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Character Name: Sanza
Age: 32
Gender: Female
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual, but if flight dictates something else, she doesn't hesitate.
Craft/Rank: Wingrider
History: Sanza was born in a small cothold, the last of six children and the only girl. Her mother doted on her and her father would say spoiled and pampered her beyond all reason. Her brothers teased her, as brothers will, but defended her, sometimes with their fists, when it came to that. For Sanza's part, she did her best to be the lady her parents and her brothers expected. Instead of catching trundlebugs with the boys and wrestling on the beach, she wove wreaths out of long grass and flowers and stood more or less patiently while being fitted for a festival dress. Rather than trying to Stand at a wher hatching, she took lessons with the weavers and listened to her friends day dream about boys and weddings.

But no matter how she tried, she couldn't make herself want to do any of those things. She wanted to be hunting and wrestling with the boys. More, she wanted to be in charge of games and hunts. She wanted to lead. She wanted to be allowed to apprentice to a craft and not simply wait for one of her brother's friends to think she was pretty enough to marry so they could have children by the score.

So when the Searchrider came when she stood on the cusp between fourteen and fifteen Turns, she put herself in his way at every opportunity, cheerfully volunteering to all but wait on him hand and foot. A gambit that paid off on the last day of his visit when his dragon insisted that she accompany the rest to Trine. She was not delighted; she was satisfied. Finally, something she wanted had come to pass.

Once at the Weyr, she was determined that she would never go back to Hold life again. Trine was where she belonged and it was where she'd stay, no matter what happened next. Not that she had any doubt that she would Impress. She was destined to sit a dragon, she often told herself, and some of her fellow candidates. She therefore didn't make many friends before they stood on the Sands, but she wasn't there for friendship. She was there to find her soul's mate.

And she did. (Of course she did, she would and has often said.) There were rumors that she might find a bossy gold, but her dragon hatched in a crimson hide, and those who bet on her had the last laugh.

Description: Sanza is not a soft woman in any sense of the word. She has not an extra ounce of body fat and very little in the way of curves. Even her features seem a little severe, given how high her cheekbones are and the tight braid she twists into sandy brown hair. Undone, there is a wave to that hair, and she keeps it long to the middle of her back, her one concession to femininity. Her eyes are a chill blue, her lips are thin, and she holds herself very tightly, standing 5'7" or so.

Personality: Sanza has not softened at all in seventeen Turns of dragonriding. In fact, there are those who say that she just gets harder every Turn. She does not smile often and even more rarely offers a kind word to anyone other than her dragon. She constantly strives for responsibility and she is a taskmaster to those working with and for her when it's given. She never goes far enough to be truly cruel, but she doesn't sweeten her words or her reactions for much of anything. She claims to simply want the best out of everyone and to give it back, tenfold. What you see and hear of Sanza is what comes straight to mind.

She doesn't go any easier on herself than she does on others. If there's a new formation to be learned, she can be counted on to drill until the small hours and past the point where anyone sane would stop to rest. If she makes a mistake or misjudgment, she is hardest on herself and does not appreciate being forgiven or let off the hook.

That said, she encourages growth in others and often produces good results, whether working alone or with a team or wingmates. She may be the last person to come to mind when looking for a friendly shoulder or a tolerant ear, but those few people who have managed to work their way past her defenses have a fierce friend for life. And yes, there are one or two.

Not, though, in a romantic sense. Sanza views sex as a duty, not a pleasure, and she doesn't have time for flirting and cuddling and the like. She will, however, help a fellow rider's frustrations if they happen to get caught in a flight and not win. Only when her dragon rises would she consider the possibility of getting pregnant long enough to spare a thought before going Between. She has had one child, and she delivered him to the creche. She has willingly terminated two other pregnancies that she knows of. She is a rider, first, foremost and always.

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