Kyrola
From IstaWiki
| Kyrola | |
|---|---|
| Position | Senior Weyrwoman |
| Status | Living |
| Birthplace | Ista Hold |
| Parents | Kyrlen and Finola |
| Siblings | Finovar (Half-brother) |
| Children | Kyriana (with P'tod) |
| Dragon | Gold Zaith |
| Firelizards | Gold Oriel, Bronze Sparkle, Brown Sunset, Blues Berry and Cobalt, Green Emerald |
| Pets | None |
Contents |
Description
Tiny may be the first word to come to mind when looking at this woman. She is certainly shorter than average, each feature done up in smaller variations of the norm. Her body is slender, like a whip or willow reed, with small hips and shoulders. Her face is not exactly heart-shaped, but there is a certain sort of thinness, with her high-set cheekbones and pointed chin. Her hair is a glossy shade of red with a few silver strands starting to peek through, depending on the light and how much sun she's had, the strands mingling in highlights and shadows, darting around in curls and gentle waves as well. Her eyes are a blue-green that seem to change in the available light. Her hands are delicate, suited for fine work, and there are a lifetime's worth of calluses on them. Her lips are pale in color, just like her creamy skin, a few freckles marring the skin around her nose. To those who ask, she might reveal she is 49 Turns, 0 months, and 7 days old.
She's clothed head to foot in the traditional attire of a dragonrider. Tough wherhide boots are on her feet, their brown leather dyed mahogany. Matching wherhide pants cover her legs, snugging up around her slim waist, held in place by a darker-dyed belt. A white linen shirt can be seen poking out from the riding jacket. The shirt has no collar, buttoning up the front, even around her neck. The riding jacket itself is in that rich mahogany shade, its leather carefully matched to the warm fleece peeking out on sleeves and on collar and lapels. The jacket's bottom two buttons are holding it snug against Kyrola's waist. Affixed to the right shoulder of the jacket is a complex knot, the most complex of dragonrider knots. It entwines the black and orange of Ista Weyr with two strings of gold, for her dragon's color. The back of the jacket may be the most interesting. It has been embroidered with flashy thread, giving the Ista Weyr symbol on the back, the traditional smoking mountain painted in orange, the outlines done in shiny red and black thread. The lava-like embroidery is also visible on the sleeves of the jacket, along the seam of the white shirt, along the outer seams on her pants, and in a band along the top of her boots. If they are not on her hands and head, she generally has a matching set of gloves and riding helmet hanging from her belt.
Personality
At age 49, Kyrola has matured greatly from her days as a child at Ista Hold. She was a relatively placid child, unlike her excitable half-brother Finovar. Growing up, she rarely caused trouble and gravitated to womanly pursuits such as embroidery and sewing. She took this calm temperament with her when she was made an assistant to the headwoman at Igen's Starcrafthall and later to Ista Weyr. She was also a little bit of a loner, since she didn't have much of a fatherly presence in her life, and her mother was busy taking care of her brother. As she blossomed into adolescence, her mother tried to start marrying her off or getting her involved with various visiting young men, but Kyrola never got too upset with her for it. A little frustrated, sure, but there wasn't enough to leave or throw any kind of tantrum about it.
Another aspect of this woman is that she's short. That of course led to all the short jokes her peers and the older kids used to inflict upon her. While another person may have taken them personally and let it affect them adversely, Kyrola chose to see the lighter side. When the headwoman was looking for 'volunteers', her height was enough to keep her from being picked. She also started to say 'shorter but cuter' whenever anyone picked on her. So, while most boys her age were well taller than she is, she didn't care. She was secure in who she is, and that she won't get much taller.
As she grew to adolescence and her mother began wasting away, she grew up quickly and became more responsible, even if a bit lonely, missing her brother (who had gone to Harper Hall to be with his father) and her mother, whom she loved dearly. When she was Searched for Qirith's clutch, she learned that the world was much wider than she had thought, and she found her first dearest friends, such as Ekaterina, a woman that Kyrola found she loved and still does to this day in a sad sort of way.
Life would throw Kyrola for major loops upon her Impression to Zaith. Zaith filled all those gaps in Kyrola's soul, some she knew about, others she didn't, and a deep sense of responsibility settled upon her. She was always still the peacemaker, but sometimes she got a bit sardonic, especially when people refused to follow orders or simply accept the rank structure on Pern. Life was very tumultuous, and others jockeying for power at Ista Weyr caused her a great deal of grief, especially when it involved her. Her first stint as Weyrwoman, albeit simply as Acting Weyrwoman, was full of anger and depression. Kyrola fell into the notions that she was being cheated out of things by people, and this made her a very unhappy person. There were loves once in awhile, but no proper weyrmate to share her life. For the first time in her life, she was truly unhappy with who she was and the world around her.
Injuries caused her to re-evaluate who she was, what she wanted out of herself and out of Zaith, because they both nearly lost their lives, and Zaith nearly lost the ability to fly. Once out of the leadership spotlight, Kyrola retreated from daily life at the Weyr, focusing on finding herself once more and ensuring Zaith was healthy, remembering her duty to Weyr and Pern. Joy was found with the birth of her daughter Kyriana, and she still loves her daughter to this day, although she acknowledges the fact that she couldn't raise Kyriana herself because of her duties to Ista.
These days, much more serene than she used to be, once more fully aware of who she is and what she wants out of her life. She knows she doesn't have to prove herself to anyone or anything, that she is loved by Zaith if by no one else, and that's perfectly fine. She's learned to be the calm in the eye of a storm, and during Threadfall, she was a sensible leader. Now having returned to the full leadership of Ista, she was quietly relieved that Zaith was the first queen to rise after Griere stepped down. While she wasn't about to spiral into depression like she had done when she was many turns younger, she firmly believes Ista needs a little less drama in its life.
Kyrola has always loved the stars and sitting quietly somewhere late at night by herself, just watching them wheel through the night sky. This has never changed in all her Turns.
Childhood
Kyrola is a woman born at Ista Hold. Her mother, Finola, was one of those women who lived her whole life at the Hold, for whom a trip to Ista Weyr for a hatching was considered a high holiday. Kyrola was always a small child. While many of her age-mates were more active, she was a fairly placid child. She preferred steadier pursuits, such as playing in the kitchen, and her fingers were deft enough to give her a fair talent at sewing. She was one of those children who actually listened to the Hold Harpers during lessons. She couldn't be accused of being precocious, or it may simply be that she didn't speak up and reveal her actual intelligence to anyone paying attention.
When she was two, she revealed her white imp to her mother. In other words, she went to play in the flour and tracked it all over the kitchens and half the Hold. Her mother wasn't too amused about it, and Kyrola was given a very important lesson about the appropriate use of foodstuffs. Ever since then, she listened to the aunties and the cooks until she was old enough to know better. She became one of those dutiful children, the ones which always listened to their elders and did what they were told. This doesn't mean that she didn't have fun as a child. She just had to be more creative in what sort of fun she had.
When she was 5, a new man entered her mom's life. He was nice, if a bit old, a harper visiting the nearby secondary Harper Hall there in Ista. He was really sad, but the child noticed that he really did care for her mom. Eventually, he went away. Kyrola didn't quite understand how close he had been to her mother, but 9 months later, she suddenly had a brother, named Finovar. Finovar was also taught how to behave, but unlike Kyrola, he wanted to know everything about his father. Kyrola knew that their mother rarely mentioned her father, and whenever she did, it was either in one of those tones that indicated he was either Gone (as in dead), or Not Worth Talking About. So, she grew up without a steady father figure. Certainly, there were other men at the Hold who helped with fostering the children, but having a string of 'uncles' isn't the same thing as having a father. This was only something she noticed when she saw the other kids in the Hold return to their families' quarters, and she only had her mother to return with. Finovar had a harder time dealing with it than she did, because Kyrola was essentially not too prone to fits and outbursts of emotion. Also, being a girl, and one who liked the traditional female pursuits, it really didn't impact as greatly upon her as it did upon her half-brother.
As she got older, the Hold's harper approached Finola regarding the possibility of Kyrola becoming an apprentice. Of course, that was Fin's dream, so it caused some strain between the children, but not enough that they'd stop playing together. Eventually, Kyrola said to her mom that she didn't really like harpering as much as Finovar did. Also, she liked sewing best, and she loved helping her mom with embroidery. So, while her brother did all the daydreaming about harpering, Kyrola focused her interests into helping out around the Hold, listening to the aunties chattering while they did the laundry, or cooked dinner, or worked on another tapestry. Then her mother figured maybe she could be a weaver. Kyrola did show some talent, even at the tender age of nine and a half, for embroidery, sewing, and other weaving skills. The Hold's weavers let her hang out with them, and she picked up a little bit, but she really wasn't sure if that's what she wanted to do. She liked playing with leathers, but when she was given a quick show of what the tanners actually did (ewww, animal brains!), she decided to stick with the non-craft aspect of sewing, making clothes, etc. At the time, she really didn't want to leave home. Instead of apprenticing at age 12 or 13 like many of her peers, she remained at the Hold and grew up, fending off the boys who thought she was cute. She also found a new love during that time, sitting outside in the dark watching the stars. If she could find a nice place to sit for a little while, she'd just sort of sing to herself, snatches of the old ballads, definitively not harper quality, but at least reasonably on-key, and just enjoy the night.
Adolescence
Kyrola and Finovar had to deal with the loss of their mother when they were fairly young. Finola had contracted one of those wasting diseases. Finovar went with their mother to Healer Hall to see if anything could be done, but unfortunately, there was not. Finovar wasn't old enough to strike out on his own, being 10, and Kyrola bade him farewell. Finola's dying wish was that Finovar meet his father, Harper Master Varoni, and go live with him. This left Kyrola with a bit of a void in her life. She lost not only her mother but her half-brother. While she considered Fin a hyperactive pest sometimes, she dearly loved him. Being of an age to become an adult in her own right, Kyrola decided to go somewhere that wasn't Ista Hold. Speaking to the Ista Hold headwoman, she requested to go somewhere where her skills could be used, so she wouldn't have to live in the small family quarters that now seemed too large, too empty, too dead. The headwoman's contacts at the Starcraft Hall indicated a need for a new pair of hands, a jane of all trades who could potentially become one of the assistants to the headwoman there. Thus, given a legitimate errand of querying the status of a farviewer on commission for one of the steward's staff, she was given a dragonride of all things to the crafthall in Igen. It being her first dragonride, she chose to savor the moment, remembering to thank both green and her rider for the trip. She quickly met Craftseconds Triene and Beldaviar, who dealt with the commission and then accepted the girl's reference note from Ista Hold.
Impression
Adulthood
Logs
Moo - An egg touching and then extremely silly song-making.
