Nich (Nicholah)

Parents: Jargan and Marina (Jargan not biological father)
Orig. Home: Smithcrafthall, Southern Continent
Position: Skyfire Wingrider // Blue Aelyth // Benden Weyr
Game: PernMUSH Http: Y
Created: August/Sept? 1993
VR Age: 24 (ish)
Height: 5'6"
Weight: 120
Hair: Dirty blonde, short on top, long braid down the back
Eyes: Blue
ICSO: Cl'rek, Thunderbolt Wingsecond to Brown Orrith, Benden Weyr
Kids: Nirek, Ista Weyr Fosterling; Carah, Benden Weyr Fosterling
FLs: Bz Cruise, Br Order, Gr Mihalis, Gr Terminal Frost, Bl Domino, Bz Slip, G Mykana (deceased)

Nicholah was born on the Southern Continent to Smiths Jargan and Marina, or so she thought. She spent her formulative turns near or around the SC Smithcrafthall, picking up knowledge of maths and the like. However, in her teens, she became bound and determined to become a Starsmith, rather than follow her parents into Smithing. Of course, Jargan did _not_ take this very well, being a traditional Smith. Eventually, Nicholah was driven into heading North, where her father could not drag her back, anything to be a Starsmith. She took ship to Igen Sea Hold, paying her way by working. From Igen, she travelled (or rather, wandered blindly, having not gotten a map to find her way) to Bitra and made the acquaintance of Malachite, Bitra's Lord Holder. Malachite wound up becoming Nicholah's 'uncle', being the first person to actually foster her interest in starsmithing. Soon, Nicholah travelled back to Igen, to the Starsmithall, where then-Masterstarsmith Nuno apprenticed her.

Nicholah was happy in her chosen vocation for many months. She even fell in love for the first time, to an ex-guard named Lorat who was twice her age, but she didn't care. He loved her as well, and things were okay for a long time. Then things changed. Nicholah was present at a firelizard hatching at Igen Weyr on her rest day and wound up Impressing bronze Cruise from Aellya's gold Faeriefire's clutch. Wanting to show 'Unca Mal' her new friend, she accepted T'garrick of Benden's offer to hitch a lift on his brown Chiloth to Bitra with Zebadiah and Callina. As Nicholah was showing Cruise off to Malachite and the other Bitrans, F'mir and green Vyrinth of Benden Weyr burst out of *between*. F'mir was talking to T'garrick when Vyrinth started acting strangely, whuffling the startled girl. After a few moments, F'mir asked Nicholah to Stand at the Hatching of Tiamanth and Tzornth's eggs at Benden. Once Nicholah realized F'mir wasn't having her on, she accepted joyfully.

The Candidacy of the starsmith apprentice was tumultuous, nearly costing her relationship with Lorat. The older guard was severely mistrustful of all riders, and absented himself from Nicholah's life a great deal of time, because he believed he was going to 'lose her to the Weyr', and he didn't want to hurt her by staying and being upset all the time. Nicholah was hurting terribly, but the chance to ride a dragon overrode her love for the guard, and so she remained. Lorat's fears were somewhat justified when Nicholah became forever linked with blue Aelyth on Hatching Day, much to her surprise.

Nicholah's weyrling days were as much (if not more) tumultuous as her candidacy. A greenrider took it upon himself to show her the 'ways of the Weyr', and only Aelyth's cry to Tiamanth saved Nicholah from a very nasty experience. Lorat comforted her soon thereafter, but the guard was furious that the offending rider could not be punished more severely than with dawn sweeps for the rest of his life. He could not bear his love's pain and thought he was a hindrance to her, so he left. Nicholah has never seen him since, and he is presumed dead.

Nicholah was very withdrawn for a time, talking to no one socially other than her best friend, Merla, gold Kimbrith's rider. She watched the interactions between her fellow weyrlings, seeing them fall in love or hate, and she found a rather strong dislike for R'chard, green Briseth's rider, which would lead to her punching him in the living cavern a couple of turns later for a snide comment asking why she didn't sleep around the way he did.

Nicholah eventually became wingsecond of the weyrling wing, which was named Threadchasers on her suggestion, with Cl'rek, brown Orrith's rider as wingleader under Weyrlingmaster Shadrina, green Ameveth's rider. Nicholah respected Cl'rek's leadership capabilities, and the quiet brownrider also became her friend, nearly rivalling Merla for the position of 'best friend'. However, she was still surprised when he asked her to share a weyr with him after hearing they'd be assigned to different wings: he to Thunderbolt under Weyrleader F'hlan and bronze Tzornth, Nicholah to Skyfire under D'vin and bronze Kedranth. Nicholah accepted the proposition, more to keep in touch with her friend than for love. However, Nicholah's attraction to Cl'rek (and his for her) was such that love did not dally for long for the two weyrmates.

Nicholah's life took an interesting spin the next Turn, when Candre, Ista Weyr's huntsman, became her friend. The two were startled to find that a ring Nicholah had gotten from her mother was a perfect match for a ring Candre had gotten from his father. Through some investigating, the two found out that they were half-siblings through an affair that her mother never told her about. The two kept in touch for many turns, and Nicholah and Cl'rek were present to cheer on Candre when he Impressed blue Aeolth at Igen Weyr to become C'dre.

Shortly thereafter, Nicholah discovered that she was pregnant by Cl'rek, and the two weyrmates were happy. However, Nicholah knew her duty to Weyr and Pern and refused to stop flying Fall, especially after the deaths of D'vin and Kedranth in Fall. This caused a bit of strain on her relationship with Cl'rek, who was worried for his weyrmate and was siding with the healers. Nicholah, being ever-stubborn, refused to stop and kept on flying Fall, even though it could have harmed the child. In a Fall over Benden Hold, she paid the price of her stubbornness, as a gust blew a bit of Thread squarely onto her. Only the swift action of Aelyth and the Weyr's healers saved the lives of both her and the unborn child. Cl'rek finally had had enough and cajoled Merla to get Kimbrith to command Aelyth to stay grounded until Nicholah had the child safely.

Two months later, young Nirek arrived to wake the weyr with his crying. Nicholah was now firmly entrenched in her role of mother and refused to foster the child, ignoring her duties to Weyr and Pern in her recovery and taking care of the child personally. She also withdrew from Cl'rek for a time, her stubbornness replaced by a fierce despondency and fear of flying Fall again. However, she was finally brought out of her fugue by the help of former Masterharper Mykal, whose problems were worse than her own. Aelyth had been spending time communicating with the harper, who had recently lost his wife, and Nicholah remembered her duty to Pern.

Nicholah has once more fully integrated with her wing and Weyr, having served also as Assistant and full Weyrlingmaster in the past five Turns. She has also decided to use the name that Aelyth calls her (Nich) and sports a newer short haircut that is always kept neat and trimmed. She has also Impressed some more firelizards: brown Order, green Terminal Frost, green Mihalis, blue Domino, bronze Slip, and gold Mykana, the latter being a present from F'nar, blue Pavanth's rider. Unfortunately, Mykana did not survive long, and the entire fair keened as the young gold went between and did not return.

Of late, Nich is terse, prone to snide remarks to strangers who try to be too familiar with her too soon. Maybe it was the deaths that led to her resignation as Weyrlingmaster, maybe it's her dislike of sycophantic visitors to the Weyr, or maybe it's the fostering of her beloved son to Ista Weyr. Whatever it may be, even Cl'rek doesn't know the reason. Nich rarely shows herself in public very much anymore. Bitra rarely gets a visit from the bluerider, unlike the days when she would drop everything for a chat with her 'unca Mal'. After awhile, Nich was promoted to Wingsecond of her wing. However, in a recent knife-fight with bronzerider S'riv, Nich wound up losing her wingsecondship and being grounded until she healed from the life-threatening wounds caused by both S'riv and Merla. S'riv and Merla didn't escape the fight unwounded either. J'rus also got pushed around a lot whenever he tried to break the fight up. In all, two riders nearly dead, the junior weyrwoman with a gash in her arm, and a battered bronzerider. Whoops.

After recovering from the fight, Nich spent some time learning the error of her ways. She was found in S'riv's company some time later and they weren't fighting. She's also been making the living cavern staffers paranoid by being excessively cheerful. Just recently, Aelyth blabbed to the entire Weyr that she was pregnant again. Fortunately, the child was born quite easily and with a modicum of pain. The lucky parents named her Carah.

PC Hatching Results:

Merla -- Gold Kimbrith
S'drel (Squedrel) -- Bronze Avoth
Cl'rek (Clark) -- Brown Orrith
Nich (Nicholah) -- Blue Aelyth
R'chard (Richard) -- Green Briseth
Ariane -- Green Rhiapeth

Back to PernM* Page.
Back to MUSH Page.
Jaye's Home Page.