A'davo and brown Loxsoth
The Road So Far!
It all began at Madellon Weyr for Auldavo – a young man of 16 Turns, dreaming of becoming a brown rider.
Auldavo was born the son of Nelya, a Headwoman's Second at Madellon Weyr. While he didn't have to be Searched, he was 'given the nod' as a likely dragonrider by the Weyr's most senior retired Search pair – S'rius and his elderly blue Padseth. Having been left standing at a Hatching once before, Auldavo struggled with both his modest upbringing as a Weyr child with no rider blood, and his fear that he wasn't dragonrider material.
As a candidate, Auldavo 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 Auldavo! Backed up by his crony Kestor, Rielat became the thorn in Auldavo's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.
Hatching Day
The dragons' hum woke Soburn and Auldavo 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 Auldavo 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, Auldavo 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 Auldavo to find it. The quest took Auldavo 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, Auldavo encountered R'hren, a former Weyrleader of Madellon, now peacefully retired to potter among his beloved plants. R'hren asked Auldavo to help him track down the ingredients for a warming salve to help his elderly bronze, Staamath, with his arthritic forepaws. Auldavo 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, Auldavo offered it to old S'rius, who was equally appreciative of the gift. And while Kisha, the blind old green rider Auldavo encountered in the infirmary, would have nothing to do with one of R'hren's concoctions, she too grew to approve of Auldavo – especially after he solved all three of her fiendish riddles!
Southern comfort
Auldavo 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 Auldavo 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 Auldavo some intelligence on the Southern seven, his advice was somewhat garbled! Nonetheless, Auldavo 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, Auldavo 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!
Sadly, though, Fr'ton's garbled instructions proved too convoluted for even Auldavo to follow, and the drinks order went rather wrong!
A rising problem
Auldavo 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. Auldavo'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. Even if Auldavo did annoy Soleigh, who wasn't impressed with him for prolonging Maris' binge by bringing her more wine!
Kitchen diplomacy
Madellon's kitchens – the heart of the Weyr, and domain of Headwoman Crauva – provided Auldavo with the opportunity to show off his work ethic before the Hatching. A round of chores duly pleased Crauva. And the kitchen was also the source of the hotfruit R'hren had sent Auldavo 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 Auldavo 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 – Auldavo did!
Weyrbrat by name...
A run-in with a Weyrbrat – Terzon, whom Rielat had paid to cause Auldavo trouble – resulted in an unfortunate public incident. All too aware of being shaken down, Auldavo gave the kid a shove – in front of a number of witnesses – doing nothing for his reputation!
A shining example
Coming upon Santinoth – Madellon's biggest bronze – being bathed in the lake, Auldavo was quick to offer assistance to his rider, T'rello. It couldn't hurt to have some close-up experience with a bronze, could it?
Friend request
Conscious of Soburn's bashfulness, Auldavo 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 Auldavo that he wasn't interested in Soburn – or any other men, for that matter. But Auldavo'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, Auldavo visited Madellon's resident barber – green rider Z'fell – for a trim. Very conscious of his dignity, Auldavo ensured he came away with a cut he actually liked.
A slithery customer
Early in the day, Auldavo found out about a secret way into the Hatching Ground via storeroom that might allow him a sneaky peek at the eggs before the Hatching. Successfully entering the combination to the lock on the storeroom door, and suitably equipped with a glowbasket, he crawled into a confusing maze of passages.
By a stroke of ill luck, Auldavo strayed into tunnel snake territory! A huge, aggressive, and potently venomous female tunnel-snake guarded the exit to the Hatching ground. Auldavo was lucky to avoid being bitten. But ultimately he evaded the snake, dodging past it and slipping out onto the Hatching Sands.
Having survived his encounter with the snake, Auldavo crept closer to the clutch – close enough to touch an egg – before beating a hasty retreat from the Hatching Ground! And something about the very large dark grey egg made him feel strangely certain that he would Impress later that day.
The Hatching

When it came to the Hatching, Auldavo had an excruciatingly long wait before the very large dark grey egg Hatched to reveal the deep turned-earth brown dragonet who would choose him, naming himself Loxsoth.
A friend in me
And Auldavo 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 Auldavo and Loxsoth's new classmates. (On the bright side, at least Kestor didn't Impress!)
After the Hatching

"Loxsoth" by Emily Holland
The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Auldavo on his Impression, but it was old S'rius, delighted to have found yet another weyrling, who stepped in to help with the immediate matter of Loxsoth's first meal. That was Auldavo's first opportunity to speak to Soburn, too, and they introduced each other, with considerable delight, to their respective dragonets, Loxsoth and Aeranth. Soburn also told Auldavo that his new name was to be – perhaps unsurprisingly – S'burn.
It wasn't long before Loxsoth's personality started to become evident. The substantial dark-brown dragonet – chunkier than any other hatchling – had a stolid, non-nonsense character to match, speaking his mind without hesitation or tact.
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 Auldavo made along the way – a young Holdbred candidate, Nichen, whom Auldavo had encountered in a hopelessly dishevelled state directly before the Hatching – hailed Auldavo at the barracks – crediting him with his successful Impression of a moon-blue dragonet, Yooth!
Meeting the Weyrleader
As Auldavo 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. Auldavo was proud to introduce Loxsoth to the Weyrleader. And after a brief conference with Loxsoth, Auldavo gave the Weyrleader his own new name: A'davo, rider of brown Loxsoth!
Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Loxsoth's and Aeranth's newborn itchiness, A'davo 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
A'davo and S'burn soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk A'davo had helped during the day greeted him with warm congratulations as he hunted through the throng – but, at last, he found his family.
A'davo's mother, Nelya, was thrilled by her son's Impression – though perhaps not quite as ecstatic as A'davo's younger siblings, Ashi and Halante. As the first dragonrider in the family, A'davo was keenly aware of what it meant to his brother and sister. And when the Weyrleaders came to drink a toast to A'davo and Loxsoth, Valonna was particularly delighted for Nelya – one of her most trusted Headwoman Seconds.
The rest of the evening passed in a blur for A'davo, 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, A'davo 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 A'davo'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 A'davo some advice about paying attention to his new classmates and surroundings, lest he fall foul of the Weyrlingmaster's penchant for snap quizzes, and made some observations on Loxsoth.
A close encounter
On his way back to the barracks , A'davo 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 A'davo 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, A'davo decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger.
Returning at last to Loxsoth – billeted between S'burn's Aeranth and a mucky-looking brown dragonet – A'davo 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 brown beside him – A'davo 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?
Find out more about Auldavo's Impression here. A'davo and Loxsoth's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!
A'davo'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:
OPPOSITES ATTRACT
I make quite a strange match with Loxsoth!

Achievement Unlocked:
THE PATH LESS TRAVELLED
I pre-Impressed Loxsoth by touching his egg before the Hatching!

Achievement Unlocked:
SUGAR AND SPICE
I've been a very nice person (so far)!

Achievement Unlocked:
EBONY AND IVORY
Loxsoth and I agreed on something very important!

Achievement Unlocked:
BUM NOTE
Loxsoth and I disagreed on something quite important!