P'lore and brown Compoth
The Road So Far!
It all began at Jessaf Hold, in the protectorate of Madellon Weyr, for Hoppellore – a young boy of 15 Turns, dreaming of becoming a dragonrider.
Hoppellore was born to unusual privilege – a grandson of Winstone, Lord of mighty Jessaf Hold. Hoppellore 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, Hoppellore 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 Hoppellore 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, Hoppellore left to begin his candidacy at Madellon Weyr.
As a candidate, Hoppellore was assigned a bunkmate – Martom, a confident young Weyrbred lad, 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 – Gydeton, the blustering, entitled son of Lord Meturvian of Kellad – who took a firm disliking to Hoppellore! Backed up by his crony Varell, Gydeton became the thorn in Hoppellore's side throughout the sevendays of candidacy.
Hatching Day
The dragons' hum woke Martom and Hoppellore on 102.03.17. Following a brief run-in with Gydeton, 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 Hoppellore left, Martom – keen to prove himself by Impressing on his first attempt – asked him for help procuring some additional confidence in the form of some alcohol.
The one-armed green rider
Immediately on leaving the candidate barracks, Hoppellore was flagged down by M'shen – a green rider with only one arm. But whatever he wanted, Hoppellore never discovered, after making a mean-spirited joke about M'shen's missing hand that – not unreasonably – made the green rider take against him.
Respecting his elders
In the Weyr's kitchen gardens, Hoppellore encountered R'hren, a former Weyrleader of Madellon, now peacefully retired to potter among his beloved plants. R'hren asked Hoppellore to help him track down the ingredients for a warming salve to help his elderly bronze, Staamath, with his arthritic forepaws. Hoppellore 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, Hoppellore offered it to old S'rius, who was equally appreciative of the gift. And while Kisha, the blind old green rider Hoppellore encountered in the infirmary, would have nothing to do with one of R'hren's concoctions, she too grew to approve of Hoppellore – especially after he solved all three of her fiendish riddles!
A Masterful order
In the dining hall, Hoppellore met his 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, Hoppellore 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. Hoppellore even shared the largesse with Zielaph, who then introduced him to Fr'ton – who, having Impressed a bronze in spite of his less than boundless promise, gave Hoppellore a certain confidence in his own prospects!
A rising problem
Hoppellore 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. And while Hoppellore did manage to get G'tron excluded from the flight – not to mention another blue rider, G'pellas, who was needed in the Harper ensemble – he still ultimately failed to reconcile the star-crossed green riding lovers!
Kitchen diplomacy
Madellon's kitchens – the heart of the Weyr, and domain of Headwoman Crauva – provided Hoppellore 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 Hoppellore to find for his warming salve.
Overkeen to get his hands on the last bubbly pie in the dining hall, Hoppellore took it – forcibly – from a small child. Not the nicest thing to do – but mmm, pie...
Eggs and baskets
A visit to the Archives led to a meeting with Tarshe, Madellon's Weyrwoman Second. When Hoppellore expressed an interested in looking up some Weyr records, Tarshe offered him the loan of a glowbasket – on the proviso that he return it afterwards. Which – mindful of not offending such an important personage of the Weyr – Hoppellore did!
Weyrbrat by name...
A run-in with a Weyrbrat – Terzon, whom Gydeton had paid to cause Hoppellore trouble – resulted in an unfortunate public incident. All too aware of being shaken down, Hoppellore gave the kid a shove – in front of a number of witnesses – doing nothing for his reputation!
Backhander backfired
Seeking an easy way to slip into the Hatching Ground for an early peek, Hoppellore 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 Hoppellore hadn't reckoned on H'nar's incorruptible nature. H'nar rejected the money with outrage, and word of Hoppellore's attempt to bribe him made its way back to the Weyrlingmaster!
A shining example
Coming upon Santinoth – Madellon's biggest bronze – being bathed in the lake, Hoppellore 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?
With friends like these...
But seeking wine for Martom's consumption proved difficult – and illicit. Saxton, the Weyr Vintner, refused to sell alcohol to Hoppellore – an underage candidate. An alternative presented itself in the form of Grimes, offering wine to anyone with the marks to pay for it. Hoppellore duly purchased a murky looking vintage, and gave it to Martom. But Grimes' dubious wine would prove more bane than boon. Martom became quite intoxicated – and when L'stev discovered his condition, he immedately washed Hoppellore's friend and bunkmate out of candidacy!
Wherry bad behaviour
Hoppellore's assorted instances of bad behaviour finally caught up with him. L'stev collared him in the Bowl and gave him an ultimatum – buck up his ideas, or sit the Hatching out. Hoppellore chose the former, and the Weyrlingmaster sent him to do penance in the wherry hatchery – though Hoppellore remained on probation, with one more slip promising to rule him out of standing!
The Hatching
When it came to the Hatching, Hoppellore had to wait a little while before the unassuming grey-green egg Hatched to reveal the deep russet-brown dragonet who would choose him, naming himself Compoth.
Whatever happened to Gydeton?
Gydeton didn't turn up for the pre-Hatching muster, and – Hoppellore's own suspicions notwithstanding – L'stev guessed that he had probably got himself lost trying to sneak into the Hatching Ground through the dangerous ventilation tunnels. Fortunately – Hoppellore supposed – Weyrlingmaster A'len located the missing candidate, but too late for Gydeton, who having been found unconscious, was promptly invalided out of standing!
After the Hatching
"Compoth" by Emily Holland
The Weyrlingmaster was the first to congratulate Hoppellore 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 Compoth's first meal. That was the first moment Hoppellore had truly grasped that Martom wasn't going to be a weyrling alongside him – a truth that hit hard. In Martom's absence, Chiliam – the highborn lad from Kellad, who'd Impressed a dusty-brown dragonet, Destrath, and who now styled himself Ch'liam – was a welcome friendly face.
It wasn't long before Compoth's personality started to become evident. The little russet-brown dragonet proved unusually quiet, speaking only seldom, and showing a strong preference for his own company – and his rider's.
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 Hoppellore made along the way – a young Holdbred candidate, Nichen, whom Hoppellore had encountered in a hopelessly dishevelled state directly before the Hatching – hailed Hoppellore at the barracks – crediting him with his successful Impression of a moon-blue dragonet, Yooth!
Meeting the Weyrleader
As Hoppellore and Ch'liam 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. Hoppellore was proud to introduce Compoth to the Weyrleader. And after a brief conference with Compoth, Hoppellore gave the Weyrleader his own new name: P'lore, rider of brown Compoth!
Following their audience with the Weyrleader, and the application of oily rags to relieve Compoth's and Destrath's newborn itchiness, P'lore and Ch'liam 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
P'lore and Ch'liam soon went their separate ways to find family and friends. Many of the riders and Weyrfolk P'lore 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, P'lore's grandfather, was grudgingly satisfied with Compoth's colour, if clearly disappointed that his grandson hadn't managed to Impress a bronze – a criticism that the Weyrleaders were quick to cut short in their toast to P'lore and Compoth.
The rest of the evening passed in a blur for P'lore, 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, P'lore 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 P'lore's background with him – including much of what he had got up to on the morning of the Hatching – for good and ill. She cleared up an anomaly with his new name, too. She offered P'lore 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 Compoth.
A close encounter
On his way back to the barracks , P'lore 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 P'lore 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, P'lore decided, on balance, not to tell the Weyrlingmaster about the stranger – though he did give L'stev his new name.
Returning at last to Compoth – billeted between Ch'liam's Destrath and a bright bronze dragonet – P'lore 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 brown beside him – P'lore 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 P'lore's new name?
P'lore and Compoth's story will continue in Dragonchoice: Weyrling, coming soon!
P'lore'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 NOW
I love the smell of elision in the morning!
Achievement Unlocked:
COMPUTER SAYS NO
I changed my name from something unacceptable!
Achievement Unlocked:
THE YIN TO YOUR YANG
Compoth and I complement each other!
Achievement Unlocked:
SNAKES AND SNAILS
I haven't been very nice!
Achievement Unlocked:
EBONY AND IVORY
Compoth and I agreed on something very important!
Achievement Unlocked:
IN TUNE
Compoth and I agreed on something quite important!