25th of Ymiden, 716
"Look, I'm not getting on that thing's back. Has it even had a rider before?"
"Yes you are, no it hasn't, and this is part of your job, not just cleaning out the stables and occasionally feeding it. You're not a stable-hand, although most are forgiven for assuming otherwise."
"You planning on demoting me, is that it?"
"Oh, don't tempt me. The only reason I don't is because we're running surprisingly low on volunteers willing to try and feed a hungry Jacadon. Well, that and the fact that you're not half-bad at working with the animals, you know, when you actually try it," Poppy said, tightening the midriff straps of the training harness around the juvenile Volareon that would be their student for the late afternoon and giving them an experimental tug. She wasn't incorrect, but there wasn't much evidence to say that Nir'weis success was anything more than blind luck mixed with a healthy dose of quick-thinking and circumstantial intuition. This was all because somewhere in last season, he'd calmed a Volareon enough to bring it and its untrained rider safely to the ground before they had to break out the shovel and scrape Ayla's remains off the fields. Apparently that meant he was competent enough to take a more predominant role in the riding and combat training of the 'new additions', that would soon be paired with their respective fresh-faced Skyriders.
It was almost funny when he looked at it from a different perspective. Although it was mandatory to have proficient knowledge in the art of caring for one's own mount, it wasn't considered as important to know how to train them. Sure, they flew in formation and rode their chosen animal into battle but, with the obvious exception of the Jacadon due to their tight bond, they didn't train their own Volareon from the beginning. They weren't the ones that accustomed the beasts to the company of humans, nor battle-trained them to stand strong in the face of danger, against their natural instincts to flee. He didn't doubt that there were some who took their place seriously and decided to take a more wholesome view on the upbringing of their chosen Volareon but for the majority, there was a whole team hidden away behind their shining armour and proud beasts, blacksmiths, leatherworkers, animal handlers, squires and who knew else. None of them would ever get the glory, but without even one of them, the Skyriders wouldn't be anything close to what they were today.
Which was why the mounting pressures being forced down on the Lodge were so damn frustrating. It was as if not only were some of these Majors, the more recently-promoted and inexperienced soldiers just coming to grips with their new status, were completely out of touch with the reality of the situation. Always they asked for more Volareons, thinking that if they threw enough money and shouted loud enough, all of the issues would just vanish. Raising and training domesticated Volareon was a hard task, though; taking them out of the wild for use by the military took even longer. No matter how much money was thrown around, they still lacked the manpower to process the Volareon and keep their training up to the high standards of the Skyriders. The fits of rage of the Jacadon had claimed the lives of more than a few handlers in the past years, he'd been told, and there was still no explanation for these wild bursts, nor any suggestions on how to prevent them. Even the Volareons themselves had claimed lives in the past, whether through attacking their handlers or by tipping too far during aerial training, sending their rider to a splattery death - just as Ayla had learned not too long ago.
If there was ever a better reason to avoid riding an untrained Volareon, it was that. "I'd prefer to work with the animals from down here on the ground, if it's all the same to you." Poppy finished tightening the straps on an incredibly complex-looking saddle filled with intricate buckles and special knee-high slots for the legs; he supposed this was why they were often custom-made for a perfect fit on the fully-grown Volareon. When she turned, she smiled that heart-warming smile that was flashed so often one could accurately class it as just a natural feature of her face.
"Look, we'll start out slow. Stick to the ground for now and then work our way up to low-altitude flight with no obstacles. I'll take you through the whole thing and nothing will go wrong, I promise. Besides, if you fall, I can catch you," she tried to reassure Nir'wei. It didn't work very well. For all the expertise she held, Poppy wasn't the most athletic of military associates. He doubted she could hold his weight at all, let alone catch it from the air. But, how could he resist that smile?
"Look, I'm not getting on that thing's back. Has it even had a rider before?"
"Yes you are, no it hasn't, and this is part of your job, not just cleaning out the stables and occasionally feeding it. You're not a stable-hand, although most are forgiven for assuming otherwise."
"You planning on demoting me, is that it?"
"Oh, don't tempt me. The only reason I don't is because we're running surprisingly low on volunteers willing to try and feed a hungry Jacadon. Well, that and the fact that you're not half-bad at working with the animals, you know, when you actually try it," Poppy said, tightening the midriff straps of the training harness around the juvenile Volareon that would be their student for the late afternoon and giving them an experimental tug. She wasn't incorrect, but there wasn't much evidence to say that Nir'weis success was anything more than blind luck mixed with a healthy dose of quick-thinking and circumstantial intuition. This was all because somewhere in last season, he'd calmed a Volareon enough to bring it and its untrained rider safely to the ground before they had to break out the shovel and scrape Ayla's remains off the fields. Apparently that meant he was competent enough to take a more predominant role in the riding and combat training of the 'new additions', that would soon be paired with their respective fresh-faced Skyriders.
It was almost funny when he looked at it from a different perspective. Although it was mandatory to have proficient knowledge in the art of caring for one's own mount, it wasn't considered as important to know how to train them. Sure, they flew in formation and rode their chosen animal into battle but, with the obvious exception of the Jacadon due to their tight bond, they didn't train their own Volareon from the beginning. They weren't the ones that accustomed the beasts to the company of humans, nor battle-trained them to stand strong in the face of danger, against their natural instincts to flee. He didn't doubt that there were some who took their place seriously and decided to take a more wholesome view on the upbringing of their chosen Volareon but for the majority, there was a whole team hidden away behind their shining armour and proud beasts, blacksmiths, leatherworkers, animal handlers, squires and who knew else. None of them would ever get the glory, but without even one of them, the Skyriders wouldn't be anything close to what they were today.
Which was why the mounting pressures being forced down on the Lodge were so damn frustrating. It was as if not only were some of these Majors, the more recently-promoted and inexperienced soldiers just coming to grips with their new status, were completely out of touch with the reality of the situation. Always they asked for more Volareons, thinking that if they threw enough money and shouted loud enough, all of the issues would just vanish. Raising and training domesticated Volareon was a hard task, though; taking them out of the wild for use by the military took even longer. No matter how much money was thrown around, they still lacked the manpower to process the Volareon and keep their training up to the high standards of the Skyriders. The fits of rage of the Jacadon had claimed the lives of more than a few handlers in the past years, he'd been told, and there was still no explanation for these wild bursts, nor any suggestions on how to prevent them. Even the Volareons themselves had claimed lives in the past, whether through attacking their handlers or by tipping too far during aerial training, sending their rider to a splattery death - just as Ayla had learned not too long ago.
If there was ever a better reason to avoid riding an untrained Volareon, it was that. "I'd prefer to work with the animals from down here on the ground, if it's all the same to you." Poppy finished tightening the straps on an incredibly complex-looking saddle filled with intricate buckles and special knee-high slots for the legs; he supposed this was why they were often custom-made for a perfect fit on the fully-grown Volareon. When she turned, she smiled that heart-warming smile that was flashed so often one could accurately class it as just a natural feature of her face.
"Look, we'll start out slow. Stick to the ground for now and then work our way up to low-altitude flight with no obstacles. I'll take you through the whole thing and nothing will go wrong, I promise. Besides, if you fall, I can catch you," she tried to reassure Nir'wei. It didn't work very well. For all the expertise she held, Poppy wasn't the most athletic of military associates. He doubted she could hold his weight at all, let alone catch it from the air. But, how could he resist that smile?
