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There were certain... advantages, to Okassis being put to work at the infirmary.

After the debacle of a klah-off (in which Okassis and Sovann received no votes, at all), the kitchen staff had wisely decided they wanted to keep him as far away from the Weyr's foodstuffs as possible. And as long as he kept giving the Healers so much trouble anyway, they'd seemed eager to start him paying back the debt of gratitude he'd been building up.

But there were considerable draw-backs as well. Not in a small part because everyone here seemed convinced that he was trouble - a broken bone or bloody gash waiting to happen. It wasn't as though he were clumsy at all! If he was a bit rough, he was generally strong enough to handle himself. Besides, he hadn't gotten into a single fight since he'd come to the Weyr, and that was pretty good given how many he'd seen during his trader days! But oh no; the stares and snide frowns told him, the Healers were onto him. He was the casualty waiting to happen, and the closer an eye they could keep on him, the better off everyone would be.

Which is probably why, when he reported for duty, they simply turned him around, pointed him at Zara, and told him, "Do whatever she tells you, and by the egg, don't do anything stupid." One of the perks of being an "in-group" like she was, it would seem, would be that you got the loudest louts dropped into your lap whenever nobody else wanted to have to deal with it.

And so, doing his best not to sigh and mope over the unfair treatment, Okassis took himself over to the girl as she scouted about for the mop, doing his best to ignore his itching scalp. "Hey -- you need help over here?" he asked congenially, doing his best to sidestep the bit where he was supposed to do whatever she told him, and sound like he was only asking because he was somehow chivalrous and gallant.

"Hoo boy, famous already, am I?" Okassis grinned smarmily - of course, he wasn't displeased with his reputation preceding him (even if part of it was because he'd gotten whupped - there was still the shadow of a bruise on his cheek to remind him, plus the healing cut on his arm, plus a faint pain still in one ankle). It just wasn't good to be a trader, if you had to work in a Hold where no one knew your name! "Name's Okassis. You've got one yourself, don't you?"

While awaiting the answer, the youth began scouting about hopelessly to find something to busy himself with. This place looked fardling clean already, though, he couldn't much guess what else was needed....

"Got everybody's minds off of Hatching for a bit, didn't it?" Okassis replied proudly. It had sure kept him too busy to be worrying about whether he'd Impress this time, or if he'd ever Impress, or if maybe the Queen would just wind up deciding she didn't like him and bite off his head the next time he went on the sands-- (would the gold be present for the Hatching? He didn't know, but it seemed likely, oh shards he'd better behave if he didn't want)--

"Mop... gotcha!" he agreed, happy to busy himself with work instead of thoughts. Glancing around, Okassis frowned when a mop failed to immediately present itself, and set off in search of it. It didn't take him long; he returned to the room within a few short minutes, mop in one hand, bucket of water in another. It sloshed about as he set it roughly on the ground, wetting his shoes, and then he set to work.

Unfortunately, he just wasn't the sort to do this sort of thing silently. "So, Zara, where do you come from? You're not a Healer, are you?"

Now that was an odd way to put things -- "Got you for another Turn, huh?" Okassis echoed quizzically. It was hard for him to relate to her cautious attitude - but of course, he was just coming to the Weyr, yet to stand in a Hatching, and filled with all the single-minded optimism that his youth could provide. He refused to comprehend failure, either cocky or blind to the very real possibility.

"A lot of folk I've talked to have a plan like that," he mused aloud, dragging the mop over the ground. "Have you been at the Weyr a good while?"

Were Okassis an older, wiser man, he might have considered his reaction to Zara's statement more carefully. But he was quite the opposite, in fact; and, being so, blurted out, "Starting to push it, eh?"

Too late, he realized that his words might have been needlessly insensitive. Looking up from his work, the Trader boy quickly rephrased, "I mean, it's impressive, you've been trying that long...." Wait. No. That still didn't sound right. "I mean, most of the Candidates I've met are younger, or...." Scorch it, no, that still wasn't any good, what about.... "I'm sure there will be a dragon for you soon?" He sounded somewhat lame by the time he spit that last grudging sentence out, hopeful that he might have found some way to tiptoe around the issue that Zara herself had brought into the open.

Awkwardly, he glanced down again, redoubling his efforts at cleaning.

Well......... he hadn't offended her. From Okassis's experiences with females, at least, laughter wasn't generally a sign of insult. Despite his typical loudmouthed bumbling, though, the women of the Weyr in general hadn't seemed quick to anger so far - lucky for him!

"Huh... when you put it like that, it doesn't sound like half a bad idea," Okassis mused aloud. If he didn't Impress, what could he offer? He felt so certain he was in the right place, for one of the rare few times in his life - but he didn't have any expertise in his background that would do the Weyr good, and though he'd heard stories of some favored ladies being allowed a place at a Weyr after failing to Impress, he'd never heard a thing about less fortunate males finding a lifelong home without becoming dragonriders.

Not a subject he wanted to dwell on, though. "So, you've spent your life around the Weyr. You must know this place inside and out, huh?" Okassis asked thoughtfully.

Okassis's eyes shot wide -- .... She's a mind-reader.

Nandeli had mentioned to him, before the Touching, that there was some little hole somewhere where you could get a glimpse of the Hatching Grounds. Of course, this conversation had come in the midst of a discussion of how big the Queens were, and how likely they were to chomp you - so he'd discarded the notion then and there.

But then Okassis had gotten onto the grounds, and gotten near the Queen. She'd made him nervous, sure... but she hadn't bit off his head then. And the eggs themselves -- Okassis had been so casual before, detached from sentiment. Eggs were just eggs, it's not like they were dragons yet, he'd told himself. But after he'd gotten near them, he'd spent every night after thinking about them, and even distractions like the Klah-Off hadn't--

"You could, could you?" Okassis answered, as nonchalantly as he could manage given that he seemed to be paralyzed from the neck down. "And how'd you go about doing that?" Already, his eyes were scouting the doorways, making sure that there was no one watching them. If they were to, say, slip away from their duties, it didn't seem like there'd be anyone to notice....