[REPOST] Class is in session

“Come on, little one. Time for the lesson.”

The smooth keratin of a beak nudged Flint awake, dragging him from the depths of a rather pleasant slumber.

He groaned as he pulled each limb out from under himself. His muscles quaked and quivered as he stretched them out in front of himself, as slow to awaken as the rest of him. While he leisurely blinked sleep out of his eyes, he faintly registered the fact that there were other hatchlings passing by in front of him. No doubt following their caretaker, he thought belatedly, which he should have been doing. However, he hadn’t quite gotten there yet so he just nodded to Hazard as he stumbled by after nearly tripping over a strand of grass.

By the time Flint had some sort of bearings about him, the group had long since passed. He heaved out a sigh as he pushed himself to his feet and started after them.

The dry, dusty ground of the scrubland made it easy to see the very obvious trail the others had left behind. Even though so many pairs of feet had obscured plenty of the individual prints, he could still see the majority of them just fine. Some stood out more than others, such as their caretakers’ heavier pads, making it even easier to follow after them.

After rounding a few stands of the brittle grass that was native to the region, he came upon the other hatchlings and their caretakers for the day.

While some might be filled with relief and joy at the sight of their egg-layers, Flint was not. He winced whenever he saw Breeze, and visibly flinched when her head snapped around and her gaze narrowed at him.

“Come on! You’ve nearly missed it,” she snapped impatiently.

Flint hurried over to the scattered group of hatchlings that stood in front of her. He pushed his way in from the back, squeezing past a distracted Stump and accidentally pushing Hazard over on to his side on his way by.

While the other hatchling squawked in protest behind him as they tried to get back up, Flint hurried forward and settled in beside Pierce near the front of the group.

Breeze gave the commotion a stern look to silence everyone, and then immediately started in on the day’s lesson.

“Today, you will be learning about dirt baths.”

A mixture of curious and confused murmurs started up at once, earning the group of hatchlings another a stern look. Most of them quieted back down, but not all.

“Why?”

An all too familiar voice asked behind him. Flint didn’t have to turn to look in order to know that it was Meadowsweet asking. Apparently, neither did Breeze.

Without even sparing her a look, Breeze said, ”Dirt baths are a very important survival tool, especially in the wet seasons. Though they might not seem like it, they are excellent protection from a number of dangers. The most important being the sun and insects.”

While she explained the basics of the lesson, the other adult on caretaker duty milled around aimlessly. Flint didn’t recognize them, but he found their pale blue feathers to be kind of distracting. They were so unlike all the other members of the herd he’d seen, who generally seemed to have earthy tones.

Breeze’s voice snapped him back to the present, and the lesson at hand.

“Now, I am going to demonstrate how to perform a dirt bath. Then, I am going to explain some of their specific benefits. That way, you can see how they work in action.”

The hatchlings nodded eagerly and restlessly began to jostle each other in order to get the best view of the demonstration. While they pushed and shoved each other, Breeze took a few steps backward. After sucking in a deep breath, she leaned over to one side, simultaneously tucking her legs in as she dropped down and rolled on to her back.

The group gasped and then fell silent as they watched their caretaker flop and roll around in the dirt. A cloud of dust quickly formed around her, causing the hatchlings closest to her to begin to sneeze. Flint and Pierce were two of those affected, each of them sneezing several times before the dust finally settled.

“Okay,” Breeze said before she immediately had to stop to cough.

“Sometimes,” she coughed again, “This can happen. It’s totally normal.”

In an attempt to clear the air a bit more, she dipped her head and swept her crested crown back and forth a few times. The air stirred, and the remaining dust motes finally seemed to float away and then settle.

“All of you can now see how the dirt baths work. You thoroughly roll around in an area such as this, open, with few vegetation growing, and plenty of soft, barely trampled dirt. When you do, the dirt coats your back and sides, forming a protective layer.”

Breeze trotted back up to the group and turned so that they could all see the way the dirt covered her.

“This layer will guard you from the harsh rays of the sun, and the annoying, and possibly dangerous, bites of insects. Now, how about you all try out your first dirt bath?”

While Flint and Pierce separated to find their own spots for a bath, Meadowsweet’s voice piped up behind them.

“B-But, why? I wanted to know what else they were good for…”

“Come, now, Meadowsweet. It’s time to try out the lesson. We can talk more about it later,” Breeze answered, trying her best to be patient with the curious hatchling.

Flint jerked to a halt in front of Hazard and Stump when the brightly colored of the two unknowingly flopped right on top of the other.

“Hazard! Watch where you’re going!” Stump exclaimed.

“Sorry!” Hazard said as he scrambled up to his feet. He promptly ducked his head and ran away, almost running into Meadowsweet in his haste.

Once Stump had rolled back on to her back, Flint moved on in search of his own spot.

 Finally, the perfect spot appeared in front of him. None of the other hatchlings were close by, Flint made sure to check before he laid down. Once he was settled on to his back, he slowly began to twist from side to side.

A small cloud of dust began to form around him after a few seconds. Flint did his best to continue to roll about, but it became difficult once he started sneezing again. Within seconds, he was forced to stop and catch his breath.

It was difficult to see how the others were doing. All Flint could really make out were several clouds of dust around him, each with a hatchling-shaped shadow within.

Just as he spotted Breeze moving toward him, on her way through checking on each hatchling, a shadow enveloped him. Flint scrambled to his feet and spun around to face off against the other caretaker.

They absently glanced at him on their way by, unaware of the fact that they had startled him.

Once everyone’s new protective layers had been approved, Breeze gathered their attention with a brisk sweep of her tail.

“You all seem to understand the importance of dirt baths. Anyone that has any questions may now come ask me. The rest of you may go about your days.”

Before she was even done speaking, Meadowsweet was on her feet and on her way to the front of the group. Flint wasn’t surprised to see her pass by. In fact, he’d be more surprised to see her not do so. She always had a question about the day’s lesson.

He waited until most of the other hatchlings had cleared out before pushing to his own feet. Despite having gone through a whole lesson, he was still half-asleep. More than anything, he wanted to go back to his nest and drift off to sleep again.

All thoughts of relaxing flew from his head when something bowled right into him, knocking him off his feet.

“Oh! I’m sorry,” Hazard muttered from somewhere above him.

Flint sighed and said,” It’s okay.”

It took a couple of moments for the pair of hatchlings to detangle themselves. Once they did, though, they were quick to part ways. Hazard hurried after Stump while Flint wandered toward Pierce’s retreating back.

After a few steps, Flint made up his mind to go back to his nest. He veered away from Pierce, back toward the scraggly stands of grass that surrounded the nests.

Within moments, he was back at his clutch’s nest. The familiar scents of his siblings, Breeze, and himself drifted around him, lulling him into a relaxed state.

He promptly made his way to his favorite part of the nest, and circled around it twice, carefully pressing down the grass in just the right ways. Then, with a contested sigh, he plopped down and settled into his place.

The last thing Flint saw before he closed his eyes was a line of clouds on the horizon.

‘Looks like a storm,’ he thought, before sleep quickly overtook him.