Lindy and green Cipurath
The Road So Far!
It all began at Jessaf Hold, in the protectorate of Madellon Weyr, for Lindy – a young girl of 14 Turns, dreaming of becoming a blue rider.
Lindy was born the daughter of a modest cotholder at Jessaf Hold, working alongside her widowed father to work their allotted land, and help bring up her young twin siblings, Albon and Gettie. And in early 102, when a green rider, N'jol, and his Kistrith came to Jessaf in search of candidates for Madellon Weyr's hardening clutch, Lindy didn't even present herself as a hopeful. Yet it was Lindy that Kistrith singled out among all those young people. She almost didn't accept Search – anxious not to abandon her father. But he insisted, revealing that his late wife, Lindy's mother, had always dreamed of being a dragonrider – and gifting Lindy with her blue feather pendant as a lucky charm.
As a candidate, Lindy 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 Lindy! Backed up by her crony Berrin, Thippia became the thorn in Lindy's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.
Hatching Day
The dragons' hum woke Jopha and Lindy 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 Lindy left, Jopha – whose Impression robe was sadly overlarge for her petite frame – recruited Lindy'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, Lindy 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 Lindy to find it. Despite Lindy's best efforts, though, she didn't manage to complete and return the jewellery set before the Hatching.
A Masterful order
In the dining hall, Lindy 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, Lindy 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.
A rising problem
Lindy 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. Lindy's intervention successfully got rid of G'tron, whose Imdoth was very sweet indeed on Bristath, from the mating flight and reconciled the two green riders. Even if Lindy did annoy Soleigh, who wasn't impressed with her for prolonging Maris' binge by bringing her more wine!
Eggs and baskets
A visit to the Archives led to a meeting with Tarshe, Madellon's Weyrwoman Second. When Lindy 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 – Lindy did!
Backhander backfired
Seeking an easy way to slip into the Hatching Ground for an early peek, Lindy encountered H'nar – Wingleader of the Betweenless Wing – on guard at the entrance. It may have seemed like a good idea to offer him a few marks for safe passage – but Lindy hadn't reckoned on H'nar's incorruptible nature. H'nar rejected the money with outrage, and word of Lindy's attempt to bribe him made its way back to the Weyrlingmaster!
Friend request
Knowing of Jopha's chequered history with Shookana, mistress of the Weyr's mending room, Lindy approached the task of having her robe adjusted with considerable caution. Realising that falsehood would be the wrong approach, Lindy went to Shookana with the truth – and a gift of popcorn. And while Lindy 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, Lindy didn't have to wait at all for her date with destiny. The blotchy pale turquoise egg that Hatched first produced a bright olive-green hatchling who spared no time in choosing Lindy, naming herself Cipurath.
A friend in me
And Lindy 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?
Thippia's victimisation of Lindy had serious consequences – for Thippia. Not everyone would have tattled on her the way Lindy 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
"Cipurath" by Emily Holland
The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Lindy on her Impression, but it was N'jol, delighted that his most humble candidate had Impressed, who stepped in to help with the immediate matter of Cipurath's first meal. That was Lindy's first opportunity to speak to Jopha, too, and they introduced each other, with considerable delight, to their respective dragonets, Cipurath and Deimoth.
It wasn't long before Cipurath's personality started to become evident. The rather slender olive-green dragonet demonstrated an immediate haughty pride in herself – and in her rider.
With both dragonets full to bursting with fresh meat, the newly minted dragonpairs left the Hatching sands for their new home: the weyrling barracks.
Meeting the Weyrleader
As Lindy 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. Lindy was proud to introduce Cipurath to the Weyrleader – and to give him her full new name: Lindy, rider of green Cipurath!
Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Cipurath's and Deimoth's newborn itchiness, Lindy 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
Lindy and Jopha soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk Lindy had helped during the day greeted her with warm congratulations as she hunted through the throng – but, at last, she found her family.
Lindy's father almost couldn't believe his daughter's good fortune, completely thrilled to be the father of a dragonrider. And he was even more starstruck when the Weyrleaders came to drink a toast to Lindy and Cipurath.
The rest of the evening passed in a blur for Lindy, 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, Lindy 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 Lindy'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 Lindy 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 Cipurath.
A close encounter
On her way back to the barracks , Lindy 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 Lindy 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, Lindy decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger.
Returning at last to Cipurath – billeted between Jopha's Deimoth and a pale green dragonet – Lindy 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 – Lindy 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 Lindy's Impression here. Lindy and Cipurath's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!
Lindy'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
Cipurath and I complement each other!
Achievement Unlocked:
EBONY AND IVORY
Cipurath and I agreed on something very important!
Achievement Unlocked:
IN TUNE
Cipurath and I agreed on something quite important!