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C'tis nodded to his fellow Warden and turned to leave the practice ring. He ached from exertion and sweat was making his shirt stick to his back, a good session. After returning his weighted wooden practice blade to the rack he stripped off his shirt and headed over to a nearby water butt to splash his face and scoop up handfuls of water to quench his thirst.

It had been a good day so far today but an odd one, it wasn't a rest day and there was no Fall expected yet he wasn't in wing drills. Having volunteered to join a newly forming wing had left him in limbo, he wasn't really sure what to do with the rest of today now he'd done as much in the way of weapons drills as was sensible. Go for a fly with Mal and practice some manoeuvres? Yes, that sounded good, but he'd give himself a bit of a break first.

Malcarreth said to his rider, rising from his sand wallow to stretch out before heading to pick him up from the training area. Malcarreth replied,

C'tis sighed and put his sweaty shirt back on, he was glad that things were moving along but he could have done with a break before having to act semi-polite to his new fearless leader. No rest for the wicked. Malcarreth landed a short way off and C'tis gave his face a lash splash, splashed some water over his shirt too to cool himself off better, and climbed up onto the blue's back.

As it was only a little skim over the rooftops to the wing practice field in question there was no need to bother with riding straps; Malcarreth made the take off gentle and the subsequent landing light. Once the tiny blue had trotted to a halt C'tis slid lightly to the ground. He'd heard that Arlii was a decent sort and the wing motto she'd picked appealed to him so perhaps this wouldn't be too bad.

Kyrieko

Well, weren't they quite the cheery pair? C'tis nodded to Arlii and reached out to clasp her hand firmly but without any attempt to grip-crush, he wanted to get along well in his new wing so being obtuse would be stupid. "C'tis and Malcarreth," he replied, shrugging and adding; "not that there's any need for that either. So, leader of a brand new wing, how does that feel then?" Was she cocky? Had her promotion given her an inflated opinion of herself, or had she always had one perhaps? Maybe wingleaders did he found; ego and a desire for recognition was probably what drove a lot of them to try to get into such a shaffing unpleasant job, that or a frantic desire to prove their worth.

<> Malcarreth pointed out to Erinaeth without rancour and with a faintly amused huff of breath. <> As he spoke Malcarreth looked Erinaeth over thoughtfully. She was scarred from the wars like so many but she had fewer fresher scars than he, unsurprising given their respective ranks. If a Warden didn't have a good scar or two to brag of it would be difficult for them to be taken seriously, and no amount of 'well I dodged' would prevent that. Not to say that he got himself beaten up on purpose, only that he was quite pleased that the hits he had taken had healed well and scarred prettily.

What was that sly little smile for? C'tis' brows knit in a brief frown of suspicion but he opted not to mention the woman's fleeting expression, she wanted to be mysterious then that was fine but he wasn't going to rise to it. "Why would times changing change our passion for our duty?" he asked instead. "Surely opening opportunities to all would make those of us who didn't used to have so many options more passionate if anything? Unless you're referring to the bitter sort who now actually have to compete with a much wider playing field?" Or it was a stupid platitude/attempt to be inspiring that had fallen totally flat on its face, that was also possible.

"I'd agree that if we can't work together then we make a piss poor group, especially as all of us have come out of wings that operate just fine. As for your question, either I don't follow or the answer is pretty obvious." C'tis shrugged. "By which I mean I expect us to be 'working hard and equally with passion for our duties'. I expect to be respected and to offer respect in return at least professionally - I don't promise to like all of my soon to be comrades - and I like to hope that we'll listen to one another, avoid nepotism, that sort of thing."

<> Malcarreth responded with a slight shrug of his wings. <> That and the fact that transferring now meant that they would fly in the same wing as Rochelle and Kibeth again.

C'tis nodded when Arlii said it was a good point, it was and he was pleased that she wasn't afraid to acknowledge that. If she had a fragile and or oversized ego she would have contradicted him for the sake of it. "Never had a problem speaking my mind," he replied with a smirky little grin. "It's got me into plenty of trouble in the past but I've always thought it best not to honey-coat the truth. Glad you agree, and I can promise you you'll get nothing but my honest opinions. I can live with the gap in wing drills, I can pick up extra Warden work to keep me out of the wrong kind of trouble and in the right sort."

<> Malcarreth agreed with a snort. <>

"Well good," C'tis nodded, "I can't stand people tiptoeing around issues." So far it was sounding as though they'd get along just fine professionally at any rate, he couldn't speak for any personal relationship. It was probably better not to have one with your superiors anyway, things got messy if you did or at least they had the potential to. "And of course," he snorted, "I mean it'd be a bit stupid if I didn't tell my wingleader when I was going to be away right? Our work's usually scheduled around wing duties but if there's something big on I might have to ask to be excused from some drills, we never miss a Fall though." So long as they weren't injured of course.

<> Malcarreth suggested with a soft rumble of a chuckle. <>

"Hu," C'tis grunted and shrugged, "true, deliberately forgetful sometimes and sometimes people are just incompetent. Good job we've got fewer of them leading us now, not that all the old biases are dead yet. I'm sure you haven't failed to notice how many bronzes and silvers are among our leaders?" But he wasn't answering to one of them so he cared a bit less than he once had, plus there was room for change and he almost dared to believe that change would go in the right direction.

"And yes," C'tis shrugged, "I'd not have signed on if I minded taking the risk on your untried competence. I can only assume that the rest of the wing feels the same, unless they've just hopped on hoping that because you're new they can take you for a ride and have an easy time of it." C'tis raised an eyebrow as he spoke, he wasn't going to say it aloud but he hoped she'd pick up on 'you're not going to do that, right?'

Malcarreth grinned and chuckled. <>

"A party?" C'tis echoed, his other eyebrow rising to join the first in an expression of mild and perhaps mildly pleased surprise. "Well never let it be said I turn down the chance at a party. Perhaps I'll even bring my harp to entertain everyone." There had been a time when he wouldn't have considered playing up public for even a moment in case somebody questioned his manliness but, now that he was actually a lot more confident in himself, so far as he was concerned they were welcome to question and he was prepared to prove if necessary.