Z'rina and blue Rafleth
The Road So Far!
It all began at Madellon Weyr for Zarina – a young girl of 15 Turns, dreaming of becoming a blue rider.
Zarina 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, Zarina 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, Zarina 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 Zarina! Backed up by her crony Berrin, Thippia became the thorn in Zarina's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.
Hatching Day
The dragons' hum woke Jopha and Zarina 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 Zarina left, Jopha – whose Impression robe was sadly overlarge for her petite frame – recruited Zarina'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, Zarina 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 Zarina to find it. Despite Zarina's best efforts, though, she didn't manage to complete and return the jewellery set before the Hatching.
A blue lady
Coming across T'gala, Pern's only female blue rider, bathing her Heppeth in the lake, Zarina 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 Zarina didn't want to pass up.
Friend request
Knowing of Jopha's chequered history with Shookana, mistress of the Weyr's mending room, Zarina approached the task of having her robe adjusted with considerable caution. Realising that falsehood would be the wrong approach, Zarina went to Shookana with the truth – and a gift of popcorn. And while Zarina 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!
The Hatching
When it came to the Hatching, Zarina had an excruciatingly long wait before the grey-swirled silvery cream egg Hatched to reveal the very pale moon-blue dragonet who would choose her, naming himself Rafleth.
A friend in me
And Zarina 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?
Sadly, there was at least one fly in the numbweed. Thippia Impressed a very vocal mint-green hatchling, making them Zarina and Rafleth's new classmates. (On the bright side, at least Berrin didn't Impress!)
After the Hatching
"Rafleth" by Chris S. Baily
The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Zarina 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 Rafleth's first meal. That was Zarina's first opportunity to speak to Jopha, too, and they introduced each other, with considerable delight, to their respective dragonets, Rafleth and Deimoth.
It wasn't long before Rafleth's personality started to become evident. The moon-blue dragonet, while seemingly reluctant to even leave his egg, showed glimmers of a curiously perceptive and knowing mind beneath his apparent laziness.
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 Zarina made along the way – a young Weyrbred candidate, Brithie, whom Zarina had encountered in a sudden crisis of confidence directly before the Hatching – hailed Zarina at the barracks – crediting her with her successful Impression of a tiny bottle-green dragonet, Epatanth!
Meeting the Weyrleader
As Zarina 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 in particular to remark upon Zarina's unusual Impression of a blue. T'gat further enquired if Zarina would like to elide her name, as T'gala had done, or not. Zarina took up the opportunity to rename herself, and after a brief conference with Rafleth, Zarina gave the Weyrleader her new name – Z'rina, rider of blue Rafleth!
Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Rafleth's and Deimoth's newborn itchiness, Z'rina 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
Z'rina and Jopha soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk Z'rina 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 blue rider for the first time . And when the Weyrleaders came to drink a toast to Z'rina and Rafleth, 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 Z'rina, 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, Z'rina 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 Z'rina'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 Z'rina 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 Rafleth.
A close encounter
On her way back to the barracks , Z'rina 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 Z'rina 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, Z'rina decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger.
Returning at last to Rafleth – billeted between Jopha's Deimoth and a pale green dragonet – Z'rina 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 blue beside her – Z'rina 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?
Z'rina and Rafleth's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!
Z'rina'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
Rafleth and I complement each other!
Achievement Unlocked:
EBONY AND IVORY
Rafleth and I agreed on something very important!
Achievement Unlocked:
BUM NOTE
Rafleth and I disagreed on something quite important!
Achievement Unlocked:
ENEMY MINE
Rafleth and Chanth took against each other!