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i_read_whatWe're now in the last quarter of the book: the Cold Between. It's been an interesting ride so far.
When we left off, Lessa and F'lar were coming up with a plan only to be interrupted by F'nor-from-the-future, indicating that they do actually go through with their plan but it may not entirely work...
Time travel gets confusing.
This part starts off with a very perturbed F'lar and Lessa. Obviously, F'nor came back because it's not working. However he came back to F'lar and Lessa before they sent him back in time. Which means that F'lar and Lessa will/have sent him back in time already knowing it won't work. Because they have no alternative now?
It would be interesting to see what would happen if they chose NOT to send F'nor and company back in time now. But I don't know how Pern handles paradox.
Anyway, F'lar thinks he knows what's wrong with F'nor: basically when Lessa had gone to Ruatha, she was shocked and devastated. F'lar now thinks that's not just because of trauma, but because she was under a lot of stress being in two places at once. This conclusion awes Lessa, which leads F'lar to laugh with embarrassment. It'd be a cute moment if I remotely liked F'lar.
We lead into more Kylara abuse as she realizes what F'nor must have meant about Kylara wanting to go back and watch herself. Lessa calls her a "wretched, selfish creature." and says that Kylara will ruin everything.
...how?
No, seriously, HOW does Kylara's self-absorption ruin anything? If anything, from what F'nor says, it is keeping her together while the men are falling apart. It'd be one thing if they were afraid that Kylara would let something slip to her younger self, but F'nor hasn't mentioned that as a risk. F'nor also hasn't said anything about Kylara antagonizing the other Weyr members either. So what exactly is Kylara ruining?
Let's be honest here, Kylara's only real job is to fuck whichever dude whose dragon nails hers. That's why she's in the past: so Pridith can breed up a couple of more generations of dragons. So she spends the rest of her time playing voyeur. Who exactly does that harm?
F'lar notes that while F'nor warned them that his situation was getting desperate, but hadn't mentioned their successes. His missing scar indicates that some years must have passed, so at least Ramoth's first clutch must be mature, and possibly more clutches from Pridith as well. So the project is still on.
In the next part, we have F'lar and Lessa briefing F'nor on their new plan. They do not tell him about the visit from his future self. He seems on board, though he insists that if he goes, they should send T'bor as well. Apparently, Kylara and T'bor are sort-of paired and he wants a buffer, as Kylara has set her eyes on him. Thus far, F'nor has said no, which just makes Kylara more determined.
F'lar fucks with his brother a little, pointing out that Pridith might have a mind of her own come mating. F'nor insists that a brown can't become a bronze, and they laugh at his dismay. That seems kind of mean, considering you know he's about to suffer for you two.
Lessa and F'nor head out to the Southern Continent, which sadly we don't get to see. Instead, we follow F'lar to the Council Room where he is waiting to meet with the Lords and Craftmasters.
The last two to arrive are Meron and Lytol, who he called for last for Lessa's sake. I'd appreciate the consideration, but he expresses it in an asshole way:
"F'lar had sent for Lytol last because he did not wish Lessa to encounter the man. She was still overly—and, to his mind, foolishly—sensitive at having had to resign her claim to Ruatha Hold for the Lady Gemma's posthumous son."
Hey, F'lar, remember how Lessa survived ten years of slavery and misery with only the thought of revenge and of reclaiming her ancestral home to sustain her?
Remember how her family was murdered and her possessions destroyed, and she had to live in filth, practically starved?
Remember how she gave up her lifelong goal to join you, even though you couldn't quite deliver what you promised. Oh yeah, and also YOU RAPED HER.
"foolishly" sensitive my fucking ass. Fuck you, F'lar.
Though, I am glad to see Lytol get some recognition as one of the most valuable allies to the Weyr after Lord Larad (who has apparently taken the confrontation to heart.) Really, I think Lytol is your MOST valuable ally, F'lar. Seeing as how he prevented you from being ambushed by the Lord's rebellion and keeps feeding you important information. Lytol is the best character in the goddamn book.
Anyway, Meron enters and he is apparently furious at the summons. I can't help it. I kind of like Meron, because he just completely hates F'lar. Even if F'lar was right about the Thread and he kind of needs him now, he still hates F'lar. I respect that, dude.
And we see Lytol! Lytol is having it rough actually. His tic in his cheek is jumping "almost continuously" and his eyes are "dark with pain and inner unquiet". He greets the members of his former wing and to the head of the weavers, as well as F'lar himself.
You know, I'm still not entirely sure exactly when Lytol's accident was supposed to have happened. His former comrades are still dragonriders. He's not described as particularly old. But he had to have been a non-rider long enough to become a fully competent weaver (though possibly he had training before his Impression?) and to have a family with daughters grown enough that Fax would want them.
This is from the People of Pern resource book, by the way (at least according to the pern wikia): "Lytol became a Master in the Weavercraft after leaving Benden Weyr, where he married and had three daughters. His craft forced him to move to High Reaches Hold; roughly around the time Fax became Lord Holder. Fax coveted Lytol's "pretty" wife and daughters; one committed suicide, the other two escaped, and Lytol's wife died of a heart seizure."
...
How can one guy's life be so damned terrible? And he's by far the best dude in the goddamn book!
Anyway, F'lar starts the meeting. He's able to get the Lords to agree to do ground patrols (phrasing them as a precaution instead of a necessity), and reassuring them that they have a few days before threadfall.
Meron tries to heckle F'lar, but F'lar knows his stuff, and Larad backs him up and asks about the charts, prompting interest from the others. F'lar intends to have the newly introduced Masterharper Robinton, oversee the copying and explain the time table.
Robinton, we learn, had suffered a fair bit of mockery himself as the Harpers' influence has also waned during the long Interval. That doesn't completely make sense to me as, unlike the dragons, Harpers actually have a purpose even when Thread isn't in the sky. But it may have to do with the teaching ballads.
Larad then asks F'lar about the additional measures and why they're necessary. While I love Meron's pointless hostility, I like that Larad asks real, intelligent questions. He may be an ally now, but he doesn't seem like a sycophant. He wants real answers.
Oh, and we get an answer as to how the Weyr in the past will be populated, as someone demands to know why the Weyr searched out more young men even though Ramoth's clutch is already hatched. That makes some sense, but it seems like the time travel will be rough on those young men.
F'lar reassures everyone that Ramoth will rise to mate again soon, and decides to throw Jora under the bus by telling this crowd of people that in older times, Quees produced many heavy clutches before the critical time. "Unfortunately, Jora was ill and old, and Nemorth intractable."
Fuck you, F'lar. Way to air dirty laundry and shift blame to someone who isn't even there.
Of course, F'lar's blame shifting is contagious as someone in the group yells that the dragonmen's "high and mighty airs" will "bring destruction on us all!"
...look, nameless dude. I hate the dragonriders like you wouldn't believe. I genuinely believe they're an abusive, terrifying and parasitic cult of sexual abusers of women and young boys and they ought to be fucking obliterated. But they didn't bring the Red Star and they didn't cause Thread to fall. So why not shut up and let them earn their keep, for once.
Robinton shuts the dude, and everyone else, down with a rant defending the Weyr. It should be a good moment, but honestly, I'm rolling my eyes at this nonsense.
"'You have yourselves to blame,' Robinton's voice stabbed across the ensuing shouts. 'Admit it, one and all. You've paid less honor to the Weyr than you would your watch-wher's kennel - and that not much! But now the thieves are on the heights, and you are screaming because the poor reptile is nigh to death from neglect. Beat him, will you? When you exiled him to his kennel because he tried to warn you? Tried to get you to prepare against the invaders? It's on your conscience, not the Weyrleader's or the dragonriders', who have honestly done their duty these hundreds of Turns in keeping dragonkind alive ... against your protests. How many of you' - his tone was scathing- 'have been generous in thought and favor toward dragonkind? Even since I became master of my craft, how often have my harpers told me of being beaten for singing the old songs as is their duty? You earn only the right, good Lords and Craftsmen, to squirm inside your stony Holds and writhe as your crops die a-borning.' He rose.
'"No Threads will fall. It's a harper's winter tale,"' he whined, in faultless imitation of Nessel. '"These dragonmen leech us of heir and harvest,"' and his voice took on the constricted, insinuating tenor that could only be Meron's. 'And now the truth is as bitter as a brave man's fears and as difficult as mockweed to swallow. For all the honor you've done them, the dragonmen should leave you to be spun on the Threads distaff.'"
Ugh, spare me from sycophancy. And we'll be seeing a lot of Robinton because he's basically the wise old dude of the series.
Look, Robbie. I appreciate the sentiment. The Thread is falling and the dragons are your only hope. But let's maybe dial the hero worship back a little. It's been FOUR HUNDRED YEARS since Thread last fell. And during that FOUR HUNDRED YEARS, the Lords have been faithfully tithing and offering up their heirs.
Hell, arguably, they've been giving Benden Weyr far more than it deserves, because originally the tithes were set up for six weyrs, not just one. So basically Benden's been getting an extra five times again what they're supposed to get. FOR FOUR HUNDRED YEARS.
In the meantime, their children are taken to be Impressed. And we've seen how violent Impressions were before F'lar and Lessa's innovations. Children were injured, maybe even killed. Some of the girls didn't get Impressed but stayed on as mistresses, like Kylara. And we don't know if that was entirely by choice. Certainly the dragonriders don't seem that concerned with consent.
The ones that are chosen will be involved in mating flights in a year, even when they're chosen as children. So yay, for rape and child sexual abuse.
In the meantime, the dragonriders have done nothing to be remotely helpful. They don't help transport things or send messages. They don't help with construction or demolition. They don't even scout. They have teleporting, telepathic dragons and they have done NOTHING with them.
So honestly, no. I don't think the Lords' complaints are unreasonable. They're ill-timed now. And kind of pointless given that Thread is falling. But they've been generous for FOUR HUNDRED YEARS. So the dragonmen fucking owe them.
Get your head out of F'lar's ass, Robinton, and maybe you'll see that.
Anyway, Robinton continues in this vein for a while, then turns to F'lar like the mindless cult follower he is: "'You were,' and he switched to the mildest of polite conversational tones as he addressed F'lar, 'I believe, asking our cooperation, good F'lar? In what capacities?'"
Fucking gag me.
Okay, well, F'lar is back to being tactical at least. And his demands are not actually unreasonable: he wants the Holds to police their lands during the attacks if possible, but definitely after. He wants them to locate, mark, and destroy any burrowed thread.
There's a bit of brainstorming about how they can do that without destroying the growing land. The Mastersmith Fanderal suggests that they may have some sketches of old equipment. (There's a hint of a dispute between the smiths and the tanners that amuses me, but F'lar doesn't have time for that nonsense.)
Fanderal does tell them about an acid that they use called "agenothree" which sounds a little like a bastardized chemical formula which might be used to burn Thread if they can get to it.
F'lar, because he's a dick, seems to find Fanderal very "humorous". Hey, asshole. Maybe stop laughing at the guy who's just trying to help you find fucking solutions? Fuck you, F'lar.
The Masterfarmer, who doesn't merit a name apparently, remembers finding a reference to "sandworms of Igen" which had once been cultivated in some kind of protective fashion. F'lar tells the Lord of Igen (who is amusingly surprised that he has something useful to contribute) to bring him some.
Finally, Zurg, the Masterweaver, has something else to offer: Ruatha Hold once had a tapestry that was as "old as dragonkind" and featured some kind of flamethrower. The tapestry is gone now, taken by Fax, but F'lar suggests to his successor Lords that it might save them all some loss if it happened to be returned to Ruatha, or brought to Zurg or Fanderal.
Seriously, why doesn't the Masterfarmer get a name? Rude.
F'lar suggests then that the tapestry could be returned to Fax's son, the Lord of Ruatha. Lytol snorts and glowers, and F'lar is again a dick: "F'lar supposed Lytol to be amused and experienced a fleeting regret for the orphaned Jaxom, reared by such a cheerless if honest guardian."
Fuck you, F'lar. Just....gah. Fuck yourself on one of your goddamned mythical flamethrowers. Lytol has fucking earned his cheerlessness. Oh, and by the way, it's not like he actually volunteered to take care of a kid or manage a Hold. YOU put him in this job without asking first.
God forbid this dude with a dead dragon (and a dead wife, and a dead daughter, and two presumably missing daughters) not be a fucking ray of sunshine, you fucking cretin.
Robinton is suggests that his Harpers can also check their records, because some of the longer Teaching Ballads and Sagas have drifted into obscurity. F'lar then takes a moment to talk to the Masterminer, who also doesn't merit a name. You're a classist dick, F'lar. But he sees F'nor in the background and cuts it short.
He quickly realized that this F'nor was not the one who left with Lessa: he's tanned and unscarred. But not as fucked up as before. He jubilantly tells F'lar of their success: Pridith laid thirty-two eggs in four days. Sadly, no queens, but she did manage fourteen bronzes.
F'nor updates F'lar, while F'lar tries not to let on that he hasn't actually sent F'nor back yet: Kylara "stirs up trouble constantly". T'bor is apparently sad and touchy because he "leads a sad time with her".
Oh, how sad. The dude who Kylara is forced to fuck because their dragons mated is sad because she doesn't like him. God forbid Kylara decide she doesn't like the dude that she's forced to sleep with out of psychic link or anything. I hate this fucking society so much.
I'm #TeamKylara here. Fuck you guys. She's done her job and you have thirty two new dragons. I'd be stirring up trouble too.
F'nor also tells F'lar that if the communication wasn't so strictly hush hush, they could supply the Weyr with fruits and greens superior to anything in the North. He suggests a supply Weyr, because then they'd never have to worry about tithing.
...
Is this a good time to mention, again, how fucking stupid the dragon riders are? Imagine for one moment they decided to be fucking useful in four hundred years. They found the continent. They found all that food. They wouldn't be nearly the drain on the Lords. And they wouldn't have nearly fucking starved.
Anyway, F'nor leaves, cheerfully. I'm now wondering exactly what the age difference is or was between F'lar and F'nor. Will F'nor be the older brother now?
Anyway, F'lar meets with Robinton, who had something specific in mind when he brought up the Harpers records: there is an ballad which had been retired because it "unsettled singer as well as audience". Robinton gets C'gan's guitar, which had been hung in the Council Room in his honor, and starts to play the song. I'm not going to judge the poetry, though I think it's a bit of a cheat to try to rhyme weather and whither. The theme is the missing Weyrs.
Robinton can provide some interesting context though. The song was recorded four hundred years ago, just after the Red Star passed beyond attack proximity. The people were disturbed by the sudden loss of five Weyrs. This is interesting of course because it means the loss of the Weyrs wasn't gradual or recent. It apparently happened right after the Red Star passed. There and gone again.
F'lar notes that in his own records there's no mention of any cause of death. The only reference is the initiation of Pern-wide patrols. Robinton rules out the idea that the other Weyrs went between to avoid draining the Holds: there's no indication of famine.
Actually he has a great accidental burn here in the guise of sucking up: "'Men may be gallant and your breed the most gallant of all, but mass suicide? I simply do not accept that explanation ... not for dragonmen.'"
Hah, correct, the dragonmen would never sacrifice on behalf of someone else.
Robinton feeds F'lar's ego more and offers Harper aid. F'lar lets slip that they'll be looking at seventy-two new dragons, rather than just forty. He explains the time traveling aspect, and Robinton suggests sending someone ahead to find out if the new dragons will be sufficient. F'lar shoots that down, explaining that he doesn't know how to get to a "when" that hasn't happened yet, because there are no reference points.
It's a fair point and a convenient reason why they can't solve all of their problems with future knowledge. Still, somehow, I suspect this question will be relevant after all.
Part 3:7 | Table of Contents | Part 4:3 and 4
When we left off, Lessa and F'lar were coming up with a plan only to be interrupted by F'nor-from-the-future, indicating that they do actually go through with their plan but it may not entirely work...
Time travel gets confusing.
This part starts off with a very perturbed F'lar and Lessa. Obviously, F'nor came back because it's not working. However he came back to F'lar and Lessa before they sent him back in time. Which means that F'lar and Lessa will/have sent him back in time already knowing it won't work. Because they have no alternative now?
It would be interesting to see what would happen if they chose NOT to send F'nor and company back in time now. But I don't know how Pern handles paradox.
Anyway, F'lar thinks he knows what's wrong with F'nor: basically when Lessa had gone to Ruatha, she was shocked and devastated. F'lar now thinks that's not just because of trauma, but because she was under a lot of stress being in two places at once. This conclusion awes Lessa, which leads F'lar to laugh with embarrassment. It'd be a cute moment if I remotely liked F'lar.
We lead into more Kylara abuse as she realizes what F'nor must have meant about Kylara wanting to go back and watch herself. Lessa calls her a "wretched, selfish creature." and says that Kylara will ruin everything.
...how?
No, seriously, HOW does Kylara's self-absorption ruin anything? If anything, from what F'nor says, it is keeping her together while the men are falling apart. It'd be one thing if they were afraid that Kylara would let something slip to her younger self, but F'nor hasn't mentioned that as a risk. F'nor also hasn't said anything about Kylara antagonizing the other Weyr members either. So what exactly is Kylara ruining?
Let's be honest here, Kylara's only real job is to fuck whichever dude whose dragon nails hers. That's why she's in the past: so Pridith can breed up a couple of more generations of dragons. So she spends the rest of her time playing voyeur. Who exactly does that harm?
F'lar notes that while F'nor warned them that his situation was getting desperate, but hadn't mentioned their successes. His missing scar indicates that some years must have passed, so at least Ramoth's first clutch must be mature, and possibly more clutches from Pridith as well. So the project is still on.
In the next part, we have F'lar and Lessa briefing F'nor on their new plan. They do not tell him about the visit from his future self. He seems on board, though he insists that if he goes, they should send T'bor as well. Apparently, Kylara and T'bor are sort-of paired and he wants a buffer, as Kylara has set her eyes on him. Thus far, F'nor has said no, which just makes Kylara more determined.
F'lar fucks with his brother a little, pointing out that Pridith might have a mind of her own come mating. F'nor insists that a brown can't become a bronze, and they laugh at his dismay. That seems kind of mean, considering you know he's about to suffer for you two.
Lessa and F'nor head out to the Southern Continent, which sadly we don't get to see. Instead, we follow F'lar to the Council Room where he is waiting to meet with the Lords and Craftmasters.
The last two to arrive are Meron and Lytol, who he called for last for Lessa's sake. I'd appreciate the consideration, but he expresses it in an asshole way:
"F'lar had sent for Lytol last because he did not wish Lessa to encounter the man. She was still overly—and, to his mind, foolishly—sensitive at having had to resign her claim to Ruatha Hold for the Lady Gemma's posthumous son."
Hey, F'lar, remember how Lessa survived ten years of slavery and misery with only the thought of revenge and of reclaiming her ancestral home to sustain her?
Remember how her family was murdered and her possessions destroyed, and she had to live in filth, practically starved?
Remember how she gave up her lifelong goal to join you, even though you couldn't quite deliver what you promised. Oh yeah, and also YOU RAPED HER.
"foolishly" sensitive my fucking ass. Fuck you, F'lar.
Though, I am glad to see Lytol get some recognition as one of the most valuable allies to the Weyr after Lord Larad (who has apparently taken the confrontation to heart.) Really, I think Lytol is your MOST valuable ally, F'lar. Seeing as how he prevented you from being ambushed by the Lord's rebellion and keeps feeding you important information. Lytol is the best character in the goddamn book.
Anyway, Meron enters and he is apparently furious at the summons. I can't help it. I kind of like Meron, because he just completely hates F'lar. Even if F'lar was right about the Thread and he kind of needs him now, he still hates F'lar. I respect that, dude.
And we see Lytol! Lytol is having it rough actually. His tic in his cheek is jumping "almost continuously" and his eyes are "dark with pain and inner unquiet". He greets the members of his former wing and to the head of the weavers, as well as F'lar himself.
You know, I'm still not entirely sure exactly when Lytol's accident was supposed to have happened. His former comrades are still dragonriders. He's not described as particularly old. But he had to have been a non-rider long enough to become a fully competent weaver (though possibly he had training before his Impression?) and to have a family with daughters grown enough that Fax would want them.
This is from the People of Pern resource book, by the way (at least according to the pern wikia): "Lytol became a Master in the Weavercraft after leaving Benden Weyr, where he married and had three daughters. His craft forced him to move to High Reaches Hold; roughly around the time Fax became Lord Holder. Fax coveted Lytol's "pretty" wife and daughters; one committed suicide, the other two escaped, and Lytol's wife died of a heart seizure."
...
How can one guy's life be so damned terrible? And he's by far the best dude in the goddamn book!
Anyway, F'lar starts the meeting. He's able to get the Lords to agree to do ground patrols (phrasing them as a precaution instead of a necessity), and reassuring them that they have a few days before threadfall.
Meron tries to heckle F'lar, but F'lar knows his stuff, and Larad backs him up and asks about the charts, prompting interest from the others. F'lar intends to have the newly introduced Masterharper Robinton, oversee the copying and explain the time table.
Robinton, we learn, had suffered a fair bit of mockery himself as the Harpers' influence has also waned during the long Interval. That doesn't completely make sense to me as, unlike the dragons, Harpers actually have a purpose even when Thread isn't in the sky. But it may have to do with the teaching ballads.
Larad then asks F'lar about the additional measures and why they're necessary. While I love Meron's pointless hostility, I like that Larad asks real, intelligent questions. He may be an ally now, but he doesn't seem like a sycophant. He wants real answers.
Oh, and we get an answer as to how the Weyr in the past will be populated, as someone demands to know why the Weyr searched out more young men even though Ramoth's clutch is already hatched. That makes some sense, but it seems like the time travel will be rough on those young men.
F'lar reassures everyone that Ramoth will rise to mate again soon, and decides to throw Jora under the bus by telling this crowd of people that in older times, Quees produced many heavy clutches before the critical time. "Unfortunately, Jora was ill and old, and Nemorth intractable."
Fuck you, F'lar. Way to air dirty laundry and shift blame to someone who isn't even there.
Of course, F'lar's blame shifting is contagious as someone in the group yells that the dragonmen's "high and mighty airs" will "bring destruction on us all!"
...look, nameless dude. I hate the dragonriders like you wouldn't believe. I genuinely believe they're an abusive, terrifying and parasitic cult of sexual abusers of women and young boys and they ought to be fucking obliterated. But they didn't bring the Red Star and they didn't cause Thread to fall. So why not shut up and let them earn their keep, for once.
Robinton shuts the dude, and everyone else, down with a rant defending the Weyr. It should be a good moment, but honestly, I'm rolling my eyes at this nonsense.
"'You have yourselves to blame,' Robinton's voice stabbed across the ensuing shouts. 'Admit it, one and all. You've paid less honor to the Weyr than you would your watch-wher's kennel - and that not much! But now the thieves are on the heights, and you are screaming because the poor reptile is nigh to death from neglect. Beat him, will you? When you exiled him to his kennel because he tried to warn you? Tried to get you to prepare against the invaders? It's on your conscience, not the Weyrleader's or the dragonriders', who have honestly done their duty these hundreds of Turns in keeping dragonkind alive ... against your protests. How many of you' - his tone was scathing- 'have been generous in thought and favor toward dragonkind? Even since I became master of my craft, how often have my harpers told me of being beaten for singing the old songs as is their duty? You earn only the right, good Lords and Craftsmen, to squirm inside your stony Holds and writhe as your crops die a-borning.' He rose.
'"No Threads will fall. It's a harper's winter tale,"' he whined, in faultless imitation of Nessel. '"These dragonmen leech us of heir and harvest,"' and his voice took on the constricted, insinuating tenor that could only be Meron's. 'And now the truth is as bitter as a brave man's fears and as difficult as mockweed to swallow. For all the honor you've done them, the dragonmen should leave you to be spun on the Threads distaff.'"
Ugh, spare me from sycophancy. And we'll be seeing a lot of Robinton because he's basically the wise old dude of the series.
Look, Robbie. I appreciate the sentiment. The Thread is falling and the dragons are your only hope. But let's maybe dial the hero worship back a little. It's been FOUR HUNDRED YEARS since Thread last fell. And during that FOUR HUNDRED YEARS, the Lords have been faithfully tithing and offering up their heirs.
Hell, arguably, they've been giving Benden Weyr far more than it deserves, because originally the tithes were set up for six weyrs, not just one. So basically Benden's been getting an extra five times again what they're supposed to get. FOR FOUR HUNDRED YEARS.
In the meantime, their children are taken to be Impressed. And we've seen how violent Impressions were before F'lar and Lessa's innovations. Children were injured, maybe even killed. Some of the girls didn't get Impressed but stayed on as mistresses, like Kylara. And we don't know if that was entirely by choice. Certainly the dragonriders don't seem that concerned with consent.
The ones that are chosen will be involved in mating flights in a year, even when they're chosen as children. So yay, for rape and child sexual abuse.
In the meantime, the dragonriders have done nothing to be remotely helpful. They don't help transport things or send messages. They don't help with construction or demolition. They don't even scout. They have teleporting, telepathic dragons and they have done NOTHING with them.
So honestly, no. I don't think the Lords' complaints are unreasonable. They're ill-timed now. And kind of pointless given that Thread is falling. But they've been generous for FOUR HUNDRED YEARS. So the dragonmen fucking owe them.
Get your head out of F'lar's ass, Robinton, and maybe you'll see that.
Anyway, Robinton continues in this vein for a while, then turns to F'lar like the mindless cult follower he is: "'You were,' and he switched to the mildest of polite conversational tones as he addressed F'lar, 'I believe, asking our cooperation, good F'lar? In what capacities?'"
Fucking gag me.
Okay, well, F'lar is back to being tactical at least. And his demands are not actually unreasonable: he wants the Holds to police their lands during the attacks if possible, but definitely after. He wants them to locate, mark, and destroy any burrowed thread.
There's a bit of brainstorming about how they can do that without destroying the growing land. The Mastersmith Fanderal suggests that they may have some sketches of old equipment. (There's a hint of a dispute between the smiths and the tanners that amuses me, but F'lar doesn't have time for that nonsense.)
Fanderal does tell them about an acid that they use called "agenothree" which sounds a little like a bastardized chemical formula which might be used to burn Thread if they can get to it.
F'lar, because he's a dick, seems to find Fanderal very "humorous". Hey, asshole. Maybe stop laughing at the guy who's just trying to help you find fucking solutions? Fuck you, F'lar.
The Masterfarmer, who doesn't merit a name apparently, remembers finding a reference to "sandworms of Igen" which had once been cultivated in some kind of protective fashion. F'lar tells the Lord of Igen (who is amusingly surprised that he has something useful to contribute) to bring him some.
Finally, Zurg, the Masterweaver, has something else to offer: Ruatha Hold once had a tapestry that was as "old as dragonkind" and featured some kind of flamethrower. The tapestry is gone now, taken by Fax, but F'lar suggests to his successor Lords that it might save them all some loss if it happened to be returned to Ruatha, or brought to Zurg or Fanderal.
Seriously, why doesn't the Masterfarmer get a name? Rude.
F'lar suggests then that the tapestry could be returned to Fax's son, the Lord of Ruatha. Lytol snorts and glowers, and F'lar is again a dick: "F'lar supposed Lytol to be amused and experienced a fleeting regret for the orphaned Jaxom, reared by such a cheerless if honest guardian."
Fuck you, F'lar. Just....gah. Fuck yourself on one of your goddamned mythical flamethrowers. Lytol has fucking earned his cheerlessness. Oh, and by the way, it's not like he actually volunteered to take care of a kid or manage a Hold. YOU put him in this job without asking first.
God forbid this dude with a dead dragon (and a dead wife, and a dead daughter, and two presumably missing daughters) not be a fucking ray of sunshine, you fucking cretin.
Robinton is suggests that his Harpers can also check their records, because some of the longer Teaching Ballads and Sagas have drifted into obscurity. F'lar then takes a moment to talk to the Masterminer, who also doesn't merit a name. You're a classist dick, F'lar. But he sees F'nor in the background and cuts it short.
He quickly realized that this F'nor was not the one who left with Lessa: he's tanned and unscarred. But not as fucked up as before. He jubilantly tells F'lar of their success: Pridith laid thirty-two eggs in four days. Sadly, no queens, but she did manage fourteen bronzes.
F'nor updates F'lar, while F'lar tries not to let on that he hasn't actually sent F'nor back yet: Kylara "stirs up trouble constantly". T'bor is apparently sad and touchy because he "leads a sad time with her".
Oh, how sad. The dude who Kylara is forced to fuck because their dragons mated is sad because she doesn't like him. God forbid Kylara decide she doesn't like the dude that she's forced to sleep with out of psychic link or anything. I hate this fucking society so much.
I'm #TeamKylara here. Fuck you guys. She's done her job and you have thirty two new dragons. I'd be stirring up trouble too.
F'nor also tells F'lar that if the communication wasn't so strictly hush hush, they could supply the Weyr with fruits and greens superior to anything in the North. He suggests a supply Weyr, because then they'd never have to worry about tithing.
...
Is this a good time to mention, again, how fucking stupid the dragon riders are? Imagine for one moment they decided to be fucking useful in four hundred years. They found the continent. They found all that food. They wouldn't be nearly the drain on the Lords. And they wouldn't have nearly fucking starved.
Anyway, F'nor leaves, cheerfully. I'm now wondering exactly what the age difference is or was between F'lar and F'nor. Will F'nor be the older brother now?
Anyway, F'lar meets with Robinton, who had something specific in mind when he brought up the Harpers records: there is an ballad which had been retired because it "unsettled singer as well as audience". Robinton gets C'gan's guitar, which had been hung in the Council Room in his honor, and starts to play the song. I'm not going to judge the poetry, though I think it's a bit of a cheat to try to rhyme weather and whither. The theme is the missing Weyrs.
Robinton can provide some interesting context though. The song was recorded four hundred years ago, just after the Red Star passed beyond attack proximity. The people were disturbed by the sudden loss of five Weyrs. This is interesting of course because it means the loss of the Weyrs wasn't gradual or recent. It apparently happened right after the Red Star passed. There and gone again.
F'lar notes that in his own records there's no mention of any cause of death. The only reference is the initiation of Pern-wide patrols. Robinton rules out the idea that the other Weyrs went between to avoid draining the Holds: there's no indication of famine.
Actually he has a great accidental burn here in the guise of sucking up: "'Men may be gallant and your breed the most gallant of all, but mass suicide? I simply do not accept that explanation ... not for dragonmen.'"
Hah, correct, the dragonmen would never sacrifice on behalf of someone else.
Robinton feeds F'lar's ego more and offers Harper aid. F'lar lets slip that they'll be looking at seventy-two new dragons, rather than just forty. He explains the time traveling aspect, and Robinton suggests sending someone ahead to find out if the new dragons will be sufficient. F'lar shoots that down, explaining that he doesn't know how to get to a "when" that hasn't happened yet, because there are no reference points.
It's a fair point and a convenient reason why they can't solve all of their problems with future knowledge. Still, somehow, I suspect this question will be relevant after all.