In a Heartbeat

Writers: Heather
Date Posted: 10th June 2025

Characters: Rasme, C'ris
Description: Rasme remembers when Thread fell for the first time in the 10th Pass and how it changed her life forever.
Location: Barrier Lake Weyr
Date: month 6, day 5 of Turn 12

Rasme

~*Flashback - 12 Turns ago, the start of the 10th Pass*~

Rasme had never felt fear. There were times she thought she had, but as the writhing dark clouds of Thread appeared on the horizon, she hadn't truly. Not until this moment.

Her analytical brain had needed a way to prepare for Threadfall, and she had done so by reading every hide in the archive that she could find. That greenrider at Dragonsfall had confirmed that Thread _would_ fall again, but she hadn't believed him, not really.

Until now.

As the clouds approached, she could hear the hiss of the spores as they fell. There was even a _smell_ in the air. Her stomach churned. Her mind flashed to C'ris. She wondered what he was feeling. Even though she hadn't seen him in a fortnight, since breaking off their relationship, she hoped he would make it through the day.

No amount of drilling could properly prepare one for fighting Thread for the first time.

Rasme's hands uncharacteristically trembled as she readied her flamethrower. Underneath her thighs, Piketh was vibrating. }:We will destroy it,:{ the gold vowed. }:Stow your fear.:{

She exhaled, shoving the nerves in her stomach down as Piketh suggested.

She could hear as Thread hit the higher-altitude Wings far above them. The shouts from the throats of hundreds of dragonriders as they charged into the wriggling spores made the hairs on her arms stand on end. Their courage lent her strength as the next Wings above them began to mobilize.

--

Fighting Thread was sweaty business. Her helmet kept sliding back on her head and tugging at her hair. She would need to chop it off, her hair, she realized. And the helmet straps would need to be adjusted. And her riding belt kept digging into her hips. These were all thoughts running in the background of her mind as she mechanically reloaded her flamethrower.

The constant flow of adrenaline made her arms feel weak as she readjusted her aim for a clump of Thread that had escaped through the Flights above them. She could see the ground crews below dashing to kill the Threads that had burrowed into the warm, fertile grounds beneath them.

Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion.

For a heartbeat, she was looking at the ground crews, the next heartbeat, Piketh was banking sharply, and then another heartbeat she pulled her goggles up to wipe the sweat from her eyes.

Then, her heart froze as something hot seared her left eye. An explosion of pain blossomed on the side of her face, starting at her left eye and expanding outward in a ripple of electric fire. A scream of agony gurgled in her chest.

Another heartbeat. The icy cold of /between/.

Another heartbeat, and everything was gone.

--

}:Rasme.:{ Piketh's voice was laced with anxiety. From the tone of it, Rasme could picture her lifemate's orange eyes.

Where was she? Her eyes opened, but her vision was blocked. She reached up slowly and realized that the left side of her face and head were wrapped in gauze. The stark lights of the infirmary buzzed above her.

How had she gotten here?

}:I brought you back.:{ Piketh explained.

A soft snore to her left startled her. Rasme turned her head against the pillow to find the bluerider slouched in the chair beside her bed. C'ris. He was grimy and sooty from Threadfall, suggesting he had rushed straight to her bedside without even bothering to bathe.

As if he could feel her stare, the bluerider twitched, and then his lolling up snapped up. "Rasme? You're awake," his voice seemed relieved as he sat forward in his chair.

"What happened?" she asked.

C'ris's eyes looked pained. "You took a piece of Thread to the face and lived to tell the tale."

"After all those drills? What a waste."

At least her humor was still intact.

Her fingers reached back up to the bandage, exploring how it was wrapped and feeling where the thickest pad had been placed over her left eye.

"How bad?" she asked.

C'ris was silent.

"That bad, huh?" She exhaled, closing her remaining eye as she absorbed the news.

"You're alive, that's all that matters."

"That's easy for you to say sitting there with two good eyes," she lashed out.

He winced. "I know." The silence between them was thick. He stood, the fingers of his right hand smoothing the blanket over her waist. "I'll let you have your privacy. I just wanted to make sure you... Well, I wanted to be here if...."

Rasme's left hand snatched his. "Don't leave."

C'ris stared down at her. The pair seemed to communicate silently. Despite the dirt and grime, the bluerider sat back down.

~*End Flashback*~

Rasme grumbled with annoyance as she shook off the memories. She hated thinking back to those times. In fact, she made sure to _never_ think about them, but today... Today was different. Today was the first time Casmari would be flying Threadfall as a part of a fighting Wing.

The thought of her youngest, and last child, flying in the highest-altitude Wing, being one of those who charged into the deadly rain first.... **I ought to skin them all alive,** she thought, referencing the Weyrleaders, Wingleaders, and Weyrlingmasters - anyone who might be blamed for Casmari being in the Weyrleader's Wing.

}:We should get to the infirmary,:{ Piketh reminded her placidly from her weyrledge.

Rasme finished buttoning her tunic and then affixed her dragonhealer knots. "I know, I'm coming."

Last updated on the June 22nd 2025

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

In a Heartbeat