Pre-PC History

Reiko was born on a spring day during the eighth Turn of the present (10th) Pass, the only child of Nabol's assistant steward, Marekor, and his young wife. A fever took her mother soon after Reiko was born, and her father was a very busy man, so she was raised alongside the Lord Holder's children by the Hold's nannies. Reiko's childhood was uneventful and mostly pleasant; she was often excused by association from the most onerous chores, and her days were divided between Harper classes and unstructured play. Being a rather introverted child, her 'play' was often reading in some secluded spot. Her only real friend was the youngest daughter of the Lord Holder, a pretty little thing named Calia, who was rather put upon by her elder siblings and found Reiko's quiet ways to be something of a relief.

By the time they were teenagers, Reiko and Calia were practically inseparable. They shared clothing, secrets... everything. And as time passed, Reiko began to realize that her feelings for Calia went beyond friendship. The day she dared to express her feelings was the day everything changed for her.

Reiko saw a side to Calia she'd never imagined; her best friend became a hostile stranger to her, lashing out at her with a venom that stunned Reiko to tears. Still too young to marry, Calia immediately arranged to have herself fostered as far from Nabol as humanly possible -- but not before she did everything in her not-inconsiderable power to make Reiko's life utterly miserable. She was completely ostracized by the Lord Holder's family, sent back to her father in shame, and relegated to chores fit for drudges. Vicious rumors flew about the Hold, more or less guaranteeing that she'd be greeted everywhere she went with prejudice and suspicion. Determined to rehabilitate his wayward daughter, Marekor took every opportunity to lecture Reiko on the follies of 'unnatural' affections, and eventually (at great inconvience and considerable expense) managed to arrange a 'suitable' marriage for her with the son of a minor holder from Crom. Doubtless he felt he was doing her a huge favor in finding a husband for her before her reputation made any vestiges of respectability utterly impossible.

Heartbroken, shunned, and faced with virtual exile, Reiko finally took matters into her own hands, slipping out of the Hold in the dead of night with a few items stuffed in a worn pack. She caught up with some traders at an outlying camp and traveled with them to the next minor holding, where she spent her last marks hiring a wagon to take her the rest of the way to High Reaches Weyr.