Sylfa and green Trachyth
The Road So Far!
It all began at Jessaf Hold, in the protectorate of Madellon Weyr, for Wysilfa – a young girl of 15 Turns, dreaming of becoming a green rider.
Wysilfa was born to unusual privilege – a granddaughter of Winstone, Lord of mighty Jessaf Hold. Wysilfa didn't scramble for the attention of the young Search rider, Garlan, who came to Jessaf in early 102 seeking candidates for Madellon Weyr's latest clutch. But as a scion of the Hold, Wysilfa was among the party welcoming the green rider to Jessaf – and, in due course, became the focus of her dragon Hushith's attention. Lord Winstone wasn't enthusiastic about Wysilfa becoming a candidate – while conceding that he could spare a younger grandchild. And with Winstone's admonition that she should remember her place as his granddaughter and not make a scene ringing in her ears, Wysilfa left to begin her candidacy at Madellon Weyr.
As a candidate, Wysilfa 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 Wysilfa! Backed up by her crony Berrin, Thippia became the thorn in Wysilfa's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.
Hatching Day
The dragons' hum woke Jopha and Wysilfa 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 Wysilfa left, Jopha – whose Impression robe was sadly overlarge for her petite frame – recruited Wysilfa'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, Wysilfa 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 Wysilfa to find it. Despite Wysilfa's best efforts, though, she didn't manage to complete and return the jewellery set before the Hatching.
Respecting her elders
In the infirmary, Wysilfa encountered Kisha – a blind old green rider giving the Weyr's Healers a difficult time about taking her medicine. Kisha challenged Wysilfa to answer three riddles before she would consent to behave. And Wysilfa rose to that challenge – answering all three correctly, and winning Kisha's grudging respect!
Southern comfort
Wysilfa 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 Wysilfa 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 Wysilfa some intelligence on the Southern seven, his advice was somewhat garbled! Nonetheless, Wysilfa unravelled Archidath's confusing suggestions and got the right packages to the right dragons – without being growled at!
Eggs and baskets
A visit to the Archives led to a meeting with Tarshe, Madellon's Weyrwoman Second. When Wysilfa 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 – Wysilfa did!
Weyrbrat by name...
A run-in with a Weyrbrat – Terzon, whom Thippia had paid to cause Wysilfa trouble – resulted in an unfortunate public incident. All too aware of being shaken down, Wysilfa gave the kid a shove – in front of a number of witnesses – doing nothing for her reputation!
Friend request
Knowing of Jopha's chequered history with Shookana, mistress of the Weyr's mending room, Wysilfa approached the task of having her robe adjusted with considerable caution. Realising that falsehood would be the wrong approach, Wysilfa went to Shookana with the truth – and a gift of popcorn. And while Wysilfa 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!
A Weyrleader's mercy
Early in the day, Wysilfa 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 chance, she found a way onto the Hatching Ground – onto a very high ledge! Calling down for help was the only option, and a welcome – if embarrassing – lift down from Muzzanth himself returned Wysilfa safely to ground level.
Realising that honesty was the best policy, Wysilfa apologised to the Weyrleader for intruding – and was surprised to find T'gat remarkably sanguine about it, reminiscing about his own youthful journey through the passages. And a polite request granted Wysilfa the Weyrleader's permission to approach the clutch. She touched one of the eggs, marvelling at its palpable vitality. And something about the elongated spotted egg made her feel strangely certain that she would Impress later that day.
The Hatching
When it came to the Hatching, Wysilfa had to wait a little while before the elongated spotted egg Hatched to reveal the pale mint-green dragonet who would choose her, naming herself Trachyth.
A friend in me
And Wysilfa 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?
Quite simply, none of the dragonets seemed to want Thippia – she was left standing. Although Wysilfa did wonder if her own pale mint-green Trachyth might have glanced, however briefly, in Thippia's direction, and what might have been had she not chosen her...
After the Hatching
"Trachyth" by Chris S. Baily
The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Wysilfa on her Impression, but it was Garlan, delighted that her risky choice of Winstone's granddaughter had Impressed, who stepped in to help with the immediate matter of Trachyth's first meal. That was Wysilfa's first opportunity to speak to Jopha, too, and they introduced each other, with considerable delight, to their respective dragonets, Trachyth and Deimoth.
It wasn't long before Trachyth's personality started to become evident. The pale green dragonet had absolutely no hesitation about making her voice – her very loud and strident voice – heard, indicating what a forceful and demanding character she would become.
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 Wysilfa made along the way – a young Weyrbred candidate, Brithie, whom Wysilfa had encountered in a sudden crisis of confidence directly before the Hatching – hailed Wysilfa at the barracks – crediting her with her successful Impression of a tiny bottle-green dragonet, Epatanth!
Meeting the Weyrleader
As Wysilfa 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 to ask after their names. Wysilfa was proud to introduce Trachyth to the Weyrleader – and to give him her full new name: Sylfa, rider of green Trachyth!
Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Trachyth's and Deimoth's newborn itchiness, Sylfa 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
Sylfa and Jopha soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk Sylfa had helped during the day greeted her with warm congratulations as she hunted through the throng – but, at last, she found her family.
Lord Winstone, Sylfa's grandfather, was faint with his praise for his granddaughter's Impression of Trachyth – suggesting that she should have waited for a chance at a queen. The Weyrleaders were swift to insist that Impressing any dragon was a great achievement!
The rest of the evening passed in a blur for Sylfa, 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, Sylfa 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 Sylfa's background with her – including much of what she had got up to on the morning of the Hatching – for good and ill. She cleared up an anomaly with her new name, too. She offered Sylfa 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 Trachyth.
A close encounter
On her way back to the barracks , Sylfa 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 Sylfa 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, Sylfa decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger – though she did give L'stev her new name.
Returning at last to Trachyth – billeted between Jopha's Deimoth and a pretty blue-green dragonet – Sylfa 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 – Sylfa 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 Sylfa's new name?
Find out more about Wysilfa's Impression here. Sylfa and Trachyth's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!
Sylfa'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:
DEED POLL
I changed my name by choice!
Achievement Unlocked:
BIRDS OF A FEATHER
Trachyth and I make a very strong match!
Achievement Unlocked:
THE PATH LESS TRAVELLED
I pre-Impressed Trachyth by touching her egg before the Hatching!
Achievement Unlocked:
INSULT TO INJURY
I Impressed the dragon that my rival coveted!
Achievement Unlocked:
EBONY AND IVORY
Trachyth and I agreed on something very important!
Achievement Unlocked:
IN TUNE
Trachyth and I agreed on something quite important!