E'rrol and green Ivalioth
The Road So Far!
It all began at Jessaf Hold, in the protectorate of Madellon Weyr, for Emerrol – a young man of 17 Turns, dreaming of becoming a dragonrider.
Emerrol 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, Emerrol didn't even present himself as a hopeful. Yet it was Emerrol 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, Emerrol's mother, had always dreamed of being a dragonrider – and gifting Emerrol with her blue feather pendant as a lucky charm.
As a candidate, Emerrol 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 Emerrol! Backed up by his crony Kestor, Rielat became the thorn in Emerrol's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.
Hatching Day
The dragons' hum woke Soburn and Emerrol 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 Emerrol 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, Emerrol 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 Emerrol to find it. The quest took Emerrol 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, Emerrol encountered R'hren, a former Weyrleader of Madellon, now peacefully retired to potter among his beloved plants. R'hren asked Emerrol to help him track down the ingredients for a warming salve to help his elderly bronze, Staamath, with his arthritic forepaws. Emerrol 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, Emerrol offered it to old S'rius, who was equally appreciative of the gift. And while Kisha, the blind old green rider Emerrol encountered in the infirmary, would have nothing to do with one of R'hren's concoctions, she too grew to approve of Emerrol – especially after he solved all three of her fiendish riddles!
Southern comfort
Emerrol 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 Emerrol 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 Emerrol some intelligence on the Southern seven, his advice was somewhat garbled! Nonetheless, Emerrol 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, Emerrol 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, Emerrol 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. Emerrol 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 Emerrol a certain confidence in his own prospects!
A rising problem
Emerrol 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. Emerrol'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 Emerrol did annoy Soleigh, who wasn't impressed with him for prolonging Maris' binge by bringing her more wine!
Harping on
Emerrol perhaps overestimated his own competence when it came to a disastrous spell on the Harper dais in the dining hall. Accompanying Weyr Singer Carleah – badly – on the tambourine, he was lucky not to be booed off the stage!
Kitchen diplomacy
Madellon's kitchens – the heart of the Weyr, and domain of Headwoman Crauva – provided Emerrol 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 Emerrol 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 Emerrol 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 – Emerrol did!
A blue lady
Coming across T'gala, Pern's only female blue rider, bathing her Heppeth in the lake, Emerrol offered his assistance – which T'gala gladly accepted.
Friend request
Conscious of Soburn's bashfulness, Emerrol 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 Emerrol that he wasn't interested in Soburn – or any other men, for that matter. But Emerrol'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, Emerrol visited Madellon's resident barber – green rider Z'fell – for a trim. Very conscious of his dignity, Emerrol ensured he came away with a cut he actually liked.
A slithery customer
Early in the day, Emerrol 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, Emerrol strayed into tunnel snake territory! A huge, aggressive, and potently venomous female tunnel-snake guarded the exit to the Hatching ground. Emerrol 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, Emerrol crept closer to the clutch – close enough to touch an egg – before beating a hasty retreat from the Hatching Ground! And something about the grey-splashed beige egg made him feel strangely certain that he would Impress later that day.
The Hatching

When it came to the Hatching, Emerrol had an excruciatingly long wait before the grey-splashed beige egg Hatched to reveal the dark teal-green dragonet who would choose him, naming herself Ivalioth.
A friend in me
And Emerrol 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 Emerrol and Ivalioth's new classmates. (On the bright side, at least Kestor didn't Impress!)
After the Hatching

"Ivalioth" by Chris S. Baily
The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Emerrol 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 Ivalioth's first meal. That was Emerrol's first opportunity to speak to Soburn, too, and they introduced each other, with considerable delight, to their respective dragonets, Ivalioth and Aeranth. Soburn also told Emerrol that his new name was to be – perhaps unsurprisingly – S'burn.
It wasn't long before Ivalioth's personality started to become evident. The teal-green dragonet, inquisitive about everything from the instant of her hatching, also proved to be an especially sweet-natured and kind 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 Emerrol made along the way – a young Holdbred candidate, Nichen, whom Emerrol had encountered in a hopelessly dishevelled state directly before the Hatching – hailed Emerrol at the barracks – crediting him with his successful Impression of a moon-blue dragonet, Yooth!
Meeting the Weyrleader
As Emerrol 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. Emerrol was proud to introduce Ivalioth to the Weyrleader. And after a brief conference with Ivalioth, Emerrol gave the Weyrleader his own new name: E'rrol, rider of green Ivalioth!
Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Ivalioth's and Aeranth's newborn itchiness, E'rrol 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
E'rrol and S'burn soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk E'rrol had helped during the day greeted him with warm congratulations as he hunted through the throng – but, at last, he found his family.
E'rrol'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 E'rrol and Ivalioth.
The rest of the evening passed in a blur for E'rrol, 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, E'rrol 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 E'rrol's background with him – including much of what he had got up to on the morning of the Hatching – for good and ill. She cleared up an anomaly with his new name, too. She offered E'rrol 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 Ivalioth.
A close encounter
On his way back to the barracks , E'rrol 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 E'rrol 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, E'rrol decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger – though he did give L'stev his new name.
Returning at last to Ivalioth – billeted between S'burn's Aeranth and a mucky-looking brown dragonet – E'rrol 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 green beside him – E'rrol was struck with a deep sense of foreboding. Who was the mysterious dragonrider in the hooded cloak? What was the significance of the strange wooden box? And how had the stranger known E'rrol's new name?
E'rrol and Ivalioth's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!
E'rrol'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:
DEED POLL
I changed my name by choice!

Achievement Unlocked:
CEASE AND DESIST
I prevented legal difficulties by changing my name!

Achievement Unlocked:
ONE STEVE LIMIT
I avoided duplicating a Dragonchoice character's name!

Achievement Unlocked:
THEY'RE DEAD, DAVE
I changed my name to respect the deceased!

Achievement Unlocked:
THE YIN TO YOUR YANG
Ivalioth and I complement each other!

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

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

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

Achievement Unlocked:
IN TUNE
Ivalioth and I agreed on something quite important!