Bright red hair curls in tiny circlets around this seemingly 17-turn-old girls face, one bit of it always managing to wiggle its way free of whatever creative braid Mae has gotten her masses into. Beneath thin brows, her father's soft grey eyes twinkle while her petite button nose is dotted with freckles that sprinkle her face and shoulders. Her form is strong and sturdy; long legs carry her with uncommon grace and agility, while slender fingers always seem to be up to something. Her womanly curves accent nicely in all the right places, but Maelin pays no mind, being hot-tempered to match the flames of her hair.



Well, now that you know what she looks like, here's who she is:

She was born in Bitra and stolen from her parents at a little under one-turn-old. Morchen, the man who stole her, had a grand plan of using this cherub little darling redhead to further his wealth. He trained her up as a thief, told her he was her father, and that her mother was dead. Starting at a very young age, she began to play the game of stealing. Playing orphan, or lost, so that people would take her in, care for her while she looted their homes. Morchen would dirty her up, give her tattered clothing, and occasionally, he would hit her, just to make her seem all that much more pitiful. And in the beginning Mae just thought is was a grand ol' game. She would play, he would profit. This was a game, the stealing. She grew up thinking that it was all normal, that some people are there to steal, and others are there to be stolen from and it's just a fact of life. Morchen told her that some people actually expect it.

When she was about nine-turns-old though, she got curious, began to notice how none of the other children did what she did, and when she talked about it they said it was bad. She almost got herself and her father caught with her questions one time. And when she asked Morchen, he blew her off, told her not to be so curious, then threatened a beating when she persisted. So she stopped asking him and began to ask other people, people she wasn't stealing from, people she met in the streets, on the roads, people in the stores, "What would you do if I just took this?" And she was very confused by the answers she got. Not what Morchen had always told her, not at all. She started sneaking off to holds to watch how people really were. Sometimes she was gone for days. But Morchen didn't really care about these excursions, he just thought she was out thieving for herself. She always brought him back a nice little sack of things, trinkets, precious jewelry worth a few marks. But the more she watched and the more she talked to people, the more she saw it wasn't a game, but something very, very bad.

She was smart for her age, now ten-turns-old, and she began to watch Morchen, following him when he went into the holds. And she soon found out how he had lied to her all these years. One night she followed him to a bar, and he got more than a little drunk, found a fellow thief and told this man all about how he had this child, how wonderful a thief she was, and how easy it was to trick her... After all, he's "daddy". They laughed and laughed. He told the man all about how she had no idea that what she brought to him was worth so much. That he skimped on her... One, so he wouldn't have to spend too much on her, and two, so that she would think she had to keep stealing to feed the family. He also told his new buddy how he had stopped thieving when she was about five, that the bounty she brought in was good enough to keep him happy forever. He figured that if he was never seen with her and if she ever got caught... Well then... /He/ certainly wouln't know her, he doesn't have any chirldren. They laughed some more, but Mae didn't want to hear the rest, she stormed off to wait at the camp and confront him. When that confrontation happened, Morchen drunk and Maelin a strong girl for a mere twelve, all hell broke loose. But even still Morchen is a big man and he won out, beating her to within an inch of her life. Even then he made her crawl to the hold for help, still not wanting to be seen with her.

Maelin spent three months in that holds infirmary. Fevered, broken bones, bruises all over her body. She hurt mentally too. For it was the first time he had really beaten her. Before it was always to make her look like she had been attacked, and thus people would pitty her and take her in more easily. But with this, he had almost killed her. In her naivety she believed that he would see what they were doing was wrong if she had only been able to explain it better, that he would see and they would be better. They would settle down to one place and be happy. She was a mess--torn between the love of her father and the hate of the man she now saw. When she was on her way to recovery, she confessed to one of the healers, told him everything, her whole life and what had happened. But the healer didn't believe her, told her that if she was going to make up stories she wasn't welcome in his infirmary. Looking her over he agreed she probably was a thief and that it was a shame the people who beat her up for stealing from them hadn't taught her a lesson. He told her that when she was well enough she had better leave and never come back. And thats exactly what she did.

With no where else to go, and feeling like no-one would believe her, she went crawling back to Morchen. He apologized, told her he was so sorry, that he didn't know what happened to him, and that it would never happen again. And she believed him. He was her father, she loved him. She went back to stealing; hopeless, broken, thinking she was too far into the game to get out now, that no one would believe her story. But, she began doing things to thwart Morchen's efforts. She would bring him things that weren't worth a mark, damaged goods, silly things that were pretty but worthless. And sometimes Morchen wouldn't notice, but others, he would, and he would beat her for it. And when she didn't bring back anything at all, that was the worst. But it was never as severe as the first time. The pitiful look didn't work as well anymore.

Their path was intricate, they seldom passed through the same holding twice, venturing out to the very remote, single family holdings. The bigger holds they would simply get lost in, taking things here and there, and then be out before anybody noticed they were gone.

Then, Morchen got this brillant idea to go to a Major Hold. Sack the place and be gone like they did in the Minor holds. An odd choice for him, for he had always kept Mae away from Major Holds, afraid that she would be taken. But greed clouded him. He dismissed that fear with the knowing thought that Maelin wasn't even worth that much, she would never be appealing to a Holder. But just in case, he would make her ugly when she went (which she refused to do... and got beaten for.) But it would work, Mae was a good thief, even if she didn't like it anymore, she could get away with it.

And what better Hold to test it out on than Igen, one of the smaller of the Major Holds. When Morchen told Mae of his wonderful plan she flat out refused, put her foot down, and promptly got smacked right off of it. The first beating happening all over again, the only difference was Maelin was eleven instead of ten. She spent two months this time in the infirmary of a small hold. And she didn't speak at all. Not one word. She was quite the mystery to the healers. When she was well enough to walk, she left, silently into the night... and back to Morchen. She had no-one else and, deep down, way deep down, she still hoped he could change.

On their trip to Igen Hold she had time to fully recover, but once they arrived, things began to get rocky. She would fight him with everything she had. But he never hurt her too badly, didn't want anyone to pick up on their scheme. He didn't really notice Mae falling in love with the Hold, he didn't notice the joy in her eyes when she spoke of its people, how it was so different from all the other places they had been. But he was bloated by the riches Mae brought to him, such things that would bring him marks upon marks upon marks. He didn't notice her keeping things from him. And one night when she again tried to refuse to continue he lost his temper and struck her across the face, a big hand print forming there in black and blue. Mae passed it off to everyone in the Hold as a fall... But most knew, as she didn't keep the fact that she had a father a secret this time. Towards the end, Morchen was considering telling Mae about her parents so that he could handfast to her and then she would be completely his... for he did notice her distance from him. But then Maelin got caught.

She told the Stuard Lyria her whole story, just as she had done when she was 10 to the healer, told Lyria everything in a fit of tears, told her how she felt and that she hated it. And, much to her suprise, they believed her, took her in, in fact, Arwyn, Gordeeva and Halinya took her as a foster. Sister to Wyn and Deeva, daughter to Linya. And that only compounded Mae's utter amazement.

A few Holders assembled and took their runners to Morchens little camp in a cave out side the Weyr. Maelin went with them and kept very close to Arwyn as the Lord and Lady Holders confronted Morchen and charged him with the crimes he had comitted. Of course, he sputtered in anger and denied them at first, blaming it all on Mae which he claimed to have never seen before, as planned. But it didn't hold for long, they searched his camp and found a few specific items, including an ornate wooden box of great value that had been stolen from the Weyr stores. Morchen tried his best to fight what he was charged with, but there was no defence. He was caught too. But he wouldn't go quietly, and ended up having to be tied up and gaged before they could get him on one of the runners to be transported to the mines, where he would stay for the rest of his life. Maelin was assigned kitchen and cleaning duty to work off her penance, also helping to find all the belongings she stole and return them.

A turn and a half after Morchen was sent off, he escaped. He wasnt about to give up. Maelin was /his/, his property and those lazy holders had no right to take her away from him. So he went right back to Igen. His plan was to find a Harper, find Maelin, and convince/force her to handfast to him. That way she really would be his. He would have to tell her he wasn't really her father, but that was no big deal, he was planning on doing it anyway before the hole mess happened. So thats exactly what he did. With the cover of night he again kidnaped Mae from her bed, told her about her parents as he dragged her to the Harper. But, the Harper, apon realizing what was going on, refused to perform the cerimony. In his sudden rage Morchen let go of Maelin to go after the Harper who was making a hasty retreat. And Maelin quickly shot off in the other direction . Eventually she found her way back to the Hold, but Morchen took a short cut and stoped her right at the doors. He blocked her and glowered down, and Mae, thinking all was lost just quivered and prepaired to accept the enevitable.

But what both thought was going to happen, never did. For right as Morchen raised his hand to once again slap some sence into his girl, another strong hand caught his. Maelin passed out and missed the lovely sight of Morchens shock, Arwyn had hold of Morchen's hand and a group of twenty or so guards, including the Lord and Lady holders to accompany him. Kicking and screaming once again he was brought down, strapped to a runner, and taken off back to the mines.

Maelin recovered from this last ordeal and it was decided that Igen was no longer safe for her. He might escape again, and next time his goal may be Maelin's death. So, sadly she packed up her things and was taken to Fort Weyr. The Weyr because Morchen had made his hatred for Dragonmen very clear through out Mae life. It was agreed that the distance and the place would keep Morchen at bay.

So, now, at bairly 13, she resides at Fort Weyr. Away from all she had grown to love. Away from her foster family, and having to adjust to Weyr life and Weyr people. She was having a hard enough time adjusting where she knew people. She was brought up to always be suspicious of people, to never trust anyone. Halinya was trying to teach her other wise, but old habits die hard. She definately wont even touch anything that is not hers, and she has an emence respect for her Leaders. She is always trying to remember what Halinya told her, adjusting, and slowly that seceret person who is Maelin is emerging.



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Ever herd of those 'adopt a dragon' web pages? Well Maelin as a persona has just impressed a gold from one of them! Come admire her beautiful Dericath as she relaxes in her weyr. Just click, Dericath's Weyr






As a side note, I doodle from time to time, practiceing my drawing skills. (Im still not all that great) But I was atempting to draw a female face one day, and it didnt quite come out how I wanted, and once I looked back at my picture, only one thing came to mind, Proddy Green Rider. With my recent trip to DragonCon, I could only think of one male green rider.... hehehe:




To visit the real T'on, please go to his page, T'on and Kyrith