"She's still alive!" the healer shouted. He pulled Alandra's broken body away from that of her queen. Avalon pushed his way through the crowd and immediately halted at the sight of the queen. Melinanth hadn't been trying to break her fall for the last few moments of their plummet, she knew her fate. The queen had been trying to save the life of her rider by landing on her stomach to cushion Alandra. He let out a despairing sob at the beautiful dragon that had saved his wife. Then he knelt next to Alandra and put his ear to her chest. "She is!" he declared as two more healers brought a stretcher, loaded her, and hurried to the nearby Healer Hall, Avalon close behind. Lelandra hadn't been allowed to go, so she instead watched what they did with the now gray body of Melinanth. She had never seen a dragon die without betweening itself first.

"They said she didn't go between to save your mother." a voice beside her said. She looked up and saw Kayla, another young queenrider whom everybody expected to become weyrwoman. She was also the mother of Lelandra's best friend Klaera, and had been friends with Alandra. The other three queens were delicately lifting Melinanth and once they had gained sufficient altitude, went between and returned without her. Lelandra and Kayla choked back most sobs as they saw the last of the queen. "Do you think my mother will.....live?" Lelandra looked back up at Kayla. She bit her lip and looked at the ground. "She might, but....you might not want her to, Lela." Kayla confessed. "When a dragonrider's dragon.....dies, they change. It's like a part of them dies with the dragon and they're no longer whole. A shadow of their former selves. Your mother was very badly hurt....Kadith tells me that a rogue Thread hit them without warning and they couldn't even protect themselves." Kayla's eyes began to fill with tears, and seeing the normally strong woman so shaken by this, Lelandra broke. She collapsed in a flood of tears and sobs. Kayla bent down and helped her up and back to her room, where they both stayed and cried.

The next day Lelandra was escorted by Kayla to the Healer Hall to see her mother. Avalon sat ashen-faced on a chair outside of a room. Upon seeing Lelandra, he picked her up and hugged her tightly. "Papa, is mother going to be ok?" she asked once he had set her down. He swallowed hard and looked to Kayla and the other healer who had entered the hall for support. They both nodded. "Lelandra...you mother was very, very badly injured. She had broken ribs, and a leg and arm. She also had a concussion..." "Papa! I don't want to know how badly she was hurt! I want to know if she is alive.." Lelandra said angrily. Avalon closed his eyes and gripped his blue firelizard. "She didn't make it though the night, Lela. She went not long after we brought her here." Avalon broke into sobs along with Kayla. Lelandra just stood there numbly. She walked awkwardly out of the hall and only when she heard Kayla and her father calling for her did she realize that she was running for all she was worth.

"No, no, NO!!!" she screamed as she ran. With a mighty leap she cleared the fence around the feeding grounds and scattered a group of wherries and heardbeasts. Lelandra stumbled and tripped as she fell. Her body had shut down, she didn't hear, see or feel anything, nor did she want to. Heart thudding, she leapt across a small creek and started up the hill. Only vaguely did she hear a dragon bugle and feel the wind stirred up by wingbeats. Lelandra slammed into a dragons body and was carefully caught before she rolled back down the hill. It was Kayla's Kadith who had stopped her. Lelandra slumped to her knees again and leaned against the golden queen's warm side, sobbing her heart out.