The Life Of A Rider- from start to finish

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Weyrbrat

Often times due to mating flights, or just because it ends up happening in a relationship, babies are born in a Weyr. These children are raised mainly as a small family unit by the Headwoman and some other older children, candidates, or people. The name these young children go by, is weyrbrat. It's an affectionate term though, and is not derogatory among Weyrfolk. In holds, in can be though.

A weyrbrat will often help with chores like candidates do, however it is to aid their learning and growth more than a service to the Weyr. The grow up close to one another as well, often only seeing other weyrbrats as family since their real parents don't spend as much time with them. This can vary though. Some riders or weyrfolk parents spend a few days out of a week with their child, others only hours. Still others, completely ignore the fact that they have young at all.

Because of this, weyrbrats will sometimes cause trouble to gain attention. Most pranks that happen around the Weyr are due to the boredom of these little devils. However, the Headwoman deals with any discipline needed. Eventually, the weyrbrats are moved into the candidate barracks at the age of 13. Sometimes, it is even 12 if they are about to have their birthturn and there is a clutch on the sands.

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Candidate

When a weyrbrat turns into a candidate, everything changes. Suddenly, they do work not to learn about things, but as a service. They have to have regular lessons about hatching etiquette and Weyrlife. Harpers and riders will be brought in to do demonstrations as well. The thing is, not all candidates are from weyrbrat stalk.

Candidacy starts from the moment a search dragon finds a suitable child from 13-21. It can be from the area around a Weyr, someone visiting the Weyr, a hold that the Weyr looks after, anywhere. Sometimes, there are even candidates found during Weyrbusiness in holds not belonging to the Weyr. After seeking out a candidate, the search dragon talks to the parents of that candidate if he/she is younger, or the candidate directly if they are older. Then, they often will go back to their home Weyr and put a list of names for the Weyrwomen to go over. Once they are approved, they can be brought to the Weyr officially.

Sometimes, a candidate will be brought before this approval is done. This is generally in the case of emergency candidates being needed. The easiest example is with Trelis for Loraketh's first clutch. With the old Weyrwoman dead, there wasn't time for the new Weyrwoman Inali to make friends with holders and traders again. So, often candidates would just be brought in whenever they were allowed to be by their parents. Because of this, sometimes candidates that would normally be looked over and dismissed ended up in the system.

Either way, eventually the day comes to where the touching occurs. Yes, I said touching, not hatching. The first time the candidates officially meet the eggs one-on-one is when they are allowed to touch their shells. The Queen determines this time, sensing that the eggs are within a few sevendays of hatching and the shells have hardened enough for the action to be safe. After this, she calls for the Candidatemasters' dragons to alert the candidates and bring them to the sands.

It is a time also for etiquette to be practiced, since the candidates must wait for the Queen to allow them near her clutch. If there is a Gold egg, the female candidates are encouraged to touch it before any others. Many times, dragonets inside the eggs have developed enough to give off some sort of indication of their personality. It can easily be misinterpreted, but it at least gives the candidates the idea that there is something living within the eggs.

Now, it is time for a hatching, and the candidates are ushered onto the sands as soon as the Queen notices the eggs rocking. Dragons will start immediately humming, and flits will flock to the sands. There, the candidates line up in a semi-circle around the eggs and Queen, girls to one side, boys to another. The first egg hatches...and maybe, just maybe the candidate is chosen.

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Impression/Weyrlinghood

So, a dragon decides to impress to a candidate. What happens you may ask? Well, the candidate is overwhelmed with many, many different emotions. In fact, it often dazes them at first and can be quite overwhelming. The love they feel instantly for their bonded however, is able to defeat any other feeling if for slight moments. A dragon for instance that hurt their best friend, but impressed to them, would still have the love of its rider. Even, if the rider also dislikes the dragon a bit too.

What happens after impression is generally the second question most people come to. Well, there are two things in the back of the hatching sands; wet rags to clean your dragonet off, and a bucket of meat for it to eat. After doing both of these, dragonets and riders will often either rest or talk to each other until the hatching ends. Please note now, that ONLY IMPRESSED CANDIDATES CAN TALK ON THE SANDS!!! The fact is that candidacy is seen as a privilege, and there are more important things to do during a hatching than to chat with the candidate next to you. The only exception is in the case of an injured candidate and the others seeing if they can help.

Now, what happens in the days following an impression? The dragonet grows...a lot, and eats even more. Those first few days are going to be exhausting for the new rider, and tough. They are either bathing or feeding their dragonet, and on the off chance they have some free time, they are doing those same things to themselves. Sleep does come thankfully after a while into the night too. During lessons, they will start off by learning how to care for their new bonded, then as time goes on they learn other lessons that deal with how to work in a wing.

Finally, around 6 months of age, the dragonets are large enough to fly for the first time with their rider, and they move into their own personal weyrs (rooms). By now, they will have learned to ride like on a runner (horse), and have gotten their own personal saddles. The first flight is more of a hover than anything else though. By the age of 8 months, the dragons start to between into different areas. By a full turn, they are betweening frequently and working on flaming and simple drills. The next half a turn of weyrlinghood consists of learning how to work more effectively in a wing.

At around 18 months, weyrlings graduate to wingriders, or in some cases thirds or seconds. Also, around one turn is when males start chasing and fighting females start to rise. Sub-Queens rise at approximately a turn and a half to two turns, and Queens start to rise anywhere from two turns to three depending on their rider's age and maturity, as well as the events going on in the Weyr and world.

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Dragonrider/Retirement

As a fully fledged rider, you are put into groups called wings. This changes where you sleep in the Weyr, since certain wings sleep on certain floors. A rider works daily with their wing so that they know every drill by heart and can fight thread effectively. They also work on weyrling lessons like betweening to make sure that everything is perfect and flawless. Drills can last up to 5 hours at times, though breaks are taken every now and again.

In a wing, there are three riders who out rank the others. The Wingleader rides a King dragon, the second either a younger King, or a sub-king. The third riders either a younger sub-king, or a male fighter. Occasionally, female fighters are known to become wingthirds, but it is rare due to their dragons being more scatterbrained than male dragons.

There isn't much to say here, since it is all routine work. Occasionally smaller groups go out to search candidates for new clutches, and there is always the chance of wings changing with every change of a Weyrleader. Because of this, riders tend to know one another on some sort of level, even if it's only by face.

When a rider and dragon get too old to be effective during drill, they are retired and often are put as watchdragons or searchdragons. They no longer are expected to work as hard or as long, and are treated with great respect by the majority of the Weyr. After all, they have earned it after so many years of service. When a rider gets to the point where they know the end is near, he/she will often go on one last flight with their bonded, and between with no destination. Effectively, dying with their dragon in a more or less peaceful manner.