A New Life

(I think Sixth Gun was maybe going to throw their Search rider in here but anyone is welcome. If anyone else needs to be searched they can post here too.)

It had been a long day at the Gather. Ellaeris was exhausted, not just from acting the merchant all day, but from the journey it had taken to get South. He had never been here before, and he had jumped at the chance to travel, but he hadn't realized how taxing the trip would be. At least it had been a good day at the Gather. The Weaver Hall had made a respectable amount of marks for their clothing and tapestries.

Once the day had ended and the Weavers had finished packing up, Ellaeris was free to go to enjoy himself. With the marks he'd made from his commission, he headed off into the crowd. It was exhilarating, not knowing anyone here. He didn't have to be on edge, waiting to be targeted for doing something wrong.

He headed for the bubbly pie stall and bought a pie, then walked while he munched on it. Ellaeris ended up by the dancing square. He hummed along, shuffling a little to the music, but he doubted he would join the dancers.

There were all sorts of ways to get candidates back to their canyon. Abry had been part of a few so far, but blatantly in the middle of the wider public at a Gather required a different set of skills.

They'd timed their arrival so that the White Lightning dragons wouldn't arrive until the Eastern ones had mostly left, though Abry didn't know the details of all of that. Hopefully this Gather was just far enough out of Eastern's way that not many had bothered to come from the larger Weyr, though a part of her rather wanted to see what would happen if there was a confrontation.

Probably better not to rush it, and besides, this young weaver moving a bit on the edge of the dancers was more interesting at the moment. "Don't want to jump in?" she asked with a half-smile, keeping more of her attention on the dancers than the younger man next to her to keep from seeming flirtatious or overly invested.

Ellaeris was a bit startled to find someone talking to him. A young woman, dressed in dark clothing. She seemed more amused than anything, like he was a little kid. He was fine with that, though. "I'm not much of a dancer," he said. He could feel himself blushing--shard it! He just wasn't used to talking to people he didn't know.

"And you're not going to join in?" he asked the woman. Although if he had to guess she didn't look like much of a dancer, either.

Unless he was supposed to ask her to dance...he was bad at this.

She shrugged, lifting one shoulder. "Not so much. Dancing's not my thing. I like watching - but mostly once they've been drinking and it's fun."

Abry watched the dancers for a moment longer, than turned her head to look at him and smile a bit. "Abry," she added by way of introduction.

Ellaeris nodded. Watching people, that made sense to him. He wondered how rowdy things would get later. He'd never actually been drunk before, which was a little embarrassing.

"I'm Ellaeris," he said once she introduced herself. "Just visiting for the Gather. Are you from here?"

"Nah, I'm no holder." A quick grin, this time. "Kinda boring here, no wonder they drink so much. You visiting from nearby, or somewhere more interesting?" This was idle curiosity more than anything else. Though, of course, people not super excited to get home to something or somewhere else could be more easily talked into an adventure.

Abry shifted comfortably, in no hurry for anything at all, which suited the evening of a Gather rather well.

So if Abry wasn't a Holder, what did that make her? She didn't elaborate, and Ellaeris didn't want to pry. Maybe she was a rider, but it seemed like she would be wearing knots then. Then she asked where he was from and he sighed.

"I'm from Ista." He went quiet for a moment, crumpling up his empty bubbly pie wrapper. "It's...not very interesting." That was one way to describe it. He sighed, thinking for a moment about returning home in a few days. The crafthall was better than the Hold, but not by much. Back to the daily routine, the daily dramas.

"Really? I thought Ista was all beaches and everyone's half naked for the heat, or all naked for the swimming, all the time. Or is that Igen?" Abry had always thought it was very stupid to name two Northern Holds so similarly, when both were hot, as Northern Holds went. That one was hot and dessert-y and one was hot and jungle-y didn't really matter to her - most things Northern didn't really matter to her, truth be told.

"Guess not, if you're not that excited to get back there. Can't you get transferred? We need," she glanced at his knots, "weavers in the south too, sure you noticed with all the business, no?" Casual still, teasing or making conversation or some combination of the two.

"Niall, you have to try this!" a little voice said, shoving a piece of bubbly pie upwards with a very sticky hand.

"Thank you Kolli," Niall said, laughing, taking the piece of bubbly pie carefully. He ate it as neatly as he could, licking his fingers to try and keep from making a mess. There was still a mess, though, and he wiped his hands on his trousers. "Hang on," he said, grabbing at his little sister's wrists as she started to reach for a very expensive looking piece of fabric. "Let's get you cleaned up, okay?"

He led her around to the side of a stall where he could see a bucket of water hanging. "Do you mind?" he asked the stall owner, a wry smile on his face. He got a knowing nod and pulled a rag he'd had stowed away for just this purpose. "How did you manage to get it back there?" he asked incredulously, getting what she'd gotten behind her right ear.

"It's the best way to eat it," Kolli said with a proud grin. "Can we go look at the runners next?"

"Anything you want," he said, dabbing at her nose before stowing the rag back in his pocket. "Let's get going." He grabbed her hand before she could skip off on her own and let her lead the way through the press of people.

He shook his head, smiling a little at her description of Ista, his blush growing deeper at the thought of people skinny dipping. "Maybe, but I'm not invited."

Abry may have been teasing but her comment piqued his interest all the same. Getting as far away from his childhood home as possible sounded like a great idea. "I'm walking the tables to become a Journeyman in a few months. Maybe I will request to be sent south," he said.

"Ahhh haaaaah! Oh gathers really are the best! It looks like tonight will be a lucky night!" The Quartzrider's face lit into a smile the likes of which hadn't been seen since before their exile. Pinched between two fingers was a fraction mark of the smallest denomination that he'd found at his feet, but almost overlooked. The rare occurrence however, was enough to make the entire day worthwhile, since he could add to his jar of (Fraction) Marks with it. Just a few more and they'd practically be spilling over the top.

Not that it was a large jar or anything. But, thinking of it as 'overly full jar of marks' made him feel more successful than finding a larger jar and having next to nothing in it.

Slipping the fraction mark into a pocket, the Quartzrider went back to scouting for candidates. Seikith had assured him of the presence of at least a few persons here with the likeliness of becoming promising candidates, so he was already hopeful, with a bounce in his step. The music coming from the Harpers' tunes also helped.

It was the mission of riders at the gather that day to do a little covert recruiting, which shouldn't be hard, but he'd heard that Eastern Weyr had already been here earlier in the day. Wouldn't they have done the same thing? Either way, they didn't have Seikith to Search for them, and with both their empathetic abilities combined, they paired up to make one hot Search team. Of course, K'lem was a little biased.


Kaylem was adjusting the skinny tie at his neck and giving a preparatory tug at the edges of the sharp, burgundy velvet blazer as he sidled up next to a group of girls waiting to dance. He had a few smooth moves up his sleeve to entice the ladies, but many of those who still skirted the dance floor seemed to be intent on enjoying the festive foods available to them for the time being, so he anticipated possibly having to wait to steal someone else's date, later. For now however, the Quartzrider was prospecting from among those already nearby and would have to just pick from those not stuffing their faces. 

Amoungst the girls there nearby him, K'lem could not sense much in the way of empathy, so he assumed he might be starting in the wrong place, but if he could just get out on the dance floor, he'd have the ability to move about the many dancers and try to feel them out easier up close. So, reaching out his hand in the direction of one young lady, he decided to start here.

"Might I ask you to join me for this dance?"



[if someone has another female character or anything they want to throw in here, they can. hope this works for now!]

"Are they likely to grant it?" Abry asked, not nearly as scornful as she felt toward the leadership of a far off Hall she'd never seen. Crafts, Holds. They were all led by rule-obsessed tightwads, far as she knew, and didn't seem likely to be cooperative with such things. "You could always just not go back." Another one-shouldered shrug as she gestured around them. "This isn't even the nicest part around here."

"I dunno." Ellaeris shook his head. "Oh, I couldn't do that!" he exclaimed when she suggested not going back. Maybe it was tempting but...he didn't do things like that.

He glanced back at the dance floor, gaze randomly falling on a good-looking man a few years older than him asking a cluster of girls to dance. Now why couldn't he be more confident like that?

Within just a couple sevendays' time, Noctrian and Lykos had made preparations to go back to Rudnikot. To ensure that their presence was not detected, they tried to remain inconspicuous as they entered through the Hold's tower gate amoungst a company of other visitors traveling in from the surrounding cotholds to attend the season's largest gather. He'd already sent a letter to inform the Steward of the Hold that he and his friends would be returning, so as soon as they were ready, they could make their way to see him.


With a mask of metal and fine filigree, Noctrian had  maintained only a moderately formal attire for the occasion -of course in all black, as per usual. It was hard to get him to wear any other color. The mask was festive, but it also concealed his identity from eyes that didn't need to know he was here. Lykos and the others had masks too, all in varying style to their liking, making the four of them probably appear a bit mysterious. Which was okay. Girls always seemed to go for that sort of thing, and not everyone was like Noctrian -seemingly averse to relationships with the opposite sex. So Lykos and the rest of their circle of friends shouldn't be too unhappy about the situation. 

It was kind of fun getting to sneak around without anyone knowing who you were, anyway. It took the pressure off of having to perform to the height of expectations of those around them. Lykos might be the exception to that though. At least in Noctrian's way of thinking, Lykos had always been free about how he acted to some extent. He never seemed to let much stand in the way of him saying or doing what he wanted. For that, Noctrian envied his friend.



[THere's a little intro for them, Risa! I'll post for K'lem tomorrow or Friday to get him on his search like we talked about.]

"Why not?" Abry asked reasonably. "There are all kinds of places you could go. Here." She gestured, not enthusiastically, around them. "Somewhere with dragons. Somewhere with more interesting people. It's pretty easy Or could be."

Lykos had liberally handed out a few other masks - less ornate than theirs, to be sure, but all the same, so they didn't attract too much unwanted attention.

Wanted attention, however, was another matter. After another spin around the dance clearing, he returned to those of his friends still sitting. "Not coming out?" he asked genially, grin not remotely hidden by his half-mask.

Apollotrigger wrote:

"Anything you want," he said, dabbing at her nose before stowing the rag back in his pocket. "Let's get going." He grabbed her hand before she could skip off on her own and let her lead the way through the press of people.

((Just bumping myself a bit lol))

"There you two are," Devon said, jogging up to the pair while they were picking a doll out for Kolli. "Did she find something?" The older brother grinned, knowing their little sister would take Turns to make her choice if given the opportunity.

"We've narrowed it down to three," Niall said, suppressing a sigh. He was starting to get a head ache and wanted to get away from all the noise for a moment. "I'll go grab us drinks, okay?" he said, patting Kolli's head and giving his brother a smile. He quickly moved between the stalls and into the quieter area behind them, sighing in relief. The pressure of all those people could be a little too much.

He leaned back against the fence and rubbed his temples, eyes closed and face turned up to the sun. In quiet moments like this, he felt almost at peace. Company was overrated, he thought, enjoying the solitude.

"Hiding?" Siona asked, her rich voice amused. She'd been walking along the fence and seen, though not heard, the exchange between this young man and his friends. Lolath wasn't close enough to read his wants, but Siona didn't need the quartz to tell her that he was a bit overwhelmed, whether from the noise or crowds or whatever.

She approached and handed him a flask containing some of her new home's signature distillation. "Try a bit of that," she said. "It'll cure what ails you. Whatever ails you. And possibly some things that aren't, currently, ailing you as well." She said this with a grin, and an inviting tilt of her head.

Niall nearly jumped out of his skin, having been so deep in his own thoughts that Siona had surprised him completely. "Uhm, just a little," he admitted sheepishly, bowing his head with a small smile. "I'm not the social one of the family," he added, glancing towards where his brother and sister were gleefully making a scene of examining a booth of harper goods.

He hesitated a moment before taking the flask. He needed the liquid courage to make it through the rest of the day, honestly. He took a swig before she had finished speaking, and nearly coughed it back up through his nose. "That's strong," he wheezed, a warm feeling spreading from his stomach already. He knew he was a light weight, but this was another matter all together. He took a smaller, much more careful sip, before offering the flask back.

"I'm Niall," he said belatedly. "What's your name?"

"Siona," she said, taking the flask back and tucking it into her jacket. "Of Lolath. Is it family you're hiding from? Or some other connection?"

She didn't, as she might otherwise have done, identify her Weyr affiliation. For two reasons, really. One, no one really know what under the Red Star White Lightning Weyr was, yet and two, it might be useful for him to assume that she was with one of the, um, larger outfits.

Lolath said nothing, but gave her a pulse of wordless approval.

Niall hadn't noticed her insignia, and the firey warmth in his belly was getting close to his brain now. He wasn't a heavy drinker, but that bit shouldn't have hit him so hard, he thought somewhere in the back of his head. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Rider Siona," he said, still capable of remembering his manners. For the moment. "And my duty to your Lolath."

In response to her question he sighed, giving a shrug. "Family. Everyone. Everything." He waved a hand dismissively and sighed, resting his head on his arms against the fence. "I love them but... I don't feel like I'm one of them, though."

"That happens," she said with an understanding smile. "In truth, I felt that way myself, many a time. Until I Impressed Lolath, of course."

She tilted her head at him and smiled in what she thought might be construed as a winsome way. "Did you ever hope for that, Nial who feels alone? Did you ever dream of riding a-dragonback?"

Niall straightened up and did his best to look unruffled. He'd been taught to respect dragonriders, though Siona was the first to introduce herself to him. "My duty to your Lolath," he responded, manners kicking in and his harper lessons back in his head.

Her questions made him laugh a little, and he looked away to hide his blush. "Well, yah... I figured that was normal for us holders to wish we were dragonriders," he said.

Siona laughed in return. "Did you never think to try? Because, if you like, I could help you with that."

He pulled a face. though he managed to get it under control quickly. "My father would not approve," he said, just a bit bitterly. "He thinks our hold is going to be a 'major player'... I'm supposed to be my brother's steward when we're older."

His tone and body language made it clear that, even if his father had decided for him, Niall was not happy.