Islands of Pern

Journeywoman Harper Annaleva

Name: Annaleva
Age: 21
Gender: Female
Rank/Craft: Journeywoman Harper (Artist)
Residence: Ithaca Weyr

Description: Annaleva is rather taller than average for a woman - and always has been. It makes her feel awkward and gangling (and in truth, she's never quite managed to get herself thoroughly coordinated), so she slouches somewhat more than she should. The shame of it is, she'd actually have a good figure if she took some pride and just stood up straight.

She is pretty in other ways, though; her hair is waist-length, dark brown, and absolutely string-straight. She generally keeps it back in a plait. Her eyes are dark brown, and her skin takes a tan well. She is curvy rather than slender, though she usually dresses to downplay that.

Personality: Annaleva is quite shy and sensitive - which, oddly, helps her in her craft. She relates well to the children she teaches, especially the ones who are themselves shy. Without really knowing how she does it, she is able to reach out and touch them, drawing them out of themselves. When under pressure, despite her shyness, she doesn't give up; the limits of what she can accomplish have never really been tested, in many ways.

Background: Annaleva, once upon a time, was a weyrbrat - greenrider mother, brownrider father, the product of a mating flight. She was fostered out to a lower caverns woman and her spouse almost as soon as she was weaned, and hardly recalls her true parents. They were generous with their love and time and Annaleva returned both just as generously; she still has a good relationship with her foster parents and foster sibs.

However, there wasn't much her foster family could do to break Annaleva out of her shyness; some of the other children teased her mercilessly about her height, and the teasing grew worse as Annaleva kept growing. By the time she began showing a real aptitude for sketching and painting, she was considerably taller than other children her age; she started to slump and retreat from people as a result.

She concentrated on art initially - and then discovered something quite by accident, in helping classmates who struggled with some aspects of art classes - she liked to teach, and had a talent for it. After some consideration, she changed from focusing on art to focusing on teaching; she still had to learn other harper skills, of course, but her true love became teaching.

On being granted her Journeywoman's knots, she asked for the chance to 'journey' - sheltered for so long, she wanted to stretch her wings a little, see if she could be more than 'shy Annaleva' or 'sensitive Annaleva'. When a posting came up at the Weyr, it was perfect; the Craftmaster realised it would give Annaleva a chance to stretch herself, but would not put her in too unfamiliar a situation. To Annaleva, he explained it somewhat differently, saying that a weyrbred person would do better at the new Ithaca Weyr, rather than someone holdbred.

Last Updated: 05/31/2005