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With an short breathing time between chores, Rayale had paused in the lower halls to enjoy an drink and an little brunch, breaking off pieces of a sausage to feed to his two flits, Rikk and Skyborn, who chirped and argued over the pieces.
It wasn't the most out of the way spot, but it was good enough for a breather, and he was enjoying taking the time to listen to the gossip and conversations going past.
Did you hear about the new goldrider? She was from the lower Weyr! One woman whispered sharply to another, as they wandered through with baskets, her voice dripping with excitement at this juicy tidbit.
I heard it mauled someone.The other whispered back, which made Rayale quirk a funny sort of smile. She had her dragons wrong. He'd been there, and seen it.
"It was a green." He corrected. "A green clawed someone." Both women stopped, blinking at him as though they'd just seen a two headed wherry sitting there, conversing on itself about maters of the world, which made him blush furiously and duck his head, and with a sniff, they moved on, making it very clear they didn't want anyone interjecting on their gossip exchange.

"Talking about the gold flights already? If Annelie makes it interesting, then I'll have to change my opinion on them. Servers love talking about gold dragons, but it's the green flights they like best. More chance one of their own will be involved."

Surprise surprise, Nandeli emerged from the kitchens and plopped herself down at the table. Wherever there was gossip, the Nose was never far. Of that anyone could be sure. She had just finished peeling potatoes in the kitchen – her regular chore – but one could only peel potatoes for so long, especially when there was juicy gossip to be spread. Goldriders and gold flights paled in comparison to what she had to tell the fortunate few who were here to listen. What she had was the good stuff.

"Anyways, I've got something even better than mauling greens, though I pity the poor girl who got the brunt of that attack. I hear she's on the mend though." Good for her. It was always a pity when dragonets got someone before they Impressed. "But, like I was saying, I was just in the kitchens and one of the girls told me about that bronzerider fellow, S'kagi's his name. Apparently he's been spending extra time with a certain Miss Emori. You know the one, rider of that little green? Now isn't that a pairing! Don't you think he's a bit old for her?"

"Oh I remember you." Rayale nodded to Raena. She had been one of the late ones, sneaking in to sit near the back to try and cover it up. He looked a bit puzzled though at her joke about Annelie and throwing things, apparently not having encountered the woman close enough to notice that she was nervous and skittish of men. Of course this lack of meeting could have had something to do with the fact the young man was built like a barrel. He colored again though at the mention of women's talk.
"Women in my hold talk too, but usually they're as interested in knowing what really happened as not." And as the conversation continued. "S'kagi? He's the one with the black hair, right?" He pantomimed the unusual way that S'kagi wore his hair.
He had to admit that even men, especially if they had nothing better to do than fix nets, sometimes had nothing better to do than gossip, and Raena's reaction made him equally curious. He'd never met the man directly, but had seen him across the hall a few times. Usually he looked a little wistful, or would be giving someone a pat on the arm, and sometimes, when in one his more frequent thoughtful moments, would suddenly laugh, glancing toward the nearest window if one was at hand, and more often than not you'd catch a glimpse of bronze in the sky. He'd never seen the man doing anything, to anyone, that would have evoked that reaction.
"That's quite a look." He pointed out. "What was that about?"

Nandeli wrinkled her nose at the comment. “Psha. I doubt that. She doesn’t seem the type to have the guts to throw a rider out of her weyr on his behind. No doubt the other golds will tell her to just suck it up and deal with whoever catches her dragon. Nothing new. Like I said, greenflights are much better. They actually throw riders out of their weyrs in the morning, clothed or not!” She giggled at the memory of one particular incident all the ladies in the Lower Caverns had been a flutter about. Oh the stories she could tell! It was a pity Raena wouldn’t ask her.

The young woman raised an eyebrow at Raena’s expression, but was momentarily distracted by Rayale. “That's the one! I knew you guys would have heard of him!” It was so nice when her audience knew the people she was talking about. Raena, however, seemed to know something special, and she turned to regard the girl again when Rayale questioned her change of demeanor. Could it be possible that she was two-timing C’ren with S’kagi? Now wouldn’t that be something! She’d have to confer with Elae when they were finished.

“The last time you met? Oooh, so you’ve met him before? In person?” Nan was chewing on a fingernail now, clearly very alert. “And you argued? Why ever for?” Had S’kagi found out that she was seeing C’ren? Oooh the drama!

"Heh. Tell me about it." Rayale admitted with an embarassed chortle. He'd never been through one of the actual queen flights, his arrival had been in it's wake, as one of the candidates, and he was still learning his way around.
He occasionally missed his fisher-hold to the point that it almost ached, but he was still anxious to see if he could make good on the potential to Impress.
"Well, I guess people can't always get along." He admitted, with a faint shrug, frowning with curiosity since she seemed intent to not explain exactly what they'd argued about.
He blushed furiously at the talk about dragons being flown, and naked people in the hall ways. Swimming was one thing, but they clearly weren't talking about that. "Do they really? Sounds embarrassing..." he noted, wide eyed. Was THAT what he had to look forward to if he impressed? "Why do they do that? Throw them out I mean?"

"Oh it is embarrassing," Nan gushed, clasping her hands together. "But oh so amusing. And why throw them out? Well, some people just totally aren't impressed with the rider of the dragon who caught their green and so they throw them out. That, or they could be trying to cop an extra feel and get a stern telling too. I've heard some greenriders throw people out of their weyrs every single time their green Rises. Must be tough, waking up next to someone only to be thrown out without your clothes." She giggled again, partially because of what she was saying and partially because of the look on Rayale's face. Oh he was so much like C'ym. All these Holders, not used to talking about sexuality at all! It really was funny.

She was so engrossed in her story that she didn't notice Kaskel sitting down beside her until he spoke in her ear. Nandeli nearly jumped out of her skin, but managed to compose herself when she recognized the voice. Well if it wasn't Kaskel, that scoundrel! He wasn't near as scoundrel-y as she might have made him out to be, but that didn't stop her from saying it. He knew she would never mean him any real harm. "Chin wagging? I'm afraid I don't know anybody who has enough chins to wag. You should ask the cook. See who's been eating too much. Now shush, I'm listening to something important." She stuck her tongue out at him childishly, and turned to look back at Raena.

So she knew him when he was newly Impressed? Perhaps even before, and she wasn't telling. Everybody knew Raena talked to dragonriders often enough, so it was possible she had had a crush on this S'kagi fellow when he was a candidate and then used his dragon as an excuse to get close to him. Oooh, the possibilities! "Two tempers and stubbornness? That hardly sounds like a reason to have a fight in the middle of the Lower Caverns. What could you possibly have been arguing about with a bronzerider? Unless he's mistreating weyrlings or something... Kaskel, do you know anything about S'kagi and his weyrlings?"

Kaskel grinned when he saw how his arrival surprised Nan. “Didn’t your informants didn’t tell you I was coming?” he teased. His next order of business was to purse his lips and furrow his brows in a faux frown at her tongue-showing. It was more of a pout than a frown, really. When her attention shifted to the other girl, Kaskel’s shifted to the infant he’d brought with him. Fast asleep. He smiled and looked back up to where the conversation was taking place. Just in time to be put on the spot.

“The weyrlings?” Kaskel’s mind went, for a moment, back to the last Hatching that had taken place. It had been a wonderful and exciting event, except for the single big injury. Kaskel himself had dodged a few talons at the event, but came out unscathed. All those who had Impressed were now learning under that bronzerider… ah, yes. The man who always covered his face with his hair. “Mmm, no, I can’t really say I know much about them. But I will say that I’ve never seen S’kagi do ill to anyone. He seems rather mellow.”

It might be a female thing, that magnet that draws attention directly to babies, or it could just be her. The moment she saw the little baby, it had her full attention and an 'aw' was already forming in her mind. She liked children, though had no intentions of dealing with any of her own for years to come.

Pulled away then, she gave it a great deal of thought before throwing out, "The classic reason to argue between a Hold folk and a dragonrider. I made a comment he took the wrong way and got all huffy. Naturally, it got out of hand after that. As far as I know he hasn't mistreated any of his.." Her words were cut off when she heard the man with the baby, Kaskel, call S'kagi mellow. Quickly she covered her mouth to stifle the choked laugh that started to form.

"I don't know what man you know by S'kagi, but mellow and 'not doing ill' does not describe the rider I know. He isn't as bad as F'sey, but he quarrelsome and quick to shout off without so much as listening to the counterpoint if it doesn't suit him. I might be putting out a front for everyone, or I just have a skill to get his blood boiling. He tried to say he was like C'ym when I mentioned him in conversation, those two couldn't be father apart." Those were just her personal opinions, but she had to admit, she was very curious to see the S'kagi they all seemed to know. It could very well be she brought out the worst in him.

Glancing at Rayale, she tried to recall where Nerat was, far away she knew that one for sure, "There were some fisher craft people from there that drop by my hold from time to time. I remember a quite a few turns back a few ships from there got blown into my hold due to the weather. Nice folk." She was a little envious, in a way; he had traveled at least from the landmass to the little island that was all she knew. One day, just once she wanted to see life outside of the Hold and now the Weyr, like to go to Boll. That was one of her dreams, to travel to that place that produces mangos and citrus fruit, the former being her favorite treat of all time.