Burning Up
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Healer Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Printer Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Writers: Avery, Sia
Date Posted: 13th July 2025
Characters: O'rosin, R'kehr, A'khal, Irrkali
Description: O'rosin and R'kehr make several mistakes in Threadfall.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 9, day 28 of Turn 12
Notes: Follows “Raging Skies”
Mentioned: R'lor, E'ben, M'gan
}: There! :{ Aeoluth called. They were already banking before O'rosin could stop him, before he even saw the clump of Thread writhing as it tumbled through the gusts.
They were out of formation-- again, R'lor's warnings from training too loud in his head-- but Aeoluth was already moving. No one else was close enough to stop it falling to the lower Wings. No one else could reach it in time.
Flame burst from Aeoluth's throat--
The thunderstorm raging in the skies was dangerous. The wind gusts were powerful, rocking even bronzes like Thadath - R’kehr didn’t know how the smaller blues and greens were managing to not be spun like children’s tops - and throwing the Thread in unpredictable ways, sideways and upwards in random drafts of air. When there was rain, it lashed at them. Lightning flickered between clouds, white and blue flares illuminating the dark grey clouds and contrasting with the reds and oranges of dragonflame searing the silvery grey masses of Thread, and thunder rumbled deep and cracked high and mixed with the sound of bellowing dragons.
It was a day that demanded perfect focus and attention, to stay in your assigned location, to keep track of your surroundings, to listen to orders. Not just from yourself, but from everyone around you. And that was something that wasn’t happening.
A brief lull in the wind, a clear patch of air, and R’kehr’s hand reached into his bag to throw Thadath more firestone before he needed it. The bag was running lighter than he expected, his fingers brushing the empty bottom, and he groaned. How had he lost track of that? He needed another bag, and he had his dragon call for resupply, hoping it would stay calm long enough for a dragon to get to them.
Except then there was a sudden shrill scream in the air. Thadath’s eyes caught the sight of green Nymeiath above them going /between/, but the ravenous clump that had marked the green continued to fall downwards right towards them. The bronze wasn’t fast enough to twist out of the way like a blue or green would be, so he also flicked /between/ in a microjump, emerging back into his place in formation --
With Thadath’s flank right in the way of Aeoluth’s flame.
O'rosin's scream was lost in the wind, a wordless sound of panic that tore from his throat even before Aeoluth's flame winked out. Too late.
Thadath flashed into being right in front of them. Aeoluth couldn't stop the flame from licking across the bronze's flank, though he jerked his head back and sideways to try and stop, shooting the flame in a wide arc instead. No one had been there. _No one had been there_-
Thadath was still flying, but O’rosin saw the blackened streak along his right side, where bronze hide now blistered and curled. A flash of lightning made it seem worse, or maybe just real.
The bronze screamed in agony as dragonflame hit him. He’d been hit by Thread before. The dragons mostly forgot the pain, the advantage of their memories being short so they could keep fighting it, but riders remembered it for them, and Thadath remembered sometimes what it had felt like before when it happened again to him and his rider felt the now-pain and remembered the then-pain. The pair would have said it had seared. Before this.
Always before the flame of dragon fire had been coming out of him and against Thread. At most there had been residual bits of ember or charred Thread landing on his hide, warm specks it could resist. Perhaps he’d twisted or dove through heated air that flame had passed through before. Never had he experienced even a lick of candle flame against his hide, much less dragon’s flame.
This was true fire. Searing. Burning. White-hot intensity. Something he’d never felt in his life. The bronze was bellowing in agony. R’kehr’s pain was so bad he couldn’t tell if it was only his dragon or himself who’d been caught in it. All he knew was the feeling of his right side in flames, leg and rear and side. His view spun wildly and the dragons below approached rapidly and he realized Thadath had tried to fold his wings and plummet downwards in panic to get away from the brown and the flame, but the flame was gone and the burning pain was still there and now he needed to flare his wings and brake the fall, but could Thadath? R’kehr didn’t _know_.
}:Help us,:{ the bronze screamed as he fell.
Aeoluth's scream answered him. He might've tried to skip /between/, had O'rosin been any good at that and the winds had been calmer, but instead a savage updraft, sharp and unexpected, caught his wingsails and sent them both tumbling ass over teakettle and into the patch of Thread he'd been trying to flame.
O'rosin felt the white-hot pain of threadscore, the burn of muscles tearing, and tried desperately to think of the Weyr before disappearing /between/.
A'khal, dropping a bag of firestone to E'ben, heard the scream. Denebith skipped /between/ instantly, reappearing too close high above and diving after Thadath. }: Jeath! :{ Denebith called, }: A little help on the catch, if you would! :{
}:On it,:{ the green reported to the blue and to her rider, as they looked up to judge the falling bronze and then making her own trip /between/.
**Thadath - not M’gan’s son - ** Irrkali thought, fearful for her lover’s son.
Jeath reappeared below Denebith and slightly above Thadath, but behind them. The green angled herself to align in tandem with Denebith’s dive so they could arrive together under the bronze, and Irrkali signaled to A’khal that she was ready to support. As they dove past the bronze to get under, she saw a quick glimpse of the extent of the damage - side, leg and foot, tail - and while she wasn’t a dragonhealer, she knew enough to know that it was going to affect the bronze’s ability to participate. This was going to be a very bad catch.
}:We will brace you, but you have to move with us and hold on.:{ Jeath said loudly to Thadath and Denebith.
R’kehr managed to wave at the two dragons he saw responding, showing he retained consciousness. Thadath’s howling in his mind continued but he was able to pick enough out to know that he was sure they could move their left side, but their right… Would opening just one wing unbalance them too much?
}: Slowly but surely now. :{ Denebith instructed, repeating A'khal's words. }: Stay with us, Thadath. Hold onto us, do not move that wing. :{ Together, he and Jeath gradually nudged the bronze sideways so they could slow the descent, coming to a low glide over the wide expanse of forest. Then, }: Is Yours Injured? He should climb down to us- it'll be hard to get him down once we're home. Mine can come get him if he can't. :{
**I can _what_.** A'khal asked, though he was already unhooking himself from the straps.
}:He comes,:{ Thadath grunted out.
As R’kehr unclipped himself from the saddle and neck straps, he realized that he was injured too. Not burned, thank Faranth, but he’d been thrown around badly during Thadath’s sharp spiral downwards and jolted one last time as he got caught by the other dragons. He was able to free himself from everything and crawl along, adrenaline pushing through the agony until he collapsed against A’khal.
“Take us home,” he begged when he arrived.
A'khal's arms closed around him and pulled him tight until the bluerider could manage to connect R'kehr to Denebith's straps. "Make sure Thadath sees the Weyr too, lad." He said, even as he pictured the grey skies over Dolphin Cove. **Home!**
Denebith sent the image to Thadath and Jeath. }: Ready? Let's go.:{
They disappeared /between/ and home.
Last updated on the July 29th 2025