| What a waste of a dice game. Saluvmen thought, and looked about once more to his disappointment. He had gone through all that trouble to get some of the younger people out here, beyond the main Weyr, to partake in a day of gambling and fun. So far, only eleven people had shown up. Pathetic people at that. The first was a younger weyrbred girl named Depanna, and her two-turn old daughter who kept trying to eat the dice. Saluvmen decided then and there he hated children, and never wanted any to have to be responsible for. Depanna herself wasn�t betting anything, and was mostly interested in talking to the �dashing� Saluvmen. The next three were brothers, sons of a greenrider, and they were all more interested in being here then actually playing as well. The youngest, only ten, kept running about and shouting for no apparent reason. His two older brothers tried to play poker, but were horrible at it, and stuck to dicing. They didn�t bet more than a few ugly little trinkets, and Saluvmen found them annoying. Three girl Candidates showed up, bringing most of the food and drink between them. Although no one thought to bring wine, as it wasn�t really a festive occasion. One girl, called Raeniel, had stayed for a bit, gambled a couple marks, doubled her money, and left. Saluvmen immediately disliked her. She reminded him too much of Aummery, although she was infinitely more friendly. The other queen Canididate, Nema, was odd in her own way as well. She seemed curious and withdrawn at the same time, and confused by what was going on. If she hadn't had such an, Saluvmen couldn't place it, unusually intelligant presence, Saluvmen would have approached her. The third girl was Lylina, and her two flits kept getting into everything and making a mess. Saluvmen had kept Shana on his shoulders, and she stayed there! It wouldn�t hurt for someone else to take other people into consideration. Two more guys came, both were new dragonriders who�d Impressed at the last clutch. Their lifemates were still hatchlings, and so stayed at the Weyr. Out of everyone, save Saluvmen, these two played the best, and gambled the most. Then there was an older stable hand, nearly thirty he was, and seemed horribly angry every time he lost a mark. Of course, it was his own fault. The thing that mellowed him out was the one kitchen worker lad who had come here as well. Saluvmen thought he would have been a good one back home at Beraft, he was crafty. But here at the Weyr, he was just another kid, looking for something to keep him occupied another day. The scene laid before him could have made Saluvmen shudder, and he tried not to think about it. It wasn�t fun out here, it was sad. �What a waste.� He muttered quietly under his breath, and Shana chipped agreeably in his ear. But then again, Shana never really thought much of anyone anyway, and couldn�t be counted on to be interested in this lot any more than Saluvmen was. �Saluvmen!� Depanna cried, clapping her daughters hands together. �Look! I won a Bitran mark from Charnil! How exciting his that?� Depanna giggled, swinging her hair around her child�s face and humming. Saluvmen felt his very mind stop, and decided that was the very moment he was going to go insane. He had to get out of here, had to find someone interesting to talk to, or else he was going to scream. Fighting with Aummery didn�t matter anymore; he needed his friend there with him. Saluvmen quietly stalked off to go find C�san, and let him know Aummery was available for Search. |