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The flight continued. In drudgery. Oh, Lerath was spectacular, and it was fantastical to participate it – like being on a great blue leaf swept in up a rainbow of other fanning wings and supple necks, but it was slow, dying dance to V’al’s eyes. He was growing weary on waiting for the queen rider, and would have urged Lerath to some drastic feat were he not waiting for the others to take off (and add to the confusion) – and had Ofelia not pulled a stunt first. He watched the crimson make a bold swooping dive and, tingling at the thought of trying it himself, gave a loud whistle of encouragement to the pair. Lerath echoed him with a roar and feigned a dive of his own – though he only made a mild dip that just barely put a flutter in his rider’s stomach.

In the moments following the crimson was chased down by O’rer’s angry green, and he scoffed in disbelief. O’rer had checked the straps, so there’d been no risk of her falling after all, and without any flips it was ridiculous to think she’d have panicked and startled her dragon to any foolish action. “He’s a withered wherry’s a** of a fool,” he remarked to Lerath, who only rumbled and swooped around the group with an eye tilted upwards.

Without further comment, the pair began to spiral slowly higher, until they were well above the other dragons. I think this might be higher than O’rer wants us to go. Should we break for it.? Lerath glanced over his shoulder, whirling eye implying they should make a break for the sky.

V’al struggled for a moment, then swore loudly into the wind. It was cool up here. How cool could get it? How small could they make the ground? Lerath’s curiosity was highly infectious at the moment, and it was with bitterness that V’al squinted at O’rer’s figure far below. No. Go down. Slowly. We’ll go out later tonight or tomorrow without this coddling nonsense. When Lerath gave a disbelieving rumble or protest, V’al shook his head. If we try tonight we might not even get caught. I’d rather not put up with O’rer’s self-serving rants.

Lerath's further protests were noisy, but the blue angled his wings downward, gliding down at at such a slow angle and speed he hardly seemed willing to give up any altitude.

Showoffs! Daroth called to his rider. The blue, like usual, was a little distance away from the other dragons. Experimentally, now that Hitath and O'rer were distracted, tried to wing sideways and nearly pitched forward his Nasuymi. SORRY!

N'ymi managed to swallow her scream and smack Daroth. You silly blue! By the book! Nothing fancy until we are at that lesson. The weyrling looked around and hoped that O'rer did not see their near mishap. If she had fallen...

I would not let you fall! We will do it just like you say. The blue was sufficiently chastised and now flew is straight lines, taking long curves so that they could go back in the other direction. Pumping his wings, Daroth went a little higher, casting a shadow below them.

Toulonth! Lifth! Come and fly with me, S'in says it's ok!

Ah, of course, 'friend time'. How could Lifth have forgotten? Linnaeth calls to Toulonth and I. I assume you don't mind us flying a bit closer in? Understatement, as it was the riders who were her friends after all. He just tolerated them when he had to.

Of course! We'll see if we can't make a small formation with them perhaps, G'brel thought back, glad to be flying together with her friends. As the pair of them swooped in closer to the brown and green riders, the teen grinned as she had a sudden idea. Oi! Lifth! Ask them if they want to have a small race. Flying straight wasn't any sort of acrobatics after all, and as long as they stayed close to Hitath and didn't get too close to crashing into anyone it wouldn't be breaking any rules.

You're kidding, right?

You would know if I was.

This time the dragon did let out a sigh. Linnaeth, Toulonth, Mine would like to know if you guys are willing to have a small race. Nothing fancy, and without getting too far from Hitath or flying at a level too close to many others, he clarified, thinking the crashing concern quite a legitimate one. Granted, dragons were flying on pretty much all levels right now, but they could adjust their altitude to be on a bit less crowded one.

Sleeth was more than happy to be flying circles--she loved walking in circles, so flying in them was even better! And Hers thought so too!

They had waited patiently for the other colors to get into the air first--Akaya saw the practicality of it rather than taking it as a snub, or enforcement of weyr hierarchy (though it could well be that too). It was a lot easier to get the bigger dragons in the air first and then let the greens fill in the gaps. But finally it was their turn, and Akaya took a deep breath as Sleeth tensed beneath her before they jumped in the air, and then Sleeth's powerful wings took over the task of keeping them aloft. Flying! They were flying! Sleeth was quick and fast even with the added burden of her rider, and they had moved up and over to give those who had yet to get into the air their own space as well.

From then, it had been circles, mostly, but as they were wide laps, Akaya didn't mind much. She was too busy trying to catalog, find precise words for the experience; the better she could describe, then... It's okay to sit back and find the words later too, Sleeth interjected as she beat her wings for a little added height.

Yes, yes, I know, Akaya agreed, resolving to just enjoy flying here now. She stole a glance at the others in the air around them, and had to smile. Everyone certainly seemed to be enjoying themselves--well, some perhaps a bit too much, judging by O'rer's lecturing of the crimsonrider Ofelia. Still, she'd taken a knock to the head earlier, hadn't she? Hopefully she'd be all right...

Her attention wandered back to the others in the air, admiring the other dragons in flight. We make a pretty show, don't we? Sleeth said happily.

Very much so, Akaya agreed.