Myleena and green Yenneth
The Road So Far!
It all began at Jessaf Hold, in the protectorate of Madellon Weyr, for Myleena – a young woman of 16 Turns, dreaming of becoming a green rider.
Myleena was born to unusual privilege – a granddaughter of Winstone, Lord of mighty Jessaf Hold. Myleena 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, Myleena 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 Myleena 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, Myleena left to begin her candidacy at Madellon Weyr.
As a candidate, Myleena 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 Myleena! Backed up by her crony Cedranne, Auciet became the thorn in Myleena's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.
Hatching Day
The dragons' hum woke Erilde and Myleena 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 Myleena 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 and the thieving queen
Immediately on leaving the candidate barracks, Myleena 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 Myleena to find it. The quest took Myleena all over Madellon, from kitchens to lake to infirmary – but in the end she succeeded in reuniting the Weyrwoman's jewellery set, to general acclaim.
Respecting her elders
In the Weyr's kitchen gardens, Myleena encountered R'hren, a former Weyrleader of Madellon, now peacefully retired to potter among his beloved plants. R'hren asked Myleena to help him track down the ingredients for a warming salve to help his elderly bronze, Staamath, with his arthritic forepaws. Myleena duly located the components of R'hren's salve, winning the old bronze rider's approval in the process.
Gifted a small pot of the salve, Myleena offered it to old S'rius, who was equally appreciative of the gift. And while Kisha, the blind old green rider Myleena encountered in the infirmary, would have nothing to do with one of R'hren's concoctions, she too grew to approve of Myleena – especially after she solved all three of her fiendish riddles!
Southern comfort
Myleena 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 Myleena 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 Myleena some intelligence on the Southern seven, his advice was somewhat garbled! Nonetheless, Myleena 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, Myleena 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!
Sadly, though, Fr'ton's garbled instructions proved too convoluted for even Myleena to follow, and the drinks order went rather wrong!
A rising problem
Myleena 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. Myleena's intervention successfully got rid of G'tron, whose Imdoth was very sweet indeed on Bristath, from the mating flight – not to mention G'pellas, another blue rider, needed in the Harper ensemble – and reconciled the two green riders. Even if Myleena did annoy Soleigh, who wasn't impressed with her for prolonging Maris' binge by bringing her more wine!
Kitchen diplomacy
Madellon's kitchens – the heart of the Weyr, and domain of Headwoman Crauva – provided Myleena 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 Myleena 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 Myleena 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 – Myleena did!
A blue lady
Coming across T'gala, Pern's only female blue rider, bathing her Heppeth in the lake, Myleena 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 Myleena didn't want to pass up.
Friend request
Seeking knowledge of Erilde's parentage, Myleena 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 Myleena might construct a story about a long-dead rider. Myleena 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!
Hair today
Mindful of the Weyrlingmaster's orders to be smart for the Hatching, Myleena visited Madellon's resident barber – green rider Z'fell – for a trim. Very conscious of her dignity, Myleena ensured she came away with a cut she actually liked.
The Hatching
When it came to the Hatching, Myleena had to wait for every other dragonet to Hatch and choose a rider before the white-swirled grey-beige egg Hatched to reveal the dark emerald-green hatchling who would choose her, naming herself Yenneth.
But Yenneth was nearly beaten to Myleena by another dragonet – an inquisitive teal-green hatchling who seemed torn between Myleena and Erilde. Sensing that she wasn't the best match for her, Myleena stepped aside to give Erilde precedence – resulting in her Impression of the little green, Shaldeth.
Whatever happened to Auciet?
Sadly, there was at least one fly in the numbweed. Auciet Impressed an unusually aggressive grass-green hatchling, making them Myleena and Yenneth's new classmates. (On the bright side, at least Cedranne didn't Impress!)
After the Hatching
"Yenneth" by Chris S. Baily
The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Myleena 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 Yenneth's first meal. That was Myleena's first opportunity to speak to Erilde, too, and they introduced each other, with considerable delight, to their respective dragonets, Yenneth and Shaldeth.
It wasn't long before Yenneth's personality started to become evident. The emerald-green dragonet – the largest of her colour – immediately showed her devious and irreverent character, looking for mischief before she'd even left the Sands.
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 Myleena made along the way – a young Weyrbred candidate, Brithie, whom Myleena had encountered in a sudden crisis of confidence directly before the Hatching – hailed Myleena at the barracks – crediting her with her successful Impression of a tiny bottle-green dragonet, Epatanth!
Meeting the Weyrleader
As Myleena 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 to ask after their names. Myleena was proud to introduce Yenneth to the Weyrleader – and to give him her full new name: Myleena, rider of green Yenneth!
Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Yenneth's and Shaldeth's newborn itchiness, Myleena 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
Myleena and Erilde soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk Myleena 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, Myleena's grandfather, was faint with his praise for his granddaughter's Impression of Yenneth – 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 Myleena, 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, Myleena 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 Myleena'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 Myleena 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 Yenneth.
A close encounter
On her way back to the barracks , Myleena 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 Myleena 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, Myleena decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger.
Returning at last to Yenneth – billeted between Erilde's Shaldeth and a pale green dragonet – Myleena 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 – Myleena 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?
Myleena and Yenneth's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!
Myleena'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:
OPPOSITES ATTRACT
I make quite a strange match with Yenneth!
Achievement Unlocked:
SUGAR AND SPICE
I've been a very nice person (so far)!
Achievement Unlocked:
IN TUNE
Yenneth and I agreed on something quite important!
Achievement Unlocked:
BROKEN STRINGS
Yenneth and I disagreed on something very important!