Uwasa

STATS
Name: Uwasa
Age: 27
Gender: female
Description: Uwasa has short red hair, brown eyes and a cocky attitude. She knows what she wants, she knows what she's entitled to and she'll make sure she gets it. She sometimes seems rude or selfish when you first meet her, but she has the smarts to convince you of her right fast. She has a good relationship with animals who react well to her headstrong attitude. She became a vet because of this.
Pets: Yellow Ceadra Reju (m)

~~°~~°~~°~~

STORY
Uwasa ran toward the fields. As a vet she was on call every hour of the day, much like a doctor. And she felt she was a doctor. She'd never been good with humans, but animals took to her naturally. So she'd wanted to give back to them. Something. And the best way seemed to be making sure they stayed healthy. Even if she wasn't trusted often because of her gender.
Veldroos, the province of Gremyne she was born in, wasn't exactly hospitable to girls with an attitude. It was custom for girls to be married of around the age of 14. A man having more than one woman was quite common. Several men took a second woman when the first was pregnant, or when her childbearing days were over.
Her parents too had searched a man for her. Granted they'd done their best and searched a single handsome young man only a few years older for their spirited daughter. But Uwasa had not wanted to marry at the age of 14. She wanted to study. She wanted to see the world and run free with her friends. Once married she'd be asked to stay home, take care of a household, have children.
With the superior air she usually oozed to back her up, Uwasa had declined the offer. She'd skipped town the day after and hadn't looked back since. She hadn't been able to leave Veldroos though, with it's wide fields and livestock. Everything that moved her was here. She'd wandered from village to village, living on the goodwill of strangers. After another failed marriage attempt she finally found a vet who'd taken her in and had educated her. Old man Remon had treated her like she was his daughter, no his son. He'd never spoken of marriage. 10 years had easily passed before he died and left his practice to her.
And now she felt a little bit guilty because of it. His blooming practice had lost most of it's shine. Sometimes a week went by without anyone asking for her help. But today a young boy had come knocking on her door at the break of dawn. A mare was heaving trouble giving birth.
Uwasa reached the stable where the mare slept and followed the warm golden glow of the oil lamps in. The sight she saw was gruelling. Puddles of blood glistened in the light and the mare looked like she was at the end of her strength.
"Why did you not call sooner?" she asked.
"We wanted to wait for day to call the other..." the young boy said but he was hushed by his father.
If they'd been able to put it off another hour they wouldn't have had to call the cursed female vet. Uwasa cursed and examined the horse. There was little she could do. She couldn't know for sure without asking, but the mare might have started fouling close after the fall of evening. Stroking her to calm her, Uwasa stuck her hand inside the mare to search for the foul. It didn't move.
"The foul's dead." she said coldly.
"What about the mare?"
"She's bleeding heavily. It'll be a miracle if she pulls through. I'll have to get her foul out before I can tell."
Getting the foul out proved to be a challenge of it's own. It took Uwasa over an hour and when she was finished the morning sun shone inside. The mare was alive but she was barely strong enough to breath.
"She'll die." Uwasa sighed.
"Which proves your incompetence." Ruben, the other vet who was half a century her senior stood in the doorway. He blocked out most of the sun, casting a long shadow inside the stable.
"They should have called me when she started having a hard time. Or they should have called you if you think you could have done a better job." she growled.
Uwasa petted the mare one last time, hoping she'd go gently before she rushed out of the stable, nearly knocking over the older vet as she passed him. The nerve they had. Not only did they call her too late, they also called the other vet to criticise her work when she'd done all she could. If the old Ruben still took nightcalls the mare would have been saved. This wasn't a matter of skill.
Tired and depressed, Uwasa returned home and slept.
When she woke up again, she heard shouts outside. Knocks sounded on her walls. Still groggy from sleep she got up and dressed herself. Uwasa looked out of the window and saw a large group of people standing outside. they didn't exactly look friendly.
"This woman cost me my mare!" the farmer from the previous night called.
"She's a quack who isn't fit to be called a vet! She'll only hurt your animals. She shouldn't even be allowed to live in this house."
Seething, Uwasa opened her window and called out: "What a nice view to wake up to. Just ask when the mare got in trouble and when they called me. No-one could have saved that mare."
"Ruben says he could."
"Then they should have called him."
The people did not take kindly to her words and soon the banging on her door sounded like they meant to break through. Maybe they were. What mess would they make of Remon's rooms and equipment? Maybe it would be better to face them head on outside. Never one to run away from her problems, Uwasa opened the door and watched as three men fell through it.
"Welcome." she said, "Just what is your business with me?"
"We want you to leave." the one on top said, followed by sympathetic grunts from his fallen comrades.
"Why should I? This is my house."
"We've all agreed to not call upon you again."
"That is until another animal needs care in the night." she sighed.
"No-one will speak to you. No-one will do business with you."
"Fine." Uwasa shrugged, "If you want me gone so bad, I'll leave. But know I'll be laughing when that old buffoon messes up next."
Uwasa waited for the men to leave her doorstep. She closed the door and regretted her words slightly. This house had truly been her home for the past 12 years. Leaving here would be harder than leaving home. But what was really keeping her here? She could pray for Remon everywhere.
Uwasa left the next dawn, taking only a backpack filled with tools, food and necessities with her. Leaving hurt her, but staying would only have hurt her more. Still she would keep searching for her dream. Maybe it was time to leave Veldroos. Not all Gremyne provinces discriminated against women. But most did not like strangers.
She travelled for a week, being less dependant on strangers than her journey before. She helped some farmers and received a bed for a night. She cut through forest and even managed to cross a river. Finally her voyage led her to a sandy beach. Palm trees grew on it's shore. The water was clear blue and salty. The air was warm. No-one seemed to live there.
"Soon people will live here." A voice suddenly sounded.
"Who are you?" Uwasa called getting up, ready to defend herself.
"Here." a splash of water hit her and her eyes were immediately pulled to the sea.
A dark blue creature with whiskers and fins looked at Uwasa from the waves.
"What are you?" she asked.
"I'm a nekrat, a kind of dragon." spoke the creature, "My name is Ghelook."
"Aren't dragons supposed to have wings?" Uwasa asked intrigued despite herself.
"I'm a sea dragon obviously." Ghelook purred, "And I like it here."
"Oh, you don't live here?"
"Not yet... but I'm going to." he added, "Once my bond agrees. She's used to much colder temperatures. Wouldn't you like to live here too?"
"You're fast." Uwasa called.
"You could get a nekrat like me. And then I'd have a friend to play with."
"And will your bond like that? What's his name?"
"Joiy." Ghelook said, "And she's a woman."
"Aren't you male?"
"Yes. Does that matter then?"
"No, it doesn't." Uwasa shrugged, "It shouldn't anyway."
The silence returned and suddenly Ghelook said, "Something followed me."
"What?"
"From Lantessama, where I used to live."
"Is it dangerous?"
"No... not at all." Ghelook said, "Sorry to scare you."
His dark blue head popped up again and in his mouth he held a peculiar yellow creature.
"It's a pet, a ceadra." he said, "You're free to take care of it."
The ceadra latched onto Uwasa who'd rushed into the water and did not seem willing to let go.
"It's hungry!" she called out surprised to know what it needed.
"Feed it." Ghelook grinned, "So are you going to come to Lantessama to bond a nekrat when my bond arrives?"
"I will." Uwasa nodded.

~~°~~°~~°~~

HATCHING
Night had fallen and stars twinkled in the sky when one of the donated nekrat eggs in the bay started to vibrate. This early bird solicited replies from his four fellow eggs and together they started to shake and wobble. The stirring of the water grew until even the air dragons could not deny the awakening of new life. They started to hum a slow, submerged tune that was different from the sounds they made during a hatching, but not that different to the ears of humans.
The first egg to hatch was the egg that had first started rocking. The hatchling inside was impatient for sure. Like a very local thunderstorm the storm nekrat moved across the bay, searching for his bond, the orca-shifter Ira. As if they'd waited for the storm to bond the four remaining eggs all hatched at once. Little explosions of air made fountains of water as tails, heads and fins dove into air and water. A bright sand female looking pale in the moonlight, a female rock with a blue colour that seemed to blur the edge between water and night sky, a male green well with dark skin and green fins and lastly, a sapphire deep sea female that shone like a precious water gem whenever she jumped up from the water all swam to their chosen humans.
"Uwasa!" the blue rock whispered, "You are mine, you are Serise's."
"You're pretty Serise." Uwasa whispered back, lost in the eyes of her new bond.

Blue Rock Serise (f)

~~°~~°~~°~~

ADULT
Returning to Dawn Cove Uwasa realised the enormity of the task at hand. She'd followed the silly nekrat Ghelook on a whim and now she'd been put in charge of readying a place for Nekrats on the sandy beach they'd dubbed Dawn Cove. Though Ghelook came around several times as she started working, trying to build herself a home for starters, she had yet to catch sight of his bond Joiy.
"There'll be help soon." Ghelook assured her, and then returned playing with Serise.
"But who'd come here? It's deserted." Uwasa sighed to herself, "Was I destined to be a hermit from the day i was born? Or was it my own doing that brought me here, like following a cursed creature to another planet..."
A big splash of water, aimed at her from two different places hit her.
"We're not cursed creatures." Serise noted pointedly.
"I know, at least you help." Uwasa said.
She returned to the task at hand and hoped that the help would come soon.

~~°~~°~~°~~
Intro - Mate

~~°~~°~~°~~
All images found with google
Nekrats impressed at Lantessama Isle