The Story So Far...
N'oka's life began in a small cothold in the outskirts of Benden territory. At the time going by the name of Nekoka the lad was one of seven children, the fifth of the lot. Despite this the young boy never felt neglected or ignored, his family was a close one and it was rare that Nekoka felt lonely even with his isolated location. For the first fifteen turns of his life this were remarkably calm. There were animals to be tended, chores to be done and life went on.
Just a while after he turned fifteen the lad attended a gather with his father and older siblings. They had been unusually fortunate that turn and needed the extra hands to get the goods to the gather. Nekoka heard talk of dragons lounging just outside the gather and not satisfied with just glances of the beasts flying overhead, managed to slip off to where they were. It was there that a green dragon spotted the teenager and alerting her rider to the young observer. The rider was a pleasant woman who happily chatted with Nekoka about what being a dragonrider was all about. The greenrider revealed that actually she was a searchrider and that Nekoka seemed like prime rider material to her. Nekoka of course thrilled at the idea and it didn't take too much convincing of his father to let the lad take the chance at being a rider.
It wasn't long after being taken to the Weyr that culture shock started to set in. There were so many people, more people than Nekoka had ever been accustomed to and they all sounded different to him. Despite the increase in people Nekoka had never felt more lonely. He didn't really fit in the Weyr very well. The lad just resigned himself to the fact that he just thought different from them. His illiteracy was an issue, yet he managed very well in the physical aspects of his training. The strength of a young farmhand wasn't something to be sniffed at apparently.
After failing to impress at two seperate hatchings the young lad began to doubt his candidacy. He was still certain that he didn't fit in and hadn't done very well at making friends (although this was partially due to him avoiding large social areas), and he still hadn't gotten a hang of the reading thing. Maybe his selection had been a mistake? Searchriders couldn't be expected to get it right every time. Everybody made mistakes.
Standing for his third clutch, the now seventeen turn old candidate was strong considering stepping down and returning home. He didn't think he could take another five turns of this. His own situation, combined with political going ons that he didn't understand where beginning to wear on the once adventurous lad. It was in the dark moment that Experath torpedoed into him, the young bronze jumping into Nekoka and dragging excitement in and banishing his loneliness. It hadn't been a mistake, Nekoka had to be there. What would have happened to Experath otherwise?
It was in that N'oka realised the importance of variety in candidates. There needed to be different candidates, so that dragons like Experath wouldn't be alone. Thinking on the matter, N'oka decided that he wanted to be a searchrider when Experath was fully grown. They'd go to all the far off places, search every cothold to find the different and far-flung would-be candidates. Despite Experath's less than motivated attitude, N'oka managed to get the dragon to put his mind to the task. The pair worked hard to try and become the model pair, then they would be allowed to represent Benden as searchriders.
When Experath was a turn old Benden Weyr was liberated from Keller's hold and the pair were moved to Trine. Cue culture shock round two. Fortunately this time N'oka had Experath to help view the whole thing as a grand new adventure. The anti-wher view was perhaps the hardest thing to adjust to. For the past three years N'oka had been taught about how important and valuable whers were, yet here they were resented. Even though the adult riders and handlers had left behind the weyrling pair when they couldn't follow them he couldn't find it in himself to blanket hate them. Still young N'oka didn't completely understand the full story of what Keller had done.
Time went on and as more and more things came to light N'oka began to realise just how ruthless his previous leader had been. He still didn't agree with everything that Trine said, but he couldn't ally himself with a person who had caused the pain Keller had. There were others from Benden, people that the lad respected, who allied themselves Trine. Gradually the young man began to integrate fully into Trine, turning away from Keller's way didn't mean he had to abandon his ideals. The pair adjusted, taking a place in a wing and joining the fight to take back Malvren. The doubt he still harboured was quite thoroughly pushed out from what he saw. When rider's who he had known before tried to cut him down without even a second thought.
With Keller dead the dust began to settle and the pair hoped they could establish something like a normal life in Trine. Turning back to their original goal they focused on becoming Searchriders. It took time and dedication to climb up in the estimations of another Weyr, but with persistence they were able to earn the trust and respect needed to let the pair be responsible for bringing in new blood to the Weyr. The moment they were allowed the pair began making it their business to search every out of the way hold and far-flung cothold they could find. It provides the pair less choices, but their willing to do the extra leg work to make sure they bring in enough candidates.
