Evette and green Mehrath
The Road So Far!
It all began at Madellon Weyr for Evette – a young girl of 15 Turns, dreaming of becoming a blue rider.
Evette was born the daughter of Nelya, a Headwoman's Second at 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 with no dragonrider blood, Evette looked forward to the Hatching with both excitement and trepidation – fearing she might not have what it takes to Impress, but hoping beyond hope that she would!
As a candidate, Evette 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 Evette! Backed up by her crony Berrin, Thippia became the thorn in Evette's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.
Hatching Day
The dragons' hum woke Jopha and Evette 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 Evette left, Jopha – whose Impression robe was sadly overlarge for her petite frame – recruited Evette'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, Evette 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 Evette to find it. The quest took Evette 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 infirmary, Evette encountered Kisha – a blind old green rider giving the Weyr's Healers a difficult time about taking her medicine. Kisha challenged Evette to answer three riddles before she would consent to behave. And Evette rose to that challenge – answering all three correctly, and winning Kisha's grudging respect!
Southern comfort
Evette 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 Evette 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 Evette some intelligence on the Southern seven, his advice was somewhat garbled! Nonetheless, Evette 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, Evette 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, Evette 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
Evette 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 Evette 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 Evette 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 Evette 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 – Evette did!
Weyrbrat by name...
A run-in with a Weyrbrat – Terzon, whom Thippia had paid to cause Evette trouble – resulted in an unfortunate public incident. All too aware of being shaken down, Evette 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, Evette 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 Evette didn't want to pass up.
Friend request
Knowing of Jopha's chequered history with Shookana, mistress of the Weyr's mending room, Evette approached the task of having her robe adjusted with considerable caution. Realising that falsehood would be the wrong approach, Evette went to Shookana with the truth – and a gift of popcorn. And while Evette 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!
Hair today
Mindful of the Weyrlingmaster's orders to be smart for the Hatching, Evette visited Madellon's resident barber – green rider Z'fell – for a trim. Very conscious of her dignity, Evette ensured she came away with a cut she actually liked.
A breath of foul air
Setting aside her petty rivalry with Thippia in the face of a genuine emergency, Evette set about getting Thippia to safety. And on crawling out onto the Hatching Ground, half suffocated herself, she raised the alarm with the Weyrleader before being overcome by the ordeal, and fainting there on the sand.
Evette woke in the infirmary, and while the Weyrleader and Weyrlingmaster questioned her sternly about her adventures, the fact that Evette had certainly saved Thippia's life counted in her favour, despite having disobeyed the order not to go meddling in the tunnels.
The Hatching
When it came to the Hatching, Evette had to wait for every other dragonet to Hatch and choose a rider before the grey-splashed beige egg Hatched to reveal the dark teal-green hatchling who would choose her, naming herself Mehrath.
A friend in me
And Evette wasn't the only lucky one. To her delight, Jopha also Impressed, becoming the rider of a big emerald-green hatchling, Deimoth.
After the Hatching
"Mehrath" by Chris S. Baily
The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Evette 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 Mehrath's first meal. That was Evette's first opportunity to speak to Jopha, too, and they introduced each other, with considerable delight, to their respective dragonets, Mehrath and Deimoth.
It wasn't long before Mehrath'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 Evette made along the way – a young Weyrbred candidate, Brithie, whom Evette had encountered in a sudden crisis of confidence directly before the Hatching – hailed Evette at the barracks – crediting her with her successful Impression of a tiny bottle-green dragonet, Epatanth!
Meeting the Weyrleader
As Evette 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. Evette was proud to introduce Mehrath to the Weyrleader – and to give him her full new name: Evette, rider of green Mehrath!
Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Mehrath's and Deimoth's newborn itchiness, Evette 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
Evette and Jopha soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk Evette had helped during the day greeted her with warm congratulations as she hunted through the throng – but, at last, she found her family.
Evette's mother, Nelya, was thrilled by her daughter's Impression – though perhaps not quite as ecstatic as Evette's younger siblings, Ashi and Halante. As the first dragonrider in the family, Evette was keenly aware of what it meant to her brother and sister. And when the Weyrleaders came to drink a toast to Evette and Mehrath, Valonna was particularly delighted for Nelya – one of her most trusted Headwoman Seconds.
The rest of the evening passed in a blur for Evette, 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, Evette 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 Evette'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 Evette 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 Mehrath.
A close encounter
On her way back to the barracks (by way of the infirmary, as ordered by Tarshe), Evette 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 Evette 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, Evette decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger.
Returning at last to Mehrath – billeted between Jopha's Deimoth and a pale green dragonet – Evette 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 – Evette 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 Evette's Impression here. Evette and Mehrath's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!
Evette'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
Mehrath and I make a very strong match!
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
Mehrath and I agreed on something very important!
Achievement Unlocked:
IN TUNE
Mehrath and I agreed on something quite important!