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What's that, Mine? Uktenath's head lifted, surprised.

The pair were outside today, enjoying a brief break in routine. Uktenath had been working hard today, exercising those wings that were just barely coming into use now. O'asis kept up the best he could, of course, but the bronze could outpace him by a great deal. When they'd both exhausted themselves, they'd found rest not so far from the Weyr, nestled against a crumbling wall where a scar in the earth cut a shady gouge into it. It might have been occupied, O'asis had mused at first - but when the bronze had moved in, everything else that might have been lurking surely moved out, and the pair were left in piece.

The bronzerider had his whittling knife out, and was working over an arm-sized chunk of wood. "I was just thinking," O'asis said again, plucking a long curl of wooden shaving off of the branch. "Everybody wants what we want, in some form. Nobody's really happy with the way things are. Like that, we're no different than anybody else."

This had a profound effect on the bronze. Previously lying on his belly, all but sleeping, he now drew himself up to his fullest sitting height, so that the top of his head could just be seen over the wall of dirt. That is not true, Mine. We are very different from others.

"In will - not in intent," O'asis disputed. "If we're at all different," and, unvoiced, it was something he doubted more and more, "it has to be because we're willing to work for what we see we need. Not because we perceive it as needful." There'd been a lot coming up recently, after all. A number of people that were desiring change, even if they didn't know the way or have the means to bring it about. Some of whom were angry about the way other people carried on to achieve the same goals....

We are different. We have vision and we have strength. Uktenath lowered his head to nudge His, a gesture that jostled O'asis's shoulder forcefully. And that is why we will rise above the rest, Mine.

O'asis smiled. "We may be different in some manner, Uk, but it's not because we have a dream." He set his blade back to the wood, carefully beginning a new pass, and said, "Everyone wants to change the world around them before they leave it. It's just how people are."

Uktenath appeared over the rim of the wall again, pushed up onto his hind legs so that he could get the best look at the newcomer. It's a girl, Mine, he reported dutifully, flashing an image of who he saw to his lifemate. Not entirely unfamiliar, O'asis thought to himself - someone who had been around since he'd been here, but the name....

Ah! He had it!

"'Lo! Hanya, is it?" the bronzerider called back cheerfully, tucking away his knife. It took him a second or two to climb up to level ground. Arriving and spotting the girl with his own eyes, he felt an encouraging certainty that he'd gotten the name right. "Shh, though - don't talk about the weather, or you'll curse it," he warned her grinningly. Of course, the fact was that storms struck fast as a feline's paw here; even if the weather looked fine now, that didn't say anything for what it would be like in a candlemark, or even less.

Carefully, Uktenath followed the bronzerider's lead in climbing out of their shady retreat - although it was beginning to be more difficult to find ways to support his growing bulk. Gripping the edges with his forelimbs just brought handfuls of dirt down - he had to launch off with his hind legs, sink his front talons into the dirt, and haul himself the rest of the way up carefully, so as to disturb as little of the wall as possible. With a rush of air, though, the bronze managed to clear the top, knocking only a relatively small amount of dirt into the gap behind him.

"What brings you out here today? Off chores so soon?" he asked. It still seemed early for a Candidate to be done with their chores - he'd have hoped that his friends in the ILA would be keeping everyone more busy than that. But it didn't much matter, anyway, and it was good to see someone looking so friendly in the aftermath of the last Hatching.

"That I was," O'asis chuckled. "Though it's O'asis now. And this is Uktenath." The blond gestured to the dragon, who seemed to have grown disinterested. The bronze had already gleaned that this was not a girl that His already knew, and therefore, His was just being sociable. Which O'asis could do very well, but the bronze was less interested in.

Hearing Hanya recount how she was tossed from the kitchen, a certain calculating gleam entered the bronzerider's eyes. He had a guess for why the bakercrafter might have acted like she had - but ah, it wouldn't much matter. If she tossed workers out, she'd need to take new ones in, or she wouldn't be able to keep up with demand - and taking new ones in meant that there would certainly be someone in the ILA that made it. Or else, of course, they'd have done their duty by causing the kitchen's output to decrease, making mealtimes more of a hassle for everyone. Now there was a message that the Weyrleader was sure to get, if the overcrowding had made the kitchn staff so dispirited that they couldn't cook properly!

"Well, I can't promise quiet, since I'm afraid I've got a bit of a loud mouth, but you're welcome to join us if you'd like," O'asis offered cheerfully.