The weyr before you is quiet. The dragon chamber is the normal size, not very big, and not very small. A brown dragon lifts his head, watching you for a moment with whirling eyes. He then stands up and shakes out his wings, crooning at you softly from the stone, dragon couch.

You smile at the brown and walk furthur into the weyr as he nudges you that way. The small living chamber is simply decorated. A small tapestry of three green firelizards flying around a small brown dragon sits on the wall, and you guess it must be the dragon you saw outside. You turn your eyes from the tapestry and blink in surprise. The occupant of the weyr is home... err... rather asleep at home. A green firelizard sits next to the form that is wrapped up in the sleeping furs. You take a step closer and another green firelizard jumps into the air from the other side of the rider. The green dives at you, chittering wildly as you back up and try to swing at it.

"Zu! Leave that poor person alone!" Your eyes widen in surprise at the sound of a feminine voice in a brown's weyr. In your surprise, you almost miss ducking away from the flitter, who takes one final fly-by at you before coming to rest on the shoulder of a young woman. She yawns, wiping the sleep from her eyes and seeming not to mind your presence. She's still dressed, and her clothes are rumpled and her face is covered with a layer of dust.

"You'll have to..." She yawns again. "Pardon my appearance for a moment. I was cleaning up and dozed off. Give me a minute, I'll be right back and look a bit more respectable." She grins at you, apparently shaking off the last remnants of sleep as she wanders over to the tiny bathing room. You, however, are still pondering the idea of a female brownrider. Didn't only men Impress browns? Then again, they say the dragon always knows. "What is your name?" Her voice calls from the bathing room, and you answer quickly. "That's a nice name. Are you a visitor to the Weyr?" You reply an affirmative, and seconds later she walks out.

You can now get a good look at the young woman. She looks like she is well into her sixteenth Turn or so, but she is rather small and petite looking to be a dragonrider. Her blonde hair, darker from being wet, is pulled back behind her head with a small, well-worn piece of hide, while drying pieces fly out from the band. Her tan eyes are now regarding your curiously, most likely seeing you clearly for the first time since truly waking. She's dressed simply, in the normal dragonrider uniform, with her loose tunic looking less wrinkled. She has brown shoulder knots, enforcing the fact that she is a brownrider.

"My name is Illaea, Wingleader Illaea." An odd look must have crossed your face at that reminder and she laughs, grinning at you as she walks to the other side of the small living chamber. "The dragon on the ledge is Pantath, I Impressed him at Karath Weyr. You can believe my surprise at seeing a young brown come up and declare me at his. And to think I had been looking at greens for the past Turn when I should have opened my eyes a bit more." She returns, the grin still on her face as she offers you a cup of something warm. You take a sip and raise an eyebrow at the taste. "It's cider, made out of redfruit. A lot of the riders prefer klah or such, but this has a snappier taste in my opinion." She smiles again, wandering over and taking a seat on her bed, her legs crossed in front of her.

"I guess I should tell you a bit of how Illaea, first female brownrider of Asura, came to be." She smiles ruefully, taking another sip of her drink. "Well, my father was a Watch-rider at Asura Hold. His name is I'lan, a brownrider here at the Weyr. My mother was a Journeywoman Dolphineer named Cealla. My father was taken off Watch-rider duty a few Turns later, and he returned to the Weyr with me. He raised me himself, actually. His brown can't fly very well, a wing injury a long time ago, so he came back to help out in the Infirmary."

"A little longer than a Turn ago, I applied for Candidacy at the age of fifteen. I didn't have any luck for a long time, even stood as a queen Candidate for a while before getting sick of it. I went up as a Candidate for Karath and... what do ya know? The newest brownrider of Asura is a female." She grins, reaching out a hand to pet yet another green firelizard. The green eyes you for a moment then stands up on the sleeping furs, nuzzling into Illaea's hand. "I've got three of these lil' girls. This one is Riatta, the one that... attacked you," she grins, "is Zu. The little one, who's pro'ly around here sleeping, is Ali." She ruffles through the furs and a tiny squeak is heard.

"So now here I am. Putting up with these three", she jerks a finger around to mean the firelizards, "taking care of my dearheart Pantath, keeping this dratted weyr clean, and fending of the other dragonriders in my spare time." She grins, taking another gulp of her drink before setting it down on the stone floor and explaining. "Mainly their complaints about my weyr. They can't seem to understand I've got more important things to do than clean. That's what I was doing, well... before I drifted off that is. I think I did a pretty good job. Unfortunately, two days from now I'll be doing it all over again." She grins again, her tan eyes sparkling.

Almost immediately after she finishes talking, her head snaps up and towards the dragon chamber. "Again? I've got it clean, though!" She frowned, then turned back to you. When she saw the stunned look on your face she grinned. "Oh... umm... sorry 'bout that. Pantath just informed me that L'rari's coming up for an inspection of my weyr... for the third time in two sevendays! You'd think he'd put a little faith in his Wingleaders." She fakes a sigh then grins at you. "That means you better go. He'll think I've been talking to you all day instead of cleaning. It was nice to meet you though." She walks you to the entrance of the dragon chamber rather quickly.

"Visitors, Illaea?" Both you and her spin around to see L'rari leaning against his bronze, who had landed on the ledge only a few moments ago.
"Visitors? Nope! Just a nice lil' chat here with a friend of mine." She gives you a push off, winking and giving you a smile. As she turns back to L'rari, you try not to laugh when she starts to talk. "Weyrleader! You have so little faith! Did you think that I'd ramble to a visitor while there was my weyr to be cleaned? Honestly..." You walk away shaking your head and you soon find yourself mimicing the brownrider's grin.

 

Find out more about Illaea by seeing her charts and reading about her Impression.

 

Illaea Impressed Pantath at Karath Weyr.

Illaea Impressed Ali and Zu here.
Illaea Impressed Riatta here.

Back to the Asura Weyr Bowl.