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Given her upbringing, Allende should have had no reason to be curious, let alone grossed out, by the very nature of a feeding dragon. She'd thrown dinner for spit canines before, and had seen more then one wild wherry take down smaller prey and eat it. It was nature working at her finest, and by the First Egg nothing was as sloppy an eater as her brothers! When they had roasts, the juices usually stained every bit of the men except their napkins!

Yet as she paused mid-stride to watch the newest goldrider feed her dragon, Alle couldn't help the shudder that shook her all the way to her toes. She hadn't yet witnessed a grown dragon feeding, but if the stories the cavernwomen told her were even partially true, it was every bit as terrifying as Holder propaganda made it! The small dragon didn't look exactly bloodthirsty, but there was no mistaking a predator for anything else... and Alle hadn't exactly grown up in a dragon-loving household. Shivering again, she clutched the basket of clean rags she was delivering to the beastherders closer.

Trained reactions and her innate curiosity warred briefly within the tall girl the moment the little dragon looked in her direction. She had a chore to see too, first off, but why else was she here? She hadn't come here to do the same chores she could be doing at home.... nor to be scared of dragons had she? Despite her initial repulsion, she found that she couldn't take her eyes off the little gold. Like the rest of her kind, she was a fascinating creature, and as with the larger green that had accompanied L'thor, Alle couldn't decide between being terrified and enamored.

Oh but did she have to lick her jaw and chew like that!

Shaking herself, she was just beginning to turn away when the gold's rider called out. Startled enough that she almost dropped the basket, Alle held onto it as if her life depended on it, and tentatively called back. "T'would be an honor weyrlady, but I.. uhm... wouldn't want to disturb..." Well shards, that was not quite how she wanted to say it! Yet she hadn't wanted to be rude either! She'd been in the Weyr long enough to gather that some folks were pricklier about rank then others, and unless directed otherwise, it was best to just treat every ranking rider (no matter the age) the same. Bianne had certainly drilled it into her head that no matter where she had come from or how new she was, she was in the Weyr now and must abide by the Weyr rules!

Blood and Guts? Do her best not to get any on her? Oh for the love of-!

"Pleasure to meet you Nandeli, Reneneth. I'm Allende." She replied, uncertain if she be a little put out by the girl's nonchalance about... well.. just about everything Allende thought was important in the Weyr. Don't worry about rank, worry about it later. Don't worry, dragons don't mind company other then their riders... but she'd been told at least a half a dozen times not to invade a dragons personal space or speak to a riders dragon directly unless bidden (and even then, only under extreme circumstances!) And what was with that odd note about whether or not she had a name?!

Flustered and trying incredibly hard not to show it, Alle moved close enough to set her basket down and rest her arms and upper body along the top rail of the feeding pens. She'd begun to realize early on that being weyrbred and holdbred meant living in two completely different worlds... but if the little differences were as apparent in small conversations like this, what must they be like between Lord Holders and Weyrleaders?

Shardit she was too uptight!

"Your pardon though, if I'm not as... easy-going about blood and guts as a weyrbred candidate." Best warning she could give the young goldrider... just in case she did something silly and fainted. She wasn't quite up to joking about feeling nauseous, but she hoped that once the overall shock of it wore off, she wouldn't disgrace herself!

Well there was the ticket. A dragon apologizing for being a dragon. Somehow the absurdity of it caused the growing nausea in her belly to subside a bit as the young holdergirl smiled tentatively at the pair. "Please, tell her she doesn't have to apologize for doing as she ought to be doing, I'll take your suggestion and just look away if it bothers me." Wait... was she staying then? When had she decided to stay and chat? Briefly her eyes flickered over to the basket as she weighed her options, before she turned to look back at Nandeli and her dragon. Well, how often was it she got to speak to a female rider, let alone a goldrider? She did have a lot she wanted to know...

And Nandeli did seem amiable, perhaps even a trifle enthusiastic, to a little chat...

"She is beautiful Nandeli, you must be very proud of her." Alle said after a slight pause, forcing herself to look past the blood and see the hatchling for what she was. "If you don't mind my asking, where were you from originally?" She continued, deciding that starting in generally accepted conversation territory was a good, safe route.

Somehow, Alle wasn't surprised to hear that dragons could speak to whomever they chose. In retrospect, she probably should have been flabbergasted, but the abilities of dragonkind was one of the few things she was absorbing with relative ease here at the Weyr. From talk of winking from one place to another and even between times, to bespeaking their chosen riders in the darkness of a human's lonely mind... Allende took it all in and remembered. Even if nothing else came from her time her at Ista, she was more then happy with what she had started to learn.

"That is kind of you both. I'll remember that." Oh, if Nandeli only knew what kind of person she had snared in Allende. The girl was positively dying on the inside for new things to hear, do, and see..! Not that Alle even knew herself what kind of knowledge hunger she'd awoken in herself the moment she'd first picked up a teaching hide, as it stood... she was almost in a constant state of frustration. Everywhere she turned there was something else she didn't know, something else she'd never heard of and was more often then not scandalized by! Well, up until she figured out the 'why' of the matter. Sharding narrow-minded teachings!

"Somehow, I would be willing to bet that even a quiet life here at Ista is far more exciting then anything happening in my home hold." She ventured, grinning sardonically. "I'm from somewhere else, by the way. My father is a woodcrafter, and his cothold is located just outside of Lemos. "

Nandeli gave what she thought was a sage, understanding nod. Sounded like the protective father syndrome. The daughter, though happy with her father, wished to explore the world on her own without her father shadowing her every step of the way. Allende was not alone in her feelings. Dragonriders sometimes Searched Candidates from families where the parents were overprotective and didn't wish for their little boys and girls to go out into the dangerous world. Sometimes the Candidates even kept that mentality here at the Weyr, following every rule as though their lives depended on it. It was really quite a shame.

"Well, I'm glad you're here then! You'll certainly have some kind of interesting adventures here, and you're always welcome to stay even if you don't Impress. The Lower Caverns needs some good, able-bodied women to keep things running smoothly down there, especially with the over-crowding and such." Not that they'd lost a particularly skilled working in Nandeli, but she liked to think she was at least somewhat useful. At Allende's question she blinked, before laughing. "You've got the right idea, but I didn't just listen to the gossip. They don't call me Nandeli the Nose for nothing!" She was very proud of her position as head gossiper of the tuber peeling corner and it showed. "You'd be surprised at some of the things I've heard around the Weyr. Have you ever met F'sey in your travels? A little on the short side, red hair, rides a green? Well, even if you haven't, word is that he's got himself a weyrmate and he's got his eyes on the newly-made Wingrider H'dra! Can you believe it?"

Oooh now wasn't that exciting! Nandeli perked up instantly at the mention of a dragonrider giving Allende the eye. "Do you remember the rider? Or at least what he looked like?" She wasn't entirely sure about how she felt about the rider getting what was coming to him, but she would reserve her judgement once she found out who it was. There were some riders here – she wasn't going to name any names – who flirted with everything, so the fact that one of them had made eyes at Allende was neither here nor there. If had been someone else on the other hand… well, then she would have to explore that deeper. The fact that it was rider made things ten times better since no dragon would refuse to talk to Reneneth. It was a win-win situation.

Tucking those thoughts away in her brain for a little while longer, she focused her attention back on the topic of F'sey and his man brigade. Allende's initial response surprised her – the tone suggested she was unimpressed which was quite suitable – however she seemed to be under the impression that the Weyrlingmaster was two-timing his female weyrmate for another woman. She had just opened her mouth to correct that assumption when Allende seemed to arrive at it all on her own. Excellent! That saved her the trouble of having to explain that guys could be in relationships with each other. Still, now that she got a good look at her, her new Hold friend didn't seem too comfortable with the idea… Oh well.

"Yeah, H'dra. He's a young bluerider. A little older than me I think. I don’t know exactly. But he – F'sey I mean – doesn't have a female weyrmate. Everyone's saying C'ren – he's a greenrider – is his weyrmate, but because both of them have greens they can't fly each other." And by everyone she meant she had been saying and everyone else was following suit, but Allende didn't need to know that. "So they invited H'dra into the mix! So he can fly both of them. Or something. Anyways, I think it's entirely consensual. Did you not have any gay men in your Hold?"