2024-07-22 - Neat, Unbroken Lines

Thread is something Neath has heard of, but has never truly learned about until now. It has been a vague, threatening concept lurking in the minds of the dragons and men around it, but never something defined or understood. Everything in its own time, and it seems that time is now. It Falls, they say, in great silvery lines like rain (what is rain?) and burns everything it touches. Some of the weyrfolk think of horrid images - flesh scorched, plants blackened in great circles - and Neath recalls Mother's anxiety about Pertemarth. Its anxiety flares, then settles again. It cannot help him during this particularly bad Fall - even Mother, it seems, can do little for him. It has learned recently that even Mother must sit and wait sometimes. It feels, with a small amount of smugness and a larger amount of sympathy, that it is better at this than she is.

The sound of one dragon going between is almost imperceptible. The sound of an entire group of them is startlingly obvious and turns heads all over the Weyr, much to Neath's gratitude - it wants to see! It strains to take in the lines of dragons as they return. One line, then the next, then the next... Gwillanth searches for any gaps, but she searches also for Pertemarth and Neath can't help but join her and share in her relief when he appears from between, tired and greyed but uninjured. Many others are much the same. There are few injuries, none life-threatening, and no dragons or riders missing from the ranks.

Neath is relieved, but it comes with an odd sense of foreboding. Will it and its siblings be sent out into Threadfall this way? Do they have a choice? They don't seem to be expected to have a choice about much... Had every dragon that was sent out today gone willingly, or is it another thing they're expected to do, much like choosing a rider? It just wishes it could understand. Everything in its own time, but it's starting to feel itchy in its shell - the time where it will be expected to choose is fast approaching, and it needs to understand now.