One pure white multi-faceted eye snapped open, crackles of gray and yellow danced across them as the little bronze, more grey now than the pale bronze he had been, attempted to lurch to his feet. A goal in mind.

An untruth in his mind.

It was the heavy press of a gold's calming presence that pressed Bossuth back into the cool stone floor before he could raise more than a few inches. It wasn't the only thing that was pressing on him though, there was a physical weight against his face that only registered after the pain that flashed through his neck, chest and side. While hard, the bronze focused and realized it was his own third heart that was draped over him, one arm crooked over his headknob and the other dragging down towards the ground, as if for balance. So whatever he'd imagined in his mind hadn't actually happened. That at least explained why the gold had been so firm and while somewhere in the back of his mind he liked to think that he would have noticed within a moment, especially before he flung himself Between, it was relieving to know that others were much smarter than he.

R'iz, the wounded Radish that he'd picked off the sands himself, couldn't take too much more than what he'd already been through. Losing so much, losing even more due to his worthless dragon's....

The arm that was looped over one of his headknobs flexed and the other came up off the floor to slap his broad cheek lightly. How long have you been awake then? Bossuth closed his left eye above the slap even as he shifted his head to try and make himself somehow more comfortable. Since about the time you woke up, I had help though. One excessively loud cheep exploded near his head and four tiny claws landed on his left headknob, explaining everything that he needed to know.

Slowly R'iz lifted himself up off of Bossuth's face and ran both his hands over the soft hide there, looking straight into his dragon's open eye with his own tired ones. So what exactly was it that you were thinking just now? You're doing a good job of keeping your mind separate, but that's why we're here now too. You don't hold things back... what's wrong? Registering that his tail was unharmed as he thrashed it in frustrated irritation, the little bronze tried to lift his head up to tuck it under a wing, but the pain in his neck felt as though his flesh was still burning. First threadscore... it sucks and doesn't get any easier. It stays burning even when they put numbweed on it or dose you with fellis. You're gonna be hurting for a while, so there's no sense in trying to hide away from a question.

It only dawned on the bronze that his rider wasn't speaking aloud like he usually did with him when he opened both his pain squinted eyes and noticed the darkness around them. Shouldn't you be in the infirmary? Not being able to see well at night didn't mean he couldn't notice the bandages covering parts of his rider's limbs, especially considering he was only sitting before him in slacks. The right leg of his slacks were rolled up for bandages that covered them, right arm, most of his side, there were bandages everywhere.

Because of him.

I wanted to save them, but I just got you hurt instead. You should hate me. All I do is hold you back. Bossuth closed his eyes as if to keep the rider out of his head if he couldn't see him. To his credit, R'iz only snorted and ran his hands across the bronze's nose. You did save them and I've had threadscore before. You and I have been out of sync ever since the first Betweening lesson and it's my fault honestly. Believe me, the last thing I'd ever do is hate you, I've waited my whole life for you and for a long time I didn't even realize it. A grin crossed his face and the teen scratched one of his eye ridges. For turns all I've wanted is to burn thread out of the sky, but we have to work together for that to happen and if you aren't ready than I'm not either. But honestly you're more of a hero than you think and that's because you didn't even think for a minute when it came to saving someone else.

Should have thought of you though. Slowly he inched forward and put his head in R'iz's lap. It's not like I was alone in those skies, you were on my back but I was scared. I don't want to lose anyone else either. Three already is too much.

Three was too much, they were Bossuth's clutchmates but one that had gone with them had been R'iz's sister, another weight that just added to what had been lost before. A whole lifetime of loses. So we failed in that first try, now we just have to get better so we can try again. Good stories always start with failure, that's how you learn. Only past turns could really speak to how much he'd failed in his life, if he was to keep doing so then so be it, but between the two of them there was hope that they'd get better, not fail so miserably the next time.

While they'd be down for quite some time healing from this, at least it had taught them in the harshest way possible. Both of them had learned something that they needed to learn, that they were failures and Pern would chew them up and spit them back out all over again.

There was only up.