Night Terrors

Writers: Yvonne
Date Posted: 18th September 2024

Characters: Ketlyn
Description: Ketlyn's nightmares wake Varinth up.
Location: Barrier Lake Weyr
Date: month 13, day 19 of Turn 11

Ketlyn gasped awake, halfways upright in bed. **A dream,** she thought, **Just a dream. Just a dream.**

}:What happened? Are you all right?:{ Varinth's mindvoice was sleepy and worried. }:Where are you? Why can't I see you!?:{

**I'm coming.** Ketlyn swung her legs over the side of her bed and did her best to tiptoe to the barracks door. Her legs shook and the shadows of her sleeping classmates reared overlarge in her imagination. Just a dream.

The outside air was chill and helped her shake the nightmare clinging to her sweat-soaked skin. She took a moment to take a few deep breaths to calm herself.

Varinth met her at the entrance to the weyrlings' wallow, her bright eyes dark with worry. She shoved her snout under Ketlyn's hands and nearly tripped her rider as she tried to wrap her tail around her. }:I will keep you safe!:{

**I'm fine.** Ketlyn knelt and wrapped her arms around her dragon's slender neck. Already Varinth was bigger than she'd been when she'd tumbled from her egg. Her body had filled out and her wings were longer than they had been.

But she was still a baby, just over three sevendays from the shell. She was too little for Ketlyn's terrors. "I'm fine, sweetling," Ketlyn murmured against her soft hide.

It was easy enough to tamp down her fears when her nose was filled with the spicy scent of dragon and the wind cool and calm at her back. Varinth _was_ still a baby, and really, her fears were a long time away. Varinth couldn't even fly on her own yet so it was deeply unfair that she dreamed of Thread eating her limbs and carving thick, hungry lines through her dragon's body. She dreamed of falling, constantly. She dreamed of terror and being chased and nameless awful things.

Most importantly, nightmares weren't real. There were other things to worry about. She'd have to figure out how to bring her family to the Weyr, somehow. She had to keep up with her Craftwork, in hopes that the Pass would soon end. If she had a Craft, the Weyr couldn't kick her out. And she had to mind her lessons. _All_ of them. And how on Pern was she ever going to get up the courage to ask someone to her bed!? And if she couldn't-- everyone, including the weyrlingmasters, said flights could be so awful if you weren't prepared. But getting prepared was awful, too.

There were too many things to worry about. She felt like she was drowning.

But for now the night air blew the last of her nightmare away and the dark hid the rest from view. Ketlyn shifted so she could sit more comfortably on the ground. Varinth's panic at her distress was subsiding, thank the Egg. "I'm sorry I woke you," she told Varinth.

}:You were scared again,:{ Varinth said accusingly. }:I don't like it when you are scared.:{

"I don't either." Ketlyn ran gentle hands over Varinth's knobby eye ridges. **It was just a dream. Nothing real.**

Varinth sighed and slumped against Ketlyn. }:Stop having dreams.:{

**I can't really control that,** she said regretfully. Unless there was a way to stop dreams from happening? Maybe if she worked harder before bed, pushed her body further so she would sleep deeper... **But I'm here now.**

}:Stay with me?:{ Varinth asked. }:I'll protect you from dreams.:{

Ketlyn sighed. The weyrlingmasters would probably scold her for not sleeping in her bed, but Varinth _was_ just a baby. "Of course." She settled as best she could against the wall of the wallow.

So Varinth curled around her and quickly drifted back into sleep, and Ketlyn, despite her uncomfortable bed, soon followed. This time it was dreamless.

Last updated on the September 22nd 2024

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Night Terrors