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If Renna knew the things that O'asis knew about that tuber-peeling corner, she might have been more eager for the task ahead of her. Else, she might have steered clear from the kitchen all together - it was really hard to know, right off, what a Candidate's opinion of the seedy trade that carried on within the cavernous walls of the kitchen.

He wasn't here to work, of course - even if he had been, they'd have kicked him right out after his poor show as a Candidate! Couldn't cook right, couldn't clean thoroughly, and couldn't even peel tubers without cutting his hand open. Instead, as a Sr. Weyrling, his days were filled with tending to the growing needs of his growing dragon. But every now and again he'd find a crack in the workload where he could stretch out, catch up with friends, and partake of mischief revolution relaxation.

I caught that, Mine, Uktenath informed him smugly, entertained by the ex-Trader's wandering thoughts. O'asis just smiled innocently up at the large weyrling and patted him on the side. "Better wait out here, Uk, you're getting a bit large to forge your way through the kitchen. Why don't you go see find what Ianquith's up to?"

The bronze hardly seemed to consider the words before he sat himself down, shoulders back and head high. I will wait for you here.

"Suit yourself," O'asis shrugged. Uktenath would find his own space in time, he reasoned - he certainly didn't mind the dragon's loyalty, so long as the bronze didn't get bored waiting around. The youth didn't plan to be in the kitchen long, but who could say? Once you got into those shady corners, after all, you could lose a lifetime in there....

The bronzerider strode into the kitchen, making a beeline for a group of girls sitting around a pile of tubers. The group was more crowded than O'asis remembered it being - another sign of overcrowding, he supposed. The more mouths to feed, the more tubers had to be peeled, and the more girls there'd be to peel them. "Morning, ladies!" O'asis greeted the whole group as he approached, interrupting their chatter. "What's the gossip today?"

He was naturally greeted with a number of squeals and excited chatterings - no matter how long these girls had spent around Nandeli and been warned about bronzerider traps, it seemed that Impressing the right color was all it took to get in good with them. And the fact that O'asis was friends with the Nose - once their ringleader, now goldrider to Reneneth - couldn't have hurt his good standing with the group, either. They began pouring out their information immediately - had O'asis heard about the mass toilet clogging a few sevendays back? Or that goldrider Rinfala had had her head shaved in Weyrling lessons! What about that new girl, barely arrived at the Weyr, who went gallivanting off to some bronzerider's room in broad daylight...?

"Say, was that last one implying something?" O'asis asked with injured dignity, while the girls all laughed. Ah, yes - there was always something going around the tuber corner, and if there was dirt to be had or gossip to be whispered, this was the place to be. As long as you were there, you were bound to hear of every misdeed and rumor around the Weyr - whether you wanted to or not.

Unless you were a particularly hardy and diligent worker, anyway. There was at least one girl here who seemed to have more on her mind than whether that cute new bluerider was a closet case or not, and gradually, O'asis found himself drifting over to her. An unfamiliar face, but he was hardly shy in approaching her, setting himself down on his haunches so that he wouldn't be looming above her. "Shards, I've never seen anyone here take tubers so seriously! You got a grudge or something?"

O'asis had been jovial and laughing when he'd approached Renna, interested in meeting the newcomer to the tuber-peeling circle and getting her story out of her. Seeing her hand slip, though, his expression made a dynamic change to something more sad-eyed and pitiful. His eyes dashed around to see if anyone had noticed. He had a bad enough reputation in this kitchen without people thinking his mere presence was enough to cause injury! Fortunately, the girls were too busy giggling to themselves to take notice. O'asis inched over a little closer to Renna, doing his best to block off sight of the injury from the other girls.

"Sorry, sorry - shards, you know, I did the same thing when I was peeling tubers?" the bronzerider babbled, digging through his pockets. He'd made a point to carry a handkerchief with him after that incident, when he'd had to borrow someone else's in order to cover up the wound - now where was it... ah! Here it was, a white square with red needlework. Under the harshness of the Candidate's tone, he had no hesitation in offering it out in payment for his ill-fated influence.

At least the cut didn't seem serious, he was relieved to note. And the girl didn't seem as crabby as she had just a moment ago. "Useful? Me? Shards no!" he chuckled, forcing himself to relax around the unfamiliar and apparently snappish girl. "My name's O'asis, of bronze Uktenath; I ah, would appreciate it if you didn't go 'round letting people know you cut yourself because I was distracting you, eh? I'm probably just a few slip-ups away from being banned from the kitchen for life."

O'asis held onto the handkerchief awkwardly a moment more before shrugging. It wasn't like she was obligated to make a mess out of his handkerchief, and besides! It was more than enough for him that Renna didn't seem upset about the affair anymore, and wouldn't get his rump booted out of the kitchen.

The bronzerider stood when Renna brushed past him and tucked away the cloth in his pocket again, waiting while she cleaned up. When she took her seat again, he opted to remain standing - much more comfortable than crouching, especially if he was going to be chatting for a while. It was a bit awkward, though, to be standing around for so long empty-handed while everyone else was working... did he dare try to peel a tuber? Would he get chased out if he tried? A quick scan of the area didn't reveal anyone spying on him, waiting to see if he dared to

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Renna! You shouldn't be so flippant about those tubers, though. It's the tuber-peelers that make the Weyr go 'round," O'asis informed her seriously, picking up a peeling knife, "just ask anyone!" As if to assert himself as an exclusive member to this group, the bronzerider selected a tuber from the pile and started on it.

"So, what do you think of the Weyr? Found a place for yourself here yet?"

"You ought to meet my friend, S'van," O'asis commented, shaking off a clingy scrap of skin into the shavings basket. "He's big into cooking, too. Impressed the brown Galliath a good while ago, but he still comes into the kitchen to lend a hand!" And now was a big-shot Wingsecond. O'asis still needed to find a proper way to congratulate him for that... one that didn't involve shortening his sheets, anyway.

Moving on from the thought, O'asis grinned. "First one, eh? You ought to meet Uktenath sometime, he's far more interesting than I am." His eyes flicked purposefully toward the entrance to the kitchen cavern, where the bronze was lounging just within sight, inadvertantly slowing down the foot traffic in and out of the kitchen as people had to stop and wonder who the shells had jus parked a young dragon and walked off.

Holding out okay there, Uktenath? O'asis checked in briefly.

Of course, Mine. Though there is a little boy here who stands and stares at me, the dragon informed the bronzerider, his voice mystified. I am not sure what he's expecting.

He probably thinks you're the biggest thing he's been within ten feet of, the bronzerider chuckled mentally. If you gave him a nudge, you'd probably make his day.

The dragon's response was predicatably confused - Why should I do that?

Just try it and see! O'asis encouraged him, and refocused on his considerably smaller conversation partner.

"Life's different everywhere you go, trust me," the blond commented, "even just from Hold to Hold. I've been places that were way bigger than this Weyr." Pulling off a perfect circle of potato scrap, he admired it briefly before tossing it in with the rest of the rubbish. "Here, it's not so bad. Most people think they're working pretty hard, and sometimes they are, but the pace of life can be pretty slow, too. Though that's more before you Impress than after."

From just outside the kitchen cavern, there was the sound of a delighted squeal. Mine, he's making strange noises now.... Uktenath reported back, sounding even more baffled than before. O'asis just snickered.

"Well, I gather that he's gotten in good with the right folk, so maybe it's just that they like him too much to kick him out," O'asis mused aloud, quartering his latest tuberous accomplishment and dropping the finished product along with the others. S'van did have a sort of puppy-dog way about him, in those respects. O'asis knew him well enough to ignore it, of course, and was capable of tormenting his blood brother through the even his most pitiful protests - but maybe the kitchen folk weren't so cold-hearted as he was.

Listening to the story of the holdless bakerwoman, O'asis seemed oddly pleased by it. Softly, he said, "Quite a tale, that." Like everyone else in the Weyr, that little blue from Hatching was still fresh in his mind. It was nice to think that it might be able to just appear somewhere. Maybe someplace peaceful, like a secret spot he knew, where the trees protected it so well that it couldn't be found but by foot....

That was a bit wishful, though. And he was hardly going to spend Turns wandering the forests, looking for a dead dragonet.

"Uktenath's right outside," O'asis nodded solemnly toward the cavern entrance. "He's starting to get a bit big to be tromping through while people are working here, you see. But he doesn't like to be off too far on his own, either. He thinks he's keeping a watch out for me, I think, just in case." The bronzerider smiled in an easy, carefree manner, one that made it impossible to think that there could ever be a reason that a dragon would feel he had to stand guard. Uktenath? Want to pop your head in and say hello?

... That child is still here, Mine. I don't think he is going away. The bronze sounded almost distressed, completely at a loss for how to deal with the excitable Weyrbrat that was clamoring for his attention. Still, he took enough time away from his problem to crane his neck around the corner, picking out the girl who was talking to His quickly. You may tell her hello for me.

Right, right- "He says hello," O'asis offered with a shrug. Satisfied that he'd done what His asked, Uktenath pulled back around the corner to deal with the problem of the little boy's rapt attention.

And blessed were those words - I like stories. There was nothing that promised better a blossoming new friendship to O'asis, the trader's son who had traveled the northern continent, than to learn that he'd have a ready ear to yammer at.

"Just so long as none of 'em are Harper tales, I'll swap with you any time," O'asis told her grinningly. "Don't let me forget, I've got a heck of a story about a watchwher my friend Jaenel and I met...."

Mine! Uktenath's interruption was nothing short of agitated this time, and O'asis's attention was fully diverted from the conversation. Mine, he's trying to climb on my tail!

Tossing a half-completed tuber back in the pile, O'asis seemed to have decided he'd had enough of the Candidate work for the day. "You want to meet him?" he offered, dropping off his peeling knife on the table. "It sounds like he might need a rescue--"

Whether Renna were interested or not, O'asis couldn't hang around to find out. Uktenath wasn't riled up often, but when he was, he needed His. The bronzerider started walking hastily toward the exit of the cavern, looking back only briefly to get an answer.

There was something pitiful about the scene right outside the kitchens. Here was Uktenath, a growing bronze of great dignity - and then here was this little boy with a mop of dirty brown hair, barely seven Turns. And when these two alien forces met, somehow, it was the bronze that was sent cringing away like a skittish feline, back arched and wings lifted, as he tried to determine how exactly he could discourage the child from clambering on top of him without being over-aggressive. Unfortunately, he wasn't finding many solutions, and the boy was either ignoring or ignorant of his obvious disagreement with his making a jungle gym out of the dragon.

At the arrival of his in the corridor, Uktenath pulled himself up straighter. Mine, please tell him that--

"Hey!" O'asis was already shouting, shoulders set and voice scornful, muscles coiled to make an intimidating block of angry rider out of his bulky form. The boy's head snapped around, and he ceased his attempts to climb Uktenath's tail immediately. Hunching his shoulders, the weyrbrat darted his eyes, looking for an escape, as O'asis began pacing forward. "By the Egg, boy, you don't fardling climb on a dragon without his say-so! You're lucky you--" And that was about as far as he got before the boy decided it was time to make a run for it, slipping right past O'asis. Either unmotivated or unprepared, the bronzerider let the boy pass, still grumbling under his breath before attending to the relieved bronze.