T'ma and blue Celynth

The Road So Far!

It all began at Jessaf Hold, in the protectorate of Madellon Weyr, for Toma – a young man of 17 Turns, dreaming of becoming a blue rider.

Toma 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, Toma didn't even present himself as a hopeful. Yet it was Toma 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, Toma's mother, had always dreamed of being a dragonrider – and gifting Toma with her blue feather pendant as a lucky charm.

As a candidate, Toma 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 Toma! Backed up by his crony Kestor, Rielat became the thorn in Toma's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.

Hatching Day

The dragons' hum woke Soburn and Toma 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 Toma 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, Toma 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 Toma to find it. Despite Toma'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, Toma 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, Toma 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.

A rising problem

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

A blue lady

Coming across T'gala, Pern's only female blue rider, bathing her Heppeth in the lake, Toma offered his assistance – which T'gala gladly accepted.

Friend request

Conscious of Soburn's bashfulness, Toma 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 Toma that he wasn't interested in Soburn – or any other men, for that matter. But Toma'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!

The Hatching

When it came to the Hatching, Toma didn't have to wait at all for his date with destiny. The pearl-green egg that Hatched first produced a deep midnight-blue hatchling who spared no time in choosing Toma, naming himself Celynth.

A friend in me

And Toma 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 Toma was a very poor choice on Rielat's part. For the low, low price of just three marks, Toma 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

"Celynth" by Chris S. Baily

The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Toma 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 Celynth's first meal. That was Toma's first opportunity to speak to Soburn, too, and they introduced each other, with considerable delight, to their respective dragonets, Celynth and Aeranth. Soburn also told Toma that his new name was to be – perhaps unsurprisingly – S'burn.

It wasn't long before Celynth's personality started to become evident. The big midnight-blue dragonet showed an immediate desire to show off and preen – not surprising given his handsome colour and conformation!

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

Meeting the Weyrleader

As Toma 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. Toma was proud to introduce Celynth to the Weyrleader. And after a brief conference with Celynth, Toma gave the Weyrleader his own new name: T'ma, rider of blue Celynth!

Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Celynth's and Aeranth's newborn itchiness, T'ma 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

T'ma and S'burn soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk T'ma had helped during the day greeted him with warm congratulations as he hunted through the throng – but, at last, he found his family.

T'ma'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 T'ma and Celynth.

The rest of the evening passed in a blur for T'ma, 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, T'ma 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 T'ma'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 T'ma 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 Celynth.

A close encounter

On his way back to the barracks , T'ma 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 T'ma 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, T'ma decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger.

Returning at last to Celynth – billeted between S'burn's Aeranth and a bright bronze dragonet – T'ma 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 – T'ma 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?

T'ma and Celynth's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!

T'ma'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

Celynth and I make a very strong match!

Achievement Unlocked:
EBONY AND IVORY

Celynth and I agreed on something very important!

Achievement Unlocked:
IN TUNE

Celynth and I agreed on something quite important!