Name/Nicknames: Zo‘ Kiersted
Gender: female
Rank/Position: Apprentice geneticist
Age: 19
Birthplace: Latin America, Terra

Physical Description: With a roundish face and a long frizzy bush of dirty blonde hair, usually kept back out of her face, Zo‘ is clearly not the most beautiful woman on Pern, but she carries herself as if she were a Queen. She doesn’t have the perfect body, as her breasts are rather small and her hips a bit larger than slim, however it’s all perfect for her favorite pastime of belly dancing. Her skin is the same color as eggshells (non-dragon) and her eyes are hazel. Her eye shape hints off the possible Japanese or Korean decent, a trait she and she brother share, but the rest of her is purely the Scandinavian and Western European stock her father and part of her mother descend from (the whole family, with the exception of herself and Wil, seems to have had a thing for light skinned guys/girls). Her looks do not make her desirable, it's her air of poise and confidence that does.

Personality: She does not want a family, or a husband, or anything that could possibly tie her down. She's not a damsel in distress, or one of those women who pretends to be hard on the outside, but on the inside is a scared little girl begging for someone to help break her shell. For Zo‘, she's perfectly comfortable traveling and being alone, with as little commitment, except for a one night stand every once and awhile, as possible. She knows what she wants and that's freedom. She's also not afraid to say exactly what she wants, much to her sister's dismay. She's a nice person, just abrasive sometimes and become agitated when people press her about marrying or starting a family or trying to comfort her in some way or anything like that. She also finds it very hard to trust men and usually assumes that anytime a man does something nice for her (with the exception of her brother) they want in her pants.

Background: Zo‘ never wanted to come to Pern. She was perfectly content migrating from place to place, as they always had when she was little (after all, what other family could say they had a sibling born on three different continents?). Her mother, being a medical surgeon for the army, constantly had the family jumping from country to country and, eventually, to bases off the planet, around when Zo‘ was a year old (Zo‘ was the last of the family born on Terra). Zo‘ hardly remembered Terra, but was happy traveling around (unlike most of the population and the rest of her family, she never worried about the Nathi, though her sister kept trying to persuade her it was a desperate situation and she should be prepared for the worst). She was happy and learned most of her languages by the time she was seven (her mother fed her linguistics like other parents normally feed their children candy from the time she could first coo a word). However, her mother had to up and die on them (all Zo‘ knew of her father was that he left around the time she was born for some hooker, hence her mistrust in 99.9% of male-kind... the only .1% being her big brother Wil and even he's teetering on the edge) and the only out Pernelle (Zo‘'s sister) could find was a one-way trip to a deserted planet out in the middle of who knew or cared where, where she would never see other people than those at her designated colony ever again. Needless to say, Zo‘ made it less than easy on her sister. Honestly, Zo‘ could care less, as the thought of adventure was exciting. It was simply the fact that Pernelle made the choice without consulting her brother and sister that Zo‘ found reason to protest.

It wasn't long before she finally settled in her home. Her brother married a Vietnamese girl named Mai-Ly, who shared his affinity and almost sick obsession with martial arts, and Pernelle became a teacher. At the time, Zo‘ had no idea what she wanted to do with her life. She wanted to travel, with the Romani caravans that passed by occasionally, but her sister, and, to a more subdued degree, her brother wouldn't allow it. So, she bummed around, studying many things.

Once her brother had his daughter with Mai-Ly, Zo‘ found more and more reasons to stay outside. She didn't like the idea of domestic work and refused to be sucked into the role of baby sitter or even worse, housewife. It was out on one of these ventures that Thread struck.

Zo‘ was lucky that she found a conveniently shaped rock to crawl under. While everything around her burned and all living things cried out in agony, she watched. She never forgot that day as the deadly silver clumps of evil destroyed all life around her and her tiny shelter. She was lucky it didn't seep into the ground under her. When she returned, Wilhelm was a tattered mess, clutching his daughter to him. Pernelle tried to console him but it was to no avail. Mai-Ly was gone. Zo‘ then realized the brother she knew and loved was dead, replaced by this much more solemn version of him. Luckily, Mai-Ly was the only one of their household to be killed, but one is enough.

From then on, her brother became a sled pilot, while she went on to study genetics, due to the rumors of a new program involving dragons, and the adoption of her blue fire lizard (not to mention how the heck she ended up a blonde while her mother, sister, and father all have or had dark hair).

Family/Friends:
Brother, Wilhelm Kiersted/20/sled pilot/New Landing Hold
Niece (Wilhelm's daughter), Sandrine Kiersted/3/baby/New Landing Hold
Sister-in-law (Sandrine's mother), Mai-Ly Thi Kiersted/deceased (thread)/ New Landing Hold
Sister, Pernelle Kiersted/30/teacher/New Landing

Hobbies & Skills: Aside from the standard language spoken, Zo‘ is fluent French, Farsi, Spanish, and English and moderately understandable in Mandarin (very moderately as she once insulted someone's mother when all she meant to do was ask about food). She also loves singing in every language but English and Galaxese, though she doesn't necessarily understand it 80% of the time. She also enjoys belly dancing; though that's usually only a private thing she will do when no one is looking.

Theme Song: Salome, by U2

Pets: Blue fire lizard, Chac. Since his almost metallic blue coloring reminded Zo‘ of rain, she thought it fitting to name him after a Mayan god of rain. Of course, Chac couldn't be farther from the epitome of a god. The little creature is a bundle of worries and always seems to hound Zo‘ when he thinks the situation might be dangerous. He sometimes reminds Zo‘ of a Terran dog which shakes uncontrollably (a Chihuahua). Chac is a scrawny little beast, but Zo‘ loves him anyway, though the rest of her family cannot possibly see why. She found him quite by accident. The egg was alone, a few feet from the hidden nest (how it got so far, she didn't know), so she picked it up. The thing hatched and promptly Chac plucked the food from her. Astonished, she began feeding him and the rest is history.