N'yala and blue Gorth

The Road So Far!

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

Niala was born the daughter of Nelya, a Headwoman's Second at Madellon Weyr. While she didn't have to be Searched, she 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, Niala looked forward to the Hatching with both excitement and trepidation – fearing she might not have what it takes to Impress, but hoping beyond hope that she would!

As a candidate, Niala 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 Niala! Backed up by her crony Berrin, Thippia became the thorn in Niala's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.

Hatching Day

The dragons' hum woke Jopha and Niala 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 Niala left, Jopha – whose Impression robe was sadly overlarge for her petite frame – recruited Niala'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, Niala 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 Niala to find it. The quest took Niala all over Madellon, from kitchens to lake to infirmary – but in the end she succeeded in reuniting the Weyrwoman's jewellery set, to general acclaim.

Respecting her elders

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

Southern comfort

Niala 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 Niala 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 Niala some intelligence on the Southern seven, his advice was somewhat garbled! Nonetheless, Niala 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, Niala 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!

Luckily for him, Niala 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. Niala even shared the largesse with Zielaph, who then introduced her to Fr'ton – who, having Impressed a bronze in spite of his less than boundless promise, gave Niala a certain confidence in her own prospects!

A rising problem

Niala 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. Niala'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 Niala did annoy Soleigh, who wasn't impressed with her 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 Niala with the opportunity to show off her 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 Niala to find for his warming salve.

A blue lady

Coming across T'gala, Pern's only female blue rider, bathing her Heppeth in the lake, Niala 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 Niala didn't want to pass up.

Friend request

Knowing of Jopha's chequered history with Shookana, mistress of the Weyr's mending room, Niala approached the task of having her robe adjusted with considerable caution. Realising that falsehood would be the wrong approach, Niala went to Shookana with the truth – and a gift of popcorn. And while Niala 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!

Hair today

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

The Hatching

When it came to the Hatching, Niala had to wait for every other dragonet to Hatch and choose a rider before the yellow-green craggy-textured egg Hatched to reveal the light sky-blue hatchling who would choose her, naming himself Gorth.

But Gorth was nearly beaten to Niala by another dragonet – a big emerald-green hatchling who seemed torn between Niala and Jopha. Sensing that she wasn't the best match for her, Niala stepped aside to give Jopha precedence – resulting in her Impression of the green dragonet, Deimoth.

Whatever happened to Thippia?

Thippia's victimisation of Niala had serious consequences – for Thippia. Not everyone would have tattled on her the way Niala did, but her complaints about the other girl, together with L'stev's already thin opinion of Thippia, had the desired effect. Directly before the Hatching, L'stev ejected Thippia from the candidate pool!

After the Hatching

"Gorth" by Chris S. Baily

The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Niala on her Impression, but it was old S'rius, delighted to have found yet another weyrling, who stepped in to help with the immediate matter of Gorth's first meal. That was Niala's first opportunity to speak to Jopha, too, and they introduced each other, with considerable delight, to their respective dragonets, Gorth and Deimoth.

It wasn't long before Gorth's personality started to become evident. The big sky-blue dragonet demonstrated an enormous desire to please, making him an especially endearing character.

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 Niala 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 in particular to remark upon Niala's unusual Impression of a blue. T'gat further enquired if Niala would like to elide her name, as T'gala had done, or not. Niala took up the opportunity to rename herself, and after a brief conference with Gorth, Niala gave the Weyrleader her new name – N'yala, rider of blue Gorth!

Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Gorth's and Deimoth's newborn itchiness, N'yala 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

N'yala and Jopha soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk N'yala had helped during the day greeted her with warm congratulations as she hunted through the throng – but, at last, she found her family.

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

The rest of the evening passed in a blur for N'yala, 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'yala 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 N'yala'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 N'yala 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 Gorth.

A close encounter

On her way back to the barracks , N'yala 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'yala 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, N'yala decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger.

Returning at last to Gorth – billeted between Jopha's Deimoth and a pale green dragonet – N'yala 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 blue beside her – N'yala 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?

N'yala and Gorth's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!

N'yala'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

Gorth and I complement each other!

Achievement Unlocked:
SUGAR AND SPICE

I've been a very nice person (so far)!

Achievement Unlocked:
EBONY AND IVORY

Gorth and I agreed on something very important!

Achievement Unlocked:
BUM NOTE

Gorth and I disagreed on something quite important!