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In the candidates barracks, Jericho rummaged through his carisack one more time, but once again, came up empty handed. Muttering angrily to himself, he bent down and checked under the bed, again, but to no avail. He had already looked in both places, even under everyone elses beds, in all his pockets, and asked all the other candidates if they had seen it.
His timepiece was still missing.
The man flopped onto his bed, running a restless hand through his curly honey golden hair in frustration. The timepiece was very valuable, and not only for money, but it had sentimental value as well. His mother had given it to him just before he had left, telling him that it was something that had been passed down from his maternal grandfather. She had wanted him to have something to remember her by while he was so far away in the Weyr, and now he'd gone and lost it.
Jericho sighed heavily, trying to think back when he had last seen it. He had placed it back in his bag before heading off for a bath the previous night, and hadn't seen it since. He didn't think any of the other candidates would have stolen it, after all, he wasn't really on bad terms with any of them. The majority of them were younger than him, and not to mention smaller, so they generally just left him alone. He hadn't really gone out of his way to make friends, but then again, he didn't really have any enemies either.
Well, in any case, it obviously wasn't here in the barracks. He'd looked floor to rafters and not seen a glimps of the small, round, golden object, so perhaps he should go ask around a bit. Maybe he'd only thought he'd put it in his bag? Perhaps it had fallen out of his pocket...
Jericho made his way back out through the door, and looked around him to try and pick out anyone who might have seen his timepiece. It seemed like a hopeless endeavor, but he couldn't just write home and tell his mother that he'd lost it already, after only two weeks there in High Reaches. The sun was already setting and people were finishing up the last of their chores before heading back to their quarters for the night. He looked behind him at the setting sun, admiring the colors for a brief moment before turning away again and setting off on his quest. A bright flash out of the corner of his eye automatically drew his attention, and much to his surprise, he saw the Weyr's newest gold rider sitting and admiring the sunset, just as he had been. No one else was in his immediate vicinity, so Jericho took a deep breath and made his way towards the young woman and her dragon, hoping she wouldn't think it presumptuous of him. He hadn't spoken with any gold riders in the past, so he hardly knew what to expect, though he had heard that this new one was quite kind. Perhaps that was only to dragon riders though...
Well, too late now, he was already standing there before her, might as well buck up and ask.
"Ahh..." he began. Oh yes, terribly smooth of you, Jericho. Curse his social awkwardness! "Excuse me, Gold Rider..." well that was a little better. He sketched her a brief but graceful bow, golden curls tumbling about his face as he did so. He righted himself and looked down at her with his blue eyes, the same color as a tropical sea, and smiled slightly.

Jericho raised an eyebrow at the bronze flit that raced by his head, clearly checking him out to see if he was a danger. Apparently he got the green light though because the flit soon backed off, if only a little. He watched the little bronze a moment, once again wishing he had been able to impress a flit back at Tillek, like his mother had. But he had been a lowly apprentice then, and hadn't ranked high enough to get one of the coveted eggs.
He looked back to the young woman sitting in front of him, and waved a hand dismissively "Oh its fine. Don't wake him. My mother's flit gets horribly cranky if it's woken from its nap." he mused with a slight smile on his tan face.
Jericho was silent a moment as he thought about how to ask his question. It seemed almost rude, now that he thought about it twice, that he should go up and ask a gold rider of all people if she had seen his timepiece. He gave a little sigh. Nothing he could do about it now. He was already here and she was clearly looking for his reason.
"I..." he tapped his foot slightly, looking thoughtful "I was wondering if perhaps you hadn't seen a golden timepiece laying around anywhere?" He flushed slightly, but pushed onwards "I know it seems like a silly thing to ask, but I simply can't seem to find it anywhere, so I thought I might as well ask around." he shrugged slightly, obviously embarrassed that he even had to ask, but willing to do so anyways. "It has a lot of sentimental value." he finished lamely, feeling incredibly awkward, like he always did around pretty young women.

Jericho's eyes went briefly to the queen dragon, who seemed displeased. He wondered idly if he had offended her, and offered her a bow as well, hoping to appease her. "Please excuse me if I have offended you." he said politely. he found it much easier to speak to dragons than people, even if they didn't talk back.
He turned his gaze back to Amelia and said "Well, its about this big, round and made of gold with a ship at sea engraved on the cover. It also has a little chain coming from the top so that you can attach it to your clothing." he smiled wryly then "Which is a feature I probably should use more often."
Something occurred to him then, and he flushed in embarrassment. "I do apologize, I just realized I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm Jericho, Journeyman ship builder from Tillek." he said, bowing a third time. "You'll have to forgive me...my social skills are less than stellar." he admitted with a self depreciating smile on his handsome face as he looked at Amelia and brushed his wild curls from his eyes

Jericho heaved a sigh of relief when the piece was produced from the girl's pocket. He found that very odd, but he was too happy to have found it to make anything of it at first. As he took it from her, his large, long fingered hands dwarfing the timepiece, he nodded at her explanation.
"It's fine." he said with a laugh as he looked the piece over carefully, flipping open the catch to make sure everything was alright on the inside. It was still operating fine, and didn't seem to have a scratch on it, much to his relief. He tucked the timepiece into his pocket, making sure to attach the chain to his clothing so that it couldn't wander off again. It was probably better to keep it on him from here on out, rather than in his bag if there was a clepto firelizard with a penchant for shiney things running about.
He looked at said firelizard for a moment, as it 'spoke' with the queen dragon, and then reached into his other pocket thoughtfully, pulling something out.
"Perhaps a trade?" he suggested, crouching down and holding out his hand the little blue, unfolding his hand to reveal something there on his palm. It was a sea shell. Plain sandy white with ridges on one side, but on the inside, it was smooth and shiny with a rainbow of colors that shone when turned to the sunlight. He had brought his collection of shells from home with him, but this was a small one, and he didn't mind giving it away.
"This is somewhat less valuable than my timepiece, but prettier on the inside, I think." he said, smiling at the firelizard.
He turned his head up to answer Amelia's question, smiling at her in the setting sun "Tillek is on the coast." he explained "We're a fishing hold, though a lot of trade runs through us as well." he explained. "Before I was searched, I was a ship builder."

Jericho chuckled a little as the blue alighted on his arm and picked up the shell. It must have passed inspection because the firelizard launched off his arm and disappeared between.
"He offers them to your dragon?" He asked curiously. He'd never really heard of that before, but then again, he hadn't exactly spent a lot of time around dragons and their riders either. "Interesting."
The man stood to his full height and moved to catch up with the woman and her dragon. "Thank you." he said to the invite, flashing her a smile. He hadn't really had anything to do that evening anyways, so going along with the girl to see a firelizards miniature treasure hoard seemed like as good an idea as any.
"Tillek? Well..." he thought for a moment as they walked, trying to decide how to explain it to someone who had probably never seen the ocean "It's very beautiful there, with clear water all around. We get shipfish in the bay a lot too. Its nice, sitting out on a dock and watching them. They come out around sunset a lot." he explained. "I actually get horrificially seasick when I go out on deep water." he admitted, embarassed, but he pressed on "so I don't do much sailing, unless its in in the bay where the water is calmer. It's a lot of fun though, I wish I was able to go out further." he said wistfully. "The wind at your back, filling the sails, the smell of salt water and the call of the seabirds..." he turned and grinned down at her "It's great."
They walked in silence a moment before he continued, looking off to the side, watching people go about their business as they passed. He was still acclimating to Weyr life, so he liked to keep his eyes open, see what it was everyone else did with their day to day lives.
"In my craft, I'm in charge of designing new boats, and the directing the construction, helping out where needed." he explained to the younger woman. "I prefer the designing stage more myself." he admitted "I was working on a small boat for myself before I left, actually. I wonder if I'll ever get to finish it now?" he wondered aloud.
he pulled from his thoughts of sailing and turned his attention to Amelia once more. "A miner? What is that like? I had heard that you were a miner here at the Weyr from a few of the other candidates." he admitted "I heard about your impression of Sharath too. Must have been a shock."

Jericho was surprised by her shudder when he spoke of the water, and realized that she must have a fear of it to react in such a fashion. It wasn't that strange, he supposed. When you didn't live around a large body of water, chances were you didn't spend a lot of time learning how to swim, meaning that you had every reason to fear drowning. Jericho hardly ever gave it a second thought though, he'd been swimming since he was old enough to walk. You had to when you lived so close to the water, and worked on it every day.
“If you want, sometime I could teach you how. The lake is nice and calm and has a lot of shallow water.” he pointed out in a friendly fashion, without seeming to look down on her for her inability to swim already “I'm sure Sharath would enjoy a good swim with you every once and awhile. Seems like a lot of dragons do, from what I've seen.” he said, thinking of all the times he'd seen the dragons bathing in the Weyr lake with their riders. It seemed like a lot of fun to him. They certainly seemed to enjoy themselves.
He raised an eyebrow at her as the walked together and said “Of course they would talk. You're the miner girl who impressed a gold without even being a candidate. That's everyone's favorite kind of story.” he said, bemused as he drifted off into thought again as he was often wont to do.
When Amelia began speaking of her craft, Jericho turned his bright eyed gaze back to her once more, nodding as she spoke. He seemed to be warming up to her, and had an easier time speaking with her than he had at first. She was a friendly woman, very down to earth and easy to talk to. He was beginning to find that true of many people in the Weyr. It was very refreshing, and seemed to be slowly but surely drawing him out of his unsocial shell.
“I know what you mean. Most people don't really stop to think about where their boat came from, or how it came into being. It's nice, though, seeing your finished product being used, no matter if it is a tunnel or a boat.” he said with a smile.
“I've never attended a hatching, actually.” He admitted. “Never really had a reason to, although now I guess I don't really have a reason not to.” His face darkened slightly as he continued “I did hear that the last one was quite bloody though. Hopefully the next one will not have any casualties...such a sad loss of life.” Jericho murmured.

Jericho decided to let the subject of swimming drop. It was apparently a very uncomfortable subject for her. He supposed it was natural, considering she had apparently spent a lot of her time mining under ground. Not many chances to swim. Not many places either, except for the lake which was occupied by dragons most of the time. He smiled briefly at the twittering gold firelizard on Amelia's shoulder. She was a pretty little thing, that was for sure. He hoped to get one of his own one day. They seemed like such friendly and useful little creatures. His mother's had been trained to send messages and to wake him up in the mornings. He was terrible at waking up on time. He was lucky that someone came in to wake up the candidates every morning (with a very loud and obnoxious voice) or there would never be any breakfast left over for him.

"How did your family react?" he asked curiously. Sending a daughter off to watch a hatching to bring back the news, only to have her come back with a gold dragon had to have been a bit of a shocker for them. "They must be proud that their daughter will be Weyrwoman one day."

Jericho nodded at the news of the other, non violent impressions. "I see. Unfortunately, stories such as those rarely make such rousing tales as the violent ones." he said with a sad sort of smile "That is good to know, though...Whose bronze was it that helped the others?" he asked curiously. He had never heard of such a thing at a hatching, one hatching watching over the others. Very odd, but endearing.