T’ria: Chapter 5, Journal 18 – Suddenly, I Can Breathe

A young woman went to the healer complaining of pain.
“Where are you hurting?” asked the healer.
“You have to help me, I hurt all over,” said the woman.
“What do you mean, all over?” asked the healer, “be a little more specific.”
The woman touched her right knee with her index finger and yelled, “Ow, that hurts.” Then she touched her left cheek and again yelled, “Ouch! That hurts, too.” Then she touched her right earlobe, “Ow, even THAT hurts,” she cried.
The healer checked her thoughtfully for a moment, got a thoughtful look on his face, and told her his diagnosis, “You have a broken finger.”

A mother complained to the local healer about her daughter’s strange eating habits. “All day long she lies in bed and eats yeast and drinks oil. What will happen to her?”
“Eventually,” said the healer, “she will rise and shine.”

• A’dan came in at the end of a Wing meeting, to once again apologize to me for the incident at the Spring Games, which was caused in large part by his inexperience. He gave me some lovely purple wine glasses that he made himself. I was touched by his gesture, but I never really blamed him. For all that it was his fault, I knew it was an accident that was caused by his being a new rider. K’brin mentioned he’d heard about continued hazing from other weyrlings and would be talking to S’van about it. I mentioned wanting to do something to show that I’d moved on. If I, as the one who nearly died, had done so, they would have no cause to keep haranguing A’dan.
• The weyrlings began helping with firestone replenishment. There was a Fall over Keroon and everyone was being extra attentive.
  • Upon his return, G’mar was met by Daena, who hugged him and led him off. Apparently W’sor of green Vurth, one of the weyrlings, didn’t come back. He died while trying to toss firestone to G’mar, and he was so focused on that task that he was hit by Thread.
• At a meeting with G’mar later, it was announced that Timor and Belior wings would be running wing heavy until Liviath’s next clutch, because he didn’t want to create a third wing and have every wing saddled with too many inexperienced riders.
  • G’mar also apparently told K’brin that he might want to go to High Reaches or Telgar to look for new recruits for Faranth’s Wing. I thought that could be interesting.  One of the Wing’s strengths is its smaller size, due to our mission. But I could see a few reasons why one or two extra people could help. 
  • G’mar announced that High Reaches was beginning the Search for Morianith’s clutch.
  • L’nos told me in confidence later that G’mar told K’brin he might want to visit Telgar again to spend more time with the Junior Queen, Mikala, and that the Weyrwoman was very amenable to that. I did wonder what they were trying to do with K’brin. No, I didn’t truly wonder, but I just hoped that he was alright with it and they weren’t using him solely for his Talent. 
• I got together with a few others from the Wing one day in the Living Caverns for a planned card game, where I made sure to publicly invite A’dan to join us for a round or two. My hope was that, when people saw us playing cards and not coming to blows, it showed I bore him no ill will. I still struggled with the events of that day, coming so close to dying, but A’dan didn’t deserve the treatment he was getting. Hopefully it put an end to the hazing.

• The weyrlings of Maranath’s clutch started fighting Thread at the trailing edge. Their first time out, Kelovith returned greatly distressed because of T’vin. By the accounts I heard, he looked haggard and gave a very stern dressing down to those he flew with on the dangers of not being aware of your own limitations, especially when it comes to fighting Thread. K’brin was notified that his adopted brother was in distress.  He took T’vin somewhere quiet and kept him company for a time.
  • T’vin began acting as Wingleader for some Falls, so that when he gets a Wing of his own, he’ll have some experience to lean back on. 
  • P’sal of Evianth, a vintner from Nerat, were lost between due to fatigue during sweeps.
• Shireya came to me asking all sorts of questions about talking to firelizards, asking if she could get one of her own, please, please, pleeeeease? I stalled her long enough to bring the issue to K’brin, who consulted with Daena on the matter. She thought it would be a bad idea, because the child already has enough psychic input as it is, and the firelizards could easily overwhelm her with intense feelings and images without meaning to.
  • I made sure her and Kevlin had plenty of time with River, so they wouldn’t feel slighted. I even asked them to watch him when I’m away for too long, like when we go to Varlada (and made sure Seliana knows of the arrangement, just in case).
• There was a Fall over the Big Island and Igen peninsula one day.  At one point, Fall was directly overhead. K’brin shielded the children, in case they were hit with any intense psychic feeling of pain or fear.  Amazingly, no riders were lost. The weyrlings were flying in the Queen’s Wing and there were certainly expectations of death or bad injuries.
• Graduation Day happened to come the very next day, and I was sure the graduates were riding high on the emotions of the day before. Coming in from Ista Hold was C’fael of Helmreth, the Oldtimer assigned as Sara’s replacement.
• K’brin spent time Harpering during the celebration. He let on that not flying Thread chafes at him and that he’d been told by T’vin that he’ll likely not ever fly Thread again, because Faranth’s Wing’s mission will never truly be done. I couldn’t help but wonder if he’s just too valuable to lose. I grieved for him and also couldn’t help but feel angry at the leadership for depriving him of something that he had been dreaming of since he was old enough to understand what dragons did for Pern.
  • B’dir ended up joining us, and after catching him up on the situation, his immediate reaction was to suggest that they’d find a way to get K’brin back fighting Thread, one way or another. He also jokingly groused about not having formally joined Faranth’s Wing yet.
• The Wing held a ceremony on the beach to welcome B’dir into our ranks, give him his new knots, and party to celebrate our first new member since V’dos. 
• News came a few days later that Norilla, the old Headwoman of Ista Weyr, passed during the night. She was still nominally the Headwoman, though Oswina, her assistant, had been doing a lot of the work more recently. She was one of the two women who were mothers to young Kebrin. It hit him pretty hard, so I tried to be there for him.
  • G’van sat by her side throughout the vigil, while others come by to pay their respects and share old stories. I went with K’brin and he shared a few memories of his own. I heard multiple tales of how she was a champion of young girls, and even the interesting fact that she learned to read upside down. She was a remarkable lady and Ista will miss her.
• Seliana entered the last stages of pregnancy and little Shireya was irking her by “talking” to the baby. I found myself very glad that K’brin was working on getting them fostered out.
• K’brin and I went out to find more firelizard eggs.  We ended up with about a dozen, many of them already planned for various people. A few, we would sell for Marks.
• S’lina, ever the gossip, said that the rumor mill was saying that the weyrlings were cleaning out the upper level weyrs. That was quite interesting and sent my mind into a frenzy of speculation. Was it for long term guests?  It just seemed… odd.
• Guests did start coming. Riders from Fort (4) and Benden (10) gathered in the bowl, eventually heading to Daena’s ledge. Most shockingly, they took off their rank knots and offered them up to Daena!!! Dared I hope it meant what it appeared to? 
  • Word came that there would be a banquet formally welcoming the new additions to Ista Weyr. Suddenly, just like that, we had 75 fighting dragons (plus others that were unable to fly), enough to finally allow us to… breathe. This was shocking and very welcome news. I almost didn’t know how to feel. Since I arrived at Ista and Impressed, we’d been running ourselves ragged to cover each Threadfall.  I’d suffered feelings of guilt since joining Faranth’s Wing, because we were no longer protecting Ista from Thread. I kept telling myself that our mission was vitally important for not just Ista, but all of Pern.
  • Igen and Telgar were also taking in transfers, because Fort and Benden were finally full.