Short Preface: O'ril and Bloomth are NPCs that I created on 12/26/01 - only a few days after I was introduced to the wonder known as Orlando Bloom. At that time, I decided that Rhia needed something - or at least someone - of interest in her life, and since online times were few and far between, making an NPC love interest seemed to be the best option. As it stands, I've had a lot of fun making up playing along with O'ril, and, with any luck, he'll be a treasured addition to Rhia's collection of good times.

They say that all roads lead away from Nerat.

They say that living in interesting times is a curse, not a blessing.

They said that Orilan would end up becoming a wild renegade When He Grew Up.

Sometimes, it is better not to believe what they say.

Our story begins in Nerat, where two charming young people were to meet on a certain Midsummer's Eve. Aorril was always the quietly withdrawn youth who had recently gained his Journeyman knot as a Weaver. Ilana was his exact opposite: she partied continually, she was popular, and she was beautiful. The two were so different, they got along perfectly. Within months, the engagement was arranged, and the two were handfasted. Over the course of several Turns, Ilana bore three sons and one daughter. All in all, an outsider would call them a rather happy family.

The term "happy" excluded the middle son, Orilan.

From an early age, Ori was everything that his parents wished he wasn't. He was a daredevil, always off exploring The Rooms That Must Not Be Explored. Confined to the tiny cothold, he seemed to wither away, and whenever he could, spent his time out of doors. Accidents abounded and made him a frequent guest of the Healers - one time, he attempted to jump out of a window to fly. While the fall was a little over a meter, he managed to hit an object of reckoning, which nearly broke his back. The Healers told him that he would never be able to walk again, and, much to their surprise, he limped out of the infirmary a few sevendays later.

At the age of fourteen, he was beginning to notice the miracle called "girls". Before anything got too steamy, or even remotely involved, his parents decided to usher him off to the Istan Smith Hall, hoping that he would return to them with all of his limbs intact. Four Turns later, he returned to Nerat, older, saucier, and sporting a Journeyman's knot. Shortly after he moved in with his family, a girl by the name of Arwynne caught his fancy. Opting for the safe route of "friends first", he learned that Arwynne had already promised herself to a Gaurd, Arigarn. Orilan was devastated, but recovered from the news fairly quickly with the help of a young Harper Journeywoman, Yisalle. Out of the frying pan and into the fire he dove, and by the time he turned nineteen, he and Yisalle were engaged. Ori was positive that nothing could go wrong, and that his life was set in the direction that he wanted it to go in.

His hopes were shattered when a tiny brown firelizard popped in with summons for Yisalle to return back to the Harper Hall - with or without her fiance. Yisalle, sensing another move, broke off the engagement, telling Orilan that she wasn't ready to fully committ herself to him when her work needed her like that. Ori accepted his fate, and carried on life as usual. One day, he noticed a pair of dragons sitting rather placidly in the landing area of Nerat Hold, but he thought little of the occurance. In minutes, he was trapped in a ring of rather large beasts, and the jovial riders quickly explained that he had been taken for queen Smybelth's clutch at Igen Weyr. Orilan was going to be a Candidate.

Being one of the last Candidates Searched, Orilan did not have the prolonged waiting period before the eggs began to rock'n'roll. In his short term as a "slave", he nearly perished from boredom after being given strict orders to not explore the cliffs around the Weyr. He spent a good deal of his time at the waterfront of the artificial lake, and even volunteered for washing duty if it would get him out of the stuffy caverns. The Candidates were from all around Pern, and Ori delighted in hearing stories from their homeland. He and a female Candidate, Gymly, grew very close - so close, one could hardly see one without the other in their off time. Bets were quickly being made that the pair, should both fail to Impress, would at least handfast - a term that secretly scared Ori.

At last, the eggs began to shudder and shake. Feeling silly in his white robe, Orilan shuffled out onto the black diamond sands of Igen. One by one he saw his friends find their lifemates, and even Gymly was found by a fiery green, Eowyth. The very last egg hatched a stock brown, who, after sniffing around for quite some time, locked eyes with Orilan. Orilan had walked onto the Sands, but together, O'ril and brown Bloomth stumbled off into the weyrling barracks to begin the next chapter of their lives.

Weyrlinghood dragged on for what seemed like ages - cutting meat, feeding meat, watching the little brown wonder grow into a powerful beast. Thrills were not lost upon the pair, and they delighted in scaring their Weyrlingmasters and breaking all possible rules. By graduation, O'ril and Gymly were unofficially weyrmated, but their relationship had cracks in it. O'ril was still haunted by dreams of Yisalle, and Gymly was not one to be taken for second best. She began to dally around with other men in the Weyr, and rumors sparked that O'ril had his own share of male lovers. He began to find solace with bluerider, Hedvig, a lass several Turns older than him. When he was promoted to wingsecond, Hedvig turned bitter, thinking that the position was rightfully hers. Several spats later, O'ril turned in his knot to the Sr. Weyrwoman and asked for a transfer.

Ista was one of the first Weyrs contacted, and O'ril was handed over to the Griffon Wing, leaving his past a million miles behind him. To his discovery, a greenrider, Rhia, had just returned from a three Turn hiatus to Benden Weyr, and was told that this girl-woman would teach him the ropes. There was, he learned, a lot more to Rhia than had previously met the eye - beneath her cheerful exterior, there was a young woman who was struggling to overthrow her childish mentality and come to terms with grief. The two shared the same mindset over several matters, the first and foremost being the attractions to danger. Rumors had sprung up about his questionable Igen past, which he coolly denied. No one, even the old aunties in the caverns who delighted so much in gossip, was much surprised when he eventually moved in with Rhia.

So the world continues to turn on, and on, but as for O'ril, who can guess the surprises in store?