Cadhla and green Ranverinth
The Road So Far!
It all began at Jessaf Hold, in the protectorate of Madellon Weyr, for Cadhla – a young girl of 13 Turns, dreaming of becoming a green rider.
Cadhla was born the daughter of a modest cotholder at Jessaf Hold, working alongside her widowed father to work their allotted land, and help bring up her young twin siblings, Albon and Gettie. And in early 102, when a green rider, N'jol, and his Kistrith came to Jessaf in search of candidates for Madellon Weyr's hardening clutch, Cadhla didn't even present herself as a hopeful. Yet it was Cadhla that Kistrith singled out among all those young people. She almost didn't accept Search – anxious not to abandon her father. But he insisted, revealing that his late wife, Cadhla's mother, had always dreamed of being a dragonrider – and gifting Cadhla with her blue feather pendant as a lucky charm.
As a candidate, Cadhla 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 Cadhla! Backed up by her crony Berrin, Thippia became the thorn in Cadhla's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.
Hatching Day
The dragons' hum woke Jopha and Cadhla 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 Cadhla left, Jopha – whose Impression robe was sadly overlarge for her petite frame – recruited Cadhla's help in getting it adjusted by her nemesis Shookana in the mending room.
The one-armed green rider
Immediately on leaving the candidate barracks, Cadhla was flagged down by M'shen – a green rider with only one arm. But whatever he wanted, Cadhla never discovered, after making a mean-spirited joke about M'shen's missing hand that – not unreasonably – made the green rider take against her.
Respecting her elders
In the infirmary, Cadhla encountered Kisha – a blind old green rider giving the Weyr's Healers a difficult time about taking her medicine. Kisha challenged Cadhla to answer three riddles before she would consent to behave. And Cadhla rose to that challenge – answering all three correctly, and winning Kisha's grudging respect!
A Masterful order
In the dining hall, Cadhla 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, Cadhla 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. Cadhla even shared the largesse with Zielaph, who then introduced her to Fr'ton – who, having Impressed a bronze in spite of his less than boundless promise, gave Cadhla a certain confidence in her own prospects!
A rising problem
Cadhla 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 Cadhla 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 Cadhla with the opportunity to show off her work ethic before the Hatching. A round of chores duly pleased Crauva.
Weyrbrat by name...
A run-in with a Weyrbrat – Terzon, whom Thippia had paid to cause Cadhla trouble – resulted in an unfortunate public incident. All too aware of being shaken down, Cadhla 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, Cadhla was quick to offer assistance to his rider, T'rello. Perhaps Cadhla was never going to Impress a bronze – but it couldn't hurt to have some hands-on experience!
With friends like these...
But approaching Shookana, mistress of the mending room and Jopha's arch-enemy, with a less than honest approach resulted in disaster. When Cadhla tried to conceal the true owner of the offending robe, Shookana caught her in the lie – and tore Jopha's robe beyond mending. Forced to admit to the Weyrlingmaster that she had no robe, Jopha found herself on the end of L'stev's bad temper – and with many black marks already against her name, barred from candidacy!
A breath of foul air
Early in the day, Cadhla 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. The route she chose turned out to be thick with choking toxic fumes from Madellon's volcanic foundation, and Cadhla soon found herself struggling for breath.
Undeterred, Cadhla pushed through the discomfort, and emerged shortly onto the Hatching Sands. But she wasn't quiet enough. Shimpath, dozing only very lightly, awoke, and she and Muzzanth chased Cadhla from the Sands!
The Hatching
When it came to the Hatching, Cadhla had to wait a little while before the pearlescently pink egg Hatched to reveal the deep bottle-green dragonet who would choose her, naming herself Ranverinth.
Whatever happened to Thippia?
Sadly, there was at least one fly in the numbweed. Thippia Impressed a very vocal mint-green hatchling, making them Cadhla and Ranverinth's new classmates. (On the bright side, at least Berrin didn't Impress!)
After the Hatching
"Ranverinth" by Chris S. Baily
The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Cadhla on her Impression, but it was N'jol, delighted that his most humble candidate had Impressed, who stepped in to help with the immediate matter of Ranverinth's first meal. That was the first moment Cadhla had truly grasped that Jopha wasn't going to be a weyrling alongside her – a truth that hit hard. In Jopha's absence, Arina, who'd Impressed a cloudy-green dragonet, Chanth – was a welcome friendly face.
It wasn't long before Ranverinth's personality started to become evident. The bottle-green dragonet – by some margin the smallest hatchling of the clutch – had a nervous and wary personality to match, startling at everything and everyone.
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 Cadhla and Arina 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. Cadhla was proud to introduce Ranverinth to the Weyrleader – and to give him her full new name: Cadhla, rider of green Ranverinth!
Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Ranverinth's and Chanth's newborn itchiness, Cadhla and Arina 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
Cadhla and Arina soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk Cadhla had helped during the day greeted her with warm congratulations as she hunted through the throng – but, at last, she found her family.
Cadhla's father almost couldn't believe his daughter's good fortune, completely thrilled to be the father of a dragonrider. And he was even more starstruck when the Weyrleaders came to drink a toast to Cadhla and Ranverinth.
The rest of the evening passed in a blur for Cadhla, 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, Cadhla 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 Cadhla'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 Cadhla 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 Ranverinth.
A close encounter
On her way back to the barracks (by way of the infirmary, as ordered by Tarshe), Cadhla 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 Cadhla 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, Cadhla decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger.
Returning at last to Ranverinth – billeted between Arina's Chanth and a pretty blue-green dragonet – Cadhla 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 – Cadhla 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 Cadhla's Impression here. Cadhla and Ranverinth's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!
Cadhla'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
Ranverinth and I complement each other!
Achievement Unlocked:
PLEASE STATE THE NATURE OF THE MEDICAL EMERGENCY
I returned to the infirmary!
Achievement Unlocked:
EBONY AND IVORY
Ranverinth and I agreed on something very important!
Achievement Unlocked:
BUM NOTE
Ranverinth and I disagreed on something quite important!