The Benefits of Friends (3/4)
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Healer Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Printer Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Writers: Aaron, Yvonne
Date Posted: 13th June 2025
Characters: Kailis, Ketlyn
Description: Kailis checks in on Ketlyn after her injury
Location: Barrier Lake Weyr
Date: month 8, day 5 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: V'dryn
Notes: Follows 'Blooded'.
It was late in the afternoon when Ketlyn finally awoke from her fellis-induced doze with a rumbling stomach. She'd missed lunch and even with the headache and sour taste still in her mouth, she was hungry. V'dryn had promised her dinner but that was still at least several candlemarks away.
"I'll have someone bring you a tray," the smiling healer promised. She pulled the privacy curtain back around Ketlyn's bed and the weyrling was left alone again. She reached out for her dragon but Varinth was still asleep. **Good,** Ketlyn thought. Let her rest.
A few moments later, Kailis tapped on the curtain. She had been watching like a wild feline, waiting to pounce the moment she heard Ketlyn was awake and ready to see visitors, and when the moment had come, she, too, was ready-- with klah cookies, just like the ones they had shared as Candidates.
"Special delivery," she said.
"Hi!" Ketlyn pulled herself upright in bed and smiled at her visitor-- then winced as the gesture pulled at the bruises around her eyes and nose. "Ow. How are you?"
"I have nothing to complain about." Kailis presented Ketlyn the box of cookies. "Your condition is the more relevant question. Will you be all right?"
She plucked a cookie from the box and ate it in two bites. It tasted like happiness. "I'm fine," she said around a mouthful of crumbs. "I hit my face on Varinth's neckridge when she landed and gave myself a concussion, and maybe broke my nose. They're not sure. They tell me that Varinth will be fine too, but I haven't been allowed out of here to go see her yet. Are you and Chordath all right?"
"We suffered no injuries," said Kailis. She was happy to see that Ketlyn appeared to be enjoying the cookies. "But we are both preoccupied with your well-being. Chordath also wishes to see Varinth, when she is permitted visitors. Of course, we would not presume to ask before you have been to see her."
"I'm sure that she'd love to see Chordath once she's awake." Ketlyn reached for another cookie. "She got 'Scored on her back. It was... I should have seen it coming. The Thread, I mean. It was so... well, you were up there."
"Nothing could have fully prepared us for that," Kailis agreed. "Things were chaotic. It could have happened to any of us."
Ketlyn was quiet as she ate her second cookie. The flames, the ash, the sickening silver of Thread... "I have never been so scared," she said quietly. "I didn't... I mean, you _know_ that... fighting Thread. It's dangerous. When you accept a Search token, I mean. But I didn't know it would be like... that."
Kailis had known that people died doing this. But she never imagined that it would happen to someone she... liked? Loved? One of her friends.
"I think... if they could show us what it's really like... fully, I mean... fighting, _and_ having our dragons... we would still do it," said Kailis. "I would... I would do anything for her... Even if I had known I would die tomorrow, I... I would still have chosen to be her rider rather than to live a whole life without her."
She touched Ketlyn's foot.
"Wouldn't you?"
**Don't cry,** Ketlyn told herself firmly. Not again. It was embarrassing enough to have teared up in front of V'dryn. "I know. I know I'm being silly. It was just... a lot today," she admitted.
Kailis blinked, confused for a moment. Perhaps she had not been clear.
"Not silly at all," she said. "I'm sorry, that was what I meant to say."
"No, it's me, not you." Ketlyn pressed her fingers against her eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm overreacting. I know I am. There are so many other riders that get Threadscored or don't... come home at all. But... I'm just really glad you're here."
"Just because worse things have happened to other people, it doesn't mean what happened to you isn't bad," said Kailis. "It's painful and scary and real, and you're not a bad person for having feelings about it."
**Just a weak one.** Dragonriders weren't supposed to cry. They were supposed to be brave, and unafraid of Thread and death and /between/. Ketlyn took another deep breath to steady herself. "How was it for you, today?"
"I have nothing to complain about," said Kailis. It had been terrifying, but she did not want to belittle Ketlyn's experience when she herself had come away from it uninjured.
**She's so brave.** It made her proud of her friend, but also made her feel worse. "I'm glad. It was... I'm glad we all made it through." And soon they'd graduate and every sevenday would be like this.
"I'm glad, too. I'm not sure any of the others are my friend like you are," said Kailis. It was very difficult sometimes to tell whether someone considered her a friend, and asking was not always well-received.
Ketlyn smiled. "I'm glad I met you."
Kailis returned the smile.
"Likewise."
Last updated on the June 22nd 2025