A broad-shouldered young man born in the weyr and intent on remaining there, hopefully on a dragon's back. Eupe's full name is Euperanakatal, such a name rarely seen outside of Raanatani's Cothold! The recordskeeper at Blackstone was the first to use his short name, it caught on quickly -- even with his brothers and sisters, and finally his mother and uncle only use it now.

His father E'parin was a brown rider, but went between during a threadfall accident, more than eight turns ago. When Eupe heard of this he was the first to comfort his mother -- and his siblings look to him first. As the eldest of six, Eupe has always had a lot of responsibility for the family.

Though his deceased father was a rider, his mother Kisanagurai is one of the best bake-crafters that the Weyr has known. Her brother Kalanai is a beast-crafter. Thus, Eupe's family is largely in the lower caverns of Blackstone now, without a rider in the family there is no reason for them to remain above in the more spacious rider's weyrs.

Eupe plans on changing that.

The nineteen turn old hunter is good enough at reading and writing that he won't have to worry about learning much more, and is quite remarkable at figures in his head. With that in mind, his hunting is aided by his sure aim, and his ability to predict where prey will run, and what trajectory a missile will take from his hand-crossbow. He has read over thread charts, and wants to know more about how the Red Star and the other heavenly bodies are used to predict Thread. As a team member, unfortunately, Eupe needs a little work. He is very headstrong, very demanding of both himself and everyone around him.

He expects the most from himself -- and he manages to live up to those expectations most of the time. Where 'girls' are concerned, somehow, he's been missing out on the gathers and such. If and when he impresses a dragon, he hopes that that will solve that minor problem.

"Eupe, please just put the sharded thing down! It's getting blood and fur everywhere!" Eupe set the half-wild and all dead goat on the wide kitchen slab, and watched his younger brother Kasangar as he gutted it, letting the blood drip into buckets below the counter. The felines and canines would love that, later on. For the moment, they were shooed outside with the other animals -- including Eupe.

He was content knowing that tonight's dinner was at least in part his doing. Not that the cold stores of the Weyr weren't up to par, they were usually stocked well for any part of the turn, and of course could immediately rely on Dawnlight Hold or one of the smaller cotholds for their tithes for food sources. But Eupe and some others enjoyed hunting the game near the Weyr anyway, and fresh meat was always preferred.

It seemed that some of the original inhabitants of the Weyr's area had let loose several herds of goat, sheep and the like, into the hills nearby. There, they'd grown wild. Many of them still fell prey to the wildcats of the area, but mostly they were hunted by the humans and dragons.

Ahh, the dragons. Eupe looked up when three of them took wing above and swooped overhead on their way somewhere. They winked between as a unit. Eupe wondered what it would be like, when he was on a dragon and determined to go somewhere.

The evening sky was begining to darken, and he looked at the stars, in awe.

What if ... hah, that's fantasy he thought. What if he could reach the stars. On a dragon... they could go anywhere, couldn't they?

Not 'anywhere', one of them spoke to him, abruptly startling the flaxen haired hunter. The dragon was a small sized blue, calling himself Ivyth. Ebony's dragon, Eupe recognized him by his distinct Istabitha's wing shape. So many Protectorate dragons were from all around Pern...

Yes, we come from everywhere. You would like to see 'everywhere' would you not?

"Yeah, I would. Are you gonna take me?"

"That depends," Ebony said, sneaking up behind the young man, "what'll I get for doing it?"

"Ebony!" Eupe called out, "you shouldn't sneak up like that... Crossbow's still in my holster..."

"As long as it stays there, honeybuns! And besides, what did you expect, talking to my dragon like that? That he'd just up and take you on a trip?"

"Well, he sounded like he was offering..." Eupe grinned. "Are you?"

Ebony looked at the big brown eyes on this handsome hunter, and her dark face grew bright with a smile. "Of course, y'crazy kid. Let's get the harness." Ebony's blue and black hair bounced with her step as she ascended to Ivyth's side. "Come on," she said, holding out her hand.

"I thought you said you wanted to get the harness..." Eupe said.

"Well, you don't think I'm going to just WALK that whole way, do you? It's in our weyr, come on." The dark skinned woman waggled her eyebrows at him, and without any more argument, Eupe complied. The dragon knelt so they could climb on, and they fit with no problem. Though Ivyth was indeed a smaller dragon, he was hardly what one could call 'tiny'!

"You ever ridden before?" Ebony asked Eupe. He shook his head, "my father was going to take me, when I turned twelve, but..."

"Oh, yeah... I remember E'parin. He was a good rider, you should be too. Hang on with your knees, when you're not in a harness. And grasp the shoulders if you have to, but don't grab at me -- I might fall just as easy as you this way."

We will go up now?

"Just to the weyr," Ebony reminded the dragon, and they lurched into the air. At first, Eupe closed his eyes and wanted to cry out, but... Then he opened his eyes. The side of the weyr wall was going by, 'below' them, he realized they were headed nearly straight up. The dragon cornered sharply, almost dislodging both his riders, and then lit on a ledge. The smells of incense and oils came to Eupe's nose, and he remembered that Ebony shared her weyr with --

"Where's the green?" He asked, "it's Drupandith, isn't it?"

"Ah, that traitor Spring? ... She's off with H'lis." Ebony made a 'pshaw' noise. Her lovers were well known to rank among green riders -- both male and female, all the way through that selfsame--

"... The weyrleader? H'lis the weyrleader?" Eupe said, flabbergasted.

"That's what I said," Ebony looked at the young meat--er, man, near her, and the harness on her ledge's wall. "Fly, or um... 'Fly'?" She nosed toward the cot near the edge of the human's part of the weyr, which looked rather rumpled.

Eupe had to think about that. Ebony was probably close to twice his age, but... She was more than happy to share her experiences. But her dragon was there on the ledge, and it HAD been a fun ride up to the weyr...

"Oh if you've got to think about it that hard, let's just fly," Ebony finally said, laughing and exasperated at him. She was no Spring on Drupandith, but she was certainly not some old auntie either! She placed the harness over Ivyth's shoulders, and told Eupe to help her fasten it.

"That I've done before," he said, "but it's been a long time."

Ebony was going to say something very rude about first times, but she didn't. Instead, Ivyth seemed to chuckle and allowed the hunter to place the harness straps on.

"That's good, you don't want to tighten them too much, or else the neck gets pinched."

I do not like getting pinched, bespoke Ivyth cleverly.

"I don't either," Eupe said, patting the deep blue's hide. Ebony quietly snapped her fingers and uttered a 'darn' before Eupe noticed.

She urged him to get up into the harness, first.

You are watching his butt! Ivyth bespoke privately to his dark rider.

You better believe I am, and I think that with the way he put that harness on and looks at the skies all the time, I'm gonna get the chance to see it more often, once he gets Impressed.

Ebony finally got up behind Eupe, and instructed him carefully to take the harness straps and weave his hands around them. "Ivyth won't really be listening for your commands, since he's MY dragon," Ebony said, hugging on to Eupe's warm shoulders from behind him, "but you can still lean into turns and if you have to, huddle down close to his neck. That'll keep the wind off. And since we're not really wearing the right gear, we can keep to the warm landside, okay?"

"I've never been over the land, only ON it..." Eupe breathed. They took to the air, and flew over the Weyr, Ivyth bugled to the night dragon watch that they would be flying, but not heading between. The warm landscape below them was still bathed in the last of the sunset's glow, trees spread across the hills and then blended into wide stretches of scrubland to the south.

"Dawnlight Hold is there, see it?" Ebony pointed, still clinging on to the strong man lest she get blown off her own dragon's back. Eupe looked and could easily make out the eight-walled Hold, and true to its name, like the Dawn Sisters above, it glowed in the twilight as if the sun were rising within it.

"It's ... beautiful..." he said, awed. "What's that down there?" He said, minutes later, when they had passed further south. The scrubland was harder here, more harsh, and it was now nearly dark.

"That's Eden's Gate. But, I wouldn't land there until you've been introduced to the folks living there. They're not really friendly to outsiders."

"But I live in the Weyr that protects their land!" Eupe said. Ebony shook her head.

"They pay different tithes," she said, mysteriously. Then, she urged the dragon to head north again, and back to the Weyr.

With his first flight now done, as Ivyth stepped to the ledge, Eupe was now more convinced than ever that he must become a dragon rider.

Little did he know that he would get that chance, soon! Gerina on her green dragon from Tiamat weyr was being escorted around by the lovely dark-skinned Lela, and Eupe was shoved rather uncerimoniously over to the search rider's area by Ebony.

"He's more interested in flying than he is with tossing in the sleep furs," Ebony said, and Gerina looked over Eupe with a smirk.

"Then he's coming with us," she said, "to Tiamat Weyr."

Eupe's eyes grew wide. Of course he'd thought he would impress at Blackstone, but... With Lela there and as big a smile as he'd ever seen on her face to boot, he decided that Tiamat would do just fine!

While others would have been discouraged by the length of time that the candidates had to wait for the soft shells on the sands to harden, Eupe was eager to learn new tricks from the riders at this different weyr. It was run so much differently than Blackstone that he was often either in trouble or running from it, just from antics he was used to doing before.

But that all changed, one day. The humming dragons drew all the candidates in to the sands at Tiamat weyr, and shortly several eggs opened. A blue came first, impressed first as well. Then, a green, followed by a pale brown.

That brown made his way at full tilt toward Eupe, and bellowed loudly for all to hear!

Eupe!

"Jhulsanth!" Eupe cheered right back. Here would be a pair to recon with!