Bronze Marks: N'kevyn
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Healer Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Printer Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Writers: Corrin, Shawna
Date Posted: 3rd September 2025
Characters: M'kadja, N'kevyn
Description: Akadja follows Bronzerider N’kevyn into the dining hall…
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 7, day 12 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: Mesarian, Naldhavi
Akadja had found his mark.
The dining hall was crowded that afternoon. The skies were finally clear after days of snow, but the winds along the cliffs still had a bitter bite. Everywhere someone was enjoying a steaming trencher of stew or hurrying to get a hot mug of klah. Akadja cut through the chaos with the same feline ease that he had once used in busy markets, the kind where a sharp eye and quick fingers made the difference between supper and an empty belly. He wasn’t about to lose his target.
He had stalked the man in from the ‘bowl. Tall, broad and bearded, with the elaborate knots of a bronzerider. A foreign bronzerider. Alone. Seated with his back to the door. Akadja had weighed the risks and this was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up--
It was time to learn more about bronze dragons.
No sooner had Mesarian opened his eyes to the possibilities of Search and Standing, then Akadja had started to dream. _Big_. If he could Impress -- and he would if he had anything to say about it -- then he was bound and determined to Impress as well as he could. Rise as high as he could. The weyrfolk could sneer themselves sick, call him a holdless beggar, but he would reach as far as he could stretch. The only crime now would be to settle, to be _complacent_.
He would hunt down every shred of knowledge he could.
Claiming the seat across from his mark, Akadja flashed the man an easy grin. “That was some dragon you flew in on. I thought the weyrlingmaster’s bronze was large, but yours takes the prize. What’s his name?”
N’kevyn didn’t mind company, invited or not, especially when they wanted to talk about one of his favorite subjects, and he returned the grin. “That is Avicath, and he’s one of the largest ones you’re likely to see. He’s bigger than my weyrmate’s gold and is the self proclaimed ‘best bronze on Pern’.” Chucking, he added, “I’m N’kevyn, who was lucky enough to have captured his attention.”
Akadja’s grin sharpened with a stab of excitement, though he kept it friendly. Naldhavi was right. Dragonriders really were suckers when it came to flattering their mounts. It gave him a good opening too.
“I’m Akadja. New candidate here,” he gestured to his simple knots-- the first he’d ever worn. “How’d you do it? Capture his attention, I mean. Any tips for me to take out onto the sands?”
N’kevyn’s chuckle turned into an actual laugh for a moment. “Oh, well I was sixteen, stupid, and more worried about impressing a girl than Impressing a dragon. I just wandered out there thinking really hard about how I needed the very BEST dragon. Avicath cracked out of his shell and decided with absolutely no evidence that that was him.” His voice was fond when he spoke of the memory. “So I guess my advice is to focus on what you’d want in a partner and hope one of those hatchlings wants the same thing.”
“Focus and hope, huh?” Akadja probed, hungry for more. “Sounds like a real gamble. What makes him choose you and not the man next to you thinking the same thing? What keeps a cocky little blue from latching on to you instead? Do bronze dragons like something the rest don’t?”
“It is a gamble. If anyone knew the real secret, we wouldn’t need so many candidates,” N’kevyn pointed out. “Maybe I could have wound up with a cocky blue, but big egos and bronzes go together like rain and wet. Is that what you’re set on, then? You know they’re a lot of work, and most of the rewards that come with them are actually just more work.”
Amusement flickered in Akajda’s eyes, there one instant and gone the next. Work. Was that supposed to scare him? “I’ve been working since I could toddle,” he said easily. “It doesn’t frighten me. I’ll take it all on. I mean to make a mark on this world.”
Privately, his thoughts took a sardonic twist. Work. Riders didn’t know the meaning of the word. The tithing ticks. Work was taking the worst jobs for the worst pay. It was hauling stone, digging latrines, running goods on no sleep because you’d be beaten if you didn’t. Day in, day out. Dragonriders only flew Fall once a week, near as he could see. They didn’t know how good they had it.
But he knew better than to say that aloud.
“I _do_ want a bronze,” he admitted brazenly. “Might as well shoot as high as I can, right? Don’t love that it’s a gamble, but I guess that’s better than it being some trick of blood or birth. If it’s a matter of me convincing a babe I’m the best man on the sands, I like my odds.” He reckoned he was worth twice as much as any pampered weyrboy that had never wanted for anything a day in their life.
“Well, you’ll want to stand in the bigger clutches with older golds. You won’t find a lot of bronzes in the first few clutches. Nothing against your young gold, of course, it’s just statistics,” N’kevyn advised. There didn’t seem any harm; if no bronzes liked the ambition, he wouldn’t impress. If they did, it didn’t matter what N’kevyn advised. “Older golds and bronzes in their prime throw bigger clutches. Avi and Tymborikath throw a bigger one every time,” he said proudly.
“I bet he does, big dragon like that,” said Akadja with deliberate, yet easy, charm. Honestly, it made sense too. “Guess that hurts my chances here then. We only have one older, egg laying gold, and I’ve only got one Turn to Impress…” He trailed off, and then his grin sharpened again as though a little mischief had just occurred to him-- and it had. “How many older golds does your Weyr have? Do you accept candidates from other Weyrs?”
“Just the two laying golds at Barrier Lake, but they’re both older. There is some shuffling that happens, but I think that usually gets arranged by Weyrlingmasters.” Considering for a moment, N’kevyn said, “Though I don’t know that anything stops someone from just showing up to a Weyr and asking to be a candidate. In theory if you’ve been searched at one Weyr, you could be searched at another.”
“Good to know.” Akadja filed that away for later. It wasn't much, but two was better than one. “How's the weyrling staff there?”
“Well, my son graduated with the last class… they glued the Weyrlingmaster to a chair and he decided to return to the wings after they graduated. I can’t say for sure those things are related, but…” N’kevyn gave the youth a conspiratorial wink. “Now the Weyrlingmaster is J’nic and the ‘second is Viseya. Both greenriders, but both have good heads on their shoulders. I’m not worried about my daughter being trained by them.”
Akadja had assumed all Weyrlingmasters were bronzeriders, like T'lonas, but he was too proud to let his surprise show. (For all he knew it was normal). And when it came down to it, he didn't really care what color the ‘masters rode or what their heads were like. His biggest concern was if they’d let him Stand. So he asked: “How do they feel about Holdless?”
How did _N’kevyn_ feel? Time to find out. If this scared him off, so be it. Akadja already had what he most wanted out of him.
“That I don’t know, it’s never come up. But if you already nabbed a set of those,” N’kevyn pointed towards the shoulder knots, “Are you really Holdless?” If nothing else, it meant Dragonsfall had decided he wasn’t a threat to the Weyr, and that counted for something. “I assume you were interviewed by someone before they gave you those.”
“I like the way you think!” said Akadja with a bark of laughter, touching a hand to those precious white knots. A little of the tension eased from his posture. “Maybe I _will_ try my luck at Barrier Lake, if I can finagle it.”
Last updated on the October 3rd 2025