Personality: First impressions can be deceiving, especially in the case of Sheilven. Though on the outside she is dark, cold and unwelcoming, on the inside she is a whole different person. The saying, “The eyes are the windows to the soul…” does not apply to her. From years of practise and trial, she has learned how not to show her emotions, her eyes remain cold and hard at all times. And when she smiles, it does not always mean the person it is directed to will bode well. Inside Sheilven is the total opposite of what her appearance implies. She is a very nervous, cautious, and, well, cowardly person. When faced with authority, she all but falls to her knees and has a very hard time standing up for herself. She can’t fight, won’t fight, and most of all, men are the thing she most fears. She doesn’t fear dragons or flits; on the contrary, those are the only creatures she really trusts. Being mute does nothing for her social skills, she cannot, will not, speak her name nor anything for that matter to anybody. In her opinion, words cause nothing but trouble. Perhaps, someday, she will be drawn from her shell, perhaps, like an unhatched dragon, she will be able to sense “Hers”, and maybe, just maybe, she’ll break free from her internal prison…

History: Sheilven was born at Fort Weyr to S’kil, rider of brown Koliath, and Rolna, rider of green Faketh. But Sheilven was fostered out to a woman of Southern Boll Hold. There was where Sheilven did much of her growing up, but she was told right from the start whom her real parents were and where they were. The woman who had fostered her was named Jeri, and Sheilven could not ask for a better foster mother. When Sheilven was 5 Turns, she was first told her parents were Dragonriders, and from that day on Sheil dreamed of bigger things than the Hold; a Weyr, dragons, flits, and Jeri never stopped her. She allowed the child to dream, knowing that one day Sheil would probably return to the Weyr, one way or another. Back then, Sheilven was happy go lucky, spry, young, happy, life was going her way. She would go down to the docks and fish in the ocean; she’d watch the dolphins as the frolicked in the waves and even made friends with some dolphins and dolphineers. Every now and then Sheil would take the chance and visit with the watchriders, and especially took a liking to a blue rider and his dragon. They were her favourite to talk to, and both were a younger weyrpair, both pretty fresh from training. But Sheilven was young; love and relationships meant nothing to her. The rider and his dragon were J’af and Tyanth, and they too enjoyed Sheilven’s company. When Sheilven turned 10, she began to flirt with the Hold boys, as best as a girl her age could. She was still pretty, despite the fact she didn’t have those well-rounded curves then, and many of the boys fell head over heels for her. This meant many fights for Sheil to watch, which she often did, and then the winner would ask her what the prize was. Being young, she’d give them a little kiss on the cheek and walk away, leaving the victor stunned and the losers wanting a rematch. She still visited a fair bit with J’af, but he wasn’t on watch as much as he used to be, coming once every month maybe. But for the time he was here, Sheilven would bombard him with questions about the Weyr, and ask about her parents, since he knew both of them.

When 12, Sheilven became a flirt even more so, the fights were harsher and she would do a little bit extra as a prize, sometimes it was a quick hug, other time sit was two kisses on the cheek, but she never really went far with it. She was becoming a lovely young woman and Jeri knew what Sheil did, and soon knew she had to teach Sheilven about what could happen should she keep it up. One day, just as Sheilven was about to dash out the door, Jeri stopped her and sat her down, they had a long talk about what could happen to women who flirted too much, or winked at too many boys. Sheilven left the house the morning thinking of what Jeri had said and it certainly made her cautious. But old habits are hard to break, Sheil kept flirting, Turn after Turn. Two Turns passed and now Sheilven was 14, and certainly looking fine, as many of the Hold boys said. Despite her mother’s repeated warnings, the girl kept up with her flirtatious attitude, more and more brawls between the boys broke out and finally the inevitable happened, one of the larger boys drew a knife on another, killing the young man. The boy, one Sheilven had never really liked, was named Durza, and wanted more than just a little kiss on the cheek from Sheilven. Lucky for her, Jeri turned up just then and stopped the boy; Sheilven was later told all about Durza’s family and was certainly starting to realize what flirting could do. Durza was imprisoned for a period of time, quite a long period of time, but when one evil leaves, another is sure to follow. And so it did, Durza was gone, but now another boy came along, of about 16 then, and frankly, was quite interested in Sheilven. His name was Razac and Sheilven steered far clear of him, which Jeri totally approved of. But two Turns passed with Razac terrorizing the other boys, whom he dubbed competition, and still went after Sheilven, now 16 and a total knock out. Well, despite the fact Sheil never flirted with Razac, one day while she sat on the water’s edge, watching the dolphins frolic, a shadow fell over her, and only her, above her stood Razac with black eyes glittering darkly.

Well, let’s just say Razac was able to overpower her, but could do nothing to her after he got past that part, he was caught by a fisherman and hauled away. Sheilven ran home as fast as she could, dodging into the house and flying past Jeri and into her room. She lay for hours on her bed, crying in fear and shame, why had she always flirted? She thought mostly of her lineage, she was Weyrblood, what if her real parents found out about this? What would they say? Well, Jeri spoke with her and Sheilven was able to at least leave her room that night. But when she went to leave the house the next morning, fear was apparent. But she left the house and the very first boy to approach was one she had always been fond of, but today she approved of no one. When he smiled and said hello, she swung around and walked swiftly away. She had returned home and spent the day in her room, with boys coming to her window and asking if she was feeling Ok, asking what had happened to make her this way. Razac dare not tell anybody of his deed, yet he still longed to have Sheilven as his own. She was young, yes, but what was wrong with that? That evening he came to Sheilven’s house and looked in her window to see her laying in her nightdress on her bed, no blankets pulled up over her figure, to him it was an invitation. But how to get in without being caught by Sheilven’s mother? Razac was a smart fellow and actually came in the front door; he was able to unlock it. Jeri was sound asleep, but Sheil lay awake, thinking, wondering, and was started as she heard a creak, Razac had gotten into her room and was now standing before her closed door with a triumphant grin on his face.

Once again, he overpowered her and tried to go further than last time, but had forgotten one crucial thing, to gag Sheilven. The girl screamed and Jeri came charging into the room, grabbing Razac by the back of his shirt and hauling him away, mothers always do seem to grow very strong when it is needed. For that night, Jeri sat in Sheilven’s room so the girl would and could sleep, but all through the night terrible dreams had haunted Sheil, and she tossed and turned, barely sleeping a wink. So it had been two close encounters, very close encounters, with Razac in a sevenday, Sheil was truly frightened. Would this young man stop at nothing to have Sheilven? Sheilven now stayed at home, helping her mother, ignoring boys that came to say hi and wish her well, and said nothing to anybody. She remained silent; the last word she had said was “help” the night Razac had tried to take her. Jeri was concerned and decided to try and talk to Sheilven, still the girl said nothing. For two sevendays Sheilven was silent and sooner than she thought her 17th birthday came around. Well, the boys came around and wished her a happy birthday, many bringing her flowers and a few brought her seashells. Sheilven actually spoke on that day and seemed to have returned to her old self once again, but as darkness fell, Sheil fell back into her silence. As she settled into bed, fully clothed tonight seeing as she was too tired to change and certainly scared of Razac showing up, she kept an eye on her open window, if Razac was to come, he would first check through the window. She didn’t really notice that the window was open and so didn’t bother to close it. But before Razac showed up, Sheilven fell asleep, and it was shortly after that that Razac showed up. The young man, now only about one Turn older than Sheil, found it stroke of luck that she had left her window opened wide, as though just asking him to come in and have some fun his way.

Into the window he slid, landing on Sheilven’s bed and quickly lowering himself to pin her down. This time he had come better prepared and his hand snapped to her mouth as she awoke, stifling the scream she emitted. Tonight, she would be his. Sheil was trapped, he greatly outweighed her and her hands had been forced behind her back shortly after he had stifled her scream. With the threat of a knife, she was kept silent and did nothing but shake as Razac tried once more for what he longed. How the boys showed up just then, Sheilven never knew nor wanted to know. Suddenly, through her window and door, came all of the boys she had once flirted with, or most of them anyway. They piled onto Razac, hauling the young man away from Sheilven. Sheil pulled her blankets tight around her and cowered against her wall, eyes wide and heart beating wildly, she stared at Razac, who lay on the ground with his own belt knife pointed at his throat. Jeri came in and looked from Razac to Sheilven and then looked at all the boys who had ganged up on the rapist. Jeri nodded and the boys kicked at Razac until the boy got to his feet then ushered him out of the house, belt knives pointed at back and throat. Jeri made her way towards Sheilven, but the girl shrunk away from even her own foster mother. With a soft nod, Jeri closed the window and left the room to grab a piece of parchment and write a letter to Sheilven’s parents.

The letter was sent by firelizard, but the next morning Sheilven didn’t leave her room, but stayed crouched in the corner of her room, shivering and looking around with wide eyes. Sheilven got a response, saying that Sheilven’s parents had died in the recent fall that had destroyed Ruatha Hold, Benden Weyr, Nabol and Lemos, but they would gladly send out a rider to fetch her and return her to the Weyr where she was born. Jeri sent her reply and then went and tried to talk to Sheilven.

“Sheilven dear, I have sent a message to Fort Weyr and they are willing to send a dragon and rider to pick you up and take you back there. You would be away from Razac and the other boys and with dragons and firelizards.”

‘Will I get to see my mother and father?’ There Jeri had to pause and shook her head softly.

“I’m sorry Sheil, they were killed in that Threadfall. But there will be many other dragons, what about that J’af rider you used to talk to? He’ll be there I think.”

At hearing that her real parents had died, tears came to Sheilven’s eyes and she lowered her head so her forehead rested on her knees. She cried and shook her head; she never got to know who her parents really were. J’af was probably dead to, and if J’af was, so was Tyanth. But she didn’t want to be around Razac anymore, so accepted the idea of going to the Weyr and began to put a small pack of her items together. A dress for gathers, boots, breeches, and a light cotton shirt were included in her pack. As well as all her birthday presents and then she went over to the shore to say goodbye to her dolphin companions and await her ride to her new life. A rider came, and low, it was J’af and Tyanth. She smiled softly, mounted Tyanth in front of J’af, though she shook nervously at being so close to a man, but nodded when he asked if she was ready to go between. So, they betweened to the Weyr and Sheilven’s new home.

They arrived and Sheilven settled down in the candidate quarters, after finding an unoccupied room. There she stayed for days and days, never leaving her room, not even for food. Then she left and for two Turns she remained silent, and still is. She no longer flirted and felt very unsafe around any man, any rank, and any dragon. She feared everybody in the Weyr, she had only ever known Jeri really well and everybody at the Weyr was new to her. Everybody was concerned about her and her silence, but whenever she was asked about what had happened to make her this way, her eyes turned sad and she’d shake her head before walking away. She was an outcast to start with, yet many boys, candidates and riders alike admired her for her beauty. But it meant nothing to her; men were evil, tricky creatures who did not rightly deserve women. Men were greedy, always wanting more than they deserved and not stopping until they get it. Men, to Sheilven, were aliens, creatures from the Red Star. She looked upon them as she would the silver spore, with disgust, dislike, and distaste and a nasty, almost evil looking gleam in her eyes…

Race: Weyrling
Destination: Fort Weyr
Impress? Already has

RP Sample:

With hair sweeping about her figure as she strolled regally along the tunnels of Fort Weyr, Sheilven kept sharp eyes out for any male who seemed a threat. Her narrow and delicate fingers curled and uncurled as she tried to loosen the tension within her without being obvious about it. She looked at the palm of her hand where bruises were created from her nails as they dug into flesh. Every now and then flashes of memory came to her, dark memories from the evening of her 17th birthday. She shivered as it came back to her and tried to push the dark thoughts from her mind, but the harder she tried to push them away, the harder they pushed back. She almost screamed aloud at the images for them to go away, but was able to hold her words back and just mumbled them inside her mind, screeching at the images inaudibly. She suddenly crashed into somebody, both of them falling to the ground. She snarled and rose swiftly as she realized she had crashed into a young man of about her age. He stood and a handsome smile spread across his features. ”Sorry about that, I should watch where I’m going I guess. I’m Rojan by the way, who are you?” Obviously this boy did not know her, most in the Weyr knew her by now and many called her “Silence” as a nickname. Sheilven stared at the boy with dark, cold eyes and nodded softly as he introduced himself, making a soft noise of approval as he said he should watch where he was going. Well, no use breaking her silence to speak her name, with a sweep of her ebon hair, she strode past Rojan and disappeared around the corner.

On she walked, still screeching inwardly at the images to go away. As she walked past a few people she heard the whispering to each other. ”Look, there goes Silence again.” and “I wonder if she’s gonna kill?” were some of the many comments that people were whispering behind her back. These were usually followed by laughter or giggles, depending on who was saying it, but usually it was giggles. Very few boys and men of the Weyr poked fun at Sheilven, usually it was the woman and girls who were plainly jealous of Sheil. Sheilven shot nasty glares at a few of the girls, causing a couple of them to cower against the opposite wall. Inwardly she smiled in self-satisfaction, but that ended as the images came back, fiercer than ever, showing the evening clearly. ”GO AWAY! LEAVE ME ALONE! LET ME FORGET THAT NIGHT!” She screeched at her thoughts and a little voice in her mind, the sinister voice who was sending the pictures, answered her. ’Oh, but you will never forget it, ever. You shall be miserable all your life. Never will you allow a man close to you; never shall you find love fore the images shall always haunt your mind and stop you from going farther. You are mine to control Coward, you are mine now.’ Sheilven screamed in her head and broke into a run, her feet carrying her swiftly along the corridors. She elbowed a few people from her path and dodged around others, trying to get somewhere private. That place turned out to be the candidate quarters. She went to her room and then went to a corner, rolling up in a ball and sitting there, mumbling inaudible words under her breath, which came in ragged gulps. ”No, I’m not under anybody’s control, I’m my own person. I’m free now. No more Razac…” The pictures flashed into her mind again, showing the look of victory, of longing, that Razac had had on his face the night of her 17th birthday.

She rocked back and forth; some would think her insane if they saw her now. Her eyes were wide and brimming with tears, but none over flowed. ”I’m safe here, no Razac, no rapist men, no…but there are men here…they could…could…” ‘Try and take you as Razac did, I know. Then there shall be more pictures for me to torture you with Coward.’ “Leave me alone, go away and let me live my life.” ‘I can’t do that Coward, I cannot let the past go forgotten to you.’ “GO AWAY! LEAVE ME TO SUFFER ON MY OWN!” ‘It doesn’t work that way. If I leave, you won’t suffer because you shall push all images to the back of your mind and forget them. No, to suffer I must remain.’ Sheilven could contain herself no longer, she screeched aloud, causing many dragons to bugle and flits to between. People went looking for the source, but none came and found Sheilven where she sat in a near crazed state. The evil voice was doing its job well, Sheilven hated it for that. Sheilven thought she’d be free coming to the Weyr, but here the pictures haunt her all the more. When would Sheilven truly be free? When would the pictures leave her? ’The only way the pictures will leave is if there are better memories to cover them up with. Impression may work, but the only way to truly make them leave is to make good memories with a man.’ “No! I’m not going to do ANYTHING with a man. Vile, brutal beasts…” ‘Good, good, you make me happy now.’ Once again the dark pictures struck and this time Sheilven did not, could not, fight them. She sat where she was, reliving the night that her whole life got turned upside down, the one night that would forever torment her…