Xanadu Weyr - Forest's Edge
While the forest is thick for a long while, in time it begins to thin, as the ground becomes rockier to the south western stretches of the Weyr's land. The trees are further apart, and the rocks become larger, before rocky outcroppings seem to be more prevalent than the trees around them. As the hills begin to gain in height, the shruberry upon them become more stunted.
What's this, though! It seems with all the recent earthshakes from the south, the ground has begun to realign itself, and one hillside has shifted, revealing an opening into a small cave. At least, that's what it appears, as the whole is just large enough for an average sized man to sneak through.
Verina glances up to Janelle, with a slight frown then a glance to the blue that is settled down upon her. There's another frown before she looks up again, and faintly speaks. "Do you want a proper blindfold? Gauze can rip. It'll hurt her eyes." To the point, as always and then with her wrapped hand, she pushes Vesk's head away. "You had enough."
Jansk grunts some form of a sound, muzzle lifting slightly as she sniffs at the air. Janelle, cradling the wher hatchling close, nods to Verina as she nears her. "That'd be good. I wasn't exactly expecting to actually have one to bond, so didn't have anything quite ready."
Hyrlon and Hysk emerge from their own den, Hysk's eyes covered with what looks like two long black spots. Hysk, sensing the food, goes running towards the other two, but slowing up and giving an awkward chirp, may I join? Hyrlon chuckles at the blue's behavior, then waves to the girls, "How are yours doing? Hysk won't even eat without permission."
Verina tilts a look to Janelle, very carefully before she nods a slow agreement. "I'll get you one." And, she's settling Vesk down with ease before she rises again and moves into her darkened den. She emerges later and then offers the blindfold out to Janelle. "Best get used to the dark, we'll have to have darkened areas in the mines for the whers to work from." Then Hyrlon is given a very slow look and then to his wher before she settles down beside Vesk, who is hiding against her. "Vesk eats fine." A pause, and perhaps a slight scowl. "He is shy."
Janelle mentions her thanks, as she places the blindfold over the gauze. "Thanks. And the dark doesn't bother me, so much.. Though,now that I have Jansk, how much is going to change? I *was* focusing on search and rescue.."
Hyrlon nods to Hysk, who steps forward, bows politely to the other two, then begins eating of a third bowl of food as Hyrlon rests next to him, one hand on the bulgy blue, "I've been in the mines since I was 10… I'll manage." He nods to Janelle, "Whers are ideal for search and rescue. How this little gentleman affects my specialty in safety and management is yet to be seen. I suppose paperwork can be done whenever I can get a glow, but whers belong in the mines helping and protecting."
Janelle Grins a bit, shifting slightly to leave Hyrlon plenty of comfortable room. She grabs a chunk of meat, offering it to Jansk quo quite happily takes it. After squirming briefly, Janelle lets the little green wher down, before she quite awkwardly lumbers on short legs towards the other two. "This is Jansk, and so far, she seems quite social."
Verina shrugs, "not much. Whers are good for search and rescue, once they get older." She points out softly, "believe they could be similar to dragons in the aspect of seeing through their eyes. It's something to explore once we get them into the mines and get them working. They are able to see things we are not. I assume that you will be able to do search and rescue. They are more capable of finding the things we would miss. Gasses that are poisonous for one." Her voice is very studious, firm and she's giving Hyrlon a slow look. "You are no different than any who have grown up in the mines. The dark is still hard to see in, you do not live your life in the darkness. With the whers, you will have to learn to. I believe one glow is not harsh enough to damage their eyes. It is the artificial lighting that hurts them. We will have to readjust the lights already in the mine." Vesk is unlike the others, he is not moving from Verina, even as she shoves him away towards the others, he comes right back and pushes his head into her side. "Vesk is going to prove to be slow to adjust to his adaptation into the mine work and with others. He is not properly seeing his task ahead by his actions of hiding."
Hyrlon gives Verina an odd, sideways look, but says nothing, instead focusing on hand-feeding Hysk for a few moments. He idly wonders if this is the apprentice Satoris mentioned when he first arrived. Hysk finishes several more bites of food before cheeping at Jansk, how do you do? Hyrlon nods to the little green, "Hello Jansk. This is Hysk." He smiles at Vesk but speaks to Verina, "Vesk is very cute. I'm sure he'll come into his own eventually." He gives a decisive nod, "I, too, look forward to discovering just what abilities these little beauties have."
Janelle nods some, and grins. "That's good." Jansk warbles towards both Hysk and Hyrlon, with a grin. "If I remember correctly, it's the heat that they see, and that's why the sun's light hurts them so much. Because th eheat that originates from it is so overwhelming. 'Least, I'm pretty sure that's what the text book was saying."
Verina isn't affected by the look, if only returning it with one of her own. It is simple, blank, and unmoving before she nods her head slightly. "He is cute, if you will. His coloring is nice, and he will be a healthy one. It is safe to assume that he will be strong. It will be tuning his shyness away and adapting him into a more working mind that will bring out the strength." A slow nod, "we will be able to full explore what they are capable of. It would be helpful to the exhibit that we have for them. Then we will be fully able to understand the whers and better able to provide information to those who do wish to take on a wher. But, again.. You could always give up and turn your wher to another if you no longer wish to accept this task." Though, she's rambling on now before she nods agreement to Janelle. "They see in heat, when they see people they see the body heat. Gas has it's own heat so while we would not see it, they would. I believe they would be able to tell when a person is dying because the body does go colder in death."
Hyrlon nods, "You're both right. Though the old wherhandler back home, Roland, claimed that they also smelled the gas. 'Swhat he taught my brother, anyhow." He shrugs, "We'll learn as we go, though hopefully Kanta will be able to help since she's had Kask for a while." He gives his blue a gentle noogie, "Wouldn't give this beautiful boy up for the world." Only a miner would find the blue beautiful, luckily, it was what he was.
Janelle nods a bit, "With bein gless able to see in light, they'd have heightened senses in at least one other area. But never, have I been *this* close to one before. Let alone three. And to call her my own." She just shake sher head a bit, and grins, feeding Jansk another chunk of meat.
Verina nods slowly, "we would be less likely to smell it, as our noses aren't as capable. And by the time we did smell it.. We would be dead." Simple enough as she shifts Vesk away again, from her side but he returns there and plants himself right up against her. "I am certain that learning as we go would be better, that way we are more capable of remembering than if someone told us. And, our whers would be more capable of determining actions which are helpful on their own. If they are guided through everything then when something happens that they have not learned, they would not know what to do. It is better to tune them to prepare for something they do not know will happen because procedures cannot always be mimicked in hazardous situations." A glance down towards Vesk and she nods. "It is hard to come by whers. And we have so many in one place, now."
Hyrlon nods, "I mostly meant helping with bonding exercises. The closer we are to them the better we'll be able to communicate." He glances around, then pops another chunk of meat in Hysk's mouth, "I think it's wonderful to have so many in a new mine. Gives us great opportunities." He resists mention the high death rate amongst wherhandlers.
Janelle nods a bit, "Mom 'n Dad's going to be real proud, if word hasn't reached them in the mines already."Gaze slips down to Jansk, running fingers over the crest of her flat head, lightly over the lop-sided headknob, and down her back.
Verina nods her head, "bonding would be good. I am not sure how they will be when they grow, but I am sure we could form a team with the whers. We too, need to bond so we can communicate. Like the whers, we will need less words because words in certain situations could prove to be fatal. If we could communicate through movements and growls, like the whers.. That would be better. We would need to adapt to our wher's communications as well. Say we are trapped in a gas chamber, we would not be able to talk. We would need to be focusing on breathing in as little as possible." A glance down towards Vesk and she presses her lips together. "I imagine my mother has already heard." Though, the sound of her voice is.. Less than cheerful.
Hyrlon chuckles, glancing at Verina, "Sounds like a special project worthy of your skills." Just then Vein bursts from /between/ and drops a folded up piece of parchment into Hyrlon's lap. He folds the paper open and chuckles again, "They're very proud of me… but how come I only got a blue when two of my brothers have browns?" He rolls his eyes, "They don't get the difference between whers and dragons."
Janelle shrugs a bit, and grins softly. "It wil lb ean experienec, and an adventure.. And most deffinitely and important, a learning experience. And we will all get through it how we need to, and grow stronger in ourselves for it."
Verina lifts her brow slightly. "It should be something we should all do. To communicate better, should the mine have a room collapse. We must be ready." A quirk of her brow, "you could have gotten gold." She points out then shifts Vesk once more from her side where he does not return this time. Instead, he's on her legs now. "We all need to grow stronger. For the whers and the mine. And the future mines."
Hyrlon nods to both ladies, "That's quite true." Hysk gives a polite little burp before resting his head on Hyrlon's lap with a soft sigh, causing the leathery journeyman to smile kindly down at the knobby blue head and stroke it gently, "We all need to toughen." He lowers an uniterprable gaze on Verina, "But you tend to ramble for someone who thinks silent communication will be so important. It might do us all some good to spend the next few days talking as little as possible until with can hear the thoughts of the whers in our minds."
Janelle hmms softly, glancing from Jansk to Hyrlon, "That's an interesting idea.." She scoops ahand under Jansk, lifting her up as she lays herself onto her back. Placing the little wher on her chest, she looks up at the greenling. "Very interesting.."
Verina keeps a blank look, "that is true, but the explanations are sometimes needed by those who don't know of the topic." There's a moment of silence. "I don't believe that the whers communicate by thoughts mentally." Nothing more than that as her hand moves to rest on Vesk, but not in the loving cuddly way.
Hyrlon strokes the blue's head some more, looking into his… well… blindfold since the eyes are covered. "Roland once told me that Rosk didn't talk to him so much as share with him. Not like dragons, certainly, but more like flits… empathic." He raises his other hand to stroke Vein, then gently moves the tiny bronze to meet eye-to-eye with Hysk. The two sniff eachother, then give a pair of cheeps and return to their given spots on their person. "I once even heard tell that they could talk to dragons."
Verina hms softly, "that makes sense." And then she's looking to Vesk, carefully. "I imagine that.. They could talk to dragons. I am not sure how." But then, she's slowly rising and lifting Vesk. "He seems to be tired." But, there's no indication of how she knows or why she has said this as she moves into Vesk's den.