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Whatever hopes Lifth may have harbored about quiet roommates were abruptly and completely shattered when the small stripy green frolicked into the barracks with a slightly worn-out Akaya following after clutching a sack with all the possessions she'd brought with her when Searched. The very first thing Sleeth did was her circling--Akaya was beginning to become used to the odd habit--around Lifth and G'brel, several circuits, before trilling an enthusiastic greeting with a sound that sounded far more likely to come from a firelizard than a dragon (even if the dragon was quite young and undersized). Hello! I am Sleeth! And this is Akayamine! Did you enjoy the feast? Wasn't it nice? I met so many people~

"Sleeth, darling, I do think it's best to make sure people would like to hear you before you go barging around enthusing at them," Akaya said, rueful as she set about unpacking what little she had to unpack. A few small instruments and music made up the bulk of it, though she had a few odd trinkets and extra clothing besides. It was a few moments before she realized she hadn't properly greeted her roommate, and she looked up quickly. "Ah, it's G'brel now, isn't it? You changed your name. I didn't think there was any dignified way to shorten mine--A'kya kind of sounds like someone's being strangled--so I kept mine the same."

"See now, I hadn't even thought of that. Still, I don't mind and I suppose it doesn't much matter," Akaya said, with a contented shrug of the shoulders. And she was all smiles along with G'brel at the reminiscing of their Impressions. "It does, somewhat. It's one thing to know and another to know--" She broke off into laughter, and shook her head. "I'm just babbling on."

Akaya inclined her heads towards the blue dragonet respectfully when introduced. "It's nice to meet you, Lifth. And Sleeth took care of our side of introductions--stop circling, dear."

Sleeth obediently came to a stop near Akaya's bunk, though clearly she was still full of energy, talons tapping lightly against the floor. It is nice to have a space for us, isn't it? Akayamine said the candidate barracks were much more crowded and while I wouldn't have minded having the others I suppose it would be awfully difficult when we start getting bigger. She seemed absolutely oblivious to any discomfort Lifth might have been experiencing, or wish for privacy, as she chattered his mental ear off.

"Very much so!" Akaya agreed, and then she turned thoughtful. "Ooh, I suppose I should write a letter to my folks--I'm sure they'll find out sooner or later but they'd appreciate hearing it from their own daughter--hah, my brothers are going to be soo jealous!" Once again she came to a belated realization that G'brel might not quite understand; surely even 'weyrbrats' were aware of their blood sibs though. "Since you're from here, you probably know some of the others who Impressed, eh?"

You will always be larger than me, Sleeth said pragmatically--apparently the green had a talent for stating the obvious. And many of the others larger than us both. Our room must be smaller than the rooms for the larger dragonets. I wonder if they feel emptier... She didn't dwell long on the "philosophical" thought, and cocked her head to one side. But we will have fun, yes? There was a hidden question in the obvious one--an edge of dangling for approval from her blue roommate.

"You'll have to introduce me--I barely know anyone right now," Akaya admitted, though she had no doubt that'd change quickly enough, G'brel's help or not. The weyrlings would be living and working and seeing more than their fill of each other for the next months while their dragons grew and they all trained together--there were few things better for forging close bonds of fellowship than shared tribulation. There was a lot of hard work ahead.

Sleeth did not seem dissuaded by the cryptic reply--it was not outright negative, and that meant it was positive, to the little green anyway. I and Mine will make sure you and Yours have fun, she said cheerfully.

Akaya gathered the friend acting like a wherryhead was directly tied to Benden's presence, and guessed said friend was probably Weyrborn as well--had taken Alumanth's death to heart. Yes, that would be somewhat difficult... "No, I haven't," she said, just as curious as G'brel to the bronze's behavior. It was generally out of character for such a high ranking dragon to behave so familiarly, she'd think. "Well, there are all kinds," she added with a little shrug. She refrained from adding that it hadn't been the other bronze's fault--really, she figured herself to be something of an outlier on that position and there was no need to stir up something with her roommate if she felt elsewise. Maybe G'brel agreed, maybe she didn't--it wasn't as if it really mattered to either of them, in the long run.

In any case, she wasn't at all familiar with Benden's dragons, and only had a passing familiarity with Fort's ranking riders, since it was Fort Weyr the Harper Hall lay beside. "It's good that he was making friends though, isn't it? Trine could use a Benden bronze on their side, I'd say--one willing to coo over even little atypical dragons," she said wisely, recognizing vaguely Luvith as one of the crimsons--not Sleeth's clutchsister, from Brakiath's, she was sure.

Are older dragons normally not fond of us? Sleeth asked, using 'us' as to refer to 'dragonets'--after all, she was one.

"I think they prefer to wait until you are older and more sensible by their standards to associate with you," Akaya said, chuckling as she reached to scratch Sleeth's eye ridges in a reassuring gesture. "It's nothing personal, dear, it goes for human youth too. There are plenty of human adults who want nothing to do with human children."

"That would be the trick," Akaya agreed. "It may well be exposure alone could help matters along." And the hope that familiarity would not breed further contempt. "Still, s'out of our hands." She had been somewhat sympathetic to the Old Weyrs, and still was, but it was hard to agree with their policy knowing her own dragon had been born from a dragon who, in the north, would never have had the chance to live at all. If Trine did not hatch Atypicals, Sleeth would never have been born, and she would not be a dragonrider. When things were simplified down to that, there was no contest--why would any dragonrider deny a dragon the chance to live, knowing that another's life could be changed as theirs had been?

I am here with you, Sleeth reassured Akaya, not really following the girl's broodings. What did it matter of might-have-beens when Sleeth was here now?

You're right, Akaya agreed. "We probably ought to be more worried about what lies in our immediate future. The Candidatemaster stays Candidatemaster, doesn't he? There's a different rider who's the Weyrlingmaster?"

"Ah, none taken," Akaya replied, the vaguest sense of puzzlement settling across the girl's otherwise pleasant expression. She wasn't entirely sure what 'proddy' meant, and the fact that G'brel had immediately backpedaled with an apology meant that it probably wasn't a polite term. Was it meant to refer specifically to greenriders?

"I suppose we'll see soon enough, on the matter of the weyrlingmaster." And she did hope for someone more pleasant than O'rer, whomever they might be.

I am sure they will be fine, Sleeth said--and Akaya smiled. It was hard to remain in any sort of down state with Sleeth around for cheering on. And we will all do well!