The trip of the river hadn’t been much more than tiring for Shreya. This of course, was probably because the trip on the way there was uneventful and no one had really seemed to want to talk. When something interesting had happened, it had been eclipsed by irritation for Shreya. They had headed back, a thing of fifteen eggs with them, and without even asking them if they wanted to go with him, N’ko had disappeared to find either Kharua or R’lon to report and give the eggs to. Shreya huffed, taking Shikoba to the infirmary when the weyrling disappeared to take all the glory and credit for himself while she tried to make sure her friend would be ok.

This was the second time the girl had been injured in her presence, this one obviously not her fault but Shreya still was concern until the healers took care of the wound, cleaning it and closing it before applying numbweed to help the girl with any pain. Shreya hadn’t thought it would have been bad, but she still felt a lot better when the resident healers sent them off without much else, obviously it wasn’t bad at all and now Shikoba was fixed up, with no help from N’ko who had just made excuses for not tending to Shikoba when they had been out of the Weyr.

“Let’s go to the baths,” Shreya had suggested to Shikoba after Azure had been put in his stable and the packs removed and emptied of their contents to where they belonged. Shikoba and Shreya both were tired and dirty, and she was sure the girl would have appreciated a relaxing bath. “The warm water will do you good, after your fall into the river.” And with that, Shreya led the candidate to the Lower Caverns by the arm in a friendly buddy-buddy sort of way.

“Need any clothes? You can borrow some of mine if you like, my room is close to the baths, so it’s no problem, of course, we can stop by the candidate barracks if you need. We’ll pick up some drying towels on the way to the public baths too.”

Shikoba wondered, vaguely, what the eggs had been. It seemed to be some sort of new species. She also wondered if each of the people who went on the trip and found them would get one. Or if anybody at all would get one. After all, they might be to dangerous to give away. Or they might just need to bond to someone, like the firelizards. The girl kept thinking other this until she had followed Shreya to the infirmary.

The girl was very patient as she let the infirmary take care of the injury on the back of her head. She was slightly upset that N'ko had pretty much ignored her after she fell in the river, but not as much as Shreya was. Oddly enough, the other girl seemed much more irritated then she did. Either way, the healers soon finished with her head and let her leave. Looking around, she wondered if she would end up in the infirmary again soon. With all the chaos recently, she didn't doubt it.

When Shreya mentioned the baths, the girl gave a slight grin. Her friend was right, the warm water would feel could after the little unplanned swim.Especially since the air was starting to grow colder as the season changed. She followed behind the girl, continuing to smile slightly. Shreya may have been a drudge, but she certainly didn't act like it. Not that there was a problem with that, to her anyway.

"Oh. . . We can stop by the barracks if you want. . . but it's really far out of the way." On one hand, she didn't know if the clothes would fit her, and didn't want to mess up her friends clothes if they were too small. On the other, she really didn't want to go all the way to the barracks, then around to the bathing pools. She was still cold from the river, and just wanted to warm up.

Shreya thought a moment on Shikoba’s words as they walked, knowing which direction which was and how close each was. She grinned a bit, obviously feeling very laid back despite her earlier irritation and anger. She got over things quick.

“You can borrow some of my clothes for the time being. No worries, we’ll just stop by my quarters real quick,” and after that she continued leading Shikoba across the bowl, and then to the entrance to the lower caverns. She led the candidate into the dim caves, the beginnings probably very recognizable as the storage rooms areas that candidates and a lot of the Weyr frequented. Soon, the caves twisted into slightly less recognizable areas as it turned into the living quarters of the drudges and weyrbrats. Even though there were baths down here, Shikoba probably hadn’t been down here very often, since the candidate barracks did have its own set of baths.

After passing up several entrances and doors, Shreya stood before one room in which the doorway was covered with just a thick curtain that she quietly pulled back before entering the room and beckoning Shiko to follow her in. The room was only a bit larger than the candidates’ rooms, and it was obvious by the clothes chests and various cots either on the floor or put up to the side that she shared the room with several other female drudges.

She stepped over the cots, black hair swaying, as she reached the clothes chest and began to rummage through it a bit. She pulled out a loose tunic and loose cotton pants and tossed them at Shikoba, “There ya go,” she called with a smile. “Those should be comfy enough to wear until you feel like getting back to your room to change.” Then she went back to rummaging, pulling out similar clothes she’d handed to Shiko, just of a darker purple while the ones she’d handed Shiko were shades of light blue.

“There we go, all set to head to the baths?”

"If you're sure. . ." The girl mutters as she follows her, looking around as they walk through the tunnels. She follows closely as they begin to move to tunnels she hasn't yet seen, careful not to lose track of the other girl as she continues looking around, trying to memorize the route they're taking.

Now, most people would be able to do all this and be fine. A little confused, but fine. Shikoba was not one of those people. While she was walking, her feet twisted together and she fell, luckily remembering to throw her good arm out instead of her bad one. And, also luckily, she was used to the falling so much she was back on her feet almost as soon as she gathered her senses.

The girl looked around the room as they entered. It seemed a bit chaotic. But, then again, the candidate barracks weren't any better. They were pretty messy too, sometimes. Instead of walking in, she clung to the side of the door. No need to try and trip herself again.

She caught the pale blue clothes and smiled at them. The color was so pretty, especially considering that, if she could choose her dragon, she'd choose a blue. Not that she would be upset if it was anything else, she would just prefer a blue dragon. She didn't know why, though. That had just always been something she had thought about.

"All set!" The girl states with a grin. "Let's hope I don't drown, right? With my luck, it could happen."

Shreya was pleased by Shiko’a grin and seemingly pleased disposition. In fact, she chuckled at the second comment as she closed the distance of the room, heading back out through the door to walk past a few more doorways, some with wood doors, others with just curtains. “Well, just in case, you got me there, I can at least keep you from drowning.” Shreya chuckled a bit more before slowing at the curve of the tunnel, stopping before one of the wood doors.

“Here we are, the public baths,” with that, as if she was revealing something amazing, she opened the door and gestured for Shikoba to go in first. Inside the room was quite large, with a large, community pool of warm water taking up most of the room, and a few, smaller baths littered at the back of the room, for the more… shy weyrfolk and the younger weyrbrats. The room itself was rather warm, probably from the warm waters that were frequently cycled in and kept warm by a sort of furnace setup beneath the stones of the bath.

“Drying towels are over there,” she pointed to a set of shelves that had bunches of drying towels folded on them. It was obvious the cloths were brought in frequently, since this was one of the public baths used by the many non-dragonrider weyrfolk in Atricis. Then without much more, Shreya stepped closer to the larger pool of warm water, and began removing her clothes, dirty from their hike up the river earlier that day.

“So, Shiko, how are you feeling?” Shreya thought she would ask that now, try to start up some conversation, that and considering the girl's head injury, even if it wasn't serious. It seemed the candidate had been getting injured often in her presence, and Shreya hoped that wouldn't happen here.

"Okay. But let's try and stay still so I don't have to worry about tripping, okay? I don't want to even come close to drowning." She says with a slight laugh as she continues following Shreya, this time paying more attention to where she puts her feet instead of where the path they're taking.

The girl walks into the baths and looks around, smiling softly at the warmth. It felt oddly comforting after having been outside for the better part of the day, and taking a dip in the river. The room was big, and she noted the side pools with a slight smile. She knew who they were for, of course.

She nodded as she took note of the drying towels. Those, of course, were important. After all, it wouldn't do to walk around in damp clothes with soaking wet hair, would it? She gave a slightly chuckle as she look down at her own apparel. Dirty, still slightly damp clothes, along with damp hair. Of course, the area outside Atricis didn't have many drying towels. Or, really, any at all, for that matter, she thought to herself as she began taking off her own filthy clothing.

"I'm fine. My head doesn't hurt anymore, and I'm glad it's clean now. Thanks for patching me up, by the way." The girl said with a grin as she carefully slipped into the pool, enjoying the warmth of the water. "So. . . what do you think of the clutches? Do you think anything odd will happen?"

Shreya continued to remove her clothes, tossing them in an unruly pile off to the side before she was bare and stepped into the pool as she listened to Shikoba the whole time, smiling and nodding as appropriate. She was glad that it sounded like the candidate was still feeling well, if not better now that she had her wound properly cleaned and patched up. Then, the question of the clutches came up, and Shreya thought on the question for a moment.

"You mean the two dragon clutches?" The dark haired woman asked, trying to be sure that was what the girl had meant. She had guessed so, since she had used the plural, and the eggs of the little... thing that N'ko had run off with had been a single group of them.

"I don't know really. Aisieth is a green, and this is the first green clutch I've seen in quite a few turns. But I have seen one before. A green by the name of Anastath had clutched three or four eggs when I was about seven turns of age I believe. She had already chewed firestone to add to that, and two of the hatchlings had been born with mutations. Since firestone renders greens sterile. If you've ever seen a really small, almost black colored dragon around the Weyr before, I believe she's one of the dragons from that clutch." Shreya nodded a bit, trying to recall the memory of so long ago correctly. That had been back when she had imagined herself on a dragon, and coveting that little black dragon that was so small and pretty, at least Shreya had thought she was pretty.

"But Aisieth is a Weyrling dragon, right? So she hasn't chewed yet I believe. That's probably why she clutched, and with her so small, that's probably why she only clutched two." Shreya caught herself yammering again, and stopped talking for a moment, looking into the warm water, then up, as if to see the steam from the warmth rise up into the higher parts of the cavern.

"I'm rooting for those two eggs to hopefully hatch, since greens have very spotty clutches when they do clutch," she continued after a pause. Shreya seemed to really have a thing for the underdogs, as one would put it. She had loved the little "black" dragon from the first green clutch those many turns ago, even while the rest of the Weyr had hated that small green. When the zultanites and pewters were first hatched and people were unsure of them, she had loved them too. Of course, her love for zultanites wasn't as strong as it once had been, now that a good portion of the Weyr loved them due to their decent clutching abilities.

Shikoba waved her hand through the water for a moment before answering the other girl. "Yeah, the dragon clutches. I mean, a Green and a Zultinite? I've never seen a Green clutch. As for the Zultinite. . . Do you think another Pewter will show up?" There was a note of excitement in her voice as she spoke. Sure, she wanted to Impress a Blue more then anything, but the Pewters were just adorable.

She listened as Shreya recounted about the other Green clutch. She had been in a hold at that time, of course. She never really noticed any mutant dragons, besides the Pewters and Zultinites. And, of course, the starlizards. They were mutants, right? And then there was her herself. She was a HAD which, according to the few who knew, was very rare. Did that make her a mutant?

"Do they? I've never seen a green clutch before. I don't know how they are." She muttered, still halfway lost in her thoughts. What would Shreya say if she knew about that little talent? After all, it wasn't a secret. But would the other girl just think she was bragging?

"Hey. . . Umm. . . Shreya? There's something I have to tell you. Something only a few people know about me. I. . . I don't know why I want to tell you, but friends are supposed to be honest, right?" She paused and looked at the other girl, ignoring the scars over her body.

"I have HAD. I can hear the dragons. All of them." She said quickly. "It. . . It can give you such a headache, but it's so helpful. That's why that blue dragon came after we were tossed off the runner. I called for help and he answered." With that, she continued staring at her, trying to judge her reaction. Would she get angry at her again, or would she just. . . what would she do?

Shreya nodded to answer Shiko’s question about the green clutches. “Yeah, they aren’t really clutching dragons, they are much better at threadfighting, particularly because of their speed and ability to dive between the larger, slower dragons to catch thread with flame. That’s pretty common knowledge here in the Weyr, particularly if you’ve lived here your whole life.” Shreya splashed a bit of warm water over her shoulders, letting it run over the scars on top of them and turn her skin slightly pink while the area of the scars stayed primarily pale.

When the candidate began speaking, stopping and going as if nervous, Shreya rose one eyebrow curiously and in wondering as she spoke. She listened to the words, and easily picked up on the girl’s nervousness. Then came the words, the thing she wanted to tell her, and Shreya leaned back against the stone wall of the warm water pool for a short moment.

“A H.A.D.? Really?” She asked, seeming to disbelieve her. She had assumed the blue that had saved them had just been a rider passing by who had seen what happened. It was an easy assumption, since people were always bustling about, especially the dragonriders.

“Well…” Shreya paused for a few moments, thinking about this. This seemed pretty farfetched. H.A.D. was really rare, and she had only known of a few people who had the ability mentioned in history. She had also heard the weyr did have a H.A.D., but that he was a male. A few mentions of a female had been mentioned, but she had thought that had been misunderstandings or changes in the rumors as they passed, since dragons didn’t always pass word correctly when they talked amongst each other.

“You can hear dragons? Like, all of them all the time, right?” Honestly, Shreya was really taken aback, and not sure if this really was the truth or not. Part of her thought this was just Shikoba playing around and joking, but she had seemed pretty serious too.

Shikoba sighed slightly when her friend said it was common knowledge. She, as usual, didn't have much of that. Everything everyone else seemed to know just escaped her. It got annoying at some points, and down right frustrating at others.

And, when the other girl gave her the disbelieving tone, she hung her head. That was why she had waited so long to tell her. Sure, the other two had believed her. She had talked to one dragon, and the other one was the other H.A.D! But with no examples, how could she have expected the other girl to believe her? Then, as she was thinking about examples, she jerked her head up.

"Remember when the Blue rider came when Azure reared and we both got hurt? That was me! I yelled to the nearest dragon for help, and that blue happened to be it." She stated, giving a small smile. Which didn't stay on for long when she realized her friend didn't really believe her.

"I can prove it if you want! I can. . . I can call a dragon to meet us by the entrance of the tunnel!" She stated, now smiling again. Of course that would work! Then Shreya would have plenty of proof. Maybe the dragon could even tell her itself. Yes, that would work. It had to. She couldn't stand it if her friend didn't trust her enough to actually believe her when she said something that serious.

"I mean. . . If you want. . . That is. . . And if any dragons will agree to it." She added, frowning slightly. At her friend's question, she perked up again.

"Yep! I didn't even realize it was odd until I came to the Weyr. I mean, I thought everyone heard dragons. But I would always mention what one said and everyone would give me a funny look. . . So I stopped. Then I made a comment to Gold rider's dragon, and had to go get something for a headache after Myrna's death, and both the Gold rider and the Healer said I had it. The healer has it too."

When Shikoba spoke again, once more bringing up the time they were thrown off Azure and the blue came to their aid, Shreya leaned back a bit, eyes widening a bit.

“It’s ok,” she said, “you mentioned that already,” Shreya gave a gesture to the girl, more like a dismissive one. She had already heard Shikoba mention that event and that she had called the dragon. Then, suddenly, the girl was insisting on proving it, saying she could call a dragon to them at the entrance to the lower caverns. However, she seemed to perk right back up again when Shreya had asked her more about it, and the dark haired woman relaxed again.

“Oh, you’ve met Kharua and Ayrath then.” Shreya gave a nod, and listened as she continued her short little story, and she thought a moment at the mention of the healer. She had heard of the H.A.D. healer, since dragons tended to speak of H.A.D.s often, especially to their riders, then word traveled from there. Of course, Shreya still didn’t know who the healer H.A.D.’s name was.

“You don’t need to prove it to me,” Shreya reassured. So far, the woman hadn’t felt her temper flare up at all. Perhaps she was tired from the earlier trip, or the warm waters were keeping her relaxed. That and Shreya found it hard to get mad at Shikoba, particularly after the girl broke her arm the first time they met.

“It’s good you’re here then,” Shreya gave a sturdy nod. “H.A.D.s belong in the Weyr. The ability is very useful in a dragonrider, and we can understand it a lot better than people in the Holds can.” The young woman flicked some of the warm water, then stood up to go retrieve a jar of sweetsand from the nearby shelves. The warm water had her skin warm and turn pink, but the scars all across her body remained stark white, making them look worse and much more apparent as she got the jar, then returned to the warm water.

“We both belong here, the Weyr is our home,” Shreya continued, winking at Shikoba a bit. While she didn’t say it, Shreya had meant that about herself because of her scars. She’d never be looked upon as an equal in a hold. And in the Weyr, where even dragonriders were scarred by thread or past maulings, no one judged her for her visible scars.