Their Story
Z'fer was originally from Ista Hold, eldest son of the seven living children Rezza and Journeyman Offarren had together and descended from a long line of fishers. Rezza hadn't been raised on the ocean like her husband, but had been a weaver who'd hoped to buy herself a formal apprenticeship despite her age. That ship sailed, pun intended, though as she met Offarren and at 17, began bore her first child by him. She learned to weave and repair fishing nets, as well as make spiderclaw baskets. On the other hand, it was tradition in Offarren's line for the sons to be apprenticed to the Fishercraft at Tillek when they turned 13, and for them to return home to the family once they'd walked the tables. Offarren had followed that plan, as had his father before him, and fully expected his sons to do the same.
Despite this, when their eldest was chosen on Search, it didn't cause too much of a stir, they had 6 other children, with two sons close in age to Zofer who could pick up where he left off. His mother had riders in the family, and it was an honor to have their son chosen to go to the Weyr.
Zofer himself was incredibly excited. Sure, he liked being out on the ocean around their island home, but to ride a dragon and visit the entire world beyond their shores? Now THAT was an adventure! The reckless young lad couldn't wait to get to the weyr and Impress himself a dragon. Little did he realize exactly how that worked. Instead of showing up, waiting for a clutch, then flying off into the sunset, Zofer had unknowingly signed himself up for turns of hard labor at the bottom of the weyrs pecking order.
His head was shaved, (a big deal to a young boy who liked the attention his long black hair got him from the older girls in the hold), and he was forbidden the patterns and colors of his families's trade. In essence his identity was taken from him and he was stripped bare, to be built anew as a rider candidate.
Bootcamp wasn't so hard when it came to the physical aspects of it, Zofer's competitive spirit carried him well, pushing him to work hard to be the best of his class. The literacy lessons were interesting at least, and if he took to mathematics and geography better than writing and history at least he managed to keep up. Zofer's most difficult hurdle to overcome was his vanity and his inability to accept criticism from those in charge.
He was squired to T'zey, a rider of Ista's second wing, A fairly young man himself, Zofer and the rider quickly settled into an easy friendship once they got over the ordeal of being 'Rider' and 'Squire'. They found a common bonding point of gossip and light competition between themselves, and personal bets against each other to out preform something someone else of their station had accomplished. T'zey worked Zofer hard, and often called on him to do things just because it amused him and Zofer couldn't complain without losing face. He was never outright cruel and rewarded Zofer's efforts well when he deserved it.
The clutch, had Zofer not been so excited for it, might have come too soon for the young teen. He'd been enjoying his time as a squire, and despite always being the oldest sibling in his family, had found himself surprisingly not uncomfortable with the 'older brother' role T'zey seemed to take with him. In fact, Zofer greatly looked forward to when he himself could take a squire and put him through all that crap as well. It had been fun, and booooy did he have some ideas for what he would do when he was a rider.
Zofer never lost confidence that he would be a rider of course, and he was fairly positive he was going to be a high ranking rider. It just made sense to the boy. He'd been searched right off the bat, had done well in his lessons, and while he hadn't squired to first wing, he HAD had the best rider to squire under in his own mind. It was only a matter of time before T'zey was promoted Zofer was sure, and then they would ride together as real brothers-in-arms. Just because he wasn't the best now was only because his potential, like Zofer's, had yet to be realized by those around them.
The hatching only intensified Zofer's belief in himself. It took only a minutes it seemed after the first eggs had cracked their shells for his dragon to find him. Calanoth was big, he was handsome, and if he wasn't bronze, at least he was a brown who could rival them in size. His color didn't matter all that much once Impression was made because he was HIS. Zofer was a rider and he had Calanoth by his side.
Weyrlinghood was a blur of excitement and work. Zofer barely had the energy to get into trouble when he was spending all of it with Calanoth, testing their limits and pushing themselves to be the top of their class. First flights were especially thrilling as Calanoth charged the cliff, practically throwing himself off the edge and scaring the daylights out of both of them before he got his wings sorted out and managed to glide to the bottom. After that Cal was hard to keep down and life became the counting of days till they could join a wing.
It took a few months after their class graduated for Zofer and Calanoth to be tagged for a Wing. It wasn't much of a surprise for the brown pair that it was Second wing who chose them. T'zay was still there, and while it wasn't first wing, Z'fer was glad to have his friend back.
Z'fer settled into the routine of his wing, always pushing himself and Cal to prove themselves and possibly catch the eye of one of the riders from first wing. For the next three turns or so that was the main thought at the forefront of their minds. At least until the dragonplague struck. T'zey was on an attache leave and Z'fer had taken a couple days leave to visit with him. It was during this time that Ista closed it's boarders and word of the plague spread.
Fear made it's largest imprint on Z'fer's life up to that point as Calanoth and T'zay's dragons began to display symptoms of the plague. They were transfered to Telgar Weyr, their own being closed to them and were quarantined in a weyr separate from the rest of the weyr's populace, kept separate from contact with anyone but specialized dragonhealers. Calanoth's symptoms were serious; chills, fever, aches and labored breathing, but he never progressed as far as seizures or gangrene. After a month with no worsening symptoms, and the existing ones finally weakening, Z'fer was given leave to believe his bondmate may actually survive. T'zey was not so lucky. The ex-rider never returned to Ista even after the skies were opened. Z'fer saw his friend through to the end. He and Cal, still weak but much recovered, ferried him between to be with his dragon.
Calanoth took his time in recuperating after that duty was done, but eventually made a full recovery. When the self-imposed quarantine was lifted, Calanoth and Z'fer returned home to Ista. The brush with death did damped the brown's reckless spirit some, even after the memory of his illness faded. Z'fer firmly believes Ista's quick action, both in closing their skies and quarantining him and his dragon, is what actually saved Calanoth's life. Had he been further exposed to the plague he surely would have died. He will defend this viewpoint to the ends of the earth.
Six turns later, instead of hoping to be tapped for First Wing, Z'fer found himself and Calanoth transferred to High Reaches to help fill their ranks. Z'fer likes to think that it is in part because of Calanoth surviving the plague. Seeing as High Reaches SR. Gold did as well, should the bloodlines mix might it help prevent another occurrence of the plague?
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