Celeste Kshau - aka Shatter - Daughter of Shard, written around 2000

Celeste is a sharp young lady, standing about 5'9 or more at age 14. She is well-built and suited for running and strenuous activities, but her muscles are not bulky at all. She has a pretty heart-shaped face with a tiny nose and almond-shaped eyes, which are a vibrant green color. Her hair is stiff and colored the shade of caramel, usually kept short around her face but long in the back. She is often deeply tanned from her love of the outdoors.

She is strong inside and out, always having something to say about whatever is going on around her, though she is not a gossip. She keeps her own secrets, and rarely divulges others' if they have trusted in her.

Celeste has a sharp eye for details, and one of her passions is maps and mapmaking. She is excellent with devices as well, and has a keen mind for building.

If Celeste Impresses: very little about  her will change, except perhaps where she lives. She will change her name (to Shatter, for the shattered shells!). She privately wants to Impress a Gold, believing that she is very sensible and level headed during most stressful times; but she will be just as happy with a Green, or even Blue for any other reason under the sun! As long as she gets the chance to ride and make her maps she will be happy.

Celeste's weyr is immaculate, but filled with interesting things. She has maps of Pern and detailed coastlines pinned up to every spare part of the walls, and on her desk you can see a set of cartography tools.

Above the desk is a clever wooden model of a dragon, in flight, dangling over the papers.

She "ahem's" and you spin.

"Welcome to my little weyr," she says, voice pleasant. "How are you today? I would offer you some klah, but I'm afraid that I don't like the stuff too much myself. My friends say I am active enough without it."

"Perhaps I could show you my work?" She indicates the map on the table which she is currently working on. You nod, eager to see such fine drawing in action.

She tells you that she has seen coastlines from above, on dragon back, and while it is difficult, she makes measurements and takes notes while flying with one of her friends, H'dar.

"He and his sturdy Blue Jarmuth can almost hover over the hard spots," she says, "so I get a long time to work."

Her map is almost complete, a shape outlining one of the nearby islands which can be seen from the open ledge of the weyr beyond.

"Oh, that is where my dragon, should I impress, that is, will stay."

"Don't you think you'll Impress?" You ask, but she laughs.

"I am truly hoping to. I've been searched at Ryslen Weyr, but I know there aren't many other candidates there yet. I don't even know the name of the queen whose clutch is there. I've heard that it's their oldest queen, and from what the gossip is, this was a very surprising flight for the weyr." She grins, "Once I find out, I'll be sure to pass it along to you, okay?"

She hums to herself, and then blinks, looking out at the sky.

"Oh, shells and shards, I'm late for training... Please excuse me, if you want to continue looking over the maps and things, you may, but I must be headed off to the classroom. My Harper tells me that I must give a speech today."

"I'm sure you'll do fine," you tell her, "your voice is clear and strong."

Grinning from ear to ear, she bows at you, and scampers away with the energy of someone much younger.

The day was turning to evening, when the hatching at Ryslen weyr began. It was hard to believe, here she finally was, standing on the sands!

Her father was there, somewhere... Shard had made time away from his woman Rue (well, she might as well be calling her mother, they acted rather more like sisters though) and was in the stands waiting. He had tried to place her at other weyrs before this, but either the eggs didn't hatch, or it was just the wrong time. Now, was the time.

The right time.

Celeste watched a big brown impress, and then a blue, and a cute healer boy she'd had her eye on got a green.

The second blue came out, impressing right before the first Bronze of the clutch. Then a green came from her shell, and settled on a girl happily.

Celeste was becoming anxious. There was something itching at the back of her mind. Her stomach ached. It wasn't that she didn't believe she was going to impress, quite the opposite. It was just ... which egg? Which dragon? When!?

She learned that in half a moment. When a blue came tumbling out of his egg onto the sands. He looked around steadily, carefully. Celeste liked him immediately. But he wasn't heading toward the candidates when he started walking. Rather, he was going away toward the exit of the cavern!

He looked back at Celeste, and bespoke, Aren't you coming? I want to see what's outside.

"Of course I'm coming Chizuth," Celeste said, dazed. It was Chizuth, after all. A handsome blue, oh, he'd be smaller than Jeremoth or Jarmuth, but he was a fine boy!

That pride brought the blue's head around again, as they walked toward the food and the cool outdoors.

You love me?

I love you!

Then I know your name too, Chizuth bespoke, remember? You said you wanted to change your name like your father. What is that?

"Shatter," she proudly announced to the records-keeper, "My name is Shatter now. And this is Chizuth!"

Shatter put the harness on the growing blue, and appraised her work. She'd done a good job, good enough to earn a comment from the weyrling master at Ryslen. She intended to keep that up, and Chizuth was proud to have her as his rider.

I love you! Now, I will fly up into the air. Will that thing really stay on my neck? It is not very comfortable...

"I know it's not. I doubt I'd want something like this hanging on my neck all the time..." A small gleam shone in Shatter's eyes. "And... father didn't ride with a harness. He told me he hated the things..."

But... we are supposed to do what the weyrling master tells us to! Shatter, could we please do it that way first and not get into trouble? Yet?

Yet... okay, Chiz, you win this time. But... when we're on our own, when you're fully grown... Then that thing comes off. I want to ride YOU, not some harness thing!

Shatter and Chizuth arrived at the Protectorate island just in time to have their wing choice. Because Shatter was the young daughter of Shard, she was given a chance to show off for the wing leaders.

The new wing, Sky's Limit, was her choice. The perfect choice for a map maker, like herself! They were glad to have her, and even more so when her cartographical skills came in handy to rescue someone who sent out a distressing call with one of their firelizards.

So broken were the thoughts of this half-starved flitter, that he could hardly even send a good image of his master's resting place. But it was raining. It was rocky, and it was very very cold.

"That's odd... The only place getting freezing rain like that this time of year is way north, north-east of Benden in fact..." Shatter looked to the others, and they all said at once, "Dragon Hope weyr!"

They disappeared onto their dragons, expertly guided by Shatter's strong image of the coastline far to the east of Benden. The broken legs of the man who sent the flitter prevented him from moving much on his own, but fortunately the Protectorate's best healers on dragonback had come along, just in case.