L'cien and green Pauloth
The Road So Far!
It all began at Madellon Weyr for Lucien – a young boy of 15 Turns, dreaming of becoming a green rider.
Lucien 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, Lucien 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, Lucien 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 Lucien! Backed up by his crony Varell, Gydeton became the thorn in Lucien's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.
Hatching Day
The dragons' hum woke Martom and Lucien 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 Lucien 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, Lucien 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 Lucien to find it. Despite Lucien's best efforts, though, he didn't manage to complete and return the jewellery set before the Hatching.
Southern comfort
Lucien 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 Lucien 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 Lucien some intelligence on the Southern seven, his advice was somewhat garbled! Nonetheless, Lucien 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, Lucien 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, Lucien 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
Lucien 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. Lucien's intervention successfully got rid of G'tron, whose Imdoth was very sweet indeed on Bristath, from the mating flight and reconciled the two green riders.
Eggs and baskets
A visit to the Archives led to a meeting with Tarshe, Madellon's Weyrwoman Second. When Lucien 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 – Lucien did!
At the lake, T'rello – the rider of the biggest bronze at Madellon, Santinoth – asked for Lucien's help in bathing his gargantuan dragon. Lucien, reluctant to get wet, refused – earning T'rello's disdain, and a blot on his reputation!
Friend request
Given Lucien's age, finding some wine for Martom proved difficult – the Weyr Vintner, Master Saxton, refused to sell it to an underage candidate. His only other alternative was an illicit purchase from the shady figure of Grimes. And L'stev's warning about getting drunk before the Hatching held weight. The Vintner's offering of alcohol-free grape juice gave Lucien an idea – and offering it to Martom, none the wiser for the substitution, still had the desired effect of boosting his confidence before the Hatching – without any unwanted side-effects!
A Weyrleader's mercy
Early in the day, Lucien 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 chance, he found a way onto the Hatching Ground – onto a very high ledge! Calling down for help was the only option, and a welcome – if embarrassing – lift down from Muzzanth himself returned Lucien safely to ground level.
Realising that honesty was the best policy, Lucien apologised to the Weyrleader for intruding – and was surprised to find T'gat remarkably sanguine about it, reminiscing about his own youthful journey through the passages. And a polite request granted Lucien the Weyrleader's permission to approach the clutch. He touched one of the eggs, marvelling at its palpable vitality.
The Hatching
When it came to the Hatching, Lucien didn't have to wait at all for his date with destiny. The elongated spotted egg that Hatched first produced a pale mint-green hatchling who spared no time in choosing Lucien, naming herself Pauloth.
A friend in me
And Lucien wasn't the only lucky one. To his delight, Martom also Impressed, becoming the rider of a bright golden-bronze hatchling, Kauth.
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 Lucien and Pauloth's new classmates. (On the bright side, at least Varell didn't Impress!)
After the Hatching
"Pauloth" by Chris S. Baily
The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Lucien 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 Pauloth's first meal. That was Lucien's first opportunity to speak to Martom, too, and they introduced each other, with considerable delight, to their respective dragonets, Pauloth and Kauth. Martom also told Lucien that his new name was to be – perhaps unsurprisingly – M'tom.
It wasn't long before Pauloth's personality started to become evident. The pale green dragonet had absolutely no hesitation about making her voice – her very loud and strident voice – heard, indicating what a forceful and demanding character she would become.
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 Lucien made along the way – a young Holdbred candidate, Nichen, whom Lucien had encountered in a hopelessly dishevelled state directly before the Hatching – hailed Lucien at the barracks – crediting him with his successful Impression of a moon-blue dragonet, Yooth!
Meeting the Weyrleader
As Lucien and M'tom 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. Lucien was proud to introduce Pauloth to the Weyrleader. And after a brief conference with Pauloth, Lucien gave the Weyrleader his own new name: L'cien, rider of green Pauloth!
Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Pauloth's and Kauth's newborn itchiness, L'cien and M'tom 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
L'cien and M'tom soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk L'cien had helped during the day greeted him with warm congratulations as he hunted through the throng – but, at last, he found his family.
L'cien's mother, Nelya, was thrilled by her son's Impression – though perhaps not quite as ecstatic as L'cien's younger siblings, Ashi and Halante. As the first dragonrider in the family, L'cien was keenly aware of what it meant to his brother and sister. And when the Weyrleaders came to drink a toast to L'cien and Pauloth, Valonna was particularly delighted for Nelya – one of her most trusted Headwoman Seconds.
The rest of the evening passed in a blur for L'cien, 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, L'cien 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 L'cien'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 L'cien 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 Pauloth.
A close encounter
On his way back to the barracks , L'cien 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 L'cien 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, L'cien decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger.
Returning at last to Pauloth – billeted between M'tom's Kauth and a mucky-looking brown dragonet – L'cien 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 – L'cien 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?
L'cien and Pauloth's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!
L'cien'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
Pauloth and I make a very strong match!
Achievement Unlocked:
EBONY AND IVORY
Pauloth and I agreed on something very important!
Achievement Unlocked:
IN TUNE
Pauloth and I agreed on something quite important!