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Back to Rilna:

Rilna's History:

Born in the early days of the 187th Turn of the Ninth Interval, Rilna's childhood was a fairly conventional one.  Her parents were Keroonite herders, who specialized in the raising and training of runnerbeasts.  From a very early age, the best way to find Rilna, or her two brothers Lian and Eriln, was to look out towards the paddocks.  As the only daughter in the family, she was a rough-and-tumble tomboy growing up, happily taking part in any pranks or wrestling matches and attempting to use the excuse 'But I'm a Girl!!' to get out of any trouble her escapades might result in.

As she drew closer to her mid teen years, Rilna became a bit of a rebel. Not wanting to stick around the Hold, and not wanting to join the formal and organized ranks of a Craft,  she parted from her family at the age of 16, and took up travelling with a motley collection of traders, drovers and jacks of all trade.  Spending two turns with them, she learned well the arts of living over a campfire and keeping the beasts sound over long and footsore trails.

At 18, Rilna took the first of a long series of jobs working in the Beastholds of various Holds, major and minor, starting off as a stablehand, and eventually ending up as a runnerbeast trainer.  This being the same job her parents held, but without the strictures of Craft life to bind her, Rilna was quite pleased.  Her younger brother Lian took a dimmer view of his sister's success, Lian being one of those sort who is happiest with routine, and can't fathom how others might enjoy a more chaotic mode of life.  He and brother Eriln, one Turn Rilna's senior, were ensconced at Herder Hall, where Eriln was already a Journeyman, and courting the attentions of one Journeywoman  Lienna, a pretty brunette with eyes full of laughter, and a childhood friend of Rilna's.

By 20, Rilna had taken on a fairly permanent position at Crom's stables. In her world of runners and stalls and saddles, she remained mostly unaffected by the antics of Lord Malkan, who at that time was still installed at the Hold.  Visits were taken to Keroon on a regular basis, as much as to visit Eriln, Lienna and their infant daughter, Liesana, as to obtain quality breeding stock.

The pleasant times continued, until Rilna was 24 turns of age.  It was then that she suddenly became aware of the less-than-ideal conditions that some of Crom's population endured.  A close friend and fellow stable worker, Gherridian, was declared Holdless, after  loudly disagreeing with the Lord Malkan on a matter of runnerbeasts.  Rilna kept in contact with Gheri, and soon came to know several of a large band of Holdless, many as innocent as Gheriddian, living in the environs, and slowly starving as winter neared.  

Quietly and privately, so as not to tip the Lord, Rilna and a few other concerned folk began to put together blankets, warm clothing, and some basic supplies for the group.  Rilna, having a solid excuse of herding beasts, was selected to ferry the loads out to the needy folks.  All went well, until halfway through the winter it was discovered that blankets, warm clothing and supplies were missing from the stores.  The hunt was on to find those responsible for the 'thievery'.  As the net drew closer, one of her co-workers, Maverin, took it upon himself to help her leave before getting caught, and Rilna settled in with the Holdless band, just as they prepared to migrate towards Igen.

It was a miserable journey, and several of the the very oldest and very youngest did not live to see it's end.  Rilna went hungry along side of them.  But she learned well the skills of hunting wherry with the bow, and how to handle herself around a variety of weapons, with confidence if not with total grace.  And by the journey's end, Rilna and Gheri were very much in love.

A sympathetic Harper performed the ceremony, although there were no golden marks or lavish feasts to mark the occasion.  Merely solemn and heartfelt vows between two people who had nothing but each other.  Igen's caverns were crowded, but there was enough, if not too much to eat, and the desert's heat much preferable to the winters of Crom.

Their skills useful to the Igen runner breeders, and with a sympathetic ear for their tales of life at Malkan's hands, Gheriddian and Rilna soon found a home among the hardy folk of Igen and their beautiful runnerbeasts.  And Rilna soon found herself pregnant.  Both parents-to-be were thrilled with the idea, and many were the firelizard-borne messages carried to and fro between Igen and Keroon, as Rilna and Lienna compared notes on that fascinating subject called Children.  Rilna continued to work around the runnerbeasts, almost until the day she delivered, although she curtailed the heavy work near the end.   Gheri knew far better than to argue, since nothing short of a Healer's order would have convinced Rilna to leave the beasts alone.

But despite his mother's workload, or perhaps because of it, young Geril made his appearance one midsummer's night, in perfect health, and equipped with an especially healthy pair of lungs.  At 26, Rilna was a perfectly happy woman, with a best friend and soulmate for a husband, a brand new baby boy to mother, and a position in one of Pern's better known runner breeding farms.

Things continued like this for many turns,  with new crops of foals arriving each spring, growing up, like the young Geril, who was showing every indication of following in his parent's footsteps, with regards to runnerbeasts.  Rilna taught him to ride, Gheriddian to care for his own pony, and the rest of the stablefolk often spoiled the lad quite shamelessly.  Gheri often took his son out for rides into the desert, as he grew more of an age to travel, and taught him to read the signs of that barren place, as he himself had learned.  Not much contact was kept with their families, outside of Rilna's correspondances with her sister-in-law, but none was needed. They were happy just the way things were.

But in the space of one short sevenday, all this changed, and Rilna's life was once more thrown into a sea of change, most of it far from pleasant.  She was 32, with her son a handsome little lad of 6.   Gheriddian had taken him out for a day's excursion into the dunes, to an oasis familiar to many Igenites, when the sky to the east began to darken.    A sandstorm.  The Hold, perched river-side, was perfectly safe, but as the sky darkened and the wind howled, Rilna could do nothing but stare out the eastern windows, knowing that somewhere out there were her husband and son.

Searches were mounted, with canines and their handlers tracking long into the night.  But no trace of Gheriddian and Geril was ever found, as if they'd simply vanished.

Rilna's grief was turned into a silent wall of shock by a furthur piece of news, arriving a week after the events recorded by it had occured.  Erilna, Lienna and their daughter had been caught out by Thread, in a high mountain pass where no dragons flew.  Nothing remained of her brother and sister-in-law, although Liesana had survived, and was in a high fever at the Keroon infirmary.

Still locked in that calm facade, Rilna made her decision.  She would leave Igen, and return to Keroon, to see that her niece was properly looked after.

Returning was hardly the joyous occasion one would expect of a homecoming, but having someone to care for seemed to help.  Rilna had to work through her grief in order to tend to Liesana, whose mind was feared to be broken, after the shock, and the high fever.  And in working through it, she found the key to resolving it, or at least the key to moving on.  When Liesana was 16, and fully recovered in mind and body, she made the firm and very emphatic decision to head to Ista island and join the Harpers.  This rather outraged Lian, who clearly and loudly pointed out that it was family tradition to be a Herder, and he'd be scored if he let some mindless orphan niece of his throw it all away.  Rilna, as much to annoy her brother as to help her niece, made sure that Liesana was placed aboard the first ship headed to the island.

With her balance restored again, and with her nest momentarily empty, Rilna attempted to settle in to the life of a simple Holder.  This worked for approximately two turns, before once again, she was to be found among the runnerbeasts.  Rilna's superior, Brellan, originally hired her as a runner handler.  But after a few months' work, she was pleasantly surprised to be given the position of Stablemistress of Keroon, which she holds to this day, known as somewhat of a demon of efficiency, and often muttered about by the lazier members of the stable hands.

A few fosterlings have come and gone from her home, Jibbidee, daughter of Trader friends, stayed for a few turns, while Manning remains in her care for at least a few turns more.   Now 15, he's following in the footsteps of Rilna, who he now considers his real mother, and is learning the job of a stablehand.

But what about the personal life of this inveterate matchmaker?  Well now, that's an interesting story.  It was in the middle of the spring births that a figure from Rilna's past arrived; Maverin, one of the runner handlers at Crom Hold, and the one who'd gotten her out ahead of Malkan's guards.  He was still working for Crom, and arrived at Keroon on a purchasing trip to the Beasthold.  Much to the surprise of both of them, he found Rilna.  The two old friends were soon reminiscing and laughing over old times, which puzzled the stablehands greatly, seeing their stablemistress laughing and joking, and even flirting a little bit.  Although it didn't go beyond flirting.

Until Pemeron and Daibhira, seeing to it that the stablemistress took a little time for herself, shoo'd Rilna and Maverin off on a picnic.  More sharing took place, with Rilna finally revealing the story of what had happened to her husband and son.  After bottling up her grief for so many Turns, the normally resolute Rilna finally let herself cry.  Maverin merely held her and comforted her for a long while, until at last catharsis was reached.  And in a swing from one extreme of emotion to the other, the next morning found the two old friends as lovers, back at Rilna's apartments.

Certain conclusions were reached that morning, with Maverin delaying his return trip to Crom for a good two months, accompanying Rilna on a hunting trip with the other Beastholders.  During which, Rilna began showing signs of pregnancy, vehemently denied by the stablemistress, who did not have an infant factored into her plans.  Maverin, however, saw to it that she took a trip to the Hold's infirmary, where a Healer confirmed the pregnancy, to her chagrin, and Maverin's delight.  Shortly after that momentous discovery, Maverin returned to Crom with the runnerbeasts, gave his notice, and came back to Keroon, where he and Rilna are now a couple.

Little Illianne arrived safely into the world a few weeks ahead of schedule, in a delivery that was hard on her mother, and almost as rough for poor Maverin.  Rilna was confined to her quarters for a good couple months, and it took a few more before she was fully herself again.  Once she was up and about once again, Brellan once again surprised her with a promotion to Assistant Manager of the beasthold, and awarded Maverin her old position, making him Keroon's new Stablemaster.  While the couple was startled, they were also quite agreeable to the suggestion, and life continued onwards.

An autumn Handfasting saw them pledged together for all time, and led to a working honeymoon, in the form of a trade mission across the Northern Continent, culminating at High Reaches Weyr.  Soon after returning home, however, more mild upheaval in the upper ranks of the Beasthold ensued, as Brellan and Daibhira vanished in the night together, leaving nothing behind but the position of Beasthold Manager for Rilna, and wild gossip flying over a possible elopement.