[hider=Caitra Sayl]
[center][h3]Caitra Sayl[/h3]
[i]Rider of Neva[/i][/center]
[b]Age:[/b] 29
Bonded for 16 years.

[b]Gender:[/b] Female

[b]Appearance:[/b] Caitra is Caerelian with some Qiandri traits: she stands at five feet eight inches, with pale skin and dark brown eyes. Her black hair is always tied back in a medium-length ponytail. She is of a medium build, though most of her physique is given over to the strength and fitness of a dragonrider.

Caitra can usually be found wearing plain leather armour - lightweight but still quite tough - plus a set of gloves and boots with metal plating fitted into them for additional protection. The back of her chestpiece has a set of catches sewn in place, to hold her staff when she is not wielding it. She has also packed several sets of civilian clothing, for wear when combat situations or extended dragonriding are unlikely. Whether in armour or not, she wears a small silver pendant on a necklace; a family heirloom given to her when she first became a dragonrider.

[b]Personality:[/b] Caitra is a calm and collected individual who is very slow to anger. She knows that if she cannot master a task quickly, it will come in time. To that end, she is methodical; she prefers to gather information before making decisions. Some might say she's a slow thinker as a result of this, but she disproves that notion in both combat and conversation. Caitra has great respect for dragonriders in positions of authority, and will often look for their approval of, or input on, a decision she makes in their presence.

Despite its awkwardness in some situations, Caitra takes a particularly formal approach to conversations and meeting people, instilled in her by her parents. She does, however, lighten up when talking to Neva.

[b]Skills and Talents:[/b] 
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[*][i]Staff Combat[/i] - Caitra has trained in the use of a quarterstaff as her primary weapon. Fighting from the back of a dragon has led to the choice of a weapon that is practical, multipurpose, and has a long reach.
[*][i]Frost Affinity[/i] - Spending most of her time in or near chilled caverns, and being bonded to Neva for several years, has resulted in Caitra attuning to Neva's icy breath. She does not suffer from exposure to cold temperatures to a certain degree, including the breath of frostbite dragons - though given the intensity of a frostbite's breath, she can only withstand it for a few seconds.
[*][i]Adept Dragonrider[/i] - Caitra keeps in shape through her training with Neva, and has done so for the better part of two decades.
[*][i]Steadfast Footing[/i] - Caitra has trained to resist the impact of blows that would otherwise break her footing, and it is difficult to make her flinch in battle. In addition, as long as Neva remains a stable platform beneath her, Caitra can stand on her back with ease (and prefers to do so rather than sit, even in battle).
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[b]Flaws and Weaknesses:[/b] 
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[*][i]High Expectations[/i] - In the interest of ensuring she maintains a reputation as a skilled dragonrider, Caitra can often be very tough on herself if her actions do not meet her personal standards.
[*][i]Formal[/i] - As mentioned above, Caitra tends to treat most people with a formal disposition. This often results in her seeming rather distant in conversations. Neva is, of course, the one exception to this.
[*][i]Limited Acrobatics[/i] - In flight, Caitra's preference for standing atop Neva means that the pair cannot perform certain acrobatic maneuvers, such as a loop or roll, unless Caitra quickly finds a handhold.
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[b]History:[/b]
The oldest child of a Caerelian and a Qiandri, Caitra was raised on the southern side of the mountain Shearpoint. Her childhood was spent with her two younger brothers: tending the family farm, adventuring across rocky cliffsides, getting caught in the occasional snowdrift, and learning the ways of the warrior and protector - for her father, having travelled from Qiandr to Caerel in pursuit of the study of dragons and dragonriders, desired nothing less than for one of his children to join the ranks of these great heroes, and so he instructed all three of the young Sayls in combat training.

Then came the winter of her thirteenth birthday, and she was one of the lucky handful to make the journey to approach a frostbite den. Imagine her surprise when the eggs began to crack open, revealing silver-blue dragon hatchlings. No sooner had one of these new arrivals stretched her limbs and taken her first steps than she looked directly to Caitra, paced forward, and lightly trod on her boot as if to say hello.

So began the life of a dragonrider: Caitra was shuttled off to Draketooth with her new friend, Neva, for training and study. She quickly took to her new profession; her father's lessons were not for nothing. Over the years she learned much of dragonkind, as most dragonriders do, but the combat training was where she felt most at home. With the freedom to choose whichever weapon skills she wished to learn, Caitra chose the quarterstaff. A useful weapon in battle, where she had the reach to outmatch a swordsman both on the ground and in the air; and a multipurpose tool outside of it, where she could test ground before trusting it with her weight and give Neva a better chance to catch her if she fell, among other things. Shoving doors closed from across the room without having to get up from her chair was a nice bonus.

Caitra and Neva spent eight years training in Draketooth before venturing out to pursue an independent career. The pair roamed across the island for a year and a half, seeking out ways to help the citizens as best they could, training with older dragonriders who sought sparring partners, and learning more of Caerel. But Caitra soon found that wandering without a clear and defined purpose was not to her liking, and so she suggested that they return to Draketooth. Perhaps they would be drawn to some purpose there.

When the drought set in, Caitra's first port of call was the records kept in Draketooth's archives. She scoured them for any mention of similar natural events, and found nothing of note. Perhaps most Caerelians had taken the weather, predictable as ever, for granted, and so there was nothing to report on it, no specialists who could explain it. She flew to Shearpoint, her home, to find the farms worn out and broken, the snowfall small in scale. The frostbites at the summit, Neva's kindred, were likely suffering even at their altitude. Concerned that there was no way to tell what had caused the issue - nor how to fix it - Caitra and Neva spent the following years searching for more information on the drought and other natural disasters.

[b]Additional Notes:[/b] 
[list]
[*]Caitra's staff is a simple weapon with no need for ornamentation; a six-foot length of treated hardwood, with a metal cap fitted into place at each end.
[*]She has inherited a touch of her father's Qiandri accent, and speaks fluent Qian in addition to the universal trade tongue.
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[hider=Neva]
[b]Name:[/b] Neva

[b]Gender:[/b] Female

[b]Breed:[/b] Frostbite

[b]Appearance:[/b] Neva is your average frostbite dragon; she has no unusual markings or physical differences.

[b]Personality:[/b]
[list]
[*][i]Slow to Anger[/i] - Much like Caitra, it takes a lot of (non-jovial) prodding - or a series of particularly barbed insults - to rouse Neva to anger. This shared trait of being able to shrug off the smaller things was the driving factor in the formation of their bond.
[*][i]Restless[/i] - Neva likes to stay on the move whether she's in battle or not. Often just flying in circles or pacing back and forth will satisfy her.
[*][i]Practical Joker[/i] - In moments of downtime, Neva tends to play jokes on Caitra, whether hitting her with a short blast of ice-cold dragon breath, tripping her with her tail, or poking her nose in where it doesn't belong. In company, it's mostly the latter. She knows better than to do something like this in serious situations, however.
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