GOLD INSTA: Kevia and gold Saeryth

[shadowreine]

The Basics


Where did you hear about Castaway Weyr?

• Name: Kevia
  
• Age: 32
  
• Gender: Female
  
• Rank: Goldrider
  

Physical

• Hair: Dark brown with red highlights, worn short
  
• Eyes: Dark brown
  
• Height: 5'5
  
• Weight: 130lbs
  
• Defining characteristics: Has an obvious scar (tooth marks) on her back, visible when she strips down to bathe or swim.
  
• Anything extra:
  
  Kevia is a muscular woman who seems, at first sight, far too butch to be a goldrider. With her short cropped hair, muscular upper body, and swaggering walk, many peg her to be a brownrider at first sight. She is, thus, not pretty or beautiful. Handsome would be closer to the mark. Her speaking voice hovers between the alto and mezzo ranges, but when she sings, talent and harper training show through. Her voice might well be described as her best feature. She wears skirts only when forced, and has a strong fondness for the color green.
  

Extra

• Personality:
  
  Tough, butch, and caring. Kevia is not what one would expect of a goldrider. Her appearance gets her mistaken for a rider of a male dragon, usually brown. Both her looks and her carriage make many who meet her expect her to be attracted to her own sex. That is not true...Kevia likes men quite a lot and women only as friends, but it may be offputting.
  
  She keeps herself incredibly physically fit, which also adds to her butch appearance. She dresses like a man, at Gathers, she shops like a man, and, yes, many are surprised to find this woman with a gold dragon.
  
  Yet, there is more to her than that. Under her tough appearance, Kevia is a deeply caring and highly maternal woman, one who regrets her apparent inability to have children fiercely. Instead, she lavishes that care on those who Impress her dragon's children, taking a great interest in the weyrlings and their training, especially should Saeryth lay a gold.
  
  Kevia was trained as a Harper before her Impression, and music remains a hobby of hers. She is quite willing to entertain her friends...and random weyrfolk...with harp and voice when she has the time. She definitely has talent as a singer, and furthermore enjoys it.
  
  Kevia is one of those goldriders who tends, all else being equal, to drift into relationships with the riders of those dragons who fly Saeryth, unless it be a female brownrider. It often seems that she would be happy with any man, but not, perhaps, with none. To her friends, she is far more loyal.
  
  Her rank does not go to her head, although she has no objection to pulling it when she needs to. She tries to be approachable, especially by weyrlings and candidates, her love of children and young people showing through. When she must act as a queen's rider, though, she goes back to being the tough woman that is most people's initial impression. She does not tolerate incompetence and her tongue is a powerful weapon for keeping those inline who need to be kept there.
  
  
• Family: Kevin, father. Loria, mother. Lorin, Kelor, Marik, older brothers.
  
• Pets: Brown firelizard Timber
  
• History:
  
  Castaway's coverage area had expanded over the years. Kevin, a holder's younger son, took his childhood sweetheart, Loria, and founded a new hold, cutting it out of the South bit by bit. Children came inevitably, three boys and finally a girl, Kevia. When Kevia was a year old, Loria was killed in an accident. Kevin never remarried, and knowing no better way...raised Kevia as 'one of the boys'.
  
  Her childhood was not an easy one. A small and relatively isolated holding meant they had to work from a young age, but despite that, Kevin insisted the children learn their letters. When Kevia was twelve, though, her life nearly came to an end.
  
  The girl was attacked by one of the smaller wild felines, getting away only by jumping into a river. She carries a scar from the attack to this day, and distrusts cats of all sizes. The wound began to develop an infection, and Kevin sent his firelizard for a healer.
  
  It was Kevia's first contact with anyone outside the family, but was also to have a surprisingly significant result. Her father befriended the greenrider who had brought the healer, and the two had an on again, off again love affair.
  
  A month later, there was a major Gather and, taking two trips, the greenrider, Emerie, took Kevin and his children to the party. She also quietly mentioned to Kevin that her dragon thought Kevia had potential, but he laughed it off, there being no riders that he knew of in his family.
  
  Nonetheless, the trip was to change Kevia's life. She had always enjoyed singing the ballads she knew, and a Harper heard her. Her sweet voice and sense of pitch intrigued him, and he took the girl aside. Then, he took aside her father, and asked if he could take Kevia on as an apprentice.
  
  Faced with a choice between becoming a Harper or hoping for a good marriage, Kevia, with her father's blessing, accepted apprenticeship.
  
  It was a golden time. She loved the work, loved performing, and loved teaching, a rare combination. She progressed in leap and bounds and privately, her master, Toran, felt she would be a Master in the end...
  
  ...which was not to be. The next time Kevia bumped into Emerie, there was a clutch on Castaway's Sands, and the green dragon, Loriseth, Searched the young girl to Stand.
  
  Unwilling to refuse such a duty, even though she would rather have been a Harper, she agreed to Stand for 'just one Hatching'. Of course, it only takes one. Amber-gold Saeryth Hatched and to the amazement of all who knew her tomboy ways, made a beeline for Kevia, choosing her without any hesitation. One moment, she was an apprentice Harper, the next, a gold weyrling, with a that entailed.
  
  Saeryth was a quiet dragon, almost shy, she steadied Kevia and the girl brought her out of her shell. Theirs was a partnership that was focused around love...for each other and for children. Saeryth's, that is, for Kevia never conceived, and it was not for want of trying. Four Turns after Saeryth's maturity, Kevia came to the conclusion that she was not fertile, and focused, instead, on helping and guiding the Weyr's youngsters.
  
  Kevia proved to be one of those goldriders who gave her attentions to the rider of the dragon who flew Saeryth...and Saeryth was not one to always be flown by the same male. She had no serious relationships, thus, until her mid twenties. R'mel's Kazith flew Saeryth three times, but the fourth flight, Saeryth was caught by a different bronze, Tymoth, and Kevia transferred her attentions to his rider. R'mel never forgave her.
  
  R'mel, in fact, plotted to get her back. Obviously, this meant Kazith needed to fly Saeryth. He tried to trick Tymoth and his rider, so they would be out of the Weyr when Saeryth flew.
  
  Kevia found out and was furious. The now thirty-something goldrider told R'mel exactly what she thought of him for such meanness...and dredging up ancient history to boot. The two almost came to blows, and Kevia mounted her dragon in high dudgeon.
  
  It's not entirely surprising that, furious and unhappy, she misjudged her between coordinates. Perhaps it was a desire to return to the simple times of her youth, but Saeryth jumped between...and came out above the bowl of Castaway, forty years earlier.
  
  

For Dragonriders Only:

• Dragon name and color: Gold Saeryth
  
• Dragon age: 17
  
• Dragon personality:
  
  Saeryth is a very, very quiet dragon. She is, in fact, almost shy. Only when flying or when she has to exert her natural dominance does she come out of the shadows. She is, however, also a very maternal gold, more breeder, perhaps, than leader. She takes great care of her eggs...and can be too broody at times, requiring Kevia's intervention to get her to let anyone close enough to check on them. However, she seems to actively enjoy Hatchings.
  
  She is not a loyal gold, and it is rare for her to be caught by the same male more than once in a row, in fact, this has only happened once. The company of her rider is much preferred to that of other dragons, although she will be friendly enough. The exception is that she will spend time with younger dragons, even if they are not *her* hatchlings. She just loves weyrlings.
  
  Saeryth is a rich, deep amber color, and is average-sized for a gold.