Briny is a middle child in a very large and very traditional holder family. A day's sail from South Boll, their own small hold existed on the eastern side of the peninsula and had all of the amenities of your typical cothold on the coast. Not exactly the first stopping point, or even the second or third, of harper or dragonrider, they weren't entirely isolated if not for the visiting Seacraft ships that would often pull into what gave for a fair weather dock near to the hold to trade and sell goods. Despite all of this, Briny's mother actually had a well-rounded harper-taught education that she made sure to pass down to her children along with the family's strict morals. These were morals of propriety and manners, respectability and honor, and Briny soaked all of this up like the proverbial sponge.
A little after Briny's fifteenth turn day, a Seacraft ship came carring a letter from the girl's never-seen grandmother on her mother's side. Apparently the widowed old woman had an accident of some kind or another while in residence at Ista Hold. In her fine and spidery handwriting, grandmother requested (well, it was a politely worded demand) for some family help in her time of need. Eager to show the old and supposedly affluent woman how well they cared for her, Briny's parents were very eager to send one of their children off to Ista, and Briny was as good of a choice as any. She was well-spoken, kind, and as biddable a young girl as was possible. So, Briny packed her bag and left via ship with her parent's best wishes and a stern demand to do well by the old woman.
Dreams are expressive things, and Briny had her share of them. It was a chance to leave upon a ship to a real Hold, actually seeing something more than the well-worn paths about their hold or the familiar scenery seen day after day after day for all of her young life. To actually see the world and meet new people besides those of her small hold and the weather-worn visages of the seacraft captains? It was an experience not often given to one such as she. Sure, she was rather scared of the prospect of leaving her secure home, but the excitement tempered that well.
Arriving at Ista Hold was without fanfare, except for one crotchety, short-tempered and hypochondriac grandmother. It was no wonder the old woman asked for family to help her out, seeing as the local Hold residents couldn't put up with the nasty thing. In a new place with a hostile grandmother to take care of, Briny quickly found all of those bright dreams clouded and stormy. This was not at all what she expected and her spirits were quickly dampening. She tried, she really did, and actually did find moments to explore and enjoy the new place when she could.
And then Briny saw her first dragon. It was just there, standing in the courtyard of Ista Hold in all of his burnished mahogany glory. He was magnificent. He was impressive. He was huge. And those talons certainly caught her attention. Not so much curious as to want to experience seeing her first dragon, she approached with shuffling and hesitant steps. Briny watched the dragon, as the dragon's rider watched her. G'way was his name and over the months when he and his lifemate would be at the Hold from some reason or another, Briny would do her level best to seek him out. It didn't take long and the sixteen turn old was absolutely enamored of the 'exotic' young brownrider with a young girl's crush. Alas, her grandmother found out about her carrying on with the rider, and Briny paid for it with a sound slap and a wealth of verbal abuse.
Briny had enough. She had enough of the old woman with all of her rules and demands. Nothing was worth it in her mind. Not her family. Nothing. Briny raised her voice right on back to her grandmother and stormed off... right to her brownrider crush. G'way wasn't at all against taking the pretty and vulnerable teenager off to the Weyr, and Briny quickly deemed him as her Hero.
She was in love, there is no other way to term it. Completely, fully, irrevocably in love. She stayed in his weyr, slept in his bed, and loved him with all her heart. She told him so, and he smiled and called her adorable. And a month later, reality struck. Ouch. A liaison with G'way and another rider right there in the brownrider's weyr while they thought she was asleep. 'Maybe you should ask her to join us?' 'She is a holder girl. She wouldn't understand.' She wouldn't understand? Hurt and confused, Briny puzzled that statement. What did he mean by that? 'Wouldn't understand?' Was she some kind of stupid and ignorant holder girl? From there on, the girl discovered that those small holder values that were drilled into her, sometimes didn't apply in a venue such as a Weyr, much less the Real World. Wow. Talk about mind-blowing. From there on out, the girl strived to fit in, become 'worldly', and not be just some holder girl that didn't understand.
She grew up quite a bit. I suppose you could say that she became an adult, for a love of life and all there is in it and a desire to experience it all. Her dreams were still there. Opportunity still knocked, and she was going to invite it right on in. Briny left G'way, left Ista Weyr, and took another ship, but this time to Monaco Weyr.
Briny didn't plan on staying on at Monaco that long, just as long as the wind decided to blow her somewhere else. She took on the duties of a messenger, did her level best to fit in, and found that the people of Monaco were a pretty fine bunch. Being a messenger left her the freedom to actually move about, go to places and meet people. Granted, often the girl would take the path less-taken, or not even a path at all, getting conveniently 'lost' in the middle of message runs, but always delivering the message or package or whatever -eventually.
Surprises happen around every corner, just as they happened one evening in the Weyrhall as a certain young man looked down at her for her apparent youth. Excuse me? Briny then went on to educate the kitchen worker that despite her few turns, she was older than her turns, far older. What began as a passing interest blossomed into a little something else, taking the girl quite by surprise. Vasmar was an enigma, and he was something she wasn't going to make a mistake about like with G'way. And so, she is going softly with him, not quite daring to hope there might be a little something more with their relationship.
Briny is a girl that doesn't mind getting a little dirty and is more than apt to give life by the horns and ride to the sunset and beyond. Spontaneous, warm, often cheerful, and finds that just the prospect of living is the most amazing thing in the world. But, don't just live, experience. Take part in life and enjoy it to its fullest. An optimist. That is Briny.
And that messenger girl has found herself upon a path that she might have entertained once in awhile. You know, the daydream of actually riding a dragon. It happened one even, while trying to sneak off for a walk with the candidate Vasmar. She was singled out by a rather sniffling green dragon, and the girl was asked to be a candidate as well. With this doorway of opportunity now open, how could she ever deny it? So, Briny quickly said yes.
Candidacy was a very eye-opening experience that left Briny learning all kinds of new things about dragons. Of course, the restrictions about staying in the Weyr, and even having to stay away from Vasmar, rankled quite a bit. She nearly quit once, but was convinced to remain. Apparently that was a very rewarding idea, because as she wobbled her way out onto the sands looking as though she was going to get sick, Briny eventually found herself being Impressed to a rather amazing purple-lilted blue dragon by the name of Belynth.
Briny Info
Briny's logs
Meeting T'gan and Vasmar
Dinnertime in the Weyrhall
Who is that smooching in the Weyrhall?
Pudding fight!
Play by the Pool
Briny is Searched
Egg touching
Hatching Log
Belynth flies
Belynth flies with Briny
Belynth learns to flame
Belynth goes between
Weyrling Graduation
Briny paints V'mar