Scarlet and green Garryath
The Road So Far!
It all began at Jessaf Hold, in the protectorate of Madellon Weyr, for Scarlet – a young girl of 13 Turns, dreaming of becoming a green rider.
Scarlet was born to unusual privilege – a granddaughter of Winstone, Lord of mighty Jessaf Hold. Scarlet didn't scramble for the attention of the young Search rider, Garlan, who came to Jessaf in early 102 seeking candidates for Madellon Weyr's latest clutch. But as a scion of the Hold, Scarlet was among the party welcoming the green rider to Jessaf – and, in due course, became the focus of her dragon Hushith's attention. Lord Winstone wasn't enthusiastic about Scarlet becoming a candidate – while conceding that he could spare a younger grandchild. And with Winstone's admonition that she should remember her place as his granddaughter and not make a scene ringing in her ears, Scarlet left to begin her candidacy at Madellon Weyr.
As a candidate, Scarlet 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 Scarlet! Backed up by her crony Berrin, Thippia became the thorn in Scarlet's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.
Hatching Day
The dragons' hum woke Jopha and Scarlet 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 Scarlet left, Jopha – whose Impression robe was sadly overlarge for her petite frame – recruited Scarlet'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, Scarlet 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 Scarlet to find it. The quest took Scarlet all over Madellon, from kitchens to lake to infirmary – but in the end she succeeded in reuniting the Weyrwoman's jewellery set, to general acclaim.
Respecting her elders
In the infirmary, Scarlet encountered Kisha – a blind old green rider giving the Weyr's Healers a difficult time about taking her medicine. Kisha challenged Scarlet to answer three riddles before she would consent to behave. And Scarlet rose to that challenge – answering all three correctly, and winning Kisha's grudging respect!
Southern comfort
Scarlet 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 Scarlet 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 Scarlet some intelligence on the Southern seven, his advice was somewhat garbled! Nonetheless, Scarlet unravelled Archidath's confusing suggestions and got the right packages to the right dragons – without being growled at!
Kitchen diplomacy
Madellon's kitchens – the heart of the Weyr, and domain of Headwoman Crauva – provided Scarlet with the opportunity to show off her work ethic before the Hatching. A round of chores duly pleased Crauva.
Weyrbrat by name...
A run-in with a Weyrbrat – Terzon, whom Thippia had paid to cause Scarlet trouble – resulted in an unfortunate public incident. All too aware of being shaken down, Scarlet 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, Scarlet 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 Scarlet didn't want to pass up.
Friend request
Knowing of Jopha's chequered history with Shookana, mistress of the Weyr's mending room, Scarlet approached the task of having her robe adjusted with considerable caution. Realising that falsehood would be the wrong approach, Scarlet went to Shookana with the truth – and a gift of popcorn. And while Scarlet 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!
Hair today
Mindful of the Weyrlingmaster's orders to be smart for the Hatching, Scarlet visited Madellon's resident barber – green rider Z'fell – for a trim. Very conscious of her dignity, Scarlet ensured she came away with a cut she actually liked.
A slithery customer
Early in the day, Scarlet 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 a glowbasket, she crawled into a confusing maze of passages.
By a stroke of ill luck, Scarlet strayed into tunnel snake territory! A huge, aggressive, and potently venomous female tunnel-snake guarded the exit to the Hatching ground. Scarlet was lucky to avoid being bitten. But ultimately she evaded the snake, dodging past it and slipping out onto the Hatching Sands.
Having survived her encounter with the snake, Scarlet crept closer to the clutch – close enough to touch an egg – before beating a hasty retreat from the Hatching Ground!
The Hatching
When it came to the Hatching, Scarlet didn't have to wait at all for her date with destiny. The elongated spotted egg that Hatched first produced a pale mint-green hatchling who spared no time in choosing Scarlet, naming herself Garryath.
A friend in me
And Scarlet 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?
Quite simply, none of the dragonets seemed to want Thippia – she was left standing. Although Scarlet did wonder if her own pale mint-green Garryath might have glanced, however briefly, in Thippia's direction, and what might have been had she not chosen her...
After the Hatching
"Garryath" by Chris S. Baily
The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Scarlet on her Impression, but it was Garlan, delighted that her risky choice of Winstone's granddaughter had Impressed, who stepped in to help with the immediate matter of Garryath's first meal. That was Scarlet's first opportunity to speak to Jopha, too, and they introduced each other, with considerable delight, to their respective dragonets, Garryath and Deimoth.
It wasn't long before Garryath's personality started to become evident. The pale green dragonet had absolutely no hesitation about making her voice – her very loud and strident voice – heard, indicating what a forceful and demanding character she would become.
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 Scarlet 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. Scarlet was proud to introduce Garryath to the Weyrleader – and to give him her full new name: Scarlet, rider of green Garryath!
Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Garryath's and Deimoth's newborn itchiness, Scarlet 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
Scarlet and Jopha soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk Scarlet had helped during the day greeted her with warm congratulations as she hunted through the throng – but, at last, she found her family.
Lord Winstone, Scarlet's grandfather, was faint with his praise for his granddaughter's Impression of Garryath – suggesting that she should have waited for a chance at a queen. The Weyrleaders were swift to insist that Impressing any dragon was a great achievement!
The rest of the evening passed in a blur for Scarlet, 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, Scarlet 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 Scarlet'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 Scarlet 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 Garryath.
A close encounter
On her way back to the barracks , Scarlet 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 Scarlet 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, Scarlet decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger.
Returning at last to Garryath – billeted between Jopha's Deimoth and a pretty blue-green dragonet – Scarlet 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 – Scarlet 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 Scarlet's Impression here. Scarlet and Garryath's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!
Scarlet'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:
BIRDS OF A FEATHER
Garryath and I make a very strong match!
Achievement Unlocked:
INSULT TO INJURY
I Impressed the dragon that my rival coveted!
Achievement Unlocked:
SUGAR AND SPICE
I've been a very nice person (so far)!
Achievement Unlocked:
EBONY AND IVORY
Garryath and I agreed on something very important!
Achievement Unlocked:
BUM NOTE
Garryath and I disagreed on something quite important!