Maeve and green Roquath
The Road So Far!
It all began at Jessaf Hold, in the protectorate of Madellon Weyr, for Maeve – a young girl of 14 Turns, dreaming of becoming a green rider.
Maeve was born the daughter of a modest cotholder at Jessaf Hold, working alongside her widowed father to work their allotted land, and help bring up her 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, Maeve didn't even present herself as a hopeful. Yet it was Maeve that Kistrith singled out among all those young people. She almost didn't accept Search – anxious not to abandon her father. But he insisted, revealing that his late wife, Maeve's mother, had always dreamed of being a dragonrider – and gifting Maeve with her blue feather pendant as a lucky charm.
As a candidate, Maeve 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 Maeve! Backed up by her crony Berrin, Thippia became the thorn in Maeve's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.
Hatching Day
The dragons' hum woke Jopha and Maeve 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 Maeve left, Jopha – whose Impression robe was sadly overlarge for her petite frame – recruited Maeve'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, Maeve 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 Maeve to find it. The quest took Maeve all over Madellon, from kitchens to lake to infirmary – but in the end she succeeded in reuniting the Weyrwoman's jewellery set, to general acclaim.
Respecting her elders
In the Weyr's kitchen gardens, Maeve encountered R'hren, a former Weyrleader of Madellon, now peacefully retired to potter among his beloved plants. R'hren asked Maeve to help him track down the ingredients for a warming salve to help his elderly bronze, Staamath, with his arthritic forepaws. Maeve duly located the components of R'hren's salve, winning the old bronze rider's approval in the process.
Southern comfort
Maeve 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 Maeve 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 Maeve some intelligence on the Southern seven, his advice was somewhat garbled! Nonetheless, Maeve 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, Maeve met her 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, Maeve 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.
A rising problem
Maeve 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. Maeve'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 Maeve with the opportunity to show off her 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 Maeve 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 Maeve 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. But with one thing and another, Maeve didn't bring it back – earning the Weyrwoman Second's ire!
Weyrbrat by name...
A run-in with a Weyrbrat – Terzon, whom Thippia had paid to cause Maeve trouble – resulted in an unfortunate public incident. All too aware of being shaken down, Maeve gave the kid a shove – in front of a number of witnesses – doing nothing for her reputation!
A blue lady
Coming across T'gala, Pern's only female blue rider, bathing her Heppeth in the lake, Maeve offered her assistance – which T'gala gladly accepted. Getting some first-hand advice about what it took for T'gala to Impress a blue dragon was an opportunity Maeve didn't want to pass up.
Hair today
Mindful of the Weyrlingmaster's orders to be smart for the Hatching, Maeve visited Madellon's resident barber – green rider Z'fell – for a trim. Very conscious of her dignity, Maeve ensured she came away with a cut she actually liked.
A breath of foul air
Early in the day, Maeve found out about a secret way into the Hatching Ground via storeroom that might allow her 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, she crawled into a confusing maze of passages. The route she chose turned out to be thick with choking toxic fumes from Madellon's volcanic foundation, and Maeve soon found herself struggling for breath. And then she came across Thippia – having apparently followed Maeve into the passageways – lying unconscious and insensible in the fume-filled tunnel.
Perhaps it was the toxic air, or perhaps not – but when Maeve crawled out onto the Hatching sands, she didn't drag Thippia out with her – and nor did she tell the Weyrleader about her stricken fellow candidate. Overcome by the ordeal, Maeve fainted.
Maeve woke in the infirmary – only to be interrogated by a very grim Weyrleader T'gat and Weyrlingmaster L'stev. Thippia had been found – dead. And only some very quick talking on Maeve's part spared her from being thrown out of the Weyr entirely.
The Hatching
When it came to the Hatching, Maeve had to wait a little while before the white-swirled grey-beige egg Hatched to reveal the dark emerald-green dragonet who would choose her, naming herself Roquath.
With friends like these...
But Maeve's Impression of Roquath came at a cost – to Jopha. Roquath had looked like she was about to choose Jopha before Maeve pushed in front of her – claiming the green for herself. It would turn out to be a critical blow to Jopha's confidence. No other dragonet took an interest in her, and she was ultimately among the candidates left standing.
After the Hatching
"Roquath" by Chris S. Baily
The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Maeve on her Impression, but it was N'jol, delighted that his most humble candidate had Impressed, who stepped in to help with the immediate matter of Roquath's first meal. That was the first moment Maeve had truly grasped that Jopha wasn't going to be a weyrling alongside her – a truth that hit hard. In Jopha's absence, Arina, who'd Impressed a cloudy-green dragonet, Chanth – was a welcome friendly face.
It wasn't long before Roquath's personality started to become evident. The emerald-green dragonet – the largest of her colour – immediately showed her devious and irreverent character, looking for mischief before she'd even left the Sands.
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 Maeve and Arina 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. Maeve was proud to introduce Roquath to the Weyrleader – and to give him her full new name: Maeve, rider of green Roquath!
Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Roquath's and Chanth's newborn itchiness, Maeve and Arina 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
Maeve and Arina soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk Maeve had helped during the day greeted her with warm congratulations as she hunted through the throng – but, at last, she found her family.
Maeve's father almost couldn't believe his daughter'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 Maeve and Roquath.
The rest of the evening passed in a blur for Maeve, 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, Maeve 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 Maeve'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 Maeve some advice about paying attention to her new classmates and surroundings, lest she fall foul of the Weyrlingmaster's penchant for snap quizzes, advised her to report to Master Isnan before returning to the barracks to get her injuries checked again, and made some observations on Roquath.
A close encounter
On her way back to the barracks (by way of the infirmary, as ordered by Tarshe), Maeve 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 Maeve 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, Maeve decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger.
Returning at last to Roquath – billeted between Arina's Chanth and a pretty blue-green dragonet – Maeve 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 – Maeve 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 Maeve's Impression here. Maeve and Roquath's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!
Maeve'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
Roquath 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
Roquath and I agreed on something very important!
Achievement Unlocked:
IN TUNE
Roquath and I agreed on something quite important!
Achievement Unlocked:
OUT, DAMNED SPOT
I left Thippia to die, and I'll have to live with that secret, forever.
Achievement Unlocked:
ENEMY MINE
Roquath and Kettymath took against each other!