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She felt like she was intruding in the Weyr. Yes, she was a candidate here just the same as all the others--and yes, her home Hold was beholden to Trine and thus it shouldn't have been strange for her to mourn alongside them. But Akaya couldn't help but feel like an outsider nonetheless...maybe because she didn't blame Benden? Certainly the offending bronzerider had been at fault, but...the problem was greater than Healers coming and going, or Benden dragons arriving with little more than a by-your-leave. The schism that had divided the Old and New Weyrs had been dividing them since the very first Atypical was helped out of the shell. It wasn't the kind of blame that could be laid entirely on another party; both were at fault, in their own way.

Maybe it was because she fancied herself of the Harper ilk that it seemed so? Well, it was because she was a Harper apprentice that she'd gone to seek the one person she thought might understand where she was coming for... She'd been meaning to seek out Harper Tor since she first arrived at Trine--of course she'd heard about his posting there, as well as the attack on her former teacher--the Harper Hall had been livid at the news. She had so much to tell him--not that she even knew if he cared to hear about her adventures, but he had helped send her off on them, so...

She'd asked around and found him just where they said he ought to be; out by the lakes, practicing. Once she got near the shore, all she had to do was follow the sound of the music, and she stopped back a respectful distance to let him finish the piece before interrupting. Akaya had also heard of his firelizard companions, who helped him to see--clever, that, and she heartily approved of the rider who'd thought of it.

She had to laugh in surprise; she hadn't thought he'd recognize her after all the time. "Akaya indeed. Hello, Harper Tor," she said with a soft smile. "They tapped me for a candidate, and you know me--I'll go wherever I can see something new," she added, by way of explanation. "I've been meaning to come see you before now, but they were running us candidates ragged--got in a spot of trouble with the Candidatemaster, though I wasn't the only one--and...well, I'm glad a familiar face's here."

She settled herself off on one side of Tor, affixing the brown flit on his shoulder with an especially curious look--why bother to be discreet? "And who's this lovely brown gentleman here, hmm?" she asked, another, wider smile coming to her face. She did like the little draconic cousins, though she'd never been lucky enough to find an egg (her elder brothers had though, the wherries!).

"If I manage to Impress, most certainly. Otherwise I'll be pestering my newly-made-weyrling friends for the same information!" Akaya said, truly grinning now. Ulterior motives in coming to the weyr? Well, she was going to specialize as a composer...she liked having all the facts about the subjects of her tunings.

"Well met, Eldest and n** and Squeak--aren't you clever little things," she said, holding her hands out as directed to coax at least one of them into petting and fussing distance. The feeling from the firelizards had her grinning again--the eggs at the Touching hadn't been too dissimilar (though she knew dragons usually fretted at any such comparison).

Akaya was more than happy to placate the firelizards' need for attention, and she to Tor's description of their training with avid curiosity. Most people did at least train their flits to carry messages, if they could, but she wondered if they weren't kept more out of trouble with more to do--Tor was certainly finding ways to keep his busy. And having more pairs of eyes--that was clever too, in more ways than one. "It sounds an excellent advantage for a Harper to have," she said honestly...wasn't their entire trade based on information, of one kind or another? Songs had power, and it was from the Harpers nearly all of Pern got their news.

She wrinkled her nose at the inquiry. "Fraught's the best word for it! I could've sworn Candidatemaster O'rer was going to ship each and every one of us home at the last lesson. I suppose the need for the hatchlings to have choice won out in the end..." She shook her head, sending her brown hair flying. "The lessons themselves--well, the couple I've been to--are fine. Some of it seems very repetitive, but I've the advantage of being very familiar with half the material. The material that's new was worth coming for alone, though." She pursed her lips thoughtfully before continuing. "It's both more lax and strict than the Hall--candidates have a lot more freedom than apprentices, but when they are called to duty, it's always very serious. If that makes sense at all," she added, sounding self-deprecating.

"That's true," Akaya agreed thoughtfully, stroking n** with one hand and Squeak with the other. "It's certainly the dragonriders that the most seems expected from, but there's a pride in it...of rising to the challenge? Enduring through more than most? I can't say it's surprising that a good portion of my fellow candidates are weyrbred--born to it, there's something desperate in wanting to try to fulfill that legacy..." She was musing absently more than trying to state any sort of profound truth.

"I hope the Hatching will help," she said, with a little sigh--the barracks had been a stifling environment to be in these days, equal parts morose and tense and even simply the nervousness of the task that still awaited them. "But yes, I do mean to stay--for a few Turns anyway, trying not to fall too far behind in my craft in the meantime. If nothing else, having forged friendships with young dragonriders is usually a good idea, eh? And this place--I do like it here." It was enough of home back in Eron mixed with the exotic world of the Weyr, and it was a hard temptation to resist.

"I'll no doubt take you up on the offer," she said with a chuckle. Like old times indeed--without the part where she'd had to act half a beastcraft 'prentice, which made current times immeasurably more satisfying.

"Rumors indeed--I can't even keep straight all the theories flying through the barracks," Akaya agreed. Some of it was no doubt true--strange firelizard behavior and all that--but some of them just false ramblings born out of hysteria. "It's a good idea to keep the Benden riders sequestered for now, with emotions as they are, but surely the Weyrleaders will have to come to some consensus on everything. Separating and not talking to each other is part of what started the mess, isn't it? It's the schism of belief that's the real wedge, but until somebody decides that needs to be conquered...well, of course it's not that simple, everyone gets set in their ways." That reminded her of the reason she'd sought Tor out in the first place, but she was hesitant to bring it up--she was just an apprentice Harper after all, and it was a bit presumptuous of her to have decided to write the thing, but now that it was written she didn't know what else to do with it but share it. "And I hope that the Hatching can redirect that emotion--turn hate to triumph, for Trine anyway. It's a bit more productive than running themselves ragged on could-have-beens and should-have-beens."

"The worst I've heard beyond the ridiculous is that trade restrictions have been part of the threats behind closed doors," Akaya admitted with a shrug. The Weyrs of Pern were important, yes, but they shouldn't be getting involved with whom the Crafthalls did business with.

"Open mindedness is what Pern needs, though far be it from me as a mere 'prentice to say I have any idea of how to accomplish such a thing--that's the Masterharper's job." And Akaya wished the Masterharper well...that was a position she did not envy. "I hope Alumanth's eggs turn out fine. They were so very lively on the Sands--well, one of them was a bit angry, but a couple of Brakiath's were about as ornery, so I'm guessing that's just the way the eggs go." She smiled, remembering the one she'd compared to a caprine--hopefully it wouldn't hold a grudge against her.

"When it comes time to specialize, I'll be going into composition," Akaya said, nodding along with Tor. "I still haven't taken the arbitration classes...they might've come in handy." More often than not she knew her manner was somewhat odd to those who weren't familiar with her, so she was a polarizing party. Either people liked her, tolerated her, or thought she was something of a flake. She did have a habit of getting distracted easily...

"The Touching was more than worth coming for," Akaya agreed fervently--perhaps it was because she didn't have a firelizard she'd found it so unique, but all the different personalities, just waiting to emerge and find Theirs... "There was an egg that I felt singing from! I hope the dragon keeps that. When I first got the Weyr, I met a brown dragon--Tereth, that was it--who had me sing for him as well." There was a sense of wonder in her voice as she recounted it; clearly she'd counted the experience important. She didn't miss the 'heard' qualifier, and wondered--that was right, hadn't they said in lessons in warning to the candidates who had firelizards that they weren't allowed? But it seemed cruel that the same applied to Tor, who relied on them to see...

"My chances are better than they would be, but I suppose I'm trying not to get my hopes up?" she admitted, tucking her hair behind her ear. "I suppose a dragon who'd like to explore would be best, or curious at the least. That'd be blue or black then, I suppose? Though greens do vary..." She was almost expecting to be left on the Sands without a dragon--it was the idea of Impressing that scared her witless.