CelliaName: Cellia Appearance Slightly under average height, not conventionally pretty, this young woman nonetheless has something about her which catches the eye. Cellia wears a well broken-in outfit of wherhide riding leathers. The leather has weathered and molded for a perfect fit, and Cellia wears it with pride. The jacket is belted snugly around her waist. On one shoulder of her jacket is a simple black and gold knot threaded through with brown. The other shoulder bears a patch indicating that the jacket's owner is a member of Igen's Sirocco Wing. Her straight hair falls to her shoulders, neatly shaped, a small cascade of firegold locks: burnt maize steeped in flame. Eyes so dark as to almost be black gaze from under thick lashes, in an oval face well-sprinkled with freckles that must take a few years from her face, giving it an almost girlish aspect. Yet her frame is no girl's, but a woman's. Her stance is firm, with deep self-confidence. Often seen flittering about Cellia are several fire-lizards. Her golden queen is almost always perched regally on her right shoulder. (+detail cell) Cellia appears to be 32 years old. History About eight Turns before the present Pass began, a young Holdbred couple left Keroon to settle in a small cothold of their own. Folded into a bend of the Igen River, the hold was appropriately named Riverbend. Clinon was already something of a dour personality, preferring solitude to company more often than not. He also bore an intense dislike of dragons, probably stemming from the tithes Keroon sent to nearby Ista Weyr. His wife, Eilan, submissively bent to her husband's decisions. Clinon also harbored a secret desire to become a vintner instead of the farmer he already was, and the small valley in which they settled was perfect for grapevines. Clinon was apparently determined to father as many children as he could, planning to use his progeny for extra hands instead of having to hire outside help. As his first few children were daughters, he continued siring them on Eilan in hopes of getting some boys. The years were lean, but Cellia, the third of what would eventually become a brood of ten, remembers them as full of joy, as she had little more to do than tag along after her beloved older sisters. Raimi, the eldest sister, left home when Cellia was only five, to become a Weaver apprentice. Only a few Turns later, Thread began falling, and already-sporadic communication with Raimi was cut off altogether. Cellia would not see her older sister again for over twenty Turns. As the children grew, they were assigned chores around the hold. Cellia's talents lay more in the tending of crops and, as more children were born, her younger siblings, who eventually numbered eight total, than in wifely skills such as cooking and cleaning. Her detriments filled her parents with despair. Cellia was fourteen when Alea suddenly disappeared. She knew it had something to do with the proposed match her father had made between Alea and the son of a neighboring holder. Several times, she tried to sneak out to find Alea, but was always restricted by her father, who took his anger at the older daughter out on Cellia. In rebellion and fear, Cellia began spending every free moment she could find at Keroon Hold, which was about half a day's walk from Riverbend. Though she knew she would suffer punishment (usually in the form of extra chores) when she returned, she felt it worth it to get away from the cothold from time to time. She helped with the Hold children there, socialized a bit, and thrilled to the occasional sight of a dragon in the Hold's courtyard. Thanks to her father's hatred of all things draconic, Cellia couldn't even let herself try to Impress a fire-lizard, but she adored dragons nonetheless. One afternoon, she managed to sneak a ride a-dragonback, with the aid of a new friend, Galadri. The pair enjoyed an evening at the Benden Hold festival grounds, returning later that night with none the wiser. Cellia also made a friend in a Beastcraft apprentice girl named Nialla. Four Turns, almost to the day, had passed since Alea's disappearance when Cellia was hailed by a dragonrider in the courtyard at Keroon. The bluerider, Janelle, was carrying a message for the Lady of Keroon; fortunately, the Headwoman arrived in time to take the message for her, as Janelle couldn't trust it to anyone lesser. Unfortunately, the dragon, Lunarth, wouldn't let Cellia leave. Janelle informed Cellia that Lunarth had Searched her, and would she be willing to stand on the Sands for Igen's latest clutch? With only a thought to spare for her parents, a thrilled Cellia agreed. Grabbing a bedroll from the upstairs room where she occasionally spent evenings over at the Hold, she went with Janelle to Igen Weyr. The Weyr was all Cellia had pictured and more -- and then some. As Lunarth alit on the hard-packed ground near the entrance to the living caverns, Cellia recognized a face she hadn't seen in four years: that of her sister, Alea. To Cellia's greater surprise, Alea was dressed in riding leathers and standing near a beautiful green dragon. Cellia and Alea had a joyful reunion, during which the younger sister swore that even if she didn't Impress, she would never leave the Weyr. Cellia met some of her fellow Candidates over the next few days; attended lectures and informal discussions regarding what to expect at the Hatching; and, to her pleasure and surprise, Impressed a golden fire-lizard from a clutch meant only for the Candidates. Aurana was an imperious, flaxen-gold hatchling who won Cellia's heart from the instant she cracked her shell. Alea and Cellia quickly caught up on each others' lives; Cellia learned that Alea was pregnant by a brownrider named B'rin, against whom her sister warned her. And then the day of the Hatching arrived. The Candidates were caught off-guard to some extent by the realization that dragons were humming and eggs rolling. While the Weyrleaders, Shandra and J'rell (of whom Cellia was immensely respectful and a little scared), gave them a last-minute briefing on what to expect, the Candidates changed into their white robes and clutched each others' hands, praying for calm. Cellia found herself between two of her closest friends, Minya and Nimiriel; across the circle, she saw Kateal, Vitral, Shayne, Sejan, Mirabeth, Sabra, and some other of the friends she had made over the past few weeks. Then the group was led through a secret tunnel, heretofore unknown by most, into the cavernous Hatching Grounds. Taken aback by the realization that half of Pern must be crowded into the galleries or perched on the ledges above, Cellia nearly forgot to bow to the great gold Ladonyth and her mate, Jaela. Then she was dragged along into the semi-circle, finding her hands being crushed on one side by Minya and the other by Glynna, while her feet danced on the incredibly hot sands. The dragons' humming ceased abruptly with the cracking of the first shell. A lovely little blue emerged from the shards and darted off to find his mate. Next, a brownish egg whose shell resembled dusky, well-worn wherhide began to rock and then to crack. Seeing her favorite egg shatter, Cellia caught her breath. A perfectly-formed walnut-hued brown stepped out of the rubble. It took him some choosing -- he passed over Vitral with a muzzle stuck up in the air -- but he suddenly found his lifemate, and looking up at Cellia with dazzling eyes, he informed her, I am Choloth. Cellia's memories of the Hatching after that moment are blurred in tears and the joy of feeling the pure love of Choloth. She collapsed soon after, managing to make it to the weyrling barracks with her newfound lifemate before the exhaustion of the day caught up with her. Later, she was happy to learn that several of her friends had Impressed - Shayne, Nimiriel (to the gold, Daelyth), K'tel, V'ral, S'jan, and Sabra among them - but she was also saddened that Minya would be leaving them, as would several other of the now former Candidates. A few stayed, their number including Jacera, Trisken, and Kestrall, although subsequent events have forged separate histories for everyone. Cellia settled into weyrlinghood as best she could. Accepting new responsibilities was a challenge, but the love of Choloth made every task easier. The brown was taught to hunt by Gwirith, Alea's green, who had a special fondness for browns. There was an (albeit unintentional) entertaining lecture on draconic mating habits taught by Celie, whose green Urieth was unfortunately proddy at the time; there were first flights and first betweenings; the discovery of Shipfish Island, which turned into a getaway place for the weyrlings; and the eventual return home to face the parents. Alea had wanted to return to Riverbend for some time, but now that her daughter Alane was born, she felt the desire more than before. Reluctantly, Cellia went along, as did Alea's new weyrmate, M'kal, and his brown; the Weyrleader, Shandra; Katany and her gold; Cellia's fellow weyrling Sabra and her brown; and a couple of weyrfolk who were apparently deluded into the thought that the hold visit would be a quick stop along the way. The confrontation with Clinon and Eilan eventually resolved into a quieter family reunion, although Cellia still felt that her father refused to accept her (a pointed remark from Clinon about one brownrider being offered hospitality, with M'kal clearly the one being addressed at the time, fueled this). Later visits thankfully proved her wrong. Shortly after that visit, Cellia and her fellow weyrlings were accepted into the ranks of the riders of Igen. Cellia, V'ral and K'tel all became part of the Sirocco wing, under the leadership of Janelle. Now that the young riders' dragons were grown, they were allowed to follow more adult pursuits as well: the drinking of alcohol, banned during weyrlinghood, was one of these. Another manifested itself shortly to Cellia when S'jan expressed his interests in her. The two had something of a drawn-out courtship, eventually consummating their physical feelings and even discussing a weyrmating; but the relationship suffered from suspicion and a strong dissimilarity in personalities. Finally, things broke completely after Cellia returned from a visit to Benden Weyr, where Choloth had pursued a glowing green but lost the flight. She proceeded to get very drunk; Trisken gave her an escort back to her weyr, and she invited him to stay. When S'jan learned of the encounter, he lambasted her in public (in the Weyr's Living Caverns); she in return snapped at him about his supposedly secret interest in Nimiriel, and the relationship was sundered. For a while, Cellia had decided to not worry about romantic relationships; she was happy enough being involved with her sister's family, which was growing rapidly: Alea had twins by M'kal, Alyn and Mykeal. Cellia was also happy being a rider; she had no great aspirations to leadership in the Weyr, and was thus very surprised when, on Janelle's retirement from Wingleader of Sirocco and V'ral's subsequent installment, the bronzerider offered her a position as Wingsecond. She took him up on it. Cellia also found a friend in a new arrival to the Weyr, Maverick; and while she considered him something of a younger brother due to the disparity in their ages, she was kind, aware of his crush on her. When Aurana, flown by a bronze of S'jan's, laid a clutch of eggs, Maverick Impressed the gold from the clutch. Then a tragic accident: Alea and Gwirith were lost during a Fall. Cellia grieved for her sister. She disappeared from Weyrlife altogether for a while; only appearing for Fall or scheduled drills, and to help Celie clean out her sister's weyr. Alane and the twins were sent to Riverbend while M'kal and Cellia mourned in separate silence. Slowly, eventually, Cellia got past the dark grief and returned to regular activities, fueled partially by Alane's return to the Weyr. She looked after her niece when she could, got acquainted with the current batch of Candidates, and attended Hatchings and Gathers. It came as a pleasant shock to her when Maverick Impressed a green, Amylith, and became M'verick, although she continued to refer to him as 'Ric. Suddenly she found she couldn't look at him as a little brother anymore; he'd become an equal, and Choloth was up in the skies chasing Amylith when she rose to mate. He never caught her, though, and M'verick and Cellia continued to dance around each other, never quite getting close enough to touch. Cellia unexpectedly befriended a Candidate who was at Igen for a clutch of Irrylath's: Kathall of Benden Hold was an eager young woman, full of questions and curiosity for the patient brownrider. When Kathall did not Impress, Cellia didn't want her friend to leave the Weyr, but Kathall didn't want to stay; so the brownrider gave the Holdergirl the only thing she had left of Alea's, a carved wooden pendant of a dragon on a necklace. Cellia continued to visit Kathall at Benden Hold, maintaining the friendship. The brownrider also made friends with the artist Rashmael, who was staying at Igen Weyr as the weyrmate of Shayne. Rashmael's coughing disease caught up with him, unfortunately, and to Cellia's despair, another dear friend passed away. For a time, Cellia was posted to a sweepriding watch at her parents' cothold, which has grown substantially in size since her father relaxed enough to allow additional holders on "his" land. She returned to the Weyr just prior to yet another Hatching -- one in which Catalina, among others, Impressed -- and began to insinuate herself into Weyrlife. Unfortunately, reverberations of past problems -- the almost-never-quite thing going on with M'verick, primarily -- drove Cellia away again. She asked for and received another sweepriding watch, this one at a further Hold where she hoped she could forget everything and everyone. It took her much introspection and time alone to realize that her running away had led her nowhere. Finally, she terminated the sweepriding post and returned to Igen, scared, only to find that her worries were essentially in vain. She had not been forgotten nor shuffled away; her friends were still her friends, wingmates still wingmates. She also returned to heartening news: her niece had Impressed a blue, Quinaeth, at High Reaches Weyr; and word reached her that the MasterWeaver of Pern, Raimi, was her long-lost sister. Cellia eventually transferred to High Reaches in order to be closer to Alane. She developed a friendship with greenrider K'nder, which led into a relationship when his Kerilinth rose and Choloth caught her. It wasn't long before Cellia fell in love with the sweet greenrider. They enjoyed life as weyrmates for several months. Then, during a routine Fall, Choloth and Cellia were caught in a patch of Thread and lost to the cold of between. Choloth's description Choloth's large, sturdy, well-shaped head resembles the beauty of fine finished walnut. Glistening with oil, his oaken-brown wings show graceful striations of a dark ebony that follow the curve of the trailing edge. His neck and ridges are a golden oak that gradually darkens on the underside of his body to the dark deep browns of an ancient father tree. Well-defined muscles in his chest and wings show off the hard work he has done in learning to fly, and the sparkle in his eyes gives one a hint of his joy in flight. [Hatching description was written by Alea's player; the adult desc was slightly edited by me.] Fire-lizards Aurana: This golden beauty is incredibly delicate, from her needle-thin talons to her paperthin wings. Her hide is a creamy, flaxen gold in hue, shimmering in the light; her underbelly is one shade darker, as is the tip of her tail. Though she seems to prefer riding on Cellia's shoulder, she doesn't object to being carried in her pet's arms, either. Her neck is decorated with the black and yellow of Igen Weyr separated by a fine band of brown. Feisty: Formal and proud as the stuffiest Lord Holder, this genteel brown certainly appears to think much more of himself than the rest of Pern. His cool faceted eyes regard you with disdain, as if deeming you worthy to look upon him. His hide is almost black along his spine and wingsails, giving him an almost ominous look, but his underside is a warm broomwood color, hinting at a warm heart. Dusk: Sleek, slender, wide-winged and small, this tiny blue is quite a flyer: sleek and quick. A medium blue, his hide shimmers with the colors of the onset of night, shading at his extremities to midnight blue, along his wings to the lighter blues of the evening, wingtalons and claws sparkling gloriously white against the darker background. Inquisitive, he's the firelizard who inspired the saying, "Curiosity killed the lizard." Or so he thinks. Tailchaser: This large brown exudes a sense of silliness. His hide is a swirl of klah-with-milk, with one particularly creamy spot surrounding his left eye. His poses are apt to be less than dignified, and he bears what might almost be a goofy grin most of the time. Paint: This little one is a cheerfully bright, placid cornflower blue in color, looking as if some artistic child poured a fairly large container of paint over his nearly uniform-blue hide. Ripples of an almost metallic sheen, mostly silver, cover his pelt, like a lattice in odd twists and shapes, moving with his muscles and tendons. He peers around at everything with a continually, hopelessly befuddled expression. Oakleaf: Sleek and slim is her figure. She is smaller then most. A pattern like that of oak leaves graces her hide, the narrow leaves adding to the illusion that she is slimmer then she actually happens to be. Her muzzle looks as if a newly fallen oakleaf, naturally curled, has fallen onto it. Dark blotches alternate with lighter patches right around her eyes and eyeridges. She is full of energy, this little creature, and often bounces instead of walks. Flirt: This one is a blur of assorted browns, though mainly his hide is burnt sienna, shot through with an array of different hues of brown. He is an outrage of browns, like banners that sank into his smooth pelt. Ribbons of darker walnuts and mahoganys compete against lighter oaks and sandalwoods, wrapped from his muzzle to the tip of his tail. He is very handsome, and he certainly knows that, often strutting to show off his wonderful colors when he isn't hovering near his humanpet. Midnight: Dark as the ocean depths is this young lizard. His blackness is almost absolute, starting at the tip of his nose, with his bright eyes blinking like jewels in the depths. But the darkness is not total. Deep blue edgings work themselves along his hide like crevices and crags leading down to the ocean floor. The vertical stripes move with his muscles, creating a shimmering pattern. He cocks his head and cheeps inquisitively as he's inspected. Mystery: This little blue is shaded the perfect hue of a bright spring sky. His wingsails are long and furl about him like clouds. The hide of the lizard is nearly completely unmarked by any other shade, and when aloft, he seems to melt into the sky above him. Only a few darker markings about his muzzle and on his limbs stand out at all. He is sedate and quiet, with a mysterious air about him that says he will not be easily known. Swagger: He's a big strong masculine blue, he is. When he walks, it's with the swagger that gave him his name. Inky blue marks his lighter hide across the chest and forelimbs. His pelvis is oddly colored, several shades lighter than the rest of him, calling to mind a pair of underthings. His bearing is confident and seductive, as if any female should flock to him - truly he is Faranth's gift to women. Isn't he? Shyboy: This small brown looks around his world with more confusion than is normal. His hide is a soft caramel shade which fades to a pale pink on his belly. His muzzle is also dusted with the same shade of pink. He tends to hide behind his fellows, not quite used to this great big world. Temptress: A rich spring green in hue, this little lady isn't one solid color. Dark swirls of jade outline her wingtips and the tip of her tail, while a dab of amber gold highlights her slim muzzle. Slender and curvaceous in build, this seductress uses her charm and beauty to attract the males. Sleepy: The tiny young blue's hide gleams as preciously as if his creator had carved him from a perfect jewel. Carats of shaping gleam pattern-like along his hide and dot his wings, unable to mask the eternally sleepy expression on the little one's muzzle. [She also eventually gained a bronze, Bard. At one point I had rewritten these descriptions, but that text is now lost.] Hatching ring Dusky Wherhide Ring And, for fun... +pos Cellia this page last updated on 21 january 2003 |