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Wiping his face with a rag he kept tucked in his apron such such a purpose, Ghilani peered up at the midday sun with a grimace. This was not his usual shift, and were he being completely honest with himself, he'd admit that he kind of missed the Behemoth's giant overbearing presence lording over the kitchen staff while they smoked the fish for storage. As it was, his nose was a little runny from the smoke itself, and were the Behemoth here, she'd have already made fun of him for it. "Does that make me a masochist for missing someone who teases me like that?" He asked, apparently to empty air.

The air was not empty, however, since his little green fireliazrd was coiled protectively around his neck, twinning herself amongst his hair and tunic like some elaborate emerald neck scarf. Tada was sleepy from the heat in the kitchens, and were it not for her exceptionally small size, he would have been forced to keep her out of the way somewhere. She woke up a little in response to his words, and trilled supportively, to which he nodded as if he had understood every note perfectly.

"I guess so, ah well." He went on absently, scratching the green under her chin. To any onlookers it might have looked like he was scratching his ear, which reminded him again on how he missed the night shift in the kitchens. Sighing, he removed his hand and looked about, less then thrilled with the thought of going back into the kitchens to continue stoking the fires. He suspected he already had ash in his hair, and while he was not as fastidious about it as most women were, he was quite certain his head would be itching later. Tada wasn't helping by constantly moving and pulling on his hair and ears, but he couldn't yell at her for it too much. Yelling would have meant inhaling more smoke...

Sighing again, he was about to turn to go back in when he spotted a tall figure making their way up the steps heavily burdened by a cord of logs. Initially he sagged a little when he realized they meant more sooty work for him, but he quickly got over it when he realized that the figure was obviously struggling a little with the heavy bundle. "Tada, hold tight." He said quickly, moving down the remaining stairs to stranger. "Hey, want some help with that?"

Tada squalled and hid in Ghilani's hair the exact moment the other green shrieked, surprising her bonded in a fashion not all that dissimilar from Xythe's bonded. The fundamental difference, however, was that Ghilani had not been carrying a load of heavy wood.

"Oh no-!" He said, just as the last pieces of it escaped the young woman's grasp and slid down the steps. Frozen, he could only blink at her, until his brain finally caught up with the rest of him and he started forward to help her clean up. "Would have been nicer to have assistance earlier though, I'm sure. " He said with some chagrin and a easy smile. He was well aware that all of the candidates would be called on to help with chores about the Weyr, and from her appearance and bearing, he hazarded the guess that she was a candidate as well. For all that most of them were no strangers to hard work, he wondered what fool of a supervisor had set this woman off carrying more then she could handle! "Well, between the two of us we can handle these yes?" It sounded like a question, but the young smith didn't wait for her to answer it.

Bending, he gathered his apron up behind him so it wouldn't impede movement and started gathering what logs he could, tying them together with the cord from his apron. Tada was literally fused with his neck, peering out from the dark brown waves to blink at the other lizards with mixed curiosity and fear. Following her gaze for a brief moment when he heard her warble uncertainly, he had to stifle a laugh at the girl's two lizard who were obviously trying to help. Adjusting his weight and the added load of the five logs he now had, Ghilani moved over to where the pair of lizards had left the log before retreating to their person's shoulder and picked up the piece. "Handy pair you have there! Have you had them long?" He asked brightly, standing up to his full height where he hoisted the logs over onto one of his shoulders. Tada squawked in indignation and moved, though Ghilani had been careful to use the side she hadn't been on.

Ghilani chuckled, and reevaluated his first impression of this young woman. In all honesty he hadn't really given her a great deal of thought at first, aside from thinking she might have been a candidate, but the actions of her flits and her obvious adoration of them made him smile. He could understand the tenderness towards the creatures, Tada had positively ruled his life the first week of her hatching. "Just be be contrary eh? Well for your sake, and her's, I hope she waits until you are ready for it." He said easily, not at all put out by the thread of the conversation. He wouldn't have to worry about Tada doing something silly like that for a great long while... and Ghilani was quite happy to not think about what would happen when that day did come.

"Tada and I have been hapless romantics for three sevenday now, according to my roommate. But I like to think of it in terms of master/apprentice roles... with Tada being the obvious master." He answered with a self deprecating smile. He could admit that he must have appeared quite the starry eyed idiot when his little green first hatched, but, well that was the past.

Shifting the load on his shoulders, he glanced up the stairs quickly then back at the girl. "Were you heading to the kitchens with this load?" Redundant question, he was quite certain that she was, but it was a good habit of his to double check almost everything.

Ghilani quirked a brow at her strange word choice, and half turned to head up the remaining steps. "Well, if it helps any... we are using the wood to stoke the fires. We got a large shipment of fish today from Ista Hold, and the Headwoman wants all of it smoked and in storage before sundown." He said as he ascended up to the kitchen area, increasing his volume so the girl could hear him without him having to turn around.

"I'm due for my break once this wood is settled, would you like to join me for lunch? Hauling this load must have you hungrier then a hatchling." He added benignly, unaware of her firelizard's antics. "Most of the ovens are prepping for the Post-Hatching feast, but I'm sure I can convince someone to let a few choice tidbits sneak by." He continued after a brief pause as he opened the door to the back of the kitchens where he had come from. There were already a few piles of wood, so it would be plenty obvious where the new stuff would go, so Ghilani did not bother to instruct her. He trusted she had eyes that worked well enough!

Ghilani chuckled and gave a shrug of his shoulders when she mentioned motivation. He'd be the last fellow any girl would need to worry about, as his ulterior motives usually included acquiring spare time for his own pursuits and making friends. "Only motivation I need is common decency, and I wouldn't worry about being overfed here... they tend to rush us candidates out with a broom soon enough if they think we're dallying too much." He said with another grin. He'd continued with the assumption that she was a candidate, but the flow of conversation just hadn't afforded him the opportunity to ask her name and occupation just yet unless he forced the question.

"I can think of a few spots, two of which are outside while the other is in the dining hall with the rest of the weyrfolk." He offered as he too left his load of wood with the others. "Of course, the two outside spots have the advantage of allowing for some relaxation, being free of swinging brooms and all." he added with a chuckle. As always, he meant nothing scandalous by the invitation, and was quite oblivious to the implication that he might be trading off on his good looks for anything. Whether it be female company or kitchen privileges. If he'd known, he'd have laughed and told Tseka all about his rocky beginnings with the kitchen help that had eventually earned him the recognition to ask for a favor now and then of his friends. Well, from some of his friends... the Behemoth would probably still swat his hand like a apprentice trying to steal from the Master's table.

If Tseka only knew what saying things like 'not liking being around people' meant to Ghilani, she likely would have refrained... Florian had certainly learned that lesson soon enough, though Ghilani liked to think that he was doing his antisocial friend a favor by introducing him to everyone he met as if they were brothers. To be fair, Florian had never had a problem, per se, dealing with people, it had just never been his forte, and he had admitted as much to his roommate on two separate occasions. Not that Ghilani went specifically out of his way to toss the Healer Journeyman into unexpected social situations...

...He just threw him into expected ones.

Watching Tseka with appraising eyes, Ghilani attempted to intuit why she'd not usually like socializing, but gave up in favor of his growling stomach. Time would tell, he was sure, and given that he'd just met her, he wouldn't go out of his way to put her ill at ease. "Not a problem! Near one of the Weyr entrances is a nice spot where riders and weyrfolk often take their lunches, it's got plenty of benches and overlooks the sea." He'd found it on one of his errands when he had first been assigned to the kitchens after his foolhardy attempt to filch a meal, and had visited the spot often. The palm trees provided excellent shade, and a few enterprising weyrfolk had gone as far as to construct a four poled shade building of sorts, made with some left over metal sheeting and stacked stone.

"Tada? I got her at the last Ista Gather... funny that you mention it too... since I hadn't really wanted to get a firelizard at all..." His mobile features settled briefly in introspection before he shook his head and grinned at Tseka again. "Whatever the case, I'm glad I did, she's a good friend." He finished, reaching up to rub Tada's eyeridges. Trilling musically, the little green accepted the caress lovingly, her eyes whirling a light blue green. As he did, he unconsciously weaved his way through the 'back alleys' of the Lower Caverns and into the kitchen proper, bee lining for a knot of women grouped around a large hearth where a herd beast was turning.

"Haven't the foggiest notion of Impression, dragons, or firelizards outside of my experiences with Tada here... to be honest." Ghilani admitted before he reached women around the hearth. "I have gotten the chance to a few folks about it though, but it hasn't made a great deal of sense." He continued, "but I do like to think of good accidents like the ones that acquire friends," and he paused significantly at this point, peering back at Tseka with a mischievous smile for the not so subtle comparison to their own meeting not to long ago. "as something a bit less then accidents and bit more like fate. Perhaps Impressing a dragon is a bit like that? Something for destiny to decide?" He finished, encouraged by the slight defrosting of Tseka's demeanor. Ah hah! So she wasn't all frozen through, just like Florian!

"Speaking of smells and smells that smell good, I happen to know a few of the ladies over there by that hearth. I'm sure we can wheedle something good from them, did you have anything in particular in mind for food?" 'Lani wasn't very picky himself, so long as it tasted good and went down easy he was happy. He also suspected that the Headwoman would have her staff keep at least one smaller hearth going for finger picking foods for hungry weyrfolk and dragonriders throughout the day. Meatrolls would be the simplest fare, but he thought he caught a whiff of some of those meat pies and melted cheese sandwich buns he liked so much.