JOURNEYWOMAN SEACRAFTER BAHLAY

Persona : Bahlay
Writing Status : NPC/Owned
Age : 34
Gender : Female
Rank/Craft : Journeywoman Seacrafter, First mate of the "Wind's Bride"
Residence : North Tip Fishing Hold

Physical Description : Bahlay’s round face is weatherworn and darkly tanned from her many Turns at sea, but while her skin may have aged before most, there is no doubting the youthful exuberance that shines in her hazel eyes. A great deal of the time her long, chestnut hair is caught back to keep it out of her eyes but when she is not on duty, Bahlay brushes it until it shines – her little vanity as she calls it. Standing at average height, her time at sea has given Bahlay a stronger physique than is seen on most women on Pern but it seems to suit her.

Personality : Bahlay lives for life on the open sea; nothing quite gets her blood racing like racing around on deck while the waves are crashing about her. She is quite the daredevil – during times when most people would stay on deck, the first mate of the Wind’s Bride can often be seen climbing the rigging to complete tasks ordered by her captain.
Bahlay makes a point of knowing everyone on board the vessel and making them feel welcome, although those who slack from their duties soon come face to face with the sterner side of her personality. She does not tolerate laziness, knowing full well that a seacrafter’s life often rests with the well-being of the vessel they are on. She has a rough sense of humour and can sometimes make even the sturdiest of seacrafters blush to the tips of their ears with some of the tales she tells.
When all is quiet and she is not needed, Bahlay often climbs to the crow’s nest to sit and play the panpipes her father gave her. With just her music and the view of the open sea, Bahlay feels completely at ease.

Life Story : Seacrafting is in Bahlay’s blood. Her father, Bahuen, was a journeyman fisher at Tillek, the fifteenth generation in a long line of people married to the waves. Her mother also lived at Tillek and settled down with Bahuen to become a fisherman’s wife and Turn after their handfasting, Bahlay was born. As soon as she was old enough to be of use to her family, the young girl was taught how to gut fish, mend nets and knit the jumpers and hats for her father and his crew. Although she did this dutifully, Bahlay often dreamed of following her father out to sea and at twelve turns she stowed away on his vessel, *Lady Landcrab*. She managed to stay hidden for two days behind a barrel of salted yellowtail until the first mate discovered her and marched her up to her father’s cabin. There she received an angry lecture from Bahuen about what could have happened to her if she had not been found but it was obvious that the man had simply been scared for his only child. Knowing that he could not turn the ship around to take Bahlay back to the Hold, he decided to punish her by giving her the worst tasks imaginable. He was surprised, therefore, to find that no matter what he made Bahlay do she always seemed happier than he had ever seen her at Tillek with her mother and so Bahuen resolved that he would apprentice his daughter on his own ship.
When they arrived back in port, Bahlay’s mother was less than impressed at Bahuen’s decision as she had come to rely upon Bahlay’s extra help but she could not disobey her husband’s wishes. Bahlay’s relationship with her mother soured after this point and at every opportunity Sevilay commented on how her daughter had disappointed her by choosing a vocation obviously not suited to a woman. Bahlay managed to upset her mother even more by rejecting the proposal of a man her mother favoured for a son-in-law. More and more Bahlay sort ways to escape from her mother’s alternating criticism and matchmaking, often by joining the crews of other ships when her father was not at sea.
Bahlay was tested at the Seacrafthall in her twenty-first Turn and walked the tables, to her father’s delight and her mother’s sorrow. Over the Turns she worked her way up to the rank of second mate upon her father’s ship, but this only caused rumours of favouritism to circulate and so Bahlay transferred south to North Tip Fishing Hold. She spent her first few Turns there aboard a schooner called *Mist Maiden* but the captain’s refusal to make her anything for than an able bodied sailor on account of her being a woman grated too much to be endured and so in Turn thirty-eight she resigned her contract aboard the *Mist Maiden* and joined the *Wind’s Bride* as first mate within a seven day. She has been first mate under Captain Kinnerk ever since and, at last, she has found a ship to call ‘home’.

Last updated on 07-Mar-07.