D'ran and bronze Kenneth

The Road So Far!

It all began at Jessaf Hold, in the protectorate of Madellon Weyr, for Duran – a young man of 16 Turns, dreaming of becoming a bronze rider.

Duran was born to unusual privilege – a grandson of Winstone, Lord of mighty Jessaf Hold. Duran 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, Duran 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 Duran becoming a candidate – while conceding that he could spare a younger grandchild. And with Winstone's admonition that he Impress a bronze – or a brown at the very least – ringing in his ears, Duran left to begin his candidacy at Madellon Weyr.

As a candidate, Duran was assigned a bunkmate – Soburn, an anxious Weyrbred youth with one failed Hatching already haunting him, 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 – Rielat, a self-important apprentice Weaver – who took a firm disliking to Duran! Backed up by his crony Kestor, Rielat became the thorn in Duran's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.

Hatching Day

The dragons' hum woke Soburn and Duran on 102.03.17. Following a brief run-in with Rielat, 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 Duran left, Soburn asked him to find out if H'nar, the young Wingleader of the Betweenless Wing, might currently be seeing someone – or not.

The one-armed green rider and the thieving queen

Immediately on leaving the candidate barracks, Duran 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 Duran to find it. The quest took Duran all over Madellon, from kitchens to lake to infirmary – but in the end he succeeded in reuniting the Weyrwoman's jewellery set, to general acclaim.

Respecting his elders

In the Weyr's kitchen gardens, Duran encountered R'hren, a former Weyrleader of Madellon, now peacefully retired to potter among his beloved plants. R'hren asked Duran to help him track down the ingredients for a warming salve to help his elderly bronze, Staamath, with his arthritic forepaws. Duran duly located the components of R'hren's salve, winning the old bronze rider's approval in the process.

Gifted a small pot of the salve, Duran offered it to old S'rius, who was equally appreciative of the gift. And while Kisha, the blind old green rider Duran encountered in the infirmary, would have nothing to do with one of R'hren's concoctions, she too grew to approve of Duran – especially after he solved all three of her fiendish riddles!

Southern comfort

Duran 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 Duran 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 Duran some intelligence on the Southern seven, his advice was somewhat garbled! Nonetheless, Duran unravelled Archidath's confusing suggestions and got the right packages to the right dragons – without being growled at!

A rising problem

Duran 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. Duran'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. Even if Duran did annoy Soleigh, who wasn't impressed with him for prolonging Maris' binge by bringing her more wine!

Kitchen diplomacy

Madellon's kitchens – the heart of the Weyr, and domain of Headwoman Crauva – provided Duran with the opportunity to show off his work ethic before the Hatching. A round of chores duly pleased Crauva. And the kitchen was also the source of the hotfruit R'hren had sent Duran to find for his warming salve.

Weyrbrat by name...

A run-in with a Weyrbrat – Terzon, whom Rielat had paid to cause Duran trouble – resulted in an unfortunate public incident. All too aware of being shaken down, Duran gave the kid a shove – in front of a number of witnesses – doing nothing for his reputation!

A shining example

Coming upon Santinoth – Madellon's biggest bronze – being bathed in the lake, Duran 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

Conscious of Soburn's bashfulness, Duran approached the object of his affections – H'nar, Wingleader of the Betweenless Wing – with some circumspection. Still, when questioned, H'nar insisted he had to know who was making enquiries of him. And when he learned the identity of his admirer, he told Duran that he wasn't interested in Soburn – or any other men, for that matter. But Duran's agile pivot in questioning revealed that a close friend of H'nar's – blue rider M'rany – might be a viable alternative. Thus encouraged, Soburn began to think more positively of life as a dragonrider – even if H'nar would end up being his Wingleader!

Hair today

Mindful of the Weyrlingmaster's orders to be smart for the Hatching, Duran visited Madellon's resident barber – green rider Z'fell – for a trim. Very conscious of his dignity, Duran ensured he came away with a cut he actually liked.

The Hatching

When it came to the Hatching, Duran didn't have to wait too long for his date with destiny. The black-freckled grey egg Hatched out a deep classic-bronze dragonet who told Duran his name was Kenneth.

A friend in me

And Duran wasn't the only lucky one. To his delight, Soburn also Impressed, becoming the rider of a slender olive-green hatchling, Aeranth.

Whatever happened to Rielat?

Sadly, there was at least one fly in the numbweed. Rielat Impressed an impressively proportioned indigo-blue hatchling, making them Duran and Kenneth's new classmates. (On the bright side, at least Kestor didn't Impress!)

After the Hatching

"Kenneth" by Chris S. Baily

The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Duran on his Impression, but it was Garlan, delighted that her risky choice of Winstone's grandson had Impressed, who stepped in to help with the immediate matter of Kenneth's first meal. That was Duran's first opportunity to speak to Soburn, too, and they introduced each other, with considerable delight, to their respective dragonets, Kenneth and Aeranth. Soburn also told Duran that his new name was to be – perhaps unsurprisingly – S'burn.

It wasn't long before Kenneth's personality started to become evident. The energetic bronze dragonet, the classic shade of his colour, was unusually forceful even for his colour – promising to be a handful for his 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.

Big brother

Another friend Duran made along the way – a young Holdbred candidate, Nichen, whom Duran had encountered in a hopelessly dishevelled state directly before the Hatching – hailed Duran at the barracks – crediting him with his successful Impression of a moon-blue dragonet, Yooth!

Meeting the Weyrleader

As Duran and S'burn 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. Duran was proud to introduce Kenneth to the Weyrleader. And after a brief conference with Kenneth, Duran gave the Weyrleader his own new name: D'ran, rider of bronze Kenneth!

Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Kenneth's and Aeranth's newborn itchiness, D'ran and S'burn 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

D'ran and S'burn soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk D'ran had helped during the day greeted him with warm congratulations as he hunted through the throng – but, at last, he found his family.

Lord Winstone, D'ran's grandfather, was very pleased indeed to be able to boast to all and sundry that his grandson had Impressed a bronze, although he still managed to find fault with Kenneth for failing to be the largest dragonet in the clutch – a criticism that the Weyrleaders were quick to cut short in their toast to D'ran and his bronze.

The rest of the evening passed in a blur for D'ran, 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, D'ran 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 D'ran'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 D'ran 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 Kenneth.

A close encounter

On his way back to the barracks , D'ran 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 D'ran 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, D'ran decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger.

Returning at last to Kenneth – billeted between S'burn's Aeranth and a mucky-looking brown dragonet – D'ran 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 – D'ran 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 Duran's Impression here. D'ran and Kenneth's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!

D'ran'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

Kenneth and I complement each other!

Achievement Unlocked:
SUGAR AND SPICE

I've been a very nice person (so far)!

Achievement Unlocked:
EBONY AND IVORY

Kenneth and I agreed on something very important!

Achievement Unlocked:
BUM NOTE

Kenneth and I disagreed on something quite important!