M'cker and bronze Bonneth
The Road So Far!
It all began at Jessaf Hold, in the protectorate of Madellon Weyr, for Mackerel – a young boy of 15 Turns, dreaming of becoming a dragonrider.
Mackerel was born to unusual privilege – a grandson of Winstone, Lord of mighty Jessaf Hold. Mackerel 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, Mackerel 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 Mackerel 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, Mackerel left to begin his candidacy at Madellon Weyr.
As a candidate, Mackerel 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 Mackerel ! Backed up by his crony Varell, Gydeton became the thorn in Mackerel 's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.
Hatching Day
The dragons' hum woke Martom and Mackerel 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 Mackerel 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
Immediately on leaving the candidate barracks, Mackerel was flagged down by M'shen – a green rider with only one arm. But whatever he wanted, Mackerel never discovered, after making a mean-spirited joke about M'shen's missing hand that – not unreasonably – made the green rider take against him.
Southern comfort
Mackerel 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 Mackerel 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 Mackerel some intelligence on the Southern seven, his advice was somewhat garbled! Nonetheless, Mackerel 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, Mackerel 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, Mackerel 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. Mackerel 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 Mackerel a certain confidence in his own prospects!
A rising problem
Mackerel 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. Mackerel 's intervention successfully got rid of G'tron, whose Imdoth was very sweet indeed on Bristath, from the mating flight and reconciled the two green riders.
Bubbling up
Madellon's kitchens – the heart of the Weyr, and domain of Headwoman Crauva – proved an irresistable lure for Mackerel . But reluctant to actually get his hands dirty by helping, he sneaked in and stole a bubbly pie right from under the Headwoman's nose!
Pie-more
Mackerel certainly indulged his sweet tooth before the Hatching – laying claim to not one, not two, but three different types of bubbly pie Albeit he stole one of them..
Eggs and baskets
A visit to the Archives led to a meeting with Tarshe, Madellon's Weyrwoman Second. When Mackerel 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, Mackerel didn't bring it back – earning the Weyrwoman Second's ire!
Weyrbrat by name...
A run-in with a Weyrbrat – Terzon, whom Gydeton had paid to cause Mackerel trouble – resulted in an unfortunate public incident. All too aware of being shaken down, Mackerel gave the kid a shove – in front of a number of witnesses – doing nothing for his reputation!
A shining example
Coming upon Santinoth – Madellon's biggest bronze – being bathed in the lake, Mackerel was quick to offer assistance to his rider, T'rello. It couldn't hurt to have some close-up experience with a bronze, could it?
Friend request
Given Mackerel '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 Mackerel 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!
Wherry bad behaviour
Mackerel 's assorted instances of bad behaviour finally caught up with him. L'stev collared him in the Bowl and gave him an ultimatum – buck up his ideas, or sit the Hatching out. Mackerel chose the former, and the Weyrlingmaster sent him to do penance in the wherry hatchery – though Mackerel remained on probation, with one more slip promising to rule him out of standing!
A curious development
Early in the day, Mackerel 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 glowbaskets, he crawled into a confusing maze of passages.
Mackerel never made it to the Hatching ground – instead, encountering an unusually intelligent feline in the tunnels. Following it deeper into the ventilation shafts, Mackerel came across the most unexpected discovery – a hidden room, full of a very peculiar selection of individuals. But he had barely taken stock of his situation before Vanzanth, the Weyrlingmaster's brown, forced his way into the room – ordering Mackerel out, and commanding him never to speak of the encounter again!
The Hatching
When it came to the Hatching, Mackerel had to wait a little while before the black-freckled grey egg Hatched to reveal the deep classic-bronze dragonet who would choose him, naming himself Bonneth.
A friend in me
And Mackerel 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?
It turned out that making an enemy of Mackerel was a very poor choice on Gydeton's part. For the low, low price of just three marks, Mackerel had Grimes, the shady fellow loitering near the Gather stalls, spread a series of nasty rumours about Gydeton. By the time the Weyrlingmaster mustered the candidate cohort immediately before the Hatching, the damage to Gydeton's reputation was done – and he was ejected from the candidate pool without ever setting foot on the Sands!
After the Hatching
"Bonneth" by Chris S. Baily
The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Mackerel 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 Bonneth's first meal. That was Mackerel 's first opportunity to speak to Martom, too, and they introduced each other, with considerable delight, to their respective dragonets, Bonneth and Kauth. Martom also told Mackerel that his new name was to be – perhaps unsurprisingly – M'tom.
It wasn't long before Bonneth's personality started to become evident. The energetic bronze dragonet, the classic shade of his colour, was unusually forceful even for his colour – promising to be a handful for his rider!
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 Mackerel made along the way – a young Holdbred candidate, Nichen, whom Mackerel had encountered in a hopelessly dishevelled state directly before the Hatching – hailed Mackerel at the barracks – crediting him with his successful Impression of a moon-blue dragonet, Yooth!
Meeting the Weyrleader
As Mackerel 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. Mackerel was proud to introduce Bonneth to the Weyrleader. And after a brief conference with Bonneth, Mackerel gave the Weyrleader his own new name: M'cker, rider of bronze Bonneth!
Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Bonneth's and Kauth's newborn itchiness, M'cker 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
M'cker and M'tom soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk M'cker 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, M'cker's grandfather, was very pleased indeed to be able to boast to all and sundry that his grandson had Impressed a bronze, although he still managed to find fault with Bonneth for failing to be the largest dragonet in the clutch – a criticism that the Weyrleaders were quick to cut short in their toast to M'cker and his bronze.
The rest of the evening passed in a blur for M'cker, 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, M'cker 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 M'cker'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 M'cker 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 Bonneth.
A close encounter
On his way back to the barracks , M'cker 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 M'cker 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, M'cker decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger.
Returning at last to Bonneth – billeted between M'tom's Kauth and a slender green dragonet – M'cker 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 bronze beside him – M'cker 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?
Find out more about Mackerel 's Impression here. M'cker and Bonneth's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!
M'cker'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
Bonneth and I make a very strong match!
Achievement Unlocked:
SNAKES AND SNAILS
I haven't been very nice!
Achievement Unlocked:
EBONY AND IVORY
Bonneth and I agreed on something very important!
Achievement Unlocked:
IN TUNE
Bonneth and I agreed on something quite important!