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"That must be an incredible change then, going from roaming all over to living in a place like this." It was incredible enough for him, the change of scenery, people...
"So...you were holdless?" He asked with a blink as the posibility occured to him. If he lived in a caravan...
What was that even like? Maybe a little like being out on a boat, but, so much different. Did it take the same kind of dicipline to run a Caravan? He was facinated more than disgusted, trying to picture such a different lifestyle, and didn't notice Rikk sniffing around and casually work his teeth and claws quickly through his lead, suddely taking off in a flurry of leathery wings and a triumphant chirp.
"RIKK!!" It was a pretty impressive set of lungs, of course then again the young man was built like an barel. Never the less it didn't do anything to prevent Rikk from diving toward the desperate merchant with the eggs. "Get back here!!"

"Oh, right. White wine... doesn't stain," the bluerider muttered and mumbled to himself, withdrawing his offer of the damp towel to clean Seryes' shirt. He glanced up and met her eyes, his own bright and merry at the mention of~ "people might think you got bumped into," because, well, that's really what happened! M'zaji offered the older woman a lopsided grin, his blush receding somewhat as he relaxed in her presence. She seemed friendly enough! "Well met, Seryes," he responded jovially, after he passed the damp towel back to the journeyman who had given it to him. "I'm M'zaji, rider of blue Kaedrelath, both of Ista Weyr," he said, gesturing to the knot on his shoulder, and then making a vague gesture towards the area where the dragons laid out sunning themselves.

"Whers, ehh? Do you like your work?" He asked, intrigued. M'zaji had, to be honest, never seen a Wher. He knew what they were, what they looked like, and several things about them (that they didn't like night, could bond very intensely or not at all, etc.) but he had never had the opportunity to meet one.

As though his rank had only just now fully registered on him, Seryes blinked at M'zaji as though she'd only just seen him now, appearing magically out of thin air. Some kind of being that looked human, but was somehow miles separate.
There was a hint of wistfulness in that look, but it vanished a moment later as she smiled softly, thinking of her life now.
"I like it well enough. It's nothing like I planned to be, but sometimes we sort of... fall into things. They're... I don't know. I don't want to call them sad, that implies they're something lesser. They're... misunderstood. Lonely. In so many ways they could have been dragons but they're so far away." She rambled, clearly having had a topic touched upon that she felt deeply about, then realized what she was doing, blushed furiously and studied a vendors wares with intensity.
"I like it very much. I'm no dragon rider, but we can't all be so glorious." She added, this time with a hint of real envy. "...Whats it like?"

"Yep, I was Holdless." Dhiren grinned proudly at the thought of his previous lifestyle, despite how hard it was at times. "My parents earned an honest living while traveling, we weren't like those who attacked the other caravans. It was hard, but it was a lotta fun too." The boy felt like he could go on and on about his adventures, but was forced to stop because of two reasons:

One: It would be rude to chatter aimlessly. Didn't his momma teach him to chew his words before spitting them out?
And Two: ......Ray's Firelizard, at that moment, had flown free. Shocked, Shir raced to help his new friend catch the slipperly, little lizard.

He made a grab at the lizards' tail, only to slip and crash into the stall. Groaning and rubbing the bruise on his shoulder, He stood and perked up at the merchant's words.

Firelizard Egg? Half Mark? While how wrong it seemed to sell the eggs, he just couldn't resist. Jumping up, Dhiren held out the half-mark and pointed to one of the vases where a hint of blue was peeking out through the sands. "That one for me, Sir!"

Hold Gathers: Annelie had been to many in her four years on Ista and working in the Weyr. And every time she attended a Gather, she always asked herself WHY THE HECK HAD SHE GONE? ...Because it was her day off and her superiors in the Lower Caverns made her leave, that's why. It was a crumby explanation in her mind, though, and it didn't make sense for her to be at such an event. She hated crowds. She hated the weirdo merchants watching her. She had no money. She wished she had something to break though, or something to spill on someone so that she could run away and hide... but she didn't -- all she had in front of her at the moment were folded stacks of shirts in various blues. ...Whoopie.

Annelie fingered the sleeve of one of the shirts and arched a nervous brow in mild interest. With her other hand she brushed a curled strand of dark hair out her eyes and then lightly scratched her cheek for a split-second. ...it was so weird to have a soot-free face... her skin still felt tingly! Damn, the concept of soap and water; genius.

There had to still be soot on her nose or something, though, she deduced quietly to herself, because the weirdo shop merchant kept staring at her. ...Shards, she hated shop merchants. Creepers.

She turned slightly to that her hair fell more into her face and she inspected another shirt. The dress she wore now had probably been as blue as the shirt at some point in time, like 10 years ago. Now it was practically light gray, frayed at the sleeves and stained three inches up from the bottom hem from mud. Annelie gave a sigh. She was so out of place here.

Flits weren't known for being the brightest creatures in Pern, the little blue was hardly a stand out exception. From the air, he observed black hair and thought Raena. Spiraling down, the small blue kreened and went to try and land on Annelie whom he had mistaken for Raena. It was too tempting to examine the differences in the new hair. It didn't connect that his couldn't change that much, interest and the want to be loved on took over.


Raena hadn't been looking at her flit, attention drawn elsewhere. Around the healer's section everyone had gotten used to Spearkeek so him miss behaving was never an issue. She hardly expected him to land on some random person.

Rather, she was looking at a healers stall a few stalls down from Annelie. There were a few herbs there she wasn't familiar with. Missing a chance to learn more was a waste of a day, something she abhorred.

Lytah perked up suddenly. Actually, the green firelizard was nearly always perked up, so what happened was that she found a new edge of perkiness. Tilting her head to one side, she let out a curious trill. She smelled food! Or, more precisely, she smelled someone who meant food. Also shattery noises, but she was willing to overlook that. Like Pavlov’s dogs, she now associated that breaking noise with food. Cil felt a slight pressure and then nothing on his shoulder as the flit took to wing. A few onlookers ohhed and ahhed at the pretty flit.

Cil merely sighed. “Oh Shards… Lytah! Lyddie! Get back here!” Before he had realized how limited a firelizard’s intelligence was, he had once tried to explain the concept of paying for food; Lytah hadn’t quite grasped the intricacies of the lesson, of course. It was the Candidate’s fear that she had finally noticed a particularly delicious bubbly pie of some sort and was now intent on eating it all by herself. And that would certainly give the tiny flit a tummy ache.

Elae was, of course, simply amused by this all. “I can see how shouting at her is so very effective, Cil. Come on! Let’s catch up before we lose her!” And then the two humans took to pushing through the crowd.

The green firelizard didn’t really notice. Oh, she sensed that her human was a little upset about something, but that wasn’t unusual. Surely he wasn’t upset with her! Of course not! Her wings beat in the sky and she landed gently on Annelie’s shoulder, opposite of a blue flit. “Kre!” she said, suddenly annoyed that someone else should steal her food. “Krekree!”

All Cil could do was blanche when he finally saw the poor girl being accosted by Lytah. “Oh shards… I’m so sorry, miss! She’s really a better firelizard most of t…” he paused, suddenly looking almost as curious as Lytah herself. “Here… I know you, don’t I? Didn’t you once spill a bowl of hot soup all over my… err… umms….” He quailed and then checked the nearby area for any bowls of soup. Just in case.

“Oh, don’t worry, Cil! There won’t be any spilling on your um errs today!” Elae said cheerfully once she had caught up. She smiled brightly at Annelie, recognizing her vaguely from the Weyr. Not a Candidate though, she thought. “Hi! My name’s Elae, and this lump of uselessness is Cil. The cute one is Lytah.”

Annelie hadn't exactly been... off in a daze or anything -- she had been well aware of all that was happening around her as she examined the shirts -- but when two random, unknown somethings simultaneously touched her shoulders, and that coupled with the "Kreekre," there was an immediate... mildly entertaining show.

The girl stiffened, let out a sharp and rather loud "OOH!" and then she immediately threw her hands up to her mouth to stifle her sudden fit. She stared wide-eyed out in front of her for a second, then her head whipped to each shoulder, which only solicited another "OOH!" when she noted the two flitts, reatures she had only seen in passing.

With her eyes now doubled in size, she kept looking back and forth to each shoulder and Flit, her hands still over her mouth. People around her stopped and watched, some pointed and some laughed, the rest just ooed at the Flits. Annelie couldn't really grasp was there was to OOOOO about... as she was still in some frenzied Oh Shards What The Heck moment. This only got worse when she turned and saw Cil.

She gave another gasp and startled noise, but it was more like a "ACKOHSHIT!" than an "OOH!" She remembered him too, apparently, and she also gave a quick glance around to see if there was anything to spill on him again. ...But there were only shirts, and two flits perched on her shoulders. Nothing to use as a diversion...

Even as Elae introduced herself, Annelie continued to stand stalk still, hands at her mouth with eyes as big as plates.

....Oh SHARDS.