C'trul and green Lachnath

The Road So Far!

It all began at Madellon Weyr for Catrul – a young boy of 14 Turns, dreaming of becoming a green rider.

Catrul 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. As a first-time candidate with no dragonrider blood, Catrul looked forward to the Hatching with both excitement and trepidation – fearing he might not have what it takes to Impress, but hoping beyond hope that he would!

As a candidate, Catrul was assigned a bunkmate – Martom, a confident young Weyrbred lad, 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 – Gydeton, the blustering, entitled son of Lord Meturvian of Kellad – who took a firm disliking to Catrul! Backed up by his crony Varell, Gydeton became the thorn in Catrul's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.

Hatching Day

The dragons' hum woke Martom and Catrul on 102.03.17. Following a brief run-in with Gydeton, 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 Catrul left, Martom – keen to prove himself by Impressing on his first attempt – asked him for help procuring some additional confidence in the form of some alcohol.

The one-armed green rider and the thieving queen

Immediately on leaving the candidate barracks, Catrul 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 Catrul to find it. Despite Catrul's best efforts, though, he didn't manage to complete and return the jewellery set before the Hatching.

A Masterful order

In the dining hall, Catrul 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, Catrul 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. Catrul 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 Catrul a certain confidence in his own prospects!

A rising problem

Catrul 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. Catrul'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 Catrul with the opportunity to show off his work ethic before the Hatching. A round of chores duly pleased Crauva.

A shining example

Coming upon Santinoth – Madellon's biggest bronze – being bathed in the lake, Catrul 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?

A breath of foul air

Early in the day, Catrul 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. The route he chose turned out to be thick with choking toxic fumes from Madellon's volcanic foundation, and Catrul soon found himself struggling for breath.

Undeterred, Catrul pushed through the discomfort, and emerged shortly onto the Hatching Sands. But he wasn't quiet enough. Shimpath, dozing only very lightly, awoke, and she and Muzzanth chased Catrul from the Sands!

The Hatching

When it came to the Hatching, Catrul had to wait a little while before the white-swirled grey-beige egg Hatched to reveal the dark emerald-green dragonet who would choose him, naming herself Lachnath.

A friend bereft

But to Catrul's dismay, Martom wasn't as fortunate. No dragonet showed an interest in him, and he was left among the candidates remaining unmatched at the end of the Hatching.

Whatever happened to Gydeton?

Sadly, there was at least one fly in the numbweed. Gydeton Impressed the biggest dragonet of the clutch, a hefty dark-brown hatchling, making them Catrul and Lachnath's new classmates. (On the bright side, at least Varell didn't Impress!)

After the Hatching

"Lachnath" by Chris S. Baily

The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Catrul 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 Lachnath's first meal. That was the first moment Catrul had truly grasped that Martom wasn't going to be a weyrling alongside him – a truth that hit hard. In Martom's absence, Chiliam – the highborn lad from Kellad, who'd Impressed a dusty-brown dragonet, Destrath, and who now styled himself Ch'liam – was a welcome friendly face.

It wasn't long before Lachnath's personality started to become evident. The emerald-green dragonet – the largest of her colour – immediately showed her devious and irreverent character, looking for mischief before she'd even left the Sands.

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 Catrul made along the way – a young Holdbred candidate, Nichen, whom Catrul had encountered in a hopelessly dishevelled state directly before the Hatching – hailed Catrul at the barracks – crediting him with his successful Impression of a moon-blue dragonet, Yooth!

Meeting the Weyrleader

As Catrul and Ch'liam 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. Catrul was proud to introduce Lachnath to the Weyrleader. And after a brief conference with Lachnath, Catrul gave the Weyrleader his own new name: C'trul, rider of green Lachnath!

Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Lachnath's and Destrath's newborn itchiness, C'trul and Ch'liam 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

C'trul and Ch'liam soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk C'trul had helped during the day greeted him with warm congratulations as he hunted through the throng – but, at last, he found his family.

C'trul's mother, Nelya, was thrilled by her son's Impression – though perhaps not quite as ecstatic as C'trul's younger siblings, Ashi and Halante. As the first dragonrider in the family, C'trul was keenly aware of what it meant to his brother and sister. And when the Weyrleaders came to drink a toast to C'trul and Lachnath, Valonna was particularly delighted for Nelya – one of her most trusted Headwoman Seconds.

The rest of the evening passed in a blur for C'trul, 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, C'trul 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 C'trul'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 C'trul 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 Lachnath.

A close encounter

On his way back to the barracks (by way of the infirmary, as ordered by Tarshe), C'trul 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 C'trul 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, C'trul decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger.

Returning at last to Lachnath – billeted between Ch'liam's Destrath and a bright bronze dragonet – C'trul 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 – C'trul 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?

C'trul and Lachnath's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!

C'trul'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:
BIRDS OF A FEATHER

Lachnath and I make a very strong match!

Achievement Unlocked:
THE PATH LESS TRAVELLED

I pre-Impressed Lachnath by touching her egg before the Hatching!

Achievement Unlocked:
PLEASE STATE THE NATURE OF THE MEDICAL EMERGENCY

I returned to the infirmary!

Achievement Unlocked:
EBONY AND IVORY

Lachnath and I agreed on something very important!

Achievement Unlocked:
IN TUNE

Lachnath and I agreed on something quite important!