Doll by Dolldivine, Setsuna22

Name: Aegda

Gender: Female

Age: 18

Origin: Healer Hall, with a close-knit family, mother Aekellyn, father Daigrius, one older brother (Gellyn), one older sister (Kairi), two younger brothers (Dairyn, Ryll). Almost all of them are cut out for the Healer craft.

Height: 5'9

Build: Somewhat chunky, but doesn't look it. Very fashionable and tends to show off her status.

Skin: Medium cream, no scars, seems to have access to makeup.

Hair: Dark red, to low back, straight and full

Eyes: Leafy green, almost always looking like she's judging.

Personality: Judgmental, sharp tongued, and a bit haughty. Thing is, she is too good for most guys. She's quite smart, talented, and learns the Healing craft quickly. She doesn't look for superficial things like 'manly chest hair' or even wealth in a man - what she wants is brains, skills, dedication, and demeanor. She won't hesitate to compliment another person on their good deads or solid work, so having her do so seems like quite an achievement given her normal picky and curt temper.

History: With a family that shared its craft secrets with few others, some have seen them as a bit haughty. However, none could deny Daigrius's skills in internal medicine, or his wife's talented hands at keeping scars minimal and pain well-controlled. Gellyn branched out into herbalistic medicine, while Kairi chose to take up her father's specific training. Dairyn and Ryll both have yet to specialize but it's likely that they will work with major injuries and general ailments rather than something like what their sister has chosen. Aegda always enjoyed watching surgeries, seeing the results of before-and-after (some say she liked seeing the 'before' phase a little too much for comfort). She has an implicit understanding of how the body works, and what it is capable of handling. Aegda will likely try to keep working with the injured, but since her Search it will be in a different setting: a Weyr.

Standing: Sedona Weyr

Aegda knew from a young age that she would continue her family's trade. She enjoyed the smell of antiseptic and perhaps even thrilled to the sight of injuries and blood. She's a bit of a weird girl that way, but she would never purposefully harm someone in order to see the results. Curious and clever, but definitely on the snooty side, Aegda's mind was like a steel trap and a bit cold like one as well. She's never cared what other girls think of her 'as a woman', because to her, she's a Healer first, and a girl second. That said, she does enjoy attention and affection from an assortment of young men, but so far as anyone can tell, she'll snub each and every one of them for whatever reason, at some point.

That one's too narrow-minded, he didn't think much of girls in a craft. This one's just too witless when it comes to bloody injuries. Another was dropped because he quit a class in defeat. The men of her fancy had to be both able and willing to keep up with their work, not just her, in order to even get one little kiss. Whether her family thought much of this was debatable, though perhaps she got her picky streak from her own mother. She certainly got those talented hands from Aekellyn.

As a Senior Apprentice, Aegda excelled. Her father insisted that she be tested by others in the field, rather than any of his family - and she thought that was fair. After all, he was set to mentor children from other families, expected them to learn as much as they could from him. She expected nothing less of herself, though truth be told, she thought that most other Healers in the hall were less adept than her own kin. It was almost a shared joke between them - go out and learn 'whatever you can', but that almost always implied 'so we can joke about what they don't know later'.

Something she did learn that wasn't expected, however, was that she was good material for Standing on the sands! This shook her up a bit. Her world was to be the infirmary of a good Hold, or instruction at another Hall! But... They wanted her, they would get her. Whether she stood and Impressed, or merely attended the wounds incurred at a messy hatching (she imagined the injuries that could be sustained by stepping on sharp shells, being cut by the dragonets' claws, burned by the host sands... and more than that: how she'd treat each of those), time would tell. Because there was always something to do in an infirmary, however, she hardly had the chance to think about what her life would be like upon a dragon's back. A fighter? Her? None too likely - but...

There was something to be said about reaching a patient before they even got to the Hall. Upon seeing her first dragon up close and personal, Aegda realized that carrying supplies and perhaps even transporting people to and from locations was not just possible, but an inevitability! Her mind quickly began churning up ideas. What about a stretcher carried on the dragon's neck? Their forelimbs, bearing thumbs and being quite nimble even for their huge size, would be able to hold on to things gently but firmly.

Before meeting those dragons of Sedona, Aegda knew only what any Harper might say: dragons were noble but not merely mounts. She had to get it into her mind then, that a dragon was a partner, an extra set of hands - big ones - in the field? That... would be marvelous. Did she think on those ranks of theirs? Of course. But only in so far as she recognized the different levels of danger that they might bring. A green or blue rider might return chilled from Threadfall or with torn muscles from throwing sacks of firestone, but their brown riding peers might sustain injuries from collisions, 'score, or even accidental burns. Bronze riders? Oh, how she already could see them in action - bold men, perhaps too bold, perhaps trying too hard to keep their world safe. Driven men, driven to exhaustion at times. And the queen riders? Though they rarely fought, there were always times when Thread might reach them and they would have little recourse. Their flamethrowers could burst and cause acidic spills, all manner of horrific things might happen to a woman on a gold.

But all manner of amazing things, as well. For weren't the queens responsible for producing the best of the best? Finding their mates in a manner which Aegda actually thought mirrored her own. They had to be strong and wise, durable, and dedicated to their tasks. Even the flighty greens chose from among the quick-winged, quick-witted males, no slacker blue or confused brown would pair up with a fast, flirty green.

And what was it she'd heard: that the process of going between changed how a woman might bear a child? While she was young enough to still be thinking on her future children, Aegda realized that there was something to be said about her sister's choice: she wasn't married, but she had a young boy when she was still Aegda's age. Maybe there was research to be done about that. There were herbs and tonics that could aid a woman's body, surely there would be something that could be done about this situation. After all the effort that the dragons and their riders had to go through to find good mates? To not be able to have fine strong children? A mockery - that had to be fixed.

While Aegda was quite snippy with anyone who slacked off in the Healing area, she knew her limits and paid close attention to her classes on dragons. She knew little of their ways, their biology and expectations. A weyr had to be kept clean, tidy, safe. The dragon's hide had to be kept from parasites and becoming stiff with unshed layers. The flight formations were difficult for her to learn, there were so many, and such things as working with a large number of people as well as huge dragons seemed quite daunting. Though she knew enough to pass each class, Aegda realized she'd need to rely on others to keep her wits should she actually be made to fight on a dragon's back. A team of Healers could be working together on a badly injured patient, but ... this was more than just people with bandages, scalpels and salves!

It had occurred to her that she might start training for a dragon-healing spot, but she found that she just wasn't quite strong enough to work the big clipping tools for embedded items (you'd be amazed at how many young weyrling dragons got tree limbs stuck in their wing sails...) nor could she keep straight the ingredient listing for the salves they had to use. They were quite different from those used on Humans, after all, though in theory worked the same. So she determined it would be for the best that those suited to their tasks worked at their own stations. She knew people's injuries and illnesses, very well.

Aegda wrote her family whenever there was something of interest, but she knew they didn't have time to fawn over every word talking about who was failing a class or what they had for dinner. (And dinner in a Weyr was in fact quite different than that in a Hall!) So she hoped that some time soon, she would have the ultimate great news... Until then, she contented herself to learn and help patch people up.

***

It had been a rather long hatching - prosperous for some, there were two bronzes and a gold! Plenty of greens and blues had found their partners, but now it was down to two greens, and at long last one of them bumbled up to Aegda. I will always love you, will you love me?

"Of course I will, Jomith!" For now though, the green needed food and rest.

***

Unlike anyone's expectations - including Aegda's - Jomith was far from a clingy green. She would boldly strike out on her own and investigate things in order to report them back to her rider... Whether Aegda needed that information or not. That said, she also wasn't much of a gossip like some greens could be. Proud, certainly. She carried herself with confidence, almost as much as a queen would. Aegda realized she would have to monitor the dragon's firestone intake carefully. When a white (a white!) caught the green's eye Jomith almost went proddy just looking at him.

Any flights would have to happen later as they would be transferred to Albion when grown, with Aegda's healing talents put to the test and potentially allowing her to properly walk the tables as a Journeyman.

***

It did not take very long to see that Jomith would be a bit of a trouble maker. She knew better than to interrupt her rider when she was busy with a patient, but at any other time out in the field or class, eventually in the air, Jomith was hot headed and a bit lacking in discipline.

"I wish you would listen to him," Aegda muttered, while she mucked out one of the other riders' weyrs, "because then I wouldn't have to be doing this..."

It makes you strong, the dragoness replied, and several passers-by wondered why Aegda suddenly let out a rather scathing series of curses...