A normal kind of lunch

[Kisha-Ra]

Lunch time had finally rolled around, and not a moment too soon for Keshia since she’d been doing kitchen work that morning and everything had smelled so wonderful when it was cooking that she couldn’t wait to get her share of it. Having loaded her plate up with whatever smelled best. The copper skinned girl found herself somewhere to sit. She was unsurprised when her blue firelizard popped in, Shay might be silly about most things but he knew about food.

Keshia looked guardedly around her as she began eating, apparently actually being near the food when it was served was an advantage because there didn’t seem to be that many people around yet. Shay took advantage of Keshia’s distraction to snatch a mouthful of something off her plate and sniffed in disgust as he found out what he’d grabbed was a bite of bread, which he hated.

[Yamamoto]

About the time the girl had sat down to eat a hoard of 5 firelizards discended on her table. Emerald landed on her head while Shapphire landed on the girls shoulder. The other three landed on the table and they all chriped a greeting to Keshia and Shay. Then they just all sat there waited for there pet to show. Bamre walked in with Diamond curled up on his shoulders. The large gold firelizard had her tail curled around her pet's neck just like a necklace. Bamre went and got some food and put it on his plate and walked on over and sat at the table his fair had landed on and sat next to Keshia. Diamond chriped a greeting to her and to Shay. Bamre took a bite of his food sollowed it and then said to her " Hello. So what is your name?"

[Kisha-Ra]

Shay chirped brightly at the group of firelizards who landed around him and on his minething. They were interesting; Shay sat and curled his tail around his feet, and chirruped an enquiry at the other firelizards, did he know them, where was their humanpet, they weren’t going to take his food were they?

Keshia was a little startled to find herself suddenly surrounded by flitters, she raised an eyebrow as a blue settled on her shoulder and another landed on her head, these were bold firelizards. Keshia looked around, careful not to dislodge the green on her head, and spotted Bamre filling his plate. She knew of the weyrling and his white dragon rather than knew them ad one thing Keshia did know about Bamre was that he had a lot of firelizards bonded to him. Her suspicion that most, if not all, of these firelizards belonged to him was borne out when the weyrling came to sit with her.

‘Hello.’ Keshia returned the greeting cheerfully, her natural shyness dispelled by knowing Bamre, however slightly. ‘I’m Keshia.’ There were quite a few questions on the tip of her tongue but Keshia kept quiet for the moment, unsure of how they would be received.

[Yamamoto]

Bamre smiled and siad " My name is Bamre. Good to meet you." He then pointed to the firelizards one by one and introduced all of them. " The one on your head there is Emerald. The one on your shoulders name is Sapphire. The bronze there is Topaz. The brown is Iron. The odd colored one is a brugendy named Ruby. He is a new color of firelizard. Then the one on my shoulder is the leader of my fair and her name is Diamond." He then looked at her for a second and noticed a look of curiousness on her face. He wondered what it was she wanted to ask him. He then smiled and siad " You seem like a person who has alot of questions you can ask them. I don't mind." He then began to feed his fair fish as he waited for her questions. He even held one fish out and laid it down in front of Shay and siad to him " There you go little guy. Eat up."

[Kisha-Ra]

Keshia memorised the names of all the firelizards, she was used to knowing huge amounts of the little beasts from her home hold. ‘Well this little guy is called Shay.’ She said, indicating her firelizard. ‘He’s not quite bright but he’s sweet.’ Shay chirped brightly at the sound of his name.

Keshia nibbled at the slice of bread Shay had bitten and thought for a moment. Shay snatched up the fish he had been given in his talons, looked around wildly and vanished between to take his meal somewhere safe.Keshia giggled at Shay and fixed Bamre with a mock stern look. ‘If he’s eating that in my bed I will never forgive you.’

Questions?Oh yes she had so many, the problem was deciding what to ask first and how to ask it. Keshia wanted to know everything possible about being a weyrling in case she Impressed this time around. She wanted to be the best weyrling rider ever and prove that girls weren’t useless. ‘What do you think is the most important thing for young dragons? I know it sounds like a strange question but I want to look after my dragon really well. If I Impress one, I mean.’ Keshia’s words came tumbling out very quickly as she asked the question and tried to explain herself.

[Yamamoto]

Bamre just smiled and said " Well if he is eating it in your bed just be glad that is all he is doing. My brothers green rencently laid all of her eggs in his bed." He then smiled as she began to ask him questions. He thought for a moment becuase he did not want to answer worng. He then smiled and siad " Well in my opintion it is that you spend most of your time with them. So that you can get to know all there little quarks and there personaillty. Beyond that I would say it would be to have fun with them becuase I know that Purth liked to play and he still does. The rest of the stuff that you need to know is just basic commen sense stuff like feeding them and that kind of stuff."

[Kisha-Ra]

Keshia gave Bamre a look that suggested she’d prefer a green’s eggs in her bed than the remains of a blue’s lunch but listened to his answer anyway, because Purth seemed very well cared for even though Bamre had a whole bunch of firelizards to divide his time among as well as his dragon.

Well taking the time to work out a hatchlings personality was probably a good start, every creature had a different nature, even animals as silly as herdbeasts. Keshia opened her mouth to ask what kind of games a young dragon might enjoy, then shut it again as a second boy practically threw himself into a seat at the table.

Uureian didn’t bother with food, he simply looked around the room for a vacant seat and took on at the most interesting table he could see, the one covered in firelizards. ‘Hello. You’re talking about dragons right? I’m a candidate, what about you two? My name’s Uureian by the way. Who do all the firelizards look to, or are they wild ones that hatched around here?’ Uureian fired out non-sequential questions and statements at both people who were already sat down blithely unaware that he was interrupting anything. At last he paused for breath and looked expectantly around for answers.

[Yamamoto]

Bamre was waiting for Keshia to ask more questions when the other boy sat down and began to ask him a whole lot of questions at once. Bamre just turned and looked at Uureian and smiled. Bamre was a good listiner and had alot of pactice so he was brothered at all by Uureian's questions in turn. " Yes my friend we are talking about dragons. I am a wyerling. She is a candidate. Nice to meet you Uureian my name is Bamre. All of the firelizards here look to me." He then smiled as he was ready to anwser anymore questions.

About the time the other boy had sat down Andol was coming up, but had heard how fast and how talkative Uureian was and almost went away. The Leaf who was on his shoulder chriped at him and he sighed and crouched down in the seat next to his brother. He then siad to the other two candidates " Hello my name is Andol this little green here is Leaf." He really hoped the other boy would not bombared him with question. Though he sorta suspected he would.

[Kisha-Ra]

Keshia hunched over defensively and focused her gaze on her plate as Uureian talked and another boy came and sat down. From his looks she guessed Andol was the brother Bamre had mentioned. ‘So, Bamre, what sort of games would young dragons like?’ Keshia asked quickly before Uureian could think up some more questions.

Uureian, never one to be deterred by, well anything, turned to Andol. ‘Hello, there’s a lot of firelizards around here, isn’t there? I think Danae, my sister’s child, would really love to see so many, there aren’t so common in the North but Danae loves them. It’s a good thing they can pop away from her otherwise she’d probably smother them with adoration’ Uureian actually managed to stick to one topic for a minute before abruptly switching. ‘Are you a candidate too? Have you seen the eggs? Will the queen let people see her clutch?’ Abruptly he turned to Bamre with a puzzled look. ‘How come your name’s still Bamre if you’re a weyrling, shouldn’t it be B’mre or something?’

[Yamamoto]

Bamre turned to Keshia and said " Well mostly the like to go play in the water. Plus some of them like to play with firelizards. So I am sure that Shay and your dragon could have fun together. Though in the end they will end up being the ones telling you what they like to do."

As Uureian turned his attention toward Andol. Andol pulled Leaf off his shoulder and just buried his head in her back. Andol was just as patience as his brother. Though it bothered him when people came on as strong as Uureian was. Bamre then nudged Andol in the side and just smiled at him reassuringly. Andol then just held Leaf angist his chest. He though that Uureian did look kinda cute. If one could look past the talkativeness. He then said " Yep I have noticed that there are alot of them and yes I am a candidate. Though I have not seen the eggs yet. Because I have been busy helping my little green here take care of her eggs."

When Uureian asked Bamre why his name was Bamre and not B'mre he just shrugged and said " I have never really thought about it. My dragon Purth called me Bamre when I first impressed so I am just guessing that a white rider does not use a honorific." Purth then decided to introduce himself. He then said to both Keshia and Uureian Hello my name is Purth. It is pleasure to meet you both. Though I would like to talk to you two in person some times Though had not actually meet them the fact that Bamre had meant that he had technically meet them.

[Kisha-Ra]

Keshia nodded glumly, disappointed that there were no clear answers. It seemed that humans and dragons had that in common. She let Uureian talk without interruption while she though, it was clear that the only way to stop the boy was to interrupt, he had that kind of excited, interested, only pause when the options are breathe or die, way of talking.

Uureian nibbled his lower lip as Andol and Bamre answered his questions in the order they were asked, giving him a whole new pile of things to think about. Especially when Purth spoke to him, and presumably to the girl who hadn’t introduced herself as well since the dragon had said ’both of you’

Keshia seemed to recover a bit faster than Uureian from voices in her head. She looked around as if expecting someone to be hiding nearby then whispered in awed tones ‘was that you dragon?’

[Yamamoto]

Bamre smiled and siad " Yep that was Purth. He is alot more social than most other dragon and will readliy speak to other people besides me. You could say that he is like a person in dragon form." Bamre was not supirsed at there reaction. Most people seem to have that reaction. Even is brother had though not as much becuase he perfered to talk to dragons than people. He then smiled and said " Don't be supirsed if he irouduces himself if he see's you person though." Purth then said to all of them Why should they be. That is already what I said I was going to do. Bamre just smiled and siad I know my dear. I know. Andol just sat there quitely becuase he was still really shy form meeting two new people at once.

[Kisha-Ra]

Keshia smiled shyly, happy that Purth would take the time to talk to her. She resolved to go and meet Purth as soon as she could. Naturally Shay chose that moment to return and dispel the almost reverent mood that his pet had fallen into. The blue popped in and trilled gratefully to Bamre and made as if to land on the weyrling, however one look at Diamond made Shay change his mind and veer off to perch on Andol instead.

Uureian followed the blue firelizard with his eyes and instantly launched a round of questions about him. It was clear that Andol and the girl were quite shy, therefore Uureian saw it as his duty to bring them out of themselves a bit. ‘Is that blue yours as well Andol? He seems to like you. I’d like a firelizard one day, I could send more letters home, though if I sent a firelizard to my family I might end up with a really fat one because Danae would keep feeding it to try and make it stay.’

Keshia laughed softly, Uureian reminded her of her youngest brother and quietness was no defence against his questioning. ‘That’s Shay, he’s mine. He likes most people. I would offer to let you borrow him to send messages but he’s useless at it.’

[Yamamoto]

Bamre smiled and said " It is not just that. Me and Andol have always been firelizard magents." Andol blushed has his brother said this becuase compliments embresssed him greatly. No matter who they came form. Andol just sat there and covered his face with Leaf agian. The blue's wieght on his shoulder helped him feel better so he took Leaf form in fornt of his face and then reached up and began to pet the blue's eyeridges. If Uureian was trying to bring him out of his shell by asking a bunch of random that was the wrong way to go about it. Yet Andol did not say anything about that and he smiled and said " Uureian if you want a firelizard. Leaf here has laid her frist clucth. If you want to you can come to the hacthing and try your luck." Bamre smiled and siad " Yeah that is a great idea. Uureian if you do want to come I will make sure to send Iron to tell you when it as started." He then pointed at his brown firelizard and siad " That one is Iron." He had made that last statement hoping to answer one Uureian's questions before he could ask it.

[Kisha-Ra]

Shay happily leaned into the rub he was getting so far that he nearly fell over. With a confused chitter the blue pulled himself upright again and stuck his head back under Andol’s hand. Keshia giggled at him. ‘See, I told you Shay was useless, he is a sweetie though, not like some of the smarter ones.’ She shot an apologetic look at Bamre, she hadn’t meant to imply that his firelizards weren’t nice. This was where casual talk got you, first a few innocent questions, now faux pas, what next? Parties, feasts, and dancing with total strangers? She hoped not!

Uureian was struck dumb for almost a full moment while he considered this offer. ‘That’s generous of you.’ Was all he said before leaving to grab some food before it was all gone, embarrassed at not being able to find the right words.