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i_read_whatNow, we've actually gotten to see the Thread in action, and we've also got a clearer idea of exactly how screwed the dragonriders are. On one hand, they're objectively terrible. On the other hand, they're finally earning their keep. And well, most of the rest of the Pernese people don't seem to be quite as terrible so I suppose I'm reasonably concerned about their fate.
So we rejoin Lessa, who has been organizing the care and comfort of the wounded since the attack ended at noon. We learned that while C'gan was the only fatality, there are twenty-eight men or dragons out of commission for the next Thread fight. She's gone to find F'lar in the records room, looking haggard and worried.
I hate F'lar, but he's not an idiot, and he knows exactly how screwed they are. Lessa tries to encourage him, bringing up his schedules, which are meant to keep the riders going until the new forty baby dragons are old enough to fight. But he's not having it.
He also engages in some gratuitous Jora-blaming:
"'Before there were always six Weyrs. And twenty or so Turns before the Red Star was due to begin its Pass, the queens would start to produce enormous clutches. All the queens, not just one faithful golden Ramoth. Oh, how I curse Jora!' He slammed to his feet and started pacing, irritably brushing the lock of black hair that fell across his eyes."
Okay, wait just one minute here, F'lar. Every single fucking chapter, you and other characters haven't stopped telling us how lazy, indolent and disgusting Jora is. You've never once given us any reason why Jora should be otherwise. Most of Pern believed that Thread would never fall again. Jora is stuck in a position where she is hated and reviled, and where she has to spread her legs for whoever's dragon wins the mating flight.
There is nothing to indicate Jora had a choice in any of this. Though I'm still happy with the idea that Jora was actively sabotaging you all.
But, let's say you're right. If Jora had done her job, and Nemorth had been able to have had more clutches before Threadfall, it still wouldn't have been enough to populate SIX FUCKING WEYRS.
FUCK YOU F'LAR. #TeamJora for fucking life.
Anyway, now that F'lar has had an encounter with the Threads, he's a lot less confident about their chances. Not only do they have to be ready to fight Thread in the air, there also has to be ground patrols in Nerat and Keroon to make sure to contain any Thread that might have slipped past.
F'lar is at least planning to conscript the Lords to help. He's organizing a full Council, but there is still the question about how to deal with already buried Threads. F'lar thinks that there are other methods of dealing with Threads that were completely unknown, noting that even hundreds of dragons couldn't have dealt with all the Thread today.
So how about you stop blaming a dead woman, you asshole?
Lessa notes that their ancestors weren't perfect: the Southern Continent was lost. And this is where we return to a rant that I had previously. Basically the Southern Continent is a whole other Pernese landmass, that in recorded history, was so utterly savaged by Thread as to be unlivable.
Per F'lar, no one's "bothered" with it for "a hundred thousand Turns".
...really?
Really?
I know that in the last four hundred Threadless years, the dragonriders have done absolutely nothing to earn their keep, acting like a constant parasitic drain on the Lords for almost twice as long as the United States of America has existed.
But in four hundreds of years of activity, no one thought to use teleporting dragons for any sort of scouting or exploration?
I mean, sure, the Southern Continent had been destroyed once. But think about Pern for a second. According to the prologue, Pern was settled by human colonists who created the dragons once they realized how bad Thread was.
But what happened to the environment before the human colonists came? Presumably Thread fell and savaged everything right? But Pern appeared livable to the human colonists. There were plants and animals.
So that would imply then that, after enough time, Pern regrows what Thread destroys.
So something tells me these idiots really ought to be looking at the Southern Continent as it is now.
Anyway, F'lar is frustrated because he feels like the answers must be in the Records. Lessa points out that his own work, the maps and such, have helped them the most so far and that they can't do anything about the Records' ridiculous omissions.
So they start thinking of their immediate concerns: Dragons, the immediate need of them, and how to deal with burrowed Threads. Lessa points out that they need sleep as well, which F'lar takes as an invitation.
I recognize that Lessa and F'lar have reached an understanding but it still makes me uncomfortable to read about her "trying to escape" given how their relationship began. She takes the time to complain about Kylara tending F'lar's face.
Oh, and remember what I said about Kylara? We're going to start seeing a lot of unwarranted Kylara-criticism soon enough. I mean, Lessa's frustration here is pretty mild. Kylara and F'lar have a history and she sees Kylara as being presumptive. But it's only the start.
Lessa's jealousy serves a purpose though, when she snaps that she wishes Kylara were Turns away as well as miles, F'lar realizes a solution that they missed.
Basically, F'lar wants to send Kylara, the new dragons, at least one older bronze, and poor F'nor to be in charge "discreetly" back in time. But it can't be the High Reaches, because they'd have seen signs of occupation.
Lessa is the one who figures out that it should be the Southern Continent, ten years ago. Thread wouldn't have been there and it'd give Pridith time to mature and have any number of clutches. And no one has any idea if there is a Weyr or a Hatching Ground there, because the Records don't mention it. Threads don't last long if there's nothing to eat, and the last Threadfall was four hundred years ago.
THANK YOU, Lessa.
There's more bickering and the start to something amorous, when they're interrupted by F'nor. F'lar is ready to reprimand him (something that pleases Lessa irrationally, oh, Lessa, honey, you could do so much better), when he and Lessa realize there's something odd about F'nor: he's tanned, unbandaged and unwounded.
F'nor starts rambling about how "it's" not working out and people can't be in two times at once.
'Your dragons are all right,' F'nor assured the Weyrleader with a bitter laugh. 'It doesn't bother them. They keep all they wits about them. But their riders ... all the weyrfolk ... we're shadows, half alive, like dragonless men, part of us gone forever. Except Kylara.' His face contorted with intense dislike. 'All she wants to do is go back and watch herself. The woman's egomania will destroy us all, I'm afraid.'"
This is the kind of thing I mean when I say that Kylara is going to be continually blamed for pretty much everything under the sun. This is the first example.
Lessa's dislike of Kylara seems fairly reasonable, if somewhat unfair. Lessa resents that Kylara and F'lar had a relationship. She resents that Kylara has expressed interest in rekindling that relationship and she feels like Kylara has overstepped into her place. Okay. Jealousy isn't a pretty emotion, but there's some basis.
But look at F'nor's complaint here. Apparently the future Kylara is the only person who isn't suffering the effects of being in two times. Instead, she seems to enjoy watching herself as a child. Instead of thinking, "hey, Kylara's actually found a way to cope with this shit, maybe we can learn from that" or even just appreciating her resilience, he seems to be blaming her.
Hey, F'nor. NONE of this is Kylara's fault. Kylara didn't decide to send you guys back in time to co-exist with your younger selves, that was F'lar and Lessa. Kylara isn't the one making it difficult for you to co-exist with your younger selves, that seems like a physical/psychological issue.
This is what Kylara has done: she has, apparently, given up her current life at Benden Weyr to go to a strange place and time.
She has, presumably, taken up a leadership role as Weyrwoman of the new Weyr, and without all of the staff that Benden Weyr has.
She is still in a role defined by who her DRAGON chooses to sleep with, her own wishes largely irrelevant.
And she's facing the same strain as everyone else, but unlike them has found a way to cope.
And this somehow makes Kylara a terrible person?!
How EXACTLY will she "destroy you all" again? Is she going to stab you in your sleep? Because I might cheer for her if she does.
Kylara and Jora ought to start a club for women unfairly demonized by the men in this fucking series.
So anyway, obviously, F'nor is evidence that Lessa and F'lar do institute their plan and that it may not be working as well as they hoped. Which leads us into the end of part three, and the beginning of the fourth and final part: The Cold Between.
I admit, I've still got lingering questions about all this. If Kylara and company do go back and Pridith matures and has more clutches...where do they get the riders? Will they get the riders from the present day, since that's where the dragons will be going in the end? Or are they getting the riders from the past?
If the riders are all from the present, then they'd all be suffering with F'nor and the others, which might impair their ability to train, but if they are getting riders from the past, then those young men will all be expected to give up whatever lives and families they have to come forward in time, won't they? And it means even more young people getting Searched and disappearing out of thin air.
Egads, if that's the case, no wonder the Lords are pissed. Well. We'll find out soon enough.
Part 3:5,6 | Table of Contents | Part 4:1,2
So we rejoin Lessa, who has been organizing the care and comfort of the wounded since the attack ended at noon. We learned that while C'gan was the only fatality, there are twenty-eight men or dragons out of commission for the next Thread fight. She's gone to find F'lar in the records room, looking haggard and worried.
I hate F'lar, but he's not an idiot, and he knows exactly how screwed they are. Lessa tries to encourage him, bringing up his schedules, which are meant to keep the riders going until the new forty baby dragons are old enough to fight. But he's not having it.
He also engages in some gratuitous Jora-blaming:
"'Before there were always six Weyrs. And twenty or so Turns before the Red Star was due to begin its Pass, the queens would start to produce enormous clutches. All the queens, not just one faithful golden Ramoth. Oh, how I curse Jora!' He slammed to his feet and started pacing, irritably brushing the lock of black hair that fell across his eyes."
Okay, wait just one minute here, F'lar. Every single fucking chapter, you and other characters haven't stopped telling us how lazy, indolent and disgusting Jora is. You've never once given us any reason why Jora should be otherwise. Most of Pern believed that Thread would never fall again. Jora is stuck in a position where she is hated and reviled, and where she has to spread her legs for whoever's dragon wins the mating flight.
There is nothing to indicate Jora had a choice in any of this. Though I'm still happy with the idea that Jora was actively sabotaging you all.
But, let's say you're right. If Jora had done her job, and Nemorth had been able to have had more clutches before Threadfall, it still wouldn't have been enough to populate SIX FUCKING WEYRS.
FUCK YOU F'LAR. #TeamJora for fucking life.
Anyway, now that F'lar has had an encounter with the Threads, he's a lot less confident about their chances. Not only do they have to be ready to fight Thread in the air, there also has to be ground patrols in Nerat and Keroon to make sure to contain any Thread that might have slipped past.
F'lar is at least planning to conscript the Lords to help. He's organizing a full Council, but there is still the question about how to deal with already buried Threads. F'lar thinks that there are other methods of dealing with Threads that were completely unknown, noting that even hundreds of dragons couldn't have dealt with all the Thread today.
So how about you stop blaming a dead woman, you asshole?
Lessa notes that their ancestors weren't perfect: the Southern Continent was lost. And this is where we return to a rant that I had previously. Basically the Southern Continent is a whole other Pernese landmass, that in recorded history, was so utterly savaged by Thread as to be unlivable.
Per F'lar, no one's "bothered" with it for "a hundred thousand Turns".
...really?
Really?
I know that in the last four hundred Threadless years, the dragonriders have done absolutely nothing to earn their keep, acting like a constant parasitic drain on the Lords for almost twice as long as the United States of America has existed.
But in four hundreds of years of activity, no one thought to use teleporting dragons for any sort of scouting or exploration?
I mean, sure, the Southern Continent had been destroyed once. But think about Pern for a second. According to the prologue, Pern was settled by human colonists who created the dragons once they realized how bad Thread was.
But what happened to the environment before the human colonists came? Presumably Thread fell and savaged everything right? But Pern appeared livable to the human colonists. There were plants and animals.
So that would imply then that, after enough time, Pern regrows what Thread destroys.
So something tells me these idiots really ought to be looking at the Southern Continent as it is now.
Anyway, F'lar is frustrated because he feels like the answers must be in the Records. Lessa points out that his own work, the maps and such, have helped them the most so far and that they can't do anything about the Records' ridiculous omissions.
So they start thinking of their immediate concerns: Dragons, the immediate need of them, and how to deal with burrowed Threads. Lessa points out that they need sleep as well, which F'lar takes as an invitation.
I recognize that Lessa and F'lar have reached an understanding but it still makes me uncomfortable to read about her "trying to escape" given how their relationship began. She takes the time to complain about Kylara tending F'lar's face.
Oh, and remember what I said about Kylara? We're going to start seeing a lot of unwarranted Kylara-criticism soon enough. I mean, Lessa's frustration here is pretty mild. Kylara and F'lar have a history and she sees Kylara as being presumptive. But it's only the start.
Lessa's jealousy serves a purpose though, when she snaps that she wishes Kylara were Turns away as well as miles, F'lar realizes a solution that they missed.
Basically, F'lar wants to send Kylara, the new dragons, at least one older bronze, and poor F'nor to be in charge "discreetly" back in time. But it can't be the High Reaches, because they'd have seen signs of occupation.
Lessa is the one who figures out that it should be the Southern Continent, ten years ago. Thread wouldn't have been there and it'd give Pridith time to mature and have any number of clutches. And no one has any idea if there is a Weyr or a Hatching Ground there, because the Records don't mention it. Threads don't last long if there's nothing to eat, and the last Threadfall was four hundred years ago.
THANK YOU, Lessa.
There's more bickering and the start to something amorous, when they're interrupted by F'nor. F'lar is ready to reprimand him (something that pleases Lessa irrationally, oh, Lessa, honey, you could do so much better), when he and Lessa realize there's something odd about F'nor: he's tanned, unbandaged and unwounded.
F'nor starts rambling about how "it's" not working out and people can't be in two times at once.
'Your dragons are all right,' F'nor assured the Weyrleader with a bitter laugh. 'It doesn't bother them. They keep all they wits about them. But their riders ... all the weyrfolk ... we're shadows, half alive, like dragonless men, part of us gone forever. Except Kylara.' His face contorted with intense dislike. 'All she wants to do is go back and watch herself. The woman's egomania will destroy us all, I'm afraid.'"
This is the kind of thing I mean when I say that Kylara is going to be continually blamed for pretty much everything under the sun. This is the first example.
Lessa's dislike of Kylara seems fairly reasonable, if somewhat unfair. Lessa resents that Kylara and F'lar had a relationship. She resents that Kylara has expressed interest in rekindling that relationship and she feels like Kylara has overstepped into her place. Okay. Jealousy isn't a pretty emotion, but there's some basis.
But look at F'nor's complaint here. Apparently the future Kylara is the only person who isn't suffering the effects of being in two times. Instead, she seems to enjoy watching herself as a child. Instead of thinking, "hey, Kylara's actually found a way to cope with this shit, maybe we can learn from that" or even just appreciating her resilience, he seems to be blaming her.
Hey, F'nor. NONE of this is Kylara's fault. Kylara didn't decide to send you guys back in time to co-exist with your younger selves, that was F'lar and Lessa. Kylara isn't the one making it difficult for you to co-exist with your younger selves, that seems like a physical/psychological issue.
This is what Kylara has done: she has, apparently, given up her current life at Benden Weyr to go to a strange place and time.
She has, presumably, taken up a leadership role as Weyrwoman of the new Weyr, and without all of the staff that Benden Weyr has.
She is still in a role defined by who her DRAGON chooses to sleep with, her own wishes largely irrelevant.
And she's facing the same strain as everyone else, but unlike them has found a way to cope.
And this somehow makes Kylara a terrible person?!
How EXACTLY will she "destroy you all" again? Is she going to stab you in your sleep? Because I might cheer for her if she does.
Kylara and Jora ought to start a club for women unfairly demonized by the men in this fucking series.
So anyway, obviously, F'nor is evidence that Lessa and F'lar do institute their plan and that it may not be working as well as they hoped. Which leads us into the end of part three, and the beginning of the fourth and final part: The Cold Between.
I admit, I've still got lingering questions about all this. If Kylara and company do go back and Pridith matures and has more clutches...where do they get the riders? Will they get the riders from the present day, since that's where the dragons will be going in the end? Or are they getting the riders from the past?
If the riders are all from the present, then they'd all be suffering with F'nor and the others, which might impair their ability to train, but if they are getting riders from the past, then those young men will all be expected to give up whatever lives and families they have to come forward in time, won't they? And it means even more young people getting Searched and disappearing out of thin air.
Egads, if that's the case, no wonder the Lords are pissed. Well. We'll find out soon enough.