Weighty Thoughts on a Lonely Day

Writers: Avery
Date Posted: 7th July 2017
Series: The Ruin of River Bluff Weyr

Characters: K'ran
Description: K'ran spends the last Threadfall he'll have at River Bluff reflecting.
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 12, day 26 of Turn 8
Notes: Mentioned: F'lin, K'lvin, K'sedel, A'kades

K'ran

The first day that they had had to be on the ground during Threadfall, it
had gone poorly. Rogueth had wanted to fly and fight and had tried once to
take off with the wings while K'ran tried to stop him, but the crippling
blast of pain had prevented any follow-up attempts.

He'd felt at somewhat of a loss for what to do on the ground. He couldn't
affect the course of the Threadfall itself - he was only knowing what was
going on through what Rogueth heard from the other dragons, and it wasn't
enough to be able to coordinate the fight. He had to trust F'lin and
K'lvin and K'sedel to know what they were doing.

That first time he'd drifted between the Lower Caverns staff, the
dragonhealers and healers response station, and over by the firestone,
trying to find something to be useful at and feeling horribly displaced.
He didn't want to do that this time, so he had made arrangements for
something to do beforehand.

For this last Threadfall, K'ran wound up overseeing the candidates and
weyrlings who handling the resupply. A'kades was responsible for
dispatching the Blooding weyrlings with the bags of stone to go resupply
the wings. What he could do was take responsibility for overseeing the
candidates and the junior weyrlings who were too young to do the
transport, and who were spending their time sorting and bagging.

One arm was still in a sling, so he couldn't do any of the bagging and
sealing himself. But walking the lines, encouraging those who were doing
well and motivating those who were slacking, was what he could do.

After Threadfall was over, he'd watched and nodded approvingly as A'kades
went over final praise and feedback with them. He'd found working with
them to be surprisingly rewarding work. He was proud of all of this clutch
- Rogueth's only clutch - and wherever they wound up going, he wished them
nothing but the best.

It gave him the idea that since Rogueth was going to be grounded with his
injuries for some time, maybe he'd work with the weyrlingstaff for awhile.
It depended on what Weyr he would wind up at and whatever the Weyrleader
wanted to do with an injured bronze dragon and his former Weyrleader
lifemate.

But that was a thought for a later time, one he could entertain in more
detail after the Weyr Conclave tomorrow. Right now, it was time to head
back to the temporary leadership building to go over how the Threadfall
had went with the Wingleaders who had flown it.

- - -

That evening, he headed back to his actual weyr, for the first time since
the collapse.

The group of Masons who had arrived to explore the weyr had finished their
report, the one that condemned River Bluff as an active Weyr for the
foreseeable future. They'd given them a draft of the danger areas, and two
people with scribing talent had made copies of smaller sections available,
so that people could find out if their old living quarters were safe
enough to visit. Some people's had been nearly unaffected while other
areas were so dangerous that the Masons had said to not allow anyone in.

The Master had told him that they'd finished the survey of the common
leadership area and determined there was significant rockfall within the
council chambers and the personal weyrs of the leadership. He'd been told
that with aftershocks now over the worst had occurred, and it would be
safe to go back to his own weyr.

Now he hesitated outside of it, wondering how bad it would be. Master
Idrys had said it was safe to go in, so it wasn't safety that was the
concern keeping him from entering. But K'ran was a traveler and a hoarder.
He'd collected dozens of items from everywhere that he had lived or
traveled. He was hesitant to see how many had been destroyed.

Taking a deep breath, he stepped inside.

As expected, the earthquake had knocked everything around. One wall in the
interior room had collapsed inwards. The bed, the couch, and the table
there were covered in rubble and unsalvageable. It seemed like most of the
furniture he'd inherited from River Bluff had been smashed up. Anyone who
had been lying or sitting there would have been killed. It was a good
thing that the tsunami had brought people up to the top of the Bluff, and
that he'd been too busy saving the injured dragons to come back here...

The other wall of the weyr had a few small fallen rocks and dust scattered
across the floor, but was in much better shape. Some items had survived
fine. The beautifully carved skybroom-wood nightstand he'd bought at Ista
and moved 4 times (Dragonsfall, Dolphin Cove, Dragonsfall again, and
finally River Bluff) was covered in dust, but when he cleared it off with
a rag, was mostly undamaged. He opened the drawers and found that the
contents contained within were fine.

There were a few casualties, like the display shelf that had fallen down
and scattered all its knickknacks. The back was damaged with a fist sized
rock that broke through it, but the frame seemed fine and most of the
shelves were okay. He could possibly get it fixed, or he could purchase a
replacement.

He kneeled to inspect individual items scattered across the weyr,
beginning to sort them into intact, salvageable, and destroyed piles. The
throw blanket from Far Island was crushed under the rocks. A few of the
wood carvings were broken, but others were fine. The stuffed dragon doll
he'd had since Impression was fine. The glass jars of sand and stone were
shattered, and he sighed at the sight. His journals were battered, but
none were destroyed.

It took a candlemark before he was finished. Everything was now in nice
bags near the front of the weyr. Wherever he would move to next, whatever
happened at the Conclave tomorrow, at least he knew what mementos of his
old life he still had.

Last updated on the July 28th 2017

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Weighty Thoughts on a Lonely Day