Disclaimer: I don't know why I always do this, but last I checked, I'm not Anne McCaffrey or Tod McCaffrey which means I do not own Pern.
A/N: To answer a question raised by the person who reviewed my last chapter, the reason that J'ral doesn't catch the Thread is because he's distracted by other things going. For example, he might be distracted by something happening...wait, shouldn't say it as you'll find out later on.
Silently, the Weyrleader of Benden Weyr, F'lar, ate his breakfast of cold cereal in silence with his Weyrwoman, Lessa, F'nor and Brekke, F'nor's wife. It was on the morning of an afternoon Threadfall over Lemas Hold. The sky was going to be clear over the hold, even if it looked dark and overcast at the Weyr.
Suddenly, a lone rider entered the kitchens, grabbing a bowl of cereal and klah before going to an empty table in the corner of the kitchens. When F'lar looked over at him, he recognized him almost instantly as the rider that was placed on probation and then suspended from flying altogether. J'ral, a young man of medium height with dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. He was wearing a dark brown shirt and pants, blending in closely with his dragon's hide.
"How's he taking the probation and suspension, F'nor?" asked F'lar.
It took F'nor a while to realize who F'lar was talking about, but than realized that it was J'ral. "All right, I guess. He wasn't too surprised when I approached him last sevenday telling him of his suspension and removal from my wing. He knew that it was coming and wasn't too concerned."
"Really?" asked Lessa. "I would've thought that he would've tried to resist what was happening and stay with the wing. Never seen anyone take it the way he has."
"Know what you mean, Lessa," F'nor replied. "He just let me deliver the news and accepted it calmly. However, now that we're on the topic of J'ral, I have one thing that I want to say."
"What?" asked F'lar.
"Well, I've been reviewing all the Falls he's participated in," began F'nor. "You'd think that he would've been injured the way he's been flying, but he hasn't. But then, I remembered something else. He warned B'son when a patch was about to hit him when there shouldn't have been. While flying on the other side of the formation with a different wing."
"How could he? No one can tell when something like that's going to happen when in a different region of sky."
"That's not the only time, F'lar. He told Canth to jump between when his part of the formation was flying below us, saying that a dragon higher up missed a patch, almost scoring us. Luckily, Canth went between in time without questioning Jameth. If he hadn't, I would've been badly scored."
F'lar was stunned by what his brother just told him. "How come you never mentioned this to me before now?"
"Never occurred to me to tell you about some instances like this. I just put them down as random incidents when they occurred. Now, reviewing all of them, I'm not so certain.
"Go over to him, F'nor, and ask him to please join us for a little discussion."
"Ok, F'lar," F'nor said, getting up and walking over to J'ral.
J'ral was eating his meal when he noticed out the corner of his eye that F'nor had gotten up from the table that he was sitting at and started to come towards him. He had no clue as to what F'nor wanted as he was no longer in F'nor's wing.
Jameth, he said to his dragon, F'nor's coming over to me. Don't know what he wants, so I may be here for a little longer than I was planning.
Well, in that case I'll go sun myself. Let me know when you're done talking to him.
I will, J'ral said just as F'nor got to his table. Aloud, he said, "Wingleader F'nor, how may I help you?"
"F'lar would like to talk to you over at his table if that'll be convenient for you."
"Of course it is," J'ral replied. While he was planning on leaving soon, no one could argue if F'lar asked you to join him. It was pretty much an order if he asked you to do something.
"Well, better not keep the Weyrleader waiting," F'nor said, heading back to the table he was sitting at.
It was a minute before J'ral got up as he wanted to finish his klah. F'nor was half ways to his table before J'ral got up and started walking to the table, still wondering what this was all about. There wasn't any reason that the Weyrleader would want to punish him as F'nor already punished him enough.
"Weyrleader, Weyrwoman, Wingleader F'nor, Brekke," he said when he got to their table, "how may I help you?"
"Please, sit down," F'lar said, pointing to a chair at the end of the table. When he did so, F'lar continued. "F'nor has just been talking to us about certain actions that occurred during several Threadfalls."
"Really, Weyrleader?"
"Yes, J'ral. Just how did you know that B'son was about to be hit by Thread while on the other side of the formation? And just how did you know that a dragon missed a patch of Thread above F'nor when you were flying under him?"
"Uh," J'ral said, not knowing what to say. "I have no clue, Weyrleader. You see, in both instances, and several others that F'nor hasn't mentioned yet, I was concentrating on the Fall, not knowing what was going on with other wings except for those around us. Suddenly, I just had a feeling that something bad was about to happen to the people that I warned."
"Interesting," F'lar said when J'ral paused for a minute. "Can you tell us anything else?"
"Well, Weyrleader, all I can say is that I knew the pattern of Threadfall without even looking at it. I could tell when something was occurring when there shouldn't have been, where bad clumps might fall, and other things. Unfortunately, I can't work on practicing that power while in the practices as we aren't battling real Thread.
"At the same time, I can't work on trying to battle Thread and using that power during practice either."
"You can feel what's going on the entire area of the Fall at the same time?"
"Yes, but it comes and goes, Weyrleader."
"Great," F'lar said excitedly. "I think there may be use for you yet, J'ral. I want you to fly today during the Fall and try to monitor the conditions as they change. Concentrate only on that and fly below the Queen's Wing. I'll make certain that the rest of the Weyr knows to follow your commands if you should happen to sense a dangerous change in the fall. Grab a sack of firestone and form up with the Queen's Wing in the center. That's where you'll fly, but far enough below that you don't get singed by the flame throwers."
"Yes, Weyrleader," J'ral said with mixed emotions. He would be allowed to fly and fight the ancient enemy, but not actively unless all the other wings missed a patch of Thread. The nice thing was, he would probably protect all the other dragons.
"Another thing, please don't call me Weyrleader, J'ral. If you can harness this power of yours, you'll be granted equal position to the Wingleaders and they can call me by my given name."
"I will when that time comes, Weyrleader. Until then, I'll still call you by your rank."
"Whatever. We meet in two hours to fly. Be ready, J'ral."
"I will be," J'ral said as he got up from where he was. To Jameth, he said, Jameth, you ready to fly?
I'm always ready, J'ral. I told you that everything would work out fine in the end, but you didn't believe me.
I did somewhat. Meet me over by the kitchens in a minute. I'm getting another cup of klah before flying.
So, what did you think? Like it, hate it? Please tell me so I can try to fix it.