Dragonflight - Part Three - Dust Fall - Part 2: Lots of Worldbuilding, Not a Lot of Action

[kalinara]

So last time, Lessa figured out fucking time travel. This chapter is a lot of talking about that. We also get a fair bit of worldbuilding information, and miraculously, F'lar doesn't piss me off for an entire section.

Amazing, right?


The section starts off with Lessa and F'lar studying records that had been unearthed from Ista Weyr. Lessa is a bit displeased with the nature of the records: she's been finding nothing but trivialities. F'lar is hoping that they'll find some of the techniques they've lost over time, such as preserving "skins" and keeping them from hardening and smelling.

Apparently the dragonriders literally used dragonskins to record things, which is so fucking idiotic that I can't even begin to wrap my brain around it. Yes, okay, they have preservation techniques, but why the fuck not just use parchment or paper like the Holds do???

ETA: My friend Copper points out that they're probably using some kind of cow or other animal skins, and not dragonskins. That's fair. But then, I'm not sure why F'lar needs to go looking for special preservation techniques. Normal parchment is apparently made from calf or goat skin. People have known how to use and preserve that for a really long time. And I reiterate: what do the Holders use? Or the Harpers?

Lessa agrees with me: 'It's stupid, anyhow, to use skins for recording. There ought to be something better. We have become, dear Weyrleader, entirely too hidebound.'

F'lar roar[s] with appreciation of her pun and I realize that this may be the first time we've actually seen an indicator that he has a sense of humor. It's a shame. I think he'd have been a lot more likable if we'd seen that before now.

I've ranted before about the relationship in the book, so I'll spare you yet another diatribe about rape and abuse. I'll just note that Lessa and F'lar have a really great dynamic in this scene, as they often have when they work together, and I wish Ms. McCaffrey had based the romance on that rather than the other shit.

I also like that F'lar and Lessa are doing something productive and wise. As stupid as I think the dragonskins are, it isn't a bad idea to be sifting through the old records. Benden Weyr has lost a LOT of information over the years. They didn't even realize Queens could fly. And really, what else are they doing right now?

So F'lar and Lessa have a serious discussion. Lessa is thinking about the time travel from the last chapter, and how their feelings of premonition and inspiration corresponded with the times that she and F'lar went back to visit themselves. She is worried that perhaps they have been reinforcing their own certainty all along, and that R'gul may be right that Thread is gone.

F'lar notes that he can prove that Threads existed, that there were long Intervals in the past, and the patterns of behavior of the Red Star that have preceded threadfall, and he asserts that his belief comes from these facts. He believes, not the boy he was fifteen years ago.

It occurs to me that we now have ages for F'lar and Lessa. Lessa went back in time thirteen years, when she was eleven. So she's twenty-four. F'lar went back fifteen years, when he was nineteen (per F'nor), so he's thirty-four. Good to know.

So anyway, F'lar urges Lessa to believe him until spring, and she agrees to give him that long.

F'lar also explains the real use of the records: because they tell him time, place and duration of the Thread incursions, it allows him to start making a time table for Threadfall.

We also learn some useful information: Thread doesn't function in the cold. The Red Star turns very fast and in the opposite direction, and it wobbles erratically in its orbit. Thread attacks last six hours and occur about fourteen hours apart.

Now, see, I like this side of F'lar. He's an asshole, no question, but he's clearly spent a very long time researching Thread and the Red Star. He sounds like he knows what he's talking about, and it's clear that the belief that he'd inherited from his father actually has a legitimate basis. I'd like to see more of this F'lar and less of the dick.

Then something interesting happens. Lessa and F'lar find a strange metallic object that F'nor had found nailed to the record chest. It recorded someone's death vision before going between "Arrhenius? Eureka! Mycorrhiza..."

Lessa and F'lar think those words are nonsense. Obviously they're not, but it's not like either character has any sort of background in biology that would find this helpful.

The plaque also says Flamethrowing fire lizards to wipe out the spores. Q.E.D.'

F'lar thinks it's a "primitive rejoicing that he's a dragonman, who didn't even know the right word for Threads."

I...suspect you're wrong about that, F'lar. I suspect that very strongly. Lessa notes that they had a more permanent way of recording than preserved skins.

They discuss other topics: the scarcity of dragons compared to old, F'lar's optimism regarding Ramoth's clutches, and finally an explanation as to why the gold dragons are the only ones that can reproduce.

'Well, for one thing, firestone inhibits reproduction. If they never chewed stone, a green could lay, but at best they produce small beasts, and we need big ones. And, for another thing'—his chuckle rolled out as he went on deliberately, grinning mischievously— 'if the greens could reproduce, considering their amorousness and the numbers we have of them, we'd be up to our ears in dragons in next to no time.'

I think I explained my issue with the whole libidinous greens characterization last time. I'm not sure I follow F'lar's logic though. Both he and Lessa were concerned about the numbers of dragons, and he had even said that if Nemorth mated as often as she should have (Jora's wishes not taken into account, of course), then even her small clutches would have added up.

I don't see why having more, smaller dragons would be a bad thing. But then I cynically suspect it might end up shifting the power structure of the Weyr, if we had more mating pairs than just bronze-and-queen. Heck, we might get a system where leadership is determined based on merit instead of who gets to fuck.

But anyway, they're interrupted by some sort of alarm, and F'lar runs off to the Hatching Ground. He's a bit of a dick, in that he doesn't wait for Lessa, but given that he's been comparatively less horrible this part, I'm inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt for once.

So Ramoth has laid her eggs. And there are nine so far, which is a very good sign because they lay over time, so there'll be more to come. And one is a Queen even! Lessa even gets permission from Ramoth to touch an egg. Everyone is jubilant, and with this validation, Lessa's doubts are gone.

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So not much happened in this part, but I appreciate the technical knowledge and world-building. I especially liked seeing those tiny remnants of original Pern colonists and their technical knowledge. It's the first time we got a direct reference to the science fiction origin of the world. And it's a little tragic to think about how much they lost.

As I mentioned above, this is yet another example of how well F'lar and Lessa work as a couple, and as co-leaders, when Ms. McCaffrey isn't using them to play out non-consensual or abuse tropes. They're mostly on the same page. They have mutual respect. And they discuss things. I made it through an entire section without hating F'lar.

I'm sure he'll manage to piss me off again soon enough.

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Part 3:1 | Table of Contents | Part 3:3