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Name: Kere
Age: 13
Sex: Female
Sexual Orientation: Unknown
Craft: Healer
Rank: Apprentice
Location: Near High Reaches
Physical Description: Kere has medium length hair that is fine and mousy brown in color. She is on the small side for her age, but has yet to go through a growth spurt. She has large, grey eyes, dark brows and pale lips. She usually wears a hairband, and the plain, practical clothes of a healer.
Personality: Kere is shrewd and distrustful by nature. She doesn't rely on promises or take people at their word. She has always been alert to danger, and sensitive to the shifting tides of people's opinions around her, picking up on any hostility. She has a strong survival instinct, reacting quickly to danger. She's the kind of person to make the most of any situation and does whatever is necessary to ensure her own survival.

She's quiet, and somewhat sheltered from the world. She grew up in relative luxury, not knowing much about the people outside their Hold. Though her world after her mother left was less sheltered, it was no less insular. She still knew almost no one her own age, nor any life beside the one inside her father's house. Going out into the world with Morrigna has begun to change that, although it's still something she's getting used to. She's sat by men's beds as they died, seen people scream in agony. She often doesn't know the right thing to say in a situation, but it's opened her up to more understanding and compassion for the lives of other, something she hadn't thought about much when she was busy worrying about her own situation. She plays it tough and heartless, but she hates to see people suffering. She's as easily upset by things as you would expect a 13 year old girl to be, and finds healing difficult in that regard.

Kere has ambition that has nothing to do with her former status. She doesn't want to be a Holder, but she wants to be someone interesting and important; a trader, a Mastercraft, a runnerracer.. She isn't totally sure. Her mind is full of big dreams and grand schemes that only constrained by her own boundless imagination. The details change every week, but one part is always the same: she wants to be a self-made success, with nothing handed to her by birth or luck.

She isn't inherently dishonest, nor does she ever really set out to be exploitative. But if she sees a chance to manipulate someone, she will almost always take it. It's a kind of survival instinct for her, and one she's gotten fairly good at. She's good at telling what kind of thing people are weak to, what they want. She spends a lot of time watching people to find out what they find endearing, what kind of person they'd protect, what kind of person they need, then tries to be that thing to them. She doesn't mind acting weak if it will get someone to protect her, or being a little mean if it will make people like her more.

At her core, Kere is just extremely lonely, stuck in an endless Catch-22 of trying to manipulate people into liking her, then doubting their affection for that very reason. She's never known a real friend, nor had anyone that ever really loved her. She's desperate for attention of any kind, but her suspicious natures leads her to isolate herself from those that could be her friend.

Positive Trait List Cunning, Ambitious, Motherly
Negative Trait List Childish, Sullen, Manipulative
History: An only child for most of her life, Kere grew up with only pets and imagined friends to keep her company. Her mother and father were minor Holders, and she saw very little of either of them. She was raised by child minders she resented for being paid to care about her. She longed for a sibling or a friend, anyone whose love wasn't forced or faked.

Her mother was never caring or affectionate towards her, but at least her status as the Holder's first wife afforded her child some comfort and protection. That all changed the night she disappeared. No one knew exactly what happened to her, she could've been killed by bandits or simply tripped and fallen in the woods, but that didn't stop her father from wildly (and loudly) speculating on the subject. He was sure that she'd run off somewhere and left him. He began to claim that Kere was not his child, but some misbegotten b*****d of her mother and another man, only holding off from disowning her outright until he had secured another heir.

In the meantime, Kere wasn't planning to sit around and hope for him to have a change of heart. His second wife was frail and faint-hearted, and Kere wasted no time in making herself indispensable to the woman. She relied on the girl utterly and, in turn, Kere did everything for her, from waking her up in the morning to getting her dressed and bringing her meals. There were days when she wouldn't get out of bed at all and would have Kere sit beside her and read to her all day. And Kere did, genuinely, care about the woman. But it was impossible for her to really love her, knowing she was just a tool to her. She did, however, love her siblings. She loved them as chubby babies with fat cheeks. She loved them as lisping toddlers, waddling about the Hold. She held them even when their mother was too despondent, would steal them away from their nannies to go play, or sneak toys and treats into their bedrooms. Anything to make sure that, unlike her, they grew up knowing someone cared about them. So when the babies stopped making it, she definitely cared about that.

After two stillborn births, and another miscarriage, her father called in an expert. The woman was known to be one of the best midwives in this part of the continent. When the pregnancy was a success, he saw a way to kill two birds with one stone and made a big show of insisting that the woman take Kere on as her apprentice, in return for what she had done for them. If Kere was upset to be sent away, she didn't let it show. And Morrigna certainly wouldn't have taken her if she did. But her father was panning to get rid of her one way or another, and better she end up with a craft and a way to make a living than be kicked out onto the streets like a common beggar. She was tired of this place, tired of her parents, and the constant pretend. She said her goodbyes to her brother and sisters, and left the Hold for good.

For the past two turns, she's worked at Morrigna's apprentice, seeing a very different side of Pern. She was a little sullen at first, especially at the thought of living isolated in the mountains, but soon came around to the idea. When she's not training, she likes to go exploring in the caves, wasting time dreaming about big schemes that will one day make her fortune. It was in caved in section of the tunnels that she found an abandoned firelizard nest, partially crushed by the fallen stones. She was able to rescue some of the eggs, though several were too badly damaged and didn't hatch. Of the five that did, only two stuck around. It took some convincing to get Morrigna to let her keep them, but she managed to argue that they could be useful as helpers when they were out healing. Though stumbling a little on the first two, she's since gotten the hang of it and shown a knack for training them. She hopes to maybe make a living breeding firelizards in the future.

Other:

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