St'gal and brown Geumith
The Road So Far!
It all began at Jessaf Hold, in the protectorate of Madellon Weyr, for Storgal – a young boy of 15 Turns, dreaming of becoming a brown rider.
Storgal 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, Storgal didn't even present himself as a hopeful. Yet it was Storgal 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, Storgal's mother, had always dreamed of being a dragonrider – and gifting Storgal with her blue feather pendant as a lucky charm.
As a candidate, Storgal 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 Storgal! Backed up by his crony Varell, Gydeton became the thorn in Storgal's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.
Hatching Day
The dragons' hum woke Martom and Storgal 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 Storgal 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
Immediately on leaving the candidate barracks, Storgal was flagged down by M'shen – a green rider with only one arm. But whatever he wanted, Storgal never discovered, after making a mean-spirited joke about M'shen's missing hand that – not unreasonably – made the green rider take against him.
Eggs and baskets
A visit to the Archives led to a meeting with Tarshe, Madellon's Weyrwoman Second. When Storgal 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 – Storgal did!
Weyrbrat by name...
A run-in with a Weyrbrat – Terzon, whom Gydeton had paid to cause Storgal trouble – resulted in an unfortunate public incident. All too aware of being shaken down, Storgal gave the kid a shove – in front of a number of witnesses – doing nothing for his reputation!
A shining example
Coming upon Santinoth – Madellon's biggest bronze – being bathed in the lake, Storgal 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?
Friend request
Given Storgal'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 Storgal 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 slithery customer
Early in the day, Storgal 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 a stroke of ill luck, Storgal strayed into tunnel snake territory! A huge, aggressive, and potently venomous female tunnel-snake guarded the exit to the Hatching ground. Storgal was lucky to avoid being bitten. But ultimately he evaded the snake, dodging past it and slipping out onto the Hatching Sands.
Having survived his encounter with the snake, Storgal crept closer to the clutch – close enough to touch an egg – before beating a hasty retreat from the Hatching Ground! And something about the very large dark grey egg made him feel strangely certain that he would Impress later that day.
The Hatching
When it came to the Hatching, Storgal had to wait a little while before the very large dark grey egg Hatched to reveal the deep turned-earth brown dragonet who would choose him, naming himself Geumith.
A friend in me
And Storgal 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?
Quite simply, none of the dragonets seemed to want Gydeton – he was left standing. Although Storgal did wonder if his own deep turned-earth brown Geumith might have glanced, however briefly, in Gydeton's direction, and what might have been had he not chosen him...
After the Hatching
"Geumith" by Emily Holland
The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Storgal 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 Geumith's first meal. That was Storgal's first opportunity to speak to Martom, too, and they introduced each other, with considerable delight, to their respective dragonets, Geumith and Kauth. Martom also told Storgal that his new name was to be – perhaps unsurprisingly – M'tom.
It wasn't long before Geumith's personality started to become evident. The substantial dark-brown dragonet – chunkier than any other hatchling – had a stolid, non-nonsense character to match, speaking his mind without hesitation or tact.
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 Storgal 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. Storgal was proud to introduce Geumith to the Weyrleader. And after a brief conference with Geumith, Storgal gave the Weyrleader his own new name: St'gal, rider of brown Geumith!
Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Geumith's and Kauth's newborn itchiness, St'gal 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
St'gal and M'tom soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk St'gal had helped during the day greeted him with warm congratulations as he hunted through the throng – but, at last, he found his family.
St'gal'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 St'gal and Geumith.
The rest of the evening passed in a blur for St'gal, 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, St'gal 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 St'gal'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 St'gal 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 Geumith.
A close encounter
On his way back to the barracks , St'gal 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 St'gal 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, St'gal decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger.
Returning at last to Geumith – billeted between M'tom's Kauth and a slender green dragonet – St'gal 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 brown beside him – St'gal 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?
Find out more about Storgal's Impression here. St'gal and Geumith's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!
St'gal'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
Geumith and I complement each other!
Achievement Unlocked:
THE PATH LESS TRAVELLED
I pre-Impressed Geumith by touching his egg before the Hatching!
Achievement Unlocked:
INSULT TO INJURY
I Impressed the dragon that my rival coveted!
Achievement Unlocked:
SNAKES AND SNAILS
I haven't been very nice!
Achievement Unlocked:
EBONY AND IVORY
Geumith and I agreed on something very important!
Achievement Unlocked:
IN TUNE
Geumith and I agreed on something quite important!