Khaelyn, as she was called then, grew up in Telgar Hold in the care of the Headwoman. Her mother, a journeywoman Weaver, had fostered her off at the age of two to go on with her craftwork. Her father was also a weaver, although she knows far less about him than she does her mother.
Being quite the timid one, her social life suffered -- to say the least. If she wasn't running a little errand or watching her fostersiblings, she was clinging to the wall. For the longest time, she was the Naive One of the Hold, due to (mostly) a lack of contact with anyone except the Headwoman and her teachers, most of the latter being the Hold stablehands. Needless to say, her aptitude grew in animals, runners to be specific, although her fostermother's strict disapproval of the beasts kept her from ever riding in her early childhood. So she learned, she wished, she hoped, she clung to the shadows like crawlers to a ceiling.
And, eventually, her shell began to crack a little. At the age of eight, in the middle of winter, she was outdoors playing with a few friends on the banks of the Telgar River. One tripped her, and being the awkward little thing she still is, she fell into the freezing water, though thankfully didn't float away. Her shrieks not only sent her friends running away, they brought half the adults in the Hold to come fish her out. From that day on, she abhorred cold with an intensity to rival that of dragons to Thread.
She still wasn't even close to the title of 'Hold Un-Social'. Her talking only progressed to runners, lending many of the more outgoing type the chance to send out rumors that she was a true idiot, too stupid to talk and only working with animals and stablehands. That brought her overcoming of shyness down to subzero, and -- true to the rumors -- she was nearly a mute.
A few months after her twelfth Turnday, she convinced the watchrider to take her to the Keroon-based Herder Hall with the permission of the Headwoman (Most presumed she was just tired of having a fosterdaughter who would speak about twice in a day.) It's said that she actually wrote him a note that asked him, for no one would really believe that she opened up her mouth to talk to him. He obliged, taking her to the Herder Hall as requested. She joined the Craft, finding a mentor and friends faster than anyone back at Telgar would have believed. True, her talking still remained mostly exclusive to runnerkind, but the occasional long conversation now and then with the friends she picked up made for a little variety now and then. And it was in the Hall that she was finally allowed to learn the skills of runnerback riding, something she grew to love -- even to the point of helping her mentor raise a runner and, after two Turns of gradually talking more and more as well as training that runner, was given the 'beast as a gift for her efforts, a gift she promptly christened Aurifer. A trio of canines, the first two her own mark in the Hall, were her own constant companions, as well as a slowly-acquired fair of firelizards. She advanced in rank, reaching Senior Apprentice specializing in runner training not long before her 15th Turnday.
Four months before her Turnday, she ran into an Istan bluerider by the name of Inya -- quite literally. And upon meeting her dragon, Wraeth, Khaelyn found herself captured, for Wraeth wrapped himself around her and quite frankly refused to let her go until Inya promised to take her back to Ista Weyr with them, for the clutch hardening on the sands. Runner, pets, and friends left behind, she went into candidacy, meeting the whole lot of other candidates before long: Sorcen, a harper aprentice with her first bit of advice on washing dragons; Tierza, Garish gardener with a later-found collection of yellow roses; Tstar, a starcraft affiliate whom above all was considered normal by Khae (especially compared to the rest of the candies); Beyla, level-headed starrie with a love of sweets; Libby, one more of the starries come to stand for the clutch; Merra, weyrfolk from faraway 'Reaches; Kaltia, another starcrafter who was more or less sane; Nanoc, a healer with an appetite as big as hers; Filli, another Herder albeit from the Istan Hall; Marianne, an unnervingly cheerful harper girl; Naomi, who was... well, Naomi (What else can one say?); Jozelle, a fellow Keroonian from the Hold and the only one who would sit and talk about stables and runners; Izzady, one more healer met during early-morning mopping; Egan, the nannyman; Hannah, another 'Reachian with an even shyer streak than Khae; and Lorsalia, the only candidate with less Turns than Khaelyn and a much-advertised ambition to Impress gold.
Candidacy came and went with chores, chores, Beebo, egg-touching, Khae's attempts and failures at sewing, chores, debates on anything from tubers to (you got it) chores, weyrbrats, hair dye, visits from Hall friends, and chores. And before she knew it, the dragons were humming and she was desperately looking for her robe -- which she found -- and her sandals -- which she did not -- and running out onto the sands amidst a gaggle of other candidates to watch the eggs rock, pop, and each withheld dragonet Impress. Feet burning, she wheedled a single sandal from Filli and stood grabbing the other herder for support, both morally and balance-wise.
After the fifth egg had popped, the sixth -- Peanut Butter Chocolate Egg -- wobbled for a last time, before exploding into existence with a brown dragonet. Khaelyn's attention, shifting between her Impressing friends and her woefully-lost center of gravity, only got a fleeting glimpse of the mischievous creature.. but he finally recieved the full weight of her attention as he fell at her feet, enchanting her eyes and with it, her soul, in a single verse.
And so, this merry wanderer of the night called Itazurath, led the renamed Khaye into weyrlinghood, leaving her life of herderhood and candidacy behind to start a new one with her lifemate. Whether she'll live through it is yet to be determined...