Threshing

The number of available dragons is limited, and there are never enough willing to bond every cadet. That scarcity makes the deaths and losses before Threshing part of the brutal calculation of a first-year’s odds.

Threshing is scheduled for October in the valley beneath Basgiath’s citadel, two days after Presentation. Private rooms and flight leathers are withheld until after a cadet survives it, and unbonded survivors can repeat the year for another chance to bond.

Preparation for Threshing includes learning which dragon breeds cadets should approach and which they should flee. For Violet’s year, Professor Kaori says one hundred dragons are willing to bond, though some may change their minds after Presentation.

During Threshing, first-years enter training grounds they have not visited before while second- and third-years watch from outside the action. Cadets must decide which dragons to approach or avoid, and the watching riders are not permitted to intervene even if first-years use the event to attack rivals or eliminate perceived liabilities.

Threshing takes place every year on October first in a bowl-shaped, forested valley southwest of the citadel. Dragons fly into the valley around nine, cadets are advised to spread out because groups are statistically more likely to be burned than bonded, and a selected cadet may feel an inward call. Anyone not chosen by nightfall is supposed to be retrieved by professors or senior leadership.

A dragon’s choice is not the end of Threshing; the newly bonded rider must still survive the dangerous first ride and reach the training fields. Bonded pairs are recorded one by one there, with the process protecting the secrecy of dragons’ full names.

After selection and arrival at the fields, injured riders receive treatment, survivors identify their bonded dragons, unbonded cadets are promised another attempt the next year, and the dragons’ choices are formally accepted. The ceremony includes dragons marking their riders with relics when riders are called forward.

Threshing is the practical goal of the early Riders Quadrant trials: cadets must reach Presentation so dragons can judge whether they are worthy to bond. Presentation order can affect opportunity, but it does not guarantee a bond.

Within squad life, Threshing functions as the social threshold after which first-years are treated as full members of the rider community. The distinction matters enough that riders argue over whether pre-Threshing first-years should count as part of the squad in the same way.

Surviving to Threshing does not ensure survival during Threshing; even a royal cadet can die there. Cadets from a previous year may remain unbonded and repeat the process with a later class.

Presentation can endanger a cadet before Threshing because dragons use it to judge worthiness and weakness. Cowardice or a poor showing can make a cadet vulnerable before the bonding attempt even begins.

Violet’s Threshing includes a direct attack by Jack’s group in the northern clearing of the valley. The confrontation draws multiple dragons into the clearing, including Sgaeyl, a golden feathertail, and the enormous black dragon whose fire burns across the field and into the trees.

Tairn and Andarna’s choice of Violet at Threshing becomes part of her claim that she truly belongs among riders. The same bond also draws command attention to Andarna and feathertail power, with scribes researching the golden dragon after Threshing.

The following year’s Threshing leaves first-years and newly bonded dragons spread across the field under leadership’s watch. Violet’s attention to Sloane during the aftermath highlights the event’s immediate emotional stakes for cadets and their friends.

Alic’s death is connected to Threshing because he went after Garrick and Xaden during the event. Xaden treats Alic’s attack there as the act that cost Alic his life.

Sgaeyl found Xaden in the forest at Threshing, making her the first dragon to choose him. The memory carries enough force that, much later, the sight and breath of Sgaeyl in danger helps drive Xaden to break restraint to save her.

Presentation is the immediate precursor to Threshing and gives dragons their chance to inspect cadets before selection. The Gauntlet period feeds into that sequence because cadets must survive long enough to reach Presentation and be considered for bonding.

Parapet and Threshing are paired as Basgiath ordeals severe enough to serve as comparisons for other dangers. Riders also use Threshing as shorthand for an unavoidable trial that must be faced despite the likelihood of terror.