Lesson Four: A-running we go! (Bravo Winglets~)

[Fox]

The summer heat was punishing, even so early in the morning as K’ean usually rose. Even he, who was usually such a stickler for silly things like propriety (or so thought Seronaph), unbent enough to don a sleeveless shirt, the lightest he owned, in deference to the fact that he would likely get heatstroke otherwise. Because today was a Winglet lesson, and what the redpair had planned, though not particularly inspiring, would be strenuous. Without being asked, Seronaph took to the air from the eyling as K’ean jogged down to ground level. Circling several times over the hulking structure where the winglets slept, the red’s dry voice soon echoed in the minds of his students. Bravo Winglets, lesson time. Meet us outside the barrack in five minutes. Don’t be late.[/color]

Then, with a furious backwing, the red alighted on the empty patch to the side of the Barrack to await the arrival of His and their students. Soon enough, K’ean came jogging up to the large simourv, already having broken a light sweat due to the heat and the jog from the eyling. With a sigh, he slowed to a walk as he neared the designated meeting spot before settling in to wait. When are you actually going to start doing interesting things, Mine? I might as well go to sleep during these lessons.[/color] Questioned Seronaph idly as he preened his back feathers. The distinctly bored comment garnered a snort fro his rider as K’ean leaned back against the simourv’s orange-red feathers. We start riding lessons next. Is that interesting enough for you? The red thought about it for a moment. Hm… Watching the Winglets deal with horses? Potentially amusing.[/color] My thoughts exactly.[/b]

As the three winglet pairs arrived for lessons, K’ean straightened to shoot them all a brief smile in greeting. ”Good morning, Bravos. I hope you dressed light, as we’ll be doing strengthening exercises today.” A grin twitched at the man’s mouth. ”That means stretches, laps, the whole nine yards. But first of all, we’re going to run through a few other exercises for your simourv partners.” Turning blue eyes onto the simourvs, K’ean and Seronaph both noted the growth with approval. Predictably, tawny Philomeph was largest, by virtue of being a Tawny, but the other two were growing well also. ”At this point in time, one of the most important things for your simourv to do is strengthen their muscles. They’ve already put on some decent weight, but eventually their flight feathers are going to start coming in. So, they’ll need strong shoulder muscles to carry them, and strong leg muscles for taking off and landing as well.” Here, Seronaph rose to his feet and took over the commentary seamlessly, blinking his large amber eyes at the three smaller simourvs. Stretch your muscles, little ones.[/color] Shaking himself quickly, the large red then lowered his front half ponderously towards the ground, stretching his front legs out in front of him. Smoothly, he then rocked forwards so that his back legs were stretched out behind him. Quite frankly, the large simourv looked at that moment rather like a large cat.

With a faint hum of pleasure, Seronaph straightened, fluffed up his feathers, and then quite abruptly reared up onto his hind legs, tail held out stiffly to counterbalance his weight. With his wings outstretched, the simourv presented a majestic figure, and he swept his wings downwards, executing several carefully balanced leaps. It was, perhaps, a somewhat comical sight to see such a large simourv hopping about like a cat after a fallen leaf, but there was no denying that the exercise would help in building muscle mass. As Seronaph subsided, he shot the little simourvs a stern look. Do the exercises several times a day at least, little ones. It’ll help you when I eventually teach you all to fly.[/color] And boy, was the red looking forward to that particular lesson.

Once again, K’ean took back the dubious honour of lecturer as he turned a wry grin on the human riders. ”Now, back to those stretches and laps I mentioned. Riding a simourv is not an easy job, and you have to stay fit if you want to be able to keep up. And it’s hardly fair to ask your simourvs to do something you aren’t willing to do yourself.” Moving slowly, the redrider first brought his arm straight across his chest, holding it in place with his other arm to stretch the muscles. Then he moved it behind him, elbow upwards. ”So let’s do some warm-ups first, and then it’s two laps around the barrack for you lot.” Another jaunty grin, and then K’ean set into the stretches in earnest, starting first with the arms, then the legs, and finally folding over to touch his toes. As soon as the warm-ups were done, the wingletmaster rolled his shoulders and set off at an easy jog, plainly expecting the winglets to follow him. Bemusedly, Seronaph settled back into his lounging position to watch. Get a move on, then, Winglets. The day’s only just begun.[/color][/size]

[Kilnarak]

For all that he had grown, by now exceeding Ma'ro's height, Hummiph still insisted upon sleeping curled tightly against His; his head tucked beneath a wing and nestled against the albino's chest, and his long tail coiled over the man's legs. Ma'ro had learned quickly to put up with Hummiph's clingyness - the simourv was still young, after all, he would out-grow it in time. If he did not out-grow it on his own, then perhaps Yukimori would convince him; the hound was less apt to put up with the simourv's neediness as he grew - perhaps the great blue beast was still a pup, but even pups needed to learn their place in the pack. The dog didn't like that Hummiph insisted upon sleeping with the Master, it had been fine when he was a little pup, but now he was much too big! But the Master had not dissuaded it, and even if she disliked it, she couldn't bring herself to actively go against the Master's wishes. But Yukimori was a keen hound, and she found ways to work around these problems. The dog had quickly become aware that the Master awoke when the great red bird flew overhead, and she had taken to listening for the sound of its wings.

This morning, as with most mornings since she had become aware of the correlation, Yukimori's keen ears heard Seronaph's approach well before the simourv chose to call down to his sleeping charges. Of course, Yukimori herself was not aware of this call, merely that the sound of wings beating so close overhead meant that it was time to awake. The hound rose from her place on the floor beside the bed, yawned and stretched leisurely, and then, with these morning rituals completed, she began to bark. Yukimori was usually a very quiet dog, she did not bark when she spotted prey, and only ever really yipped short noises in play. She had been taught to bark, however, when there was need for alarm. She used this bark now, a piercing noise, high and sharp and wavering - half howl, really - just as she used this sound near every morning now. The sound rebounded off the far walls and high ceiling of their chamber, echoing back in a chorus of howls that might even be heard outside of their own room.

While they had grown used to this rude awakening, the newest bluepair still awoke with a start. Ma'ro sat up abruptly, hissing a sharp command to cease at Yukimori. The dog was prompt in quieting, sitting back on her haunches and wagging her tail in one slow sweep - however, nearly as the echoes died Seronaph's voice assaulted the bluepair, calling them to their lessons. Ma'ro groaned, and nudged at the ball of blue fluff curled tight beside him. "Up, Hummiph, we have five minutes," Ma'ro pushed at the tightly curled lump again, before moving to extricate himself from the bed. Hummiph had only curled more tightly about himself at Yukimori's wake-up call, digging his claws into the bedding and whining softly. He didn't want to go! He never wanted to go, he hated going out to the lessons, hated being out in the light, being stared at. The blue wanted to stay here, wanted to stay warm and safe and comfortable with His. He only whined all the more when His began to move, lifting his paws up to cling to the pale man only to be pushed back off as His got up to dress for the day.

We can train in here can't we? I don't want to go out! It... It's so bright and hot and... Hummiph's quiet voice quavered. It wasn't that he wanted to shirk his duties, no, but... but... Ma'ro wouldn't allow him, anyway. The pale man may not have enjoyed it anymore than he did, but he refused to stay. He only looked at Hummiph as the blue whimpered and whined, pulling on his shirt and smearing an herbal salve onto his exposed skin to prevent the burns the sun would try to incur upon him. Hummiph whimpered one final time, then crawled down from his perch on the bed to nuzzle at His' legs. He didn't enjoy the hot days because of his dark feathers, but for Ma'ro it was worse, and still he would go out. He knew he should be more like His, but it was hard...

The blue pair left their Eyrie, arriving nearly on time - certainly among the first to arrive. Yukimori followed behind them at a sedate pace. The hound had grown more and more accustomed to the giant birds, and she certainly didn't enjoy being locked up in their room when her packmates were out doing things. Besides, someone needed to look out for the giant blue pup, keep him in line and make certain the other strange giant pups knew that he was part of her pack. Hummiph still skulked the entire walk from their room to where K'ean and Seronaph waited, crouched low and walking near on Ma'ro's heels - the albino's shadow had certainly grown since those first few days - still, Hummiph didn't scrape his belly on the floor anymore when he walked, which was a good sign.

Outside, Yukimori settled to one side of Ma'ro's feet and Hummiph sat at the other, curling his tail about both His and the dog. As they listened to K'ean and Seronaph's directions, Hummiph slowly slouched lower and lower, his ears pinning back against his feathery skull. He didn't like this. They would have to separate? And then Seronaph demonstrated what he wanted them to do, and Hummiph ducked behind his, whining. He couldn't do that! Everyone would look at him! Can't I go with Mine? I can run! I'm... I'm sure I can run! His voice drifted up to the giant red, whisper-hoarse and soft, and he curled his tail more tightly about Ma'ro and Yukimori.

"Hummiph, if you run with me, you'll be the only one running. The others will be here..." Ma'ro knelt and murmured to the hatchling, stroking his ears. The blue, still the smallest of his peers, 'though only slightly smaller than Clymeph by this point, froze briefly as this dawned on him. But... then, can you stay? He nudged his black beak against Ma'ro's legs, whimpering softly. "Master K'ean said we must run, shadow," he murmured again, smoothing the feathers just at the base of the simourv's beak. "But I can have Yukimori stay with you...?"

The dog's ears pricked as she heard her name, and she lifted her head from her paws, blinking at the pair. The Master was talking to her. But what was he saying? Was he saying play? He gestured to the simourv as he spoke, so... play with the blue pup? She rose slowly to her feet and stretched before taking up a play-bow, and yipped at the blue pup. Play?