Image Credits:

Name: Abalone
Gender: Female
Age: 20
Origin: Dawnlight / Eden
Rank: Silver
Family: Father Wick, older sisters Columbia, Thaia, Olympia
Husband Algernon, son Kodo
Other Relations:
Height:
Build:
Hair:
Eyes:
Appearance:
Genetic Oddities:

Standing At: Tripaldi's Special Clutch Zone
Dragon: Black Green F Jiorath
Creation Date/Updated: around 2002?/4.20.25

History and Events

(( Originally on protectorate_wings/rider-abalone.html ))

Born last of Blue rider W'ick's children, Abalone values her time with her siblings, but more so her time with their father. She works with the unusual power-company engineers of Dawnlight, helping to create new machinery and devices that harness wind, water and even draconic or gryphon energies.

At the age of 20, she has almost abandoned hope of flying on a dragon's back. As many riders' children are, she was searched at a fairly early age along with her siblings. While she and her sisters Columbia and Thaia still share some closeness, she is clearly more fit for adventurous things like mechanics and engineering than the others.

She too has the same fantastic shape and lovely voice that her sisters have, and she stands only 5'8" tall, and her hair color is - believe it or not - natural. She is observant, quiet, but when she must come forward she certainly does without hesitation. She doesn't take any guff on the job,

When the Kshau Protectorate moved off the old world and onto Alskyr, Abalone was only thirteen. However, she adjusted very quickly, as she had hardly completed any of her basic education. She values the time that she can take outside now, and she enjoys just basking in the beautiful Paniyan sun.

The last Blackstone clutch was Abalone's third try at bonding, and the fact that she did not pair off with even a small green left her with a sense of anguish that has only started to fade. This was not helped by her boyfriend (after Cicero) Algernon being searched and bonding straight off. She has barely seen him since.

With Cicero dogging her and her sister Thaia about bonding, however, her hopes have come back more strongly. Perhaps there really is a dragon on the sands for her. Perhaps...

Thaia sat and twiddled a pen between her fingers. "What should I tell them, Abalone? That we're going to just up and leave?"

"Well, it's either that or they don't get a letter at all," Abalone said. "I mean I've seen enough people searched and swept away - you have too. Don't deny it."

The sisters were in their home, a home which of late had hardly had either of them in it because of their work. Abalone's research on wind collecting fans, and Thaia her own on building materials for sturdy homesteads, would just have to wait. On the old world or on Alskyr, everyone gave dragons a higher priority than 'everyday' work.

Abalone still had flitters in her stomach. They would have to go back to the old world, which was apparently quite a trick since many of the Kshau dragons lost the ability to teleport at all when they arrived to Alskyr. It was somewhat traumatic, she knew - it would be like losing the ability to smell or speak, or walk.

"Hey daydreamer," Thaia nudged her sister. "I've got the letters written. Let's go say our farewells."

Abalone rose from her seat and followed her tall sister outside.

***

The last to hatch was a blue, he'd followed a pair of greens and the queen from their eggs. All told it was actually a better-than-average clutch. Several good browns, a bronze, and a queen. Half a dozen blues, and eight fine greens to round it out.

Blackstone had had some bigger clutches, but this one had been attended by dozens of dignitaries from other weyrs just to show off. Any clutch with a queen was an event, and this one was quite large as hatchlings went.

But she didn't head toward Abalone. Some other girl, brought in from a distant Hold, had caught the queen's eye and walked off with a huge smile on her face. Abalone - then only twelve - could hardly believe her eyes. Wasn't she meant for a dragon? Wasn't she ever going to pair off?

When she was eleven, she had been to her first hatching. She didn't really believe it was happening at the time, and so when she didn't bond it wasn't all that surprising to her. But the second time, at another weyr with a whopping three queen eggs up for bonding, she watched the greens and golds - and blues, she was hardly apt to think ill of her father's type - march by with their chosen bonds.

The broken shells littering the large sands at Blackstone would be cleaned up by weyrbrats and drudges. Sometimes they would sell off or give away the queen egg shards, since they had a beautiful sheen to them that the typical eggs did not. Abalone stood numbly and watched as the men and women picked their way out of the stands.

She shivered, it was freezing suddenly. The weather was quite warm, but ... there was just a blackness in her mind and soul that she knew had to be filled somehow. Abalone put herself to work trying to forget the whole thing. Trying so hard, to forget that she'd been on the sands.

Her dreams were troubled every night for a year, though she'd heard of girls suiciding if they didn't impress she wasn't that type of person. She still held out some hope. Somehow.

***

"Now, it'll be a while before we know if we'll be back," Thaia said, and Abalone watched her distractedly. "So don't get your hopes up if we vanish. We'll still come back."

Some of the guys they worked with laughed when she said that, but Abalone was a bit distant from her humor. There was always the possibility that they would bond and then get lost trying their first teleport, or break their necks falling in their flights.

At least, Abalone thought as they wandered back to the dragon flats where a pair of strong brown dragons waited to transport them and their packed up things to Tripaldi, they would not be dealing with Thread. She remembered enough of that to know that she never ever wanted to see it again.

With her nightmares of not bonding, had always been a looming red star - not present in the skies of Alskyr thankfully. She'd always entertained thoughts that perhaps her mother would show up out of the blue on a dragon - but those dreams would usually turn dark as the dragon dove down and was scored over and over by the Thread.

She shook her head and blinked, those memories were best left alone - if she had too much of that in her head when riding a dragon, couldn't that affect how they teleported? She'd heard stories...

"You're worried about the trip," Thaia said, "don't get too far ahead of yourself." Thaia hugged her blackbottomed sister. "You'd have us all in the throes of an apocalypse before breakfast."

"I would not!" Abalone said. "At least I'd make sure that we were married and had kids first."

Smirking, she and Thaia shared another laugh, and then crept up behind the strong brown rider. Their packs and Cicero were upon another dragon, and they would head off to the now-distant Tripaldi shortly.

"That's H'lis," Thaia whispered, pointing down to the white-haired man whose bronze dominated the sands at the top of the caer-mount.

"I can see that," Abalone said. "I wonder why he's here?"

"I wanted to see who Cicero decided to bring along to Tripaldi," H'lis shouted at them, somehow... did he read their minds? Somewhat shaken, Abalone put a scolding look on her face.

"You should be more polite about reading thoughts, weyrleader!" She called out. H'lis' eyes went wide, and they could tell even from the back of the tall brown that he hadn't anticipated that response. Abalone was after all rather aware of her surroundings - even if she didn't give herself the credit she deserved for it.

"You'll have a dragon to defend your thoughts when you come back, don't worry," H'lis called up to them, as they took off.

Abalone desperately hoped that was going to be true...

***

(( from act-bond.html ))

Abalone could not even take her eyes off Cicero and his beautiful exotic dragon. But it was for that reason that she hadn't seen the green-black female leaping right at her! She was taken by surprise, and tumbled to the ground. From under the dragonet, then, she saw the whirling beautiful eyes of the dragon change from a worried orange to a wonder filled blue-green of satisfaction.

There was no word she could say - this moment was so far beyond what she'd expected those other times...

No word but one: "Jiorath."

That's my name, lady! I'm glad you waited for me. I don't think I would have found anyone worth impressing here. Look at em!

They found their way off the sands, and located Thaia and C'ero. All of them had grins so big their faces might break..

***

***

(( sorry I don't even have abalone's 2nd page? ))