Heads in the Clouds

Writers: Corrin, Yvonne
Date Posted: 5th November 2024

Characters: R'bain, Ketlyn
Description: R'bain and Ketlyn discuss clouds... mostly
Location: Barrier Lake Weyr
Date: month 1, day 26 of Turn 12

R'bain

"I guess it's you and me, R'bain." Ketlyn sat down next to the bluerider with her notes clutched in her hands. The weyrlings had been paired off by J'nic to quiz each other on cloud formations.

R'bain had been slow to secure a partner. Normally, he would have paired up with Haysh - H'taysh - but things were awkward now. His buddy had impressed green, which made it hard to ignore Aydhara's nasty gossip. He was stewing on this again, watching J'cello and H'taysh pull their chairs together, when Ketlyn's voice cut through.

"Eh, Ketlyn?" He had been pretty obviously preoccupied, but he tried to recover, flashing her his most charming grin as he scooted his chair about to face her. "Ketlyn! I guess you're right. Lucky me."

She glanced in the direction he'd been looking. Most of them had noticed the tension between him and H'taysh. "Do you want to start by asking me about clouds, or should I ask you first?"

R'bain's grin faltered for a second as he saw the direction of her gaze. Ugh. Everyone was noticing. He hated that, but he pulled himself together and the grin was back, showing a confidence he didn't entirely feel. "You ask first. Lay it on me."

Ketlyn glanced down at her notes. "What kind of weather do cirrus clouds make?"

"Oh... That's the tricky one right? Usually in the skies during fair weather, but their formation actually means a warm front is moving in, so a change in weather is coming?"

"Depending on the type." Ketlyn glanced down at her notes. "Are they high or low elevation clouds?"

"High. They're the thin whispy ones," R'bain parroted dutifully before leaning in to whisper, "Wait. What do you mean, depending on the type? I thought cirrus clouds _were_ a type. Like a single type. Are there types of cirrus clouds? I don't remember that!"

She nodded. "Some get blown off thunderclouds. Cirrus... uh..." she glanced at her notes with a frown. "Spissatus. Oh honestly, they're all clouds. We're just going to get told what to watch out for in the pre-Threadfall meetings anyway."

R'bain snorted in incredulous disbelief. "Spissatus?" he struggled to form his mouth around the word. "I swear they're making up some of these to mess with us. And you're right. I don't see why we have to be cloud experts. It's all just a bunch of vapor in the end. Something to fly over or under or through. The main concern in the sky is going to be Thread trying to eat us."

"Thread isn't going to eat you," Ketlyn said with more confidence than she felt. She'd had another nightmare just that night about Thread wrapping its silver teeth around her arms to suck out the marrow in her bones. She shivered. "Want to ask me one?"

"Yeah, give me a moment..." Pulling out his notes, R'bain scanned through them. He couldn't quite drop the Thread thing though. He'd noted her shiver. It bothered him too. "It's funny. My whole life it's been drilled into me: 'outside during Thread, you might as well be dead.' Now we're going to be flying in that stuff."

**If we make it that far.** She'd only been living in a Weyr for a few Turns, but it was enough to see how many weyrlings died before they graduated. And then there was Thread. "Some of the real dragonriders have been flying Thread since the start of the Pass. I'm sure that it'll be fine. And the Pass can't last forever," she said, affecting a false cheer. There was no sense in letting her own fears corrupt her classmates.

R’bain gave a dry chuckle. He didn't have Ketlyn's sense of responsibility and kept rambling, glad for an outlet for once. “That’s what everyone keeps saying-- ‘The Pass can’t last forever.’ But we’ve got, what, another forty Turns of this stuff? It’s not exactly short-term, is it?” He wasn't deaf though. As the dark reality of his words sank in, he felt a twinge of regret and cleared his throat sheepishly. "Right, that's downer talk. It's your turn to be the cloud expert now. What’s the difference between altostratus and altocumulus clouds?"

"Altocumulus clouds are the most common, and they make a halo around the sun. Altostratus are greyer and cover more... I think." Her brow furrowed. "Why do you say another forty years of Thread? I've never heard that."

"Uh, that's what the harper said. The one that used to come to my cothold when I was a little kid. There was a song about it too, I think... Mostly I remember because he kept badgering my folks about our greenery. Said that once Thread came, everything needed to be 'stone-clean'... Drove ma nuts. She had a little garden right up by the house..." He trailed off, studying Ketlyn carefully. "Did you think it was going to be over in a few Turns?"

"No..." Ketlyn trailed off. Of course she'd heard the song, but nobody had taken it seriously when Thread had been gone for generations. The Interval had been outrageously long. Would the Pass be as well? It hadn't occurred to her before. She shook herself. "I mean, of course... but maybe this Pass is... different?" She trailed off hopefully.

R'bain felt kind of bad, like he was the bearer of bad news here. He didn't mean to worry Ketlyn about something they couldn't affect. "It could be," he said, making an effort to be more encouraging. "I don't think anyone expected it to be gone as long as it was, so maybe the fifty turns thing is wrong as well. Maybe it'll be done in a decade and we'll switch to plowing fields or something." On the edge of his mind he felt his dragon's disgruntled objection, and R'bain couldn't help but laugh. "Oh, Brinolth didn't like that. I'll have to find something else to switch to."

The corner of Ketlyn's mouth lifted in a half-hearted smile. "I miss Crafting. It's sad to think that I'll never really get to do it again. It's not the same as a hobby."

"Yeah, I miss it too," R'bain agreed. "I remember... I was so proud when my master took me as an apprentice. I thought that'd be my life, first crafter of my family... But they're worth it, aren't they? Our dragons."

Was being bonded to a dragon worth an early death? It was a mean, dark thought, slick as a worm and just as easy to bury before Varinth could hear. Ketlyn forced a smile and looked down at her notes. "If we're going to keep our dragons, we'd better finish quizzing each other on clouds. What are the three types of low altitude clouds?"

"Alright, there's cumulus..."

Last updated on the November 23rd 2024

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Heads in the Clouds