Cailyn opened the door to the Candidate's Barracks slowly, wondering what she would find inside. With a touch of relief, she saw her belongings had not been moved and her cot was made up with fresh sheets. But as she looked around, she was slightly dismayed to see that she seemed to be the only Candidate left. The barracks had a forlorn air hanging about and the room seemed even larger than it was before without the mayhem caused by the Candidates. Closing the door behind her, Cailyn limped to her cot and sat down heavily. She had needed to beg the Healer to let her return to the barracks. The overwhelmingly pungent smell of numbweed that pervaded the infirmary had soon proved nauseating to Cailyn, not to mention the fact that she hated simply lying in bed staring at the ceiling all day. Her injury had healed as well as had been expected, though a scar would always remain to remind Cailyn of her first experience in the Hatching Grounds. "And it would have been my last too, if I didn't promise the Weyrwoman I would stay." She muttered out loud. In the days since Alesia's visit, Cailyn had begun to wonder if she made the correct decision. But after the disastrous visit from her father and Vesper, Cailyn knew she wouldn't be able to simply return home as if she hadn't simply left everyone behind.

She groaned and fell backwards on the cot. Her life at the Weyr was nothing like she had expected. Turning her head, she stared out the window at a happy Weyrling and her dragon as they scurried to their newest lesson. A bitter surge of envy washed over Cailyn, and she groaned again and rolled over, burying her face in the pillow. Laying there for a few minutes, Cailyn discovered that more than anything else, she was irritated with herself. She was unaccustomed to failing, and couldn't help but feel that she was perilously close to doing so. She took a deep breath to steady her nerves and then stood up slowly, gritting her teeth against the persistent pain in her leg. She took a few small steps and then began to pace around the room, exercising her cramped, weakened muscles until they burned in protest. Still she refused to stop. Faster and faster she hobbled, an almost frenzied expression in her typically calm eyes. This injury will not cripple me! She told herself fiercely, fighting the rising panic at never being able to fully use her leg again.

((OOOOHH! I am jumping on this one, and if you were waiting on someone else, you can delete me...))

"Eleventy-one! Eleventy-twooo! Eleventy-threeee!!!" Edward counted her comically large steps as she entered the cadidate's Barracks. Halting abruptly, she cocked her head, watching the girl who had been pacing the room. She spoke to herself while she observed, curious of this new girl. "Another Candied Date? Edward is not alone! But what is she doing?" The girl cocked her head to the other side blinking her large, golden-brown eyes thoughtfully. She grinned happily, and continued her exagerated steps to the girl's side, mimicking her position easily. She grinned wider, trying for friendly, and finding closer to pained. "I would like to play too! What is this game we are playing? Is there a SCORE?"

Lyssa carried the her things the final steps to the Candidates Barracks at Kharasi Weyr.

She'd missed the hatching by a few sevendays, but she wasn't terribly disappointed. The time she had spend at Hurricane had revived her, and in the condition she'd been in no dragonet would have taken her. The grief over her uncle, the total ignorance she'd had of how things truly were in Thyra, and the flawed belief she could have made a difference; all three needed to be cured before she could live in the part of Pern again. She hadn't realized how terrible things had become at Thyra. The news of her older brother disturbed her more.

How did Timat become so... so... evil? Lyssa wondered. He was always rough, maybe even violent, but killing a man? and just for practice? That doesn't sound like him. Ai, father, what did you do to him?

Lyssa tried to put her thoughts aside, hefting the pack that housed all of her belongings back onto her shoulder to enter the Candidate's Barracks. A rider had pointed out the way to her, telling Lyssa there wasn't a Candidate Master yet to house them, but to make herself at home. The rider hadn't been able to say whether or not there were any Candidates there at the time, but he thought there might. Evidently there was, the door was standing slightly ajar, and Lyssa heard voices inside.

She set the sack down by the door, and then pushed the door open. Lyssa looked inside. "Hello, Can you give me some help? I'm supposed to stay here for a while. Til the next Hatching, I guess."

"Ooooh, more players!" crooned Edward, and she turned a graceless cartwheel, landing in a sprawled puddle at Lyssa's feet. "I am Edward, a Candied Date! We are playing a game, you should play to! Oh, but, uh," the girl looked confused for a moment, but leaned in conspiratorily and whispered: "She hasn't told me the rules yet!" The carrot top laughed and looked from one girl to the other, sitting with her legs crossed and her arms akimbo.

Boot heels clicked rapidly over dusty flagstones as Dusana wound her way through the complex network of corridors and hallways of Kharasi. She silently hoped that she would reach the safety of the Candidate's Barracks before a certain someone, namely the Headwoman, caught her in time to designate more chores. It wasn't that Dusana minded grunt work, she had grown up taking care of goats--not the cleanest of beasts, but there came a point when even she wanted a moment to breathe. She examined the soggy, prune-like constitution of her fingers. The past candle-mark had been spent scrubbing away at food-encrusted platters and greasy pots, all piled up from the previous morning meal. A bleak beginning to the day.

Ah, but the worst sting came when her own foster-brother had abandoned her to such a fate. Raolf had given Dusana such a snarky little grin as he darted out of the Kitchens, just as the Head Cook was approaching her. Oh, you'll get yours, bucko. You'll get yours! She fumed silently for a couple moments, plotting little devices with which to get back at Raolf for his betrayal.

A popping sound above her head brought Dusana out of her musings. The following gust of frigid air sent prickles all over her skin, despite the familiarity of it. She looked up, a small smile playing on her lips. A dark green firelizard swooped down, circling above the Candidate's head twice before coming to settle on her right shoulder. "G'day Twigs." she murmured, untangling her companions talons from her curly hair as the creature nuzzled her cheek. The firelizard looped her tail around Dusana's neck, gaining a firm hold. The seven-teen turn old kept walking, until she made a sharp turn into the Candidate's Barracks.

While she knew there had to be at least a few other Candidates milling about the Weyr, Dusana was caught by surprise with the sudden appearance of three other girls at once. She stopped short. "Aye, what's all this then?" Two of the girls seemed rather sane, perhaps solemn, while the red-head could only be described as bizarre. This Candidacy was going to be interesting, for sure. Dusana smiled, trying to relax herself. Odd, the red-head referred to herself as a "Candied Date", it sounded like. She chuckled at the thought. "Sorry, I was caught by surprise. My name's Dusana and I've only been here for a short bit. Though," she paused to address Lyssa, "I'm sure most of the bunks are free. Just pick any one you fancy."

((I'm still checking up around here, but I'm trying to wait for wolfie, see if she's still around before I go off and post some more. But I check every day or so, so don't think I've given up.))

((I'll post soon, I promise! Things have been crazy around here, to say the least. But I'm still alive, and I'll get a post up ASAP :) ))

Cailyn was startled out of her intense concentration as Edward entered the room. She jumped, missed a step and toppled over onto the empty cot next to hers. "Shards, you scared me!" She exclaimed ruefully, examining a scrape on her injured leg. She glanced warily up at Edward as the new Candidate's words began to sink in. Game? What game? Is the girl crazy? She was spared the awkwardness of having to answer as a new girl peeked inside, shortly followed by yet another. So much for being the only one here! Where are they all coming from? She wondered. Standing up slowly, Cailyn gave a small wave. "Aye, you've made it to the right place at least. This isn't my bunk, so feel free to claim it if you wish." She moved over to her cot and sat down, folding her legs carefully. "I'm Cailyn, and as for the game she's talking about..." She nodded in Edward's direction and shrugged helplessly, confusion written plain on her face.

Lyssa nodded in Cailyn's direction and hoisted her bag onto her shoulders again to take the last steps around Edward to a cot in the corner near the door. Hers would be the first bunk on the right, and she dropped her bag heavily at the bunk's foot. Lyssa turned around, sitting on the bottom end of cot, and then taking mental stock of the three other girls. A moment later she stood, brushing her left hand against the wall for a little support.

"I'm Lyssa," she repeated, "I know it's rude to ask, as we've just met, but Cailyn, what happened to your leg?"

Cailyn grimaced slightly. She knew the question was inevitable, and it probably would be for the rest of her life, but that did little to quell the emotions that always arose when she remembered. "I stood for Iolath's hatching. A dragonet hatched.. he was a blue," she added as an afterthought, "and in his rush to Impress, he tripped and his claw scored me. It wasn't his fault, of course, although I do wish I could have Impressed that day." She shrugged. "What happens happens, I suppose."

Edward's eyes widened, and she murmurred a soft "ohh..." as she processed that information. She had been told of the Hatching... and of the girl who had been injured. She had not realized the girl limped from injuries, and she cocked her head as she tried to examine the girl's leg.

The injury had neatly healed, been Edward could still mark the pinker tones of new flesh. Cailyn must be trying to rebuild the muscles, in order to retrain the leg properly. The redhead frowned and pursed her lips thoughtfully.

"Cailyn," she piped. "Why do you not use a stick? A stick is good for balance, and when yourl leg is better you can whack people with the stick!" She jumped up, pantomimed strinking herself with a large stick, then tumbled gracelessly to the floor.

((You know, right now I would so totally just have Lyssa say karma, and move on, but the don't have karma on Pern. And if she was Eastern enough to say karma, then she wouldn't have been so rude as to ask.))

Lyssa smiled at Edward's antics barely suppressing a very un-ladylike laugh. "Well, Edward does have a point. I know plenty of people who could use a good whacking from time to time. But I am sorry it happened to you. If you need something while we're Candidates, I mean, I could always get things across the room for you if it's too much on you."

Dusana, unlike the other, likely better trained girls, let out a loud guffaw when the off-beat Edward toppled over like a sack of feed after her stick pantomime. Noticing the slightly less boisterous reactions of the other Candidates, she clapped a hand over her mouth and mumbled a few inaudible apologies. The pink tinge of her cheeks quickly faded when she refocused on the topic at hand. Her eyes flicked to the healing wound, and she visibly winced. "That'll leave a nasty scar. But at least it'll have an interesting story to go along with it." Dusana grinned and winked. Cailyn didn't seem like the girl who needed to be cosseted, so Dusana refrained from pouring out sympathies.

"Anyway, the Hatching must've been a sight! I'm right jealous I couldn't have been there. I was stuck minding the goats back in Tregad." she related in a mock-sullen tone, though her expression belied anticipation. Dusana strolled across the floor and collapsed on her bed, which was diagonal to Lyssa's. She lay silently for a moment while Twigs made intricate tunnels under the bed covers.

"So, where do you three come from? How long have you been here, Cailyn?"

((I'm waiting for Rose or Wolfie to post really, I've not abandoned!))

((I'm in pause too...))

Cailyn nodded as Edward made her suggestion. "To be honest, I've thought about it, but I guess I'm just scared that I'll become too dependent on the stick. I'd rather not have to rely on it if there's any chance I can retrain these muscles to be what they were before. I'm from Hurricane Hold," she said in response to Dusana's question "I spent a lot of time on my father's fishing boat, so it's pretty hard to not be nimble on my feet. I was searched a few months before Iolath clutched, so I've been here for quite a while." She grinned widely at Lyssa. It was a kind offer, and she truly appreciated it. "Thanks! I'll be hardheaded and try to do everything by myself, of course, but thanks. If I'm being too much of a wherryhead, make me sit down or something." She grinned wryly.