Ro'drest and green Cornath
The Road So Far!
It all began at Jessaf Hold, in the protectorate of Madellon Weyr, for Rosgudrest – a young boy of 13 Turns, dreaming of becoming a green rider.
Rosgudrest was born the son of a modest cotholder at Jessaf Hold, working alongside his widowed father to work their allotted land, and help bring up his young twin siblings, Albon and Gettie. And in early 102, when a green rider, N'jol, and his Kistrith came to Jessaf in search of candidates for Madellon Weyr's hardening clutch, Rosgudrest didn't even present himself as a hopeful. Yet it was Rosgudrest that Kistrith singled out among all those young people. He almost didn't accept Search – anxious not to abandon his father. But he insisted, revealing that his late wife, Rosgudrest's mother, had always dreamed of being a dragonrider – and gifting Rosgudrest with her blue feather pendant as a lucky charm.
As a candidate, Rosgudrest 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 Rosgudrest! Backed up by his crony Varell, Gydeton became the thorn in Rosgudrest's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.
Hatching Day
The dragons' hum woke Martom and Rosgudrest 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 Rosgudrest 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, Rosgudrest was flagged down by M'shen – a green rider with only one arm. But whatever he wanted, Rosgudrest never discovered, after making a mean-spirited joke about M'shen's missing hand that – not unreasonably – made the green rider take against him.
Respecting his elders
In the Weyr's kitchen gardens, Rosgudrest encountered R'hren, a former Weyrleader of Madellon, now peacefully retired to potter among his beloved plants. R'hren asked Rosgudrest to help him track down the ingredients for a warming salve to help his elderly bronze, Staamath, with his arthritic forepaws. Rosgudrest duly located the components of R'hren's salve, winning the old bronze rider's approval in the process.
A Masterful order
In the dining hall, Rosgudrest 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, Rosgudrest 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. Rosgudrest 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 Rosgudrest a certain confidence in his own prospects!
A rising problem
Rosgudrest 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. Rosgudrest'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.
Kitchen diplomacy
Madellon's kitchens – the heart of the Weyr, and domain of Headwoman Crauva – provided Rosgudrest 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 Rosgudrest 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 Rosgudrest 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 – Rosgudrest did!
Weyrbrat by name...
A run-in with a Weyrbrat – Terzon, whom Gydeton had paid to cause Rosgudrest trouble – resulted in an unfortunate public incident. All too aware of being shaken down, Rosgudrest 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, Rosgudrest 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 Rosgudrest'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 Rosgudrest 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
Rosgudrest'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. Rosgudrest chose the former, and the Weyrlingmaster sent him to do penance in the wherry hatchery – though Rosgudrest remained on probation, with one more slip promising to rule him out of standing!
A curious development
Early in the day, Rosgudrest 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.
Rosgudrest never made it to the Hatching ground – instead, encountering an unusually intelligent feline in the tunnels. Following it deeper into the ventilation shafts, Rosgudrest 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 Rosgudrest out, and commanding him never to speak of the encounter again!
The Hatching
When it came to the Hatching, Rosgudrest had to wait a little while before the spotted green and cream egg Hatched to reveal the vivid sea-green dragonet who would choose him, naming herself Cornath.
A friend in me
And Rosgudrest 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 Rosgudrest was a very poor choice on Gydeton's part. For the low, low price of just three marks, Rosgudrest 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
"Cornath" by Emily Holland
The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Rosgudrest on his Impression, but it was N'jol, delighted that his most humble candidate had Impressed, who stepped in to help with the immediate matter of Cornath's first meal. That was Rosgudrest's first opportunity to speak to Martom, too, and they introduced each other, with considerable delight, to their respective dragonets, Cornath and Kauth. Martom also told Rosgudrest that his new name was to be – perhaps unsurprisingly – M'tom.
It wasn't long before Cornath's personality started to become evident. The sea-green dragonet – ambiguously coloured at first glance, but unequivocally female when asked – proved to have a particularly playful and fun-loving outlook on life.
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 Rosgudrest made along the way – a young Holdbred candidate, Nichen, whom Rosgudrest had encountered in a hopelessly dishevelled state directly before the Hatching – hailed Rosgudrest at the barracks – crediting him with his successful Impression of a moon-blue dragonet, Yooth!
Meeting the Weyrleader
As Rosgudrest 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. Rosgudrest was proud to introduce Cornath to the Weyrleader. And after a brief conference with Cornath, Rosgudrest gave the Weyrleader his own new name: Ro'drest, rider of green Cornath!
Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Cornath's and Kauth's newborn itchiness, Ro'drest 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
Ro'drest and M'tom soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk Ro'drest had helped during the day greeted him with warm congratulations as he hunted through the throng – but, at last, he found his family.
Ro'drest's father almost couldn't believe his son's good fortune, completely thrilled to be the father of a dragonrider. And he was even more starstruck when the Weyrleaders came to drink a toast to Ro'drest and Cornath.
The rest of the evening passed in a blur for Ro'drest, 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, Ro'drest 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 Ro'drest'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 Ro'drest 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 Cornath.
A close encounter
On his way back to the barracks , Ro'drest 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 Ro'drest 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, Ro'drest decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger.
Returning at last to Cornath – billeted between M'tom's Kauth and a mucky-looking brown dragonet – Ro'drest 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 – Ro'drest 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 Rosgudrest's Impression here. Ro'drest and Cornath's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!
Ro'drest'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
Cornath and I complement each other!
Achievement Unlocked:
SNAKES AND SNAILS
I haven't been very nice!
Achievement Unlocked:
EBONY AND IVORY
Cornath and I agreed on something very important!
Achievement Unlocked:
BUM NOTE
Cornath and I disagreed on something quite important!