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i_read_what2018-10-01 01:34 am
kalinara) wrote in i_read_what2018-10-01 01:34 am
Dragonflight - Part Three - Dust Fall - Part 5 and 6: Actual Thread Fighting
So now we get to see the dreaded Thread in all its glory, as Benden Weyr travels back a few hours in order to fight it.
Spoiler: Sadly, F'lar doesn't die
So in this chapter, F'lar leads the wings between time, for the first time, to fight thread. It seems like, from the riders' reactions, this was the first they'd heard of this ability. The dragons are unbothered.
You know, F'lar and Lessa have known about the time travel thing for months now. They could have introduced the other riders to the concept long before the day of battle. We've seen how tricky between can be for the dragonriders. What if someone overshot?
That said, the dragons' lack of concern intrigues me. I think maybe someone ought to sit down with the dragons and see what THEY know about their own capabilities. Something tells me that they might well remember a lot more than their idiot riders.
The thread imagery is pretty nice though:
"Slanting across the sea, like an ever-thickening mist, Threads were falling, silent, beautiful, treacherous. Silvery gray were those space-traversing spores, spinning from hard frozen ovals into coarse filaments as they penetrated the warm atmospheric envelope of Pern. Less than mindless, they had been ejected from their barren planet toward Pern, a hideous rain that sought organic matter to nourish it into growth. One Thread, sinking into fertile soil, would burrow deep, propagating thousands in the warm earth, rendering it into a black-dusted wasteland. The southern continent of Pern had already been sucked dry. The true parasites of Pern were Threads."
Honestly, I think the dragonriders come close. But given that you assholes are finally, after four hundred years, earning your keep, I suppose I can let it go.
We also get to see how firestone works: namely the dragons chew it and belch out gas that ignites into flame and sears Thread from the sky and burns it out of the soil.
Flying between has a defensive use too: when a dragon gets hit, they go between, freezing the Thread before it can seriously hurt them.
The dragons seem to be operating on instinct, which makes me wonder what good the fucking Games were at all? If it didn't teach them tactics. Poor Lytol got burned for nothing. F'lar also observes that, unlike what he'd assumed from his reading of the records, Thread falls in patches like snow flurries, rather than sheets like rain.
It's hard to recap an action sequence, there are dragons getting injured, fighting, flying. It's fairly easy to keep up with the action. F'lar does at least get a moment of humility:
"He, F'lar, the bronze rider, felt suddenly superfluous. It was the dragons who were fighting this engagement. You encouraged your beast, comforted him when the Threads burned, but you depended on his instinct and speed."
Well, yeah. You are kind of superfluous in this arrangement. Consider how you became Weyrleader. It wasn't out of merit, even though I'm willing to concede that as much as I hate you, you were the only one with actual knowledge and a plan. But you didn't win your position because of competence. You won it because your dragon was the one fast/strong enough to fuck the Queen.
Ultimately, F'lar, you don't matter in this equation. The only one that kind of does is Lessa, because of her communication gift.
F'lar also gets dinged by Thread, across his cheek and into his shoulder. Mnementh was fine though. F'lar actually has a moment of self-recrimination for not checking Mnementh right away, but, much as it irks me, to do so, I'm willing to give him a pass for this: he was injured and in pain.
But it's actually good to see something resembling self-recrimination. Maybe you can feel that about things that are actually your fault now?
Anyway, the dragons succeed, and go home.
--
The next part is Lessa's. She watches the menfolk leave, noting the envy of the new recruits, only to see them return again moments later.
Hey, wait a second. Wasn't Lessa supposed to be coordinating tactics for F'lar? Wasn't she supposed to be speaking to every dragon? Isn't this why F'lar shook her, because she didn't tell him she could do that? And she gets left behind???
Fuck you, F'lar.
Anyway, the dragons return after having spent two hours fighting Thread. Lessa initially assumes F'lar is uninjured, because he stays hovering for a while, so she goes to help another rider, T'sum, with his dragon's pierced wing (every rider tends his beast first, so we're told). She catches Kylara putting salve on F'lar's face and is heading over there, but F'nor's dragon, Canth interrupted them.
There's some odd point of view shifts in this scene. It's something that annoys me a bit about Ms. McCaffrey's writing. She is great with pacing, but the point of view is not entirely consistent all the time.
Anyway, we actually get a blue rider with a speaking role for once, as Lessa sends the old dragonrider, C'gan, to help get more firestone to F'nor at Keroon.
Ramoth is jealous that the menfolk have all the fun, and Lessa points out that by chewing firestone she's "reduced to a silly green".
Ugh. I appreciate that Ramoth's value is in her ability to breed, but I continue to be unhappy with the way the green dragons are treated. Silly, promiscuous. It's unpleasant, especially when we remember at this time that all of the green riders are men, men who presumably end up sleeping with other men as part of the mating flights. And how, thus far, no male green rider has had a major speaking role (except the soon to be retconned Lytol).
But I've ranted about that before. I just wish we'd see more value. The green dragons, small and fast, are an important part of the fight against Thread. They risk their lives as much as any other dragonrider and they don't deserve these unpleasant connotations.
Actually, right after she says that, she does pass a "dainty green beauty" with a wing so threaded as to bare cartilage. Dragons must have enhanced healing capabilities though as she would only be "out for weeks".
Lessa notes that more men were injured than dragons. One might lose an eye. Another was burned to the bone. Thankfully most of the wounds are minor, but Lessa worries about the men still fighting thread at present time in Keroon.
Lessa has another thought about N'ton, one of the new riders who had been mentioned as being able to talk to Canth, and wonders if he could possibly fly Canth, and if other riders could do that too
Lessa's speculation tells us also that the Red Star's circling pass of Pern will last for fifty Turns (years). Egads.
Lessa also gives F'lar some credit where it's due: noting that while he'd forgotten to have men alert for black dust (an error that she graciously allowed him - I love Lessa so much), that he studied and planned. Now he just needs to make the riders listen to their dragons' battle instincts.
Then they're interrupted by the arrival of an injured blue dragon. Ramoth catches him and helps him land. It's C'gan's blue. He's dying.
After C'gan dies, his dragon shrieks and disappears. Dragons go between when their riders die, presumably as a dragon suicide. I sometimes like the thought that they don't really die, they just go some place else away from their dickhead riders. But that seems kind of mean spirited right now.
Also, given that C'gan is a blue rider, and blues fly greens, I wonder if this counts as a "Bury Your Gays" trope. Maybe not. I think he'd have had to have more than one speaking line for that.
Oh, another miscellaneous note, as C'gan is dying, he's described as an "old harper" which I find very interesting. I had been under the impression that most of the Craft-type professions are life long commitments. Was C'gan a harper before he became a dragonrider? How old was he when he was Impressed? Did he keep up with studying/composing afterward? Does he still keep in touch with his old Hall? What was the adjustment period like?
I'm really intrigued by this. I'd rather hear C'gan's story than F'lar's damnit.
Lessa is both disheartened by this loss and worried, noting their very small numbers. But it also is a catalyst for her final acceptance of her role as a Weyrwoman "to help F'lar shape men and events for many Turns to come-to secure Pern against the Threads."
Sigh. I admire your heroism, Lessa, but I still think you deserve better.
Part 3:4 | Table of Contents | Part 3:7
Spoiler: Sadly, F'lar doesn't die
So in this chapter, F'lar leads the wings between time, for the first time, to fight thread. It seems like, from the riders' reactions, this was the first they'd heard of this ability. The dragons are unbothered.
You know, F'lar and Lessa have known about the time travel thing for months now. They could have introduced the other riders to the concept long before the day of battle. We've seen how tricky between can be for the dragonriders. What if someone overshot?
That said, the dragons' lack of concern intrigues me. I think maybe someone ought to sit down with the dragons and see what THEY know about their own capabilities. Something tells me that they might well remember a lot more than their idiot riders.
The thread imagery is pretty nice though:
"Slanting across the sea, like an ever-thickening mist, Threads were falling, silent, beautiful, treacherous. Silvery gray were those space-traversing spores, spinning from hard frozen ovals into coarse filaments as they penetrated the warm atmospheric envelope of Pern. Less than mindless, they had been ejected from their barren planet toward Pern, a hideous rain that sought organic matter to nourish it into growth. One Thread, sinking into fertile soil, would burrow deep, propagating thousands in the warm earth, rendering it into a black-dusted wasteland. The southern continent of Pern had already been sucked dry. The true parasites of Pern were Threads."
Honestly, I think the dragonriders come close. But given that you assholes are finally, after four hundred years, earning your keep, I suppose I can let it go.
We also get to see how firestone works: namely the dragons chew it and belch out gas that ignites into flame and sears Thread from the sky and burns it out of the soil.
Flying between has a defensive use too: when a dragon gets hit, they go between, freezing the Thread before it can seriously hurt them.
The dragons seem to be operating on instinct, which makes me wonder what good the fucking Games were at all? If it didn't teach them tactics. Poor Lytol got burned for nothing. F'lar also observes that, unlike what he'd assumed from his reading of the records, Thread falls in patches like snow flurries, rather than sheets like rain.
It's hard to recap an action sequence, there are dragons getting injured, fighting, flying. It's fairly easy to keep up with the action. F'lar does at least get a moment of humility:
"He, F'lar, the bronze rider, felt suddenly superfluous. It was the dragons who were fighting this engagement. You encouraged your beast, comforted him when the Threads burned, but you depended on his instinct and speed."
Well, yeah. You are kind of superfluous in this arrangement. Consider how you became Weyrleader. It wasn't out of merit, even though I'm willing to concede that as much as I hate you, you were the only one with actual knowledge and a plan. But you didn't win your position because of competence. You won it because your dragon was the one fast/strong enough to fuck the Queen.
Ultimately, F'lar, you don't matter in this equation. The only one that kind of does is Lessa, because of her communication gift.
F'lar also gets dinged by Thread, across his cheek and into his shoulder. Mnementh was fine though. F'lar actually has a moment of self-recrimination for not checking Mnementh right away, but, much as it irks me, to do so, I'm willing to give him a pass for this: he was injured and in pain.
But it's actually good to see something resembling self-recrimination. Maybe you can feel that about things that are actually your fault now?
Anyway, the dragons succeed, and go home.
--
The next part is Lessa's. She watches the menfolk leave, noting the envy of the new recruits, only to see them return again moments later.
Hey, wait a second. Wasn't Lessa supposed to be coordinating tactics for F'lar? Wasn't she supposed to be speaking to every dragon? Isn't this why F'lar shook her, because she didn't tell him she could do that? And she gets left behind???
Fuck you, F'lar.
Anyway, the dragons return after having spent two hours fighting Thread. Lessa initially assumes F'lar is uninjured, because he stays hovering for a while, so she goes to help another rider, T'sum, with his dragon's pierced wing (every rider tends his beast first, so we're told). She catches Kylara putting salve on F'lar's face and is heading over there, but F'nor's dragon, Canth interrupted them.
There's some odd point of view shifts in this scene. It's something that annoys me a bit about Ms. McCaffrey's writing. She is great with pacing, but the point of view is not entirely consistent all the time.
Anyway, we actually get a blue rider with a speaking role for once, as Lessa sends the old dragonrider, C'gan, to help get more firestone to F'nor at Keroon.
Ramoth is jealous that the menfolk have all the fun, and Lessa points out that by chewing firestone she's "reduced to a silly green".
Ugh. I appreciate that Ramoth's value is in her ability to breed, but I continue to be unhappy with the way the green dragons are treated. Silly, promiscuous. It's unpleasant, especially when we remember at this time that all of the green riders are men, men who presumably end up sleeping with other men as part of the mating flights. And how, thus far, no male green rider has had a major speaking role (except the soon to be retconned Lytol).
But I've ranted about that before. I just wish we'd see more value. The green dragons, small and fast, are an important part of the fight against Thread. They risk their lives as much as any other dragonrider and they don't deserve these unpleasant connotations.
Actually, right after she says that, she does pass a "dainty green beauty" with a wing so threaded as to bare cartilage. Dragons must have enhanced healing capabilities though as she would only be "out for weeks".
Lessa notes that more men were injured than dragons. One might lose an eye. Another was burned to the bone. Thankfully most of the wounds are minor, but Lessa worries about the men still fighting thread at present time in Keroon.
Lessa has another thought about N'ton, one of the new riders who had been mentioned as being able to talk to Canth, and wonders if he could possibly fly Canth, and if other riders could do that too
Lessa's speculation tells us also that the Red Star's circling pass of Pern will last for fifty Turns (years). Egads.
Lessa also gives F'lar some credit where it's due: noting that while he'd forgotten to have men alert for black dust (an error that she graciously allowed him - I love Lessa so much), that he studied and planned. Now he just needs to make the riders listen to their dragons' battle instincts.
Then they're interrupted by the arrival of an injured blue dragon. Ramoth catches him and helps him land. It's C'gan's blue. He's dying.
After C'gan dies, his dragon shrieks and disappears. Dragons go between when their riders die, presumably as a dragon suicide. I sometimes like the thought that they don't really die, they just go some place else away from their dickhead riders. But that seems kind of mean spirited right now.
Also, given that C'gan is a blue rider, and blues fly greens, I wonder if this counts as a "Bury Your Gays" trope. Maybe not. I think he'd have had to have more than one speaking line for that.
Oh, another miscellaneous note, as C'gan is dying, he's described as an "old harper" which I find very interesting. I had been under the impression that most of the Craft-type professions are life long commitments. Was C'gan a harper before he became a dragonrider? How old was he when he was Impressed? Did he keep up with studying/composing afterward? Does he still keep in touch with his old Hall? What was the adjustment period like?
I'm really intrigued by this. I'd rather hear C'gan's story than F'lar's damnit.
Lessa is both disheartened by this loss and worried, noting their very small numbers. But it also is a catalyst for her final acceptance of her role as a Weyrwoman "to help F'lar shape men and events for many Turns to come-to secure Pern against the Threads."
Sigh. I admire your heroism, Lessa, but I still think you deserve better.