Juso had come from a wandering family. It was said that long before, they'd lived in a Weyr or a Hold near one, that had fallen to a volcanic eruption and gotten away with their lives.

It was said that they had escaped ruthless slavers, hiding in a cavern while Thread claimed the lives of the evil men on their trail.

It was said that they had a long history in a forgotten Hold, rich beyond belief, but was sunken below ground in a huge earthquake, which only this scant handful of survivors escaped.

...They said all these things, to their unwary victims, as they passed through cotholds and towns, even weyrs and guildhalls. Of course, none of them were true. Juso didn't care what grains of truth might be scattered among the stories, she did know that none of the stories went back beyond three or four generations. So they could very well have once upon a time been from a weyr or hold or crafthall.

It wasn't likely though. It was likely they'd been gypsies as long as they'd been on Pern.

Juso had always been in charge of keeping the animals in check. They had poultry and some goats, three large burden-bearing oxen, and a dozen runners, among other things, that needed watering and hoof-checking, and she did this very well indeed. After all, she could tell which of them was frightened or hurt, just by listening to them.

She never let on that she could really hear them, she'd seen what had happened to one of their group when she admitted to being able to hear dragons in her mind. Juso gave a shudder and kept it to herself.

Juso didn't realize that it was a huge gift, a benefit to all of Pern, for such people to exist. She didn't harbor the same superstitious hate that her family did toward the girl, but more a kind of pity. Animals could easily be explained away - they're making a particular noise, look at that limp, see how startled they look... But a dragon? Everyone knew that a dragon had a mind, that was different.

When the dragons came to Search their little group, it was absolutely hellish on the animals. The runners had to be calmed first, they were the most valuable commodity that the gypsies had. She went through and calmly touched their faces, looked them in the eye, whispered soft words. Then the oxen, then the goats, the birds were too stupid to care.

She had finished up putting one of the goat kids into the barred cart when the search rider startled her. Juso was just over sixteen turns, muscular and fit, suntanned and with a healthy smile. She almost panicked when the rider announced his Search, what would her family do? The animals needed her! But there were others in the troupe who had a good skill with them, if not her particular mental flair. The search rider was about to say something about that trait, but she urgently begged his dragon not to let him say a word.

Within a couple days, there were other troupes of gypsies gathered, and Juso was the only one Searched. They would get by, they would be all right. But would she ever be able to find them again, once she was riding a dragon?

It never even occurred to her that she might not ride, but then again, the dragon who searched her was quite sure she would too. So when she arrived to Darkling Dawn, it was absolutely no surprise to them that she impressed the lovely large gold that came from one big egg.

Solsticeth, lovely as the sun, she was not remakably bold, but she was very steady. They learned together, they flew, and finally went to Dragonhope where Juso became quite apt with their animals as well. One of the local boys, a brown rider named K'lieu, had so many flits around him that he offered one of his ubiquitous eggs (he always seemed to have a couple small eggs in any given pocket, plenty of greens and golds flew around him) to Juso. It hatched into a fine little brown that she could sense just as well as any animal.

Put in charge of the local pens while Solsticeth grew, and eventually enjoying the position of head of animal collections, Juso found a friend in the blue-riding woman named Reenda. She too could sense the minds of animals, and was an expert falconer to boot!

Values and Goals
Passionately hates: their appearance
Dislikes: town life
Overwhelming goal: build or create
Strong like: the Plains
Overwhelming fear: losing self control

Often can be found practicing animal driving (cart/carriage)

Dragon

Name: Solsticeth
Gender: Female
Size/Shoulder/Length: 12' s / 42' l / 70' ws
Colors: brilliantly yellow gold, quite metallic even when she's not ready to mate; wingsails buttery yellow, crest and tail spade slightly duller goldenrod; eyes shift with mood
Features: standard Pernese
Powers: Winged Flight, Teleportation (between), Telepathy (excellent with dragons and bond, less with others)
Parentage: Gold Eoth and Bronze Mazdath
Origin: Darkling Dawn 2009 Winter Giveaway
Other Info: Provides Dragonhope Weyr with two clutches! Year 4 and Year 8, both with mate blue Iashuth, total of 15 offspring, no golds