The worst thing to do after a bad experience, as she had learned from the many unpredictable aircraft she’d flown, was to shy away from the thing or situation that caused it. She knew if she didn’t get back on the aronan at once, the fall would magnify itself in her mind until it grew to disabling proportions. This time Imiya would help hoist her up. If she was going to ride, she should begin by learning how to mount properly, he said. He showed her by demonstrating on Haewi Namij. Facing forward on the flier’s right side, well forward of its closed wings, he placed the roughened sole of his outside foot against the aronan’s thorax, grabbed the ridged crest of its nape and vaulted aboard. The act looked simple. It wasn’t. Kesbe discovered that she had to swing her inboard leg forward rather than back (as one would do in mounting a bicycle or horse) to avoid the creature’s wings. After a few awkward attempts, she managed to swing herself up, making her mount rock on its outsprung legs.
