T'nor and bronze Bignoth
The Road So Far!
It all began at Madellon Weyr for Tigellanor – a young boy of 13 Turns, dreaming of becoming a bronze rider.
Tigellanor was born the son of Nelya, a Headwoman's Second at 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. As a first-time candidate with no dragonrider blood, Tigellanor looked forward to the Hatching with both excitement and trepidation – fearing he might not have what it takes to Impress, but hoping beyond hope that he would!
As a candidate, Tigellanor was assigned a bunkmate – Martom, a confident young Weyrbred lad, 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 – Gydeton, the blustering, entitled son of Lord Meturvian of Kellad – who took a firm disliking to Tigellanor! Backed up by his crony Varell, Gydeton became the thorn in Tigellanor's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.
Hatching Day
The dragons' hum woke Martom and Tigellanor on 102.03.17. Following a brief run-in with Gydeton, 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 Tigellanor left, Martom – keen to prove himself by Impressing on his first attempt – asked him for help procuring some additional confidence in the form of some alcohol.
The one-armed green rider
Immediately on leaving the candidate barracks, Tigellanor was flagged down by M'shen – a green rider with only one arm. But whatever he wanted, Tigellanor never discovered, being disinclined to be helpful with so many other errands to run.
Respecting his elders
In the Weyr's kitchen gardens, Tigellanor encountered R'hren, a former Weyrleader of Madellon, now peacefully retired to potter among his beloved plants. R'hren asked Tigellanor to help him track down the ingredients for a warming salve to help his elderly bronze, Staamath, with his arthritic forepaws. Tigellanor duly located the components of R'hren's salve, winning the old bronze rider's approval in the process.
Southern comfort
Tigellanor 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 Tigellanor 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 Tigellanor some intelligence on the Southern seven, his advice was somewhat garbled! Nonetheless, Tigellanor 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, Tigellanor 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, Tigellanor 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.
Bubbling up
Madellon's kitchens – the heart of the Weyr, and domain of Headwoman Crauva – proved an irresistable lure for Tigellanor – as well as the source of the hotfruit R'hren had sent him to find for his warming salve. But reluctant to actually get his hands dirty by helping, he sneaked in and stole a bubbly pie right from under the Headwoman's nose!
Pie-more
Tigellanor certainly indulged his sweet tooth before the Hatching – laying claim to not one, not two, but three different types of bubbly pie Albeit he stole one of them..
Eggs and baskets
A visit to the Archives led to a meeting with Tarshe, Madellon's Weyrwoman Second. When Tigellanor 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. Which – mindful of not offending such an important personage of the Weyr – Tigellanor did!
A shining example
Coming upon Santinoth – Madellon's biggest bronze – being bathed in the lake, Tigellanor was quick to offer assistance to his rider, T'rello. It couldn't hurt to have some close-up experience with a bronze, could it?
Friend request
Given Tigellanor's age, finding some wine for Martom proved difficult – the Weyr Vintner, Master Saxton, refused to sell it to an underage candidate. His only other alternative was an illicit purchase from the shady figure of Grimes. And L'stev's warning about getting drunk before the Hatching held weight. The Vintner's offering of alcohol-free grape juice gave Tigellanor an idea – and offering it to Martom, none the wiser for the substitution, still had the desired effect of boosting his confidence before the Hatching – without any unwanted side-effects!
Hair today
Mindful of the Weyrlingmaster's orders to be smart for the Hatching, Tigellanor visited Madellon's resident barber, Z'fell, for a trim. But he fell foul of the green rider's perverse sense of humour, and came away with a curious cut – short on top, long at the back – that prompted quite a number of odd looks and laughs at his expense!
A slithery customer
Early in the day, Tigellanor 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, Tigellanor strayed into tunnel snake territory! A huge, aggressive, and potently venomous female tunnel-snake guarded the exit to the Hatching ground. Tigellanor 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 snake, Tigellanor crept closer to the clutch – close enough to touch an egg – before beating a hasty retreat from the Hatching Ground!
The Hatching
When it came to the Hatching, Tigellanor had to wait a little while before the large greeny-grey egg Hatched to reveal the pale greeny-bronze dragonet who would choose him, naming himself Bignoth.
But Bignoth was nearly beaten to Tigellanor by another dragonet – a bright golden-bronze hatchling who seemed torn between Tigellanor and Martom. Sensing that he wasn't the best match for him, Tigellanor stepped aside to give his friend precedence – resulting in Martom's Impression of the little bronze, Kauth.
Whatever happened to Gydeton?
For Gydeton, getting on Tigellanor's bad side proved to be an exceptionally poor choice. Tigellanor dosed Gydeton's clean underfurs with hotfruit before the Hatching, and for once, the admonition to always put on clean underpants turned out to have very negative consequences. It took a little while for the hotfruit to take effect, but by the time the candidates reached the Hatching Sands, Gydeton was in considerable distress. Unable to bear the burning sensation in his nether regions, he fled the Hatching Sands – squandering his chance at Impression!
After the Hatching
"Bignoth" by Chris S. Baily
The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Tigellanor 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 Bignoth's first meal. That was Tigellanor's first opportunity to speak to Martom, too, and they introduced each other, with considerable delight, to their respective dragonets, Bignoth and Kauth. Martom also told Tigellanor that his new name was to be – perhaps unsurprisingly – M'tom.
It wasn't long before Bignoth's personality started to become evident. The pale bronze dragonet – the largest of the clutch, and the image of his father Muzzanth – proved to be a particular intelligent and perceptive character even minutes out of the egg.
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 brother
Another friend Tigellanor made along the way – a young Holdbred candidate, Nichen, whom Tigellanor had encountered in a hopelessly dishevelled state directly before the Hatching – hailed Tigellanor at the barracks – crediting him with his successful Impression of a moon-blue dragonet, Yooth!
Meeting the Weyrleader
As Tigellanor and M'tom 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. Tigellanor was proud to introduce Bignoth to the Weyrleader. And after a brief conference with Bignoth, Tigellanor gave the Weyrleader his own new name: T'nor, rider of bronze Bignoth!
Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Bignoth's and Kauth's newborn itchiness, T'nor and M'tom 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
T'nor and M'tom soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk T'nor had helped during the day greeted him with warm congratulations as he hunted through the throng – but, at last, he found his family.
T'nor's mother, Nelya, was thrilled by her son's Impression – though perhaps not quite as ecstatic as T'nor's younger siblings, Ashi and Halante. As the first dragonrider in the family, T'nor was keenly aware of what it meant to his brother and sister. And when the Weyrleaders came to drink a toast to T'nor and Bignoth, Valonna was particularly delighted for Nelya – one of her most trusted Headwoman Seconds.
The rest of the evening passed in a blur for T'nor, 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, T'nor 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 T'nor's background with him – including much of what he had got up to on the morning of the Hatching – for good and ill. She cleared up an anomaly with his new name, too. She offered T'nor 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 Bignoth.
A close encounter
On his way back to the barracks , T'nor 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 T'nor 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, T'nor decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger – though he did give L'stev his new name.
Returning at last to Bignoth – billeted between M'tom's Kauth and a slender green dragonet – T'nor 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 bronze beside him – T'nor was struck with a deep sense of foreboding. Who was the mysterious dragonrider in the hooded cloak? What was the significance of the strange wooden box? And how had the stranger known T'nor's new name?
T'nor and Bignoth's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!
T'nor'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:
APOSTROPHE NOW
I love the smell of elision in the morning!
Achievement Unlocked:
CEASE AND DESIST
I prevented legal difficulties by changing my name!
Achievement Unlocked:
THE YIN TO YOUR YANG
Bignoth and I complement each other!
Achievement Unlocked:
EBONY AND IVORY
Bignoth and I agreed on something very important!
Achievement Unlocked:
IN TUNE
Bignoth and I agreed on something quite important!