Age: 22
Gender: Male
Former craft: Apprentice Healer
Origin: Fort
Rank: Weyrling
Appearance: Standing at about 5'7", N'tan isn't at first glance particularly intimidating --- he's of average build, with slightly-shaggy hair that hovers in that awkward place where it's neither quite blond nor quite brown, and hazel eyes that straddle the line between green and brown. He has dimples when he smiles and his features are overall on the softer side, all things which contribute to a rather mild, easily-overlooked appearance.
Personality:
Compassionate --- N'tan has never been the kind of person who could see someone injured or ill or desperately unhappy and not wanted to do something about it. Oh, he's not the easiest person to get along with to be sure, but there's a big heart in that chest and he's never quite so happy as when he can help someone who truly needs it. It's the main reason he originally wanted to become a healer, and it holds true even now. Those he loves (and especially his dragon) get to see this side of him more often than anyone else, but it's always there nonetheless.
Focused --- You can't be a halfway decent healer without focus and discipline, and N'tan has that in spades. If there's a goal set before him, he doesn't let himself get distracted away from it. While others might find themselves enticed into breaks or catch their attention wandering to a distant noise, N'tan can and will keep his mind on-task until the task is complete. This holds true for both the short-term and the long-term, because if something is worth starting, then it's worth finishing --- if it isn't, then why attempt it in the first place?
Confident --- There's no room for insecurity in N'tan's life. Doubting yourself will only hold you back, and if you want to achieve anything in life then you have to believe in yourself first. It's good to have the support of others, but you can't always guarantee that (save for a dragon, of course, but that's a very important exception). N'tan believes in himself, in his own abilities and the ability of his dragon, and needs no commendation. Nor does criticism affect him overmuch; his view of himself is steady and grounded, and while he knows he'll make mistakes he also knows that he'll be able to learn from them and overcome any challenges sooner or later.
Irritable --- People annoy N'tan; be it via doing something stupid that lands them in the infirmary for no good reason, or making an ignorant or offensive comment, there's always something happening to irritate him. He has little patience for those he considers idiots or ill-behaved and is more likely to stalk off grumbling than to deal with it all another moment. And if for some reason it's something he can't get away from? Well, he'll deal with that, but you can be certain he'll be muttering to himself whenever he thinks no-one's listening.
Stubborn --- As could naturally be assumed when someone is focused and confident (and a bit irritable), N'tan can be somewhat... intractable. This makes him capable of standing up to others who have dug their heels in the way he tends to, but it also makes him difficult at times. If he's going to do something, he's going to do it and if he thinks something isn't worth his time then he's not going to budge even slightly in favor of making an attempt. If he's formed an opinion of something or someone, it will take a lot of work and patience to try to talk him around, because neither changing his mind nor backing down come easily to him.
Abrasive --- N'tan isn't the type to mince words. If he thinks someone is being an idiot, he'll tell them, never mind if it hurts their feelings or not. Blunt and to the point, he's more than willing to ruffle feathers if he thinks it's needed. Nor is he particularly approachable, as he's a rather gruff sort who thinks people need to be worth his time before he goes out of the way to interact extensively. Those who are worth his time will know it: his irritable nature is much less pronounced, and he can be downright gentle. But again, this takes either giving him reason to get close to that person or finding the one or two soft spots that can act as a shortcut to his heart. And even then, he'll still make sure they know when he's not happy with them.
History: One more time. Just one more time, and then Natan was done. He would bow out of candidacy and return to the healer apprenticeship he had left undone, and no-one, not even his late sister, could say he hadn't tried. Impressing a dragon had been more Lisi's dream than his own, after all, and though the thought of a lifetime companion as dear to him as his sister had been still warmed his heart, he had nearly aged out and reached the point where the likelihood of ever Impressing was low --- best to think practically, and plan how to get on with his life.
Born in a Hold of middling size and importance, Natan was his father's second son, but the first child out of his father's second marriage --- the man's first wife having died giving birth to his eldest and heir. He was sure of two things above all others while growing up: that he wanted to be a healer, and that his little sister, younger than him by just two years, was the best sibling anyone could ask for. He was devoted to both, poking his nose in healing salves and watching wounds be stitched from the moment he was old enough to process that they were fixing things.
If he wasn't doing that, he was chasing his sister up, down, and around, everywhere her little feet took her. Lisi was an energetic girl, into everything, and was never particularly interested in their father's ideas for her future. No, what she wanted most deeply was what many Pernese children dreamed of: she wanted to ride a dragon one day, and had absolutely no doubt that it would happen. Natan himself often daydreamed of a life on dragonback, but being a far more practical sort than his wildly imaginative little sister, he didn't put much stock into the possibility of it becoming a reality. Healing, on the other hand, was far more plausible and didn't rely on the whims of fate and dragonkind.
It came as no surprise, then, that he would go to the Healing Hall to begin a proper apprenticeship --- and it came as even less surprise (to him, at least) when his sister was Searched less than a turn after she came of an age to stand. Natan was proud of Lisi (of course he was), and fully expected her to Impress --- maybe not the first time she took to the sands, but perhaps the second or third.
Despite knowing the risks, he hadn't expected her to die on the sands that day. He wasn't there, but he later learned what had happened via a letter from his father, who had been in attendance: no-one had done anything wrong. It had just been a particularly testy dragonet, an unfortunate accident, and not even the best healers could have helped her. Some may have let this color their impression of dragons, but though Natan was devastated by the loss, he knew his sister well enough to be certain she would never want him to hold ill-will for what an infant dragon did. So he didn't.
Instead, he focused on his studies, that he could spare other people the loss--- what else could he do with himself? He'd chosen this course, he had to keep going even if it hurt. It wasn't like anything was going to come along and change his life
Except, of course, it did.
Natan was given the opportunity to learn at a smaller hold away from the Hall, under the direct supervision of the type of healer he had always pictured himself to be: a small hold's lone healer, working in a quiet environment far from the greater chaos of large holds and halls and the weyrs. It was while he was there, beginning to heal from his grief, that a dragon came on Search --- and he was faced with a choice. He could continue the path he was on and follow it to its predictable end, or he could take the path his sister took, take a chance on something he never quite dared to dream for himself, and perhaps honor his sister in the way she would want the most.
So he went, and he studied, and he stood. And he stood. And the plague ripped through, destroying dragons left and right and resulting in a mirrored and horrific loss of human life as many, many riders went Between. Down to the very last clutch on the Sands, Natan stood, because now more than ever anyone willing who could Impress was needed, and it wasn't just his sister that he was standing for now --- he was edging toward too old, by now, the likelihood of Impressing going down each time, and yet Natan never shook the peculiar sort of stubbornness that had kept him going and kept him from being shaken by the loss of his sister or his shift in lifestyle.
Still, there was no luck, not even as green dragons began to clutch for the sake of a seemingly-doomed continent. By the time Natan was 22, he was giving serious thought to stepping aside and picking his studies back up. No-one could say he hadn't tried, after all. Just one more time, and he was done.
(How terribly fitting that the time he vowed would be his very last upon the sands before returning to the life of a healer and a healer alone, he would Impress.)
- 161 - Natan is born as the eldest son of a holder's second wife (the first having died in childbirth with his firstborn and heir).
163 - His younger sister, Lisi, is born. They grow up to be very close and have a nearly ideal sibling relationship.
173 - Natan begins an apprenticeship in healing, after spending years poking at salves and medicines and trying to learn to stitch wounds in part to keep up with his very energetic sister and keep her in one piece.
175 - Natan's sister is Searched late in the year and begins her candidacy with great enthusiasm.
176 - Lisi takes to the Sands... and is killed during her first and only Hatching.
177 - Natan's apprenticeship shifts from the halls to a smaller setting, where he can focus on his studies in a quieter environment and gain experience to solidify his practical understanding before walking the tables. During this time, but before the plague breaks out, he's Searched.
183 - Natan's last year as a Candidate. He takes to the sands for what will be the last time for Lithustoth's clutch... where he impresses to Green Meleth, the last egg to hatch. He finds there to be something vaguely ironic about that.
Other: N'tan and Meleth[/url ]are two peas in a pod; they have similar temperaments and are just as stubborn as each other. That, in fact, is a part of what makes them work so well together: N'tan understands Meleth's distaste for noise and chaos, but is more adept at coping with both and together they may be able to find they can cope with the busyness of the weyr better than either could alone. He's also probably one of the only people --- human or dragon --- who can match Meleth in a battle of wills when she's digging her heels in about something. (Though woe betide anyone who has to deal with N'tan and Meleth in agreement about something, because now they have twice the stubborn to cope with.) In turn, Meleth settles N'tan somewhat, giving him a focus and grounding point in his life that he's been lacking ever since the death of his sister shook him so deeply.
