Ch'grad and green Phyllanth

The Road So Far!

It all began at the Harperhall at Kellad Hold, in the protectorate of Madellon Weyr, for Chargrad – a young man of 16 Turns, dreaming of becoming a green rider.

Chargrad was born the son of two Harpers at the Southern Harperhall, Kellad Hold. Surrounded by music, he was apprenticed to the Craft when he came of age. But he never excelled in any discipline, and it seemed as if an unremarkable career as a mid-level journeyman likely lay ahead for him. And then, in early 102, J'kel – a dragonrider of Madellon Weyr – came to Kellad Hold in search of candidates for the new clutch hardening on the Sands of Madellon Weyr. Chargrad caught the attention of J'kel's blue Hozrath. And a sevenday later, Chargrad arrived at Madellon Weyr, joining the candidate pool for senior queen Shimpath's first clutch by her new mate Muzzanth.

As a candidate, Chargrad 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 Chargrad! Backed up by his crony Kestor, Rielat became the thorn in Chargrad's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.

Hatching Day

The dragons' hum woke Soburn and Chargrad 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 Chargrad 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, Chargrad 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 Chargrad to find it. Despite Chargrad's best efforts, though, he didn't manage to complete and return the jewellery set before the Hatching.

A blue lady

Coming across T'gala, Pern's only female blue rider, bathing her Heppeth in the lake, Chargrad offered his assistance – which T'gala gladly accepted.

Friend request

Conscious of Soburn's bashfulness, Chargrad 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 Chargrad that he wasn't interested in Soburn – or any other men, for that matter. But Chargrad'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!

The Hatching

When it came to the Hatching, Chargrad had to wait a little while before the pearlescently pink egg Hatched to reveal the deep bottle-green dragonet who would choose him, naming herself Phyllanth.

A friend in me

And Chargrad 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?

It turned out that making an enemy of Chargrad was a very poor choice on Rielat's part. For the low, low price of just three marks, Chargrad had Grimes, the shady fellow loitering near the Gather stalls, spread a series of nasty rumours about Rielat. By the time the Weyrlingmaster mustered the candidate cohort immediately before the Hatching, the damage to Rielat's reputation was done – and he was ejected from the candidate pool without ever setting foot on the Sands!

After the Hatching

"Phyllanth" by Chris S. Baily

The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Chargrad on his Impression, but it was J'kel, thrilled that Hozrath had finally found a successful candidate after so long without, who stepped in to help with the immediate matter of Phyllanth's first meal. That was Chargrad's first opportunity to speak to Soburn, too, and they introduced each other, with considerable delight, to their respective dragonets, Phyllanth and Aeranth. Soburn also told Chargrad that his new name was to be – perhaps unsurprisingly – S'burn.

It wasn't long before Phyllanth's personality started to become evident. The bottle-green dragonet – by some margin the smallest hatchling of the clutch – had a nervous and wary personality to match, startling at everything and everyone.

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

Meeting the Weyrleader

As Chargrad 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. Chargrad was proud to introduce Phyllanth to the Weyrleader. And after a brief conference with Phyllanth, Chargrad gave the Weyrleader his own new name: Ch'grad, rider of green Phyllanth!

Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Phyllanth's and Aeranth's newborn itchiness, Ch'grad 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

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

Ch'grad's Harper parents were absolutely delighted to find themselves the mother and father of a green rider - even though it meant he would be leaving the Harpercraft for good. And they were even more delighted to drink to Ch'grad and Phyllanth when the Weyrleaders arrived to toast them!

The rest of the evening passed in a blur for Ch'grad, 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, Ch'grad 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 Ch'grad'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 Ch'grad 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 Phyllanth.

A close encounter

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

Returning at last to Phyllanth – billeted between S'burn's Aeranth and a mucky-looking brown dragonet – Ch'grad 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 green beside him – Ch'grad 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 Chargrad's Impression here. Ch'grad and Phyllanth's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!

Ch'grad'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

Phyllanth and I complement each other!

Achievement Unlocked:
EBONY AND IVORY

Phyllanth and I agreed on something very important!

Achievement Unlocked:
IN TUNE

Phyllanth and I agreed on something quite important!