Soledad and green Thuidith
The Road So Far!
It all began at Madellon Weyr for Soledad – a young girl of 13 Turns, dreaming of becoming a green rider.
Soledad 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, Soledad 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, Soledad 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 Soledad! Backed up by her crony Berrin, Thippia became the thorn in Soledad's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.
Hatching Day
The dragons' hum woke Jopha and Soledad 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 Soledad left, Jopha – whose Impression robe was sadly overlarge for her petite frame – recruited Soledad'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, Soledad 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 Soledad to find it. Despite Soledad's best efforts, though, she didn't manage to complete and return the jewellery set before the Hatching.
Respecting her elders
In the infirmary, Soledad encountered Kisha – a blind old green rider giving the Weyr's Healers a difficult time about taking her medicine. Kisha challenged Soledad to answer three riddles before she would consent to behave. And Soledad rose to that challenge – answering all three correctly, and winning Kisha's grudging respect!
A Masterful order
In the dining hall, Soledad 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, Soledad 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
Soledad 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. And while Soledad did manage to get G'tron excluded from the flight – not to mention another blue rider, G'pellas, who was needed in the Harper ensemble – she still ultimately failed to reconcile the star-crossed green riding lovers!
Kitchen diplomacy
Madellon's kitchens – the heart of the Weyr, and domain of Headwoman Crauva – provided Soledad 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 Soledad 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 – Soledad did!
Weyrbrat by name...
A run-in with a Weyrbrat – Terzon, whom Thippia had paid to cause Soledad trouble – resulted in an unfortunate public incident. All too aware of being shaken down, Soledad gave the kid a shove – in front of a number of witnesses – doing nothing for her reputation!
A shining example
Coming upon Santinoth – Madellon's biggest bronze – being bathed in the lake, Soledad was quick to offer assistance to his rider, T'rello. Perhaps Soledad was never going to Impress a bronze – but it couldn't hurt to have some hands-on experience!
Friend request
Knowing of Jopha's chequered history with Shookana, mistress of the Weyr's mending room, Soledad approached the task of having her robe adjusted with considerable caution. Realising that falsehood would be the wrong approach, Soledad went to Shookana with the truth – and a gift of popcorn. And while Soledad 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!
A Weyrleader's mercy
Early in the day, Soledad 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. By chance, she found a way onto the Hatching Ground – onto a very high ledge! Calling down for help was the only option, and a welcome – if embarrassing – lift down from Muzzanth himself returned Soledad safely to ground level.
Realising that honesty was the best policy, Soledad apologised to the Weyrleader for intruding – and was surprised to find T'gat remarkably sanguine about it, reminiscing about his own youthful journey through the passages. And a polite request granted Soledad the Weyrleader's permission to approach the clutch. She touched one of the eggs, marvelling at its palpable vitality.
The Hatching
When it came to the Hatching, Soledad didn't have to wait at all for her date with destiny. The spotted green and cream egg that Hatched first produced a vivid sea-green hatchling who spared no time in choosing Soledad, naming herself Thuidith.
A friend in me
And Soledad 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?
It turned out that making an enemy of Soledad was a very poor choice on Thippia's part. For the low, low price of just three marks, Soledad had Grimes, the shady fellow loitering near the Gather stalls, spread a series of nasty rumours about Thippia. By the time the Weyrlingmaster mustered the candidate cohort immediately before the Hatching, the damage to Thippia's reputation was done – and she was ejected from the candidate pool without ever setting foot on the Sands!
After the Hatching
"Thuidith" by Emily Holland
The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Soledad 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 Thuidith's first meal. That was Soledad's first opportunity to speak to Jopha, too, and they introduced each other, with considerable delight, to their respective dragonets, Thuidith and Deimoth.
It wasn't long before Thuidith'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 sister
Another friend Soledad made along the way – a young Weyrbred candidate, Brithie, whom Soledad had encountered in a sudden crisis of confidence directly before the Hatching – hailed Soledad at the barracks – crediting her with her successful Impression of a tiny bottle-green dragonet, Epatanth!
Meeting the Weyrleader
As Soledad 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. Soledad was proud to introduce Thuidith to the Weyrleader – and to give him her full new name: Soledad, rider of green Thuidith!
Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Thuidith's and Deimoth's newborn itchiness, Soledad 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
Soledad and Jopha soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk Soledad 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 Soledad and Thuidith, 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 Soledad, 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, Soledad 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 Soledad'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 Soledad 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 Thuidith.
A close encounter
On her way back to the barracks , Soledad 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 Soledad 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, Soledad decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger.
Returning at last to Thuidith – billeted between Jopha's Deimoth and a pretty blue-green dragonet – Soledad 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 – Soledad 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 Soledad's Impression here. Soledad and Thuidith's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!
Soledad'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
Thuidith and I complement each other!
Achievement Unlocked:
EBONY AND IVORY
Thuidith and I agreed on something very important!
Achievement Unlocked:
BUM NOTE
Thuidith and I disagreed on something quite important!