J'oe and bronze Cuspidath
The Road So Far!
It all began at Jessaf Hold, in the protectorate of Madellon Weyr, for Joe – a young boy of 15 Turns, dreaming of becoming a bronze rider.
Joe was born to unusual privilege – a grandson of Winstone, Lord of mighty Jessaf Hold. Joe 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, Joe 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 Joe 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, Joe left to begin his candidacy at Madellon Weyr.
As a candidate, Joe 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 Joe! Backed up by his crony Varell, Gydeton became the thorn in Joe's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.
Hatching Day
The dragons' hum woke Martom and Joe 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 Joe 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, Joe 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 Joe to find it. Despite Joe's best efforts, though, he didn't manage to complete and return the jewellery set before the Hatching.
Respecting his elders
In the Weyr's kitchen gardens, Joe encountered R'hren, a former Weyrleader of Madellon, now peacefully retired to potter among his beloved plants. R'hren asked Joe to help him track down the ingredients for a warming salve to help his elderly bronze, Staamath, with his arthritic forepaws. Joe 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, Joe offered it to old S'rius, who was equally appreciative of the gift. And while Kisha, the blind old green rider Joe encountered in the infirmary, would have nothing to do with one of R'hren's concoctions, she too grew to approve of Joe – especially after he solved all three of her fiendish riddles!
Southern comfort
Joe 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 Joe 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 Joe some intelligence on the Southern seven, his advice was somewhat garbled! Nonetheless, Joe unravelled Archidath's confusing suggestions and got the right packages to the right dragons – without being growled at!
Hot stuff
Madellon's kitchen was the source of the hotfruit R'hren had sent Joe to find for his warming salve. Headwoman Crauva handed one over immediately he asked for it, pleased to be helping such an august figure as the old Weyrleader.
Weyrbrat by name...
A run-in with a Weyrbrat – Terzon, whom Gydeton had paid to cause Joe trouble – resulted in an unfortunate public incident. All too aware of being shaken down, Joe 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, Joe 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?
A slithery customer
Early in the day, Joe 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, Joe strayed into tunnel snake territory! A brush with a small male tunnel-snake, guarding his nest, netted Joe some marks – and a painful, if not serious, bite. But that was only the beginning of his snaky problems. A huge, aggressive, and potently venomous female tunnel-snake guarded the exit to the Hatching ground. Joe was bitten – badly – and immediately felt the effects of the snake's paralysing venom. But ultimately he evaded the snake, dodging past it and slipping out onto the Hatching Sands.
Recognising the severity of his condition, Joe decided not to risk approaching the clutch, and went instead directly to the infirmary to be treated with antivenin.
The Hatching
When it came to the Hatching, Joe had to wait a little while before the black-freckled grey egg Hatched to reveal the deep classic-bronze dragonet who would choose him, naming himself Cuspidath.
A friend bereft
But to Joe's dismay, Martom wasn't as fortunate. No dragonet showed an interest in him, and he was left among the candidates remaining unmatched at the end of the Hatching.
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 Joe and Cuspidath's new classmates. (On the bright side, at least Varell didn't Impress!)
After the Hatching
"Cuspidath" by Chris S. Baily
The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Joe 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 Cuspidath's first meal. That was the first moment Joe 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 Cuspidath'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 Joe made along the way – a young Holdbred candidate, Nichen, whom Joe had encountered in a hopelessly dishevelled state directly before the Hatching – hailed Joe at the barracks – crediting him with his successful Impression of a moon-blue dragonet, Yooth!
Meeting the Weyrleader
As Joe 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. Joe was proud to introduce Cuspidath to the Weyrleader. And after a brief conference with Cuspidath, Joe gave the Weyrleader his own new name: J'oe, rider of bronze Cuspidath!
Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Cuspidath's and Destrath's newborn itchiness, J'oe 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
J'oe and Ch'liam soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk J'oe 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, J'oe'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 Cuspidath for failing to be the largest dragonet in the clutch – a criticism that the Weyrleaders were quick to cut short in their toast to J'oe and his bronze.
The rest of the evening passed in a blur for J'oe, 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, J'oe 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 J'oe'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 J'oe 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 Cuspidath.
A close encounter
On his way back to the barracks (by way of the infirmary, as ordered by Tarshe), J'oe 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 J'oe 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, J'oe decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger.
Returning at last to Cuspidath – billeted between Ch'liam's Destrath and a bright bronze dragonet – J'oe 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 – J'oe 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 Joe's Impression here. J'oe and Cuspidath's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!
J'oe'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
Cuspidath and I complement each other!
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
Cuspidath and I agreed on something very important!
Achievement Unlocked:
IN TUNE
Cuspidath and I agreed on something quite important!