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Conomor chuckled and nodded. "Yes, I like you want whichever one wants me. A bronze would be lovely, but equally a blue or a brown would be. The only thing I know for sure is that a green wouldn't take me... I must admit I'm looking forward to touching the eggs as well. I've never been onto the hatching sands before; it'll be amazing." Somewhere among all those mottled shells, his dragon might be lying dormant as its egg hardened. He hoped that, if he did Impress, he would notice which egg his dragon came out of some that he could take a piece of it as a memento.

"I look forward to watching the ones who are certain they're getting a bronze hang around the bigger eggs," Conomor added with a grin and a shake of his head. "If they focus too hard on getting the 'right' colour they'll probably end up with no dragon at all; more chance for the rest of us again."

Conomor nodded his agreement to that, smiling softly. "I don't think anyone could do that. The dragon knows who's right for it; all we can do is accept their wisdom... Any of the ones sure they'll get a bronze who actually do will probably be unbearable though." He'd seen it in adult riders, the snobbery. Some bronze riders wouldn't even deign to sit with brown riders at table let alone blue or green riders. If he Impressed a bronze, Conomor decided privately, he would be sure to ostracize anyone who behaved like that.

Blues and greens were just as vital as browns and bronzes, maybe more so in Threadfall. Enough of the smaller dragons could take the place of their lager kin, but the larger ones, no matter how many of them there were, would miss bits of Thread due to their lower agility. Anyone who belittled greens and blues was a complete deadglow.

Rayale stretched languidly as he wandered through the market stalls, mostly ignoring the banter of the merchants as he took in everything around him with a certain amazement. There was so much -here-. He was very tempted to buy something, but he wanted it to be something useful or interesting, and hadn't come close to deciding yet.
Rikk, the blue flitt was with him, although he'd tied a cord around the flitt's foot, frustrating the small creature, and was having to keep an eye on it to make sure he didn't have an oportunity to chew his way through it and go 'rescue' something light and pretty, as the small blue was prone to do.
Rikk had given up mostly on expressing his agrivation, and only hissed oncasionally, mostly having settled into a good, prolonged sulk
"Oh...deal." Rayale grumbled to the flit, as he hissed quietly, eyeing a merchant who's displays included an aray of necklaces and another nearby with some facinating decorated knives.

Leave it to the old tailor to decide to go to the Gather rather than sell some of his clothing to a trader who would only sell it for more, in his reasoning. They'd had to close up the shop in Ista Weyr and move all finished work that wasn't something paid for or ordered by Weyrfolk and set up a tent in the long line of others at the Hold. Kita wasn't quite willing to be there, what with the sunlight out, but he didn't have to join his master in trying to sway people to their tent and buy so it wasn't all bad.

No, instead he sat in the depths of the tent in the shade with bolts of fabric, measuring tools and some threads as all the work was done out front. He did have to get up and hand his master a few shirts to set out again once he managed to sell some off and needed to restock the front. And in those moments he could get a better look at all of the people crowding the walkway for the festivities, and other tents spread out with their wares.

Rayale turned an imediate dark red from embarassment, and looked away from the beads and knives with an sheepish cough. "No, but Rikk likes them. They're shiny." He held up the improvised leash with an equally appologetic expression. "He likes them a lot... Besides I thought I could send something back to my sister. Though I suppose most of this stuff would just get in the way back at the hold."
He cleared his throat again and shrugged, offering a broad, rough hand to the other boy, thinking he might as well introduce himself.
"I'm Rayale."

Riordan nodded and glanced at the nearby stalls. "Ah, there's one." He gestured to a booth a bit down the aisle from where they were. "We can see what they've got." They were on a mission now! Find a pretty necklace! And then haggle the ear off whoever was selling it to get it at a decent price.

The boy led the way to the stall he'd pointed out, which had various pieces of jewelry laid out on display. As they drew near, the vendor happily waved them closer and started showing off the prized pieces, displayed right in the middle of the stand. "Look here, boys. A nice necklace for a pretty ladyfriend." He held up the necklace, which sparkled and shifted colors in the light. The stones were smooth and uniform in size. It was clearly a piece of work.

Conomor watched the merchant steadily for a few moments before turning to inspect his wares. They were certainly good quality, and his basic honesty tugged at his tongue to say so. If he did though, the price would double on the spot and so he held hos tongue and looked closer at the necklaces. The shifting colours were undeniably lovely... but this was the first place he'd looked. Still, there wasn't anything wrong with buying right away if you knew what it was you wanted.

"What do you think, Riordan?" Conomor asked after a while, turning to the other Candidate with a thoughtful frown. The neckalces were lovely... but there might be something even better just around the corner. That was the only trouble with gathers; it was always so hard to choose among the plethora of different options available.