Sharn and green Gnielth
The Road So Far!
It all began at the Healer Hall at Blue Shale Hold, in the protectorate of Madellon Weyr, for Sharn – a young girl of 13 Turns, dreaming of becoming a green rider.
Sharn was born the daughter of two Master Healers at the Southern Healerhall, Blue Shale Hold. She was treating minor injuries even before she was formally apprenticed to the Craft. But frustration with the drudgery of the long apprenticeship made Sharn an undistinguished crafter, lacking the focus or passion demanded by the Healerhall. And then, in early 102, brown rider P'lian came to the Healer Hall complaining of frostbitten fingers. Sharn was assigned to treat the minor condition. But P'lian's Sparth – despite his colour, a budding Search-sensitive dragon – insisted that Sharn was a likely sort for candidacy. And a sevenday later, Sharn arrived at Madellon Weyr, joining the candidate pool for senior queen Shimpath's first clutch by her new mate Muzzanth.
As a candidate, Sharn 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 Sharn! Backed up by her crony Berrin, Thippia became the thorn in Sharn's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.
Hatching Day
The dragons' hum woke Jopha and Sharn 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 Sharn left, Jopha – whose Impression robe was sadly overlarge for her petite frame – recruited Sharn'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, Sharn 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 Sharn to find it. Despite Sharn's best efforts, though, she didn't manage to complete and return the jewellery set before the Hatching.
Disrespecting her elders
In the Weyr's kitchen gardens, Sharn encountered R'hren, a former Weyrleader of Madellon, now peacefully retired to potter among his beloved plants. But they got off to a poor start – Sharn had unwittingly taken a redfruit without permission – and furthermore lied about it when challenged by the old bronze rider. The scrumping alone might not have turned R'hren against Sharn – but the literal red-handed lie did!
Southern comfort
Sharn 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 Sharn 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 Sharn some intelligence on the Southern seven, his advice was somewhat garbled! Nonetheless, Sharn 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, Sharn 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, Sharn 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. Sharn even shared the largesse with Zielaph, who then introduced her to Fr'ton – who, having Impressed a bronze in spite of his less than boundless promise, gave Sharn a certain confidence in her own prospects!
A rising problem
Sharn 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. Sharn'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.
Kitchen diplomacy
Madellon's kitchens – the heart of the Weyr, and domain of Headwoman Crauva – provided Sharn with the opportunity to show off her work ethic before the Hatching. A round of chores duly pleased Crauva, and earned her a selection of goodies warm from the oven..
Pie-more
Sharn certainly indulged her sweet tooth before the Hatching – laying claim to not one, not two, but three different types of bubbly pie Albeit she stole one of them..
Eggs and baskets
A visit to the Archives led to a meeting with Tarshe, Madellon's Weyrwoman Second. When Sharn 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 – Sharn did!
Weyrbrat by name...
A run-in with a Weyrbrat – Terzon, whom Thippia had paid to cause Sharn trouble – resulted in an unfortunate public incident. All too aware of being shaken down, Sharn gave the kid a shove – in front of a number of witnesses – doing nothing for her reputation!
At the lake, T'gala – the only female blue rider on Pern – asked for Sharn's help in bathing her big Southern blue, Heppeth. Sharn, reluctant to get wet, refused – earning T'gala's dislike, and a blot on her reputation!
Friend request
Knowing of Jopha's chequered history with Shookana, mistress of the Weyr's mending room, Sharn approached the task of having her robe adjusted with considerable caution. Realising that falsehood would be the wrong approach, Sharn went to Shookana with the truth – and a gift of popcorn. And while Sharn 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!
Wherry bad behaviour
Sharn's assorted instances of bad behaviour finally caught up with her. L'stev collared her in the Bowl and gave her an ultimatum – buck up her ideas, or sit the Hatching out. Sharn chose the former, and the Weyrlingmaster sent her to do penance in the wherry hatchery – though Sharn remained on probation, with one more slip promising to rule her out of standing!
A curious development
Early in the day, Sharn 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 glowbaskets, she crawled into a confusing maze of passages.
Sharn never made it to the Hatching ground – instead, encountering an unusually intelligent feline in the tunnels. Following it deeper into the ventilation shafts, Sharn came across the most unexpected discovery – a hidden room, full of a very peculiar selection of individuals. But she had barely taken stock of her situation before Vanzanth, the Weyrlingmaster's brown, forced his way into the room – ordering Sharn out, and commanding her never to speak of the encounter again!
The Hatching
When it came to the Hatching, Sharn didn't have to wait too long for her date with destiny. The long pale grey egg Hatched out a light cloudy-green dragonet who told Sharn her name was Gnielth.
A friend in me
And Sharn 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?
Sadly, there was at least one fly in the numbweed. Thippia Impressed a very vocal mint-green hatchling, making them Sharn and Gnielth's new classmates. (On the bright side, at least Berrin didn't Impress!)
After the Hatching
"Gnielth" by Emily Holland
The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Sharn on her Impression, but it was P'lian, ecstatic that Sparth's very first Search had yielded an Impression, who stepped in to help with the immediate matter of Gnielth's first meal. That was Sharn's first opportunity to speak to Jopha, too, and they introduced each other, with considerable delight, to their respective dragonets, Gnielth and Deimoth.
It wasn't long before Gnielth'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 Sharn made along the way – a young Weyrbred candidate, Brithie, whom Sharn had encountered in a sudden crisis of confidence directly before the Hatching – hailed Sharn at the barracks – crediting her with her successful Impression of a tiny bottle-green dragonet, Epatanth!
Meeting the Weyrleader
As Sharn 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. Sharn was proud to introduce Gnielth to the Weyrleader – and to give him her full new name: Sharn, rider of green Gnielth!
Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Gnielth's and Deimoth's newborn itchiness, Sharn 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
Sharn and Jopha soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk Sharn had helped during the day greeted her with warm congratulations as she hunted through the throng – but, at last, she found her family.
Sharn's father, a loud man in normal times, was positively bellowing with pleasure at Sharn's Impression – albeit with a certain disappointment that his daughter wouldn't be continuing in the Healercraft. And he embarrassed both his daughter, and his long-suffering wife, still further when the Weyrleaders came to drink a toast to Sharn and Gnielth – remarking, very loudly, on the parentage of Valonna's soon-to-arrive first baby!
The rest of the evening passed in a blur for Sharn, 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, Sharn 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 Sharn'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 Sharn 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 Gnielth.
A close encounter
On her way back to the barracks , Sharn 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 Sharn 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, Sharn decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger.
Returning at last to Gnielth – billeted between Jopha's Deimoth and a pretty blue-green dragonet – Sharn 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 – Sharn 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 Sharn's Impression here. Sharn and Gnielth's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!
Sharn'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
Gnielth and I complement each other!
Achievement Unlocked:
SNAKES AND SNAILS
I haven't been very nice!
Achievement Unlocked:
EBONY AND IVORY
Gnielth and I agreed on something very important!
Achievement Unlocked:
IN TUNE
Gnielth and I agreed on something quite important!