H'las and blue Empieth

The Road So Far!

It all began at Jessaf Hold, in the protectorate of Madellon Weyr, for Hulas – a young man of 16 Turns, dreaming of becoming a blue rider.

Hulas 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, Hulas didn't even present himself as a hopeful. Yet it was Hulas 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, Hulas's mother, had always dreamed of being a dragonrider – and gifting Hulas with her blue feather pendant as a lucky charm.

As a candidate, Hulas was assigned a bunkmate – Soburn, an anxious Weyrbred youth with one failed Hatching already haunting him, 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 – Rielat, a self-important apprentice Weaver – who took a firm disliking to Hulas! Backed up by his crony Kestor, Rielat became the thorn in Hulas's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.

Hatching Day

The dragons' hum woke Soburn and Hulas on 102.03.17. Following a brief run-in with Rielat, 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 Hulas left, Soburn asked him to find out if H'nar, the young Wingleader of the Betweenless Wing, might currently be seeing someone – or not.

The one-armed green rider and the thieving queen

Immediately on leaving the candidate barracks, Hulas 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 Hulas to find it. Despite Hulas's best efforts, though, he didn't manage to complete and return the jewellery set before the Hatching.

Southern comfort

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

Eggs and baskets

A visit to the Archives led to a meeting with Tarshe, Madellon's Weyrwoman Second. When Hulas 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 – Hulas did!

Friend request

Conscious of Soburn's bashfulness, Hulas approached the object of his affections – H'nar, Wingleader of the Betweenless Wing – with some circumspection. Still, when questioned, H'nar insisted he had to know who was making enquiries of him. And when he learned the identity of his admirer, he told Hulas that he wasn't interested in Soburn – or any other men, for that matter. But Hulas's agile pivot in questioning revealed that a close friend of H'nar's – blue rider M'rany – might be a viable alternative. Thus encouraged, Soburn began to think more positively of life as a dragonrider – even if H'nar would end up being his Wingleader!

A Weyrleader's mercy

Early in the day, Hulas 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 Hulas safely to ground level.

Realising that honesty was the best policy, Hulas 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 Hulas the Weyrleader's permission to approach the clutch. He touched one of the eggs, marvelling at its palpable vitality. And something about the grey-swirled silvery cream egg made him feel strangely certain that he would Impress later that day.

The Hatching

When it came to the Hatching, Hulas didn't have to wait too long for his date with destiny. The grey-swirled silvery cream egg Hatched out a very pale moon-blue dragonet who told Hulas his name was Empieth.

A friend in me

And Hulas wasn't the only lucky one. To his delight, Soburn also Impressed, becoming the rider of a slender olive-green hatchling, Aeranth.

Whatever happened to Rielat?

Sadly, there was at least one fly in the numbweed. Rielat Impressed an impressively proportioned indigo-blue hatchling, making them Hulas and Empieth's new classmates. (On the bright side, at least Kestor didn't Impress!)

After the Hatching

"Empieth" by Chris S. Baily

The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Hulas 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 Empieth's first meal. That was Hulas's first opportunity to speak to Soburn, too, and they introduced each other, with considerable delight, to their respective dragonets, Empieth and Aeranth. Soburn also told Hulas that his new name was to be – perhaps unsurprisingly – S'burn.

It wasn't long before Empieth's personality started to become evident. The moon-blue dragonet, while seemingly reluctant to even leave his egg, showed glimmers of a curiously perceptive and knowing mind beneath his apparent laziness.

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 Hulas and S'burn 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. Hulas was proud to introduce Empieth to the Weyrleader. And after a brief conference with Empieth, Hulas gave the Weyrleader his own new name: H'las, rider of blue Empieth!

Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Empieth's and Aeranth's newborn itchiness, H'las and S'burn 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

H'las and S'burn soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk H'las had helped during the day greeted him with warm congratulations as he hunted through the throng – but, at last, he found his family.

H'las'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 H'las and Empieth.

The rest of the evening passed in a blur for H'las, 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, H'las 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 H'las'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 H'las 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 Empieth.

A close encounter

On his way back to the barracks , H'las 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 H'las 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, H'las decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger.

Returning at last to Empieth – billeted between S'burn's Aeranth and a mucky-looking brown dragonet – H'las 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 blue beside him – H'las 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 Hulas's Impression here. H'las and Empieth's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!

H'las'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

Empieth and I complement each other!

Achievement Unlocked:
THE PATH LESS TRAVELLED

I pre-Impressed Empieth by touching his egg before the Hatching!

Achievement Unlocked:
EBONY AND IVORY

Empieth and I agreed on something very important!

Achievement Unlocked:
BUM NOTE

Empieth and I disagreed on something quite important!