W'vern and green Aprenth
The Road So Far!
It all began at Jessaf Hold, in the protectorate of Madellon Weyr, for Wyvern – a young man of 16 Turns, dreaming of becoming a bronze rider.
Wyvern was born to unusual privilege – a grandson of Winstone, Lord of mighty Jessaf Hold. Wyvern 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, Wyvern 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 Wyvern 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, Wyvern left to begin his candidacy at Madellon Weyr.
As a candidate, Wyvern 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 Wyvern! Backed up by his crony Kestor, Rielat became the thorn in Wyvern's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.
Hatching Day
The dragons' hum woke Soburn and Wyvern 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 Wyvern 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, Wyvern 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 Wyvern to find it. The quest took Wyvern 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, Wyvern encountered R'hren, a former Weyrleader of Madellon, now peacefully retired to potter among his beloved plants. R'hren asked Wyvern to help him track down the ingredients for a warming salve to help his elderly bronze, Staamath, with his arthritic forepaws. Wyvern 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, Wyvern offered it to old S'rius, who was equally appreciative of the gift. And while Kisha, the blind old green rider Wyvern encountered in the infirmary, would have nothing to do with one of R'hren's concoctions, she too grew to approve of Wyvern – especially after he solved all three of her fiendish riddles!
Southern comfort
Wyvern 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 Wyvern 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 Wyvern some intelligence on the Southern seven, his advice was somewhat garbled! Nonetheless, Wyvern 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, Wyvern 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, Wyvern 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. Wyvern 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 Wyvern a certain confidence in his own prospects!
A rising problem
Wyvern 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. Wyvern'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. Even if Wyvern did annoy Soleigh, who wasn't impressed with him for prolonging Maris' binge by bringing her more wine!
Harping on
Wyvern perhaps overestimated his own competence when it came to a disastrous spell on the Harper dais in the dining hall. Accompanying Weyr Singer Carleah – badly – on the tambourine, he was lucky not to be booed off the stage!
Kitchen diplomacy
Madellon's kitchens – the heart of the Weyr, and domain of Headwoman Crauva – provided Wyvern 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 Wyvern 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 Wyvern 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. But with one thing and another, Wyvern didn't bring it back – earning the Weyrwoman Second's ire!
A blue lady
Coming across T'gala, Pern's only female blue rider, bathing her Heppeth in the lake, Wyvern offered his assistance – which T'gala gladly accepted.
Friend request
Conscious of Soburn's bashfulness, Wyvern 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 Wyvern that he wasn't interested in Soburn – or any other men, for that matter. But Wyvern'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, Wyvern visited Madellon's resident barber – green rider Z'fell – for a trim. Very conscious of his dignity, Wyvern ensured he came away with a cut he actually liked.
A breath of foul air
Early in the day, Wyvern 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. The route he chose turned out to be thick with choking toxic fumes from Madellon's volcanic foundation, and Wyvern soon found himself struggling for breath. And then he came across Rielat – having apparently followed Wyvern into the passageways – lying unconscious and insensible in the fume-filled tunnel.
Perhaps it was the toxic air, or perhaps not – but when Wyvern crawled out onto the Hatching sands, he didn't drag Rielat out with him – and nor did he tell the Weyrleader about his stricken fellow candidate. Overcome by the ordeal, Wyvern fainted.
Wyvern woke in the infirmary – only to be interrogated by a very grim Weyrleader T'gat and Weyrlingmaster L'stev. Rielat had been found – dead. And only some very quick talking on Wyvern's part spared him from being thrown out of the Weyr entirely.
The Hatching
When it came to the Hatching, Wyvern didn't have to wait too long for his date with destiny. The grey-splashed beige egg Hatched out a dark teal-green dragonet who told Wyvern her name was Aprenth.
A friend in me
And Wyvern wasn't the only lucky one. To his delight, Soburn also Impressed, becoming the rider of a slender olive-green hatchling, Aeranth.
After the Hatching
"Aprenth" by Chris S. Baily
The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Wyvern 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 Aprenth's first meal. That was Wyvern's first opportunity to speak to Soburn, too, and they introduced each other, with considerable delight, to their respective dragonets, Aprenth and Aeranth. Soburn also told Wyvern that his new name was to be – perhaps unsurprisingly – S'burn.
It wasn't long before Aprenth's personality started to become evident. The teal-green dragonet, inquisitive about everything from the instant of her hatching, also proved to be an especially sweet-natured and kind character.
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 Wyvern 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. Wyvern was proud to introduce Aprenth to the Weyrleader. And after a brief conference with Aprenth, Wyvern gave the Weyrleader his own new name: W'vern, rider of green Aprenth!
Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Aprenth's and Aeranth's newborn itchiness, W'vern 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
W'vern and S'burn soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk W'vern 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, W'vern's grandfather, was in a state of high dudgeon about his grandson's Impression of a green. A tense scene ensued, with the Weyrleaders obliged to step in to defend W'vern from his grandfather's fury – but the damage was already done.
The rest of the evening passed in a blur for W'vern, 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, W'vern 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 W'vern'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 W'vern 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 Aprenth.
A close encounter
On his way back to the barracks (by way of the infirmary, as ordered by Tarshe), W'vern 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 W'vern 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, W'vern decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger.
Returning at last to Aprenth – billeted between S'burn's Aeranth and a mucky-looking brown dragonet – W'vern 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 – W'vern 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?
W'vern and Aprenth's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!
W'vern'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
Aprenth 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
Aprenth and I agreed on something very important!
Achievement Unlocked:
IN TUNE
Aprenth and I agreed on something quite important!
Achievement Unlocked:
OUT, DAMNED SPOT
I left Rielat to die, and I'll have to live with that secret, forever.