Daze and green Xyridath
The Road So Far!
It all began at Jessaf Hold, in the protectorate of Madellon Weyr, for Daze – a young girl of 13 Turns, dreaming of becoming a green rider.
Daze was born the daughter of a modest cotholder at Jessaf Hold, working alongside her widowed father to work their allotted land, and help bring up her 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, Daze didn't even present herself as a hopeful. Yet it was Daze that Kistrith singled out among all those young people. She almost didn't accept Search – anxious not to abandon her father. But he insisted, revealing that his late wife, Daze's mother, had always dreamed of being a dragonrider – and gifting Daze with her blue feather pendant as a lucky charm.
As a candidate, Daze was assigned a bunkmate – Jopha, a mischievous young Weyrbred girl prone to getting herself into trouble, who would soon become her closest friend in the Weyr. She also got to know many of her fellow candidates, including the Weyrbred twins Leover and Leoguy; Zielaph, the nephew of a Madellon bronze rider; and Arina, a level-headed young woman from Jessaf who'd stood at the previous Hatching.
But she also made an enemy – Thippia, a foul-mouthed girl from the Seacraft – who took a firm disliking to Daze! Backed up by her crony Berrin, Thippia became the thorn in Daze's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.
Hatching Day
The dragons' hum woke Jopha and Daze on 102.03.17. Following a brief run-in with Thippia, 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 Daze left, Jopha – whose Impression robe was sadly overlarge for her petite frame – recruited Daze's help in getting it adjusted by her nemesis Shookana in the mending room.
The one-armed green rider and the thieving queen
Immediately on leaving the candidate barracks, Daze 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 Daze to find it. Despite Daze's best efforts, though, she didn't manage to complete and return the jewellery set before the Hatching.
Southern comfort
Daze 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 Daze 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 Daze some intelligence on the Southern seven, his advice was somewhat garbled! Nonetheless, Daze 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, Daze met her 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!
Sadly, though, Fr'ton's garbled instructions proved too convoluted for even Daze to follow, and the drinks order went rather wrong!
A rising problem
Daze 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. Daze'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 Daze did annoy Soleigh, who wasn't impressed with her for prolonging Maris' binge by bringing her more wine!
Overkeen to get her hands on the last bubbly pie in the dining hall, Daze took it – forcibly – from a small child. Not the nicest thing to do – but mmm, pie...
Eggs and baskets
A visit to the Archives led to a meeting with Tarshe, Madellon's Weyrwoman Second. When Daze expressed an interested in looking up some Weyr records, Tarshe offered her the loan of a glowbasket – on the proviso that she return it afterwards. Which – mindful of not offending such an important personage of the Weyr – Daze did!
Weyrbrat by name...
A run-in with a Weyrbrat – Terzon, whom Thippia had paid to cause Daze trouble – resulted in an unfortunate public incident. All too aware of being shaken down, Daze gave the kid a shove – in front of a number of witnesses – doing nothing for her reputation!
A blue lady
Coming across T'gala, Pern's only female blue rider, bathing her Heppeth in the lake, Daze offered her assistance – which T'gala gladly accepted. Getting some first-hand advice about what it took for T'gala to Impress a blue dragon was an opportunity Daze didn't want to pass up.
Friend request
Knowing of Jopha's chequered history with Shookana, mistress of the Weyr's mending room, Daze approached the task of having her robe adjusted with considerable caution. Realising that falsehood would be the wrong approach, Daze went to Shookana with the truth – and a gift of popcorn. And while Daze doubted if Shookana and Jopha will ever be friends, the restoration of her Hatching robe to a suitable length did a great deal for her self-confidence!
A slithery customer
Early in the day, Daze found out about a secret way into the Hatching Ground via storeroom that might allow her 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, she crawled into a confusing maze of passages.
By a stroke of ill luck, Daze strayed into tunnel snake territory! A huge, aggressive, and potently venomous female tunnel-snake guarded the exit to the Hatching ground. Daze was lucky to avoid being bitten. But ultimately she evaded the snake, dodging past it and slipping out onto the Hatching Sands.
Having survived her encounter with the snake, Daze crept closer to the clutch – close enough to touch an egg – before beating a hasty retreat from the Hatching Ground! And something about the elongated spotted egg made her feel strangely certain that she would Impress later that day.
The Hatching
When it came to the Hatching, Daze didn't have to wait too long for her date with destiny. The elongated spotted egg Hatched out a pale mint-green dragonet who told Daze her name was Xyridath.
A friend in me
And Daze wasn't the only lucky one. To her delight, Jopha also Impressed, becoming the rider of a big emerald-green hatchling, Deimoth.
Whatever happened to Thippia?
Quite simply, none of the dragonets seemed to want Thippia – she was left standing. Although Daze did wonder if her own pale mint-green Xyridath might have glanced, however briefly, in Thippia's direction, and what might have been had she not chosen her...
After the Hatching
"Xyridath" by Chris S. Baily
The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Daze on her Impression, but it was N'jol, delighted that his most humble candidate had Impressed, who stepped in to help with the immediate matter of Xyridath's first meal. That was Daze's first opportunity to speak to Jopha, too, and they introduced each other, with considerable delight, to their respective dragonets, Xyridath and Deimoth.
It wasn't long before Xyridath'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.
Meeting the Weyrleader
As Daze and Jopha wiped the worst of the blood and sand from their tired new dragonets, the Weyrleader, T'gat, came to inspect both girls' dragonets and to ask after their names. Daze was proud to introduce Xyridath to the Weyrleader – and to give him her full new name: Daze, rider of green Xyridath!
Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Xyridath's and Deimoth's newborn itchiness, Daze and Jopha headed into the girls' 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
Daze and Jopha soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk Daze had helped during the day greeted her with warm congratulations as she hunted through the throng – but, at last, she found her family.
Daze's father almost couldn't believe his daughter'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 Daze and Xyridath.
The rest of the evening passed in a blur for Daze, 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, Daze was flagged down by a Weyrbrat, Emry, bringing the message that Weyrwoman Second Tarshe wanted to see her in the Archives.
Setting the record straight
Tarshe, tasked by the Weyrwoman with converting candidate documentation into weyrling records, went through Daze's background with her – including much of what she had got up to on the morning of the Hatching – for good and ill. She offered Daze some advice about paying attention to her new classmates and surroundings, lest she fall foul of the Weyrlingmaster's penchant for snap quizzes, and made some observations on Xyridath.
A close encounter
On her way back to the barracks , Daze 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 Daze would later realise was firestone, who called her by name – and gave her a curious wooden box.
"The Watchful Queen" by Chris S. Baily
Back at the barracks, Daze decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger.
Returning at last to Xyridath – billeted between Jopha's Deimoth and a pretty blue-green dragonet – Daze was too tired to examine the strange wooden box very closely, and put it in her clothes' chest for later examination. But even as she went to sleep – a dragonrider at last, her green beside her – Daze 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?
Daze and Xyridath's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!
Daze'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
Xyridath and I complement each other!
Achievement Unlocked:
THE PATH LESS TRAVELLED
I pre-Impressed Xyridath by touching her egg before the Hatching!
Achievement Unlocked:
INSULT TO INJURY
I Impressed the dragon that my rival coveted!
Achievement Unlocked:
EBONY AND IVORY
Xyridath and I agreed on something very important!
Achievement Unlocked:
BUM NOTE
Xyridath and I disagreed on something quite important!