Relyssa of Green Ktarith

Name: Relyssa
Age: 21
Gender: Female
Sexuality: Heterosexual
Rank: Weyrling [junior]

Appearance:


Perhaps the most noticeable thing about this particular woman is her hair. It’s almost an eyesore, brighter and more outstanding than almost anything else on her. However, it’s not a shade of orange as most redheads sport, but a true red that is rarely seen on a human. It falls in long (waist-length) waves when loose, but for the most part is kept in simple braided loops. Occasionally, it will be piled on top of her head and bound tightly if she knows she’ll be doing something that will require her utmost attention. However, it remains unruly at the best of times and utterly unmanageable at the worst.

Arguably, the second most notable thing about Relyssa is her height... or perhaps lack thereof. She is woefully short, standing at what would roughly be 4’10. Short she may be, but delicate she is not. She may not get any intimidation points in the height department, but the girl is built like a brick outhouse. She’s not ripped by any means, retaining feminine curves in ample quantity. There’s not an extra ounce of fat on her anywhere, just lean muscle gained from the life of a hard working, hard playing tomboy. She has more strength behind her… well, everything, than most people give her credit for.

Her skin is smooth and tanned a golden-brown. The only ‘blemishes’ she has so far are the reddish brown freckles that are sprayed across the bridge of her nose and tops of her cheeks which become more strongly visible when she spends a great deal of time in the sun. Her eyes are a vivid, dazzling blue that strikes out in an almost startling manner against the warm tones of her skin and hair. They’re framed in a distinctly heart-shaped face with a short, pointed nose above full, bright lips. Her face is an open book, readily displaying whatever it is she’s feeling, and therefore never devoid of emotion. This is something that’s considered a boon to others, but to Relyssa is anything but.

Personality:
There are a multitude of facets to Relyssa’s personality, and it seems as if her moods are forever changing. One minute she could be laughing it up and having a great time, the next minute she wants to pound someone’s face in for saying the wrong thing. It’s a veritable whirlwind of emotion that often has those around them holding their breaths, wondering what she’ll do or say next. Unpredictable at the best of times, it’s never clear if she’ll scream and throw a tantrum at being tossed into the mud or if she’ll stand up and have a hearty laugh about it. For those people who rely on more predictable and sedate things in their lives, this is just too much, and many choose to avoid her because of it.

She has a tendency toward a fierce, volatile temper that will have her speaking carelessly and even throwing punches if the offense (either real or imagined) is grave enough. Her grudges are very much the lasting sort and result in the grudged being completely and utterly shunned. It’s not hard to make her mad, either, and she gets angry about something new at least once a day. This temper of hers gives her a bad name and turns people away, and as she grows older, she seems to realize this and makes more of an effort to curb her sharp tongue and stay her fists. She’ll often seek out a willing ear to vent her fury and frustrations and also to see if her anger is really justified. This is a relatively new method of dealing with her temper, and so far it’s done well.

One thing is obvious about Relyssa, and that is her passion. Every emotion she feels has a certain amount of passion behind it that is hard to ignore. She loves, hates, laughs and cries with passion, and she’s never stuck in the middle on anything. Never neutral, she always has an opinion that she backs up with fervent belief. Whether it’s right or wrong doesn’t matter one iota to her, it’s her opinion and she’ll stick to it thank you very much. Things she doesn’t care about, she really and truly does not care about, even if she should. Having no opinion about something means, for her, that it’s a complete zero on the ‘how much I care’ scale. Her priorities are rarely the same as anyone else’s, and there’s little that one can do to change this.

Perhaps the most obvious trait of hers, on par with the zeal with which she does everything in life, is her complete and utter stubbornness. She’s inevitably a difficult person to deal with for many people, as her tenacity drives her to hold tightly to her beliefs and opinions even if they’re 100 percent wrong. It takes someone rubbing her face in the truth repeatedly to make her let go, and this is, you guessed it, one of the quickest ways to incite her extreme temper. After a few days, though, she usually calms down to (grudgingly, very grudgingly) accept whatever truth it was she’d been lying to herself about. And that is another odd trait of hers; she’ll lie through her teeth to herself, but she’s honest almost to the point of brutality to anyone else. Often she says things that drive people away from her when she was only trying to be up-front. Because of this, she rarely realizes she’s turned people against her until it’s too late.

Really, she means well about 90% of the time, but whatever she’s doing or saying often comes out otherwise. In spite of all of her flaws, she’s a good person at heart who only wants the best for the people who have come to mean something to her. This is, perhaps why she defends any friends she does have with every ounce of her ferocious tenacity and deep passion. Depending on the defendee, this may or may not be a good thing, but it’s all part and parcel of befriending her.

Family:
Tyran, father; 45 [fisher]
Alran, mother; 41 [housewife]
Daleris, brother; 25 [harper]
Jubek, brother; 23 [healer]
Yirek, brother; 17 [fisher]
Hyluri, sister; 13 [weaver]

Background:
She was born in Ista Hold to a fisherman and his wife, the middle child of five. Needless to say, this played a large part in shaping her. Relyssa has two older brothers, a younger brother and a younger sister. Growing up, she was expected to help out quite a bit around the house. She was always short for her age, but she was never weak. Strong minded and strong willed, Relyssa was quite jealous whenever her brothers would go out fishing with their father. She wanted to go too, but their father would have none of it. After a huge fight, Relyssa returned to the house to resume her place taking care of her sister and brother and doing the same mundane chores that she did every day. She spent a great deal of her free time running amok and playing the part of a half-wild tomboy, a role which she filled surprisingly well. She could shoot, fish, fight, and run with the best of them.

As she grew older, several Hold boys expressed an interest in the fiery redhead, but she didn't have much in them. She had no interest in Hold life, and had said so numerous times throughout her life. Ever since the fight with her father over going out on the boats, Relyssa had been determined to make something of herself outside of the norm. But she had no talents, just practical skills that came from taking care of babies and housework. The girl was at a loss as to what to do with herself.

Dragons came frequently to their Hold on Search, but it never occurred to Relyssa that she might be dragonrider material. Her family had become smaller, her older siblings having gone off to their respective Crafts. It was only when she was 15 that Relyssa seriously entertained the thought of going to the Weyr. She was of a marriageable age, but that was definitely not what she wanted. Hold boys were expressing interest in her, and while a few of them dropped it as soon as they saw what a wild ride they’d be in for, most were persistent. And it only made the redhead all the more eager to escape the Hold.

Staunchly refusing proposals, Relyssa managed to stay free for two more Turns, even as Search dragons made their visits. She was getting desperate, and by the time she was 16, was considering asking the next Search rider if she could simply go with them whether she would Stand or not. But her plans got changed when her brother returned from Harper Hall and brought a friend home with him. For whatever reason, his harper friend became quite fond of the rambunctious readhead, even putting in a request to be stationed at Ista Hold solely so he could court her.

However, it was clear from the start that she wasn’t going to make it easy for him. But Hiral was persistent… and charming. He had something that all the other hold fellows lacked, and that was superb writing skills and patience. Much to everyone’s amazement he had Relyssa saying something to him besides ‘bugger off!’ within a sevenday. As time went on, she interacted with Hiral more and more, until they were seen together daily. After several months, he confessed to Relyssa’s brother Daleris that he was quite smitten with the girl. On Relyssa’s seventeenth birthday, Hiral proposed to her.

At first she was shocked, and requested time to think about the proposal. The truth was, she was stalling; she didn’t really want to marry Hiral, even though she liked him well enough. But her family began to push her to accept. She resisted at first, but her mother was particularly persuasive. Two sevendays after his proposal, Relyssa reluctantly accepted. She was swept into a whirlwind of celebration and happiness, none of it her own. They were wed almost immediately, and she felt as if she’d just made the biggest mistake of her life. Hiral was a good man; he cared for her and gave her everything he thought she wanted. But she couldn’t help feeling as if she shouldn’t have agreed to the marriage.

Married life was not the bliss that it had somehow been made out to be; Hiral wanted to try for children immediately, but Relyssa was horrified at the idea. She felt as though she was far too young to be a mother, even though her own mother had been a Turn younger than she was when she’d begun having children.

They lived in Ista Hold for two Turns to be near Relyssa’s family. She frequently spent the days with her mother and siblings, so little changed; it was only when she returned home in the evenings that the strain became obvious. The obliviousness that had reigned supreme during her very short engagement and the wedding itself was beginning to wear off. It was becoming clearer that Relyssa wasn’t the epitome of the blushing bride or lovesick newlywed. She often avoided her husband whenever she could get away with it, even as she felt guilty for doing so. Although she couldn’t entirely avoid her ‘wifely duties’, she secretly did all she could to avoid getting pregnant.

In spring of her nineteenth Turn, Hiral informed Relyssa that he would be going away on business to the Harper Hall. There had been mishaps occurring throughout Pern; ‘radical alarmists’ claiming the return of Thread was imminent and other such things. Such news was the first thing since her marriage that really made Relyssa sit up and take notice. She accompanied Hiral to the dock when he went to board his ship and bid him farewell. She could have accompanied him, but she chose instead to remain at the hold. She couldn’t imagine that there would be much to occupy her time at the Harper Hall.

It was a good thing she opted to stay behind; a sudden spring storm blew in from the sea. The hold suffered some damage from the winds and slight flooding. No one heard from Hiral, and despite her less than enthusiastic take on being a wife, Relyssa worried for the man. It wasn’t for another few months that she received word from her brother—Hiral had never arrived at Harper Hall. Relyssa was devastated by guilt, as if it were somehow her own fault. Her upset was seen as nothing more than the mourning of a proper widow.

Nearly a Turn later, Relyssa’s guilt had long since evaporated and the suitors began to express an interest in her again. She continued to spurn their advances, now with even more vigor than before. She frequently communicated with her eldest brother, who was stationed at Ista Weyr, learning all she could about the disappearances and deaths of dragonriders across Pern. And now eggs have begun to disappear from clutches. The possibility of the news always gets her heart racing, and she has once again begun to keep her eyes on the sky, looking for the telltale glint of a Search dragon’s hide in the sun.

Pets: None.



Name: Ktarith
Age: 1
Color: Green; 90ca77

Description:
Long and slender is this green, and the very picture of feminine grace. Even at such a young age, Ktarith manages to give off an air of fluid motion and dexterity. Some might call this hatchling such words as ‘gangly’, ‘lanky’, or even ‘whippy’. However she’s much too graceful for such terms, and the kinder-hearted will choose words such as ‘willowy’ and ‘slim’ to describe her build. Definitely built on a long frame, it really is a wonder that she doesn’t trip and stumble more. Her neck is a long, graceful arch to a beautifully-shaped head and muzzle adorned with large and brilliantly colorful eyes. Her ‘ridges are small, smooth, and slightly rounded rather than sharp or angular. Her tail is long as well, noticeably so. Her wingspan is rather impressive, but her wings are long rather than wide, built on a narrow frame. Her limbs are long, her body trim and tight. As a hatchling she looks almost underfed, but as she grows she will put on a little more mass. However, Ktarith will always be a slender dragon, no matter how much food she takes in.

As far as color goes, she’s somewhat nondescript. She will always be noticed more for her grace and agility than her color. It’s a shade that falls somewhat on the paler spectrum, and while it’s certainly not unattractive, it isn’t really remarkable. It falls somewhere between ‘mossy’ and ‘grassy’ in hue for a base color, but looks almost frosted, as though a fine layer of silver covers this initial green shade. Her underside is even lighter, starting just under her jaw and running the entire length of her body to the tip of her tail. Her wingsails are the same pale shade and very nearly translucent; when held up to the light, it’s possible to see the faintest silhouettes and shadows behind her wings.

Personality:
Perhaps the most surprising thing about this green is her personality. She’s rather lovely to look at to be sure, but unlike most greens, she is neither silly nor flirtatious. Ktarith takes herself rather seriously much of the time and is unusually quiet for a green. She seems to prefer sitting by the sidelines and watching others at their activities, or perhaps just listening. This green is neither chatty nor gossipy like her peers, and will only ever bespeak her rider. Even then, she will usually say only what needs to be said and little else. Although it can seem otherwise at first, she is not standoffish or snobby, merely preferring to step aside and observe.

As a result of her desire to pay attention to her surroundings and be aware of what’s going on, this green will often surprise people with just how intelligent she seems. Ktarith will never speak without thinking first, often long and hard about a subject. While her memory is no better than any other green’s, she can provide some rather interesting perspectives about subjects in the here and now; if something is explained to her carefully, she just may be able to grasp it enough to offer a fresh angle or some new advice if so desired. Oddly enough, Ktarith loves to problem-solve and put her mind to the test, no matter the subject.

The only time she is any sort of carefree is in the air. Ktarith absolutely adores flying, and all the more so when Hers is with her; any sort of flying is pleasant for her but her true love will always be “stunt” flying. The riskier, the better. She is willing to give anything a try at least once. Odds are though, there will be far more than just one attempt; hopefully, Hers will have a strong stomach and nerves of steel, as this green was born to perform intricate flips, turns, and stoops in the air.