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"Daddy, are you gonna go dancing?" Mama and A'len went dancing when they went to Gathers. Surely daddy would be not different. ... Then again, was there dancing yet? Kagiya didn't know. She hadn't seen any dancers, but that didn't mean they weren't there. ... Why did daddy wear his hair like that? Girls wore their hair long, but not in their faces. Her eyebrows drawing together, Giya tried to figure it out. It didn't make any sense. How come he wanted to hide? If he looked like her, there was nothing to hide at all!

"Mama and A'len didn't go this time," Kagiya said sadly, well aware that 'later', especially without her mother present, meant 'not where you can see it'. Shrugging her shoulders a little, she eyed the crowd, trying to decide if running off again was a good idea. Probably not. Dragonriders were better at finding people than random weyrfolk, weren't they? Whether or not it was true, Giya believed it, which was all that mattered. "Don't see Kay anywhere..." Where was her little sister?

Denik grinned as the warm pie in front of him quickly dissapeared.

It didn't take long for the young boy to find the pie stand, so he had plenty of time to eat the warm pastry.
As he was licking his fingers clean, his green flit stirred on his shoulder and pulled on his light hair.

"Okay, okay! You're hungry too, right Apid?"

Reluctantly, Denik stood and looked around for something to feed to the hungry flit.

People, people, people. In leaving Fort Weyr, he had hoped for a chance to avoid as much. Ista's island, he had been told, was more like his own home of Boll, and, his chores done at the Weyr, he could escape to its beaches. Not so--what the bluerider who had transported him had failed to mention was how sharding overcrowded Ista Weyr was. After his two nights crammed into the Candidate quarters with four other boys, and dozens of others up and down the hallway, the Gather could almost be considered airy.

Indeed, today he was enjoying himself a great deal more than he would have anticipated. He had already enjoyed two bubblies, and had several eighths pieces and even a fourth that he'd saved from his crafthall days tucked away in a pocket for later. The day was warm, but there was a constant seabreeze over the island that kept the Gatherers cool, and reminded him of home. The atmosphere was not the tense, competitive cloud from his roommates in the Candidates' barracks, but open and relaxed and welcoming and fun! Crowds were gladly tolerated for the day. Everyone had to enjoy a Gather.

Ista was a welcome relief, after Fort. Perhaps that climate was why he was so enjoying himself. He would almost have sworn he was back in Southern Boll. The air was the same, the accents weren't so different, and--look, there was Nimwae. Ceanandin paused in step and did a quick double-take, frowning towards the girl and searching his memory. Nimwae? Yes, that was her name--and it was her, he assured himself, not just someone who looked similarly. Altering his direction, he headed straight for the two girls. "Excuse me," he interrupted, with a nod for Nandeli and a grin for Nimwae. "It seems I've landed in Southern Boll by mistake. Could you point me to Ista?"

Eyes widening when the Wingleader's name was mentioned, Nimwae leaned even closer to Nandeli, not wanting to miss a word. Gossip about such an important person in the Weyr? Oooh, how scandalous! Talk and gossip usually revolved around the Candidates themselves, and it was something of a special affair when The Nose knew something about S'kagi of all people.

But the story was interrupted by the unexpected appearance of an old friend. "Ceanandin!" The surprised manifested itself on Nimwae's face as she turned to look up at him, but the surprise soon melded into a grin. "Shards, I may very well be back in Southern Boll! I never thought I'd see you here. What, did the Glass-smith Hall turn you into a Journeyman?" She hadn't seen him at Ista before, so he couldn't be a Candidate as well, could he?

"Nandeli," she said, turning to her to her other friend, "this is Ceanandin, an old friend from back home at Southern Boll. And the ladies there are just as lovely as the ones here. Well, mostly." She stuck her tongue out at the other girl, laughing as she did so.

Ceanandin, Nimwae had said, confirming Nandeli's earlier suspicions that the two seemed to know each other. And both of them appeared to be from Southern Boll, though she remember that about the Weyr girl. The Nose was increasingly pleased when Nimwae's words told her pretty much all she needed to know about the young man they had just encountered. A Southern Boll Glass-smith that could be old enough to be a Journeyman, and a friend of Nimwae's. He didn't sound too bad. She dipped her head when Nimwae introduced her, and made a face back at her friend.

"I don't know about that~" she teased, before turning back to Ceanandin. "But you've been Searched? My my, how lucky! Do you remember the name of the rider?" The dragon involved in the Searching tended to give her some clue about the sexuality of the candidate. Some blues loved picking up handsome boys in the hopes that they would turn out gay. Some greens did the same. Bronzes, however, seemed only to bring back girls. It was really very frustrating. "I can't say overcrowding is to blame for beautiful women. I'd say it's more the weather. Can't deny how nice it is outside."

Zhaylan was enjoying himself. He had managed to sell two or three portraits to random people. Color good. Money good. Yes. Yes. It was all very good. Such a shame Tersa not there. Oh well. The coherent thoughts that came and went were currently gone as he saw a gathering of people with the most interesting faces.

Fabric was always fun to draw. Folds. Colors. Patterns. Dragons had patterns. Not people. People were almost dull sometimes. But marks were marks.

Zhaylan kept his colors put away unless someone wanted color. Colors were not cheap and he didn't have enough marks to keep himself well supplied in colors. But the charcoals. Those were easy to get. His amber eyes danced as his hands moved swiftly. He kept the paper for the portraits and was using skins for the stuff he was sketching.

"Pictures! Get your face drawn. Colors or black and white." Zhaylan actually spoke up a little to see if he could attract more people.

She'd been utterly stood up! Inaari hadn't been overly sad to lose Okassis as a companion, for she had expected to at least see Jiriar somewhere near all the delicious treats, and she was very eager to ask him to dance this time around. But the lazy youth was nowhere to be seen, and Inaari had bid farewell to her only familiar face at the Gather! Even Ryka had abandoned her, to go perch near the rousing music at the other end of the square, something her bonded couldn't deny the flitt.

The young woman who came sliding up behind her in the colorful rustle of cloth came as a total surprise, and it registered in wide brown eyes and squinched freckles. Inaari's somewhat slouched posture fixed itself as she suddenly sat up ramrod straight, one hand holding onto her hat as she looked up into a cheeky smile. One Inaari recognized well, having seen it on several of her Weyr friends, namely one new brown rider. It did not bode overly well for her from here on out, she was positive of it!

That was, however, no reason to be rude! Grumpiness aside at being alone, along with whatever sudden guesstimations at this lady's character, it was no call to be a distasteful person. Smiling at the generous placement of the sweet, Inaari picked it up and immediately broke it in half, offering it right back.

"I'm sorry, is it so bad? I was waiting for a friend, whom I haven't seen all day. He sort of stood me up, and it was making me sad. Thanks for the treat, but I think you should have half. I had some myself earlier, and it's a danger to the dress." The smile brightened a bit as she indicated her pure white ensemble, noting with interest the strange garb the other wore. Harper blue eh? "Is that standard Harper wear these days?"