Bree and blue Helikoth
The Road So Far!
It all began at Madellon Weyr for Bree – a young girl of 15 Turns, dreaming of becoming a blue rider.
Bree was born the daughter of Wingleader R'yeno and green rider Evie of 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. As a first-time candidate, Bree looked forward to the Hatching with both excitement and trepidation – half convinced that she would be meeting her own dragon at last; half terrified of failing to meet the standards expected of a Wingleader's daughter!
As a candidate, Bree 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 Bree! Backed up by her crony Berrin, Thippia became the thorn in Bree's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.
Hatching Day
The dragons' hum woke Jopha and Bree 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 Bree left, Jopha – whose Impression robe was sadly overlarge for her petite frame – recruited Bree'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, Bree 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 Bree to find it. Despite Bree's best efforts, though, she didn't manage to complete and return the jewellery set before the Hatching.
Respecting her elders
In the Weyr's kitchen gardens, Bree encountered R'hren, a former Weyrleader of Madellon, now peacefully retired to potter among his beloved plants. R'hren asked Bree to help him track down the ingredients for a warming salve to help his elderly bronze, Staamath, with his arthritic forepaws. Bree duly located the components of R'hren's salve, winning the old bronze rider's approval in the process.
Hot stuff
Madellon's kitchen was the source of the hotfruit R'hren had sent Bree to find for his warming salve. Headwoman Crauva handed one over immediately she asked for it, pleased to be helping such an august figure as the old Weyrleader.
Weyrbrat by name...
A run-in with a Weyrbrat – Terzon, whom Thippia had paid to cause Bree trouble – resulted in an unfortunate public incident. All too aware of being shaken down, Bree gave the kid a shove – in front of a number of witnesses – doing nothing for her reputation!
A blue lady
Coming across T'gala, Pern's only female blue rider, bathing her Heppeth in the lake, Bree 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 Bree didn't want to pass up.
Friend request
Knowing of Jopha's chequered history with Shookana, mistress of the Weyr's mending room, Bree approached the task of having her robe adjusted with considerable caution. Realising that falsehood would be the wrong approach, Bree went to Shookana with the truth – and a gift of popcorn. And while Bree 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!
The Hatching
When it came to the Hatching, Bree had an excruciatingly long wait before the grey-swirled silvery cream egg Hatched to reveal the very pale moon-blue dragonet who would choose her, naming himself Helikoth.
A friend in me
And Bree 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?
For Thippia, getting on Bree's bad side proved to be an exceptionally poor choice. Bree dosed Thippia's clean underfurs with hotfruit before the Hatching, and for once, the admonition to always put on clean underpants turned out to have very negative consequences. It took a little while for the hotfruit to take effect, but by the time the candidates reached the Hatching Sands, Thippia was in considerable distress. Unable to bear the burning sensation in her nether regions, she fled the Hatching Sands – squandering her chance at Impression!
After the Hatching
"Helikoth" by Chris S. Baily
The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Bree 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 Helikoth's first meal. That was Bree's first opportunity to speak to Jopha, too, and they introduced each other, with considerable delight, to their respective dragonets, Helikoth and Deimoth.
It wasn't long before Helikoth's personality started to become evident. The moon-blue dragonet, while seemingly reluctant to even leave his egg, showed glimmers of a curiously perceptive and knowing mind beneath his apparent laziness.
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 Bree made along the way – a young Weyrbred candidate, Brithie, whom Bree had encountered in a sudden crisis of confidence directly before the Hatching – hailed Bree at the barracks – crediting her with her successful Impression of a tiny bottle-green dragonet, Epatanth!
Meeting the Weyrleader
As Bree 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 in particular to remark upon Bree's unusual Impression of a blue. T'gat further enquired if Bree would like to elide her name, as T'gala had done, or not. Bree elected not to elide her name – content to remain Bree, rider of blue Helikoth!
Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Helikoth's and Deimoth's newborn itchiness, Bree 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
Bree and Jopha soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk Bree had helped during the day greeted her with warm congratulations as she hunted through the throng – but, at last, she found her family.
R'yeno and Evie couldn't have been happier to greet their daughter as a blue rider for the first time . And when the Weyrleaders came to drink a toast to Bree and Helikoth, R'yeno was delighted to embarrass his daughter by insinuating that Gryth would be stiffer competition to Muzzanth in Shimpath's next flight.
The rest of the evening passed in a blur for Bree, 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, Bree 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 Bree'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 Bree 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 Helikoth.
A close encounter
On her way back to the barracks , Bree 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 Bree 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, Bree decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger.
Returning at last to Helikoth – billeted between Jopha's Deimoth and a pale green dragonet – Bree 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 blue beside her – Bree 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?
Bree and Helikoth's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!
Bree'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
Helikoth and I complement each other!
Achievement Unlocked:
EBONY AND IVORY
Helikoth and I agreed on something very important!
Achievement Unlocked:
BUM NOTE
Helikoth and I disagreed on something quite important!
Achievement Unlocked:
ENEMY MINE
Helikoth and Chanth took against each other!