N'dakh and bronze Khilth

The Road So Far!

It all began at Jessaf Hold, in the protectorate of Madellon Weyr, for Narmandakh – a young boy of 13 Turns, dreaming of becoming a bronze rider.

Narmandakh was born to unusual privilege – a grandson of Winstone, Lord of mighty Jessaf Hold. Narmandakh didn't scramble for the attention of the young Search rider, Garlan, who came to Jessaf in early 102 seeking candidates for Madellon Weyr's latest clutch. But as a scion of the Hold, Narmandakh was among the party welcoming the green rider to Jessaf – and, in due course, became the focus of her dragon Hushith's attention. Lord Winstone wasn't enthusiastic about Narmandakh becoming a candidate – while conceding that he could spare a younger grandchild. And with Winstone's admonition that he Impress a bronze – or a brown at the very least – ringing in his ears, Narmandakh left to begin his candidacy at Madellon Weyr.

As a candidate, Narmandakh 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 Narmandakh! Backed up by his crony Varell, Gydeton became the thorn in Narmandakh's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.

Hatching Day

The dragons' hum woke Martom and Narmandakh 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 Narmandakh 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, Narmandakh 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 Narmandakh to find it. The quest took Narmandakh 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, Narmandakh encountered R'hren, a former Weyrleader of Madellon, now peacefully retired to potter among his beloved plants. R'hren asked Narmandakh to help him track down the ingredients for a warming salve to help his elderly bronze, Staamath, with his arthritic forepaws. Narmandakh 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, Narmandakh offered it to old S'rius, who was equally appreciative of the gift. And while Kisha, the blind old green rider Narmandakh encountered in the infirmary, would have nothing to do with one of R'hren's concoctions, she too grew to approve of Narmandakh – especially after he solved all three of her fiendish riddles!

Southern comfort

Narmandakh 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 Narmandakh 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 Narmandakh some intelligence on the Southern seven, his advice was somewhat garbled! Nonetheless, Narmandakh 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, Narmandakh 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, Narmandakh 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. Narmandakh 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 Narmandakh a certain confidence in his own prospects!

A rising problem

Narmandakh 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. Narmandakh'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 Narmandakh 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 Narmandakh 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 Narmandakh to find for his warming salve.

A shining example

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

With friends like these...

But seeking wine for Martom's consumption proved difficult – and illicit. Saxton, the Weyr Vintner, refused to sell alcohol to Narmandakh – an underage candidate. An alternative presented itself in the form of Grimes, offering wine to anyone with the marks to pay for it. Narmandakh duly purchased a murky looking vintage, and gave it to Martom. But Grimes' dubious wine would prove more bane than boon. Martom became quite intoxicated – and when L'stev discovered his condition, he immedately washed Narmandakh's friend and bunkmate out of candidacy!

Hair today

Mindful of the Weyrlingmaster's orders to be smart for the Hatching, Narmandakh visited Madellon's resident barber – green rider Z'fell – for a trim. Very conscious of his dignity, Narmandakh ensured he came away with a cut he actually liked.

A breath of foul air

Early in the day, Narmandakh 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 Narmandakh soon found himself struggling for breath. And then he came across Gydeton – having apparently followed Narmandakh into the passageways – lying unconscious and insensible in the fume-filled tunnel.

Perhaps it was the toxic air, or perhaps not – but when Narmandakh crawled out onto the Hatching sands, he didn't drag Gydeton out with him – and nor did he tell the Weyrleader about his stricken fellow candidate. Overcome by the ordeal, Narmandakh fainted.

Narmandakh woke in the infirmary – only to be interrogated by a very grim Weyrleader T'gat and Weyrlingmaster L'stev. Gydeton had been found – dead. And only some very quick talking on Narmandakh's part spared him from being thrown out of the Weyr entirely.

The Hatching

When it came to the Hatching, Narmandakh had an excruciatingly long wait before the black-freckled grey egg Hatched to reveal the deep classic-bronze dragonet who would choose him, naming himself Khilth.

After the Hatching

"Khilth" by Chris S. Baily

The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Narmandakh on his Impression, but it was Garlan, delighted that her risky choice of Winstone's grandson had Impressed, who stepped in to help with the immediate matter of Khilth's first meal. That was the first moment Narmandakh 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 Khilth's personality started to become evident. The energetic bronze dragonet, the classic shade of his colour, was unusually forceful even for his colour – promising to be a handful for his rider!

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

Meeting the Weyrleader

As Narmandakh 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. Narmandakh was proud to introduce Khilth to the Weyrleader. And after a brief conference with Khilth, Narmandakh gave the Weyrleader his own new name: N'dakh, rider of bronze Khilth!

Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Khilth's and Destrath's newborn itchiness, N'dakh 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

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

Lord Winstone, N'dakh's grandfather, was very pleased indeed to be able to boast to all and sundry that his grandson had Impressed a bronze, although he still managed to find fault with Khilth for failing to be the largest dragonet in the clutch – a criticism that the Weyrleaders were quick to cut short in their toast to N'dakh and his bronze.

The rest of the evening passed in a blur for N'dakh, 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, N'dakh 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 N'dakh'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 N'dakh 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 Khilth.

A close encounter

On his way back to the barracks (by way of the infirmary, as ordered by Tarshe), N'dakh 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 N'dakh 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, N'dakh decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger – though he did give L'stev his new name.

Returning at last to Khilth – billeted between Ch'liam's Destrath and a bright bronze dragonet – N'dakh 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 bronze beside him – N'dakh 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 N'dakh's new name?

N'dakh and Khilth's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!

N'dakh'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:
BIRDS OF A FEATHER

Khilth and I make a very strong match!

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

Khilth and I agreed on something very important!

Achievement Unlocked:
IN TUNE

Khilth and I agreed on something quite important!

Achievement Unlocked:
RIEN DE RIEN

I left Gydeton to die, and I regret nothing!