G'reth and blue Oleandrath
The Road So Far!
It all began at Jessaf Hold, in the protectorate of Madellon Weyr, for Gareth – a young man of 17 Turns, dreaming of becoming a dragonrider.
Gareth was born the son of a modest cotholder at Jessaf Hold, working alongside his widowed father to work their allotted land, and help bring up his young twin siblings, Albon and Gettie. And in early 102, when a green rider, N'jol, and his Kistrith came to Jessaf in search of candidates for Madellon Weyr's hardening clutch, Gareth didn't even present himself as a hopeful. Yet it was Gareth that Kistrith singled out among all those young people. He almost didn't accept Search – anxious not to abandon his father. But he insisted, revealing that his late wife, Gareth's mother, had always dreamed of being a dragonrider – and gifting Gareth with her blue feather pendant as a lucky charm.
As a candidate, Gareth was assigned a bunkmate – Soburn, an anxious Weyrbred youth with one failed Hatching already haunting him, who would soon become his closest friend in the Weyr. He also got to know many of his fellow candidates, including the Weyrbred twins Leover and Leoguy; Zielaph, the nephew of a Madellon bronze rider; and Chiliam, a good-natured highborn lad from Kellad.
But he also made an enemy – Rielat, a self-important apprentice Weaver – who took a firm disliking to Gareth! Backed up by his crony Kestor, Rielat became the thorn in Gareth's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.
Hatching Day
The dragons' hum woke Soburn and Gareth on 102.03.17. Following a brief run-in with Rielat, the pair joined the rest of the candidates for a morning lecture. The Weyrlingmaster, L'stev, gave the whole cohort – increased by three late Searchees to a total of thirty-five – strict instructions about pre-Hatching preparations, including eating, drinking, bathing – and in some cases, getting a decent haircut – and then turned the group loose for the morning. Before Gareth left, Soburn asked him to find out if H'nar, the young Wingleader of the Betweenless Wing, might currently be seeing someone – or not.
The one-armed green rider and the thieving queen
Immediately on leaving the candidate barracks, Gareth was flagged down by M'shen – a green rider with one arm, a fire-lizard queen – and a problem. His queen, Squiffy, had stolen several pieces of the Weyrwoman's jewellery, and hidden it around the Weyr. M'shen recruited Gareth to find it. The quest took Gareth all over Madellon, from kitchens to lake to infirmary – but in the end he succeeded in reuniting the Weyrwoman's jewellery set, to general acclaim.
Respecting his elders
In the Weyr's kitchen gardens, Gareth encountered R'hren, a former Weyrleader of Madellon, now peacefully retired to potter among his beloved plants. R'hren asked Gareth to help him track down the ingredients for a warming salve to help his elderly bronze, Staamath, with his arthritic forepaws. Gareth duly located the components of R'hren's salve, winning the old bronze rider's approval in the process.
Gifted a small pot of the salve, Gareth offered it to old S'rius, who was equally appreciative of the gift. And while Kisha, the blind old green rider Gareth encountered in the infirmary, would have nothing to do with one of R'hren's concoctions, she too grew to approve of Gareth – especially after he solved all three of her fiendish riddles!
Southern comfort
Gareth met G'kalte – a brown rider and Wingsecond, not to mention Weyrwoman Valonna's weyrmate – in the Bowl, and was quickly recruited by him to help with a diplomatic matter. G'kalte had been tasked with delivering two gifts from Valonna to her Southern counterpart Weyrwoman Karika – but he'd been summoned away to collect his own grandmother, Lady Coffleby, for the Hatching.
He asked Gareth to figure out which of the seven Southern dragons visiting Madellon were the correct pair to hand over Karika's gifts. And while G'kalte's brown, Archidath, offered Gareth some intelligence on the Southern seven, his advice was somewhat garbled! Nonetheless, Gareth unravelled Archidath's confusing suggestions and got the right packages to the right dragons – without being growled at!
A Masterful order
In the dining hall, Gareth met his fellow candidate Zielaph, who'd been tasked by his somewhat dim uncle, bronze rider Fr'ton, with delivering a complicated drinks order to a group of Master Crafters. Zielaph had information about their names, beverages, crafts, and fire-lizards – but not in any sensible order!
Luckily for him, Gareth solved the puzzle of Fr'ton's confusing notes adeptly, delivering the correct drinks to the correct Masters, and earning a handsome tip in the process. Gareth even shared the largesse with Zielaph, who then introduced him to Fr'ton – who, having Impressed a bronze in spite of his less than boundless promise, gave Gareth a certain confidence in his own prospects!
A rising problem
Gareth encountered both Soleigh, whose green Bristath was preparing to rise near the lake, and her weyrmate Maris, who was getting very drunk in the dining hall on account of her fears that Soleigh was having an affair with a blue rider, G'tron. Gareth's intervention successfully got rid of G'tron, whose Imdoth was very sweet indeed on Bristath, from the mating flight – not to mention G'pellas, another blue rider, needed in the Harper ensemble – and reconciled the two green riders.
Kitchen diplomacy
Madellon's kitchens – the heart of the Weyr, and domain of Headwoman Crauva – provided Gareth with the opportunity to show off his work ethic before the Hatching. A round of chores duly pleased Crauva, albeit cut short, literally, by the slip of a knife that sent Gareth to the infirmary with a slice to be stitched up. And the kitchen was also the source of the hotfruit R'hren had sent Gareth to find for his warming salve.
Eggs and baskets
A visit to the Archives led to a meeting with Tarshe, Madellon's Weyrwoman Second. When Gareth expressed an interested in looking up some Weyr records, Tarshe offered him the loan of a glowbasket – on the proviso that he return it afterwards. Which – mindful of not offending such an important personage of the Weyr – Gareth did!
A blue lady
Coming across T'gala, Pern's only female blue rider, bathing her Heppeth in the lake, Gareth offered his assistance – which T'gala gladly accepted.
Friend request
Conscious of Soburn's bashfulness, Gareth approached the object of his affections – H'nar, Wingleader of the Betweenless Wing – with some circumspection. Still, when questioned, H'nar insisted he had to know who was making enquiries of him. And when he learned the identity of his admirer, he told Gareth that he wasn't interested in Soburn – or any other men, for that matter. But Gareth's agile pivot in questioning revealed that a close friend of H'nar's – blue rider M'rany – might be a viable alternative. Thus encouraged, Soburn began to think more positively of life as a dragonrider – even if H'nar would end up being his Wingleader!
Hair today
Mindful of the Weyrlingmaster's orders to be smart for the Hatching, Gareth visited Madellon's resident barber – green rider Z'fell – for a trim. Very conscious of his dignity, Gareth ensured he came away with a cut he actually liked.
The Hatching
When it came to the Hatching, Gareth had to wait a little while before the yellow-green craggy-textured egg Hatched to reveal the light sky-blue dragonet who would choose him, naming himself Oleandrath.
A friend in me
And Gareth wasn't the only lucky one. To his delight, Soburn also Impressed, becoming the rider of a slender olive-green hatchling, Aeranth.
Whatever happened to Rielat?
Sadly, there was at least one fly in the numbweed. Rielat Impressed an impressively proportioned indigo-blue hatchling, making them Gareth and Oleandrath's new classmates. (On the bright side, at least Kestor didn't Impress!)
After the Hatching
"Oleandrath" by Chris S. Baily
The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Gareth on his Impression, but it was N'jol, delighted that his most humble candidate had Impressed, who stepped in to help with the immediate matter of Oleandrath's first meal. That was Gareth's first opportunity to speak to Soburn, too, and they introduced each other, with considerable delight, to their respective dragonets, Oleandrath and Aeranth. Soburn also told Gareth that his new name was to be – perhaps unsurprisingly – S'burn.
It wasn't long before Oleandrath's personality started to become evident. The big sky-blue dragonet demonstrated an enormous desire to please, making him an especially endearing character.
With both dragonets full to bursting with fresh meat, the newly minted dragonpairs left the Hatching sands for their new home: the weyrling barracks.
Big brother
Another friend Gareth made along the way – a young Holdbred candidate, Nichen, whom Gareth had encountered in a hopelessly dishevelled state directly before the Hatching – hailed Gareth at the barracks – crediting him with his successful Impression of a moon-blue dragonet, Yooth!
Meeting the Weyrleader
As Gareth and S'burn wiped the worst of the blood and sand from their tired new dragonets, the Weyrleader, T'gat, came to inspect both boys' dragonets, to ask after their names – and to ask the two new weyrlings how they should now be called. Gareth was proud to introduce Oleandrath to the Weyrleader. And after a brief conference with Oleandrath, Gareth gave the Weyrleader his own new name: G'reth, rider of blue Oleandrath!
Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Oleandrath's and Aeranth's newborn itchiness, G'reth and S'burn headed into the boys' barracks to claim the billets that would be theirs for the next Turn. Choosing adjacent cots, the two new weyrlings got their dragonets settled on the couches that they would take months to grow into. But there was no time for them to sit and admire their new dragons. The Weyrlingmaster soon came along to give them their new weyrling shoulder-knots, before chivvying them off to the Hatching feast!
The Hatching feast
G'reth and S'burn soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk G'reth had helped during the day greeted him with warm congratulations as he hunted through the throng – but, at last, he found his family.
G'reth's father almost couldn't believe his son's good fortune, completely thrilled to be the father of a dragonrider. And he was even more starstruck when the Weyrleaders came to drink a toast to G'reth and Oleandrath.
The rest of the evening passed in a blur for G'reth, and it came as a relief when the Weyrlingmaster ordered all the new weyrlings back to the barracks for a good night's sleep. But en route to bed, G'reth was flagged down by a Weyrbrat, Emry, bringing the message that Weyrwoman Second Tarshe wanted to see him in the Archives.
Setting the record straight
Tarshe, tasked by the Weyrwoman with converting candidate documentation into weyrling records, went through G'reth's background with him – including much of what he had got up to on the morning of the Hatching – for good and ill. She offered G'reth some advice about paying attention to his new classmates and surroundings, lest he fall foul of the Weyrlingmaster's penchant for snap quizzes, advised him to report to Master Isnan before returning to the barracks to get his injuries checked again, and made some observations on Oleandrath.
A close encounter
On his way back to the barracks (by way of the infirmary, as ordered by Tarshe), G'reth had two peculiar encounters – first, with Tarshe's queen, Berzunth, who seemed quite agitated by one of the visiting dragons on the Rim; and then with a mysterious hooded figure, smelling strongly of what G'reth would later realise was firestone, who called him by name – and gave him a curious wooden box.
"The Watchful Queen" by Chris S. Baily
Back at the barracks, G'reth decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger.
Returning at last to Oleandrath – billeted between S'burn's Aeranth and a mucky-looking brown dragonet – G'reth was too tired to examine the strange wooden box very closely, and put it in his clothes' chest for later examination. But even as he went to sleep – a dragonrider at last, his blue beside him – G'reth was struck with a deep sense of foreboding. Who was the mysterious dragonrider in the hooded cloak? And what was the significance of the strange wooden box?
G'reth and Oleandrath's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!
G'reth's achievements
Achievement Unlocked:
CARRY ON WAYWARD SON
I travelled The Road So Far!
Achievement Unlocked:
OUR ROB, OR ROSS
I received a mysterious box!
Achievement Unlocked:
A HORSE WITH A NAME
I have a name and it's a good name and I don't need to fix my name. Probably.
Achievement Unlocked:
THE YIN TO YOUR YANG
Oleandrath and I complement each other!
Achievement Unlocked:
SUGAR AND SPICE
I've been a very nice person (so far)!
Achievement Unlocked:
PLEASE STATE THE NATURE OF THE MEDICAL EMERGENCY
I returned to the infirmary!
Achievement Unlocked:
EBONY AND IVORY
Oleandrath and I agreed on something very important!
Achievement Unlocked:
BUM NOTE
Oleandrath and I disagreed on something quite important!