W’tim
Weyrling to Bronze Kordanth, Ierne Weyr
It really depends on your point of view when reviewing Wentim's life. To him, to anyone, his own life is full of key events — moments of joy, times of great tragedy, denouements and the day-to-day tedium, although that last is seldom cherished until it's gone.
    The basic setup isn't all that special, although it's unique: A boy born at Ista Weyr, his mother a Harper apprentice named Atimisa and his father a brownrider named L'wen. L'wen, being a rider, also had a child, two turns older, with another, named Dewen. And their story is little different really than any other siblings' — they played together as small children do, with each other but more often with those their own age.
    When Wentim was five, Atimisa was called back to the Crafthall and her son came along with her. Those early years among harpers proved one thing: he had an awful singing voice. But he also spent time in the archives, and soon took a liking to that aspect of the craft. At age 10, the pair returned to the Weyr, Atimisa having been promoted to journeyman.
    It was then that the legacy of Dewen — who had since left Ista — began to weigh heavily on Wentim's mind. A simple reputation for ineptitude in the kitchen, and Wentim inherited this. Allowing this to frustrate him, four turns later Wentim left the Weyr for Tillek Hold. At Tillek, Wentim was finally his own man and he flourished for a time, becoming an assistant steward.
    Wentim met his first serious love at Tillek, a holder's daughter who in retrospect was a bit too clingy. But he was sure it was true love and after a long courtship asked her to marry him. The rejection was swift, and hit hard. The impact was harder to take because, among other reasons, she said she couldn't marry him — he looked too much like a certain seacrafter who had run out on her.
    Wentim was sure this was Dewen, and sure enough it was. Right around this time was the devastating storm near Ierne Island that killed dozens of seacrafters and did untold damage to the lives of Ierne Island residents. With irrational, gleeful hopes of, "what if he died?" mixed with genuine pity, Wentim decided to travel to Ierne to find out either way.
    Dewen was alive, and posted at Unified Crafthall. But Wentim decided to stick around, and the two actually silently agreed to a truce. Besides, it was more fun to battle with words than to fight over what actually amounted to nothing substantial at all.
    For a few months, Wentim served as an assistant steward at Unified, all the time keeping his eye on that devious brother of his. When Dewen was Searched by the Weyr, Wentim was furious. For one thing, why would any dragon want Dewen? And more important, how would be have any fun without his favorite antagonist? As if in answer, days later Wentim was searched, by Kathara's green Jasynth. So the two brothers were together again.
    After a brief weyrling period, where Wentim was dismayed to find he often took Dewen's side in some arguments, a group of candidates on the sands refilling a water basin were shocked as a bronze hatchling broke out of his egg early — and picked Dewen. Reeling from this news, Wentim was a bit distacted on the sands when the dragons really began to hum. And with two eggs left it appeared he was ready to head back to Unified, or maybe the mainland. Only a little bronze dragon knew his destiny lay elsewhere.
    So now D'wen and W'tim are weyrlings. And W'tim has a chance to keep an eye on D'wen, which along with Kordanth is keeping him pretty happy — and busy — these days.

Character Description
This young man is tall and lean — a fair-skinned youth with medium-length, auburn hair parted at the side and combed out of his green eyes. Some might call him quietly handsome (although he would not), with fine features and a mannered expression on his face most of the time. His forehead often features a line or two of anxiety over something or other, often unvoiced.
    His figure is slight, but for once he is wearing something that fits him better: the standard shorts-and-shirt clothing of a weyrling. On his feet are a pair of well-worn boots, the only evidence of his earlier life (at least physically) — scuffed and dirty around the edges. On his shoulder is a knot of light-blue, gray and black with a bronze cord twined around the braid, the colors of Ierne Weyr.

In some ways, W'tim is an academic type — mannered, occasionally aloof and enjoys using big words. If the term existed on Pern he might be called a nerd, prefering brains to brawn, old, dusty records to heavy lifting. But while his mind is focused, many other things go out the window, like rational thought. He can be quite paranoid at times, and although he isn't shy in the least — he enjoys making friends — he's often reluctant to get too close to anyone, especially female, who he is sure his brother will charm away from him.

Lavender Lilacs Egg
Bursts of lavender explode across a background of silk-smooth black. Like purple blooms tossed across black satin, they appear in clumps and single roughly flower-shaped spots. Here and there a small spot of spring green appears, as if the flower picker had missed a few leaves while separating them from the flowers. The ebony background seems almost like a real piece of cloth as variations in the shade make it shine in some areas and darken in others, as if hidden in shadows caused by wrinkles.

Kordanth
Captured in the light of dawn, one herb in this garden stands out amongst the others, the deep bronzes revealing themselves as the bright intensity of a new day rises over the hide of this newly hatched dragon. Reddish striations, oddly reminiscent of the veins on the stem of a Redwort plant, crisscross his flanks, gravitating through the dark bronze to a central point just above his shoulders. Ensnared, the sun casts an aurora over his eyeridges turning them a soft rose-bronze, before gradually muting them to soft smudges of patina, similar to the leaves of a plant. Verdigris unfurls over his pinions, burgeoning over leading edges into deep purples, eventually blooming at his trailing edges into a magnificent reddish-bronze.

Personality
Although younger and smaller, Kordanth is not going to be one to live in his brother's shadow. In fact, he will be bolder and more likely to show off, with good cause. His smaller size will allow him to fly circles around most bronzes, and the relative gain in agility may be more important than size when chasing after queens in flight. Kordanth will not want to hear about how D'wen has ruined things — he will be happy to offer suggestions for fixing them, but self-pity simply does not exist in his world, and he will not allow it to enter. From the moment of impression Kordanth is going to be very intense, yet at the same time far less focused than might be expected. He will latch onto something, excluding everything in the world except you, and even then your part will be secondary, but the moment his attention is distracted, he will lose all interest, no matter how close he was to completion. Fortunately mating flights are generally over before his attention span runs out, so he will not simply quit in the middle for no reason, and eating will always be most worthy of his concentration, but do not be surprised if he wants to get out of the water before he is rinsed off, or other similar impatience. He is a very curious dragon, and learning when to curb or encourage his exploration will make life with him much easier.

Text by Steve Mohundro. Dragonriders of Pern theme and setting used with fond reverence. Pern is Copyright © 1999 Anne McCaffrey.
   W'tim/Wentim is named after Dag Wentim, AKA Stone Boy of the Legion of Substitute Heroes (from the Legion of Super-Heroes comic series). Unlike my many other MUSH characters, the resemblance pretty much stops there.
    Description of Kordanth by Leena, personality by Susaen, egg description by Kathara. Page last updated July 20, 1999.

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