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Post by meah on Aug 23, 2008 1:15:03 GMT -5
"An...organism?" Iraink stared at A'tair in shock. They had brainwashed him. That was all Iraink could get out of the blather A'tair had just spouted. Iraink had sat through enough of the candidates lessons to know that it was the standard garbage the thread-droppers fed their children. It appalled him that they would lie to people like that, but, then, they were grooming these people to be thread-droppers themselves.
He was tempted to plead with A'tair, to convince his friend that thead-droppers really did what they did, but Sidhka was angry enough with him for saying it as it was. She would probably chew his ear off for saying anything else. It would almost certainly be a painful experience for him. She did enjoy chewing on him, as she was so fond of reminding him.
You taste good.
He narrowed his eyes. It really was aggravating having her in his head all the time, mocking everything he said. Of course, having Sidhka was better than having all the other people he'd had when he was small. That had been awful. They'd all tried to convince him of something different, something scary and strange. Only Sidhka had been telling the truth, of course.
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Post by Felina on Aug 23, 2008 15:40:08 GMT -5
A'tair nodded. "It has to be. An inanimate object can't cause that much damage." And they'd always learned that Thread was a living thing. That it devoured whatever it touched and that only water or fire could kill it. Or agenothree, but that was for all practical purposes liquid fire anyhow. But then, they'd also always learned that its fall was dictated solely by gravity, and he was starting to think that perhaps that wasn't quite true.
Maybe Iraink wasn't so mad after all. And it wouldn't hurt to ask. To see where his logic was coming from. After all, at the very least it would be a very educational experience. If worst came to worst, he could use it for evidence to prevent to either Sitareh or Penna, and maybe they could prevent him from Standing.
"Iraink... where did you get the idea... how did you find out that it was people who dropped Thread? Who told you?" What would happen if the boy was right? What would the implications of that be? He already knew the weyr was being nearly torn apart by the rift between those who didn't like the weyrleaders and those who did. What would happen if something else happened as well to cause division?
What if Thread came and they were too busy arguing to do anything about it?
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Post by meah on Sept 4, 2008 20:09:45 GMT -5
Iraink was taken aback by A'tair's question. He couldn't possibly say that Sidhka'd told him. Nobody ever believed him when he said Sidhka told him. The thread-droppers brainwashed people into believing that fire lizards couldn't talk. As if that were possible. He'd have to tell A'tair something, or the thread-droppers would get him back to their side.
The first words that came out of his mouth were rather random.
"I heard it from my mother...I mean, I heard it about my mother...I mean--"
He cut himself off to formulate his lie a bit.
"The thread-droppers were trying to convince my mother to join them...I think they did, because she made me go with that man." He refused to say his father's name. It was an evil name. He didn't even want to think it.
He hoped A'tair would believe that, because if he didn't then Iraink might have to tell him that Sidhka could talk, and then he'd get sent miserably back to his awful father. He didn't particularly want that to happen.
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Post by Felina on Sept 14, 2008 12:24:33 GMT -5
The poor kid was terrified. He was barely coherent, barely able to keep his sentences straight. Of course, it was understandable, as he'd seen the way Iraink had been treated; anyone would be afraid to remember something like that. And why would he be afraid of something that simply didn't exist?
A'tair, he is not right in his head. Something there is broken. I think it is his conscience.
Don't be silly, Tris. He's been through a lot in his life, that's all.
No, that is not all. A'tair, I do not know if he tells the truth, and I do not want to see you hurt if he is wrong. That is all.
A'tair shook his head slightly, trying to concentrate on Iraink rather than the niggling concern that wasn't his in the back of his head. This was hard to accept; it went against everything that he had grown up believing, but he couldn't think of any other rational explanation for why Iraink's mother had allowed him to go with his father, not with his father the horrible person that he was. Such people didn't deserve to live, but somehow they did anyhow, and thrived even. They were like bloodsucking parasites.
"Iraink, I... I think I believe you," he said slowly, carefully. "But don't you think we need to tell someone about this? The weyrleaders, perhaps? I know M'kel and Sitareh aren't the most pleasant people on Pern, but if anyone can help us now, it's them." Which was a shame, really. Saying they weren't the most pleasant people on Pern was an understatement in the extreme. A'tair despised that pair with every living fiber of his being, and even some that weren't so alive, like his hair or his fingernails. They had sat back and done nothing but wrong, but if they had the power to do wrong, surely, when pressed, they had the power to do good? He could only hope so, or watch all Pern perish.
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Post by meah on Sept 28, 2008 20:52:17 GMT -5
Iraink shook his head violently, hearing Sidhka remind him over and over again not to tell a soul that he knew about the thread-droppers. If A'tair told Sitareh and M'kel, all would be lost. The pair probably were thread-droppers. He head people complaining about them, and he had gathered that they were in charge of his new home. They probably dropped threads themselves just to keep their leadership secure.
"We can't tell them, A'tair. They'll ruin everything! They're thread-droppers, too."
He was thrilled that A'tair believed him, but he knew that if they told anyone else about it, everything would be ruined. He would be thrown out, or worse, they would drop threads on both of them, and the whole world would fall for their awful tricks. Without someone to undermine their authority, the thread-droppers would kill everyone in their quest for power. Even Sidhka knew that.
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Post by Felina on Oct 10, 2008 13:11:45 GMT -5
Of course. Why hadn't he seen it before? M'kel and Sitareh were more than just a pair with power they had never deserved, so much more than that. They weren't just cold-hearted and ruthless; they were evil. After all, how else could they secure their power more easily than by making Thread rain down on them? An emergency in the Weyr, nobody would question their authority then, lest the feared occur and Thread devoured all Pern. Certain destruction if they rebelled, and yet certain destruction if they did not.
What could they do? They had to do something before the worst could happen. Before Thread could return. A'tair, when Thread returns, I will do what it is we dragons have always done. I will burn it out of the sky, and it will have the fate that it deserves and has always deserved for all of memory.
"Tris says that the dragons will fight the Thread no matter what. It is what they do, and I'm inclined to believe him. They can't go against their instincts, they're not like us. They can't be evil, they're simply incapable of it. But what can we do? And who can we turn to? The dragons cannot fight this alone." No more than he could exist without the dragons, now. Tris was more than just a part of him; he was A'tair, inextricably and eternally.
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Post by meah on Oct 30, 2008 21:42:54 GMT -5
Iraink nodded. It made sense that the dragons would fight their mortal enemy. As a species, they seemed to stick to their guns. It was just their riders he, no, they, had to worry about. And worry, he would.
"A'tair..." The boy looked at his friend, genuinely worried. The young man was panicking, the last thing they needed to be doing in this situation. "We can't panic. I know Sidhka knows how to help us. Maybe we can rally the dragons."
Sidhka was mentally scolding him while tapping him with her snout rhythmically. She was still angry with him for telling A'tair, the stupid flit. It had all worked out in the end, but she was still irritated. She didn't understand why he would do that. It may have been ok because it was A'tair, but if he could tell A'tair, maybe he would tell someone else, too, someone who wouldn't listen to him with an open mind and would instead go rat him out to M'kel or Sitareh. That was the last thing they wanted to happen. As an afterthought, it occurred to Iraink that maybe A'tair ought to know that they were keeping this largely a secret.
"But we can't tell just anyone. Word might reach M'kel or Sitareh, and they would drop threads on us before they even got close to anyone else!"
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