"No, no, no! Don't put the herd beast on that table, I want it over there where the others are dressing the meats! You there at the greens, help the man with the fish. We need them all gutted for the stew."

"Miss Catherine, where does this go?"

"Is it sliced?" At the person's nod Catherine said "Good, I want it on the second shelf in the first cold storage room, next to the pared redfruits."

Catherine turned her attention on to other matters. Normally she would have been working in Fort, but she had offered her services to Bendan in preparation for their Hatching that would be taking place within a few days. The Headwoman of the Lower Caverns and her assistant had fallen ill and there was no one to oversee the preparations. Catherine wanted her brother's friend Heero to have a good hatching, she had learned from her brother that those things were important for maintaining good relations between the Holds and the Weyrs. Trowa had prevailed upon her, as a personal favor to him, to turn things at Fort Hold over to her young assistant for a day or two and help out at Bendan Hold getting things ready for the Hatching.

"I want everyone to try and keep this area clear," she said gesturing to a place on one of the tables. "You there, what's your name?"

"Crellan Headwoman," said the young lad she'd beckoned.

"Well Crellan. I want you to seek out a Wingleader named Heero and tell him that I need him to nip off to Nerat for some of their citrus fruits, they owe part of a tithe to this place, they can pay it a little early."

"Ah, uh, ma'am?" he said before she could turn away.

"Yes? What is it?" she inquired.

"Wingleader Heero's due to fly threadfall today over at Lemos, near Igen way. He's flying with riders from Igen Weyr to make up for the lacks, those who are out on patrol or some such."

"Oh, I see. Well then find another rider, that green riderHilde, she's offered her services as messenger and fetcher. Find her and have her do it them."

"Understood," he said and scampered off to perform the task, probably very glad to get out of the kitchens for a little while. As long as he didn't dawdle, Catherine was fine with him taking a little break.

Thread was not due to hit anywhere near Fort Hold for another week or so. But Bendan Hold was another matter. Thread wasn't going to hit the Hold proper, but it was supposed to fall out near the coast. Catherine hoped that the Lord Holder had been warned of it so he could caution his people against going near the coast for the next two days. Bendan Weyr had just found out about it earlier this morning. The Weyrleader and the Weyrwoman had declared that they were not going to fly that fall because it was due to hit out into the sea, and the area was uninhabited. No one would be hurt by it so the weyr had to fly falls over inhabited lands and allocate their resources to the maximum benefit of Pern and the Holders.

Relena looked out into the sunrise across the endless rolling expanse of the ocean. She had left the Hold early that morning so she could take some time to train her fire-lizards without detracting from her other duties. (As a consequence she had missed the announcement about the Threadfall that would be occurring soon.)

<The sea looks restless today, I wonder if there's a storm coming. Oh, well, no matter to me, I'll be safe here on land. A little rain can't hurt me. Unlike Thread.> She shuddered a little at the thought of Pern's deadliest menace. For as long as she could remember, the horrid little nightmares had ravaged her world, raining from the sky with no discernable care for life of any sort. She had seen the carcass of a animal that had been caught out in a wave of Threadfall and died thereshe'd had nightmares about it for weeks afterward. The burn marks and scores were indelibly etched into her mind. There was no smell of burning flesh, but its skin had none the less looked charred. She had heard from Old Uncle, one of the oldest men in Ruatha that Thread ate a living being, dissolved its flesh and bone like sweetening grains in water. Relena shuddered again and looked out to the west and north, back to the HoldBendan would keep her safe during a Fall.

"Cheeep!"

Jewel winked into existence in the air beside Relena and landed gently on her padded shoulder. Relena had brought them out to this place to help her hunt spiderclaws. They were ever so much more efficient than her at it, and she let them keep what would feed them rather than deplete the resources of the Hold that was kind to foster her. She looked at the line of rocks standing above the high tide mark going out into the water for a good distance, this would also be a good place to hunt rockfingers. ((A,N. no reference to rockfingers could be found save a mention of their name in the book "Dragonsong" so the following details will be pure speculation.)) Rockfingers were a sea-dwelling amphibioid lifeform that lived in the crevices barnacle-encrusted rocks of the sea. They hunted small sea-life like planktin and water-mites, and were usually served with cocktail sauce (rather like Earth shrimp).

"I trust you and your fair have had a good hunt?" Relena inquired and for a reply received a plethora of good-feeling impressions, the predominant being full-belly contentment. Relena took that as an affirmative. Her sensitivity towards the little dears and their sendings grew a little more each day as Relena grew more in tune with their empathic minds. It wasn't too much work anymore to try to get them to understand at least a little of what she wanted, although they still hadn't gotten a grasp on her idea of messenger service. As usual Jewel was the swiftest to grasp most new concepts that Relena introduced to them, with the ever jubilant Reppa waiting in the wings to steal a little of the spotlight from the queen. Yin liked nothing more than to find a nearby perch and watch the action as Jewel tried to get the ebullient green to obey her commands. It always made Relena laugh when Jewel felt that it was time to lay "niceness" aside and do a little disciplining with the errant green in her little Fair and Reppa was not particularly in the mood to be disciplined. Jewel would have to chase the little green across the skies in a display of aerial speed and strength that made the Holders pause in what they were doing to watch. Unfortunately for Jewel, there was a disadvantage to being the largest in the fair as opposed to a small sporty green, greens were undeniably the fastest of the fire lizards. Reppa could fly high into the sky then suddenly twist into a dive that made her appear naught but a small green streak, now one sees it and now one does not. However, Jewel was built for stamina if not for speed and could generally outlast the young green.

Yang enjoyed these little chase flights just as much as Reppa appeared to, and even though Jewel was continuously being shown up by the energetic little green the queen appeared to like them in some strange manner too. Relena had even improvised a game for the little fire lizards to play since they reminded her so much of energetic children (and Relena knew that energetic children liked to play games). She had long streamers of a light cloth-paper that Relena had prevailed upon Dravin the Hold's dyer to dye into different colors for her. Relena gave a different color to each of her five friends and tied it round the left hind ankle. It was sort of like aerial "tag". Each fire lizard would try to rip off the longest piece of streamer from each of the others' streamers without getting their own ripped off.

Despite her speed and agility Reppa was usually the first fire lizard out because her small size made for high speeds was a drawback when it came to endurance. Skie could hold in a little while longer, and since he was such a canny player he could usually manage to take one of the bronze's with him. Yin was the one he usually managed to nab. Yin strength lay in getting the other so involved with attacking each others streamers that they forgot to attack his until only Jewel was left. After a few rounds of this strategy Skie had caught on and started pursueing Yin's streamer actively. Yin needed to come up with a new strategy. His nature was exactly as his name implied, the total absence of force, he was more of a defensive flyer than an offensive one. His lighter colored twin bronze Yang on the other hand was an aggressive player of the little game of sky tag. Yang's best strength lay in his maneuverability. Even for a bronze, which tended to be larger in size and more for stamina than speed, Yang could burst into sudden movements that were breathtakingly quick. This usually came into play when he was a wingbeats shy of nabbing a streamer, then he'd suddenly change direction and take a large piece off someone else's streamer who had not been expecting it.

As one could expect, such games not only made them tired (as well as developed the skills they'd need for hunting and the like) but also made them very, very hungry. The high speeds and swift maneuvers required a lot of energy from the young fair and the energy had to be replaced by eating more food, as well as augment their need for food for growing bodies. Relena was detirmined to see her fair healthy and well trained. She'd also learned that well trained did not always equate to well-behaved. The litle darlings had a propensity for trouble and squeezing themselves into the most awkward positions they could find. If they hadn't been able to blink into Between they'd have been in real trouble! They had all the curiousity of a bag full of ferrets! ((and yes, I think Pern might have ferrets although they've never been mentioned)) It seemed like they were always either sleeping, playing or eating.

"Well, good. You guys are voracious!" she said, smiling at her special friend with almost maternal warmth. They were only a week and a few days old, but they were already half the size of her arm. She wondered absently if they would be able to flame thread from the sky like dragons did. She couldn't recall anything from the records mentioning anything about it, but then, a lot of the records had been confusing and indecipherable.

They certainly were growing fast! But then, she knew, the young always did. She estimated their full size to be about a little longer than her arm from nose-tip to tail-tip, and their wingspan probably a little over double that. She really had no way of knowing for certain, according to the ancient records the last clutch of fire lizards Impressed had been the seventh generation into the First Pass. All of the ancient medical records concerning the little creatures were faded beyond use and full of terms whose meanings had been lost to time.

"I'm actually glad that I'm wearing this leather vest that protects me from your little talons, it may be spring but the mornings certainly are chilly still," she said conversationally to Jewel. Relena always got the feeling that the creature, at least in part, understood her. She certainly acted like the did, giving little cheeps or croons at appropriate time during Relena's little monologue-conversations.

She looked back out over the sea, waiting for the tide to roll out so she could start collecting spiderclaws. The rocks that surfaced from the reef that she knew lay just under the waves were sharp, jagged. There were holes and cliff-like overhangs just above the surface of the water, worn there by the wind and waves. Relena looked at the water speculatively. She'd always wanted to go swimming in the sea, she'd heard that it was supposed to be easier than swimming in the inland lakes somehow, something about being lighter or somesuch. However she'd been cautioned by about everyone over the age of seven that swimming right now was not a good idea. The water was still quite cold from the winter and she might get hypothermia. Swimming alone under such conditions was definitely not a good idea. If she were to get injured, or tire herself out and be unable to make it back, she would most likely drown out there. When she'd dipped a toe in it earlier, she'd felt for herself that the water was indeed very cold. She liked to swim, but not that much! She could wait a few weeks for the water to warm up. Who knew, maybe she could find a way to improvise a mouthpeice and some eyeglasses that could keep the water out, she'd read that "snorkeling" was supposed to be a wonderful experience!

She filed the idea away for later consideration. Unfortunately the resources of the ancients were unavailable in the present pass, the knowledge they had once possessed was lost to antiquity. The knowledge that enabled them to create "plastics," whatever those were.

<Still, I wish the water were warm enough to swim in alreadyI'm getting tired of waiting!> she thought. Curiously, she climbed out onto one of the rocks, being careful to keep herself dry, and bent over until she could reach down into the water. She had no interest in getting her feet wet at the moment by testing one of the waves washing up onto the shore. The bronzes swooped around her, diving towards the water, only to pull up at the last minute.

<Show offs,> she thought.

Relena waited until one of the passing waves brought the water level up to where she could dip a hand in.

"Brrrrr!" she said as she felt the chill of the water. "Definitely not time for swimming yet! I havent felt water that cold scince the time Milliardo almost fell through the ice!"

Okay, so maybe it wasn't quite that coldbut it was undeniably too cold for a swim. She'd just have to be patient and wait. Just like she was now having to be patient and wait for the tide to roll out. She could see the little cliff overhangs in the reef-rock beneath her marking the place where the high tide ended. <The water looks dark down there,> she thought as she looked at the underside of the rock before she hauled herself back up and onto her feet.

The blue, Skie had perched itself happily on a nearby rock and was busily ensconced in opening the shell on some kind of aquatic life by banging its shell against the rock's surface. After a few bangs the shell opened with a crack and Skie scooped out the innards with his versatile forked tongue. Having finished his rockfinger, the little fire lizard went off to hunt down another. Relena could see Yin and Yang nearby bashing their own rockfingers against the surface of the rocks and quickly eating the insides out before the little creature living in the shell could react. Jewel was already in the air searching for another to eat and Relena sat down on her rough reefy rock to watch the sunrise brighten into full day and eat her lunch and wait for the tide to roll out. Even if the air was chill, and the water even chillier, it was bound to be a nice day because her friends made it so. How could anything happen on a day like today?

Heero checked the firestone sacks strapped to his dragon once more, before inspecting the harness again. He had already been through the pre-flight check twice, but it never hurt to be careful. He had spent last night doing the usual feeding of firestone to Zeroth and having him stoke his fires in preparation. The entire bower smelled heavily of hide-oil, leather-oil and sulfur from the firestone and dragon breathing after chewing the porous rock. Heero was used to the smell by now, in fact he'd even grown to love it. The heavy smell of sulfer heralding the preparations for another Flight against Thread, another Flight where he or one of his wingmembers might be injured or killed. But another Flight where he would be able to save Pern, or at least part of it. The Thread he flamed from the sky would be Thread that would not devour crops or forests, and that in turn would save people from being hungry or going without shelter and things they needed.

-You ready Zeroth?- Heero asked as he gave a final testing tug on the last riding strap.

-Aren't I always?- Zeroth replied with unflappable calm. ­We will fly high and flame well. Thread will turn and run when it sees us!-

Heero chuckled.

-We should be so lucky. I have no doubts that this Fall will be a difficult one. We must lead our wing well and for that we have to be ten times as ready as anyone else. You have relayed my orders?-

-Yes, oh worrisome one, I have. I relayed them as soon as you gave them to me. All is in readiness.-

-Good. Give the order for Duo to take the first wave out to scout out the lay. Have the second and third Wave on stand-by, just in case they run into trouble.-

-Done.-

-Now, it's time. I'll meet you down at the takeoff platform.-

-Silly man. Gotta take the stairs. You should have been born with wings like me.-

Heero gave no reply to his dragon's jibes as he made his way down the steps, careful to hold onto the hand rail. It certainly would not do for him to fall and break his neck right before flying a Threadfall! He met the twenty-one members of his wing not counting the six absent who had gone out to scout out the lay of the Fall. Heero was very proud of his wing, not only were they one of the few cohesive units at full strength, but they were (in his admittedly biased opinion) one of the finest wings in Bendan Weyr.

Bendan Weyr was almost at full strength with 127 dragons not counting the Queens, the infirm, or the weyrlings in training. There were six wings total of more or less twenty-one to twenty-seven dragons each. Some of those dragons were currently being switched out for a much needed vacation, others were helping with the other weyrs, flying patrol and handling messenger duty, as part of the little Conspiracy of Light.

Heero naturally made sure that his wing was kept in top condition, always ready to handle a Fall or an emergency. Heero was absolutely adamant that when not flying Fall or helping with emergencies, the riders within his wing were to be drilling. Drilling drilling, always drilling. They drilled take-offs and landings they drilled formation flights and then they drilled in smaller three-rider teams. They used a pieces of colored rope dropped from the sky by other riders simulating Thread falling to work on both their coordination and their targeting. This is also done in formation so that each individual dragonpair knows every single fingerlength of the area they'll be expected to cover during a Fall. It is very important that each pair know precisely how long their flames will be and what their greatest extension is. He wasn't about to have any stupid hits from accidental flaming from among his own wing, which was what made the drills so important. "Friendly fire isn't!" or so went the old quote. Heero had yet to loose a dragon or rider to an accidental flaming, because he made sure his riders knew their range down to the last fingertip. The reason they knew it was because of the drills, the harder they drilled the better they flew.

Heero's wing practiced extensively, making flameless drills of simply flying in tight formations and loose formations. Usually the Wingleader himself was there to supervise and advise. For all that he was young, the young man knew his stuff. He kept them at it until he saw that they could blink in and out of Between without loosing formation, then he switched around the teams. Heero knew, as a sad fact of simply being a Dragonrider, that eventually someone was going to get scored and they needed to have riders on back-up who knew to work effectively within the unit. He liked to keep a seven man team on stand by to replace riders who had over-extended themselves or their dragons, or who had tired themselves out. He also liked to have two waiting out to help a scored rider or dragon back to the Weyr and then come to take their place. This was in addition to the "greenies" who were being "blooded," that was, those weyrlings who were flying firestone sacks out to the dragonriders for the first time. It was a necessary evil, but every sensible Rider knew that sending an untried, unblooded weyrling out into a Fall before he's ever even seen Thread would be far far worse than anything they would have witnessed running firestone.

He checked his wing one last time. Everyone looked ready, as ready as anyone ever looked before going out to fly a Fall. He sensed dimly that his wingsecond would be returning soon.

Duo's Sythe appeared in the sky and immediately contacted Zeroth.

-This Fall looks like its going to be a Sheeter. Clumps are minimal, but don't expect things to stay that way. Conditions are clear. Wind is currently running at eight knots down west to east, which is good because it means we'll get the rising sun at our backs instead of in our eyes.- Duo reported via Sythe. ­Am I ever glad we don't have to fly the Threadfall off the coast of Bendan! There's a real whopper of a storm brewing there and I certainly wouldn't want to fight Thread in those winds if I didn't have to. Let the fish take care of it!-

-Agreed,- said Heero via Zeroth. He silently told Zeroth to open comunications with the rest of the wing so that her could relay his orders. ­I want two stacks of wingseconds in a straight line, low-level clean up will be a forward vee. To your dragons and lets move out!-

Once everyone was mounted and securely fastened in, Heero gave the signal for the first wing to lift up and gain their positions. Once in the air they instinctively moved into formation, the long drill making it second nature to them. They as one winked in Between and the second knot followed them. The "clean up crew" was next and Heero went with them leaving behind an empty courtyard.

The dragonriders appeared in the air above Lemos and hovered in their positions, facing the oncoming Leading Edge. Zeroth stoked his fires again and prepared to belch forth the gouts of flame that would char Perns menace into ash.

-It comes!-

Relena looked out again at the once partially clear sky over the water. It was no longer quite so clear as it had been that morning. In fact, the clouds that were gathering off the coast looked like they might become thunderheads, but they were still a long ways off.

<Maybe I should head back,> she thought. But then she thought about the way back, it was mostly open and flat, not good for traveling on a storm like that, very little if any, cover. There was no telling if the clouds are going to get heavy enough to form a storm, they might just make the sky gray and overcast. The thought of returning to the hold empty-handed when everyone had gone out of their way to feed her new found charges decided her. She felt that she owed them a debt of gratitude for their efforts on her and her friends behalf and her own integrity demanded that the debt be paid. So she would quickly hunt out a sackfull of spideclaws and book it back to the hold, no problem.

The clouds continued to gather even as the tide rolled out leaving the spiderclaws open to her fire lizards diving attacks. She kept glancing out to sea nervouslythere was something decidedly wrong. She tried to brush the feeling away as silly paranoia and concentrated on the hunt, directing her fire lizards from the ground in their attacks and manuvers. They would hunt more effectively under her guidance, and she would reward them with tasty treats from her sack when they had brought in a good haul for the Hold.

>>Rumble<< >>RUMble<< >>Crack! Rumble<<

Relena had become so engrossed in the hunt and guiding her little friends that she had completely forgotten to keep track of the weather. The clouds that were gathering off the coast were heavy and dark, and lit from within by strikes of lightning. She would have enjoyed watching the jagged lines of lightning chase themselves among the clouds. So far as she could tell, it was mostly "heat-lightning" and she'd heard from among those in the Hold that that mostly stayed up in the clouds.

Jewel suddenly appeared beside her and dove for her shoulder, her eyes were the severe red of fright. Jewel's tail wrapped around her neck in a choke hold and the young queen burrowed its snout into her hair creeling pitiously. The others weren't far off. Something was really bothering them!

"It's okay guys, it's only a little storm. I know the thunder sounds terrible, but it can't hurt you," she said, trying to project calming and soothing thoughts. The babies weren't having any of it! They all took up the cry. Reppa darted back and forth, Jewel simply mantled on Relena's shoulder. Skie followed suit from a nearby rock, and Yin and Yang swooped about her, calling at her and looking off at the horizon.

"Okay, okay! We'll start heading back. Come on and we'll go back to the hold where you'll be nice and sa-"

Suddenly all five of the fire lizards took off into the air with frightened squeels and shrieks. They all winked in between as one.

>>RUMBLE!!!<< >>>BANG!!<<<

Relena nearly jerked out of her skin and looked up above her in fear and alarm. That had come from right over head! She looked up to see that the clouds which had looked so harmless earlier this morning had grown almost black, blotting out the light of the sun and turning the early afternoon to almost twilight again with their density. ((A.N. anyone who's lived in Florida through one of their tropical storms, or even through the hurricane that swept through there years ago would know exactly what I'm talking about.)) Lightning lit the clouds from within like one of the colorful paper lanterns lit at a gather. The rain wasn't there yet, but by the sound of the thunder it wouldn't be long.

Jewel streaked down from the sky and dived straight for Relena's head, she pulled up at the last second then came around for another pass. The rest of the fair joined her, squeaking and creeling at her as the swooped and dived.

"Hey! Hey, what are you-?" she held up her arm to cover her face, but it was soon apparent that her little friends had no intentions of harming her. It was almost like they were trying to tell her something.

"It's alright, the rain isn't going to hurt me. We can walk back to the Hold, we'll be fine," she told them reassuringly. A little water wasn't going to melt her!

Jewel continued diving at her along with Yin, Yang, Reppa, and Skie. Reppa made loud shrieks at her and her dives were fast and furious, Relena was hard put to avoid her maneuvers, It felt like they were trying to get her to go somewhere

<Or look at something!> she realized.

"What is it? What is it that you want me to see?" she asked. Jewel chirped and looked anxiously out to the sea. The waves had gotten larger and choppier, some of them crashing over the rocks. The clouds had gathered far off in the distance, it looked like it was about thirty minutes away. There was no way she could make it all the way back to the Hold in that time, it was a two hour journey to the coast. Even if she ran the whole way at her top speed the storm would be upon her. There was no really descent shelter between here and there to take cover from the rain.

Suddenly something odd about the storm caught her attention, a flash of white against the darker grey of the clouds. Or was that silver? Relena bent forward and squinted a little, trying to get a better look (she wished she'd had one of those spyglasses right about now). A flash of white, rain perhaps? Was that white? Or silver?

"What the hell is that?"

"Hey, has anyone seen Relena?" asked Ranin, one of the younger Hold boys. She was the best when it came to telling stories and right then he could use a good story. Foster Mother had him and all the other kids cooped up in the Hold because Thread was falling way off the coast. He didn't really see why they were all so nervous about it, the Dragonrider had said that it wouldn't even be coming onto land.

"You know now that you mention itI haven't seen her or her fire lizards all morning," said Berlith, one of the apprentice winemakers.

"Oh you guys worry too much," said Shella, one of the serving women. "You know Relena. She's gone every morning."

"Yeah but the dragonriders said that Thread was supposed to be falling over off the coast today. You know that where she likes to spend her time Shella."

"Oh my! You're right. Okay, no one panic. Ranin, you run down to see Headwoman Carlotta and see if she's seen her down there. Berlith, you check over with her section supervisor and see if she's checked in or not. I'll look in the records hall where she usually hides herself when she isn't out working."

"Right," said young boy running off to do the important task she'd assigned him. Berlith made no such fuss, just quietly walked off to find the section supervisor.

Shella discovered that she wasn't in the Records Hall or in any of her usual favorite hiding nooks. Really, the girl must know the Hold better than Lord Holder Dalvis by now with all the places she's found to hide in it!

Berlith had it from her section supervisor that she had left her usual note telling him to expect her back by sunset. Yes this had happened earlier that morning and no she had not directly said where she was going. It was possible she had visited the seaside today. No, of course he wouldn't know for certain! Well, now that Berlith mentioned it, she had left especially early this morning Yes. Possibly just early enough to have missed the morning announcement about the Threadfall along the coast.

Ranin had a very concerned looking headwoman in tow when the three of them met back up at where they had all parted ways. Berlith had brought along the section supervisor. Only Shella was alone.

"I think the first thing we ought to do is notify the Lord Holder. Relena is the younger sister of Lord Holder Milliardo, Lord Dalvis ought to know if something is happening or might happen to his charge," said Carlotta.

"I agree," said Berlith. "Ranin, run and tell the Lord Holder that something's come up. Be quick about it."

"Aye!" said Ranin, and scampered off. The young had such boundless energy.

He returned a few minutes later with the Lord Holder in tow.

"What's this about Miss Relena not being here in the Hold?" he inquired as he reached them.

Carefully and slowly, leaving nothing out and not panicing, each told the Lord Holder what they knew and what they suspected. Dalvis, bieng the calm and capable individual he was, immediately and calmly orders a search of the Hold and nearby grounds, everyone who might know anything as to her whereabouts was to be questioned.

Thirty minutes later they had all concluded that Relena was nowhere within the Hold or its grounds. He order a wider search, but they all knew with a sinking certainty that she was at the coast. She hadn't been in the hold when the Dragonrider announced the Thread would go unfought off the coast. They knew that there was nothing they could do besides send a fast runner to the wyer and hope that she found a way to get sheltered in time. Otherwise

-Tell, Halanth and J'Tro to switch out. I want Alpha Wing replaced. Tell Delta Two to feed some more stone to his dragon. M'thal! Pull up! Watch your twenty!-

Heero divided his attention between fighting his own battle against the Thread and supervising the others. H heard the occasional scream of a rider or dragon as they were hit. Fortunately there had been no deaths at present.

-D'rant and B'lin are down, I've had 'em replaced with the two greenies from C'ren's wing. They could use some experience,- Duo said. Heero could dimly sense the battle he fought in the background of his thoughts. It colored his tone ever so slightly.

-Good, You ought to switch out for a few minutes, I don't want you or Sythe tiring out.-

-Already did a little while ago my good wingleader,- said Duo flippantly. ­You should take some of your own advice, you and Zeroth,,,You're not machines you know! Jays! Even machines need maintenance!-

-I'll continue fighting, as long as Thread is in this sky.-

-You're so intense it makes me ill. Hell, I think you're even worse than Hilde.-

-I'm a wingleader, it comes with the territory. My mission is to destroy the Thread before it reaches the ground surface with as little loss of my Wing's life or limb as possible. I can't complete my mission if I am not present to do so. There are innocent lives that need to be protected.-

-I hear ya. Just be careful alright?-

-Rodger that.-

Heero and Zeroth continued to flame Thread, each concentrating intently upon their goal. Target the thread, gauge the distance, stoke a littlethen FIRE! Target annihilated.

But the flaming of the Thread wasn't quite so important as the background hum of the other riders in Heero's Wing. He could feel the flashes of pain in his mind when one of his riders were hit because while concentrating on their goal he and Zeroth were practically of one mind. He could sense the intense concentration of the others, the small primal feeling of satisfaction as they watched the tiny gray Threads being charred into dust.

-It's mild, as far as Falls go,- Zeroth noted to Heero absently. ­I'm very glad that we don't have to fly that fall that is taking place in that storm over the coast.-

Heero had to agree with the sentiment, let the fish eat it! Dragons had a difficult time even maintaining stationary flight during the high winds of a storm, and flaming Thread was made thrice as difficult because it was blown about so quickly it was hard to get a lock on it.

"What the Hell is that?" she wondered aloud, trying to peer a little closer at the stuff that looked like rainbut clearly wasn't. The waves were getting choppier as the wind started picking up.

<Thread!> she realized suddenly. She was looking at the Leading edge of Thread coming her way, being blown into the land by a storm!

Her world froze up suddenly. It was as if time had suddenly stoppedright along with her heart! Her legs suddenly felt like jelly. As the wave of panic washed over her she saw her fair suddenly go berserk. They flew this way and that screeling and chittering, their eyes red and whirling furiously. Relena realized that if she wanted to possibly make it out of this impossible situation alive, she was going to have to calm down and think.

Suddenly the panic receded, like one of the waves on the ocean pulling back. Her mind slowly started to function again. She wouldn't be able to make it back to the Hold in time. But she had heard, in her conversation with Zeroth, that at sea level, one could sight Thread and it would be thirty minutes away. So that gave her some time still to find someplace to shelter herself and her Fire lizards.

She looked around her. The beach was flat and open, stretching on for miles in either direction. She couldn't really go back the way she came either. The open grasslands and gently rolling hills offered no protection from the deadly Thread. That left only the sea. She knew that Thread drowned in water and that the denizens of the sea snapped it up like a tasty treat. But she wasn't sure how long she could hold her breath. Certainly not long enough to last out the Fall, which she knew could go on for four hours. If she surfaced for air at anytime during the Fall the Thread would get her.

<Hmmm. I'd need a way to breathe underwater. Impossible, I'd just as likely grow gills and fins of my own,> she thought. Well, that really didn't leave her any optionsbut she certainly didn't want to just stand there and wait for Thread to come and eat her alive.

<I didn't see any caves in the reef stones that I could hide in,> she thought glancing over at the rocks that trailed ou into the water for a mile. Then something about them caught her attention and made her glance again. It wasn't a cavebut it was a place that she could hide in.

The rock that had been worn away into a rocky overhang just below the high tide mark would shelter her from any Thread falling from above! The water would be very coldBut at the moment there were no other options!

Without hesitating a second longer Relena waded into the water, the chill sucking the breath from her lungs and making her gasp. Her clothing felt awkward and cumbersome in the water, but she ignored it and continued wading out to the overhang that was large enough to shelter her as far away from where the Thread would be falling outside it as possible. Soon she had waded out past her head and had to start swimming for the ledge. The thunder rumbled closer still and her teeth began chattering. Her fair called encouragement from the water under the ledge where she'd ordered them all to go and wait for her. They clung to the rock wall under the ledge with their tallons, fastidiously avoiding the very cold water. He babies were a little spoiled, being used to the nice hot baths of Bendan Hold.

Finally she made it to her destination. The waves were choppy and getting bigger, but they weren't high enough to reach the roof of her shelter. The water surrounding her was cold <But not as cold as the mountain streams up near Ruatha,> she told herself. Nonetheless her teeth were chattering and her body was shivering and every muscle taught as a bowstring due to the chill of the water's temperature. She knew that Threadfall lasted about four hours, give or take, she would only have to endure the cold for that long.

Ten minutes later Relena was growing weary from treading water in her clothes, she knew from experience that it made the muscles tired very quickly. Then she heard the first hiss nearby of Thread entering the water. She shuddered at the mere thought of the horrid stuff being anywhere near her. Her body felt even colder than the water around her as she thought about the Thread swimming over to her to eat her Her throat tightened in fear, until she looked over and saw a commotion in the water.

<The fish!> she realized. <The fish are eating the Thread! It must be like a free lunch to them.>

Well, that made her feel a lot better. Odd, she never thought that she'd find herself being protected by fish.

She looked over at her fair of fire lizards. They seemed to be taking everything okay. In fact they were acting strangely indeed. Their eyes were still red, and whirling swiftly, but there was something almost predatory about them. The way they clung to the side of the cliff reminded Relena of one of Pern's predatory avians, sharp and eager. Then they started flicking their forked tongues out of their mouths as if they were going to eat the Thread from the sky. The bronzes were being particularly enthusiastic about that behavior. They all probably would have flown out into the Fall if Relena had not been so adamant that they were not to move from their spots. Still th imaginary Thread eating behavior continued.

<It must be a kind of instinct for them, something they know how to do innately,> she thought watching their behavior from where she was treading water under the cliff. <Maybe some of those silly old legends about Dragons being related to fire lizards are true. They certainly are acting like I would think a dragon would act when faced with Thread. They're only thoughts that I can sense from them are about destroying the Thread. I'm so cold.>

She wasn't sure if she could keep treading water for four hours. The ledge wasn't quite big enough for her to float on her back under and she'd already tried finding handholds to hang onto with, but there were none, the rock wall was smooth. Relena wished she'd have been born with talons right about now, for her Fair seemed o be having no difficulties hanging on to the side of the rock face. She'd just have to find the strength to keep going. This was the only way she was going to be able to live through this.

<Come on Relena, you can do this. Just keep going,> she told her tiring and already watery-feeling muscles.

She just wanted to get out of the freezing cold water, as far away from thoseThread as it was possible to get. She didn't even want to think about how close they were to her, how vulnerable she was. Even with her fair here, all it would take was one little Thread to drift over her wayand she'd end up like that runner beast carcass. Thoughts of her body, scored and burned, her flesh rotting off her bones and falling into the water to feed the fish that now so happily feasted on Thread danced in her mind. She could see it all now, her muscles and internal organs feeding the voracious Thread until it finally ate itself into extinction. And then the little fishies would start swarming her bloated carcass with bits of partially burned tissue hanging off it. They would efficiently finish what the Thread had started and all that would be left would be her bones, with a few scraps of flesh hanging on around the joints here and there. No one would ever find the body!

Suddenly Relena felt the urge to start crying. She held it in, but the tears welled up in her eyes. She just felt sopowerless. She had only felt this way once before and that was during the Raider attack on her Hold. Here she was, trapped under a ledge in water that was really really cold, with Thread falling all around her. Suddenly the enormity of her situation hit her like a bag of bricks. The chances of her making it out of here were so small that they were practically non-existent and she couldn't do anything about it. She couldn't do anything but wait there, cowering away from the Thread in fear, treading water with muscles that were so tired they were already starting to ache.

"Help me!" she yelled, unable to stop herself. She didn't know to whom she addressed her plea, piteous as it was. "Someone please help me! Help! I need help!"

Silence. Well, not complete silence of course. There was the sound of the thunder rumbling overhead, the sound of the waves as they churned against the rocks, there was also the sound of the Thread hissing as it fell into the water. None of these sounds sounded anything like assistance to her. In fact they made her mounting terror even worse. At that moment Relena wanted nothing more (besides to find herself safe at home in her bed and the entire situation just some horrible nightmare) than to break down, curl into a fetal position and just start weeping. But she knew she couldn't, if she started crying right then she probably wouldn't be able to stop, and she needed to save her energy and strength for treading water and staying alive. She simply slipped into a daze and watched the storm. It would be better if she didn't think about where she was or how close the Thread was to her. Relena allowed herself to slip into a trance caused by the rocking of the waves and paid little attention to the passing time.

Lightning flashed on occasion, illuminating the dimness under the ledge where she cowered for but an eye-blink at a time. It didn't do anything to reassure her. All the people who lived at Bendan Hold had told her never to go swimming during a storm, something about being fried by the lightning. Relena thought that none of them had ever imagined being caught in a situation like this one. Another tremor of fear washed through herHow long had she been there? The sun was hidden by the thick, black clouds so there was no real way of telling. Relena had been counting the length of the pauses between the flashes of lightning and the sound of the thunder. Despite its terrible volume, according to her counting the real center of the storm was still a ways off. How much longer would she have to stay here?

The Leading edge of Thread had begun falling about ten minutes after she'd taken shelter under the cliff, although Relena felt she might be wrong about the length of time she chalked the short amount of time up to her not paying attention. At the sight of the first Thread to hiss into the water outside of her ledge Relena had started counting her strokes to keep from panicing, even though part of her was already way beyond panic at that point. She'd been counting sort of absent mindedly as she watched in abject and helpless fear the events unfolding around her. After she'd reached a thousand, she'd given it up and just concentrated everything she had on keeping her head above water. She was caught, outside, holdless, while Thread was fallingit was something she'd always believed tanamount to death.

The storm was getting more fierce, the wind whipping the waves and the rain and howling like a dying watchweyr. The rain was driving into the sea with a force that was less like a gentle patter and more like the sound of a thousand pebbles being dropped onto the walkway from the highest drum heights. The sound of the rain smacking into the ocean was punctuated more and more frequently by the sizzling hiss of the Thread diving into the waves.

All before her was dark grey. The stormy sky reflecting into the turbulent water. Relena was alternately lifted and lowered by the ever mounting waves, they were getting so large that her head was going to start hitting the roof of the overhang before long. The knowledge that there was Thread out there, falling into the water that she was currently treading in, made the overhang under which she hid seem all too small in her mind. It felt like it was getting smaller!

<Wait a minute,> she thought, the realization hit her like another stone. <It is getting smaller!>

Indeed, the tide had been at low tide mark when she'd swum under the ledge. Relena could tell by the near bone-deep chill that permeated her limbs and the fact that her skin was pruney and waterlogged that she'd been there for an hour at least. And judging by the ache in her now rubbery feeling, near-exhausted muscles she'd probably been there closer to two, perhaps two and a half. During that time the tide would definitely have started rolling in. Relena felt herself waken from her self-induced trancelike torpor compounded of fear and exhaustion to a new world of terror.

She realized that the top of the ceiling which sheltered her from the Thread was actually a few inches below the high tide mark, and because it slanted upwards out into the water there would be no trapped pocket of air, like an overturned canoe, for her to breathe under. Even if there were, the waves probably would have swamped it eventually.

She was stuck between the proverbial rock and the hard place. If she swam out there she'd be devoured by Thread for certain, if she stayed under the ledge she'd drown if she wasn't eventually forced out there to get eaten by Thread.

"Oh shit," was about the only thing she could say at this point.

Authors Note: Heh, heh hehAin't I an evil creature? I was originally going to write the entire sequence of events on the rest of chapter seven, but after about four days of having it on my hard drive and not being able to write the next part, I realized that something was stopping me from giving the rest of this little mini arc in one chapter. (Well, actually it would be two chapters if you count chapter six as a prelude to the events of chapter seven.) So I'm making chapter seven a cliff hanger and am going to write chapter eight as the conclusion of the cliffhanger but not as the conclusion of the entire story. It's a kind of arc within an arc that has a lot to do with the rest of the story. For those of you who watch Babylon 5, think of this as the two-parter "War Without End" only without the time jumps. That comes a bit later. Anyways, I hope you liked it, please don't kill me. **runs from rabid readers holding flame throwers and effigies of author**

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing. As a note to all you lawyers sniffing around for a law suitI've got a glass of whisky, agun and two bulletsAny questions? Furthermore, I also do not own the world or any of the terms used therein of Pern, those are the sole property of that creative genius, the Dragonlady herself, Anne McCaffrey.