[13.11] Hide Work (M'riel)

[kendrall]

M'riel said nothing, only sipping at his klah as he listened to the leadership' responses. Shayna and M'cleod both agreed in his assessment of forming scouting groups to determine if there were indeed natural resources to be found. What he was hoping for was a sizeable payoff; in his opinion, Izuko Weyr would need every advantage possible if they were not only to survive, but thrive and grow. What he didn't count on, however, was the grim news M'cleod gave him. Eighty-one Weyrlings, and just under half of them would be ready for full duty within the next two months. Closing his eyes, the Bronzerider tried to mentally calculate what sort of odds the Weyr as a whole would be facing should a threat arise, either from the sudden return of Thread or if the Holders decided to indeed rise up and declare their independence. Either way, it didn't seem to be appealing. M'riel didn't want to say it, but he was pretty certain he and the leadership would agree on one thing: They needed more time. Just how much they already had, he had no clue.

At least M'cleod was somewhat agreeable to employing the tactics used by M'riel two hundred Turns in the future, the last time he and his Riders had fought Thread. The Weyrleader wouldn't give a definitive 'yes' or 'no', but instead opted to look into it. M'riel would have to settle for the draw for the moment. He just had to make it work somehow, and he knew his Riders would be up to the task. Which brought him to the one question he didn't expect to hear: Why was it that, two hundred Turns from now, the knowledge of fighting Thread was lost to the Weyrs. M'riel didn't have a definitive answer, as he himself had no idea why that knowledge was lost. It was the same situation he and his surviving Riders from the future had faced then as they were facing now. The supposed lack of Threadfall.

M'riel turned to face M'cleod, and for once he showed a bit of respect for the Brownrider.

"I've often asked that question myself, Weyrleader, but could never come up with a clear, concise answer. The best I can give you, however, is this. In my own time; because Threadfall hadn't been seen for so long, many of the Holders felt it would never fall again, and therefore the Dragonriders were no longer needed. Drills were no longer adhered to, firestone was no longer mined, and many of the Weyrs became lax. A few of the older Riders could remember the old stories about the last time Pern faced Thread, but many chose not to believe it - including many of the Weyrs' leaderships."

"The knowledge that was recorded was considered archaic, and was widely disregarded as a result. My own Weyrleader didn't bother continuing in the old ways, as he felt there was no need to. Between his views and the pressure put upon us by the Holds, well, it wasn't a pretty political situation. Much like what this Weyr is facing now. But when the Red Star came around again, a lot of people didn't quite know what to make of it. They couldn't interpret its arrival, or what it meant until Thread started falling again, and it led to widespread chaos. Our Weyrleader organized a hasty counteroffensive, ordering us into three long lines from west to east, top to bottom. He wanted those lines to remain fixed throughout the entire flight." M'riel let out a depressing sigh. "I wish I could say there were more survivors, but only a handful of us made it through. To avoid any embarrassment on his part because of the sheer losses of both Dragonriders and Holdfolk, well...that was why my Riders were sent back here. To avoid repeating the same mistakes that cost so many lives."

[sorra]

Shayna smiled a bit as she took a sip of her klah. She was glad that M'cleod seemed alright with sending a few exploring. If they could find anything to help the Weyr that would be great for them all. Especially since the Holds weren't willing to help the riders and right now the Weyr was having trouble keeping things together and on track. And then with Thread looming over their heads. There was just so much to consider now and so many other things that were making it hard to keep things going. She sighed softly and closed her eyes briefly.

She hadn't even thought to ask that question, but it made sense and she was curious as to how M'riel would answer. Why was it that no one seemed to remember how to fight Thread? It didn't make much sense. Until after he started to explain.

Shayna frowned slightly and set her mug back down. "So even the Weyrs took on the idea of the Holders about Thread?" she asked in disbelief. She couldn't imagine getting that lax. "That's just awful. Even at Fort we still drilled for Thread even though none of us had actually ever seen it and didn't know if we would anytime soon." She couldn't imagine riders giving up on drills and keeping Thread fighting alive. It just didn't make sense at all. She wanted to just slap the Leadership of those Weyrs for being so wherryheaded. "So they wanted to cover up their mistake by sending a group of riders back in time to hopefully be able to fix their error?" she inquired. Shayna sighed softly. What a mess this was.

[Mik]

M'cleod put down his mug of klah again, remembering something from his Weyrling days about firestone and female dragons. "If they quit minin' firestone, then did some of the greens start clutchin'?" he asked, more out of curiosity than anything. He shook his head at the thought. One of the possible reasons behind their two junior golds Rising so late for their maiden Flights was because they had both chewed firestone as Weyrlings, but here they were, finally having Risen. Now the hopes that a clutch would follow were very high with their small numbers. He was not going to dwell on that thought any longer than necessary. Right now, they needed to figure out this upcoming Thread issue. If M'riel had a rough estimate of when it was to come, then they would be better off. His own mother had helped to figure out the old patterns that they had salvaged from the Old Weyrs.

The fact that the Weyrleader disregarded the ways that they had started against Thread meant that they would need to leave something in the Records about it to forewarn the future Riders and to make sure that it was a part of the Weyrling Lessons. He thought about those words for several moments, slipping into a fidgety pace along the length of the table in the room. Shayna's words rang through his mind the hardest. The future Weyrs had sent Riders back in Time as a warning to themselves to keep training for Thread.

After several silent moments, the brownrider stopped in his tracks and faced the two other Riders in the room. "We'll haveta rework our trainin' an' make sure that the reason fer dragons don't git left in the past. We researched the Hides ta have Shayna with us an' 'gain to hunt down this place an' 'gain to figure out threadfall when it returns. We lost most our hist'ry in the Quake, so ev'rythin's still gettin' put down 'gain from mem'ry an' experience." He stepped back into his thoughtful pacing, his mind swarming with ideas, histories, theories, and experiences.

[kendrall]

M'riel shook his head when Shayna asked about the Weyrs accepting the Holds' argument about the lack of Threadfall, her comment about Fort Weyr still conducting drills as a precautionary measure. He held his tongue when she posed her question about the future Weyrs sending Riders into the past to cover up a disaster. Technically, it could be seen that way. M'riel felt like he had been caught in the middle of the furball, and couldn't do a Betweened thing about it. To cover up a disaster meant someone - in this case, his Weyrleader two hundred Turns from now - was shirking his responsibility and trying to shift the blame elsewhere. It was bad enough to place the lives of thirteen Riders and their dragons at risk by Timing into the past; it was even worse when it was discovered a gold Egg had been stolen from High Reaches Weyr by two of his own people.

M'cleod then posed an interesting question. Did the Greens start clutching from the lack of firestone? M'riel couldn't fully remember the specifics. While it was true that a Green could technically clutch from lack of chewing firestone, it was often unlikely for that very same reason. It was possible that a Green or two produced a clutch in his time, but the Bronzerider was unsure of the specifics. Before he could form a reply, M'cleod ceased pacing and turned to face the others. The Weyrleader began to speak, and a slow smile crept to the corner of M'riel's lips. Finally, the man seemed to grasp the seriousness of the issue everyone was facing, both in the present and in the future. Whatever records they had were lost to an earthquake, so they had to rely on memory and experience. M'cleod starting pacing again, and M'riel decided to speak up.

"It's no secret that I've never been one for politics, and I typically go out of my way to avoid them whenever and however possible. Why the Weyrs in my own time chose to yield to the pressure of the Holds, I'll never know nor understand. It's bad enough that the Weyrleader at High Reaches two hundred Turns from now came up with this idea to send me, my dragon, and twelve others through Time, to come back here, because he couldn't accept the consequences for his lack of actions. We lost a lot of good, honest, hard-working people that day, and a lot of valuable dragons."

"As for the Greens clutching; truthfully, Weyrleader, I honestly don't recall off-hand if any did or not. I can tell you, based on my own experiences with Oreath; the many times he managed to Fly Shandrith, there weren't any clutches produced. But it wouldn't surprise me if at least one or two instances occurred." M'riel shrugged apologetically. Clutchings and Hatchings were something he preferred to avoid completely if he could, unless he was specifically ordered by either the Weyrwoman or Weyrleader to attend. The same could be said for feasts and gatherings. Well, that wasn't entirely true. There had been the few rare occasions when Noemi asked him to accompany her to special occasions...

That memory brought a sad smile to his lips, but M'riel quickly surpressed it before either Shayna or M'cleod could notice. Instead, he took a step forward to catch the Weyrleader's attention.

"I would propose, Weyrleader, that we start looking to see where we can improve upon the training; Flight or otherwise. Given our current relationships with the Holds, I would also propose two things." M'riel held up his right forefinger. "First, I would propose that we proceed with the exploration to find the natural resources we can use to our advantage." He then raised the next finger. "Second, there's no telling if and when the Holds will decide to declare their independence, and openly wage war on Izuko. I would rather seek a diplomatic solution if at all possible, personally, but my gut tells me some of the Holders will refuse to listen. Now, I don't know how well-trained anyone is when it comes to fighting; be it Rider, Weyrling, candidate, Weyrfolk, or Guardsman. My guess would be the Guards would be the best-trained, but even then we can always find room for growth. Judging from the map; by my estimates, it will take at least two days by boat for any sort of attack to be launched on Izuko. That's barely enough time to organize and prepare a counteroffensive, barely enough time to get the children and non-essential personnel to safety." He pointed to the high cliffs that surrounded the Weyr, facing the expanse of water between the islands and the mainland. "We can probably use these cliffs to launch several volleys of arrows down onto the approaching boats. If we could somehow soak pieces of cloth in petroleum or even tar, wrap them around the arrowheads, set them alight and then open fire..." M'riel paused for effect. "Well, let's just say no one I've ever faced likes the idea of having flaming arrows falling all around them."

He lowered his hand, then tapped the hide showing the various Flight patterns. "My best guess is we'll need as much time as possible to improve on these old patterns, to start preparing for eventual Threadfall. The sooner we can do so, the better." M'riel then stretched out his hand, wanting to grip M'cleod's forearm in a show of solidarity. "I may have my disagreements with you, Weyrleader, but you'll also get from me - and my Riders - our very best we can give to this Weyr."

[sorra]

Shayna quietly sipped on her klah as she listened. She had a slight headache and was feeling a bit sick to her stomach, so that klah was helping. Things right now seemed so messed up. Apparently when they had lost the hides to the quake they had lost quite a bit of knowledge. Maybe she should sit down with a Harper or someone like that and see about putting down on hides what she could remember from her training before coming forward in time. Right now it sounded like anything would help. She just couldn't understand how everything had gotten so messed up and out of control.

She watched as M'cleod started to pace. That was never a good thing. She hadn't thought about clutching greens before. Of course they hadn't needed more dragons when she had been in Fort, but it might be worth trying to find out. Were the green dragons like the green firelizards? Would their clutches be much smaller and not protected as well? She wasn't sure, but it was certainly something to think about.

Shayna hid a smile behind her hand. She didn't know too many people who liked politics. Well, with the exception of V'ter who seemed to love every minute of it. She would rather avoid it if she could. Although she did love Gathers. It gave her a chance to dance and she loved dancing, but she knew not everyone liked them. Maybe she could get M'riel to come to one though if they ever had them. Get him to relax a bit. Surely R'bao wouldn't mind if she asked the bronze rider along.

"Improvements are always needed," Shayna said softly. "I'll help where ever I can." She would defer to M'cleod on the wing tactics since that was the Weyrleader's place to figure out, but she would help and give suggestions wherever she could. And she would have her wing fill in and work with the other wings as much as she could. It made her stop though when she realized that it was her wing now. That just didn't seem right at all. She sighed silently. Things were bad. That was for sure. Shayna shuttered a bit. "I hope it doesn't come to that. I don't want to see anyone else hurt. We've lost enough as it is and I don't even want to think about having to fight back against the Holders." Riders shouldn't have had to fight Holders. It just wasn't proper, but she feared it may come to that. "But I agree with the explorations. I think any little advantage we can get would be good for us."

She smiled as she saw that M'riel was willing to work with M'cleod. Good, maybe they could at least get along. She knew she didn't want to have to play mediator for them. They were both riders and both had knowledge that was valuable to everyone.

[Mik]

M’cleod listened to M’riel’s ideas and words, not wholly agreeing with everything that the man said. After all, it was not M’riel that had seen the devastation of the Plague, the murders to Riders, causing their dragons to Between, including a gold when her clutches were greatly needed to increase their dragon numbers, the Holders’ rebellions against the only Weyr left on Pern, the Quake’s victims, and then the poisoned water supply at Igen Weyr. Sure he was willing to work with the bronzerider, knowing that the man could possibly, almost easily, outrank him in the future. He would make the most of his short time left as Weyrleader anyway. “I’ll go over the drills and Lessons and see what we can do. As for the defenses against attack, I’ve seen enough war recently that I’d rather not think of it currently. Besides, part of our training is sparring in case it’s ever needed.” He looked at the man’s outstretched arm for a brief moment in thought, his mind circling around so many things at once that it could not quite focus on just one thing at a time. At least M’riel was offering to work with him on things, though he had his suspicions that they would never fully get along if the bronze rider’s ideas were proven correct. Closing the gap between them, he embraced M’riel’s forearm, his dark sky eyes looking into the Future Rider’s blue-grays. “I’ll hold ya’ to ‘at statement,” he said finally, his tone suggesting that he was hoping for a good future with this new group of Riders.

[kendrall]

((OOC - End!))