweed everywhere else it was needed, paying special attention to the area over the break before he returned to K'then.

"It's not particularly good news but not as bad as it could be either. Jadziath's wing is broken but it's one of those breaks that, if she doesn't over do things or stretch that wing too much, should help up fine on it's own. I can fashion a sling of sorts to keep the wing motionless when we're back at the Academy but. Other than that, all we can do is encourage her to keep it as still as possible and watch for more pain and swelling. If she does as she's told he'll have full use of the wing again in no time and no lingering effects except a small scar or two where the sail was torn a bit." He informed the Bronzerider who grimaced a bit but nodded. A'dam was right, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. A more serious break could have grounded the Green for life if they couldn't set and bandage it properly right away.

When A'dam contacted her, Jazz looked towards the man. She hurt, a lot. ~My wing hurts and my side,~ she responded before answering the rest of his questions and opening up enough (after asking her rider if it was okay with her) so that the man could feel the injuries himself. Quite frankly, her wing was in a lot of pain, but so too was her shoulder (although that was considerably less painful than the broken wing). The hatchling then turned her attention back to Artemis.

Artemis, for her part, was thankful when her cousin came to check on her. Not that she doubted he would as the healer in the group, and the one in charge. However, once she was certain that her injuries wouldn't impede the treck TOO much, they'd be painful for sure, and would require further attention from her cousin when they finally got a chance to make camp... but other than that her dragon was injured more than she was. With that thought in mind, and the fact that she knew her twin would be worried enough about her, she continued on to the point where they would be bathing their dragons.

Naturally, upon arrival she was in a LOT of pain. Her dragon had accidentally jarred the injured wing a couple times, but they reached the hot spring without too much difficulty. Before long her twin was right at her side and gave her a quick hug before pulling back when she tensed and bit her tongue to stop from yelping in pain at the pressure he'd placed upon her cracked rib. Seeing that she needed to be looked after by their cousin, A'lo forced himself to give Ky space and headed to wash his dragon.

Jazz watched the dragonhealer having hissed her displeasure with A'lo before he left. At his request she gingerly spread it as far as she could, and ended up requiring some help with getting it fully extended. Carefully she watched, feeling Dranith hold her still to keep her from injuring herself or his rider, she didn't argue. Her bonded was silently assuring her that all would be okay and to trust the dragonhealer. Of course, that didn't stop the squall of displeasure when A'dam had found the break in her wing. She hurt a lot and was extremely thankful to the man when he finished stitching her wing and placed numbweed over it to help control the pain.

Artemis for her part was a little less argumentative when they had reached the hot springs and her cousin tried to convince her and Jazz to get flown back to the weyr. In fact, she decided that mostly because of Jazz's wing. She'd heard that her wing was broken (she could feel it too), and thus when the time came she agreed to the idea that they wouldn't follow on the return trek and made certain to alert her cousin, twin, Ling and A'dam to her decision. Something that resulted in Ling volunteering to help A'dam get Artemis and Jazz back to the academy so they could be properly tended to and a sling could be fashioned for the hatchling.

A'lo, for his part, was not happy with the injuries his sister and her dragon had incured. In fact, as far as he was concerned it was all H'lee's fault for suggesting the sharding dangerous trip in the first place! Who in their right mind would take hatchling dragons on a sharding glacier anyways! Nevermind the threat of injury that it posed. Of course, he was keeping all of these opinions to himself as he cleaned his dragon and went back to check on his twin. Once he heard the news, even he insisted that she get a ride back to the weyr with Ling and A'dam before feeling relieved when she agreed.

When the time came to leave on the second part of their trek, A'lo stuck relatively close to his cousin. Naturally this involved spending part of the trek asking his cousin if the injuries that his sister has sustained were any real threat to her baby, though he did keep his voice to a level where only he and his cousin could hear.

Although, when his cousin yelled for them to run, he and Rik did just that only returning when they were informed it was safe. At Ky's request (which really the older rider really only needed to ask the bronze himself), the hatchling moved over to the piece of fallen glacier and then watched when Baroleth landed to compare size there.

~Is it supposed to be bigger than me?~ Rik asked his rider who chuckled and shrugged.

~Who is to say, Rik.~ he responded as they finally continued their trek. Naturally, the moment they were back at the academy later on, he was in the infirmary with his twin, pestering her until Artemis requested that he help feed Jazz.

With that, it reminded him that the green would be unable to hunt with her injured wing. With that in mind he had Rik grab a herdbeast that one of the adult dragons had caught and bring it to the infirmary for Jazz. Although, he wasn't certain how much trouble that would land them in with the healers as she ended up leaving the stone under her a mess. But at least her wing was able to rest and before long the green was slumbering.

Her rider was soon sound asleep as well, since she needed to rest so that no further injury happened to her ribs. Thus leaving A'lo to finally realize any injures he had incurred from the trek. After all, he had been far more concerned about his twin to worry about what had happened to him and as he finally got the chance to slip into the tub... well... he found himself wincing in pain before dressing and heading down to the lower caverns where he got some stew and ointment for his cuts and bruises... although he fed his stomach first.

Fayble rushed in much too late and she was beyond stressed, she had fallen asleep studying and only woke when Deasirith had managed to prod her awake -Mine don't you have somewhere to g tonight? Some lesson or something? The green yawned, which had caused the flustered girl to fly through the bowl and trip dropping her books and squealing.

"OH MY PERN I'M SO SORRY!" She yowled as she scrambled to pick up her mess, "I'm so so sorry! What'd I miss?" She blushed brightly. "Uh mentors?" Having already forgotten who she was supposed to see. Deasirith was snorting mentally. Mine, you're so absent-minded. Shush it you, its your fault, you need to learn to GO TO SLEEP AT NIGHT AND LET ME SLEEP!.


--

D'rick had yawned, he was working hard to get up the strength to tell his parents that he wasn't going to be graduating on time. They would be so disappointed. Mine, mine....GET UP, YOU'RE LATE AGAIN! Why can't you just get it together? I'm sorry Ranth Haranth...mine Haranth Right whatever can you just stop with the formalities and be nice to me already! This is hard enough!.

He scrambled out and chased down his own tardiness and made it out in time to almost fall over in exhaustion. "I'm sorry I'm..Oh you're late too Fayble?" He shook his head she was looking worse for the wear. He was looking around but had missed Artemis already and his eyes lowered. Again he had missed her again.

When the weyrlings met with their mentors for their weekly activity, they found a series of tables set up with each of their mentors at one, a pile of blocks, a bag, and an egg. There was a thirteenth table set up and H'lee was sitting behind it, with piles of blocks on it.

"Right," H'lee said. "You each have ten blocks on your table and a bag with 20 fake Marks in it. You have to build a tower using these blocks that will balance the egg. The base of your tower has to contain at least four blocks and be at least two blocks wide by two blocks deep. You can purchase more blocks at 4 blocks for a Mark. Whichever team produces the tallest tower for the least amount of Marks spent that balances the egg for at least 10 seconds wins. The prize: a week off from chores. Go!"

---

K'so

K'so rolled his eyes as he slouched over to L'ric and their table. What a lame exercise. He eyed the egg - it was too big to balance on a single block, as he found when he tried to set it on a single block that was on the table. He laid out the 2x2 base as instructed and considered his options.

"How about this?" he suggested to L'ric, taking three blocks and laying them together so that the edges were together, making a triangle. He set the egg so that it rested in the gap. He'd noticed that some of the other weyrlings were using sets of four to build theirs, which would take more Marks to make it taller. That meant they only got two layers of blocks for their first ten blocks, and only one layer for every Mark spent. For every three Marks he and L'ric spent, they could get four layers, and they started out with three layers to begin with.

Figuring that he had the cheapest design, he spent an extra mark. He spent four marks and built eight layers.

Artemis looked at her predictament before she decided on how she and Ling would go about things. It was rather challenging a situation, but she knew she needed to figure out how they would do this. In the end she decided to use four blocks for the base, but three blocks making a sort of triangle with a small hole in the center. She and Ling continued to build until they had three layers before spending 3 marks and adding another four layers.

Her idea was that the larger base would help keep it stable and kept carefully setting the bag of marks on top to make certain it was capable of holding the egg and not breaking. When the 7th layer was built, she sat the egg upon it and looked it over before nodding her head..

--

A'lo stared at the problem before glancing at his cousin. He had been rather concerned about his twin and he was thankful that he had his cousin to help look after her. However, he knew that these times around Ky were meant for them to discuss things that pertained to A'lo and Rikraketh.

"Hey, Ky, did Baroleth ever bug you to play some dragon poker game?" he asked, having had to listen to his dragon force him off to play the game whenever A'lo wasn't busy helping his twin. Of course, he was idly putting four blocks at the base, and continued up, alternating the way the blocks were facing.

K'then let A'lo do most of the work building the tower and deciding how many blocks to use where. He'd done all this before and had studied the 'winning' towers in the past (if they weren't his) and had a rather solid knowledge of how to proceed. But that would be an unfair advantage to the weyrlings whose mentors hadn't been through this little exercise so he kept most of his thoughts to himself, only pointing out what some of the other weyrlings were doing to allow A'lo to form his own opinions and ideas about the tower (there was no rule saying they couldn't spy and 'borrow' another weyrling's idea).

"Dragon Poker? No he didn't. But that might have been because the few times I got into a game of my own accord I lost all my marks and was as huffy as a proddy Gold for days after. I was never very good at concealing my emotions. I think, even if he did want to play or whatever he thought better of it." He gave A'lo a wry smile for his own failings at the game of dragon poker. Either through his own mistakes or shoddy hands he'd never won much off of the games and had more or less given it up, except for when they were playing for fun and no marks were involved in which case he was happy to bid whatever they happened to be using in place of marks. He didn't mind when it was silly things like favors or silly odds and ends like shined up rocks and bits of shell. "Why do you ask?" He questioned curiously.

Fayble stared at the pieces for quiet some time, there were many around making square towers, and triangle ones. Hm, which seemed to be the best way to do it? Staring at them hard enough to make her head hurt she sighed and paused before beginning to stack them carefully together in such a way as it was layered. Like a log cabin. The spaces were equally. With two on the bottom length wise with two on top width wise before alternating between the two going as high as she could.

--

D'rick hated any math problems. What was this really proving anyways? He didn't see how this was helping to raise his dragon. Irritation laced his face and he thought before slapping the blocks together in a square pattern, placing squares ontop of each other. Dang things.

This week, the topic of discussion during their meetings with their mentors was what they wanted to do after they graduated.

---

K'so
K'so's face went blank when H'lee told them what that day's conversation was going to be about. What they're going to do after graduating? That's like, a Turn away. He was having a hard enough time planning things for the next Rest Day, let alone a year ahead!

"Uh...well, I suppose I ought to finish my training as a Vintner. I guess that means I'll be going to Benden Hold to train." He stopped to think about that for a minute.

Does it snow at Benden Hold?

Yes, it does.

Are there places where it doesn't snow?

Yeah, a few places. Like Ista and Southern.

Then we should go to one of those places.

"Qancith wants to go to Ista or Southern Holds. Sounds like a good plan to me. And, um...I dunno. I suppose after I finish my Vintner training, I'll probably set up a holding or something where I can practice the Craft. I'd need to have greenhouses for growing whatever I'll be using to make beverages and some space for actually processing the alcohol." He looked at L'ric pathetically, hoping he'd said enough to pass the lesson and L'ric would let him go.

Artemis

Valing smiled at her weyrling, the two of them having gone off to the side. "How are you feeling today, Artemis?" the woman asked, having learned about the girl's condition at this point. Of course, this had happened in part because of H'lee and K'then.

"I'm well, those teas that Silvara and Ky give me help a lot," she smiled at her mentor. She was starting to warm up to the woman, although she still didn't feel overly comfortable with her in comparison to her cousin.

"That's good, what about your plans for after you graduate?" she asked.

The girl paused and thought about it before she smiled, "Honestly, I'm thinking I might continue on with my healer training. I've been helping Ky and the other healers out some more, although I'm hoping that eventually they start teaching me about more than just the herbs involved," she responded easily.


--

A'lo

A'lo had been thankful for the conversation with his cousin about dragon poker, something that had resulted in him mentioning that Rik seemed to be rather enamoured by the game and was almost constantly pestering him to play it. When they reached the bit about him discussing with his cousin what he wanted to do after he graduated... the boy hesitated.

"You know, I was actually thinking about trying to continue as a lord holder... Dad has been slipping me lessons every now and again, although he says that it still looks like Metis is going to become the next lord over Ruatha. The other option I was thinking of was maybe finishing my training as a vintner... although I might do that regardless," he grinned at the older bronzerider.