Kelyra

Name: Kelyra
Age: 16
Season of Birth: Early Spring
Gender: Female
Rank: Holdless, though she could take rank within a Beast Crafthall.
Skills: Primarily hunting, butchering & animal husbandry. Slight talent for weaving & herbal medicine. Wood carving is both her hobby & required for crafting her bow & arrows. Though her skills are more practical than artistic. Her cooking, whilst edible, usually tastes as pleasant as her herbal medicines.
Pets: Currently saving her marks to purchase a hunting companion - a trained hunting wherry or hunting canine.


Play-By: Reine Haru
Eye Color: Hazel - a darker brown mixed with a lighter green tone.
Hair Color: Heavy blonde hair that falls into straight lengths that will arrange themselves into loose strands with ends that curve wildly.
Height: Rather short, 5'3"

Build: Kelyra is a slender girl with only a slight feminine figure. Her frame is made more from firm muscle than soft feminine flesh. Her body is fit, strong and agile. Her light frame & strength lend well to running - but her light frame lacks the raw strength of the other more masculine hunters.
Overall Description: Kelyra moves quickly, prancing about on light, quiet steps. She can easily lift her own body weight, so she can easily clamber up rocks and into the canopy. She enjoys dancing and lights up as she whirls about the campfire - though the other girls say she jumps and twirls so high that one day the dragon riders will come and snatch her away!
When Kelyra is feeling thoughtful her movements slow down & become precise, silent motions. When anxious she will rush about like a long eared tunnel snake escaping through the underbrush. When there isn't much space, Kelyra tends to slip through people & crowds, as if she were fitting herself through thick forest or a crowded festival.
Kelyra used to dress in plain cottons & loose leather when she was younger. She'd pick the most particular but simplest, very unflattering choices. But when she was mistaken for a boy at a festival, she decided she had to change. So for the last two turns Kelyra has been taking care to dress in more flattering outfits. Her loose leather pants were gone, her muscular thighs now pulling firm leather pants tight across her firm figure. Her top was a similar design of tight leather, tied at her sides. She made sure to oil the leather, so it bends quietly & allows her almost full movement. Her figure was still slight, still mostly muscle. But now even a girl heavy on ale wouldn't mistake her for a boy. These are all accented with weaves of thread, drawing leafy vines & blooming flowers, reinforcing her softer appearance. And well, she really did enjoy the design herself.
This she topped with a delicate headdress of woven silver metals, as if steel could be woven like cotton thread. A jewel is held at it's center. She only removes it to sleep and bathe. Once a boy stole it away as she sleep - only to discover she rose the next morning, tracking his steps & more than ready to put an arrow through his wrist if he didn't return it.
All this softness is marred however - by the ever present hardness of her smooth leather bracer about her left wrist. Her longbow doesn't help any either - though the fletched arrows actually seem to work in her favor, their feathered ends somehow adding to her natural theme. A carving knife also usually sits at her waist, though she usually carves meat away from prying eyes & wood when others can see.

Prized Possessions: Her bow, which her father crafted for her. It's center is wrapped in fine leather & flowering vines are engraved into it's shaft. It's tips curl back onto themselves, adding to it's strength slightly. She also has two steel arrow heads which she fastens to her two best arrows with thick thread or thin vine. Having no one local to craft metal, these are prized & reserved for only the largest, toughest herdbeasts when she hunts. But her favorite possession is her woven silver headdress. During festivals she sometimes adorns it with flowers, weaving them through the fine coils. She usually wears this, unless she is bathing or sleeping.


Pleasures: Hunting, Woodcarving, Dancing, Hunting, Running, Runnerbeast Racing & Archery.
Torments: Taking Medicine, Inactivity, Crowds, Haggling/Trading & Watching others flirt or being Loveydovey.
Likes: Rounder figures, People who can actually cook, Socializing (albeit, awkwardly), Rough play, Competitive & Boisterous Play, Blooming Flowers, Being up high, Wet leaves after the rain, Mystery, Long Hair & Honest Natures.
Dislikes: Being inside holds, Low ceilings, Her own cooking, Weaving, Weakness/Sickness, Arrogance, Easy going natures & Being ignored.
Strengths: Reactionary, Challenges, Observant, Agility, Predation/Predatory Nature, Determined, Competitive, Self Reliant & Single Minded Focus.
Weaknesses: Reactionary, Challenging, Gossiping, Blunt Interpersonal Skills, Prideful, Jealousy, Envy & Single Minded Focus.
Desires: Kelyra wants to learn to flirt - and she really wouldn't mind a kiss or two. She also wants to own her own runnerbeast - so she can hunt larger beasts to better provide for her family. And maybe to race... Ok, mostly to race. But most of all she would like someone to treat her special. Precious. As if she were some valued beauty of many talents - perhaps cooking her fine meals with exotic spices or giving her warm kisses each morning. Just once she'd like to wake up, snuggled warm inside someone elses arms.
Overall Description: Kelyra is a warm competitive girl. She gets along well with the boys - but she always ends up being seen as one of the boys. The girls tend to treat her oddly, whilst the boys never quite notice her in the right ways. After having once been mistake for a slender boy at a festival, she now takes care to dress with more feminine touches, taking a particular pride in softening her previously practical appearance. But this doesn't relieve the discomfort she feels when in social gatherings at the camp. She never quite fits into place as the other girl's gossip over their weaving and cooking. And whilst she enjoys hunting, she does feel a solemn loneliness that leaves her wanting something more out of life.


Kelyra & her family live in a holdless hunting camp, travelling through the Igen plains and surrounding regions. They follow herdbeasts migrations, collecting meat, hide & bone to sell to holds they pass near. They also collect unusual plants or rocks for medicine- sometimes even finding the translucent stones worth many marks in river beds that run shallow through the summer. They hold no rank and thus merchants deal with them quite cruelly, often paying half what they normally might with other holder folk. But the holdless need limit from the outside, so they survive despite this disrespect. Everyone in the camp prizes well bred runnerbeasts, as their travelling makes them essential - and the constant journeying makes it difficult to tame wild runnerbeasts.
Mother: Her mother is a healer. Her medicines usually work - but the worse your condition is, the worse her medicines taste...
Father: Her father crafts stone & wood, having become more common now since thread had fallen into the past. Mostly he performed repairs for holders, but sometimes he would have the time to carve something beautiful. In particular, he likes to craft a beautiful bow. If only because of his daughter's love for her own.
Siblings: Two Brothers, 18 & 14. The oldest followers her mother's medicines whilst the youngest followers her father's stonecraft & woodcraft. Both respect their sister, though even they fall into the habit of often relating to her much like they do themselves - a brother.
Children: None.
Background: Kelyra tried many things when she was young. Her mother's medicines always smelled bad & tasted worse... Whilst her father's careful, slow working of the wood left her itching to be out running & riding all the way to the horizon! That's how she fell into hunting. If she woke early enough to accompanied her uncle, she would be gone all day & missing her mother's horrid smelling pickles. And she got to ride her Uncle's runnerbeast & shoot a bow! It was hard work, but she never really minded that. She liked to be outside, using her hands to accomplish something. Her first kill was a Wherry taking flight. And her first dinner... Well it soon became apparent that her cooking was too much like her mother's medicines... Thankfully her brothers learnt to cook quite quickly. She would clean the meat expertly however - even struggling her way through herdbeast carcasses when they were twice her size! Her uncle would laugh and come help, but he has always been proud of Kelyra's talents. He always felt it was a shame no boy saw her in the right light.

Around Kelyra, boys began to notice the other girls. Their rounder figures & softer voices seemed to get all the attention. Kelyra tried eating twice as much, just to put on that rounder figure the others held. But no matter what she ate, she only ended up feeling bloated & sickly - and her mother's awful medicines soon put a stop to that!

When she chased the boys & played under the sun, they would laugh and fight. Race & run. Chase & wrestle - but even when Kelyra let the boys catch her and pin her down, the prizes they claimed were never warm kisses. Instead they would ask her for a fine steak from her kill - or perhaps to help them craft some fine arrows to hunt. They never ended up with those red cheeks and hungry looks when they chased the other girls...

Sometimes they would visit a hold in time for a festival. There everyone would dress up in their finest clothes, singing and dancing the night away and sharing all the good food. At fourteen, Kelyra found herself being pushed into a circle of dancing boys and girls. In the center a fire blazed - and the music would signal for all the boys or all the girls to step about the circle, choosing new partners for a short dance. Then, when the music rose high, they would end the dance in a single kiss. If you received a kiss on the lips, it was said you could claim another before the night ended. Only when Kelyra looked about nervously, she felt her hand pulled away into the center. There red hair blazed as a young girl drew her into a dance. Embarrassed, she was too frightened to stop her... And too shy to say anything her before she received a warm kiss across her lips. Surprised by her warmth... her softness, Kelyra couldn't say anything at all. Too embarrassed, she just fled. She'd been mistaken for a boy... Her loose leathers & plain, fit figure had been mistaken for a boys... After that, she made sure to dress herself in softer ways. Loose clothes became tight leather, tied and well fitted to her shape. Plain cloth became embroidered vines and blooming flowers. Wild hair was brushed long and straight, taking up a soft shine.

But even with all these changes, the boys still never quite saw her as they did the others. Suddenly she was a girl - but she wasn't... a girly girl. She was their friend, just... a bit prettier. And when other girls spoke of kisses and flirtations, even marriage, she just wondered if her second kiss would ever come.

And then came a day to change all of that. Kelyra was been tracking a large herdbeast. She'd circled around ahead of it, climbing a tree she knew it would come to. There were berries beneath that she knew they couldn't resist. Now, normally she wouldn't track such a large beast on her own. Without help she couldn't drag the carcass back to camp. But this one had lost the herd & now was only a short run over the plains. If she downed it, she could borrow a runnerbeast or two and be back before any other animals came to ruin her kill. She just had to wait patiently for the perfect shot.

She'd notched her steel headed arrow, knowing she would need the extra power of the steel to push through the thick hide and muscles of the beast. She would have one shot - if she missed, even just a fingers width, she would merely wound it. And it would charge off with her arrow embedded in it's shoulder. She mioght not get a second chance before she had to return.

Her bow lifted, arrow notched. He was shifting just slightly - almost showing her that perfect spot between his shoulders for her arrow. The sun clouded over - and beast stood rigid, frozen as if the cloud was some dark predator looming up high. A perfectly still target. Her arrow flew, striking home, then something shook the tree from under her!

Tensing, her ears stung! She had shut her eyes and tensed for the fall - but one hand found a perch and she merely dangled halfway down the tree. She'd almost dropped her bow in shock! A crack rolled out, and she tensed again, waiting for the branch to fall. But then she realized it was from below her. Opening her eyes, she couldn't understand it for a moment. A golden snout snapped down on the beast, tearing away another leg as bones cracked. The snout was huge - almost as big as a runnerbeast! It was as if a dragon had fallen from the sky and stolen her kill. No! It was a dragon! A dragon had swooped down and stolen her kill! Her arrow still in the carcass...

Anger and pride flooded her senses. She let go and sank to the ground, springing back up and drawing a second arrow. "That was my hunt!" She gestured to the arrow, before raising her bow up to the dragon's eye. "And that was my finest arrowhead. I'll have that back. Even if I have to crawl down your gullet to get it!"

As the creature turned it's focus towards her, it hit her. She was threatening a dragon. Dragons who came and stole children at night. Dragons who demanded tribute lest we all perish under mythical rains of thread. Dragons who could snap her in two with a single bite. Dragons who breathe fire! And yet, she couldn't back down now. Not if she wanted her arrow back. Her smile took on a grim edge, as she held her gaze against the strange whirling eyes. "You ruined my hunt, so you might as well keep the carcass. You'll just have to help me catch something else. Something at least as big - Not a feather lighter!" Her voice quivered - her fear seeping out for a moment as she tried to sound both calm & angry, much like her mother often did when people ignored her instructions about their medicine.

Kelyra didn't really expect a response. Let alone a voice. Or even a pair of voices. She'd failed to notice the rider - and hadn't really thought about a searching dragon speaking back to her. She almost loosed her arrow in surprise - and then she lowered, out of her own folly and fear more than the immensity of the dragon's. Searching... Dragon Riders... Weyrs... A dragon of her own - that would beat any runnerbeast. And that would certainly get her noticed. Why, with a dragon even holders might offer their sons for marriage... She could even get 5 herdbeasts for her hand! Maybe even a runnerbeast as well! Now that, that would show the others...

Her head whirled. The rider wrote a note for her, assuring her it explained she was being searched and taken away to become a dragon rider. She couldn't read it - but her mother could. And they'd helped her gather another herdbeast. It was larger than the first. Far larger. Only a pair of runnerbeasts could carry something this big back to camp. There was skepticism from the camp when she asked for not one but two runnerbeasts, but her uncle was back, so he came and lent her his best beasts. He came out to the carcass, taking careful note of the gashes and the ground - he looked surprised. But then he laughed and they joked all the way back to camp. This was perhaps the largest kill this turn! Many jealous heads would shine tomorrow. But tonight, tonight they would celebrate!


That night when Kelyra snuck away from the celcerebration, leaving a note in her parent's tent. She was surprised to see her Uncle step into the tent's flap. He watched her carefully, wearing a serious look. "Your going then?" He didn't really wait for an answer. He already knew it all. "You know, I've heard dragons are the best hunters in all of Pern. And you would have been our best hunter one day. I'm sure you'll fit right in up there." He knew - he'd seen the dragon perhaps? Flying above the camp? Or maybe he'd guessed from the clawed hide where the dragon had carried the carcass? No! The ground! He'd noticed the marks where the dragon had landed. And he had understood. There was only one beast of that size in all of Pern. Dragons!

She buried herself into her his arms, suddenly crying uncontrolledly. She was definitely excited. And scared. His stern voice told her it would be ok. Just go. He would talk to her parents. So she slipped away. And then, there was that dragon, lifting her up high. Flying. Faster than any runnerbeast. And she just smiled. Tomorrow she too might be hunting the skies!

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