Aliss and green Cretienth
The Road So Far!
It all began at Jessaf Hold, in the protectorate of Madellon Weyr, for Allis – a young woman of 16 Turns, dreaming of becoming a dragonrider.
Allis 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, Allis didn't even present herself as a hopeful. Yet it was Allis 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, Allis's mother, had always dreamed of being a dragonrider – and gifting Allis with her blue feather pendant as a lucky charm.
As a candidate, Allis was assigned a bunkmate – Erilde, a quiet young woman from the Lower Caverns fearing a second unsuccessful Hatching, 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 – Auciet, a snobby and superior Holdbred girl – who took a firm disliking to Allis! Backed up by her crony Cedranne, Auciet became the thorn in Allis's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.
Hatching Day
The dragons' hum woke Erilde and Allis on 102.03.17. Following a brief run-in with Auciet, 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 Allis left, Erilde asked her to make enquiries about any dragonrider heritage she herself might possess, to give her confidence a boost before the Hatching.
The one-armed green rider and the thieving queen
Immediately on leaving the candidate barracks, Allis 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 Allis to find it. Despite Allis's best efforts, though, she didn't manage to complete and return the jewellery set before the Hatching.
A rising problem
Allis 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. Allis's intervention successfully got rid of G'tron, whose Imdoth was very sweet indeed on Bristath, from the mating flight – not to mention G'pellas, another blue rider, needed in the Harper ensemble – and reconciled the two green riders.
Eggs and baskets
A visit to the Archives led to a meeting with Tarshe, Madellon's Weyrwoman Second. When Allis 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 – Allis did!
A blue lady
Coming across T'gala, Pern's only female blue rider, bathing her Heppeth in the lake, Allis 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 Allis didn't want to pass up.
The Hatching
When it came to the Hatching, Allis had to wait a little while before the rough-textured cloudy white egg Hatched to reveal the vivid grassy-green dragonet who would choose her, naming herself Cretienth.
A friend bereft
But to Allis's dismay, Erilde wasn't as fortunate. No dragonet showed an interest in her, and she was left among the candidates remaining unmatched at the end of the Hatching.
Whatever happened to Auciet?
Quite simply, none of the dragonets seemed to want Auciet – she was left standing. Although Allis did wonder if her own vivid grassy-green Cretienth might have glanced, however briefly, in Auciet's direction, and what might have been had she not chosen her...
After the Hatching
"Cretienth" by Emily Holland
The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Allis 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 Cretienth's first meal. That was the first moment Allis had truly grasped that Erilde wasn't going to be a weyrling alongside her – a truth that hit hard. In Erilde's absence, Arina, who'd Impressed a cloudy-green dragonet, Chanth – was a welcome friendly face.
It wasn't long before Cretienth'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 Allis made along the way – a young Weyrbred candidate, Brithie, whom Allis had encountered in a sudden crisis of confidence directly before the Hatching – hailed Allis at the barracks – crediting her with her successful Impression of a tiny bottle-green dragonet, Epatanth!
Meeting the Weyrleader
As Allis 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. Allis was proud to introduce Cretienth to the Weyrleader – and to give him her full new name: Aliss, rider of green Cretienth!
Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Cretienth's and Chanth's newborn itchiness, Aliss 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
Aliss and Arina soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk Aliss had helped during the day greeted her with warm congratulations as she hunted through the throng – but, at last, she found her family.
Aliss'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 Aliss and Cretienth.
The rest of the evening passed in a blur for Aliss, 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, Aliss 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 Aliss's background with her – including much of what she had got up to on the morning of the Hatching – for good and ill. She cleared up an anomaly with her new name, too. She offered Aliss 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 Cretienth.
A close encounter
On her way back to the barracks , Aliss 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 Aliss 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, Aliss decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger – though she did give L'stev her new name.
Returning at last to Cretienth – billeted between Arina's Chanth and a pretty blue-green dragonet – Aliss 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 – Aliss was struck with a deep sense of foreboding. Who was the mysterious dragonrider in the hooded cloak? What was the significance of the strange wooden box? And how had the stranger known Aliss's new name?
Aliss and Cretienth's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!
Aliss'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:
APOSTROPHE NOPE
I (don't) love the smell of elision in the morning!
Achievement Unlocked:
DEED POLL
I changed my name by choice!
Achievement Unlocked:
BIRDS OF A FEATHER
Cretienth and I make a very strong match!
Achievement Unlocked:
INSULT TO INJURY
I Impressed the dragon that my rival coveted!
Achievement Unlocked:
EBONY AND IVORY
Cretienth and I agreed on something very important!
Achievement Unlocked:
IN TUNE
Cretienth and I agreed on something quite important!