K'then surveyed his weyrlings as they were gathered in the largest of the training bowls. They'd come a long way from the clumsy, runnerbeast sized hatchlings they'd been months ago. They were now nearly full grown and all magnificent dragons. And their riders were (mostly) a more matured group than the starry-eyed, shell shocked candidates they'd been the night they impressed.

We taught them well. Baroleth commented, rumbling his pleasure at seeing the group waiting in flight formation without having needed instruction.

"That we did, old friend. That we did." K'then replied, patting his dragon's nose before turning to his group of weyrlings. He gave each group a similar speech every time they reached this stage of their training. "I never forget watching the weyrlings I teach stumble off the sands with their new lifemates, barely the size of runnerbeasts. You grow and learn as a team and form close bonds of friendship, and more." Here he gave a slightly disapproving look to X'lel and Laeri who both gave him slightly sheepish looks. The pair had taken up a relationship only recently however and considering the Greens would be rising soon he'd not said a lot to them about it. "Under the guidance of myself and your other Weyrlingmasters, you've learned how to work as a team and function as a Fighting Wing. But there's only so much we can teach you here about the way a Weyr works. That's why, once you learn what we have to teach you, we send you back to your home weyr to live and work alongside the full riders and finish out your training with them."

There were some murmurings from the young riders-to-be at that but none of them spoke up to question or comment on anything K'then had said. He motioned to L'nex, who had shown himself to be a capable leader during their dyed rope practices. "L'nex, when you're ready, take your wing to Benden." He instructed and the young bronzerider nodded, signalling for the weyrlings to mount up. The couple of older riders who were 'escorting' them to Benden did the same and each rider and dragon waited for L'nex and Rilath to give the signal.

Once he did, the wing lifted off and reached optimal height for going between and in a matter of seconds, all twelve dragons had vanished from the academy only to reappear in the skies above Benden Weyr where they were greeted by the welcoming bugles and trumpets of the adult dragons. They touched down in the weyrbowl and the Weyrleaders were there to greet them. "Weyrwoman Lyeotia, Weyrleader J'boh, it is my pleasure to return this group of weyrlings to your capable hands. Young Bronzerider L'nex has proven himself a capable wingleader and chosen superb wingseconds in his fellow Bronzerider, D'ver, and Brownrider R'yur." After that, he stepped aside and let the Weyrleaders greet the newest arrivals to their weyr.

Alyena had groaned inwardly when they were told a couple of weeks earlier that it was time to start thinking about moving. That meant she had to PACK! She HATED packing. Every time she'd been moved into new quarters during her candidacy and weyrlinghood, she'd told herself she would only unpack those things that were absolutely necessary, and she'd leave everything else packed until she had her own, permanent residence. The only time it worked was during the two weeks they'd spent in the weyrling barracks at Benden and the few weeks she'd spent in the Aurora Hold Healers Annex (the former because she wasn't there long enough to unpack, and the latter because her belongings had been shipped on to the Academy). Over the last nine months, though, she'd slowly unpacked this item from that box, that item from this sack, until she didn't know how she'd fit them all back in again. And that wasn't counting the numerous new items she'd collected in that time!

Didn't he say we were coming back here after a couple of months? If you're so worried about how you'll get everything to Benden, why not leave it here? Hetty was puzzled by the concept of owning inanimate objects that weren't clothes or riding gear: items that were specifically tailored to the owner and wouldn't fit comfortably on another. The gold was curled on her couch with her neck stretched so her head was resting on the threshold of the door, where she could watch her rider stare helplessly around her (rather cluttered) room.

Blowing an errant strand of hair out of her face, Alyena sighed. "Would that I could, lovey, but one of the younger weyrlings is going to be moving in here while we're gone, so all of our belongings have to go." She groaned and plopped down on the bed - the one surface of the room that didn't have objects strewn across it. After a moment of silence, she said, "Although, that does give me an idea. Can you give me a lift down to the kitchens?"

When she got there, she sought out the Steward in charge of the storerooms and asked him if there was somewhere she could store some of her belongings while she was at Benden, to be collected when they returned in a couple of months. The man guffawed and told her, of course there were. Every weyrling was entitled to a space. He complained that H'lee and K'then almost never told the weyrlings that tidbit of info and that he really should have a conversation with them about it. If they weren't going to use the space, he had plenty of other things he could put in there!

Thus it was that Alyena managed to pack most of her belongings into crates to fit in the storage space - and since no one else seemed to be availing themselves of that space, the Steward allowed her to put more than her quota in there (they were only allowed three boxes, but she had five). This considerably lessened the burden of belongings she had to take with her; she pared it down to ten days' worth of work clothes (she did laundry once a week, but kept extra clothes in case one set got exceptionally dirty), one set of nicer clothes for Restdays, and a set of Gather clothes; her riding gear; her collection of books; and other necessities (blankets, hygiene items, etc.).

So it was that on the day of transfer, she had the smallest set of packs of any of her fellow weyrlings. She just smirked as she nibbled on a warm biscuit and sipped a mug of hot klah while the others' got cold as they struggled with their packs. Since she was a very private person, no one really knew how much stuff she owned, so none of them looked askance at the small packs. It was a chilly morning and she stood snuggled close to Hetty's side and tried to leach some of the warmth into herself. Between was colder, but Benden was warmer than here. Not much, but it was somewhat south; if it wasn't such a high altitude, it probably would have been significantly warmer. She spared a moment of pity for the Xanadu weyrlings who would be shipping in in a few weeks - going from the tropics to the tundra would be quite a shock for them!

However, K'then's speech made her straighten up and away from Hetty's warm side. She was a bit nervous, one might even say frightened, of going to Benden and meeting their clutchmother and the Weyrwoman. One of the other gold queens and her rider, Aldryth and Adilye, had been her mentor and she was hoping the older woman, at least, would be visible (her dragon wouldn't be as the gold was currently on the Sands with her own clutch). However, Hetty rumbled with pleasure that bronze Rilath and his rider were to lead them, much to Alyena's embarrassment - but it took her mind off being nervous for a bit!

With the others - maybe not quite as one, but very close - she hoisted herself astride her dragon and the Wing launched. She was stationed - at L'nex's request - to the Wingleader's left as they rose five wingbeats above the grounds and then the signal came to go between, the image passed down to them from one of the older dragons who'd been to Benden before (since they hadn't yet).

And then they were there! It seemed the whole Weyr had turned out to greet the youngsters: hundreds of dragons lined the Bowl, appearing to take up every ledge and peak suitable for dragon perching. L'nex let them hover for a moment to get their bearings and to take in the sights - and for no few of the adults and weyrlings to trade trumpets of greeting - before signaling them to follow his lead as he performed a slowly-descending sweep around the Weyr and bringing them to a (nearly) picture-perfect landing before the Weyrwoman and Weyrleader. The riders dismounted, and if anyone noticed a bit of haste in a few of them, they didn't say anything, and saluted the Leaders of the Weyr while K'then presented them.

Alyena gratefully spotted Adilye positioned discreetly to one side, receiving a smile of reassurance as she stepped forward and bowed to the Weyrwoman and Weyrleader. Hetty wuffled her hair affectionately as they waited to be recognized. That was a good thing L'nex did, giving you and the other riders a minute to adjust. And Rilath guided the Wing admirably.

Alyena flushed again and hoped that it wouldn't be seen as anything except a bit of wind chaffing. Shush, you. She was acutely aware that as a gold, a number of eyes - draconic and human - were on them. Of course, just thinking that transferred the thought to Hetty, who coquettishly tilted her head and looked around, preening just a bit. And causing Alyena's flush to deepen.

K'then had been pleased with the way L'nex and Rilath had handled his Wing. L'nex would make a good Windleader some day, perhaps even become Weyrleader. But that was in the future yet and for now, he still had things to learn and he knew J'boh would see to it the boy was well mentored if he had to do it himself.

After the initial introduction of the weyrlings, the weyrleaders said a few words of greeting and announced a welcoming feast had been planned for that night to allow for the new arrivals to reacquaint themselves with old friends and get to know some of the older riders as well. They were just wrapping up their welcome when a small boy detached itself from the crowd (someone was heard calling after him Skylar stop! Daddy's busy!). The child scampered past the Weyrleaders who only smiled and watched the boy be scooped up by K'then who tickled his belly and gave him a kiss on the forehead.

Unphased by the slight interruption (though K'then did apologize to J'boh and Lyeotia for the interruption), the weyrleaders finished what they had to say and dismissed the weyrlings to select their new weyrs and begin getting settled, though not all of them immediately took off for the weyrs they were allowed to pick from as some decided to greet their mentors or had been all but pounced upon by their former bunkmates from before they impressed and were being interrogated about what it was like to be a dragonrider and go to the academy and so on. One or two of them paused to heckle K'then on not telling them he had a son before he shooed them off by telling them they just hadn't paid enough attention during the hatching then.

He'd set Skylar down (the almost five year old boy was growing too heavy to hold for very long) to greet his daughter who'd joined him after everything was done. Not aware he wasn't as sneaky as he thought he was being, the boy fearlessly walked up to Alyena and Henriettath. "You have a pretty dragon. Can I ride her?" Giving Alyena and her Gold a smile of apology, K'then put a hand on Skylar's shoulder but chose, for the moment, to stay silent and let Alyena respond.

Alyena was only slightly surprised when a small child detached himself from the crowd and darted to K'then. Although she hadn't specifically known that K'then had children, she knew that several dragonriders did, namely offspring that resulted from flights.

However, she was surprised when the young boy came over to her and asked for a ride. She was distracted by Adilye approaching and could only blink at the boy for a moment. "Uh...thank you," she stammered. She glanced at K'then and Adilye for a little guidance; Adilye nodded encouragingly. "Well, if your father says it's okay, I suppose we could take you for a ride, but you should ask her. Her name is Henriettath."

Hetty, curious about this tiny creature that made her rider nervous, brought her head around to look at the boy. She set her head down so her chin and throat were against the ground, putting her eye at about Alyena's waist. She peered at the boy. What is your name? she asked the boy directly. Alyena grimaced. Hetty never was one to take the indirect route when a direct one existed, no matter the tactlessness it displayed.