J'stin and blue Nikith

The Road So Far!

It all began at Madellon Weyr for Justin – a young man of 16 Turns, dreaming of becoming a green rider.

Justin was born the son of Nelya, a Headwoman's Second at Madellon Weyr. While he didn't have to be Searched, he 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, Justin struggled with both his modest upbringing as a Weyr child with no rider blood, and his fear that he wasn't dragonrider material.

As a candidate, Justin was assigned a bunkmate – Soburn, an anxious Weyrbred youth with one failed Hatching already haunting him, who would soon become his closest friend in the Weyr. He also got to know many of his fellow candidates, including the Weyrbred twins Leover and Leoguy; Zielaph, the nephew of a Madellon bronze rider; and Chiliam, a good-natured highborn lad from Kellad.

But he also made an enemy – Rielat, a self-important apprentice Weaver – who took a firm disliking to Justin! Backed up by his crony Kestor, Rielat became the thorn in Justin's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.

Hatching Day

The dragons' hum woke Soburn and Justin on 102.03.17. Following a brief run-in with Rielat, 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 Justin left, Soburn asked him to find out if H'nar, the young Wingleader of the Betweenless Wing, might currently be seeing someone – or not.

The one-armed green rider and the thieving queen

Immediately on leaving the candidate barracks, Justin 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 Justin to find it. Despite Justin's best efforts, though, he didn't manage to complete and return the jewellery set before the Hatching.

Respecting his elders

In the Weyr's kitchen gardens, Justin encountered R'hren, a former Weyrleader of Madellon, now peacefully retired to potter among his beloved plants. R'hren asked Justin to help him track down the ingredients for a warming salve to help his elderly bronze, Staamath, with his arthritic forepaws. Justin 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, Justin offered it to old S'rius, who was equally appreciative of the gift. And while Kisha, the blind old green rider Justin encountered in the infirmary, would have nothing to do with one of R'hren's concoctions, she too grew to approve of Justin – especially after he solved all three of her fiendish riddles!

Southern comfort

Justin 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 Justin 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 Justin some intelligence on the Southern seven, his advice was somewhat garbled! Nonetheless, Justin unravelled Archidath's confusing suggestions and got the right packages to the right dragons – without being growled at!

Hot stuff

Madellon's kitchen was the source of the hotfruit R'hren had sent Justin to find for his warming salve. Headwoman Crauva handed one over immediately he asked for it, pleased to be helping such an august figure as the old Weyrleader.

A blue lady

Coming across T'gala, Pern's only female blue rider, bathing her Heppeth in the lake, Justin offered his assistance – which T'gala gladly accepted.

Friend request

Conscious of Soburn's bashfulness, Justin approached the object of his affections – H'nar, Wingleader of the Betweenless Wing – with some circumspection. Still, when questioned, H'nar insisted he had to know who was making enquiries of him. And when he learned the identity of his admirer, he told Justin that he wasn't interested in Soburn – or any other men, for that matter. But Justin's agile pivot in questioning revealed that a close friend of H'nar's – blue rider M'rany – might be a viable alternative. Thus encouraged, Soburn began to think more positively of life as a dragonrider – even if H'nar would end up being his Wingleader!

The Hatching

When it came to the Hatching, Justin didn't have to wait at all for his date with destiny. The yellow-green craggy-textured egg that Hatched first produced a light sky-blue hatchling who spared no time in choosing Justin, naming himself Nikith.

A friend in me

And Justin wasn't the only lucky one. To his delight, Soburn also Impressed, becoming the rider of a slender olive-green hatchling, Aeranth.

Whatever happened to Rielat?

Sadly, there was at least one fly in the numbweed. Rielat Impressed an impressively proportioned indigo-blue hatchling, making them Justin and Nikith's new classmates. (On the bright side, at least Kestor didn't Impress!)

After the Hatching

"Nikith" by Chris S. Baily

The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Justin on his Impression, but it was old S'rius, delighted to have found yet another weyrling, who stepped in to help with the immediate matter of Nikith's first meal. That was Justin's first opportunity to speak to Soburn, too, and they introduced each other, with considerable delight, to their respective dragonets, Nikith and Aeranth. Soburn also told Justin that his new name was to be – perhaps unsurprisingly – S'burn.

It wasn't long before Nikith's personality started to become evident. The big sky-blue dragonet demonstrated an enormous desire to please, making him an especially endearing character.

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 brother

Another friend Justin made along the way – a young Holdbred candidate, Nichen, whom Justin had encountered in a hopelessly dishevelled state directly before the Hatching – hailed Justin at the barracks – crediting him with his successful Impression of a moon-blue dragonet, Yooth!

Meeting the Weyrleader

As Justin and S'burn wiped the worst of the blood and sand from their tired new dragonets, the Weyrleader, T'gat, came to inspect both boys' dragonets, to ask after their names – and to ask the two new weyrlings how they should now be called. Justin was proud to introduce Nikith to the Weyrleader. And after a brief conference with Nikith, Justin gave the Weyrleader his own new name: J'stin, rider of blue Nikith!

Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Nikith's and Aeranth's newborn itchiness, J'stin and S'burn headed into the boys' 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

J'stin and S'burn soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk J'stin had helped during the day greeted him with warm congratulations as he hunted through the throng – but, at last, he found his family.

J'stin's mother, Nelya, was thrilled by her son's Impression – though perhaps not quite as ecstatic as J'stin's younger siblings, Ashi and Halante. As the first dragonrider in the family, J'stin was keenly aware of what it meant to his brother and sister. And when the Weyrleaders came to drink a toast to J'stin and Nikith, Valonna was particularly delighted for Nelya – one of her most trusted Headwoman Seconds.

The rest of the evening passed in a blur for J'stin, 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, J'stin was flagged down by a Weyrbrat, Emry, bringing the message that Weyrwoman Second Tarshe wanted to see him in the Archives.

Setting the record straight

Tarshe, tasked by the Weyrwoman with converting candidate documentation into weyrling records, went through J'stin's background with him – including much of what he had got up to on the morning of the Hatching – for good and ill. She offered J'stin some advice about paying attention to his new classmates and surroundings, lest he fall foul of the Weyrlingmaster's penchant for snap quizzes, and made some observations on Nikith.

A close encounter

On his way back to the barracks , J'stin 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 J'stin would later realise was firestone, who called him by name – and gave him a curious wooden box.

"The Watchful Queen" by Chris S. Baily

Back at the barracks, J'stin decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger.

Returning at last to Nikith – billeted between S'burn's Aeranth and a mucky-looking brown dragonet – J'stin was too tired to examine the strange wooden box very closely, and put it in his clothes' chest for later examination. But even as he went to sleep – a dragonrider at last, his blue beside him – J'stin 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 Justin's Impression here. J'stin and Nikith's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!

J'stin'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:
BIRDS OF A FEATHER

Nikith and I make a very strong match!

Achievement Unlocked:
SUGAR AND SPICE

I've been a very nice person (so far)!

Achievement Unlocked:
EBONY AND IVORY

Nikith and I agreed on something very important!

Achievement Unlocked:
BUM NOTE

Nikith and I disagreed on something quite important!