"You are my child. It's not your job to save me. I'm supposed to be saving you."
TW: Abuse, Bullying
BASICS
RETIRE INFO: Retire
NAME: Relli
GENDER: Female
PRONOUNS: She/her/hers
ORIENTATION: Not really interested anymore.
BIRTHDATE: Early Spring, 2730
AGE: 40 as of Spring, 2770
LOCATION: Fort Weyr
OCCUPATION: Wherhandler, (step)-mother
WING: Dawn Squad
APPEARANCE
EYES: Brown
HAIR: Brown
HEIGHT AND BUILD: 5'1, sturdy
PLAY-BY: Sarah MacLachlan
FULL APPEARANCE: Relli is a gentle looking woman, with the marks of hard living upon her. Her skin has wrinkles and signs of sun-damage and her hands are calloused. She wears and dresses her children largely in home-made clothes that she sewed herself (although as they only brought the clothes they were wearing on their flight, most of their new outfits are put together from weyr hand-me-downs, mainly Essa and G'er's). They're not made particularly WELL as Relli has never had overly much talent for sewing and wasn't working with great material to begin with...but she tries. Her clothes are much patched and well-worn, but she doesn't seem overly self-conscious about them. She tries to avoid meeting strangers eyes and has a somewhat submissive demeanor.
PERSONALITY
PERSONALITY: Relli is not a woman of grand ambitions. All she's ever wanted was to live a decent life, with a family she loved, in a warm and happy home. She didn't get it. Her husband was cruel, her farm destitute and she found herself going into exile following a particularly nasty fight. She's a bit beaten down by it all, preferring to follow orders and not make waves. She still tries to smooth over conflicts, as the habits of fifteen turns of marriage are not easy to break, and will try to keep her children and step-children from making a spectacle of themselves or causing problems for the rest of the weyr.
Relli is at heart kind, diligent and down-to-earth. She doesn't want to conquer Pern. Just live a good life and make it better for others. She has a strong mothering side that comes out when she feels comfortable and she spends a lot of timing worrying over her large brood and trying to keep them safe and happy. Her temper isn't unleashed often, but when the situation calls for it, she can act quickly and decisively, her instincts less cautious than her learned behavior.
HISTORY
FAMILY:
Mother: Tenelli
Father: Rellon
Fourth of six siblings:
Tenellon (M, +7, living)
Renelli (F, +5, living)
Riri (F, +3, deceased in infancy)
Renellon (M, -2, living)
Telloni (F, -5, deceased in plague)
Stepchildren:
Esgar (M, -5), holder, married, 8 children (6 living)
Malor (M, -8), holder, married, no children (infertile)
Geralia (F, -10), holder, married, 4 children
Norla (F, -12), holder, married, 2 children
Essa of Bronze Gectusith
G'er of Garnet Neozeoth
Children:
Rellor (M, -23), Apprentice Harper at Harper Hall
Norelli (F, -26), Apprentice Harper at High Reaches Weyr
Geroni (aka Roni) ,(M, -28), weyrbrat at Fort Weyr
Gerelnor (aka Little Gerry) ,(M, -30), weyrbrat at Fort Weyr
Geronorel (aka Onorel), (F, -32), weyrbrat at Fort Weyr
SIGNIFICANT OTHER: Former Husband: Geronor
BIRTHPLACE: One of Fort's satellite holds
HISTORY:
Relli was born a farmer's daughter, in one of Fort's outlying satellite holds. She was the fourth of six children, two of whom died young. Her family mourned, but accepted it as the usual course of life. Many families lost a child or two to famine or sickness. It wasn't the sort of thing one derailed a life over.
She was a dutiful daughter, who did her jobs well, but not exceptionally, and was pretty enough, but no great beauty. It took her several turns longer than it had taken her older sister to secure a marriage proposal. Said proposal came from an established widower many turns her senior, with six children already from a previous marriage. His last wife had died in childbirth and he needed a new mother for his children and a woman to help run the farm. She accepted.
Relli and Geronor's marriage was never a love-match. It was a relationship built on practicality on both sides. Relli got a husband with an established and prosperous farm, older children to assist her in chores and child-rearing and a comfortable life where she would never need worry about providing for herself. Geronor got a moderately-attractive young wife who could bear him further heirs, keep his house and raise his already-born children.
Geronor's two oldest sons were too old to need mothering, so she fell into the role of an older sister, teasing and affectionate, helping them woo their future wives when the time came. The five younger children she raised as if they were her own, treating them no differently from her own babies. She never came to love Geronor, who was rigid, demanding, hot-tempered and treated her more like a servant than a wife, but she loved his children, all of his children. And she knew her place. So she did her duty and tried her best to please him.
His oldest four children adapted easily to life at the farming hold, accepting their roles without question, as did Geromal, the pampered baby. The only mild rebellion came from Relli's youngest step-daughter, Essanora, who wanted to be a beastcrafter. But she seemed to outgrow it and got betrothed to a nice young man and all seemed well.
And then Essanora ran away, to parts unknown, and the family fell into debt repaying her betrothed's family for the expensive runner Essanora had stolen. The family was now the subject of gossip, even as they tightened their belts, sold off their valuable possessions and hunkered down to survive. Relli stoically did her part, never complaining, biting her lip when her husband denounced his lost daughter in increasingly vehement and venomous terms, and spending as much time as she could on sewing things they might sell to keep their little farm afloat.
Her oldest stepson and his family left them behind, followed by Relli's two older stepdaughters. It hurt and Relli missed them, especially when they refused to answer her letters. But she understood. They were moving on from the scandal and surviving the best they could in their own way. She wished them all the best, as she tried to keep the rest of her family from drowning.
It seemed an answer to their prayers when Geromal was Searched and Relli and Geronor sent him off with their blessings. They put on their best (although still-ragged) clothes to attend the Hatching Feast and watched as Geromal Impressed a bright red dragon called Neozeoth. Geromal was furious. He considered it unmanly for his son to ride a female dragon, especially one that might someday clutch. Despite Relli's urging him to restrain his temper and assuring him that to Impress any dragon was an honor, he disowned G'er at the Hatching Feast. To Relli's relief, their lost child Essanora had found her own way to the weyr at some point and would be around to take care of Geromal now that he was alone.
The family went home. Few people knew much about garnets and the family kept Essa's fate to themselves, so at first they were met with congratulations, tinged with just a touch of wariness. But Geronor did not keep his hostility to himself and soon a good chunk of the hold joined him in his disapproval. If even the own boy's father was displeased, surely there was something not right about that dragon. Some of the hold retained their respect for any rider, but there were enough jeers to upset Relli's younger children.
And then G'er came back to visit. Relli was glad to see him again and that he was doing so well...but when his father found him, Geronor started to shake the boy and hurl insults at him. So Relli hit him with a frying pan on impulse. Surprised at her own action and frightened of reprisal, she took her children and fled the hold for the weyr with Essa and G'er.
Her younger children didn't fully understand why they'd left. Gerelnor missed his dad and snuck out one night, while everyone else was asleep. When she woke up to find him gone, Relli frantically searched the weyrbowl. Used to being on her own except for his husband, she didn't think to rouse her rider stepchildren or go to the whers for help. She searched alone, growing more and more frantic. Until she found him, riding sleepily on the back of a brightly colored wher.
She took her son down and thanked the wher profusely, giving her a gentle hug when she seemed tame. And the wher bit her, for some unfathomable reason, stole her name and decided to follow her. Relli's still a bit baffled by that last part.
