WEYRLINGMASTER H'LAD JOURNEYMAN WEAVER

Persona : H'lad
Writing Status : NPC/Free
Age : 47
Gender : Male
Rank/Craft : Weyrlingmaster, Brown Rider, Journeyman Weaver
Residence : Thread's End Weyr

Physical Description : H'lad is brown. His hair is brown, his eyes are brown and his skin, tanned by his life in southern, is brown. Standing at a not so very tall five feet and eleven inches, H'lad appears shorter due to his wide frame and thick ropey muscle. His hands, however, are delicate and nimble, used in his hobby and old craft of weaver.

Personality : H'lad could be easily described as a grump. He is stern, unyielding and very sober. In fact sober is a very good name for him as he no longer indulgences in wine or any other alcoholic offerings. He does have a sense of humour, and the man can smile, it is just very, very rarely that he does so, and only in the company of people he knows well.

Life Story : Hewlad and his younger brother, Keltin, were the only two children born to Journeyman Ryaak and Senior Journeywoman Gleistra. Sadly his father was lost to an illness when both boys were very young. Gleistra raised them alone, choosing not to become mistress or wife to another man. The boys were well aware of her sacrifice andmade sure not to cause trouble for her. When Hewlad was 14 his mother took in a foster daughter, Berria who idolised Hewlad and followed him, just as he had followed his mother's footsteps into the weavercraft. Keltin, disgusted with the slight wistful girl, happily studied beast-crafting, which eventually led him away from his home.

All was well as they grew up and Hewlad matured mindful of his duty to his mother. It was one of the greatest of surprises when dragonriders came to the Hall and picked out Hewlad and Berria both. Berria was terrified. She didn't want to be a dragonrider but Hewlad insisted - She had been chosen, she had to go. As it turned out, H'lad impressed a brown, Reyeth that first time on the sands, and Berria did not.

At first H'lad enjoyed being a dragonrider, and the benefits of flying both green and gold mating flights. It was as if all of his duties had been lifted and the solid dependable young man disappeared to be replaced by a rogue. He drank heavily, gambled and was loose with his favours. He seemed hungry for pleasure. This did not stop him from completing his new purpose as H'lad flew thread with a grim determination.

This attitude could not last and finally one event changed his life, and that of his family's, forever. H'lad had been drinking again when a favourite green of Reyeth's rose. Reyeth took to flight and H'lad, so lost in his cups, could not control his dragon's lust. Reyeth lost the flight and that should have been the end of it, but H'lad called Reyeth to him and flew home, a beloved one's face fixed in his mind. It was all he saw until his brother's fist pounded some sense into him. Woozy from drink and the last vestiges of the flight's affects. H'lad looked down to see Berria cowering in a corner, her clothes torn. H'lad was confused for a moment until he looked at his brother's snarl. The dawning horror of that moment was reflected in all of their faces as H'lad slumped to the ground, buried his face in his hands andwept.

Thread was to fall the next day. H'lad rose to meet it but for the last time in the North. He transferred South within a matter of days and cut himself off from his family. He never touched a drop of wine again and returned to the solid, dutiful man he had been as a boy.

His time in Southern, and Thread's End Weyr, were spent without much change. He took no weyrmate; he fathered no children; he flew thread and mating flights; he took leadership of his wing once in a hellish threadfall but other than that, was happy to remain lost in the workings of the Weyr. He was a brown shadow.

Three turns ago, all that changed. Firstly his brother, married for over five turns to Berria, sent him word of Gliestra's death and his intention of moving south. He made no bones about why. He was moving because they were family, and family needed to be close. H'lad, for the first time in his life, dithered. In the end he did not go to visit Keltin and Berria until they had been in Southern almost a full turn. He sent no warning, spiralling out of the sky to land near theirlittle cot hold. He filled the doorway and Berria turned, the smile like a sunshine burst across her face and then both she, andKeltin, had their arms around him. They were a family again.

Change did not stop there for H'lad. On sweeps one evening he answered an assistance signal at a Hold. The young holder's son ordered, then realising who he was talking to, asked for him to search out a missing girl; a runaway drudge that had stolen something precious. H'lad did so and Reyeth found the girl almost immediately, running frantically through the shrubbery on the other side of a nearby rise. Her scream of "don't take me back" was full of fear and it didn't take long for H'lad to find the multiple wounds and abuse done to the girl. Instead of returning her to the Hold, he flew her back to the Weyr and its safety.

H'lad took the young girl as his foster daughter, also giving her in to the care of both the Thread's End Harper Hall and his brother and Berria. She has thrived and it is her influence that has H'lad, now late into his fourth decade, considering what good he could do. With that in mind he went to the Werywoman and requested being considered as a Weyrlingmaster for her next clutch. She laughed and instead gave him over to an already established class.

Dragon's Name : Reyeth
Dragon's Colour : Brown
Dragon's Age : 25
Sire and Dam : Transfer
Age of Rider at Impression : 22

Dragon's Description : Reyeth is a solid brown. He is not huge like some of the older dragons, nor as quick and nimble as the newer, younger browns; but he is dependable for strength and endurance. His hide is a uniform of bark brown with patches the colour of Klah on his underside.

Dragon's Personality : Reyeth has a rather whimsically temper. He is just as solid and dependable as his rider but sometimes, just sometimes he does things that still surprise H'lad. He is an enigma, refusing to explain his actions during these bouts of whimsy, leaving H'lad puzzled. This is Reyeth's way of running circles around his lifemate, as he knows these little surprises make his rider laugh.

Last updated on 05-Jul-07.