As Paths Cross

[Taxx]

Gildrey flopped back onto his bed, his mind spinning and just a bit exhausted with the sudden turn his life had taken and everything that had happened in the last couple hours; if someone had told him he'd be here, in the candidate barracks of a weyr, with the hope that he might Impress a dragon- a bronze, he amended the thought- he would have laughed at them. He just- hadn't ever really thought about it. He had been happy with his family, learning the family's trade. How many others of the family had had this chance, he wondered. Had anyone taken it? Had anyone Impressed? He'd never asked before. Maybe he could write Reyloran and ask.

He was tired, but there was still the buzz of excitement that eventually resulted him in jumping up again and heading back out into the common room. He had met a couple Candidates on his initial tour with S'bol, but he hadn't had the chance to stop and talk to any of them. Might as well do that- he wanted to know what his fellow Candidates were like and he wasn't going to learn anything flopped on his bed.

He didn't have to go far; there were a few in the common room already, and Gildrey wasn't the least bit shy about piping up. "Hi! Hey, yeah, nice to meet you all! I'm Gildrey- from Tillek Hold."

[tovaana]

Treyvin;

He fingered the old book gently in his hands, flipping through the pages, but then closed the book. Luckily his mother had taught him to read somewhat, she being a healer and records being important and all… However he had resisted learning to read, he couldn’t figure out how it was supposed to help him on the sea fishing or even making boats. Since it had seemed pointless, he hadn’t taken the lessons very seriously… he knew enough to slowly get through a chapter of reading, but it was hard to concentrate on reading and foreign emotions at the same time.

This new life of his was too new and the emotions in the Weyr were… different. He couldn’t say how, but maybe they were louder? Less controlled? Either way the flavor of emotions was enough to distract him and expend much more mental energy. He sighed, glancing at the others in the common room, drumming his fingers on the hard cover of the book. It wasn’t like he had his own quarters to go to, there was no privacy… He’d have to find some place…

That was when another boy entered with pleasant feelings emanating from him. He glanced at the others then back to Gildrey. Treyvin lifted a hand from the book he had borrowed from the Weyr library to greet the boy who looked close to his age.

He didn’t recognize him, but that wasn’t saying much since he had just gotten there. “Hi, there.” He greeted. “I’m Treyvin, from Southern Hold…” He offered a half closed smile. “How long you been here?” He asked, striking up conversation. He wasn’t getting anywhere trying to read, he might as well do something he could do. It’d be good to know his fellow candidates – and this one seemed to want to do the same.

Taxx

[Taxx]

The other greeted him and Gildrey gave him a smile, moving to drop onto an available chair and crossing his legs while keeping his gaze fixed on Treyvin. "Southern Hold, huh? I bet being here is a bit different, especially the winters, right? You ever seen snow?" Bubbly interest in learning about the other's differences in life before coming here showed in his voice and expression. "I'm pretty new myself, only been here a little while."

His gaze fell on the book, a new curiosity lighting up his gaze, and he pointed at it. "What'cha reading? Anything good- anything I'd know?" He bounced a little on the chair, enjoying the talk and the fact that he was meeting someone new; everything about this was an adventure he was thrilled to be experiencing. At Tillek, excepting a few people who came and went for shipments and to buy things, he'd known everyone, and not many wanted to be bothered by a kid while they were in the midst of doing business.

But here? Everything here was still new, still wholly exciting, and Gildrey wasn't at all about to slow down in his pursuit of learning things or meeting people just yet.

[tovaana]

Treyvin;

“Snow? Uhm, no, I guess not.” He knew about snow and the idea of it – his mother had explained it to him when there had been frost early one morning. While the frost didn’t last long, the sparkly ice in the sunrise light had given him an idea of what a land covered in white might look like. “I imagine it’s warmer at Southern, I haven’t been here long enough to know.” Maybe he wouldn’t be. Maybe a gold would rise and lay her eggs – and maybe he’d go and stand…and maybe he wouldn’t impress. He knew that it was normal for candidates to attend multiple hatchings and not impress… but he still wasn’t sure if he wanted it more than the ocean.

His eyes fell down to the book in his hands as the boy directed his attention toward it. Treyvin couldn’t help but feel excited, his ‘maybe’ thoughts tossed to the side as he let the boy’s emotions buoy him up. “I dunno, it’s a book on dragons. I, uh, don’t know much about them. I know we have classes, but I thought I’d get a head start.” He smiled, a smile that was pushed forward more by the other boy’s emotions than his own. Treyvin was excited, but it paled it comparison to Gildrey’s. “Do you like to read?”

“And, what were you doing in Tillek before – this?” He motioned vaguely to around them. Holders in general didn’t usually know much about dragons, but he wondered what it was that made the boy so excited to be here at Mavros. It was one thing to feel emotions, it was another to understand the reasoning and story behind it.

Taxx

[Taxx]

"It's warmer, for sure. I heard stories about it from my grandfather and my uncles, who are traders; they go all over Pern and they've seen things I can't even imagine. They've always said it was better to time visits to Southern around winter, because it gets so hot. I always thought I'd do the same, you know, but when I got Searched, they said I could go if I wanted. And I did want to try- nobody in my family that I know of has ever done anything other than fish, or trade." Gildrey grinned, knowing well enough how much his decision had upset some- namely his grandfather- but he'd been given blessing from Reyloran and Wyliva and that had been all he'd needed.

"I can read a little: my aunt teaches us so that if we ever need to be able to, you know. There isn't much around the home that we could really read, though; just a lot of logs and inventory stuff that helps on trading trips, and kids aren't allowed to handle that stuff because we might rip them." He dropped his voice just a bit to mimic the gruff tones of Treylok, repeating words he'd heard a few times, and then he grinned again and shrugged.

"Learning how to help," he replied to the inquiry. "How to sail, work as a team, mostly- there's so much to know about ships; it's not just hauling anchor and letting the wind catch the sails. It was pretty cool though. Hadn't had the chance to go on any trips, my aunt thought twelve was too young, you know? But we- me and my cousin Reylivan, who's almost my age, we were learning and we would have got there. I wish he'd had the chance to come, but that blue, he hardly seemed to notice Reylivan and so I guess he's still over in Tillek, doing the same thing."

[tovaana]

Treyvin;

Traders. Like his father. His chest rose and fell gently in a longing quiet sigh. He’d been drawn to the ocean for so long, but that was something the two had in common – they had both left one adventure for another. When the boy grinned about it, there was smugness that didn’t fit – which meant the boy was probably thinking about something related, but leaving that part of the story out. That was the frustrating part of his ‘gift’, the part of the story that he didn’t get to be privy to.

Treyvin chuckled at the way he dropped his voice. He also didn’t like the way adults treated him, like he couldn’t handle certain things, like he was fragile. His jaw line set in stubbornness. “I’d been thinking of working with boats too, before I came here, I mean. My mother is a healer, so she taught me some from the notes and stuff that she took and tried to teach me some. But I’d rather be working near the ocean, or, I guess here.” He managed the slip in, before the boy continued the conversation. It was easy to focus on the boy’s emotions and ignore others around them.

“Yeah, that’s weird to think about isn’t it? Life where we were, its still going on without us.” He fingered the book in his hands in thought. “What color dragon do you think you’d impress to? I can’t even imagine at this point impressing at all. The blue that searched me was handsome. A proud brown would be cool. A bronze…” He breathed, shaking his head. It seemed like a dream within a dream, all this happening.

Taxx

[Taxx]

"Oh, yeah?" Gildrey asked, shifting to recline against the back of the chair and crossing his legs beneath him. "Working with boats as in on them, or making or repairing them? Working with them sounds hard. And tedious." He'd known that, too, from watching Treylok spend days griping whenever one of his ships took damage and was stuck until it was seaworthy again. But he didn't really know for sure how much work went into the making; he'd never really thought about it before. The most he'd ever done was spend an afternoon building a raft, and that'd just been a bunch of logs tied together and sealing the cracks between with mud.

He grinned at the memory of that- a contest proposed by his age-cousin to see who could make a water worthy one the fastest. Neither had held up long, but it'd been fun all the same. The thoughts had only somewhat distracted him from Treyvin's comments, and he nodded. "Well, we're all surrounded by water here, so it shouldn't be hard to find work, if that's what you want to do. The water's nice, but I'm glad I had the chance to come here, to do this." He gestured vaguely around them, the barracks that would house him until he Impressed, or Faranth forbid, aged out.

"Yeah," he nodded again, and craned his head to one of the open windows. "I bet Reylivan's missing me. He probably spent the whole day tagging after someone else or getting underfoot." He glanced back, perking at the question and knowing the answer without having to mull over it like Treyvin was doing. "A bronze," he replied, sitting straighter. "Could you imagine the honor? My uncle said it could happen, you know? Why shouldn't I hope for a bronze? I've got as much chance as any other boy, and bronzes respond to leadership, right? I can be a leader! I can be anything he would need!"

[tovaana]

Treyvin;

“Uhm, a little of both… all of the above.” They had tossed him around in his younger years when he had hung around the docks. Then when he was old enough, they had him doing more grunt work than actual fishing. He had gone out, but not like he had hoped. It hadn’t really bothered him, not until that moment when Gildrey asked, and mentioned that it must have been difficult. The young boy felt the boy’s interest in the subject shift slowly into a nostalgia and amusement. Treyvin had obviously said nothing that amusing, so he assumed he was thinking of something else, a memory to account for the nostalgia? He sighed noiselessly, forever frustrated with the way he could sense emotions.  

He appreciated the boy’s confidence in his decision to be a candidate – Treyvin couldn’t say he felt that way, but now he had a taste of what certainty would maybe feel like. Especially the way Gildrey reacted to his question about dragon colors. He smiled at the confidence that swelled into the room. While he could somehow tangibly feel it, he couldn’t help but wonder if it wasn’t contagious enough for others to feel or at least see it, or hear it in his words.

“I bet you do then.” Treyvin said with a certain nod. He didn’t know much about dragons, but he knew that bronze’s usually impressed to leader like people – and this boy seemed confident enough to do it.

Just then a couple of other candidates came in and flooded the room with their energy. Treyvin hadn’t realized how relaxed he had gotten with the other boy, so much so that his guard had come completely down. He flinched as they entered, looking down at his lap and at the book as he tried to bring up the shields in his mind. But at the same time, he didn’t want to end the conversation with his new friend. Torn, he stood up suddenly. “It was… nice meeting you, talking with you.” He bit the inside of his mouth, feeling overwhelmed. There weren’t a lot of people there – the dining hall was more overwhelming, but he was always prepared when he had to go there. His shoulder lifted as he scrambled for an excuse. “I should probably get some reading done…” That was lame. He felt dizzy though, and needed to leave. He took a step toward the door and paused, he offered another smile – letting the boy say anything if he wanted to before he took off at a brisk walk toward the beach.

exit Treyvin

OoC// Taxx hope you don't mind that I close this one up so we can do something more present time(: