Thread and Between
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Healer Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Printer Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Writers: Yvonne
Date Posted: 31st March 2015
Characters: Harki
Description: P'nal goes /between/ in the Fall and doesn't come back.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 11, day 22 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: G'nir
Notes: Follows 'DFW: Sometimes They Don't Come Back'
Between one flame and the next, everything changed.
Cerillith tensed beneath her. }:Jodeth is gone!:{
Shock froze Harki in her seat. P'nal and Jodeth-- they couldn't be. They had to be in the sky. But then Cerillith opened her mouth to flame the next clump of wind-borne silvery Thread, and her breath was as much fire as keening.
Her rider stole a moment to twist in her straps and check P'nal's place in the Wing. It was empty. But he could just be /between/, back to Dragonsfall Weyr or to a better position in the sky--
A shimmer caught the corner of her eye and Harki sent Cerillith between before she'd fully recognized it as danger. Black, blacker, blackest. The chill wrapped itself around her, familiar as her own heartbeat and three times as long. But she couldn't stop thinking-- P'nal had gone /between/ and hadn't come back. He and Jodeth were there, somewhere in the dark and silence.
They burst out of /between/ several wingbeats back from where they'd disappeared from and Cerillith seared the Thread that would have killed them both. Crackdust, Thread, /between/. Firestone, /between/. Flame, Thread, /between/. The rhythm slipped over them, and both dragon and rider fell into the dance. Flame and Thread. /Between/ and death. For those few, glorious minutes they burned brightly alive and the greenrider clung to it. Fighting Thread left no room for anything else.
Harki's replacement tapped her out a little over half ways through the Fall. They blinked /between/ one final time, Cerillith with relief and Harki with dread, and reappeared over Dragonsfall Weyr. The green dragon spiraled down, her tired wings taking her toward the entrance to the Weyrlake. Her rider tried not to hear the keen of dragons over the hum of activity that characterized the Weyr during a Fall. The dragons that were not working were mourning one of their own.
Flying only half the Fall had its advantages, the biggest being that when you flew first shift, the Weyrlake was nearly empty when you wanted to use it. For that, Harki was glad. She pulled the straps from Cerillith's back in a perfunctory manner and dropped them untidily on the rocks. Her own leathers followed; she stood half-clothed in sweat-stained linen breeches and a light shirt, and she didn't bother to strip them off as she waded into the water to wash the black dust from her dragon's hide. Cerillith was already keening quietly and the sound cut like a knife. All she wanted to do was forget it had happened.
P'nal was gone. P'nal was _dead_. The greenrider's vision went a little hazy and she scrubbed Cerillith with more force than was necessary. It didn't make sense. He was smart and fast, a good rider with a solid head on his shoulders. He and Jodeth flew by the book -- which should have kept them safe. And she _liked_ him. They weren't close, or even friends. Not really. But she felt like they'd had _something_. P'nal had always been there, and he'd been interesting. He was fun between the furs and could be good company when he chose it.
And she'd miss that.
Resolutely Harki pushed P'nal from her thoughts, not ready to deal with that mess just yet. Cerillith was clean and she was soaked through. The greenrider sent her dragon to the heights and began the long walk up the stairs to her Weyr, leaving wet footsteps in her wake. It didn't take long to strip out of her wet underthings and pull on woolen trousers and a thick sweater to combat the chill that had crept over her on the way up. Harki jammed a knitted hat over her wet hair and ran back down the stairs to help with the firestone sacks until the Fall was over. She found solace for a second time in slinging stone, filling sacks, and doing it over and over again.
It was easy to tell when the Fall was over. The keening of dragons cut through her deliberate focus, and Harki stopped to stretch and look up into the sky to see the returning Wings. Thankfully it looked as if just P'nal was missing. She quickly searched out Cerillith on her perch on the heights.
}:Nirrith's is calling a meeting in a candlemark,:{ the green said.
It would be about P'nal. The greenrider's expression was stony. **I'll be there.**
Last updated on the April 1st 2015