Se'nix and bronze Sedberth
The Road So Far!
It all began at the Healer Hall at Blue Shale Hold, in the protectorate of Madellon Weyr, for Seanix – a young boy of 15 Turns, dreaming of becoming a bronze rider.
Seanix was born the son of two Master Healers at the Southern Healerhall, Blue Shale Hold. He was treating minor injuries even before he was formally apprenticed to the Craft. But frustration with the drudgery of the long apprenticeship made Seanix 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. Seanix was assigned to treat the minor condition. But P'lian's Sparth – despite his colour, a budding Search-sensitive dragon – insisted that Seanix was a likely sort for candidacy. And a sevenday later, Seanix arrived at Madellon Weyr, joining the candidate pool for senior queen Shimpath's first clutch by her new mate Muzzanth.
As a candidate, Seanix was assigned a bunkmate – Martom, a confident young Weyrbred lad, 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 – Gydeton, the blustering, entitled son of Lord Meturvian of Kellad – who took a firm disliking to Seanix! Backed up by his crony Varell, Gydeton became the thorn in Seanix's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.
Hatching Day
The dragons' hum woke Martom and Seanix on 102.03.17. Following a brief run-in with Gydeton, 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 Seanix left, Martom – keen to prove himself by Impressing on his first attempt – asked him for help procuring some additional confidence in the form of some alcohol.
The one-armed green rider and the thieving queen
Immediately on leaving the candidate barracks, Seanix 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 Seanix to find it. Despite Seanix's best efforts, though, he didn't manage to complete and return the jewellery set before the Hatching.
A shining example
Coming upon Santinoth – Madellon's biggest bronze – being bathed in the lake, Seanix was quick to offer assistance to his rider, T'rello. It couldn't hurt to have some close-up experience with a bronze, could it?
Friend request
Given Seanix's age, finding some wine for Martom proved difficult – the Weyr Vintner, Master Saxton, refused to sell it to an underage candidate. His only other alternative was an illicit purchase from the shady figure of Grimes. And L'stev's warning about getting drunk before the Hatching held weight. The Vintner's offering of alcohol-free grape juice gave Seanix an idea – and offering it to Martom, none the wiser for the substitution, still had the desired effect of boosting his confidence before the Hatching – without any unwanted side-effects!
The Hatching
When it came to the Hatching, Seanix had to wait a little while before the large greeny-grey egg Hatched to reveal the pale greeny-bronze dragonet who would choose him, naming himself Sedberth.
A friend in me
And Seanix wasn't the only lucky one. To his delight, Martom also Impressed, becoming the rider of a bright golden-bronze hatchling, Kauth.
Whatever happened to Gydeton?
Gydeton's victimisation of Seanix had serious consequences – for Gydeton. Not everyone would have tattled on him the way Seanix did, but his complaints about the other boy, together with L'stev's already thin opinion of Gydeton, had the desired effect. Directly before the Hatching, L'stev ejected Gydeton from the candidate pool!
After the Hatching
"Sedberth" by Chris S. Baily
The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Seanix on his 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 Sedberth's first meal. That was Seanix's first opportunity to speak to Martom, too, and they introduced each other, with considerable delight, to their respective dragonets, Sedberth and Kauth. Martom also told Seanix that his new name was to be – perhaps unsurprisingly – M'tom.
It wasn't long before Sedberth's personality started to become evident. The pale bronze dragonet – the largest of the clutch, and the image of his father Muzzanth – proved to be a particular intelligent and perceptive character even minutes out of the egg.
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 Seanix made along the way – a young Holdbred candidate, Nichen, whom Seanix had encountered in a hopelessly dishevelled state directly before the Hatching – hailed Seanix at the barracks – crediting him with his successful Impression of a moon-blue dragonet, Yooth!
Meeting the Weyrleader
As Seanix and M'tom 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. Seanix was proud to introduce Sedberth to the Weyrleader. And after a brief conference with Sedberth, Seanix gave the Weyrleader his own new name: Se'nix, rider of bronze Sedberth!
Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Sedberth's and Kauth's newborn itchiness, Se'nix and M'tom 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
Se'nix and M'tom soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk Se'nix had helped during the day greeted him with warm congratulations as he hunted through the throng – but, at last, he found his family.
Se'nix's father, a loud man in normal times, was positively bellowing with pleasure at Se'nix's Impression – albeit with a certain disappointment that his son wouldn't be continuing in the Healercraft. And he embarrassed both his son, and his long-suffering wife, still further when the Weyrleaders came to drink a toast to Se'nix and Sedberth – remarking, very loudly, on the parentage of Valonna's soon-to-arrive first baby!
The rest of the evening passed in a blur for Se'nix, 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, Se'nix 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 Se'nix'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 Se'nix 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 Sedberth.
A close encounter
On his way back to the barracks , Se'nix 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 Se'nix 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, Se'nix decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger.
Returning at last to Sedberth – billeted between M'tom's Kauth and a slender green dragonet – Se'nix 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 bronze beside him – Se'nix 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?
Se'nix and Sedberth's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!
Se'nix'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
Sedberth and I complement each other!
Achievement Unlocked:
EBONY AND IVORY
Sedberth and I agreed on something very important!
Achievement Unlocked:
IN TUNE
Sedberth and I agreed on something quite important!