First Blooding

Writers: Ang, Devin, Clancey, Miriah, Paula
Date Posted: 10th June 2014

Characters: J'darin, E'naer, Taren, Paetri, D'ret, J'kri
Description: The senior weyrlings are Blooded for the first time.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 6, day 10 of Turn 7

J'darin

If there was any day he hated worse than first flights /between/, it
was this day. Like most Weyrlingmasters, it was this day that was
the hardest. By now, he had come to care for the weyrlings, each in
different ways ,and he had come to know their quirks, their strengths,
their weaknesses, and he had even come to know their dragons a little,
through his bronze.

This was a small class, but that did not make it any easier to gather
them in for one last lecture before they went to where their enemy was
- the skies full of Thread.

):They will be fine. We have trained them well.:{ Hasaarth sent from
his place in the bowl. **Even Petrith?** J'darin sent the message
knowing that Hasaarth would not understand. He did not understand
why she was so afraid, though he had tried, like any good Wingleader,
to help her.

His bronze did not answer, which, he thought, was all he was going to
get out of him this morning.

It was early, Thread was supposed to start falling at the tenth
candlemark, so they were gathering with the sun, around the 8th
candlemark.

"Come in, younglings, I want to talk to you all before you fly." He
glanced sideways at his staff, knowing they were just as nervous as
he, and then focused in on his students.

"Today you will face Thread, even though you won't be flaming it. You
will be with it, and see what it is like to meet our ancient enemy.
I have a few last words of advice, but before I say them, do any of
you have any questions?" He glanced out at the small, but willing and
able class.

Please let them all come back alive. Please Please.

Her heart was pounding, but Paetri raised her hand slowly. "Will you
be leading us today?"

An internal litany of 'We'll do great' was running through D'ret's
head as he waited for Petrith to realize what J'darin had said. She
tended to take the absolute worst scenario and run with it so this was
the best way to head her off in the right direction.

E'naer looked from weyrling to weyrling, memorizing their faces,
studying their expressions. Because it was such a small class, it had
been easier to get to know all of them and get more attached to them.
The Weyrlingmaster's Third was going to work with dragonhealers today
and could only hope none of them would end up as his patient.

J'darin's heart turned over in his chest a little bit when Paetri
asked her question. It pained him greatly to leave them to face this
alone, but it was the way it was done. A great deal of his pain
and worry lay in the fact that he _wasn't_ leading them.

"Thats a good question Paetri, and the answer is yes, and no. While
Hasaarth and I will not be flying with you as you deliver firestone,
we will help you here, in the air, and on the ground. We will send
you to the right place when the requests come. But we won't be far,
and we will be ready to help..." He paused, not sure how to say 'catch
one of you if you fall', or if he even should say it, and then he
added. "But the deliveries - those you do alone."

He paused again, looking around at all their faces, much as he had
just seen his 'Third do.

"You will all wait here, ready to fly at a moment's notice with
firestone sacks. Hasaarth will provide the image for /between/,
you will take firestone sacks, go to where you are sent, toss them to
the rider who needs them, and then /between/ right back here. Now
is when you will understand why we spent days and sevendays practicing
throwing firestone sacks. Now is when you will understand why the
image of Dragonsfall Weyr's starstones - your home - is burned into
your brains as the very first image you learn. "

"If there are no other questions, I will just remind you of something
very simple. Scary but simple. If you get hit by 'Thread, go
/between/ immediately. Use this image - the image of Dragonsfall -
and come straight here. I don't want a single one of you thinking
they can keep flying because its 'just a minor score'. " There would
be no repeat of G'wen's life-threatening sickness this class, if he
had anything to say about it. "Thread freezes and you will be fine,
but come straight back here. Remember to be very precise with your
tosses. There is not much room for mistakes and the air will be full
of dragons - far more than you are used to flying drills with - so you
have to be very precise with your toss, and your flying. Fly in,
toss, /between/. Thats it. Over and over you will go, but thats
all you do. Fly in, toss, /between/."

"Got it?"

"Yes, sir," J'kri said. He was nervous, not just about facing Thread
but about controlling Rademerth. During the last Fall he'd tried to
fly up and join the wings. It took a lot of mental strength to make
the blue stay on the ground. Now they were actually going up to face
Thread, but they couldn't fight it.

"I will be with the dragonhealers, if you run into problems," E'naer
said with encouraging smile.

}: We are doing WHAT?! :{ came the screech D'ret had been expecting
and he quickly clamped down on his own exasperation as she backed up
and scrunched down. It was hard enough to get her in the air let
alone be within Thread. He was hoping that she'd switch her attitude
when actually fighting. }: I am NOT going :{

** Please, Petrith ... it will be all right. Fly in, toss, /between/
like he said. **

}: It will be okay, Petrith. :{ Camilth chimed in, sidling up to the
other green with a comforting nudge. }: Don't be scared. Just do what
we do and you'll be fine. And mine says after this, we can have a
party or something to celebrate. :{

Paetri glanced at her green with affection and then turned her
attention back to J'darin. After he was done speaking, she closed her
eyes and took a deep breath, steadying her nerves. She could do this.
They had practiced for it for so long; she only hoped they were all
ready.

}:We are meant to fight Thread,:{ Radmerth said. }:We should not fear
it.:{ His eyes whirled with a hint of red as he thought of their
ancient enemy.

J'kri rubbed his face and looked at D'ret. "I think we're going to
have opposite problems," he muttered.

**Hasaarth keep an eye on Petrith. I am very worried about her. **

}:She is afraid. She should not be afraid. It is Thread. We will
meet it and char it from the skies. As we should. :{ He bugled his
own intention. Hasaarth was impossible on Thread days. He wanted to
fly. He was a bronze. And he had led an entire Weyr. He could not
understand why they did not fly against Thread.

Startled, though he shouldn't have been, J'darin coughed, trying to
settle Hasaarth and the weyrlings at the same time.

"You will all do very well. I have complete confidence in you.
Remember, they will want to flame and fly. You will have to control
them and bring them back right away. Fly in, toss, /between/. It
will be the hardest you've ever had to fight them. Remember that
your will is _your_ will. You can exert it over them." He cleared
his throat. "Even when they're grown, you have to do it still... "
It was clear he was still trying to settle his own dragon.

**SHUSH Hasaarth!! You will give them ideas.!!!**

"Alright, that's it, younglings. Get ready. Check your straps."

~*~

Not too long after that, the call came, and the Wings assembled in the
sky above them. It was a glorious sight and sent Hasaarth into even
more of an emotional spiral. The Wings disappeared /between/ with a
loud clap, off to meet Thread. His bronze almost took off from the
bowl and it was only with an incredible amount of will that J'darin
stopped him. What was _wrong_ with him today?

**TODAY OF ALL DAYS STOP ACTING LIKE A HATCHLING WHO DOESN"T KNOW ANY
BETTER!** Hasaarth bugled in defiance but finally settled down a
little, though his eyes were whirling dangerously red.

He yelled again in his mind, then focused on his weyrlings.

"Its time. The first calls will be coming soon." He memorized their
faces once more. Please let them all come home safe.

E'naer nodded to J'darin, made a salute and jumped to Eillispeth's
back. It was just short flight to where dragonhealers and healers had
gathered, ready to receive possible injuries. He slid off Eillie and
reported in.

Taren walked over to greet him. "A special day today," the Weyrhealer remarked.

"Yes. And I pray we don't need to treat any of our weyrlings today,"
E'naer replied.

"Ditto," Taren said and wandered back to check the supplies.

Worst part was the waiting. Both Eillispeth and E'naer were scanning the skies.

Camilth was near bouncing in her eagerness and it took all of Paetri's
will to keep her from leaping into the skies with the wings. Face
pale, but resolved she watched them blink /between/. She exhaled
slowly, swallowing hard as one weyrling rose to answer a call and then
another. She knew she was next. Her hands tightened on the straps to
cease the nervous trembling.

}: We're called! :{ Camilth leapt into the air at Paetri's urging and
felt the chill of nothingness, her hands still clenched on the
firestone bags. They emerged in a loud, hot battle. All of the drills
hadn't prepared her for the sights, sounds or smells of Threadfall.
}: We come! We come! :{ Camilth darted between the wings, the little
greens acrobatics finally finding use in her duties. She wanted to
fly, to fight!

Paetri had to control the green to get to the dragon that needed the
sacks of firestone. Heaving, she tossed and with relief, saw that her
aim had been on target. One more sack...

A shock of burning pain her falter. The sack was flung, barely
reaching the rider and she whipped about, eyes frantically searching.
Her eyes widened as she saw strands of thread eating at the leathers
at her calf and into Camilth's neck. Another strand, blown by the wind
had wrapped itself around the end of Camilth's wing and dug deep.
Camilth shrieked in pain... **/Between/ Camilth! Now!** She sent the
image that she and J'darin had drilled into her mind. The cold
nothingness stifled the burning pain and they emerged in the cold air
above the Weyr. Still crying out and moaning in pain, Camilth
struggled to fly straight, her injured wing flapping in awkward time
with the other.

E'naer practically vaulted into Eillispeth's back and then they rose
to the air to meet the pair.
}: Camilth! Keep calm, I will catch you! :{ The older green called out
and aligned herself with the flailing green.
}: Just drop down on me! :{ she instructed and E'naer braced for the
inevitable impact.

"Paetri! Be ready to climp to Eillie's back!" E'naer yelled, hoping
she would hear her over the whistling wind.

J'darin staggered forward against Hasaarth's neck with distress as the
news came that Paetri and Camilth had been injured. Paetri! Of all
the weyrlings... she was the most fragile, the one who was the most
unsure, if you didn't count D'ret's dragon, Petrith, anyway.

"SHARDS!" He said aloud, nearly yelling.

**On the ground Hasaarth... now... ** Landing, he saw Eilli trying
to catch Camilth and he held his breath. He would have sent Hasaarth
over to help catch, but knew it would just cause confusion.

Would they make it? How bad were they hurt? Please be alright... over
and over in his brain those words chased themselves.

While standing on the ground, he quickly glanced at the other
weyrlings. Were they still alright?

J'kri could barely breathe, watching the pair fall. He'd never been so
scared in his life. Rademerth watched, too, wings twitching as he
fought an urge to go to their aid.

Camilth obeyed instantly, dropping with a draconic whimper onto
Ellispeth's back. Paetri didn't leap off and instead clung to
Camilth's like a weed; she was desperately trying to calm the
frightened green. Her own pain was pushed aside as she closed her eyes
tight behind the goggles, hands stroking rapidly over the soft hide
instead of trying to undo the straps. She grunted at the impact, but
held on with surprising stubborn determination.

Eillie grunted too when Camilth's weight landed on her. E'naer twisted
around as much as he could to inspect Paetri. Eillie's wings worked
furiously when she slowed their speed to a somewhat controlled
landing. }: How bad you're hurt?:{ the older green asked.

On the ground, Taren barked orders to his staff, making ready to treat
an injured rider.

}: It hurts. But Mine says it isn't too bad and that I'm okay. :{
Camilth's voice was pained, but steadier.

E'naer unclapped his straps and climbed to help Paetri. Taren and two
journeyman rushed in with first aid kit and stretcher.

J'kri strained to see what was going on. They were both alive, and he
clung to that thought.

For now, it appeared that E'naer and the Healer staff were taking care
of Paetri. He focused on the other weyrlings, watching to make sure
they all came home safely.

Last updated on the June 18th 2014

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

First Blooding