S'dhe and blue Bryaceth
The Road So Far!
It all began at Madellon Weyr for Sidhe – a young boy of 15 Turns, dreaming of becoming a green rider.
Sidhe was born the son of Nelya, a Headwoman's Second at Madellon Weyr. While he didn't have to be Searched, he was 'given the nod' as a likely dragonrider by the Weyr's most senior retired Search pair – S'rius and his elderly blue Padseth. As a first-time candidate with no dragonrider blood, Sidhe looked forward to the Hatching with both excitement and trepidation – fearing he might not have what it takes to Impress, but hoping beyond hope that he would!
As a candidate, Sidhe 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 Sidhe! Backed up by his crony Varell, Gydeton became the thorn in Sidhe's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.
Hatching Day
The dragons' hum woke Martom and Sidhe 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 Sidhe 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, Sidhe 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 Sidhe to find it. Despite Sidhe'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, Sidhe encountered R'hren, a former Weyrleader of Madellon, now peacefully retired to potter among his beloved plants. R'hren asked Sidhe to help him track down the ingredients for a warming salve to help his elderly bronze, Staamath, with his arthritic forepaws. Sidhe duly located the components of R'hren's salve, winning the old bronze rider's approval in the process.
Kitchen diplomacy
Madellon's kitchens – the heart of the Weyr, and domain of Headwoman Crauva – provided Sidhe 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 Sidhe 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 Sidhe 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 – Sidhe did!
Weyrbrat by name...
A run-in with a Weyrbrat – Terzon, whom Gydeton had paid to cause Sidhe trouble – resulted in an unfortunate public incident. All too aware of being shaken down, Sidhe 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 Sidhe's help in bathing her big Southern blue, Heppeth. Sidhe, reluctant to get wet, refused – earning T'gala's dislike, and a blot on his reputation!
Friend request
Given Sidhe'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 Sidhe 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, Sidhe 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, Sidhe strayed into tunnel snake territory! A huge, aggressive, and potently venomous female tunnel-snake guarded the exit to the Hatching ground. Sidhe 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, Sidhe crept closer to the clutch – close enough to touch an egg – before beating a hasty retreat from the Hatching Ground! 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, Sidhe had to wait a little while before the grey-swirled silvery cream egg Hatched to reveal the very pale moon-blue dragonet who would choose him, naming himself Bryaceth.
A friend in me
And Sidhe 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?
For Gydeton, getting on Sidhe's bad side proved to be an exceptionally poor choice. Sidhe dosed Gydeton's clean underfurs with hotfruit before the Hatching, and for once, the admonition to always put on clean underpants turned out to have very negative consequences. It took a little while for the hotfruit to take effect, but by the time the candidates reached the Hatching Sands, Gydeton was in considerable distress. Unable to bear the burning sensation in his nether regions, he fled the Hatching Sands – squandering his chance at Impression!
After the Hatching
"Bryaceth" by Chris S. Baily
The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Sidhe on his Impression, but it was old S'rius, delighted to have found yet another weyrling, who stepped in to help with the immediate matter of Bryaceth's first meal. That was Sidhe's first opportunity to speak to Martom, too, and they introduced each other, with considerable delight, to their respective dragonets, Bryaceth and Kauth. Martom also told Sidhe that his new name was to be – perhaps unsurprisingly – M'tom.
It wasn't long before Bryaceth'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 Sidhe 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. Sidhe was proud to introduce Bryaceth to the Weyrleader. And after a brief conference with Bryaceth, Sidhe gave the Weyrleader his own new name: S'dhe, rider of blue Bryaceth!
Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Bryaceth's and Kauth's newborn itchiness, S'dhe 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
S'dhe and M'tom soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk S'dhe had helped during the day greeted him with warm congratulations as he hunted through the throng – but, at last, he found his family.
S'dhe's mother, Nelya, was thrilled by her son's Impression – though perhaps not quite as ecstatic as S'dhe's younger siblings, Ashi and Halante. As the first dragonrider in the family, S'dhe was keenly aware of what it meant to his brother and sister. And when the Weyrleaders came to drink a toast to S'dhe and Bryaceth, Valonna was particularly delighted for Nelya – one of her most trusted Headwoman Seconds.
The rest of the evening passed in a blur for S'dhe, 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, S'dhe 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 S'dhe'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 S'dhe 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 Bryaceth.
A close encounter
On his way back to the barracks , S'dhe 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 S'dhe 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, S'dhe decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger.
Returning at last to Bryaceth – billeted between M'tom's Kauth and a slender green dragonet – S'dhe 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 – S'dhe 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?
S'dhe and Bryaceth's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!
S'dhe'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
Bryaceth and I complement each other!
Achievement Unlocked:
THE PATH LESS TRAVELLED
I pre-Impressed Bryaceth by touching his egg before the Hatching!
Achievement Unlocked:
EBONY AND IVORY
Bryaceth and I agreed on something very important!
Achievement Unlocked:
BUM NOTE
Bryaceth and I disagreed on something quite important!