Persona Profile: Benna
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyrhold
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Elsewhere on Pern
NPC Weyr (NPC)
River Bluff Weyr
Seacraft Hall
Writer: AmajoS
Name: Benna
Age: 23
Birthday: m4 d6
Rank: Wingrider, Cobalt Wing
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Face Claim: Alyson Hannigan
Physical Description of Persona:
Coppery red hair and a riot of freckles are always the first things noticed by anyone seeing Benna for the first time. Her hair isn't long, only about shoulder length, because it is quite curly and letting it grow too long is a bad idea. Her face is square-shaped, with high cheekbones, a wide forehead and a firm jaw. Her nose is long and her lips rather narrow. She is quite tall and sturdy and the strength of her body and calluses on her hands prove she is used to hard work.
She isn't exactly a pretty girl, but the force of her personality often makes one forget that.
Emotional Description of Persona:
The youngest child of ten, and the only girl in a family of large boys, Benna could easily have been either pampered or cowed. She is neither. She learned how to hold her own against her brothers growing up and disdained all efforts to pamper her. She enjoyed romping with her brothers, not being gifted to frilly things and coddled.
Her temper matches her hair and she will fly off at the least little thing. However, it is also quite short-lived and she's never held a grudge in her life. She is quite fearless, often allowing her brothers to goad her into reckless behavior and dangerous dares. Her parents tried to tame this tendency, but with little luck. Of course, she paid her brothers back often enough, leading them into getting into just as much trouble many times.
She was practically illiterate when she was brought to the Weyr and didn't really care about it. When the Harper's rounds brought him to her family's cothold, she was always a less than enthusiastic student, enjoying being outside playing and working than inside studying. However, over the turns since she was Searched and, later, became Henerath's rider, necessity had forced her to learn to read and write enough to get by. Once she learned to read, she discovered it could be quite enjoyable, depending on the subject matter and she actually enjoys reading aloud to her dragon.
History of Persona:
The cothold, which was beholden to Garnet Valley, where Benna's family lived had been held by her family for generations. Once, the family included many uncles and aunts and their offspring and the cothold was quite large, nearly the size of a small holding - all worked by one family. However, when the plague swept the land, most of the branches of the family died off. Of those that survived, only Benna's father remains, accident and injury claiming the rest.
Though he never went for formal craft training, Benna's father was quite gifted and when the cothold came into his sole control, he vowed to make it work. He hired help from the holdless during peak times, such as planting and harvest, until his sons were old enough to take on the work.
His wife bore him nine strapping boys raised to be dedicated to the wheat and corn that their cothold produced, and one troublesome girl.
Oh, he loved his daughter to distraction, as did her mother and brothers. But she didn't act like a girl should. Instead of helping her mother in the kitchen or with the sewing, she'd often as not be found with her brothers tending the fields. The boys didn't even try to dissuade her, thinking it funny when their parents got flustered.
As Benna grew up, her father tried to find a suitable match for her. He didn't want to marry her off to someone she wouldn't like or someone too old for her or someone unkind. He loved his daughter. Unfortunately, everyone that was brought around to meet the girl wound up running the other direction when confronted with her unladylike ways. The few that didn't weren't the sort he'd be willing to set his only daughter with.
He began despairing that his daughter would ever find her proper place in the world. Then she was Searched. At first, he was upset, but then his wife pointed out that the only way Benna would settle down in life would either be to be faced with a challenge that pushed her has hard as she pushed or to be broken completely. He didn't want his daughter broken, so he allowed her to go with the dragonrider. He hoped that the Weyr would provide enough of a challenge for his little girl and that she would be strong enough to not let it go to her head. He loved his daughter, after all.
Henerath was instrumental in her rider learning how to read, demanding to hear whatever practice reading Benna was given read aloud for her own enjoyment. The dragon did not laugh at her when she stumbled through words, and, of course the constant practice improved her ability steadily. Her writing remains barely legible, however.
After the disaster at River Bluff Weyr, Benna and Henerath moved to Dragonsfall Weyr with a number of the survivors of River Bluff. Neither she nor her dragon were injured in the disaster, as they had been at her family's cothold, visiting at the time the earthquake happened. There was very little structural damage there, thankfully. She is still settling in at her new Weyr.
Dragon's Name: Henerath
Dragon's Age: 7
Dragon's Colour: Green
Description of Dragon:
Description: Henerath is a dainty little green whose hide is the color of spring grass. Her wing sails are an even paler green hue. She is quite lively and sometimes overly excitable. Her curiosity is seemingly boundless and her favorite pass-time is asking questions. She also enjoys when her rider reads to her, though she often interrupts whatever is being read to ask yet more questions.
Approved: August 1st 2007
Last updated: March 15th 2019