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bronze fire-lizard Caledon
Jocelia was born to a down-and-out renegade named Joviar and his on-again, off-again mate Licelia in the Igen low caverns. Each supplied a number of siblings for her, both half and full. Last time she counted she had one full-blooded brother, two full sisters, a half-brother and half-sister by Joviar, and two half-brothers and a half-sister by Licelia, all younger than Jocelia.
From an early age, Jocelia came home with all sorts of information she picked up in the low caverns. Joviar decided to put this to use- he had her trained by some 'friends' of his, honing her skills in infiltration and information-gathering, as well as the personal combat skills she needed to survive a dangerous business. While she was still very young (only 10 turns old or so), he began hiring her out to renegades, and anybody else who needed information.
Licelia died, worn out, when Jocelia was 12. Jocelia stuck around just long enough to make sure her sibs were provided for, then struck out on her own at the age of 14. She has heard that her father is searching for her, intending to get her under his auspices again. Now, almost a decade later, she has become an underground freelance success.
But that all changed when she met Dani, rider of green Raliath at Xanadu. See, Jo had accepted a commission from a rather seedy type named Foram to break up Sh'n (WL of Xanadu at the time) and his weyrmate Krissira. She met up with Dani, moved in with her, and to her utter surprise actually began to care for the greenrider. Jo began to feel uneasy everytime she took a shadowy job, and she even tried to warn Sh'n about Foram (not that he seemed to listen- in fact, he threatened to toss her out of Eastern on her ear if she ever showed up there again). It was when she was offered a /lot/ of marks to assassinate Sh'n, and she was totally repulsed by the idea, that she realized her days as a renegade were over. Having used a trader disguise many times over the years, she decided to make that her full-time occupation. Problem is, she's not really very good at it...
Which was proven when she lost a /lot/ of money in her dealings. Realizing that was not going to work, and for a variety of other reasons, she went seeking a job in the northern continent, coming to work as a stablehand at Igen Weyr. She returned to Xanadu to be with Dani as often as possible, though those times were few and far between. Her happy times at Igen were short-lived: to her surprise and amusement, S'ren's Solteth went and snagged her on Search for High Reaches Weyr. Jo went along with it- she felt it was a great honor- but she was sure that Solteth must've been drunk or something... after all, no hatchling would choose an ex-renegade. Right?
Wrong. On the day of the Hatching of Colth's and Aokith's eggs, Rags and Tags Brown Cranth chose a very stunned Jocelia for his lifemate, after, um, relieving himself on her. ;)
Jocelia's character was once rather straightforward, and in many ways still is. She still has little trouble speaking her mind, and doesn't tolerate fools easily, but she's softened quite a bit since before she met Dani. A smile comes easily to her lips now, and she's patient now where she never was before. For the first time in her life, she's learned that friendship and having people to talk to are worth the risk of pain that might result from those relationships. (She was in shock for days... ;)
Jo was raised to believe that it's every girl for herself, and if that meant killing (especially for money) or stealing, that was just fine. It took over twenty turns for her to discover the falsehood of that, and that heralded the end of her life as a renegade. She's still trying to figure out whether her former work as a spy was all that unethical. She gave it up not because she thought it was wrong, but because in that line of work she often had to kill, and she couldn't do that anymore.
Of course, when Cranth came along, a whole new world opened
up for Jo. She finally found the partner she didn't even know she'd needed for all these turns, and she learned that being totally dependent on somebody could actually be a good thing.
