MacKrie [ Stargazer ]

The Beginning 

• MacKrie (pronounced muh-kree, thank you very much, not mah-ker-ree, as her siblings sometimes like to butcher it) is a young idealistic girl growing up on a simple and standard Pernese dimension. 
• When MacKrie was born, it was a world where thread had not fallen for long enough that people wondered if it is the end of threadfall, and grumble about the costs of dragon riders. What was once the backbone of most communities (and really the reason the communities had survived for turns) became something not quite useful, and often times a hinderance. But before the grumblings could grow into something more, thread fell once again and the dragon riders became a symbol of strength. 
• MacKrie’s father is a master vintner who had made a name for himself for his craft and skill into turning even the poorest harvest into sought after wine. Her mother, one of many daughters of a minor Lord Holder who grew up wanting nothing but with the pressure of knowing she would need to find a husband to keep her living comfortably. It was not so much a story of romance and passion, but a pleasant business arrangement that brought her parents together. Two realistic adults with an understanding that money and power was what made the world go round, and worked hard to ensure their progeny would uphold the same values of realism and common sense.
• Except for MacKrie. 
• Maybe it was the type of wine both parents had been imbibing at her conception (her father would often dreamily speak of how that had been his best batch yet), or perhaps it was that a dragon had taken flight not too far from their home, and it may have changed the nature of her parents coupling. They welcomed their youngest daughter into the world, one with pale flaxen hair and bright blue eyes that always seemed to be turned up towards the sky. 
• MacKrie grew up loved, knowing that she was loved and protected by her parents and her siblings, but also with the understanding that she would be expected to stand on her own two feet. Her parents would provide the necessary tools and support, but she would need to make her own way in the world. 
• Her brothers had all gone off to pursue different crafts, solid, respectable crafts, while her sisters were slightly closer from home, busy in their own ways. Some looking for respectable matches and husbands, others deciding to rely on their own two hands as harpers and healers. Each one busy trying to carve out their own independent life. 
• When MacKrie was nine, a searchrider turned up at their home, only to be turned away. 
• It turned out, this was a common enough occurrence throughout Pern. Parents remembered the turns when thread had not fallen and the grumblings of dragon riders begin, and, especially for well-to-do families, dragon riding was considered a risky career path with no certainty, one that would only cause trouble. The romantic and appeal of bonding to a dragon, of protecting Pern and fighting thread continued to draw the idealistic and the romantic, but many families now considered the turns without thread fall a warning. 
• You  did not want to be a dragon rider when thread stopped falling. 

The Middle

• MacKrie was always a puzzle to her parents and siblings. She grew up with stars in her eyes and optimism in her heart. Her siblings would often have to decide which among them would be the one to crush her hopes. There was no happily every after, they would tell her. There is no happy ending. Just hard work, rigorous living, and if you are truly lucky, contentment. 
• There is no such thing as happiness, they would tell her, just contentment. 
• MacKrie listened with half an ear. She spent her days a careful student, following up on lessons her mother deemed necessary for a growing girl, her evenings dreaming of dragon riders running off with Lady Holders in search of “true love”, of dragons born outside the five color spectrum. She would spent afternoons toiling away at the tasks her sisters would set for her, to identify her strengths and suitability of various craft halls, and her nights thinking about impossible things. People flying in the air with wings like a bird, running across the lands with the speed of runners on two feet. 
• MacKrie continued to carefully split her time, her days bidding her families commands and her nights letting her imagination run wild.
• When MacKrie was twelve, a search rider turned up at her home, and was turned away yet again.
• “Maybe I could become a dragon rider.” she mused, and her siblings laughed.
• “What will you do when thread stops falling?” They would ask, believing it to be inevitable. “One day thread will stop falling and people will not need your help. Then what will you do?”
• “I would travel.” She would answer. “Across Pern.”
• This would only cause more laughter. “How will you care for your dragon, and feed her?” They would ask. “Clean her, find a place to sleep? Do you think a dragon would be so small you could fit inside an inn?”
• “We could sleep in caves.” MacKrie argued, entranced. ‘Or under the sky, under the stars.”
• Her siblings would laugh and laugh again, wiping tears from their eyes at MacKrie’s fanciful thoughts. 

Kolten the Search Rider

• When MacKrie was fifteen, her parents and siblings began to voice their frustration.
• “Choose a craft, MacKrie.” They would scold her. “So you can feed yourself.” 
• “Find a husband, MacKrie.” Her sisters would advise. “You are young, but you will not remain young forever.”
• But none of the crafts called for her, and MacKrie found herself staring at the stars night after night, absolutely sure in her conviction that there was more out there in the world than contentment.
• Then one day, a different kind of search rider turned up at her door.
• He called himself Kolten, rider of blue Dziranth. The dragon rider had not elided his name and his dragon was not from this Pern. “This Pern.” The dragon rider pair explained, as if there were other Perns.
• “Oh, but there is.” Kolten exclaimed, and in his eyes MacKrie saw hope and optimistic. 
• The search rider spoke of different worlds, of the Nexus, and when her siblings scoffed he offered proof. Materials had technology that was beyond what their Pern offered. Photos and videos and something called three dimensional holograms. He was a searchrider, Kolten explained, and he was not affiliated to one Weyr, but here to find candidates for multiple places. 
• He was a ‘Nexus Searchrider’, and he was here to whisk MacKrie off to a new world. 

The New Beginning

• It did not take too long to convince her parents to say yes. (Although MacKrie was certain that even if they had turned this search rider away, she would have followed anyways). Her siblings were a little bit more cautious, but when Kolten promised to continue to bring them word of their youngest sister, they reluctantly agreed.
• MacKrie found herself at Shigan Weyr. This was not too different from home, similar enough, and she saw a clutch on the sands with so many eggs, that she was not sure she could count them all. 
• “What do they do with all the dragons?” She asked. Surely thirty eggs, thirty! Was an impossible number. 
• Kolten found her amusing, but he did not try to crush her questions and her ideas like her siblings. 
• “They stay here. Or, they travel.”
• “How do they care for their dragons? How do they feed them?” MacKrie found herself echoing the questions her siblings had asked her, and was meant with thoughtful answers.
• “There is always a way for a dragon rider to earn coin.” Kolten answered. “Or you find a crew.”
• Crew was an odd word. “Like a ship?” MacKrie could not imagine a ship large enough to house a dragon. Let alone multiple dragons.
• Kolten laughed at her again, but his laughter was not unkind. 
• Kolten told her of his travels across the Nexus. He told her of ships that flew full of dragons, sometimes manned by dragons. Of different worlds and refuges full of giants and creatures that MacKrie could not imagine. 
• MacKrie could not wait until she could discover all of this herself. 

From the hatching

With hatchings dwindling down only a few eggs remained intact on the sands, and the one with the most attention was the second queen egg. It had laid perfectly still throughout the events and Ayotundeth would have worried for her child had she not felt its gentle mind voice humming away at itself. Ayotundeth stood and strode toward it, sending the queen-hopefuls scattering with held breaths. She nudged the egg with a careful claw.

:: It’s time to come out, little one. ::

:: I can hear so many minds! :: the baby queen replied. :: It’s so interesting. ::

:: It’s more interesting out here in the world. Come meet those minds in person, Lawalith.::

Affection flowed back between them until finally the egg began to rock. It jolted to its side and rolled through the sand, wiggling and jiggling as it began to crack. Several candidates raced after it – worried for the hatchling and likely their opportunity to bond as well. But the egg paid no head, wandering chaotically through the weyrbowl until it bumped into the backs of someone’s knees.

A candidate called, “Watch out!” a moment too late.

MacKrie caught herself on her elbows and jumped back to her feet, whirling around to see the egg nudging insistently against her. A loud crack announced the first chink in the shell and a whirling blue eye appeared in the hole.

:: It’s you! :: Lawalith cried. :: You’re just who I was hoping to find. Could you help me out of here?::

MacKrie grinned, starry-eyed and elated as she helped peel off shards of shell until her soft gold hatchling was revealed.

Name: Lawalith
Gender: Female
Color: Gold
Size Class: Gold
Adult Height: 11’1″ at shoulder
Abilities: Assisted Firebreath, Telepathy, Teleportation
Personality:
The spitting image of her dam in both looks and personality. Lawalith is endlessly curious about the world at large and has an adventurer’s heart. She wants to explore, not be grounded on Pern to be a broodmother. She’s headstrong, independent, and determined to follow her dreams. Who better to bond with than a starry-eyed girl that thinks the same? Lawalith is extroverted and genial, with good social graces but confidence enough to stand up to bullies. She’s typically optimistic about peoples’ intentions but isn’t naive enough to believe everyone is out to do good. She’s a solid queen with a good head on her shoulders and an unquenchable desire to follow her dreams and make life her own.