M'jun and blue Givotiath
The Road So Far!
It all began at Madellon Weyr for Minjun – a young man of 16 Turns, dreaming of becoming a dragonrider.
Minjun 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, Minjun 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, Minjun 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 Minjun! Backed up by his crony Kestor, Rielat became the thorn in Minjun's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.
Hatching Day
The dragons' hum woke Soburn and Minjun 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 Minjun 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, Minjun 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 Minjun to find it. The quest took Minjun 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, Minjun encountered R'hren, a former Weyrleader of Madellon, now peacefully retired to potter among his beloved plants. R'hren asked Minjun to help him track down the ingredients for a warming salve to help his elderly bronze, Staamath, with his arthritic forepaws. Minjun 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, Minjun offered it to old S'rius, who was equally appreciative of the gift. And while Kisha, the blind old green rider Minjun encountered in the infirmary, would have nothing to do with one of R'hren's concoctions, she too grew to approve of Minjun – especially after he solved all three of her fiendish riddles!
Southern comfort
Minjun 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 Minjun 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 Minjun some intelligence on the Southern seven, his advice was somewhat garbled! Nonetheless, Minjun 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, Minjun 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, Minjun 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. Minjun 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 Minjun a certain confidence in his own prospects!
A rising problem
Minjun 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. Minjun'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 Minjun 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 Minjun to the infirmary with a slice to be stitched up. And the kitchen was also the source of the hotfruit R'hren had sent Minjun 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 Minjun 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 – Minjun did!
Weyrbrat by name...
A run-in with a Weyrbrat – Terzon, whom Rielat had paid to cause Minjun trouble – resulted in an unfortunate public incident. All too aware of being shaken down, Minjun 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, Minjun 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, Minjun 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 Minjun that he wasn't interested in Soburn – or any other men, for that matter. But Minjun'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, Minjun visited Madellon's resident barber – green rider Z'fell – for a trim. Very conscious of his dignity, Minjun ensured he came away with a cut he actually liked.
The Hatching
When it came to the Hatching, Minjun didn't have to wait too long for his date with destiny. The yellow-green craggy-textured egg Hatched out a light sky-blue dragonet who told Minjun his name was Givotiath.
A friend in me
And Minjun 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?
It turned out that making an enemy of Minjun was a very poor choice on Rielat's part. For the low, low price of just three marks, Minjun had Grimes, the shady fellow loitering near the Gather stalls, spread a series of nasty rumours about Rielat. By the time the Weyrlingmaster mustered the candidate cohort immediately before the Hatching, the damage to Rielat's reputation was done – and he was ejected from the candidate pool without ever setting foot on the Sands!
After the Hatching
"Givotiath" by Chris S. Baily
The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Minjun 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 Givotiath's first meal. That was Minjun's first opportunity to speak to Soburn, too, and they introduced each other, with considerable delight, to their respective dragonets, Givotiath and Aeranth. Soburn also told Minjun that his new name was to be – perhaps unsurprisingly – S'burn.
It wasn't long before Givotiath'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 Minjun made along the way – a young Holdbred candidate, Nichen, whom Minjun had encountered in a hopelessly dishevelled state directly before the Hatching – hailed Minjun at the barracks – crediting him with his successful Impression of a moon-blue dragonet, Yooth!
Meeting the Weyrleader
As Minjun 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. Minjun was proud to introduce Givotiath to the Weyrleader. And after a brief conference with Givotiath, Minjun gave the Weyrleader his own new name: M'jun, rider of blue Givotiath!
Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Givotiath's and Aeranth's newborn itchiness, M'jun 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
M'jun and S'burn soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk M'jun had helped during the day greeted him with warm congratulations as he hunted through the throng – but, at last, he found his family.
M'jun's mother, Nelya, was thrilled by her son's Impression – though perhaps not quite as ecstatic as M'jun's younger siblings, Ashi and Halante. As the first dragonrider in the family, M'jun was keenly aware of what it meant to his brother and sister. And when the Weyrleaders came to drink a toast to M'jun and Givotiath, Valonna was particularly delighted for Nelya – one of her most trusted Headwoman Seconds.
The rest of the evening passed in a blur for M'jun, 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, M'jun 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 M'jun'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 M'jun 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 Givotiath.
A close encounter
On his way back to the barracks (by way of the infirmary, as ordered by Tarshe), M'jun 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 M'jun 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, M'jun decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger.
Returning at last to Givotiath – billeted between S'burn's Aeranth and a mucky-looking brown dragonet – M'jun 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 – M'jun 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?
M'jun and Givotiath's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!
M'jun'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
Givotiath 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
Givotiath and I agreed on something very important!
Achievement Unlocked:
BUM NOTE
Givotiath and I disagreed on something quite important!