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Cally and green Clinth

The Road So Far!

It all began at Madellon Weyr for Cally – a young girl of 14 Turns, dreaming of becoming a green rider.

Cally 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, Cally 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, Cally 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 Cally! Backed up by her crony Berrin, Thippia became the thorn in Cally's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.

Hatching Day

The dragons' hum woke Jopha and Cally 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 Cally left, Jopha – whose Impression robe was sadly overlarge for her petite frame – recruited Cally'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, Cally 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 Cally to find it. Despite Cally's best efforts, though, she didn't manage to complete and return the jewellery set before the Hatching.

Kitchen diplomacy

Madellon's kitchens – the heart of the Weyr, and domain of Headwoman Crauva – provided Cally with the opportunity to show off her work ethic before the Hatching. A round of chores duly pleased Crauva.

A blue lady

Coming across T'gala, Pern's only female blue rider, bathing her Heppeth in the lake, Cally 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 Cally didn't want to pass up.

With friends like these...

But approaching Shookana, mistress of the mending room and Jopha's arch-enemy, with a less than honest approach resulted in disaster. When Cally tried to conceal the true owner of the offending robe, Shookana caught her in the lie – and tore Jopha's robe beyond mending. Forced to admit to the Weyrlingmaster that she had no robe, Jopha found herself on the end of L'stev's bad temper – and with many black marks already against her name, barred from candidacy!

The Hatching

When it came to the Hatching, Cally didn't have to wait at all for her date with destiny. The rough-textured cloudy white egg that Hatched first produced a vivid grassy-green hatchling who spared no time in choosing Cally, naming herself Clinth.

Whatever happened to Thippia?

Thippia's victimisation of Cally had serious consequences – for Thippia. Not everyone would have tattled on her the way Cally did, but her complaints about the other girl, together with L'stev's already thin opinion of Thippia, had the desired effect. Directly before the Hatching, L'stev ejected Thippia from the candidate pool!

After the Hatching

"Clinth" by Emily Holland

The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Cally 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 Clinth's first meal. That was the first moment Cally had truly grasped that Jopha wasn't going to be a weyrling alongside her – a truth that hit hard. In Jopha's absence, Arina, who'd Impressed a cloudy-green dragonet, Chanth – was a welcome friendly face.

It wasn't long before Clinth's personality started to become evident. The little grass-green dragonet, small for her colour, made up for her size with a fierce, aggressive personality – and very evident teeth!

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 Cally made along the way – a young Weyrbred candidate, Brithie, whom Cally had encountered in a sudden crisis of confidence directly before the Hatching – hailed Cally at the barracks – crediting her with her successful Impression of a tiny bottle-green dragonet, Epatanth!

Meeting the Weyrleader

As Cally and Arina 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. Cally was proud to introduce Clinth to the Weyrleader – and to give him her full new name: Cally, rider of green Clinth!

Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Clinth's and Chanth's newborn itchiness, Cally and Arina 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

Cally and Arina soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk Cally 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 green rider for the first time . And when the Weyrleaders came to drink a toast to Cally and Clinth, 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 Cally, 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, Cally 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 Cally'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 Cally 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 Clinth.

A close encounter

On her way back to the barracks , Cally 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 Cally 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, Cally decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger.

Returning at last to Clinth – billeted between Arina's Chanth and a pretty blue-green dragonet – Cally 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 – Cally 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?

Cally and Clinth's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!

Cally'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

Clinth and I complement each other!

Achievement Unlocked:
EBONY AND IVORY

Clinth and I agreed on something very important!

Achievement Unlocked:
BUM NOTE

Clinth and I disagreed on something quite important!