E'yeno and blue Damourth

The Road So Far!

It all began at Madellon Weyr for Evieyeno – a young man of 17 Turns, dreaming of becoming a bronze rider.

Evieyeno was born the son of Wingleader R'yeno and green rider Evie of Madellon Weyr. While he didn't have to be Searched, he was 'given the nod' as a likely dragonrider by the Weyr's most senior retired Search pair – S'rius and his elderly blue Padseth. Having been left standing at a Hatching once before, Evieyeno wrestled with the fear that he wouldn't live up to his rider parents' expectations a second time.

As a candidate, Evieyeno was assigned a bunkmate – Soburn, an anxious Weyrbred youth with one failed Hatching already haunting him, 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 – Rielat, a self-important apprentice Weaver – who took a firm disliking to Evieyeno! Backed up by his crony Kestor, Rielat became the thorn in Evieyeno's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.

Hatching Day

The dragons' hum woke Soburn and Evieyeno on 102.03.17. Following a brief run-in with Rielat, 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 Evieyeno left, Soburn asked him to find out if H'nar, the young Wingleader of the Betweenless Wing, might currently be seeing someone – or not.

The one-armed green rider and the thieving queen

Immediately on leaving the candidate barracks, Evieyeno 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 Evieyeno to find it. The quest took Evieyeno all over Madellon, from kitchens to lake to infirmary – but in the end he succeeded in reuniting the Weyrwoman's jewellery set, to general acclaim.

Respecting his elders

In the Weyr's kitchen gardens, Evieyeno encountered R'hren, a former Weyrleader of Madellon, now peacefully retired to potter among his beloved plants. R'hren asked Evieyeno to help him track down the ingredients for a warming salve to help his elderly bronze, Staamath, with his arthritic forepaws. Evieyeno duly located the components of R'hren's salve, winning the old bronze rider's approval in the process.

Southern comfort

Evieyeno 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 Evieyeno 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 Evieyeno some intelligence on the Southern seven, his advice was somewhat garbled! Nonetheless, Evieyeno 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, Evieyeno 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, Evieyeno 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

Evieyeno 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 Evieyeno 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 – he 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 Evieyeno 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 Evieyeno 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 Evieyeno 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. But with one thing and another, Evieyeno didn't bring it back – earning the Weyrwoman Second's ire!

Weyrbrat by name...

A run-in with a Weyrbrat – Terzon, whom Rielat had paid to cause Evieyeno trouble – resulted in an unfortunate public incident. All too aware of being shaken down, Evieyeno gave the kid a shove – in front of a number of witnesses – doing nothing for his reputation!

A blue lady

Coming across T'gala, Pern's only female blue rider, bathing her Heppeth in the lake, Evieyeno offered his assistance – which T'gala gladly accepted.

Friend request

Conscious of Soburn's bashfulness, Evieyeno approached the object of his affections – H'nar, Wingleader of the Betweenless Wing – with some circumspection. Still, when questioned, H'nar insisted he had to know who was making enquiries of him. And when he learned the identity of his admirer, he told Evieyeno that he wasn't interested in Soburn – or any other men, for that matter. But Evieyeno's agile pivot in questioning revealed that a close friend of H'nar's – blue rider M'rany – might be a viable alternative. Thus encouraged, Soburn began to think more positively of life as a dragonrider – even if H'nar would end up being his Wingleader!

Hair today

Mindful of the Weyrlingmaster's orders to be smart for the Hatching, Evieyeno visited Madellon's resident barber – green rider Z'fell – for a trim. Very conscious of his dignity, Evieyeno ensured he came away with a cut he actually liked.

A slithery customer

Early in the day, Evieyeno 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 a glowbasket, he crawled into a confusing maze of passages.

By a stroke of ill luck, Evieyeno strayed into tunnel snake territory! A huge, aggressive, and potently venomous female tunnel-snake guarded the exit to the Hatching ground. Evieyeno was lucky to avoid being bitten. But ultimately he evaded the snake, dodging past it and slipping out onto the Hatching Sands.

Having survived his encounter with the tunnel-snake, Evieyeno approached the clutch – but not stealthily enough! His presence woke Shimpath from her doze, and she and Muzzanth chased Evieyeno off the sands!

The Hatching

When it came to the Hatching, Evieyeno didn't have to wait at all for his date with destiny. The gleaming blue egg that Hatched first produced a bright indigo-blue hatchling who spared no time in choosing Evieyeno, naming himself Damourth.

A friend in me

And Evieyeno wasn't the only lucky one. To his delight, Soburn also Impressed, becoming the rider of a slender olive-green hatchling, Aeranth.

Whatever happened to Rielat?

Quite simply, none of the dragonets seemed to want Rielat – he was left standing. Although Evieyeno did wonder if his own bright indigo-blue Damourth might have glanced, however briefly, in Rielat's direction, and what might have been had he not chosen him...

After the Hatching

"Damourth" by Emily Holland

The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Evieyeno on his Impression, but it was old S'rius, delighted to have found yet another weyrling, who stepped in to help with the immediate matter of Damourth's first meal. That was Evieyeno's first opportunity to speak to Soburn, too, and they introduced each other, with considerable delight, to their respective dragonets, Damourth and Aeranth. Soburn also told Evieyeno that his new name was to be – perhaps unsurprisingly – S'burn.

It wasn't long before Damourth's personality started to become evident. The big indigo-blue dragonet, the largest of his colour, showed his alert and serious nature from the beginning, demonstrating a high degree of focus for a blue.

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 Evieyeno and S'burn 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. Evieyeno was proud to introduce Damourth to the Weyrleader. And after a brief conference with Damourth, Evieyeno gave the Weyrleader his own new name: E'yeno, rider of blue Damourth!

Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Damourth's and Aeranth's newborn itchiness, E'yeno and S'burn 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

E'yeno and S'burn soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk E'yeno had helped during the day greeted him with warm congratulations as he hunted through the throng – but, at last, he found his family.

R'yeno and Evie couldn't have been happier to greet their son as a blue rider for the first time . And when the Weyrleaders came to drink a toast to E'yeno and Damourth, R'yeno was delighted to embarrass his son 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 E'yeno, 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, E'yeno 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 E'yeno'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 E'yeno 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 Damourth.

A close encounter

On his way back to the barracks , E'yeno 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 E'yeno 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, E'yeno decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger.

Returning at last to Damourth – billeted between S'burn's Aeranth and a bright bronze dragonet – E'yeno 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 blue beside him – E'yeno 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?

E'yeno and Damourth's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!

E'yeno'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

Damourth and I complement each other!

Achievement Unlocked:
INSULT TO INJURY

I Impressed the dragon that my rival coveted!

Achievement Unlocked:
SUGAR AND SPICE

I've been a very nice person (so far)!

Achievement Unlocked:
EBONY AND IVORY

Damourth and I agreed on something very important!

Achievement Unlocked:
IN TUNE

Damourth and I agreed on something quite important!