Seyri had to push her way through the crowd of recruits towards the front in order to see the new mounts. Her height made it difficult to see over many of the other recruits' shoulders, but as soon as she found her way to the front, she was surprised to see such a variety of creatures milling about. They hardly looked restrained. Seyri had been expecting them to be in some kind of makeshift stable or paddock, but there was nothing of the sort for these creatures. They were all just there in the big field wandering aimlessly in the dying light of the dusk.
Their instructions were simple enough: wrangle a mount and train it during their time at the camp. Such a thing was easier said than done, though. Some of the more overzealous recruits were already rushing towards their mount of choice, and Seyri witnessed more than a few injuries as she analyzed the field for an appropriate mount for herself. The first thing she did was immediately dismiss the pegasi - they reminded her far too much of the elegant creatures her siblings rode whenever they had fancy guests over. She knew that she
was going to want a mount with wings, though. Flying had been something she had always wanted to do, but her own wings were useless in that department. Partnering with a creature that could make up for her worst insecurity would be more than ideal. All she had to do was figure out exactly which one would match.
There! About twenty meters away from her stood a graceful
griffin the color of snow dotted with flecks of gray and black. His feathers were of the strength and beauty that Seyri had only dreamed of when she was younger, and his eyes held an old wisdom and pride that she felt she could never fully understand. Still, she took a breath and made a few cautious steps towards him. As soon as she had started moving, the griffin's eyes locked on her as if he knew exactly what she was planning. His wings spread as if he was preparing to take off in flight, so Seyri did the only reasonable thing she could think of and stopped. Averting her eyes from his gaze, she kept her head ducked down and waited a few moments before taking another step forward. It was an old trick she had remembered from some books in her father's library, and as her heart raced in her chest she could only hope those books hadn't lied to her. Another step, then another, yet she didn't hear the sound of flapping wings leaving her behind. Soon enough, she found herself close enough to the griffin to reach out and touch him. Cautiously she held out her hand and waited for the fate this creature had decided for her. She wasn't stupid enough to try to wrangle him with a rope like she had seen some of the other recruits try to do with many of the other creatures on the field. That kind of tactic worked better with regular horses and some of the smaller dragons. A griffin required more respect unless you wanted your hand bitten off before you could ever touch one of them. Seyri's heart skipped a beat at the thought; she definitely didn't want her time away from home cut short because a griffin decided that her hand was a symbol of a ready-to-eat meal instead of a symbol of the future partnership she was hoping for. The seconds ticked away at a painstakingly slow rate, but eventually Seyri felt it. The pointed edge of the beak pressed against the back of the hand she had outstretched, gently guiding her had toward his gracefully feathered neck and shoulder. He palm ended up resting on his shoulder, but her breaths were coming in short inhales and exhales. She should have partnered up with someone for this part. The griffin appeared to have accept her presence for the time being, but that was subject to change in the event of any false moves Seyri could pull. This was much further than Seyri had ever thought she could go. She gave a few gentle pats and rubs to the feathers then started leaning more and more of her weight closer to him until he started to make nervous movements of his own. His rear legs began to prance and his head swerved to look back at her with cold eyes. Seyri couldn't tell if she had done something but she put her back at her sides and her gaze dropped back toward the ground. A few more aching moments passed by before Seyri could feel the feathers of his wings pressed against her back, urging her back towards the body of the griffin. She was now standing directly at the griffin's side. He gracefully lowered his shoulders to an appropriate height for her to put one leg over and mount him properly. Seyri felt a new flush of pride as her griffin stood back up with her proudly mounted atop his back. It was quite the achievement, but the griffin had taken a liking to her meant a lot to Seyri. She gripped a few feathers on his neck, not too hard for him to make a fuss, but remained still, uninterested in whatever was supposed to happen next. Now that Seyri was on his back she had expected him to take off into the air and show her the world that her broken wings never could have. Something like that was far too romantic for this play, though, so Seyri remained seated atop her new griffin and decided to wait for whatever was to come next. There was no use in trying to make demands to a griffin (that was just asking for death), so that left her with waiting for an oder soldier to come along and explain what happens next, or simply wait for her new partner to decide where he wanted to go. She knew it was going to take a long time before they had developed enough of a partnership for him to listen to her commands. In the meantime, Seyri had already decided on a name for the creature
"Fannor," she said softly, "Your name with me is Fannor." She paused for a second as she remembered things from another book. "I shall call you Fannor, but it is your choice to respond to it if it is to your liking." As much as she tried to keep her voice steady and even, she nearly tore off her calm façade. The grifin's only response was a low rumble in a chest, one that Seyri assumed meant approval. "Fannor, then." The rumbles echoed in Seyri's ears once more. Good, now that that was taken care of, Seyri was back at being at a loss. Every move she was thinking of was bound to get her kicked off. A griffin was no horse, so just how was she supposed to approach the actual way of
flying with him?
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midnight305 - I added a hyperlink to a picture of the griffin to the italicized first mention of griffin in this post just so you can see what kind of creature I'm talking about in particular. Sorry if this post is a little weird. I was pretty tired when I wrote it.))