When I decided that A'drov needed to leave Rising Dawn to make his cure complete, the reason that I had him give was that he'd lost his parents in the explosion of the Storm Fires Volcano, and had realized how detached he'd become from his own family since his Impression. This was his reason for making the move, and when I had that established, I realized that I hadn't taken the time when I'd created A'drov to flesh out his family. I'd said that he had three sisters who were all much older than him, but hadn't even bothered to give these sisters names. So I decided that if he was to be spending more time with them, I'd have to flesh out his family. Surely his sisters would have children, and since his sisters were all so very much older than him, some of their children would even be of Impressionable age by this point. This was where Lieyona came in. She is the youngest child of A'drov's middle sister Liera. I kept a lot of of A'drov's nieces and nephews as NPCs, but Lieyona is one that turned into a PC, so she deserves an introduction and page of her own.
Lieyona grew up with a mother who couldn't seem to concentrate for too long on any one thing. And yes, that included her children, although she loved them dearly. So as babies Lieyona and Fillier were left in the creche while their father went off to do his work and their mother did work for the Headwoman, being sent off on this errand and that as the mood suited the Headwoman, and as befitted Liera's short attention span. This really didn't bother Fillier and Lieyona too much, they just thought that this was normal, and to a certain extent, it was. But as they got older, they were forced into certain responsibilities that other children's parents took care of. Lieyona had to keep track of her own schedule as well as her brother's, for their mother would forget what they were supposed to be doing. She also had to take over many of the household chores, such as cooking, for Liera would inevitably forget to watch the oven or put salt instead of sugar into the pie.
While this did force the children into maturity a little quicker than their playmates, it didn't really impede the development of two very normal children. Where Liera shined as a mother was in her affection. She was always her children's biggest cheerleader, and showered the children with love and affection, so they never doubted that their mother loved them very much. They may have become overly affectionate people, rather like their mother, if it weren't for the steadying influence of their father. There was never any doubt that Filyon loved his children, but he was far more steady about showing his affection and less excited while doing so. He also made sure that the children knew what their responsibilities were and made sure that they got them done before giving them their allowance. Thus while the children are friendly and outgoing, they have a realistic side to them and can be far more responsible than their flighty mother.
Growing up, Lieyona was introduced to her cousins, who came from a wide array of ages, as her aunt's ages were all about 5 Turns apart. When she was younger, she referred to her Uncle Androv as one of her cousins, for he's only 7 Turns older than she is, but after a while, she was told to start using the proper term of Uncle when he was around 16 and she was 9. The cousins that she was closest to were her Aunt Vonie's children, Jolie, Vonjol, and Olivonie, who were all closer to her in age, and she hangs out with Jolie a lot. When her Uncle Androv went away as a Journeyman Beastherder, she was sad, but she knew she'd see him again from time to time. She was 10 at the time, and didn't get to see him Impress his brown Kionoth because he hadn't been a candidate and they hadn't expected that to happen. There had been a lot of excitement in the family when that letter had arrived, and secretly Lieyona had wished that she could have a dragon lifemate of her own, but since she was only ten, she hadn't mentioned it.
A few Turns after that had happened, the Volcano that was Storm Fires Weyr erupted, and it was her Uncle A'drov who had come to the rescue, with his brown Kionoth carrying her family to safety to one of the refugee camps, along with a lot of their possessions that they managed to hastily pack into crates and boxes and nets. He managed to save her Aunts and their families too, with some of their possessions as well, but grandma and grandpa had died. Her mother had told Lieyona that her grandparents hadn't wanted to leave their home, and they were in constant pain all the time and just wanted to die, so they'd sent Uncle A'drov away. Since Lieyona had helped to care for her grandparents when she could, she knew that this was true, and was glad that her grandparents were no longer suffering and had died together in the place that they had loved.
The family spent a few months in the refugee camp, until it had been announced that Falling Sky Hold would open its doors to them. Their father hadn't been too happy to get a Lady Holder instead of a Lord Holder, but Aunt Dranela was insistent that this was where the family should move. Lieyona didn't mind. She'd just started her apprenticeship with Master Worvald in pottery and that was where he was headed too, so she could continue her studies. But as time went on, Lieyona wasn't sure that pottery was really her passion in life. She was good at crafts, and could manage a household easily, but there just seemed to be something more that she should be doing, and she wasn't sure what.
Eventually, her Uncle A'drov moved to the new Storm Fires Weyr, which is right next to Falling Sky Hold, so she got to see him a lot more often, as well as the other dragons. Seeing the dragons all the time reminded her of her secret desire to become a dragonrider, and A'drov announced to the family that they could be looked at by a Searchdragon if they chose since he was a dragonrider. Lieyona was delighted at the chance. Before that could happen though, Storm Fires Weyr had its first queenflight, and Lieyona, a girl of 16 Turns now, had to figure out how to deal with it. A lot of her friends just let the lust take over, but Lieyona ran to her bedroom and locked the door so that she wouldn't lose her innocence. She figured this was the best way to deal with this, since she didn't want to lose her virginity and she didn't want to get pregnant, which happened to some of the women around the Hold. One good thing (in Lieyona's opinion) to come of it was that Aunt Dranela stopped calling dragonriders "licentious", and so did a lot of other people around the Hold.
One day as Lieyona was helping her Uncle A'drov wash his Kionoth with a large group of her cousins, a bluerider named Tiana came by and they offered to help her with her blue. It wasn't long before she and her cousins were Searched, and that is where her story began.
Lieyona is a practical and responsible girl who also knows how to have fun. She grew up with a "helping out" attitude and there isn't much that she can't turn her hand to. She's good with crafts, but while her work is beautiful, it tends to run toward being practical and useful as well. So ornamental vases and water pitchers and plates are all things that she makes, but you're not going to see statuary out of her. Lieyona is a dark brunette with long wavy locks that fall to just above her waist. Her eyes are a brownish gray color that her mother calls hazel and she just calls "bleh", although they're actually very pretty. She prefers to dress in simple clothes that she can work in, so capri shorts, sandals or flip flops, and a simple t-shirt are the norm for her mode of dress.
I submitted Lieyona and her cousin Jolie as candidates for the queen, and I must say that I'm glad that the decision as to which of the two of them would Impress the Queen wasn't up to me, for I don't think I could have made the choice. Both girls had some good things going for them in my opinion. Of the two girls, Lieyona is older, more mature, and more sensible. She also doesn't set her goals above what is truly achievable, and has a good sense of proportion. But to make up for that, she's not as outgoing, spontaneous, and self-confident as her younger cousin. She also started out with little experience with boys, so she had to work to get over her shyness in that area, for her practical nature dictated that she not be a virgin by the time her Queen Rynith, whom she Impressed on October 31st, 2008, had her first flight.
One of her fellow weyrlings, Bronzerider M'dred, managed to catch her eye, and a slow relationship formed between the two of them over the course of their weyrlinghood. When they had passed the Turn mark, and were allowed to have sex, Lieyona knew that it was time to find someone for that most delicate assignation, and her logical choice was M'dred, since she genuinely liked him and cared for him. He was a little wary about it at first, but finally agreed to help her with it, so she was indeed ready by the time her Rynith had her first flight. Lieyona was delighted when M'dred's Royanth managed to catch Rynith at the last moment, and even more delighted that her cousin Vonjol Impressed a bronze named Nyrith from the clutch that Rynith had produced.
Time marches ever onward, and Lieyona's feelings continued to grow for M'dred, so when he finally asked her to be his weyrmate, she said yes. They are now happily weyrmated, and I'll have to see how things play out with them.
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