Image Credits Meiker Mystery Gang

Name: Calig Deswet (cah LEEG)

Gender/Pref: Male, quietly gay

Age: 17

Hair: medium brown, shaggy, kept cut barely to neck

Eyes: dark brown, strong epicanthal fold

Appearance: lightly tanned skin that doesn't seem to burn even under the endless sun on the ocean; typically wears more rugged gear fit for sea journeys but as shown also cleans up nicely since his family seems to have come from some amount of wealth, with a long sleeved button-down shirt and pleasant fabric pants, and sturdy boots; he has had those big thick eyebrows ever since puberty, and likely they'll just keep getting bushier; his voice is a lot deeper than many at his age and definitely unexpected from one of his build! He's slender but muscular, around 5'8" tall, and not quite finished growing just yet

Family: though he's part of a merchant family, he opted to go out to sea to help find goods to trade, and enjoyed it enough that he won't return to land very long; his family thinks this is fine, as he is the second youngest of six boys and two girls...

Aspirant At: Savannah Castle (!! what? You want me where?!)

Skills: Brought up in a busy merchant house, he knows how to organize and sort through lots of items quickly, judging their value and use with a moment of examination. He is quite proficient in reading and writing, maths, and knows a little engineering as well. He has learned how to read and even start creating maps and charts for sea voyages, enjoys plotting courses with the navigator. Much of his days are spent helping to tend to repairs, making adjustments to cargo in the hold, and making sure that the cargo itself is as advertised. He has the ability to work out deals with businesses and individuals, not just the talent for it but the special contracts from his family's business. When he works on nets, rigging, or other more mundane tasks, he enjoys singing - sometimes quietly, but often enough joined by the others on their ship.

Personality: He has a down to earth feel to him, absolutely grounded in the reality of his life as both merchant and sailor. He did have a lot of time in his home, taking the 'small kid getting hand-me-downs' for a while, though when his youngest brother was born and his cousins started picking on him, he put his foot down, tolerance having met its limit in the form of a determined and stern warning to stop. He isn't a 'leader' but he definitely is a self-starter and will pick up tasks easily enough that people trust him to be doing what he's supposed to, he's reliable and good to work with.

Background: with a house packed with not just his immediate brothers and sisters, parents, and a still living pair of grandparents and at least four young cousins, he had to get out. Their main warehouse rested on the shores of a good sized trade port and it was to that port he went. Calig was only 13 when he went to work on the trade ship, so he's grown up into a strong young man in that time. He's had flings with a couple other sailors and even one young gent in a port, though none of them seemed to really grip him enough to come out to his family... They know, but they don't really discuss it with gramps, or a couple of the in-laws.

When he was recently helping assemble a list for deliveries in far off ports, a drak knight and her stunning Earth kept watch over this on a hillside. Finally approached by her, the red haired woman announced that he should be brought before the draklings when her home's Deep Caverns inhabitants hatched. He was thrilled by this, but a little confused - him? He was a sailor and merchant! But, he realized the benefits of being a rider very quickly, he could certainly keep up with the ships and roost on shore - a drak wouldn't really be all that at home nor would it have enough room on a ship.

It was when he'd sent off information to his family, his ship captain, and his friends, that he realized... He didn't know where this Castle was.

"Oh, you'll know when we get there!" Gaelle said, and it... was so far from the sea!

Calig immediately felt the dry air suck the moisture from his nose, and while the motion of a drak was quite similar to the rocking of a ship on the waves, when they landed it was to a cloud of actual dry dust.

To say the least, Calig hopes that he won't have to remain this deeply into the continent for very long, not that he will want to just run off! He is here for a reason, and once that reason took hold in his mind, he definitely will see it through! He also is sure that any drak that finds him to be 'their right one' will enjoy his lifestyle, he's not likely to become a knight.

**

Calig did start to enjoy himself, even going so far as taking note of the gear and goods that could clearly only be found this far inland. Maybe they could branch out to overland trade? Some day? He'd sent several messages back home so they knew that he wouldn't yet be returning to the ship... at least not for some time. Because when the draks hatched and were brought before the small group of Aspirants, one of them decided to choose him!

"His name is Seelfe," he carefully penned the first letter after mind-pairing. "He is known as a 'mud' color, but I think he's quite pretty! Brown and charcoal, and such locks of mane and tail! He took his time in deciding to come to me, and he's very genial. I can't wait to bring him home, show him the sea and our ships! He is quite the handful, but we've been placed with Knight Veerle and his fire, so he will be learning a bit of discipline. And so will I!"

**

They had finished their full training and Calig was barely 19, Seelfe was now ready to be presented - as well as able to bring himself and Calig to his new home by the shore. "We've practiced this," Calig announced, "and we know the way," he indicated the maps that he had collected.

"I will take uss with care," Seelfe spoke, and true to his word produced a small portal that he flew straight through, from the Savannah to a riverbank, then to a sharply pointed hill, and finally almost six jumps later, to their destination. He wasn't even winded, and knew that he could have done it in fewer bursts, but Calig and the drak wanted to make sure that there was a route overland - partly by river, mainly by roads - to follow between his home port and the inland areas. They would continue mapping the land this way for years to come, but also out to sea for at least a few jaunts. Calig was not afraid to fly over the sea even when there was nothing but water as far as the eye could see. He actually felt safer up there than when they flew over nothing but hills, dirt, and stone...

They would still be welcome at numerous Castles, not the least of which was the much closer Dun Keiba, since it was among those chosen for their trade route.