Blaze

**Name:**Blaze

**Gender:**Genderqueer, presents as loosely masculine

**Birthdate:**Summer 2733

**Location:**Fort Weyr

**Rank:**Jr. Weyrwoman

**Appearance:**

Blaze takes care with his appearance. His short brown hair and new beard are both neatly trimmed and styled. He doesn't wear much jewelry, but his hands are marked anyways. He has heavy callouses on his fingers from his instruments, and a habit of twitching his fingers in mimicry of playing an instrument.

He browns rather than burns, in the sun, and he tends towards darker and more neutral tones. He does look good in Harper blue, but he relies on a Weaver friend to help him pick out his style. He has little confidence in his own fashion, even though he could be a style setter - if he applied himself.

**Personality:**
The consummate showman, Blaze fits his name nicely. He seems to have no fears, and he has a sort of natural magnetism that would make him a leader - if he wanted to be. But he finds his strength lies in bringing joy to people, through music. The spotlight loves him, and he loves it. He works hard at his craft, and usually excels.

Blaze's shortcoming is that he puts himself in a box - Harper, friend, singer - and excels at anything within that box. What goes in that box is, again, things he thinks he will excel at. But he does not look beyond what he knows, for himself. He seeks knowledge, for that is one of the functions of the Harper, but he has little to no ambition. Mostly, he thrives on gossip.
**History:**

Some people, when they have a plethora of children, inadvertently give one a name like 'Far-too-many', which would be shortened into 'Fartoo'. Others, when faced with a similar dilemma, hand the issue over to another person. Such was the decision Blaze's parents made when they had their seventh child. They asked a great-great-aunt to help them name the child, as they were tapped out of ideas. This well-meaning old woman came up with 'Eblauze', a bastardization of at least three generations worth of names. Horrified parents quickly renamed their son 'Blaze', but the damage was done.

Blaze quickly showed talent for Harpering, and was bundled off to the Harper Hall at the appropriate age for training. There, he was tapped by the Voice Master for special treatment. Under this tutelage Blaze developed his trademark voice. He walked the tables at nineteen, and was posted to Fort Weyr just in time to witness the fights between golds. When invited to Stand for the next clutch, he politely declined. Attractive to dragonkind, maybe, but Blaze had no interest beyond his next verse, next chorus.

That changed when Benden attacked.

This will be Blaze's first time Standing, and he's a little bewildered at how it got to this point. Dragons had never been a part of his vision for his own future, so he leans heavily on his candidate master's instruction, and makes friends with the other candidates. If he ages out, he plans to go for his Mastery. If not, well, Weyrsinger is not such a bad position.

**Updates:**

* Early Summer 2765 - Blaze had some negative reactions to the eggs in Serapheth's Trailblazer clutch. He left the Touching early, and conveniently forgot the reaction from **Day of the Black Unicorn**.
* Late Summer 2765 - Despite attempts to resign from candidacy, Blaze ended up on the Sands for Serapheth's Trailblazer clutch. In the chaos, he Impressed to gold Nornth, and they were both quite traumatized by the experience.
* Early Fall 2765 - Someone - or a group of someones - poisoned the Trailblazer clutch's dinner. Nornth was left with long-term nerve damage that affects the way she walks and flies, trouble breathing, and a stutter that might go away with time, but might also be permanent. Only time will tell.
* Late Fall 2765 - The disastrous events at Fort triggered consequences. Ista arrived to take charge of the oldest weyr, and Blaze was summoned to receive them. He is trying to open a line of communication with Liyanel in Semaca, but is unsatisfied by his letters.
* Late Winter 2765 - Nornth's first attempt at gliding didn't go so well. She tripped and skinned part of her wing.
* Early Spring 2766 - Someone sent Blaze a gift of a fire lizard egg. It hatched into a tiny, furious gold. Nornth named her 'Inferno' as a joke, and it stuck. A visit with visiting Junior Weyrleader Schneizel ended in disaster when a High Reaches dissident attacked Blaze. Blaze ended up with claw marks on his back and cuts and bruises on his arm. Inferno was put out of commission with a wounded wing. Serapheth defended her junior.
* Late Spring 2766 - Nornth is summoned to the Hatching Ground by Maktooth when Tasikheth returns with a wounded gold. She is summarily dismissed from the Sands in short order, guided by her sire.
* Early Summer 2766 - Her early attempts at flight were only setbacks. Nornth proved her persistence when she aced the Trailblazers' first *between* lesson.
* Late Summer 2766 - Serapheth's next Flight meant that Blaze and Nornth had to be firmly out of the weyr for several days. They arranged to spend that time at Semaca, escorted by A'lin of bronze Tasikheth. Blaze got to interact with Liyanel face-to-face for the first time since Impression. Nornth and Nebulaeth decided that they hated each other - Nornth because she was automatically suspicious of golds not related to her, and Nebulaeth because she was the only 'proper' gold on Pern.
* Early Fall 2767 - That Flight resulted in Sinanjuth's second clutch with Serapheth. Blaze and Nornth attend the hatching, where they meet Gates weyrlings Ya'ra and Dymrith. Nornth is captivated by Dymrith's silver tongue, and Blaze finds Ya'ra's open honesty a refreshing difference from the veiled and open hostility he and Nornth had faced since Impression.
* Early Spring 2767 - Blaze and Nornth are sent to the Conclave along with Monty and Sinanjuth. Blaze does *not* start an interweyr incident, even though Benden is convicted of the crimes laid against them. And Nornth does *not* shed blood when it is revealed that Tuckal was kidnapped and drugged by Benden smugglers. All in all, a successful political baptism.

**Lifemate:** Gold Nornth

**Pets:** Gold Firelizard Inferno