Flight name : Ara
Nicknames : Ara, Ella
Age : 22 turns
Birthdate: 3rd of the 9th month, Turn 175
Sex : Female
Impressed : Gold Corlanth
Rank : Junior Weyrwoman
Location : Barrier Weyr
Play-by: Leila Bekhti
Appearance
Arella stands at 5'4", so she's not precisely tall, but she stands like someone who is. She is of a middling build and a healthy weight, and her body falls into the range of "reasonably attractive by most standards", though she's not a jaw-dropping sort of beauty. She has dark hair and equally dark eyes, though they are bright and lively. Her skin is a warm, light brown and she is no stranger to long periods of sunlight. Arella has lived in Igen all her life and as such she's used to the kinds of clothing worn there, from a snood to keep her hair in check (she has several pretty ones she likes) to the big, broad sun-warding hat that her father bought her as a parting gift. Barrier's climate, however, will probably result in a few wardrobe changes to adjust. However, whatever Arella finds will probably be colorful. Igen fashion favors the bright, and Arella has a good sense for it.
Personality
Arella is noisy, bold, and tough. That's not to say that she is nasty or dismissive of others, it's just that she is vocal about her opinions, likes to argue, and doesn't seem capable of being afraid of anything. In reality she's quite reasonably afraid of things that worry most people, it's just that she is too stubborn to show that to anyone most of the time. She also tends to forget about or fail to imagine what could possibly go wrong before diving into a course of action. She's fearless because it just honestly has not occurred to her that there's something to fear yet.
Because of her upbringing, Arella is a shrewd trader. This is not just in goods, like her parents were, but also in general day-to-day dealings. She's not exactly a good manipulator, but Arella drives a hard bargain and knows a few good merchant's tricks she learned from her parents to make an offer sound a bit better than it might actually be. Arella haggles as easily as she breathes, though she is not always successful in getting her way.
As the oldest child, Arella got the brunt of her parents' hopes and dreams laid on her shoulders, so she is used to responsibility. Until her little brother was born, she was also sort of a pseudo-son to her father and got a good start in what would have been her trade. She used to boss her little siblings around a lot under the insistence that she was "helping" them to not do wrong things. This tendency to be a bit too rulebound and self-righteous has stuck with her into her young adulthood. These early experiences also gave her confidence. Her family believed in her, so Arella learned to believe in herself as well.
As for Weyr life, Arella did not originally take to it. However, over time she's gotten better accustomed to dragonriders and ultimately come to really like her ability to get by on her own merits as a thinking person than just as a reasonably good-looking young woman. As a junior weyrwoman she learned to curry favors and delegate tasks in order to prevent herself from being overwhelmed, having had little experience with any sort of large group work prior to Corlanth's hatching. In particular, she is good at ensuring everything she's been assigned to look after is operating to specifications and as efficiently as possible, and is a natural for dealing with supply lists, numbers, and finance. (All her experience with her parents' business is a lot of help.)
That's not to say that she's happy to be cooped up working over figures all day, however. Arella is an active young woman and needs to move about. She's friendly, laughs easily, and wades into conversations without hesitation. Her general forcefulness can be pretty off-putting, honestly, and her stubbornness and independence need checking. She was selected with the hope that her energy and courage would contribute to a solid, independent backbone for Barrier, but also with the hope that the experience would let her burn off some excess energy and become a mellower, more stable person and a better queenrider for it.
Kin
Father: Arenon (Trader, Igen Hold) (43 turns)
Mother: Riselle (Trader, Igen Hold) (41 turns)
Sisters: Rinona (19 turns), Arisel (18 turns), Relana (15 turns)
Brother: Rellanon (11 turns)
History
Arella was the daughter of traders who were the children of traders who were the children of traders (and so on and so forth for several generations) at Igen Hold. She grew up in hot, dry weather and spent a great deal of time outside with her family, peddling to travelers and traders. She was a bright-eyed, assertive, inquisitive child and grew into a bold teen. She was Searched when she was twenty years old in Turn 196, during a long bout of haggling with a greenrider over the cost of a bat of particularly good cloth. Arella's family was not too happy about letting her go, but she managed to assure them that it would be fine. She was curious!
Life at Igen Weyr was odd for Arella and she came to resent the loss of her little family unit, as well as her sense of being her own individual as opposed to one of a ton of candidates. Her opinionated, bullheaded nature led her into pointless rivalries and squabbles with other candidates that did not like to be bossed around by some know-nothing merchant kid. She nursed several grudges and rivalries, but she also made a few friends.
Arella did not expect to Impress a gold dragon. In fact, she was not really expecting to Impress at all, and had plans to go back home and reclaim her spot at her parents' stall before one of her siblings could horn in on it. Corlanth, however, had other plans and chose Arella to be her rider.
The two years since Corlanth's hatching have been a frantic, confusing, exciting time for Arella. Despite all her posturing and stubbornness, being suddenly flung up to the top echelon of managing a Weyr is totally crazy for her. She's done pretty well for her lack of knowing anything quite like this, though she doesn't give herself quite enough credit. The selection to be sent to Barrier surprised her and she's a little worried, but at the same time she can't help but see this as a brave new opportunity for herself and Corlanth and a chance to prove herself out from under the thumb of Igen's senior. Of course, she's under someone else's thumb now, some lady from Southern that she doesn't know yet, but this one's apparently not much older so she can't be too domineering, right?