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There were some things around the Weyr that were just plain silly, Okassis had come to realize. It didn't take too much observation to spot them out, either. The pool of talent within the Candidates was astounding, but they were barely tapped! Smith apprentices, for example, like Tiaet. Shouldn't a strong-headed girl like that be put to better use for the Weyr than cutting meat?

For once, it wasn't even egotism that drove his protests, either. A Trader wasn't good for much but personal profit, and a young Trader like he'd been was next to useless. But still, he mused as he made his way through the halls, at least he had enough sense to see the waste in the Weyr's operation. He might not be good for much more than a pair of hands, but others....

At some point, he stopped, looking around him in confusion. Fardles - he'd been going to the kitchen cavern to pitch in his measly labor for the day, but this certainly wasn't where he'd meant to be. Had he taken a wrong turn somewhere? Shards, he really needed to get back to Nandeli about that tour of the Weyr, he wasn't having much luck sorting it out on his own....

"Hey, excuse me!" Spotting someone else in the nearly-empty hallway, Okassis smiled and waved a hand, walking over. "Hate to be a bother, but you look like a lady who knows her way around...."

Drawing up to the girl, Okassis became suddenly aware of how small the girl was - standing a full head under him, at least, all slim and petite to his muscle and bulk. He normally considered himself of a very average height, but suddenly felt like a behemoth next to the glowbasket girl.

"Uh, yeah," he answered, remembering himself. Chuckling sheepishly, he shifted around to look at the hallway. "This place is huge! I can't imagine how anyone can find their ways anywhere, unless they'd grown up here."

Okassis was less confident that there weren't a few missing Candidates wasting away in some tunnel somewhere. With so many of them arriving at the Weyr, after all, it didn't seemed likely they'd be missed for a long while; and it really was so easy to lose one's bearings among the rocks....

"Okassis," he introduced himself, inclining his head politely, "Well met, Jessmet. I was trying to get to the kitchen cavern, but shards if I know how I wound up over here!"

Following the motions of her hand as much as her words, Okassis seemed to have understood; mimicking a few of her motions with his fingers, he nodded slowly and began walking backwards at a lazy pace, preparing to turn to head off and pray that he'd understood the directions correctly--

Then his mind got the better of him, and he halted. "Say, Jessmet - maybe you could use a little help in here?" Okassis offered hopefully. "You're changing glows, right? Could get through it twice as fast if you get a hand, and maybe I won't be so likely to get lost if you show me to the kitchens once we've finished."

"So maybe I'll come out of it less likely to get lost the next time," Okassis answered easily, "that seems like a fair use of my time to me." It wasn't as though they really wanted him in the kitchens, anyway - last time, he'd gotten all but shooed out for slowing up the process. Was it really his fault if he wasn't used to anything but campfire cooking?

Still smiling, Okassis set to work, pulling off the nearest dimglow and handing it to Jessmet, and waiting for her to hand him a fresh one. "So..." he began, a wicked smile crossing his lips. "How many Candidates does it take to change a dimglow?"

"None," Okassis cracked, "only a dragon can change a dimglow into a rider!"

Setting the new glows into their proper settings, Okassis listened to her run-down. "I saw some of the housing when I came in," he commented. "Surprised me, actually, I'd never seen a Weyr build outside of rock. If there's a need, though, I suppose it's all the better, isn't it? Shows a healthy, growing Weyr, all that."

Okassis paused in his work, looking to his surprising companion. "A bit of an Archivist in you, is there?" he asked, his interest piqued. He had a lot of stories to go off of - facts toted by his father around the campfire, snatches of rumors he'd caught from Hold to Hold - but very little of it came from an authoritative source. What Trader racing to make sales could stop to pore over records, after all?

But Jessmet had. And this was a fact that was instantly impressionable to the youth.

"Now, I didn't know that bit about the last Pass. But you really figure we're going to be seeing another one soon?" Okassis asked, handing her the latest back of dimglows. "Still seems a bit early, doesn't it? Or have I lost count of the Turns?" He'd been under the impression that the red star would be getting close soon, possibly in his lifetime - but in, say, fifty more years, when he'd already grown old. Soon enough that some preparations were needed- mostly political - but for the dragons to be building up their numbers as Jessmet claimed was a grim sign, indeed....