Y'nan and blue Kayath

The Road So Far!

It all began at Jessaf Hold, in the protectorate of Madellon Weyr, for Yunnan – a young man of 17 Turns, dreaming of becoming a blue rider.

Yunnan was born to unusual privilege – a grandson of Winstone, Lord of mighty Jessaf Hold. Yunnan 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, Yunnan 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 Yunnan becoming a candidate – displeased that such a opportunity would ruin his plans for Yunnan's betrothal to a niece of Lord Orfen's. But he grudgingly accepted that, as Yunnan had his majority, he had the right to accept Search. And with Winstone's admonition that he Impress a bronze – or a brown at the very least – ringing in his ears, Yunnan left to begin his candidacy at Madellon Weyr.

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

Hatching Day

The dragons' hum woke Soburn and Yunnan 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 Yunnan 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, Yunnan 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 Yunnan to find it. Despite Yunnan's best efforts, though, he didn't manage to complete and return the jewellery set before the Hatching.

A Masterful order

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

A rising problem

Yunnan 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. Yunnan'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.

Eggs and baskets

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

Weyrbrat by name...

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

At the lake, T'gala – the only female blue rider on Pern – asked for Yunnan's help in bathing her big Southern blue, Heppeth. Yunnan, reluctant to get wet, refused – earning T'gala's dislike, and a blot on his reputation!

Friend request

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

Early in the day, Yunnan 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, Yunnan strayed into tunnel snake territory! A huge, aggressive, and potently venomous female tunnel-snake guarded the exit to the Hatching ground. Yunnan 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, Yunnan decided not to risk approaching the clutch, and went instead directly to the infirmary to be treated with antivenin.

The Hatching

Disaster almost struck during the Hatching when Yunnan – following some dubious advice about attempting to force a dragonet to choose him – put him self in the path of a less than receptive green hatchling. The green, clearly objecting to being crowded, lashed out at Yunnan – slicing his arm. Luckily for Yunnan, the mauling wasn't a fatal one – though it could have been, as an irate L'stev told him when patching up the injury on the spot. Even more luckily, the incident didn't deter another dragonet – the blue who Hatched from the gleaming blue – from choosing Yunnan and naming himself Kayath!

Whatever happened to Rielat?

Quite simply, none of the dragonets seemed to want Rielat – he was left standing. Although Yunnan did wonder if his own bright indigo-blue Kayath might have glanced, however briefly, in Rielat's direction, and what might have been had he not chosen him...

After the Hatching

"Kayath" by Emily Holland

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

It wasn't long before Kayath's personality started to become evident. The big indigo-blue dragonet, the largest of his colour, showed his alert and serious nature from the beginning, demonstrating a high degree of focus for a blue.

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

Meeting the Weyrleader

As Yunnan 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. Yunnan was proud to introduce Kayath to the Weyrleader. And after a brief conference with Kayath, Yunnan gave the Weyrleader his own new name: Y'nan, rider of blue Kayath!

Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Kayath's and Aeranth's newborn itchiness, Y'nan 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

Y'nan and S'burn soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk Y'nan 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, Y'nan's grandfather, was highly displeased that his grandson had only managed to Impress a blue – against his strict warning that nothing less than a brown would suffice. The Weyrleaders were quick to step in on Y'nan's behalf, but the damage to his relationship with his grandfather was done.

The rest of the evening passed in a blur for Y'nan, 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, Y'nan 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 Y'nan'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 Y'nan 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 Kayath.

A close encounter

On his way back to the barracks (by way of the infirmary, as ordered by Tarshe), Y'nan 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 Y'nan 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, Y'nan decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger.

Returning at last to Kayath – billeted between S'burn's Aeranth and a bright bronze dragonet – Y'nan 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 – Y'nan 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?

Y'nan and Kayath's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!

Y'nan'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

Kayath and I complement each other!

Achievement Unlocked:
INSULT TO INJURY

I Impressed the dragon that my rival coveted!

Achievement Unlocked:
PLEASE STATE THE NATURE OF THE MEDICAL EMERGENCY

I returned to the infirmary!

Achievement Unlocked:
EBONY AND IVORY

Kayath and I agreed on something very important!

Achievement Unlocked:
BUM NOTE

Kayath and I disagreed on something quite important!