Brekke (Dragonriders of Pern)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Brekke is a young Weyrwoman in the Dragonriders of Pern series of science fiction novels by Anne McCaffrey. Brekke plays an important role in Dragonquest (and more indirectly in Dragonsinger). She's "farmcraftbred" — in other words, a farmer, when she is Searched. She Impresses gold dragon Wirenth, and moves to Southern Hold on the newly-reopened Southern Continent, where she falls in love with F'nor, rider of brown Canth, and they become lovers. Because of a near-fatal duel between T'ron and F'lar, Southern Hold is ceded to the Oldtimers who will not accept the authority of Benden Weyr, and thus Brekke moves to a weyr on the Northern Continent. Kylara, rider of gold Prideth, does not control her dragon when Wirenth rises for her first mating flight, and both queens fight and go between.

Brekke becomes catatonic as a result of the shock of losing her dragon, and Lessa insists that she stand for the next hatching in an attempt to re-Impress. She does not, but through a combination of the shock of seeing a new queen and the intervention by her bronze fire-lizard, Berd, she recovers her senses and becomes a productive member of the Weyr, though she never forgets Wirenth. However, she has a paralyzing fear of being left alone, mitigated somewhat by the fact that she can hear all dragons, a trait she shares with Lessa. It is for this reason that she cries out to F'nor and Canth after their abortive mission to the Red Star (Pern), which nearly killed both dragon and rider, burning the skin off of the pair. That cry saved their lives, giving them something to focus on enough to come back to their Weyr, and Brekke further saved the pair when she administered mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on F'nor.

Brekke is skilled in healing, turning to that craft after she Impressed and choosing to continue after her dragon died. As a result, she and Sharra saved Lord Holder Jaxom and his white dragon Ruth when Jaxom came down with a fever called "fire-head" in the book The White Dragon. Unusually, Ruth agreed to take Brekke's direction when she was needed elsewhere and Jaxom had not yet recovered enough to be allowed between, as dragons do not usually carry anyone without their rider. She is also the foster mother of Mirrim, and the mother of two sons: F'rek and Nemekke.