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Making yourself useful with only one serviceable arm was rather difficult; he had exhausted the chores he was currently capable of by midday. After that he'd almost gone down to the records to do some studying of old scrolls; while he had the time off it might as well be put to good use he had reasoned.

Gilden had persuaded him to change his plans. The day was lovely outside! Sunny! Calm! Nice! Images of the lake, of splashing around in it and then oil? Food? This was what was wanted! He hadn't taken much persuading; getting out sounded really quite attractive, he'd been cooped up inside far too much of late.

As such, Conomor was currently sitting on the edge of the lake with a basket of lunch, watching the brilliant golden shape of his flitt shoot in and out of the water. Sometimes she stayed under for quite some time before appearing again and diving along the surface like a dolphin. At intervals she took to the air in order to buzz over to him and communicate her happiness at the lovey day and his company and then she wanted him to watch! Watch! And then she would shoot off and pull off another elegant dive into the clear waters of the lake.

Conomor sighed contentedly and bit into a meatroll; this was definitely better than being stuck inside pawing through dusty scrolls. Not as good as being stuck inside at weyrling lessons though. He sighed somewhat less contentedly and shook his head at himself. No point in thinking that. There would be other chances.

Conomor turned as he heard his name and smiled as his dark eyes settled on the youth who had spoken. "Nathail; good to see you." So he hadn't Impressed. He'd expected to be a little relieved by that, but he wasn't; it would have been good if his friend had found his dragon. At least it was nice to know that he wasn't so selfish that he didn't want anyone to have a dragon if he couldn't. He'd felt horribly jealous of those who had Impressed at the hatching feast, still felt horribly jealous, but that feeling didn't go the other way; he wasn't happy that Nathail hadn't succeeded.

"Are you busy, or would you like to sit down for some lunch?" Conomor gestured with his good hand at the basket. "My foster mother packed this up for me, and she seems to think I eat about ten times more than I actually do." It would be nice to have some friendly company; other than the feast he'd been rather isolated since breaking his arm.

Conomor gave a lopsided smile and shrugged slightly. "It's not so bad; doesn't hurt much anymore, should be getting the split off in a sevenday or so. If I don't make it to the next hatching, it won't be because of this. Have to agree about some of the dragons; I was up in the stands. First two, especially that green, looked pretty vicious."

Taking another bite of his meatroll, Conomor turned to watch Gilden shoot up out of the water and then vanish again. "I suppose at least this has given me time to focus on her," he said with a soft chuckle. "I hardly even have any chores right now, which makes a nice change. So far she's been pretty well behaved for a flitt, especially a young one."

Perhaps it was because she was a queen and therefore brighter, more likely to take to training. Perhaps it was just that he'd had the time to laze around and do little but train her. Well, it hardly mattered why she refrained from the acts of mischief and thievery he saw other firelizards get up to, just that she did.

Conomor chuckled and shook his head. "I don't think I have, no. I think we were all expecting something startling out of that egg, but she was still a surprise even from as far off as I was. Did you bet on colours by the way? I made a few guesses myself, one of them for that pink egg to be a green. I was wrong on the one everyone was saying had a strange texture though; had it pegged as a brown." He'd forgotten most of his other guesses; seen as he hadn't put marks on it and hadn't been going to stand by the time he made most of his guesses retaining them hadn't seemed too important.

A happy trill cut through the air then, and Gilden made one of her visits over to see Conomor. Still rather soggy, she landed in his lap and crooned as he smiled and stroked her. "She certainly does seems to approve of all the fuss," he said with a smile. "Not sure what she'll make of me getting back into routines that have less time for paying attention to her."

Conomor smiled and continued to fuss over Gilden. "I expect she can still at least be around me most of the time. I see no reason anyone would mind so long as she isn't in the way. Humm. Might have to find out about the green at the tailors; Gilden needs more flitt friends and I got on with the apprentice there." If Gilden had friends of her own kind, perhaps she wouldn't mind being away from him so much; at least she'd have company rather than moping about by herself.

"I didn't notice any of the boys who thought they 'deserved' a bronze Impress," Conomor added after a moment with a grin. "If they got any dragon at all, they certainly didn't get a bronze." This was a very satisfying fact. Conomor polished off his meatroll and fished out a flask of fruit juice, enjoying feeling rather smug. Idiots like that deserved nothing, and so far as he'd noticed this time at least they'd got just exactly that.

Conomor smiled and shook his head as Gilden took off one more and dived into the lake. "I think it might have improved them all to Impress blues," he said with a shrug, "but I'm still glad they didn't. While they might become slightly better people for a wake up call like that, there were more deserving people out there. You for example." He knew Nathail would make a good rider, one he'd like to work with. Next time. Next time they'd both Impress.

"After standing out on the sands," Conomor said thoughtfully after a moment, taking another meatroll out of the basket, "do you have any more idea what colour you might Impress?" He was still having that same debated with himself. Blue, brown, bronze. Where did he belong? What would suit him? What did he want, in a purely selfish sense? Silly things to ask, but things everyone asked of themselves he was sure. Anyone who said they'd never speculated about what colour dragon they might Impress was a liar.

Conomor smiled at the idea of one of the posturing I'm-so-tough lads getting a green but didn't respond to the idea; he was already busy thinking about how to respond to Nathail. "I... Don't know," he said eventually with a slight frown. "Sometimes I think I've reached a conclusion, but then I think of something else about one of the other colours and I'm unsure again... I'm not sure a bronze would suit me though. I'm not... I'm not," he frowned again, searching for the right word.

"I'm not political enough," he said eventually. "I hate the power struggles I see them have, the falseness of some of the people that hang around them hoping to catch a bit of reflected prestige... I don't know though. I could ride a bronze and just not get involved." Smiling, he shook his head and took another drink of juice. "I guess we're still at the point we were back in the dorm then. No idea what we'd want with freedom to choose... What'll you do if you don't Impress?" he asked after a moment. "I've no idea what I'd do to be honest. All I've done with my life so far is work towards becoming a rider."

Conomor nodded, smiling as Gilden porpoised along the surface of the lake. "Yes, whenever that might be... I suppose we can only wait and see so far as bronzes go, too. Supposedly they know who's right for them... and I suppose they do on a personal level. That doesn't mean every bronze, or every bronze rider, is suited to authority though. Like you say, quite a few could get caught up in it and end up as bad as the ones so sure they'll Impress bronze at the minute."

He wouldn't be one of those though, he was sure. Perhaps it was just ego, but he was convinced that he had enough sense and integrity to keep his feet on the ground and his head out of the clouds. Didn't mean he wanted a bronze - or didn't want one for that matter - just that he felt he could deal with one. Life, Conomor considered, would be much easier once a dragon chose him. He was tired of wondering about colour.

"I'd have to stay here really I think," he went on eventually with a shrug. "No craft to take me anywhere else... I'd try to find some way to involve myself with dragons though. Even if I never find my dragon, I want to at least be near them." Perhaps it would be painful to see people all around him with a bond he would never experience, but in his opinion that would be better than removing himself from the presence of dragons all together.