"And they've taken Antino! I don't know where but it's bloody annoying and I _won't_ stand for it! The shaffiting pirates!"

"You know we've stopped listening, Turtle?" Euryal asked quietly from his position as he stopped to take off the cloth.

"Not to be rude, but we don't really care right now. Erginos told us to make blankets, so we are," Philos added, smiling up at Aerioni as she glared at them.

"You won't need to make any shaffiting blankets if there's none of us left!" Aerioni argued, but threw her hands up in the air. "Why on Pern do I bother arguing with you two? Always worried about those silly looms and weaving!" Euryal and Philos exchanged glances.

"But Turtle, Croc' told us to," Euryal said again. "And he's still here, right?" Aerioni scowled.

"Fine. I'm off to do recruiting then. As obviously someone needs to!" She stomped out, much like Melea was prone to, and left the two boys in blissful silence. Together they stood up, putting the looms away mutely. They had only been an excuse to get Aer' out, and let her leave them be.

"Glad she's gone."

"Wonder what's happening though."

"She's right."

"We can't lose anyone else."

"Wonder if we'll get chosen."

"Maybe it's dragonriders."

"I'll go if you go."

"Me too."

"Promise?"

"Swear." The conversation bounced back and forth, much like a Terran ping-pong game. If Aerioni would have stayed, she only would have gotten more annoyed. Philos reached out a hand solemnly for Euryal to shake, and they sealed the promise.

"I heard that Cobra, Snake, and Frog were taken," Euryal offered, "just last night. With Toad and Melea." Philos pondered this, fingers rubbing the quilt he was sitting on, checking for any signs of weakness.

"It can't be one of the other gangs, can it? We've never been picked on like this.. and they can't be after our territory, can they? We don't have that much of it. Just of the market street.. right down the center."

"It's a profitable one, though," Euryal countered, leaning his elbows on his knees and chin on his palms. "But they all have so much, our little strip isn't worth that much."

"If I ever find out that one of them are doing it..." Philos swore, letting the sentence dangle as he couldn't think up a threat horrible enough. Euryal shrugged.

"We're just Weavers, Lizard. And you're too short - you barely look ten - and so'm I." Philos gave his best friend a scowl. He was, well, short for his age, much more so than Euryal.

"That doesn't stop me," he said stubbornly, now tugging on his runnertail. "We could go find them."

"And get captured ourselves?"

"We know where Salamandar and Alligator went. And Toad and Chameleon went to go find them.."

"But what of Frog and Snake and Cobra? They had nothing to do with this. We can't just bang them over the head with a loom." They sat in silence, puzzling over the questions.

"Maybe Rwyea came back for Frog. You know she said he had dragonriding talent." Euryal shook his head.

"No. She would've came and seen us, right? I mean..." he trailed off.

"You're right. We were her favorites."

"Which means we have dragonriding talent too." Philos blinked at Euryal's leap in logic. "Which means.." he tapped a finger on his knee. "Let's go find a Weyr, Lizard. Or at least dragonriders to take us in."

"You want Aerioni to be mad at us too?! You're insane, Python." Philos shook his head. "It's lunch. You hungry?" Euryal started to shake his head, but stopped.

"Actually, I am. Let's go through the territory.. maybe there'll be a dragonrider there."

"This is a bad idea, Python," Philos warned, but trailed his friend out of the room.

"I'm not liking this timing thing, Mrinalth," M'ron muttered as he studied a piece of fruit. "You sure there's a Candidate we _need_ to get from here?"

Yes. And it's Candidates, M'ron. They'll be here soon. Be patient.

"Easier said than done," M'ron muttered, and started batering for his lunch.

"Here, Euryal. I want to go here." Philos dragged Euryal towards the fruit-seller's stand. "We've been looking almost all afternoon and I'm hungry." M'ron looked at the two boys - one who looked around ten and the other in his late teens - as they finally agreed on a price.

"Looking for what?" M'ron asked politely, and was immediately transfixed by two pairs of eyes.

"A dragonrider," the older one said immediately, eyes going to his shoulderknots. "Like you. Where're you from?"

"Tripaldi," M'ron said carefully, not quite sure how to handle these two. "Why?"

"Friends of ours have been getting Searched and Euryal here thinks we should be too." The younger one gave him a smile, and M'ron surveyed him closely. He had "lying" written all over him. Maybe not fully lying, but not telling the entire truth.

They're the ones, M'ron. If they want to come, bring them.

"As it so happens, I'm one of Tripaldi's Searchriders. You can come back with me to Tripaldi if you want." The boys' broke into nearly identical smiles. "How old are you both?"

"Philos' is seventeen - he's just short - and I'm twenty-one. Euryal is my name." Euryal extended a hand, and M'ron shook it. He liked Euryal, even though the lying thing was still nagging at him. There was something these two weren't telling him. He couldn't quite figure it out, though.

"Mrinalth says it's fine with him. Any arrangements you need to make?" He concealed his surprise on Philos' age easily, which seemed to make Philos happy.

"Our looms," Philos said immediately. "I'm not leaving without mine. D'you want me to go get it?"

"We have other stuff.. we'll meet you here in a candlemark."

"I can come with," M'ron suggested, but was quickly declined. "Alright.. I'll wait here.. just get back here on time, okay?"

"Okay, okay!" M'ron didn't doubt that they wouldn't be back in time. They were, of course. And he'd leave the whole time thing for later. Someone _else_ could explain it to them.

tripaldi weyr: http://www.geocities.com/xaliademarin/