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Out of the fray, Okassis seemed dazed, trying to catch up with the world that had been restricted to just him and another person seconds earlier. Shards, his head was still ringing! Almost as bad, he felt a bit of wetness on his back, and smelled a steadily growing scent of perfume - the oil he'd bought for Zara, it'd broken open in the scuffle! It was probably over everything in his bag by now, S'van's gift included - he could bloody murder Jaenel right now--

Wait, Jiriar had gotten hit? Okassis managed to get a look at the boy holding him, and his eyes widened. He didn't even remember that happening! The fardling fool must've gotten in the way and gotten whacked by Jaenel. As he slung off his backpack, he gave Jiriar a pat on the shoulder, letting him know that it was okay, Okassis didn't think any less of him for bumbling into the middle of the fray like that.

Then out came that word. Weyrslave. Okassis sucked in his breath, dropping his satchel to the ground. There were at least four traders here - three he knew from his caravan, who eyed him with a special distaste - and with Jiriar retreating with Inaari, he was the only Weyrfolk that was really standing ground.

He heard someone say his name, inquisitively. Okassis? In his mind, he heard it as two things at once: Are you going to stand for that, Okassis?, and Is it worth it, Okassis?

He wasn't sure. He couldn't take that many people on his own, he knew. He wasn't reckless enough to throw a punch and wait to see what happened. But to back down and slink off... he had pride. He had pride in the Weyr, too. It was his Weyr now, damn it - every hope and dream he had was vested in that place. If someone was talking bad about it, he was supposed to... to....

Slowly, Okassis exhaled. Ducking down, he picked up his bag again. This was one he'd better walk away from - there was a bigger war to win here, and if he wanted to win that one, he'd better not waste his goodwill chasing skirmishes.

Mean chuckles had started up the moment Inaari and Jiriar pulled away; with Okassis's apparent cession, they only grew into louder jeers. The Weyr hadn't found a glorious victory today, it seemed, and even the holdfolk seemed to recognize the failure.

"Go Impress a wherry!" a snaggle-toothed trader called out and spat on the ground. The smirk on Jaenel's face was one of hard anger and vindication, watching his friend turn tail. A little further back in the crowd, someone lobbed a stick the length of a forearm after the retreating Candidates; picking up on the idea, someone else tossed a pebble, and the Gather folk made even more room around Okassis and those unfortunate enough to have related themselves to him, not wanting to be caught in any crossfire.

"Who's Kay?" he added, curious now. Oh please let her not be twins, although he scanned the crowd obligingly for other small children that seemed to be entirely unattended. Had that one also escaped her caretaker?
Either they were both more slippery than a greased flit, or perhaps it was time for their mother to think about getting someone else to mind them.

Veyes grinned as he watched the man cuddle in the egg like a parent, "I think you already are." Glancing back down at the egg studying its size his imagination got the better of him and he gasped with a thought, "I hope it's a cute little green...a mini Raith!" He smiled affectionately at L'thor while the idea of having a mini Raith around every day continued to expand. "Oh but if it is then you'd be dipping the little girl in oil all the time! A giggle slipped from his lips as he imagined the dragon and flit demanding constant attention from L'thor. Oh it would be hilarious!

"I would like to get a couple new marbles because...well..umm..the flits keep taking them but I also want to get something for my mother too. This is so much more fun than I thought it would be." And that was the honest truth, at least for the moment with L'thor at his side he wasn't feeling nearly as uncomfortable about the larger crowds and actually had put a good portion of his unhappiness from recent weeks behind him. Maybe it was just the overall festive air that took away the stressfulness.

Scanning around and he spotted a merchant with small baskets, bags, and other carrying items plus a range of little nick nacks. "I think we can get one there, L'thor" he said as he pointed the direction of the merchants cart.

Veyes was glad that L'thor was with him because he hadn't a real clue how to barter with a skilled merchant not to the degree that L'thor just showed. He would have been lucky to have had his purse afterwards. L'thor was down right amazing in Veyes opinion and by the time he was done bargaining with the merchant, Veyes could see how L'thor's previous life filtered to the surface. There was so much to learn about his friend...and mentor making each time he was in L'thor's company always a new experience. Maybe that is what Veyes liked most about the man...there was never a dull moment. So as L'thor turned to look and ask Veyes the question, it took him just a bit to get out of his awed state and take renewed interest in the merchant's wares

Veyes peeked around and looked at the knickknacks; saw something that caught his eye - a strong looking needle laying among some threads and other small tools in a basket. He knew he had to get a few supplies to practice strap making and if he impressed one in the future, having this on hand would be useful. "Umm, how about that and the thread? Would those work L'thor?" He'd rely on L'thor's judgment about the needles and thread considering he had never shopped for these sort of things. He knew L'thor would know better. He wasn't sure if this shop had leather or the other things he wanted but he continued to poke around.

Then he glanced up at the scarves and saw a vivid blue one with small strings on the edges. "Do you think that would look pretty for my mothers hair, L'thor?" He smiled as he tried to invision the look on his mother but thought that asking a second opinion was a good idea.

"My little sister!" Kagiya declared proudly. "She's six," she said, holding up six fingers. Six, and therefore very obviously not S'kagi's child. She didn't know where Kay was, though. Sometimes Giya managed to take Kaylen along with her, but sometimes Kay stayed home or stayed with the caretaker assigned to them. At this point it was difficult to tell which it was. Just then, there was a ruckus in the crowd, and the child's attention was drawn to it. "... Daddy? What's a Weyrslave?" she asked innocently, glancing up at the bronzerider. That phrase in particular had stood out to the little girl, and she thought that surely he knew what it meant.

"That's a very rude insult, that's what." S'kagi bristled at once, looking for the source of the argument, enjoying a brief, angry thought of finding Coriath and flying low enough to scatter whatever rabble-rousers had started to launch the term, but first he needed to find out who they were directing it at.... except for this little tag along. "Stay close, but if it looks like trouble, go find your caretaker -immediately.-. told her crisply, indicating that in this instance, he didn't care what she thought was fair or unfair about it, he expected her to do it.
Here he did start to show some of the iron backbone Kagiya demonstrated, moving to shoulder his way through the crowd, his shoulders and back stiffening.
His expression had gone blank and stiff, but it didn't matter much, since his darkening mood and determination were almost pouring off him like heat from a forge as he headed toward the sound of thrown insults.
This was a damn gather, how dare some low brow cousin breeding son of a herd-beast turn it into a brawl, when everyone so desperately needed this to -ease- tensions, not raise them!

Don't get hurt!Coriath added, prickling with alarm, though his own metaphorical hackles were raised, partially in response to S'kagi's own mood.

Veyes paid the Trader and then smiled as he tucked them into his bag with the utmost care. "Oh that sounds great. Good luck River!" Reason #2 he'd want to have a flit one day, so many times he had seen them sent on errands for useful reason. But with L'thor's small family that seemed to be growing by leaps and bounds maybe he just needed L'thor - that of course caused his cheeks to blush.

However, that thought was short lived when he heard the angry sounds and mean spirited jeers of men and woman not too far away along with pebbles and sticks being thrown. Glancing around quickly, he wanted to be sure he wasn't the target of the anger. Since the recent weeks in the Weyr hadn't been pleasant, he tried to be cautious. Fortunately, from what he could tell he hadn't even been noticed, although he bristled up like his old man used to just to keep anyone with ideas off his back and moved himself in between L'thor and the area just to make sure the egg was protected. "I think we should go around this area, L'thor."

Overall, he didn't want to be part of the trouble that someone else started. Veyes had enough of his own recently and knew if Z'nal was anywhere close by; being far away from this event was the best thing for him. There was no way he was going to add another black mark to his name so he had no desire get involved. Although protecting a good friend was a worthy cause if by chance he did.

When River appeared, he was rather relieved, "So he found a place? Fantastic!" He returned the grin and tried to hurry them away from the uglier area of the Gather, "Indeed. You're giving me more reason to find a flit of my own one day!" Veyes looked up at River and kept him in sight as they were led away from the angry crowd and off towards another stall in the distance.