Because Lydiere's history has grown rather long and complicated, I've broken it up into logical sections, divided by turn.

2626 - 2632 | 2632 - 2643 | 2643 - 2646 | 2646 - 2647 | 2647 - 2651 | 2651 - 2655

2626 - 2632
On the 12th day of the 1st month of turn 2626, a Fort Weyr bluerider by the name of Lyndie gave birth to her first child - a daughter, shortly thereafter named Lydiere for her mother and her father, a bronzerider named M'deire. Her parents weren't weyrmated -- indeed, she was conceived thanks to some drunken revelries, and nothing more, and though M'deire proved to all but forget his progeny, Lyndie was a devoted mother, soon thereafter aided by a man Lydiere would think of as her pseudo-father, a bronzerider by the name of A'dien. Having fallen for A'dien, Lyndie clung to him, and though he was her best friend, she desperately wanted more. When, for family reasons, he transfered to Telgar Weyr, about two turns after Lydiere's birth, Lyndie followed, dragging Lydiere with her.

Most notably about this move was that it came in the months of her second pregnancy that she was allowed to between: Lyndie was expecting the flight-child of a High Reaches greenrider, though when she gave birth, three months later, it proved to be not one child, but two. With three children beneath the age of three, it seemed a hopeless plight to convince A'dien that he loved her, but between his affection for Lydiere, and Lyndie's obstinance, it came to pass nonetheless, and theirs became a remarkably full weyr.

It took another four turns before Lyndie managed to conceive again, desperate to bear the child of the man she claimed she loved (though, indeed, A'dien seemed less of a true-love than a true friend who was happy enough to live with a pretty woman, even with all the children to go with it) though she was. It was a difficult pregnancy, and so it was with much inner turmoil that Lyndie made the decision to foster Lydiere, with the twins to follow in a turn or two -- she considered them to be too young. She found a young married couple at Tillek Hold whom she quite liked, and so Lydiere was left in their care, a joyful moppet with dark hair and fair skin who took an instant liking to her foster parents, and new home.

2632 - 2643
Lydiere's foster-father, Marshel, was a Sailor -- and she instantly took a liking to his craft, his boat, his life. For the following six turns, she followed him around as much as she possibly could, and he put up with her with a winning smile, while his wife, Saysa, watched on in amusement. The twins, Aidien and Lyeine, never joined her at the Hold, and nor did any of the four children that followed - Laynid, Ailyne, Dieren and Dynil - for her mother lost her nerve, and couldn't bear the thought of losing another child to someone else's love.

Lyndie visited Tillek when she had the chance, but more often, the family member that Lydiere saw was her Aunt, Mairean, who was a Harper in the Fort Area, and visited as her health permitted (she had an old injury which made it difficult). But most of all, it was the sea that was Lydiere's companion, and it became obvious not only to Marshel and Saysa, but to everyone else who knew her around the hold, that the sea was where she would end up.

At the age of twelve, Lydiere officially began her apprenticeship, though the past six turns had ensured that she knew many of the basics already. Nonetheless, there was still a great deal to learn, and Lydiere took it in as best she could, loving every - well, most - moment of it. When Lyndie arrived, intending to take her back to the Weyr when she was fourteen, and old enough for Search, she resisted, refusing to go -- and earned her mother's annoyance, which separated the two for many turns.

A turn later, Lydiere made Senior Apprentice, and picked the subcraft of Sailing, for she loved most, of all things in the craft, the wind in her hair, and the sun on her back. She spent a summer working as a junior seaman on one of the ships -- and met, for the first time, a young Journeyman by the name of Keivare, who caught her eye immediately.

2643 - 2646
On the night of her seventeenth turnday, Lydiere found herself in a situation where she could finally admit to her crush on Keivare -- and though both were far too drunk for their own good, he admitted to reciprocating it, and they shared a night of passion, their first, out amid the stars. Though there were hangovers, and much embarrassment, the following morning, the relationship persevered, until Lydiere discovered that she was pregnant, less than a month later.

She continued with her duties and studies as long as she could, which was long enough since it was an easy pregnancy, and then secluded herself with her foster-mother, awaiting the time when she would give birth - and find out whether she would be able to continue in the craft or not. Keivare immediately offered to marry her, but she refused; she was still young, she pointed out, she didn't think it was shameful to be a mother, and not married. Her son, Keidire, was born on the 17th day of the 10th month of turn 2643, nine months and nearly one week after her seventeenth turnday.

Again, Keivare's offers of marriage were turned down, for Lydiere's mind was elsewhere -- and she was determined not to be the wife and mother at home. She was given her Journeyman's knot only days after giving birth, and the ship that she had worked hard on before her pregnancy was presented to her as partially a gift, and partially something she would have to work off in the turns to come. With the open seas wide and waiting, she took off, a much beloved son and lover beside her.

For two turns they continued like this, and a little more than that, until Keivare finally wore her down to an agreement over their relationship, and a promise to marry him. She took one last trip, without either man in her life, before she would plan the marriage - and it was when she arrived at Ierne Weyrhold, and finally sat down to think, that she realised she couldn't do it. She was still barely twenty, her ship not yet paid off, and she wanted more. So she returned to Tillek, but only to pick up her son, and say goodbye to the man who had been her lover for more than three turns, and took a posting at Ierne, where she intended to stay for the rest of her life.

2646 - 2647
Much as Lydiere doted upon her son, she knew that there was no way she could care for him properly, and look after her ship, her crew, and her posting as well. In the end, she fostered him to a young Ierne woman, who promised to care for him faithfully, though Lydiere visited frequently, ensuring that he would never forget who she was. In the end, though, they spent only a turn at Ierne together; Lydiere was still twenty-one turns old, when a group of search dragons came from Ista Weyr, and R'mar's blue Navoth selected Lydiere from a crowd of young people, as someone suitable for search.

Search had been the last thing on Lydiere's mind since she refused to return to Telgar with her mother, seven turns before. Nonetheless, for reasons even she wasn't entirely sure of, she accepted the invitation, and made arrangements for Keidire and her crew, along with his foster mother who was sweet on her first mate, to sail to Ista in time for the hatching - so that when she failed to Impress, that is, if she did, they would be there to take her home again.

She found candidacy a little difficult, finding herself the oldest candidate, and the one with the most life experience -- it wasn't every day that you had a candidate with a toddler, a ship of her own, a whole life set out and ready to be lived. She was far less concerned with the hatching than most of her fellow candidates, figuring that if she Impressed, she would, and otherwise, it was back to the Sea - and she knew which she thought suited her more.

To her surprise, however, when Ysmalath and Zippith's eggs hatched, on the 17th day of the 10th month of turn 2647, Keidire's fourth turnday, a pale gold hatchling - Ista's newest Queen - approached her, declaring herself to be Llysereth, and Lydiere's own.

2647 - 2651
Weyrlinghood was, in a word, difficult. Lydiere was suddenly the lowest of the low, worse even than an apprentice, after being captain of her own ship, master of her own life. She couldn't see Keidire very often, and Llysereth-- well, much as she adored Llysereth, with all of her heart and soul, the queen was both innocent and naive, not at all suited for the worldly wise, somewhat coarse Lydiere. She chafed at the restrictions, she chafed at Llysereth's sensibilities - and perhaps, most of all, she chafed at the idea that she was going to be a Weyrwoman, the last thing she could ever have wanted.

Nonetheless, she had close friends about the weyr, including fellow weyrlings like W'yn, Ly'ette, J'ey and M'kan, and, as time went on, she found companionship in people like the Weyrleader, R'yn, though his flirting made her laugh. When she graduated, it was both a relief and a terror, as she found herself thrust into a world of administration and paperwork. She found she had a natural affinity for it, and worked with diligence and ease, but she hated it.

Keidire's foster-mother ended up marrying her second in command - now Captain of the Dolphin's Cry, her ship, which had finally been paid off in full. Lydiere retained ownership of it, and profited from it's voyages. Meanwhile, she attempted to rebuild her life, though dealing with Llysereth meant that any attempts at a sexual life were thwarted almost immediately.

It was almost a relief, then, when Llysereth rose for the first time, and Lydiere found herself with clutchmate W'yn, after his Zymanth caught the queen. All was not well within that, though, for Llysereth proved to be an unhappy mother, trapped on the sands all day long with Lydiere chafing at the restrictions alongside of her. Still, the clutch was a good one, and when it finally hatched, Lydiere met it with relief.

2651 - 2655
Llysereth's second flight, a turn later, was won by a bronze hatched from the first clutch - Ahreluth, ridden by G'wain. Lydiere immediately felt a kinship with the young man, though he was eight turns younger than she, and, as they sat on the sands together, waiting for the eggs to hatch, their friendship turned into a relationship, slowly but surely. Shortly after the eggs hatched, Lydiere finally invited the bronzerider to move in with her, and so, quite without ceremony, they became weyrmates.

Though Lydiere firmly proclaimed herself to be in love with the bronzerider, all was not smooth-sailing. When Llysereth rose for her third flight, and was caught by brown Xendrenth of Eastern, G'wain's reaction was to try and beat up the brownrider, L'rien, and when that failed, he went and hid in the forest for several days. It took some time before things went back to normal after that, and Lydiere dreaded Llysereth's next flight, for she was happy with G'wain, and didn't want things to go like that.

Throughou the following turn, they began to try for a child, but somehow, Lydiere just wasn't conceiving -- hadn't managed to since Keidire. It was to her great sorrow that she finally discovered herself to be pregnant after yet another rupture in their relationship, after Ahreluth caught a green, and G'wain decided that he was in love with the greenrider, Lydiere's own clutchmate, J'ey. Yet again, the relationship was turned around, and set back upon the right track, though not without hesitation on both sides.

It seemed as though everything was going wrong: W'yn and Ly'ette had broken up, and since W'yn was her best friend, even above G'wain, Lydiere found herself drawn in to that, though at the same time she was undergoing a very difficult pregnancy, herself, and one that left her quite ill throughout the entire nine months. Even the birth was difficult, unlike Keidire's easy one, when, on the 9th day of the 10th month of turn 2643, after twenty-four hours of labour, she gave birth to her daughter, Llysah - named for Llysereth and Ahreluth.

Llysereth's fourth flight had been won by Ahreluth, during the pregnancy, but her fifth was won by Craforth, a brown hatched in Llysereth ahd Ahreluth's first clutch together. To Lydiere's relief, there was no immediate fallout between herself and G'wain thanks to his loss of the flight - she assumed, rightly or wrongly, that he had grown up, or perhaps just gotten used to the way things were. Unfortunately, as the months brought her twenty-ninth turnday closer, she began to feel more and more dissatisfied. Perhaps it was just that the early blindness of love had worn off, but more likely it was simply that they were both so busy, and not managing to make an effort, and Lydiere, who felt it keenly, finally realised that she had no choice, and requested that G'wain move out - temporarily, she insisted, though that was never so sure.

W'yn, after almost a whole turn away on Weyr business with the holds, returned at around this point, and Lydiere took much comfort in his companionship, and came through a rather bleak time far quicker than she might have, had he not been there to support her. At the same time, she had a growing friendship with Ez'ial, a young rider from one of Ysmalath's clutches, which came closer when his Petryth caught Llysereth in her sixth flight. Only months later, catastrophe struck Ista, a tropical storm of force greater than any in living memory tearing through the weyr, and forcing all of its residents to evacuate to Igen Hold. The cleanup process took months, and relations with some of the Holds, it seemed, were irrevocably damaged.

2655 - Onwards
Towards the end of Turn 2655, as the cleanup process drew to its close, Lymera, Lydiere's Weyrwoman of the past nearly eight turns, retired quite suddenly to become a gardener. As the most senior of Juniors - Jessamy's Vaerlanth hadn't even risen for the first time, yet - it fell to Lydiere to take up the mantle; for not the first time in her life, she declared herself overwhelmed, though in truth it was more in her head than in her actions and ability. Llysereth, though not due for some time, rose almost immediately, and for the first time ever was caught by the same dragon consecutively, making seventeen-turn-old Ez'ial Weyrleader to Lydiere's Weyrwoman.

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