Gretenna and green Strowth
The Road So Far!
It all began at Madellon Weyr for Gretenna – a young girl of 13 Turns, dreaming of becoming a green rider.
Gretenna was born the daughter of Wingleader R'yeno and green rider Evie of Madellon Weyr. While she didn't have to be Searched, she 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, Gretenna looked forward to the Hatching with both excitement and trepidation – half convinced that she would be meeting her own dragon at last; half terrified of failing to meet the standards expected of a Wingleader's daughter!
As a candidate, Gretenna was assigned a bunkmate – Jopha, a mischievous young Weyrbred girl prone to getting herself into trouble, who would soon become her closest friend in the Weyr. She also got to know many of her fellow candidates, including the Weyrbred twins Leover and Leoguy; Zielaph, the nephew of a Madellon bronze rider; and Arina, a level-headed young woman from Jessaf who'd stood at the previous Hatching.
But she also made an enemy – Thippia, a foul-mouthed girl from the Seacraft – who took a firm disliking to Gretenna! Backed up by her crony Berrin, Thippia became the thorn in Gretenna's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.
Hatching Day
The dragons' hum woke Jopha and Gretenna on 102.03.17. Following a brief run-in with Thippia, 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 Gretenna left, Jopha – whose Impression robe was sadly overlarge for her petite frame – recruited Gretenna's help in getting it adjusted by her nemesis Shookana in the mending room.
The one-armed green rider and the thieving queen
Immediately on leaving the candidate barracks, Gretenna 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 Gretenna to find it. Despite Gretenna's best efforts, though, she didn't manage to complete and return the jewellery set before the Hatching.
Kitchen diplomacy
Madellon's kitchens – the heart of the Weyr, and domain of Headwoman Crauva – provided Gretenna with the opportunity to show off her work ethic before the Hatching. A round of chores duly pleased Crauva.
Eggs and baskets
A visit to the Archives led to a meeting with Tarshe, Madellon's Weyrwoman Second. When Gretenna expressed an interested in looking up some Weyr records, Tarshe offered her the loan of a glowbasket – on the proviso that she return it afterwards. Which – mindful of not offending such an important personage of the Weyr – Gretenna did!
Friend request
Knowing of Jopha's chequered history with Shookana, mistress of the Weyr's mending room, Gretenna approached the task of having her robe adjusted with considerable caution. Realising that falsehood would be the wrong approach, Gretenna went to Shookana with the truth – and a gift of popcorn. And while Gretenna doubted if Shookana and Jopha will ever be friends, the restoration of her Hatching robe to a suitable length did a great deal for her self-confidence!
The Hatching
When it came to the Hatching, Gretenna didn't have to wait too long for her date with destiny. The grey-splashed beige egg Hatched out a dark teal-green dragonet who told Gretenna her name was Strowth.
A friend in me
And Gretenna wasn't the only lucky one. To her delight, Jopha also Impressed, becoming the rider of a big emerald-green hatchling, Deimoth.
Whatever happened to Thippia?
Thippia's victimisation of Gretenna had serious consequences – for Thippia. Not everyone would have tattled on her the way Gretenna did, but her complaints about the other girl, together with L'stev's already thin opinion of Thippia, had the desired effect. Directly before the Hatching, L'stev ejected Thippia from the candidate pool!
After the Hatching
"Strowth" by Chris S. Baily
The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Gretenna on her Impression, but it was old S'rius, delighted to have found yet another weyrling, who stepped in to help with the immediate matter of Strowth's first meal. That was Gretenna's first opportunity to speak to Jopha, too, and they introduced each other, with considerable delight, to their respective dragonets, Strowth and Deimoth.
It wasn't long before Strowth'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.
Big sister
Another friend Gretenna made along the way – a young Weyrbred candidate, Brithie, whom Gretenna had encountered in a sudden crisis of confidence directly before the Hatching – hailed Gretenna at the barracks – crediting her with her successful Impression of a tiny bottle-green dragonet, Epatanth!
Meeting the Weyrleader
As Gretenna and Jopha wiped the worst of the blood and sand from their tired new dragonets, the Weyrleader, T'gat, came to inspect both girls' dragonets and to ask after their names. Gretenna was proud to introduce Strowth to the Weyrleader – and to give him her full new name: Gretenna, rider of green Strowth!
Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Strowth's and Deimoth's newborn itchiness, Gretenna and Jopha headed into the girls' 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
Gretenna and Jopha soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk Gretenna had helped during the day greeted her with warm congratulations as she hunted through the throng – but, at last, she found her family.
R'yeno and Evie couldn't have been happier to greet their daughter as a green rider for the first time . And when the Weyrleaders came to drink a toast to Gretenna and Strowth, R'yeno was delighted to embarrass his daughter by insinuating that Gryth would be stiffer competition to Muzzanth in Shimpath's next flight.
The rest of the evening passed in a blur for Gretenna, 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, Gretenna was flagged down by a Weyrbrat, Emry, bringing the message that Weyrwoman Second Tarshe wanted to see her in the Archives.
Setting the record straight
Tarshe, tasked by the Weyrwoman with converting candidate documentation into weyrling records, went through Gretenna's background with her – including much of what she had got up to on the morning of the Hatching – for good and ill. She offered Gretenna some advice about paying attention to her new classmates and surroundings, lest she fall foul of the Weyrlingmaster's penchant for snap quizzes, and made some observations on Strowth.
A close encounter
On her way back to the barracks , Gretenna 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 Gretenna would later realise was firestone, who called her by name – and gave her a curious wooden box.
"The Watchful Queen" by Chris S. Baily
Back at the barracks, Gretenna decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger.
Returning at last to Strowth – billeted between Jopha's Deimoth and a pale green dragonet – Gretenna was too tired to examine the strange wooden box very closely, and put it in her clothes' chest for later examination. But even as she went to sleep – a dragonrider at last, her green beside her – Gretenna 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?
Gretenna and Strowth's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!
Gretenna'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:
BIRDS OF A FEATHER
Strowth and I make a very strong match!
Achievement Unlocked:
EBONY AND IVORY
Strowth and I agreed on something very important!
Achievement Unlocked:
IN TUNE
Strowth and I agreed on something quite important!