Weyrlinghood: Month 6

Firestone and Flaming

Firestone is sent to the Weyr from mines and quarries that exist specifically for this purpose. It is a lightweight, porous, phosphine-rich, gray-brown rock. The miners send firestone of varying quality to the Weyr, but no firestone with major impurities is used, as such impurities could harm the dragons.

Firestone is roughly graded into three qualities. More porous, darker-hued stone is of high quality and contains a great deal of phosphine; denser, lighter-hued stone is less phosphine-rich and produces a weaker flame. Each quality of firestone is further broken into three sizes of chunks. Small chunks can be held easily in one hand; medium chunks fit comfortably in two hands but may be thrown in one; the largest chunks are challenging to throw one-handed. Almost all weyrling dragons will start out with small chunks, but eventually they'll take chunks according to the size of their dragons' mouths.

When you first begin trying to help your dragons learn to flame, you'll be feeding them lower or middling quality firestone. The reasons for this are twofold - the better stuff is reserved for fighting Thread, and the lesser stuff produces shorter, less intense flame which is less likely to cause severe 'accidents!'

Flaming is a natural process for dragons, but they must be encouraged to try it the first time. Keep them thinking of swallowing in a 'special way,' directing the crushed stone to their second stomach. Most dragons swallow successfully right away, but some may have a distracted day or get overexcited at some point and swallow a little bit improperly. A few bits of gravel won't hurt, but a large quantity of firestone in the 'food' stomach can cause digestive discomfort for a few days.

After a short time, the stone will react with the chemicals in the dragon's second stomach and form flammable gas. The dragon will be inclined to 'belch' or 'hiccup' this gas up, and as the gas mixes with oxygen in the air it conflagrates. If the dragon inhales they can get a mild burn around the muzzle and tongue, but dragonhide (especially in the mouth area) is meant to withstand extremes of temperature and most burns are merely uncomfortable and require no treatment. More commonly, a dragon may bite his or her tongue while chewing the 'stone. A mild salve is available to soothe this hurt and in extreme cases dragonhealers are prepared to tend wounds.

Weyrlings are called down to the far end of the beach for their first experience flaming. It is an experience that is carefully monitored by the weyrlingmasters, and if at all possible, a Healer and dragonhealer are present just in case. Lessons on the beach, which involve the dragons facing the ocean and producing a jet of flame, continue until each pair can demonstrate an understanding of the length and breadth of flame that a dragon produces.

After flaming, your dragons will eventually feel a need to expel 'ash.' 'Ash' is actually used as a colloquial term for crushed firestone, from which the phosphine has been spent, swimming in the acid soup of the dragon's second stomach makes. It resembles wet gravel and smells pretty bad. There is a special place off of the Weyr bowl - the ashpits - where experienced dragons go to expel ash; inexperienced ones may get caught by surprise and need to suddenly hurk their ash up. If this happens, you'll have to shovel it into a bucket and carry it to the ashpits.

Once a dragon feels comfortable producing flame, lessons will turn toward a game rather like shotput. Weyrlings will throw small, weighted balls, made of wadded and dried grass, into the air and their dragons will attempt to flame them before they land. While weyrlings are instructed to stand by their dragon's side at first, later they may stand well in front of their lifemate, throwing the balls toward rather than away to better simulate the variety of directions that thread or rope may be moving through the air.

As flaming becomes a more and more 'natural' and comfortable activity for the dragons, aerial drills will begin to include ropes and flaming exercises - another layer of complexity in this daily exercise. These drills now take place over empty fields, where missesd rope or an ill-tossed sack of firestone won't have unfortunate results for anyone below.