Toss the Feathers
~Vera~

image made with Portrait Workshop

STATS
Name: Vera
Age: 39
Gender: Female
Species: Dwarf

Description: Very has the short stature and broad build that is common in dwarves. She has pointed ears, a straight nose and a relatively small mouth. Her hair is the colour of copper and she usually keeps it tied in a messy bun. Her eyes are a deep brown. Vera is a stubborn, independent woman who knows what she likes and ignores whatever (whomever) doesn't agree with her. As such she has few friends, but the ones she has hold her in high regard but know to stay away when she's in a foul mood. Vera earns her living as a writer, at times writing up documents and contracts when she needs to supplement the pay she gets from writing stories. 
Home: Swamp Section, Mining town
Family: Parents (alive and well), two older brothers, one younger sister
Pets: -
Bond: Pale Green Godalath from Isla Weyr

.~'°'~.~'*'~.~'°'~.~'*'~.~'°'~.~'*'~.~'°'~.~'*'~.~'°'~.

STORY
Vera whipped her hair back and tied it to the side of her head. It was her preferred hairdo and looked deliciously bohemian and unbalanced. She was somewhat of a rebel after all. She lived for her art and only took on regular jobs when she could find no other options. Starving for your art was a step too far. After all if you were dead your art was dead too. Maybe she was too pragmatic to be a rebel or suffering artist. But she tried.
She left her home and walked through the dark alleyways of her hometown and entered the subterranean part. The Dwarf village had grown at the edge of the mines but as they had had to dig deeper in the earth, the town had followed, using the available caverns as a cheap way to build permanent residences that were sheltered from outside influences. 
All around her little shops and restaurants did business. Sometimes offshoots of the main track led to more residential neighbourhoods where families took up underground chambers, guarded by a single door that blocked access. The doors were more for showing there was a residence behind it than to actually guard as most dwarves were too honourable to steal. 
Well, sometimes there was merit in slipping inside. Like when you needed to get away or when you wanted to get god observations to write a story like that time... but she was digressing. Today her walk led her to her favourite bar. A dingy little hole in the wall - literally - with bad lighting and fast music. Where people held loud conversations and danced to lively tunes and drank until they were pissed.
Vera could see the merit in getting drunk today. Her draft had once again been denied. What did it matter that the publisher felt that manuals and scientific texts were more interesting. The people needed an escape. Vera knew her way of writing stories could work. She'd loved the stories her grandmother had told her and lamented the fact that so many of her words had perished along with her. If only she'd written down more of them. But from a young age she'd liked to make up her own stories ad her grandmother had encouraged her. 
So what if her parents and siblings thought she was crazy? Every family needed a black sheep and she would gladly be the one to go off the beaten track. So long as she managed to stay alive doing that. And today was one of those days that she'd had to temporarily find her way back to the straight and narrow. The money in her pocket was welcome but felt tainted. So she'd spend some of it in the bar as a way to make it up to herself. Her rebel side would probably enjoy that little diversion and would stop bitching about all of this in the morning. 
Somewhere during the long evening, a stranger appeared in their midst. A human, not very tall for his species but he still had to stoop to fit through the doors and avoid hitting the ceiling with his head. All sounds stopped but the man had handsomely played the room by offering a round and people had returned to their regular conversations. 
Somehow the stranger had found it's way to her and had said.
"Care for a spin?"
Vera looked him over and replied: "I don't think we'd match."
"Won't you try?"
"You wouldn't be able to keep up." she'd smirked.
And then there'd been wild dancing. She'd had had to admit that the man had moves. And after the amount of liquor she'd downed already her feet were a little uncooperative. But the man had actually made her laugh so she forgave him for his assumptions and let herself be led out. Though he was bigger than her she knew she could still whoop his ass if he tried something.
"So, I have a proposition..." the man said.
Vera sighed and readied her fighting stance only to be completely surprised when he continued, "I would like for you to come along with me to my homeworld Pern to impress a dragon when it hatches."
Vera blinked and wondered if the booze had hit her harder than she'd thought it had. Maybe all that dancing had had some ill effect on her resistance to alcohol. 
"Come again." she asked.
"I'd like to show you my dragon." the man said which sounded wrong in all the possible implications.
But it appeared he'd meant it quite literal as the fellow had led her to the edge of the town and a blue winged lizard - a dragon - had been waiting there.
"Would you like to have your own?" he asked her.
Vera really wanted to be cautious but how could she when her mind was bursting with the endless possibilities her muse was sending to her. Think of the adventures, of the stories, of the plot lines and character building! She was getting giddy just thinking about. Or maybe that was the effect of the alcohol. In any case she didn't care.
"Yes!" she screamed and then she was off to Isla Weyr.

.~'°'~.~'*'~.~'°'~.~'*'~.~'°'~.~'*'~.~'°'~.~'*'~.~'°'~.

HATCHING
Vera had arrived at Isla in a time of crisis. The leader -weyrwoman- of Isla and her dragon, pale gold Nysheth had died, leaving her clutch to be tended by one of the other gold dragons in residence. What was supposed to be a joyous occasion still felt strained by the recent loss. 
Vera didn't take it to heart, it was difficult to mourn someone you hadn't known. And her life was changing and changing for the better. She couldn't help but drink every little detail, there was so much to learn and experience. 
Take the hatching. A good 12 candidates had been assembled and were now waiting as eggs had started cracking. A dark purple dragon hatched first, then a pale copper, followed by several greens, a sandy brown and a couple of pale blues. Vera wasn't able to keep up with what happened afterwards because she was trying to placate a very inquisitive green, Godalath. The little green hatchling was a true whirlwind of words, questioning, nagging and urging. Vera could only calm her down by promising that she would tell her plenty of stories while the hatchling was fed and cared for. This was good enough - at least for three seconds before Godalath thought of something else she plucked from her rider's mind to ask about.

Name: Godalath
Gender: Female
Species: Pernese Dragon
Colour: Pale Green
Size: Green, length 47' 10", height 9' 9"
Personality: enthusiastic, loud, moody