Thayet
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Portrayed By Catherine Zeta-Jones
Position Captain of the Guard
Former title(s) If there are other titles your character has had, you can put them here just for reference.
Sex Female
Age 27
Place of Birth Southern Boll
Family Table forthcoming
Faction Traditional

Character History

Terincho was born the youngest son of Lord Taron of Tillek, many turns ago. He was always a wild thing, a lover more of the open air and critters than of stone walls and fancy things. He learned early the art of swordplay and of knife fighting. It was only appropriate that the young Lords-to-be were all practiced in the 'manly arts'. Runner-riding, hunting, sword-fighting, wrestling, swimming … These were all encouraged. Terincho loved them. Rather than apprentice to a craft, go to sea as his brothers had, or follow in his older sister's footsteps and go up to the Weyr to Stand, he was quite happy to live in Tillek and help his father to manage the lands. Often he would travel to smaller holds and cotholds, looking for lost children or guarding ripe crops from Holdless bandits. It was on one such night that he met Nikala, and his whole life changed.

He was guarding a small vineyard one night, as rumor had been going around of other thefts and attacks nearby. He - despite all his skill and ability - was no match for these men. They were cunning, they were silent and they were organized. Before he even knew they were there, he'd been roped, bagged and thrown over the back of a runnerbeast. After a good candlemark or two of being bounced and jostled, Terincho found himself hauled off the beast and tossed to the ground. The sack over his head was removed and he was allowed to stand. His 'escorts' walked behind him, directing him through a series of caves until they came to where a dark woman was going over figures with a pale man. The woman was introduced to him as Nikala, the leader of their band. Terincho executed as much of a sweeping bow as he could - given the circumstances - and Nikala was entirely mesmerized by the civility with which he treated them.

He was released and taken home and over the next few months he courted Nikala in secret. During that time, her band of Holdless was becoming more than a petty nuisance. They were good and through evading capture had racked up a fairly substantial price on their heads. Terincho was far too deeply in love to care - in his mind, people had to live, somehow. So when he overheard that their caves had been found and would be attacked in a seven's time, he went to his father, begging mercy on their behalf. It didn't take Taron long to figure out that his son's 'weakness' came from romantic attachment. He declared that no son of his would be taking up with any Holdless hound. Terincho responded that he was no longer a son of Tillek, then. His father was so shocked that he made no move to stop his beloved son. As time passed, he became embittered, poison from the hurt of losing his favorite. When he died, his older son Elisser was Confirmed as Lord Tillek.

As for Terincho, he warned his lady in time for her to get her people out and all of them headed for Southern Boll. There - with the wealth from all they had stolen - the group of Holdless were able to start up a new life as traders. Terincho and Nikala were handfasted that midsummer by Boll's posted Harper and Thayet was born two winters later. They took Nikala's surname and made it famous across the southern parts of the northern continent. Many turns back, it had been Decounted, for her ancestors no longer counted themselves among Pern's proper folk, but over time and smudged documents it had become Dicomte.

Thayet's childhood was a happy - if busy - one. She never lacked for companions, though more often than not they were many turns her senior. From the time she could walk, her father had her on one of the smaller mine-ponies they would often drive from the Ruathan breeding grounds to the northern mine fields for sale. She learned from the old, wizened hound-keeper the best ways to teach canines new tasks and how to behave so that they understood what you wanted. 'Damn dogs don't speak like we do, pup. You've gotta ask in a way they understand.'

Her mother was kept busy running the traders' affairs and even a few less-than-legal ventures on the side to make up for the marks inevitably lost in the early turns of venture, so it fell to Terincho to teach her; and teach her, he did. Manners, letters, history, sums and and tactics were things she ate, drank and breathed. He had the benefit of a Lord's education and he made damn sure his daughter did, too. On top of that, when she showed a love of and aptitude for the more martial arts, he made sure she got an excellent education there, as well. If it was a subject he himself couldn't teach her - like hunting and tracking - he found one of their band who could. Thayet was a smart, easy-going child and learned fast enough to not be bother; very few ever complained about having her for a student.

By the time she was twelve, Thayet was full of her father's lessons and her mother's stories and was chomping at the bit to have some of her own. Deciding to let the reins loose a little bit, rather than tighten down and risk losing his daughter, Terincho spoke with Southern Boll's Steward and arranged for his daughter to ride messages on the trail between Boll and Igen. In between jobs, she stayed at their campsite near some caves at Boll or with one of the more nomadic tribes of people who lived in the Igen deserts. It was during this time that she learned of the desert peoples' way with runners and from then on, her preferred mounts always came from their stock.

When she'd turned sixteen, however, Thayet had learned and mastered everything her father could teach her. She'd heard a rumor of a rather legendary soldier who'd retired to working runners at Southern Weyr. Her plan was to travel south and find him; find out if he'd teach her more. She announced her decision to Boll's Steward and he wished her well. There was, however, one more load of sensitive documents that he didn't trust to the younger messengers and so she agreed to take it for him.

It was on this last voyage that she came across a huge firelizard clutch nestled in the hot sands near one of the few oases. She waited behind a nearby dune for the guarding adults to go hunt, planning to steal the eggs to sell. Once the adults had been gone a good sixth of a candlemark, she slipped over to grab the biggest eggs of the bunch. As soon as her fingers closed over the shell of the first one, she heard a rather distinct cracking sound. Acting on instinct - and a healthy fear of the no-doubt returning fair - she wrapped her left arm around the egg she already had and swung up into her mare's saddle. A good half-candlemark's hard ride saw her far away, but she could feel the egg cracking.

In the shade of a low mountain range, she dismounted and set the egg in a pile of warm sand then grabbed some dried meat hastily from her packs. When the big lion-like bronze finally burst from his shell, all she had to sate him was that dried ration. He didn't particularly like it, but he was hungry enough at that point to eat anything and Thayet was in love. Naming him Thorn, she cradled the sleeping 'lizard close to her abdomen the rest of the ride to the Hold.

Southern Weyr didn't suit her very well. She got on with the Stablemaster alright - he found her skilled enough to merit his attention and smart enough to be worth his time - but the very atmosphere of the other residents filled her mouth with bile. Tradition had its place; she loved traditions and ceremonies and old things. Thinking that the world should bow down and serve you because of something you'd done fifty turns ago? That wasn't tradition, that was sickening. The stablemaster - Coram - spent the better part of four turns teaching her to further master her control over her weapons, her mounts and her body. He did, however, also serve to distract her from the idiocy around her and kept her from making several fatal errors.

Things got worse, towards the end and finally he told her that he had arranged for her a position at Southern Hold, teaching the same things she'd been taught to the Blooded children and - to some extent - the guard there. He would stay at the Weyr, he said. He was getting too old to learn a whole new place. He would, he said, come to visit her at Turnover and Gather time. Southern throws such smashing parties after all. And so, with a hug and a very bittersweet goodbye, Thayet, Thorn and her latest project - a black runner stallion named Bitra - left the weyr for Southern Hold.

Southern Hold suited her much better. Though steeped in tradtion, it was the nobler, harder working sort that she'd grown up immersed in. The Lord Bailic was level-headed and fair; his lady Jessina was less so. They had raised their three sons and four daughters to believe that hard work wasn't below anyone and when the daughters expressed interest in the lessons their brothers got, it took only a few heated debates with Bailic to get him to see the sense in it. His wife never did come to terms with it and blamed Thayet for 'corrupting' her husband and for offending sensibility. It was one blight on an otherwise happy existence. The children adored her - though there were spats over the turns - and her older students learned to respect her, despite her age and gender. After seven turns, she really felt as if she'd finally made a home for herself.

All that changed when she was called up for a surprise meeting with Bailic. He had a letter, he said, from the Headwoman at Landing. She'd spent her whole life on the southern continent and could vouch for herself and her staff. It was the crafters that came down which worried her. They were all caught up in their work and had no idea how to fend for themselves at all. She knew he had a particularly talented soldier teaching his children and training his guards. They would pay Thayet double her salary at Southern and she'd even arranged for the watchrider to ferry the children back and forth for their lessons.

Thayet was stunned. AIVAS was the epicenter for all of the rapid changes that made her nervous and sometimes frightened her more than any armed enemy. And yet … there was the part of her that itched for a change of scenery, for the chance to do something new for a while. Bailic assured her that the position wasn't permanent. She would be able to find and teach new people to replace her after a turn or two and that if at any time she was unhappy there she could return. He only approved at all, he said, because the Headwoman was an old friend of his and because it would be nice to have a set of reasonable eyes and ears - and voice - around that place. So, for yet another time, she packed her things, saddled Demon - Bitra's fiery son - settled Thorn into his special cup on one side of her saddle and rode off into a new beginning to a new life.

These crafters have no idea what's in store for them.

Relationships:

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Memorable Quotes:

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Trivia and Notes:

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Thayet's Logs

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