The Ballad of Esseira's Ride


Prologue
It had been a very bad few months for Felisa. First she discovered that her home cothold wasn't in Weyr coverage area, and then spent the aforementioned months flailing against her helplessness. As they'd said at the second hatching when she failed to impress, her dragon simply hadn't been shelled yet. She didn't begrudge Esseira Ailuth; they were perfect for each other. But her home cothold, isolated on the fringes of Benden Hold's lands, was a world away from Benden Weyr.

Felisa's depression was at its worst when she finally met up with esseira one night. In the conversation which ensued, Felisa found her second wind, and not long afterward, she and Esseira were taking Ailuth for a leisurely ride to the Distant Cotholds. They had decided to start there, but they had other plans for the rest of the night.

The story

Felisa dismounted from Ailuth and stomped a few times, rubbing her hands. It might be spring, but it was late at night and in the mountains, and the long flight there hadn't helped. Neither had her wet hair, still dripping from the rushed washing it had received. Still, she was cheerful, and for her energy level she could have just slept a restful night, followed by an extra mugful of klah. She thanked Ailuth and Esseira profusely again before heading to the door. Pausing long enough to steel herself against suddenly awakened parents, she knocked.

Her father was, as expected, grumpy when he answered the door, his clothes thrown on hastily. Upon seeing his eldest daughter he did a doubletake, then said "Shardit, Felisa, what are you doing here at this hour? The time difference at the Weyr can't be that pronounced.

Felisa was all seriousness now. "May weyrwoman Esseira and I come in? We have some news you need to hear now. In fact, you needed to hear it months ago."

Something in her tone of voice forestalled any further questions from him as he stood aside, openly awed at the sight of the gold dragon on his doorstep. Then he felt the chill and closed the door, bungling around and trying to get something warm to drink. At that point Felisa's mother got up. As she entered the kitchen, bleary-eyed, she asked "Jalenn, who is it at this unearthly hour? And let me make the klah, for heaven's sake. You'll wake Karina and Jalren."

Felisa's father quickly apprised his wife of the situation, and Cyrena set the water to boiling, then hugged her daughter and greeted the goldrider respectfully, murmuring "Our duty to the Weyr."

By the time the klah was finished a cheery fire was burning in the living room fireplace, and Felisa had just about stopped shivering. Swirling her klah in her mug, she said "It's hard to decide where to begin. I guess I should go back to winter. Jalren told you he met a bluerider from Benden who asked the name of our cothold?"

Jalenn nodded, "That seemed sort of odd at the time."

Felisa took a deep breath. "Did you notice the sweeprides increasing after that?" He nodded, and she continued, "And do you remember having some odd dust storms near the end of the winter?"

Cyrena broke in. "Yes. That dust got into everything. I couldn't but wipe something off when it was coated again. I was so glad when they stopped."

"Mother -- that was crackdust. The only reason it wasn't live thread is that it was winter time."

Cyrena and Jalrenn just sat there, stunned, before he said, "How can thread be falling? Lord Hrotti hasn't sent anything about it. Is this some kind of joke?" Seeing the grave, even haunted, expression on his daughter's face, Jalrenn said "Of course not. Thread is nothing to joke about."

Felisa shakes her head soberly. "All the ballads, all the records -- they didn't even begin to describe how evil it is. We lost three of my friends in the first fall alone, and the scores the other dragons and riders took... if I never saw it again, it would be too soon."

There was an awkward silence as her parents digested the news. Felisa wrapped her hands around the klah mug, more for comfort in the familiar gesture than to warm them. Finally, she said "There's something else Lord Hrotti wasn't telling you. When he chartered the cotholds, they thought there was never going to be thread again. And because of that, there was no reason to keep them within the traditional bounderies."

She paused again, and it gave her father enough time to say "We aren't in the coverage area." It wasn't a question.

Felisa shook her head. "We're not. And, for Faranth knows what reason, Lord Hrotti decided not to tell you. I can only hope that he figured the Weyr would protect you anyway -- the alternative is just too obscene to consider."

Jalrenn's tone of voice was somewhat angry. "And the Weyr won't protect us?"

"Father, it can't. We don't even have enough to cover the traditional areas. The next clutch will probably barely make up for the losses already incurred, and even if the flight was tomorrow, it would be three months before the eggs were laid and another two sevendays until they hatched. It takes a turn and a half to train them to fighting readiness. And that would just be to replenish what we've lost, not add to our numbers."

It took a while for her words to sink in, but eventually Jalrenn said, in a defeated voice, "So we're as good as scored."

Felisa's voice was quiet as she said "If you do nothing, yes." In a more normal tone, she said, "We need to go. We'll be warning the other Distants, and there are other unprotected cotholds besides."

The goodbyes were far more subdued than the greetings, but even as the door closed behind them, she heard her mother saying, "If Lord Hrotti has broken the most sacred trust, we need to take matters into our own hands."

After the Distants had been warned, Esseira and Felisa took turns breaking the news. The next hours were a blur of similar scenarios and similar emotions. Some expressed disbelief more vehemently or questioned the Weyr's intentions, but by and large the anger fell on Hrotti himself.

By the time they got back to the Weyr, all three were exhausted. Felisa's earlier weariness had been the effect of the seeming hopelessness of the situation, but even the second wind brought about when the solution was posed was just barely enough to keep her going. For the first time in months she fell asleep quickly and was able to sleep herself out. But though she was drained, Felisa was relieved, the depression lifted, because at least she had done something.