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Wei had barely been at the Weyr for a day, and already she found herself desperate to escape its stony, lifeless walls. It shouldn't have been so bad, she'd once told herself. Yes, the Weyr was home to dragons; but they didn't often come through the inner halls, being so frighteningly large, so it shouldn't much matter! And Ista Weyr really was the best place for her research; the Hall had gone through the trouble of negotiating a place for her, so she really couldn't turn away now....

But why, why why why why had she had to come right after a Hatching? The Weyr was infested with hatchlings! Few and far apart, but still just as terror-provoking. Seeing one come into the room, all that she could do was to tense and stare at it, made rapt by horror, holding her breath until it passed - or else retreat as quickly as her feet could take her!

They'd be joking about her in no time, she knew. But there was little help for it. At least her work didn't trap her around them all day; no, no, she was needed outside, just as she was now. With the bright tropical sun overhead, the powerful humidity all around her (frizzing her already textured hair, alas!), the journeyman Starsmith struggled to make her way up a large, grassy knoll, set just toward the side of the Weyr's herdbeast corrals.

It was a steep slope, and she was used to long walks over flat grounds; Wei tired quickly, barely two-thirds up the slope. Exhaling, she took stock of her surroundings. There was the corral, with its milling herdbeasts and a few hands looking after them - the Weyr itself towered, and she suppressed a shiver as she saw the form of a dragon somewhere high above her. On the bright side, she had a clear view of the sky to the west from here, but it was the east that she really needed! That was the direction that the weather came from, after all. But it was quite a ways to go by foot, particularly if she were planning to take daily and nightly readings of the sky. Pulling up her distance-viewer to her eye, Wei tried to guess at the distance, and found it only daunting. Bringing down the instrument, she looked again down to the corral. She wondered whether they had a runnerbeast that could take her - or if they'd even be willing to lend one out to the unproven Starsmith that had barely arrived....

Well, only one way to find out. Shrugging her pack more squarely onto her shoulders, Wei started back down the knoll and carefully climbed the fence to the corral, searching for someone she could try sweet-talking into a loaner.

Intent on searching someone out, Wei had overlooked her company until he was already hailing her - and, unsuspecting as she was, was completely surprised to see how near a human being had gotten to her in the time it had taken her to get over the fence. She gave a little jump as she turned to face Jiriar, inhaling swiftly before identifying the source of the voice. He looked like a Herdcrafter of some sort - he probably could help!

"Ah, yes. Yes," she agreed, running a hand self-consciously over her wiry-haired head (pretty? He thought she was pretty? No, he was just being polite, surely!) Pulling her thoughts together, she approached the boy, polite but firm as she introduced herself; "I'm Journeyman Weiren of the Starhall. I'm beginning daily observations of the weather systems developing from Ista, but my best vantage point," she pointed eastwards, using her hand with the distance viewer, "is a bit of an inconvenient trek."

Lowering her arm again, she turned her attention back to the boy. "Can you get me a runnerbeast?" Wei asked, but a telling note of doubt was in her voice. Maybe it was Jiriar's laid-back attitude, or his apparent youth - somehow, though, she felt uncertain that he had any authority to get her what she needed. Urged on by reason, she added, "Or direct me to someone who could, if you please."

Despite her driving focus on getting what she needed, Wei found herself warming up to the simple friendliness of Jiriar the Beastcrafter. He had one of those easy-going, friendly personalities that were impossible to dislike - just so long as you didn't need them for anything serious, anyway. "I'd appreciate that, thank you," the Starsmith answered, the first traces of a smile beginning to develop on her face despite her curt tone.

It occurred to her that this was the first person she'd met at the Weyr that hadn't come off as completely indifferent or alien to her. She hadn't really tried to connect with many people yet in the short time she'd been here, though, and most of the dragonriders always held an air of secret terror for her, anyway. She'd told herself it didn't matter much if she found anyone she got along with, since she was here for research; but there was no telling how long she'd be at Ista, if her research proved fruitful. It would get terribly lonely, if she wasn't willing to at least make an effort....

That cinched it. She was going to do it. Despite her inclination to just focus on overcoming the obstacle in front of her, Wei determined that she was going to take the leap and try to... make conversation.

"The runnerbeasts must not see a lot of use around here," she ventured, "what with all the riders. Do you ever get the opportunity to take one out?"

Ohhh, friendly might have been an understatement for this one! In spite of herself, Wei couldn't quite cover a tiny flutter beneath her breast at Jiriar's handsome smile. He wasn't bad, not at all - not her type, she was quite certain, but that didn't make her immune to the attentions of a confident young man!

"How very gallant," the Starsmith answered, her tone mildly amused. "And do you find yourself often escorting ladies in need?" A bit of a tease, a bit of a serious inquiry. If it turned out she was dealing with one of the many flirts around the average Weyr, better that she know now so that she didn't delude herself into feeling flattered! Of course, it might just be more pleasant not to harbor suspicion....

The fact that Jiriar showed any interest in her work made her feel a bit less warm, however. In fact, her mannerisms were decidedly professional now as she explained, "Well, most of Starsmithing is observing and recording, so that we can understand the patterns that evolve above our heads. Right now, I'm working to record the weather nearest the oceans. Most of the storms in the north, you know, they live off of the ocean. What starts to the south, can mean feast or famine further north. If we can better understand how the weather pushes itself north, we might be able to predict severe weather before it happens, and give farmers better warning. And of course, if Thread should Fall...."

She didn't need to go on from there. Anyone who lived in a Weyr would know sharding well that, if Thread should Fall, predicting the weather would be key to the survival of the Pernese people. And what Wei knew, which other people might be less aware of, was how the Red Star trekked across the sky. Every night, she took a recording of it; her Master at Barrier Hold depended on her information to correlate with their views at the main Crafthall. The Starsmiths would be the first to call warning, when the time came - they'd know that Thread was due to fall, and they'd be the ones struggling to find out when and where, for the rest of Pern to defend themselves. If Jiriar didn't know at least that much about the Starcraft, he'd know nothing. And yet, because Wei's own work cared little of Thread and more about rain, it didn't occur to her that she might need to explain it for him.