The Consequences of Inattention (1/2)

Writers: Avery
Date Posted: 3rd November 2017

Characters: Kapera, Riveenata, Ikara
Description: Kapera interrogates Riveenata about the incident during Threadfall.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 2, day 2 of Turn 9

Kapera

When the Fall was over, the wing /betweened/ back to Dolphin Cove and
landed in the weyrbowl. Riyanth warned them all to stay put and listen
before they went to bathe. The riders slid off of their dragons, and
Kapera proceeded to give a lecture to the whole wing.

The topic was staying attentive to everything going on in their
periphery, not just what was happening with themselves. If they
hyper-focused on the Thread they were chasing, they could get themselves
out of position and have consequences for other people. Volcano Wing
might be the lowest-level wing, but it was still a critical part of the
defense against Thread, and Kapera would _not_ have Cyradis think that
the wing was incapable of performing without direct oversight by the
Weyrwoman herself. She knew they were better then that, and they needed
to prove it. There would be extra drills for the sevenday.

Riveenata kept wincing internally throughout the goldrider's lecture. It
was nominally being directed at the entire wing. But she knew the truth.
It wans't really for the whole wing. She and Savith had been out of
position. They'd been responsible for the weyrling's scoring. _They'd_
been the reason why others had gone out of place to cover for them.

Every word out of the goldrider's mouth seemed blisteringly angry, and
sharp and pointed directly at her, hitting home like needlethorns
stabbing right into her chest. By the time it was over it was hard to
hold back the tears of shame pricking at her eyes. But she couldn't
break down and bawl right there, in the middle of the assembled wing.

"Unstrap your dragons and bathe them and yourselves. I'm seeing you a
candlemark earlier tomorrow morning," the goldrider finished the lecture.

If any of the assembled wingriders wanted to grumble or groan about it,
nobody dared to do so verbally, where the goldrider could hear them.

Riveenata was absolutely unsurprised when Kapera pointed at her to stay
behind and have a discussion with her. She was surprised when the
goldrider also ordered Ikara to stay. But after a moment's reflection,
she realized why - Narith had also been out of place and had witnessed
the accident.

The two greenriders were silent as they followed the goldrider back to
her office. Riveenata's mind was racing. She was using Healer training
to analyze what parts might have been struck and how survivable the
wound was. Her brain kept picturing all of the terrible things that
could have happened, like the Thread eating through Jevila's legs, or
into her torso and tearing up organs.

To try to distract herself, she chanced looking over at Ikara briefly,
but the other greenrider was looking firmly ahead. Riveenata couldn't
tell from her expression if she felt angry or ashamed at being called to
their superior's office. So she looked down at the stone corridor as she
paced along behind them.

As they reached their destination, Kapera silently held the door for
them and waited for the pair to pass into the office. Then she shut the
door and walked over to her desk, sitting down in her chair and pushing
it in with a scraping sound. After what seemed like an unusually long
wait, the dark-haired goldrider looked up from the surface of her desk
and regarded the still-standing greenriders. "Sit," she said.

When they both sat down in chairs, she continued, "Now, we're going to
talk about what happened up there. I'm going to tell you what I saw, and
then you're going to tell me what happened from your end."

Riveenata took a deep breath and curled her fingers around the handle of
the chair as she waited to hear how Kapera would describe her mistake.

The goldrider laid out her version of events in a dispassionate tone.
"Riyanth was flying at the point of the V so she could see the wing
arrayed in front of her. Savith and Narith were near the middle of the
left side. Riyanth noticed when the firestone delivery failed, and
Savith moved out of position to catch the next one."

"Then a clump of Thread fell towards Savith and Gulbeth. Even though
Savith was getting more firestone delivered, which was because she was
running low on flame, she rose to meet the clump anyway. She didn't have
enough flame and she had to get out of its way, leaving Gulbeth
unprotected. Gulbeth did not /between/ in time, and was scored."

"Narith then had to move out of _her_ position to cover both her own and
Savith's spots, while Savith resupplied with stone to cover her own.
After that, Savith returned to position and performed adequately the
rest of the Fall."

Kapera pointed at Ikara. "That's what I saw. You, go."

All of what Kapera had said was true and Riveenata couldn't argue with
it. She felt her shoulders slumping. The way Kapera laid it out, she'd
made bad decision after bad decision. She didn't remember them seeming
so terrible at the time - they'd seemed natural - but clearly they'd
been wrong. She wondered if Ikara's words would offer any defense, or
pile on more blame.

Ikara stared down at her hands as she answered her temporary Wingleader.
"I saw the green weyrling appear between Savith and Narith. I saw the
first sack throw fail. I also saw a second throw fail," Ikara said.

"Savith moved out of position to get closer to Gulbeth for resupply.
Neither of them checked their surroundings to see if they were still
clear of Thread. Narith spotted it and warned them both. But Savith went
for it and didn't have enough flame. Gulbeth was scored and Savith did
nothing for a moment, forcing Narith to cover both of our spots for a
few minutes."

"Is there anything you think you and Narith could have done better in
that situation?" Kapera asked.

"Narith is very fast, and she had a significant amount of flame left in
her. I think she could have flamed the Thread clump so it was just ash
over them and they could have completed the handoff and been safe,"
Ikara said, .

"Why didn't you have her insist on getting it herself, or warn Savith off?"

"Narith assumed if Savith said she'd get it that she would succeed,
since wingriders are supposed to hold their own space," Ikara replied.

"And how is Narith after that?" Kapera asked.

"Her wings are sore," Ikara said.

"Have a dragonhealer see to her, just in case. If he calls her
over-extended, take off tomorrow's drills," the Weyrwoman's Second
ordered. "If there's nothing else from you, you're dismissed."

Riveenata expected Ikara to get up and go immediately so she could
escape from the goldrider's attention. But the blonde greenrider didn't.
She started to push up from her chair, hesitated, and then said,
"Permission to add something, ma'am?"

Kapera arched a dark eyebrow, curious as to why the greenrider wasn't
scuttling out the door as fast as possible. "Granted," she said.

"You asked me what I thought I could have done differently. But you
didn't ask me if I thought Savith's rider was the only one at fault. And
I don't think that's true," Ikara said in a soft tone.

"Do you think she wasn't?"

"I saw both of the failed exchanges of stone. Gulbeth came out of
/between/ farther away from Savith than you should for delivering stone,
and that's why the first throw fell short. Savith had to move out of
position for the throw to work."

Ikara held one closed hand up in the air over Kapera's desk, to indicate
what she was talking about. "Savith moved, so they were here. But I
think Gulbeth should have moved closer to Savith, - because if she had,
she would have been _here_," Ikara said.

She used her other hand, fingers wiggling, to represent the Thread clump
that had fallen. "Then Savith would have been farther away from it,
Narith could have gotten the Thread clump without deviating from her
assigned position too much, and Gulbeth wouldn't have been scored."

"And you think that your critique of Gulbeth's positioning makes up for
Savith not checking to make sure the airspace was clear?" the goldrider
asked. Her tone was skeptical.

"I think it indicates that Gulbeth was also at fault and Savith and her
rider shouldn't be held solely responsible and punished alone, ma'am,"
Ikara said.

"I'll take your opinion into consideration. Now, is there anything else?"

"No, Weyrwoman," Ikara said. She looked over at Riveenata, her eyes
showing a flash of her sympathy, before she backed out of the
goldrider's office.

Last updated on the December 13th 2017

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The Consequences of Inattention (1/2)