Name: Akazia
Gender: Female, bi
Age: 17
Origin: Alskyran born to Pernese parentage
Family: Mother Zanzibar, father Kacey Harless (both have pages, but not functional right now); one younger sister Beck, one younger brother Zeek
Other Relations: has numerous cousins, aunts and uncles, including Kit who is also a rider (Kacey's brother)
Height: tall with long legs (around 5'11")
Build: well proportioned, muscular and toned, used to Weyr/Caer activity
Hair: auburn reds, with both golden blond and deep copper strands, afro-curled (4b) and wild, usually kept away from face with a headband or scarf, but only barely; quite long when pulled straight, and is very, very voluminous; unlike her mother she tends not to put it into braids or use clips or beads to weigh it down, but she isn't too hard to convince to allow someone to style it for her
Eyes: brilliant emerald green, a trait common to both sides of her family, very large and round, calm looking, under high curved brows
Appearance: dark tan to medium brown skin that bronzes in the sun, and occasionally freckles are visible that are copper shaded; has full lips that aren't broad across, and a flat broad nose; she tends toward a calm expression, but has large brightly white teeth visible when she does finally crack a smile or laugh; has a high pitched voice that tends to squeak when she giggles; she has taken to wearing the Green caste color scheme of her father's side of the Dawnlight ranking, but has the potential to 'level up' into the Black that her mother wears (their castes go 'brown, green, purple, black' and are a hold over from their entirely alternate universe on Earth...). Her choice to wear skirts and fluffy shirts will certainly change when she goes off to impress, or when she travels anywhere, really, because Paniyan temperatures are usually much warmer and moist and she knows better than to think that it's going to be warm everywhere she goes.

(Parents Zanzibar and Kacey)

Her parents 'hooked up', and tended to remain around one another even after the first flight that brought them together some 17 years ago. Their dragons also continued to do so, but were ... 'encouraged' to go back to the Old World in order to lay some rather impressive clutches. A brilliantly yellow-golden queen and a bicolored bronze-brown? Of course they'd produced more than just one clutch! Just... only one that was laid at the Caer's sands on their island just off Paniya. And of the three siblings, only Akazia was born on Paniya, though they did reside there basically every other moment of their lives. Basically. Not really.

Like some of her mother's siblings, and like uncle Kit, Akazia has a way with animals and flitters, perhaps even dragons. Though she cannot truly telepathically link with the dragons or other creatures, she does have a strong sense of their wellbeing, emotional state, and that kind of thing. They tend to congregate around her, but not to the point of being in the way: she can simply give a little wave of her fingers and a cluster of goats or a faire of flitters will just move out of her way gently and smoothly. She lacked the sense of minerals and plants that Kacey or Zanzibar had, but that was fine; animals were all over the place and they needed tending to, even in the Caer. As a child she would race around behind the goats, when she was being tended to by grandmother Zivlesi, learning much about how farming relied on not just plants and dirt and water, but on the animals around them to provide fertilizer, as well as get rid of unwanted pests or invasive plants.

Those invasive plants included Rampage plant, which had unfortunately been spotted on the coast of the Protectorate's island in the last few years. How had it gotten past the Paniyan dragons? Or the ones on the Kshau island? Hadn't they burned it all away? Well the goats couldn't eat this stuff - it would kill them with its nasty acidic sap. Almost everyone in the Caer was on alert whenever someone mentioned the stuff, their farms? Their land? It would be ruined if that plant got too close. They didn't even know how it spread. Maybe ... maybe that would be something her family could help with. All of them were talented in some way. While her mother's side of the family was geared primarily toward farming and animal tending, Kacey's was very much interested in plants and minerals too, and in a more specifically 'tee-powered' way. That was what they called it on Paniya, wasn't it? When someone had telepathy or another odd power that usually dragons only had?

Was she like that? Well for sure her younger sister Beck was able to actively sense plant life, and she'd seen that little herb pot growing like crazy when Beck would whisper to it. And Zeek... well, he was one of those crystal-shapers that even the most advanced Guildmembers would aspire to be. But... Akazia's sense of animal life, was it really that good?

Was it enough to help?

It was her grandmother Zivlesi that sat her down one afternoon, and said hardly a word. Rather, she whistled a particular note and the herd of goats came trotting into the shade of the garden awning. As more of the animals in the area gathered it became clear that the teenage girl and her elderly grandmother would be positively swarmed, Akazia stood up and cleared her throat, and her mind.

The chickens clucked their way back to the garden dirt, gently scratching at the heavy layers of decaying leaves and twigs. The pair of ducks stared up at Akazia with tilted heads, and then they too waddled away to their large stone-framed pool. Akazia then gave a look at the momma goat, who bleated and summoned two of her kids, with the rest following them into the field nearby. Zivlesi grinned, and turned her now-faded but once majestically green eyes to her granddaughter.

In her hand was a small egg, which she indicated Akazia should take. It was no surprise to the old woman to see how sweetly her grandchild smiled at this event. But it was also not surprising to her that the egg shook itself open within minutes of the girl gently cradling it in her hands. Those much-brighter emerald eyes of hers glittered, and were somewhat filled with tears, when the little creature inside unfolded its still-wet wings.

"I think there's a mix up, what color is this?" She chuckled, but it didn't really matter did it? She could feel the hatched flitter's joy, hunger, relief, all mixed in together with her own. Cream and copper, like two shades of coffee with milk. "Cortado!" She exclaimed, "that's her name!" She blinked a few times, rapidly. "Oh, oh, I ... know why you... sneaky!"

Zivlesi finally said, "you would do well to believe in yourself, my girl." She folded her hands over one of Akazia's, the one that was not busy with the wet little flitter that was now clinging upside down flapping to dry her wings. "And, you should figure out which of these others to give to your brother and sister. You'll know which ones, I think."

The insight that her grandmother showed was well founded. Because somehow she knew that Akazia could feel those eggs, the life within them, and knew that her brother would get the slightly bigger and more oblong of the pair, while Beck their sister the smaller, rounder one. Turned out, they were just perfectly suited to the crystal-loving boy Zeek, and the plant-attentive Beck.

It would certainly turn out well for Akazia and Cortado, because within the month all three of them were properly Searched. Their parents were proud, and even stodgy uncle Zanislav was willing to send his good wishes for them. Not all their family was up in the air, but ... more than merely one of the eight children of Zivlesi rode. Perhaps it was something in the Paniyan air that made them 'worth' searching. This new world's needs could be met not just by the locals, but by the new blood from the Old World.

The three of them did have to abruptly break off their studies, but that was something quite typical now in the Kshau Protectorate. Many crafters were riders, many riders learned crafts or simply participated wherever they were needed now. Though the Caer here on their island was a bit... cramped for dragon space, it was possible that there would be room for more. There was always room, really. But where to find those dragons? Back on the Old World itself, certainly.

So it was that the trio were packed up and prepared, and brought then by their parents two lovely dragons...

***

They had all been on dragonback before, of course. As a Queen rider, Zanzibar was expected to do many duties for both Caer and Hold, bridging them easily, and mainly paying attention to the needs of the local farming community. Her siblings were proud of her for having impressed so well, of course, and a few of them even were Searched after her own impression. So it did really run in the family. Akazia was most at ease on dragonback among the trio of siblings, with Zeek being the least steady. The skinny boy sat with his father on Electranath's high shoulders, while the girls nestled on their mother's brilliant gold. They reached the thin clouds over Paniya's south-west mountain isle, having circled once to get a good last look before heading between.

The siblings had been warned: this would be a much longer trip, much colder than they were used to with the simpler, shorter trips from Kshau Isle to, say, House Chagga or even Catena Island for their monthly coffee and chocolate runs. Each of them tucked their hands and faces into their riding jackets, made sure that their flitters were concentrating on remaining still, they held their breath almost in unison and closed their eyes when the signal was given.

It was Akazia that knew something was wrong straight away. The dragons had alerted her, maybe her flitter too, that wherever they were headed just didn't seem to be on the receiving end. The Nexus was a big and scary place already, the space-not-space of between was chill and unforgiving as it was. But this time, it was wrenched sideways, a weird twist that no one, not Kacey or Zanzibar or their dragons, could have anticipated. A moment of pure terror and worry, where would they arrive? Would they arrive at all? But then they did - into the air over a chill bay, with hard rain coming down that threatened to pierce the dragons wingsails.

Kacey spotted land, perhaps so did Zeek but he was busy trying to calm himself after that bizarre corkscrew of a trip. Electranath guided Kohlaurnth to that outcropping, barely visible in the churning skies. It was cold and they were all soaked to the bone in moments, but they arrived safely to the shore and huddled together, with Kohl propping her wings as best she could to protect her rider and daughters, even as Electranath twisted his long tail around and tried to do the same that way with his own rider and son. It was cold and raining furiously for another fifteen or more minutes, but at least it was not blustery, the wind was smoothly coming on shore and not switching directions.

When it did finally let up a little, they noticed that they were actually sitting atop the crest of a fishing village, nooked as it was below rugged hills, and...

"Oh," Zanzibar said, "oh, we've... gone a bit far."

The massive mountainside was clearly Benden's, but the presence of this hold certainly wasn't something either rider expected. It was day, so they couldn't really tell by the stars where... or more accurately when they had arrived.

But they all seemed to know, without a shadow of a doubt, that they were not where they expected to have come out from between.

Their dragons both bugled in response to a distant and barely-heard sound, another dragon from far up that cliffside.

"They want us up there," Kacey said, "none too soon, it looks like there's another big cloudburst ready to hit."

Neither dragon wanted to risk heading between from the ground, they flew hard and fast, jostling the riders who were white-knuckled already. But there was space on the big ledge offered to them, and shelter from the pummeling rain.

With hesitation and shaking bodily, the family dropped from the dragons, pulling their gear off the harnesses and thanking whatever luck they had that it was all still intact. There was something strange about the way the local Weyr crew looked at them, and more than that - their clothing was a little odd.

That and the fact that there were electric lights in the hall, that eventually struck both Kacey and Zeek as very strange indeed. Pern didn't have electrical lights, only very few places had when they'd left the world, anyway. It had a different feel than the 'old' world, but still, they knew it to be Pern by the mountains - those hadn't changed all that much. Landmarks were good to go by, and this drove that fact home to the riders as their children huddled together and tried to wring their hair and jackets out.

The fact that Zanzibar's queen was brightly visible probably gave the locals pause. They weren't aware of any potential dignitaries on their way... were they?

They were now, and that was likely due to another odd visitor that glided in from the same messy storm. A silver dragon? Well, there were weirder things - that two-tone brown with brightly bronze patches for one... This family was then shuffled around somewhat abruptly to another part of the Weyr, slightly more tucked away, a bit less visible.

"You've come at an interesting time," Mara stated, guiding them down a long, wide hall. "We do have quite a few eggs worth putting them in front of," she glanced at the trio of teenagers, "so I suspect you'll want to arrange for-"

"When are we?" Zeek asked, with his little lazuli flitter perched behind his ear and peering through the hair there. "This place is right, but I don't know of any historical statements about extensions to Benden... not like this?"

So he had been paying attention in those old history classes. Perhaps the knowledge of a weyr's construction was something that a crystal shaper might do well to remember, at any rate. Other riders were now joining them, on their walk toward what amounted to a guest suite with ledges that were protected by large folding doors from the storm outside. With interest, Kacey and Zanzibar watched as the woman guiding them nodded slowly and finally replied.

"I suspect, from far in your future." She said simply, "you do know that dragons can occasionally travel this way, of course."

"Yes, but that's not-" Zeek started to say, but his older sister shushed him.

"We felt something different happen," Akazia said, quietly but with purpose. "I don't think we meant to be here, at least not because we knew about your clutch."

"Well, the Waypoint must have done it," the silver-haired woman said, nothing more. As if that would satisfy three very curious teenagers? They would definitely go looking for information about this 'waypoint', if there was a thing that could cause random riders to be yanked sideways through time and space!

They were first, however, made to promise that they were 'merely tourists' from another part of the world as it currently was, ready to impress on sands far from their parents homes. It wasn't too difficult, their own strange psionic abilities were subtle and well integrated into their lives. It would be another handful of weeks before the clutch hatched, they had time to dedicate to learning the lay of this land, and figuring out ... how to get home, once the dragons hatched.

*** Some parts from hatching ***

They fit in nicely with the locals, it turned out. Three hard working kids, concentrating on their tasks well enough to pass as experienced candidates would be welcome in any Weyr. Akazia entertained herself with having flitters fetch saddle buckles and straps, shooing away chickens and ever-present goats from gates as they brought supplies in and out, she even had occasion to calm a frightened runner when a dragon swooped too low over their corral.

The family didn't expect how cold it would be when the bigger - and more natural - storms started coming through. They were too used to the warm and predominantly tropical climate of Paniya after all, and this was... not there. Even at the altitude that the Kshau peak was situated, with some amount of snow on it year-round, with the place being entirely surrounded by warm ocean waters the winters were hardly harsh. But here... This was a massive mountain brushed up against a chill far-north sea. With regular storms and considerably-colder water, Benden in this era was frigid and unforgiving.

Thankfully the local culture was well suited to the needs of that area, and by the time the candidates were more concentrating on tasks up in the Weyr they were also bundled in warmer pants and layered shirts, now added with gloves and mufflers. They were so unused to it, when the bright song of the dragons humming summoned them to the sands at long last, they were almost afraid to remove some of that gear in order to wear the traditional white robes that would make the dragons choose more carefully...

They would have some interesting choices to make, too. Her brother was much more interested in the people that had come to this place - like them, by accident. Those varied tremendously from just 'other humans from other worlds' to ... well, goat and wolf people? Brightly colored ones at that. There were things going on that the family didn't really want to know about: they called it magic, it felt more like a deeply settled psionic power to them. But now they stepped through the arched entry to the sands and no one realized just how non-human the other candidates were. The three siblings spotted their parents with the broadest of smiles and brightest of eyes upon them, in the stands. They were carefully separated (how ... traditional...) where appropriate, into male and female clumps.

The eggs were begning to hatch, the thrumming of the adults was overwhelming. When the first hatchling was... a female bronze? It felt strongly like this hatching was going to match the unusual candidates for sure. Three greens hatched, and then the bronze... took herself up into the stands to find her One? Amazing already. Zanzibar and Kacey were near that event, they would relate it later. Several greens and browns came out, pale and dark... male and female. It seemed like this would be 'one of those clutches'... More and more eggs were hatching, blues and bronzes of more normal disposition. But then one particularly large egg began to bulge and break. Was it to be a gold as everyone expected? It was certainly big enough to be!

But what came from the shell was so far from a bright gold as to shock nearly everyone. Twin black dragonets? A male and a female stumbled a bit around until...

The female plopped herself down into the still-warmed sands and gazed into Akazia's eyes and mind. Do you want to feed me? I will wait if you don't... Akazia nearly cried, and breathed out her name, Maranth, before they did pick up and move away to the food. She wanted to watch her siblings but... she really needed to get this adorable dark hatchling her first meal!

** continued on Zeek's page **

They called her a 'dark green', while they were growing from hatchling into little active dragonets. There was nothing green about Maranth. Visitors to the weyr were encouraged away from the dragons anyway, let alone the groups of riders from this clutch. But within the groups that had been brought via the Waypoint? They were so proud of their purple and black and dawn colored ones. Akazia and her family would be returning to Alskyr, so that would mean her black dragoness would fit right in there - they had those colors. Not that R'ly and Lheevdho and Haad would fit in themselves, but hey. Shard was blue. Everyone knew that Mama Tani was a literal tiger.

While cleaning Maranth's freshly shed hide and making sure that there were no rips in her wingsails, Akazia pondered that no one made a big deal of either of those things back home. What 'magic' was it that worked in such a way? And... how likely was it that her own family's abilities played into it?

I think you should concentrate on my wing, it itches! Maranth warbled and stretched that wing in front of Akazia's face, making the young woman giggle.

**

Learning to fly was an experience worth remembering. Her dragon was larger than most of the blues and greens, fitting in with the more modestly sized higher ranks, and she tried very hard to keep up with them. But Maranth was not as strong as the rest, and her shy nature still interfered with her confidence on the field. She stumbled and got her gait mixed up, flapping without pattern and putting her face into the grass of the training field. While some of the new riders allowed themselves to laugh, the weyrlingmaster wasn't as forgiving - nor as amused with the way his class behaved.

"Well that was not how we learned it," he said, in a low but not accusatory voice. "Nor," he glanced toward the group who still chuckled behind their hands, "did we learn to mock those lagging behind." Those same students straightened back up and stood nervously with that attention. The weyrlingmaster put his eyes back on Akazia who was feeling both her own embarrassment and that of her dragon. Clearly, however, the more expert rider knew this.

"I'll get her to do it right, sir," Akazia asserted. "She just... really doesn't like doing things in front of everyone like this."

"She isn't the only shy dragon on the field," he replied. "And certainly not the first I've taught." Akazia nodded, as her black dragon was making her way timidly back to the group. "You'll start again, keep your feet and wings in time with one another." He clearly expected Akazia to be reinforcing his words, even though Maranth understood them.

With more force to her commanding mind, focusing on the dragon's limbs, Akazia gave her dragon an imagined scenario of left-right-left-right. Maranth picked her head up, angled her wings upward, and pressed her tail straight. Though she wasn't as expert as anyone wanted even at this stage, finally she ran ahead with her wings pushing in time with her legs and managed to flap hard enough and with the right pacing to spring into the air for a good dozen flaps before having to figure out how to land...

She did so with much more grace than her first attempted takeoff, thankfully. Akazia's brother and sister both cheered for her, relieved that their own dragons' experiences with flying were stronger and cleaner.

**

A strange invitation to an equally strange event drifted past Akazia's writing desk. They had been home for some time, though less than a full year after their graduation from Weyrlinghood. A young dragoness like her, but a beautiful one, Maranth was requested specifically for a 'project'. First a little meet and greet, then perhaps they'd see what happened?

It turned out that the meeting with Minath went very smoothly indeed. Well timed, too, for very shortly after that initial sniffing and mental communication, Maranth shone with fertility and readiness to breed. And it was Beena's black Minath that won a brief but powerful flight (going up against a couple fairly specific dragons, but their hearts weren't in it - and his was). Beena and Akazia hit it off markedly well too, which certainly helped. Beena even giggled about how similar their profiles were - with volumes of kinked hair and a lovely figure on both of them. "It's almost a shame they only want to select the dragons genes for duplication," Beena sighed, but then got a strange look, "unless..."

The Checkerboard Ball was where the beautiful dark offspring of the black dragons would be shown off, and potential candidates would be brought around. But for the pair of riders, the Ball was also so much more fun than they could have imagined back in their respective homes! 10 eggs, and 8 more little ones added from that mixing pot, and... perhaps a pair of humans in the mix too, who knew what would come of that.

**

Eventually Akazia and Beena both would be delivering their children: under the watchful gaze of Kalkin over at the Healing Den because they had other plans for them both. Though Beena had plenty of time to raise her son, Akazia felt that in order to truly get the most out of the experience, they ought to be a little older. Didn't hurt that she didn't feel like changing diapers and potty training...

So Neenaa and Kaazee were artificially aged just a little, to about 9 years old, and in doing so also given training and educations thanks to the Rookery's systems. Melissa certainly enjoyed working with them, and hoped to see them again.

Black Maranth Female   55' 1"L   11'  H Akazia   (Shard)