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Fear that binds
Fear that freezes
Instincts scream
Bodies fall victim
To living death
Falling from the sky
Fear, it’s the first thing that comes to mind when anyone hears the word “Thread.” Thread is something to be feared and avoided. It; it burns and destroys without reason or mercy.
I feel that fear as much as everyone does, but unlike the others in my Hold, Thread isn’t my greatest fear. I respect it as something that could destroy me, and fear the idea of dying from it, but what is that fear compared to being separated from everything that matters to me?
What is that fear compared to living without music?
I am a woman, forbidden by my father from ever taking the role of Harper, and yet music is everything to me. It is life and escape. Better to live in my cave, with my fire lizards than to live the life of Menolly, daughter of Yanus Sea Holder. Better to remain here than to be at the mercy of those who would see me crippled, in order to quell my longing for music.
The Thread falls upon the land
Hissing and burning into the sea
The red star foretold
Dragons flying bold
Burning the sky to save you and me
The Thread is falling again, thick and heavy. From the entrance into my cave I can see the dragons flying above the Sea Hold, their breath burning the very air as it destroys the Thread. Theirs is a life I don’t envy. How much they must fear the Thread even as they force themselves to fight it. What must drive them to sacrifice themselves for Holders who don’t understand what they do. ?
When I lived in the Hold, we would hear about dragons and dragonriders that had died fighting Thread. We always felt sorrow, but it was a distant thing. As a Sea Hold, we had little to do with dragons. What must it be like for those who know the dragons and their riders as well as they know themselves?
Dragons flying over head
Feet pounding across the sand
One foot in front of the other
Blood tracing every step
Danger falling close at hand
Fear, overwhelming fear. It’s all I can feel as I run. My legs are burning, my feet sending fiery pain into my body at every step and yet I don’t stop, can’t stop. Thread is coming and despite the acceptance of it I’ve built up over the last few months, I’m still overcome with terror.
This was never how I wanted to die, even as I realized it was a real possibility. Living outside the Hold was a dangerous business, but I’d managed to convince myself that it wasn’t one I truly had to consider. I’d been foolish, but even if I die here and now, I don’t regret that foolishness. These last months have been wonderful beyond measure. I have been happier with my dragons fire lizards and my music than I ever was in the Hold.
Just as I’m about to stop running, to give up, I hear the roar.
There is a dragon above me, beside me. I can tell its rider is yelling even though I can’t hear it over the beats of the dragon’s wings. The rider seems to understand as he motions for me to run to the cliffs a few dozen feet away. Then he leaves me, flying to the cliffs and landing. Risking his life to see me safely away from the Thread. I still don’t understand why he’s doing it even as I force one last burst of speed from my tired body. I won’t see my savior and his dragon die because I was too weak to reach them.
I practically fall into the riders arms, dizzy and disoriented. I can feel the rider’s leathers and the dragon’s hide surround me. Then there is a lurch, and cold beyond anything I’ve ever felt.
Harper sing, Harper warn
Danger is near
Call the men
Sound the horn
Death comes from the sky
I thought things would be different in Harper Hall. I’d thought that the people here would not be as fearful and superstitious about Thread as they were back home. I’d been wrong. For all Harpers are the ones who warn the Holders of Thread and teach the children how to hide from it and how the dragon’s dragons destroy it, they are just as fearful of it as everyone else.
When they hear of how I lived outside of the Sea Hold for months and of my fateful run from the Thread, they whisper and simper and act like it’s just a silly tale. I can’t understand that, how. How can they not want to teach other’s others about what I learned while I lived in that cave, how? How can they not want to give people the hope of knowing that someone survived the Thread. ?
It isn’t that I want to brag about my action, as the other girls seem to think, it’s simply that I can’t understand why they let their fear still their hands from writing songs that could teach people.
Hide away from fear and death
Behind walls of metal and stone
Live a life free from fear
Heed the signs and watch the star
It’s my first Thread fall in Harper hall Hall and I’m glad to see that my judgment about the fear of the Harpers was not all together altogether true. The girls I take lessons with might cower in fear, but the grown Harpers pay it no mind, other than to respect the sanctity of the metal that protects us from the Thread’s burning touch.
I want to be like them when I am a Harper. I want to teach the children and Holders that I will be responsible for to live without fearing the Thread more than is necessary to keep them safe. I want to teach them the songs I have made and the Harper’s Harpers have learned. Songs that speak of the death that falls from the sky and the life that lives and will continue to live despite it.