Nhelli and green Sorcilth
The Road So Far!
It all began at Madellon Weyr for Nhelli – a young woman of 16 Turns, dreaming of becoming a dragonrider.
Nhelli was born the daughter of Nelya, a Headwoman's Second at 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, Nhelli struggled with both her modest upbringing as a Weyr child with no rider blood, and her fear that she wasn't dragonrider material.
As a candidate, Nhelli 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 Nhelli! Backed up by her crony Cedranne, Auciet became the thorn in Nhelli's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.
Hatching Day
The dragons' hum woke Erilde and Nhelli 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 Nhelli 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, Nhelli 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 Nhelli to find it. The quest took Nhelli 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, Nhelli encountered R'hren, a former Weyrleader of Madellon, now peacefully retired to potter among his beloved plants. R'hren asked Nhelli to help him track down the ingredients for a warming salve to help his elderly bronze, Staamath, with his arthritic forepaws. Nhelli 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, Nhelli offered it to old S'rius, who was equally appreciative of the gift. And while Kisha, the blind old green rider Nhelli encountered in the infirmary, would have nothing to do with one of R'hren's concoctions, she too grew to approve of Nhelli – especially after she solved all three of her fiendish riddles!
Southern comfort
Nhelli 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 Nhelli 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 Nhelli some intelligence on the Southern seven, his advice was somewhat garbled! Nonetheless, Nhelli 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, Nhelli 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 Nhelli to follow, and the drinks order went rather wrong!
A rising problem
Nhelli 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. Nhelli'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 Nhelli 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 Nhelli with the opportunity to show off her work ethic before the Hatching. A round of chores duly pleased Crauva, albeit cut short, literally, by the slip of a knife that sent Nhelli to the infirmary with a slice to be stitched up. And the kitchen was also the source of the hotfruit R'hren had sent Nhelli 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 Nhelli 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 – Nhelli did!
A blue lady
Coming across T'gala, Pern's only female blue rider, bathing her Heppeth in the lake, Nhelli 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 Nhelli didn't want to pass up.
Friend request
Seeking knowledge of Erilde's parentage, Nhelli 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 Nhelli might construct a story about a long-dead rider. Nhelli 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, Nhelli visited Madellon's resident barber, Z'fell, for a trim. But she 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 her expense!
A slithery customer
Early in the day, Nhelli 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, Nhelli strayed into tunnel snake territory! A huge, aggressive, and potently venomous female tunnel-snake guarded the exit to the Hatching ground. Nhelli 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, Nhelli approached the clutch – but not stealthily enough! Her presence woke Shimpath from her doze, and she and Muzzanth chased Nhelli off the sands!
The Hatching
When it came to the Hatching, Nhelli had an excruciatingly long wait before the long pale grey egg Hatched to reveal the light cloudy-green dragonet who would choose her, naming herself Sorcilth.
A friend in me
And Nhelli 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?
Auciet's victimisation of Nhelli had serious consequences – for Auciet. Not everyone would have tattled on her the way Nhelli did, but her complaints about the other girl, together with L'stev's already thin opinion of Auciet, had the desired effect. Directly before the Hatching, L'stev ejected Auciet from the candidate pool!
After the Hatching
"Sorcilth" by Emily Holland
The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Nhelli 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 Sorcilth's first meal. That was Nhelli's first opportunity to speak to Erilde, too, and they introduced each other, with considerable delight, to their respective dragonets, Sorcilth and Shaldeth.
It wasn't long before Sorcilth's personality started to become evident. The cloudy-green dragonet, being a very forthright and direct character, spared no time in making it clear that she wouldn't take any nonsense from anyone – her new rider included!
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 Nhelli made along the way – a young Weyrbred candidate, Brithie, whom Nhelli had encountered in a sudden crisis of confidence directly before the Hatching – hailed Nhelli at the barracks – crediting her with her successful Impression of a tiny bottle-green dragonet, Epatanth!
Meeting the Weyrleader
As Nhelli 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. Nhelli was proud to introduce Sorcilth to the Weyrleader – and to give him her full new name: Nhelli, rider of green Sorcilth!
Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Sorcilth's and Shaldeth's newborn itchiness, Nhelli 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
Nhelli and Erilde soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk Nhelli had helped during the day greeted her with warm congratulations as she hunted through the throng – but, at last, she found her family.
Nhelli's mother, Nelya, was thrilled by her daughter's Impression – though perhaps not quite as ecstatic as Nhelli's younger siblings, Ashi and Halante. As the first dragonrider in the family, Nhelli was keenly aware of what it meant to her brother and sister. And when the Weyrleaders came to drink a toast to Nhelli and Sorcilth, Valonna was particularly delighted for Nelya – one of her most trusted Headwoman Seconds.
The rest of the evening passed in a blur for Nhelli, 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, Nhelli 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 Nhelli'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 Nhelli 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 Sorcilth.
A close encounter
On her way back to the barracks (by way of the infirmary, as ordered by Tarshe), Nhelli 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 Nhelli 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, Nhelli decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger.
Returning at last to Sorcilth – billeted between Erilde's Shaldeth and a very large green dragonet – Nhelli 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 – Nhelli 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?
Nhelli and Sorcilth's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!
Nhelli'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
Sorcilth and I complement each other!
Achievement Unlocked:
SUGAR AND SPICE
I've been a very nice person (so far)!
Achievement Unlocked:
PLEASE STATE THE NATURE OF THE MEDICAL EMERGENCY
I returned to the infirmary!
Achievement Unlocked:
EBONY AND IVORY
Sorcilth and I agreed on something very important!
Achievement Unlocked:
IN TUNE
Sorcilth and I agreed on something quite important!