N'reny and blue Gelasith
The Road So Far!
It all began at Madellon Weyr for Neryeve – a young woman of 16 Turns, dreaming of becoming a blue rider.
Neryeve 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. Having been left standing at a Hatching once before, Neryeve wrestled with the fear that she wouldn't live up to her rider parents' expectations a second time.
As a candidate, Neryeve was assigned a bunkmate – Erilde, a quiet young woman from the Lower Caverns fearing a second unsuccessful Hatching, 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 – Auciet, a snobby and superior Holdbred girl – who took a firm disliking to Neryeve! Backed up by her crony Cedranne, Auciet became the thorn in Neryeve's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.
Hatching Day
The dragons' hum woke Erilde and Neryeve on 102.03.17. Following a brief run-in with Auciet, 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 Neryeve left, Erilde asked her to make enquiries about any dragonrider heritage she herself might possess, to give her confidence a boost before the Hatching.
The one-armed green rider
Immediately on leaving the candidate barracks, Neryeve was flagged down by M'shen – a green rider with only one arm. But whatever he wanted, Neryeve never discovered, being disinclined to be helpful with so many other errands to run.
Respecting her elders
In the Weyr's kitchen gardens, Neryeve encountered R'hren, a former Weyrleader of Madellon, now peacefully retired to potter among his beloved plants. R'hren asked Neryeve to help him track down the ingredients for a warming salve to help his elderly bronze, Staamath, with his arthritic forepaws. Neryeve duly located the components of R'hren's salve, winning the old bronze rider's approval in the process.
Southern comfort
Neryeve 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 Neryeve 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 Neryeve some intelligence on the Southern seven, his advice was somewhat garbled! Nonetheless, Neryeve 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, Neryeve 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, Neryeve 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.
Kitchen diplomacy
Madellon's kitchens – the heart of the Weyr, and domain of Headwoman Crauva – provided Neryeve with the opportunity to show off her 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 Neryeve to find for his warming salve.
Overkeen to get her hands on the last bubbly pie in the dining hall, Neryeve took it – forcibly – from a small child. Not the nicest thing to do – but mmm, pie...
Eggs and baskets
A visit to the Archives led to a meeting with Tarshe, Madellon's Weyrwoman Second. When Neryeve 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 – Neryeve did!
A blue lady
Coming across T'gala, Pern's only female blue rider, bathing her Heppeth in the lake, Neryeve 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 Neryeve didn't want to pass up.
Friend request
Seeking knowledge of Erilde's parentage, Neryeve visited the Weyr's Archives and sought advice from Weyrwoman Tarshe, the Weyrwoman Second. While Tarshe could find no evidence that Erilde's father had been a dragonrider, she suggested Neryeve might construct a story about a long-dead rider. Neryeve delved into Madellon's records and unearthed a brown rider, B'get, deceased some Turns ago, but of the right age to have fathered her friend. Bringing this plausible white lie to Erilde may have been a tad devious – but it had the desired effect on her belief that she could, in fact, possess the ability to Impress a dragon!
A slithery customer
Early in the day, Neryeve 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.
By a stroke of ill luck, Neryeve strayed into tunnel snake territory! A huge, aggressive, and potently venomous female tunnel-snake guarded the exit to the Hatching ground. Neryeve was lucky to avoid being bitten. But ultimately she evaded the snake, dodging past it and slipping out onto the Hatching Sands.
Having survived her encounter with the tunnel-snake, Neryeve approached the clutch – but not stealthily enough! Her presence woke Shimpath from her doze, and she and Muzzanth chased Neryeve off the sands!
The Hatching
When it came to the Hatching, Neryeve had to wait for every other dragonet to Hatch and choose a rider before the gleaming blue egg Hatched to reveal the bright indigo-blue hatchling who would choose her, naming himself Gelasith.
A friend in me
And Neryeve wasn't the only lucky one. To her delight, Erilde also Impressed, becoming the rider of an inquisitive teal-green hatchling, Shaldeth.
Whatever happened to Auciet?
For Auciet, getting on Neryeve's bad side proved to be an exceptionally poor choice. Neryeve dosed Auciet'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, Auciet was in considerable distress. Unable to bear the burning sensation in her nether regions, she fled the Hatching Sands – squandering her chance at Impression!
After the Hatching
"Gelasith" by Emily Holland
The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Neryeve 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 Gelasith's first meal. That was Neryeve's first opportunity to speak to Erilde, too, and they introduced each other, with considerable delight, to their respective dragonets, Gelasith and Shaldeth.
It wasn't long before Gelasith'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.
Big sister
Another friend Neryeve made along the way – a young Weyrbred candidate, Brithie, whom Neryeve had encountered in a sudden crisis of confidence directly before the Hatching – hailed Neryeve at the barracks – crediting her with her successful Impression of a tiny bottle-green dragonet, Epatanth!
Meeting the Weyrleader
As Neryeve and Erilde 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 Neryeve's unusual Impression of a blue. T'gat further enquired if Neryeve would like to elide her name, as T'gala had done, or not. Neryeve took up the opportunity to rename herself, and after a brief conference with Gelasith, Neryeve gave the Weyrleader her new name – N'reny, rider of blue Gelasith!
Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Gelasith's and Shaldeth's newborn itchiness, N'reny and Erilde 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
N'reny and Erilde soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk N'reny 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 N'reny and Gelasith, 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 N'reny, 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, N'reny 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 N'reny'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 N'reny 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 Gelasith.
A close encounter
On her way back to the barracks , N'reny 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 N'reny 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, N'reny decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger.
Returning at last to Gelasith – billeted between Erilde's Shaldeth and a pale green dragonet – N'reny 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 – N'reny 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 Neryeve's Impression here. N'reny and Gelasith's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!
N'reny'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
Gelasith and I complement each other!
Achievement Unlocked:
SUGAR AND SPICE
I've been a very nice person (so far)!
Achievement Unlocked:
EBONY AND IVORY
Gelasith and I agreed on something very important!
Achievement Unlocked:
BUM NOTE
Gelasith and I disagreed on something quite important!
Achievement Unlocked:
BFFs
Gelasith and Chanth made friends!