T'ley and green Noroith

The Road So Far!

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

Tolley was born the son of two Harpers at the Southern Harperhall, Kellad Hold. Surrounded by music, he was apprenticed to the Craft when he came of age. But he never excelled in any discipline, and it seemed as if an unremarkable career as a mid-level journeyman likely lay ahead for him. And then, in early 102, J'kel – a dragonrider of Madellon Weyr – came to Kellad Hold in search of candidates for the new clutch hardening on the Sands of Madellon Weyr. Tolley caught the attention of J'kel's blue Hozrath. And a sevenday later, Tolley arrived at Madellon Weyr, joining the candidate pool for senior queen Shimpath's first clutch by her new mate Muzzanth.

As a candidate, Tolley 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 Tolley! Backed up by his crony Kestor, Rielat became the thorn in Tolley's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.

Hatching Day

The dragons' hum woke Soburn and Tolley 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 Tolley 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, Tolley 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 Tolley to find it. The quest took Tolley all over Madellon, from kitchens to lake to infirmary – but in the end he succeeded in reuniting the Weyrwoman's jewellery set, to general acclaim.

Respecting his elders

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

Southern comfort

Tolley 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 Tolley 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 Tolley some intelligence on the Southern seven, his advice was somewhat garbled! Nonetheless, Tolley unravelled Archidath's confusing suggestions and got the right packages to the right dragons – without being growled at!

A rising problem

Tolley 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. Tolley'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.

A Harper born

Tolley's Harper training came in handy when Carleah, the Weyr Singer, asked him to play a set with her ensemble in the dining hall. They played to a rapturous reception that gave Tolley's confidence – and his mark purse – quite a boost!

Kitchen diplomacy

Madellon's kitchens – the heart of the Weyr, and domain of Headwoman Crauva – provided Tolley with the opportunity to show off his 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 Tolley to find for his warming salve.

Eggs and baskets

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

Weyrbrat by name...

A run-in with a Weyrbrat – Terzon, whom Rielat had paid to cause Tolley trouble – resulted in an unfortunate public incident. All too aware of being shaken down, Tolley gave the kid a shove – in front of a number of witnesses – doing nothing for his reputation!

A blue lady

Coming across T'gala, Pern's only female blue rider, bathing her Heppeth in the lake, Tolley offered his assistance – which T'gala gladly accepted.

Friend request

Conscious of Soburn's bashfulness, Tolley 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 Tolley that he wasn't interested in Soburn – or any other men, for that matter. But Tolley'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!

Hair today

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

A slithery customer

Early in the day, Tolley 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, Tolley strayed into tunnel snake territory! A huge, aggressive, and potently venomous female tunnel-snake guarded the exit to the Hatching ground. Tolley 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, Tolley crept closer to the clutch – close enough to touch an egg – before beating a hasty retreat from the Hatching Ground!

The Hatching

When it came to the Hatching, Tolley didn't have to wait at all for his date with destiny. The long pale grey egg that Hatched first produced a light cloudy-green hatchling who spared no time in choosing Tolley, naming herself Noroith.

A friend in me

And Tolley 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 Tolley and Noroith's new classmates. (On the bright side, at least Kestor didn't Impress!)

After the Hatching

"Noroith" by Emily Holland

The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Tolley on his Impression, but it was J'kel, thrilled that Hozrath had finally found a successful candidate after so long without, who stepped in to help with the immediate matter of Noroith's first meal. That was Tolley's first opportunity to speak to Soburn, too, and they introduced each other, with considerable delight, to their respective dragonets, Noroith and Aeranth. Soburn also told Tolley that his new name was to be – perhaps unsurprisingly – S'burn.

It wasn't long before Noroith's personality started to become evident. The cloudy-green dragonet, being a very forthright and direct character, spared no time in making it clear that she wouldn't take any nonsense from anyone – her new rider included!

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 Tolley made along the way – a young Holdbred candidate, Nichen, whom Tolley had encountered in a hopelessly dishevelled state directly before the Hatching – hailed Tolley at the barracks – crediting him with his successful Impression of a moon-blue dragonet, Yooth!

Meeting the Weyrleader

As Tolley 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. Tolley was proud to introduce Noroith to the Weyrleader. And after a brief conference with Noroith, Tolley gave the Weyrleader his own new name: T'ley, rider of green Noroith!

Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Noroith's and Aeranth's newborn itchiness, T'ley 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

T'ley and S'burn soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk T'ley had helped during the day greeted him with warm congratulations as he hunted through the throng – but, at last, he found his family.

T'ley's Harper parents were absolutely delighted to find themselves the mother and father of a green rider and happier still to learn that T'ley had already brought his musical skills to the Weyr. And they were even more delighted to drink to T'ley and Noroith when the Weyrleaders arrived to toast them!

The rest of the evening passed in a blur for T'ley, 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, T'ley 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 T'ley'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 T'ley 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 Noroith.

A close encounter

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

Returning at last to Noroith – billeted between S'burn's Aeranth and a bright bronze dragonet – T'ley 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 green beside him – T'ley 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?

T'ley and Noroith's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!

T'ley'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

Noroith and I complement each other!

Achievement Unlocked:
SUGAR AND SPICE

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

Achievement Unlocked:
EBONY AND IVORY

Noroith and I agreed on something very important!

Achievement Unlocked:
IN TUNE

Noroith and I agreed on something quite important!