Welcome to Gaia! ::

With news of two queens being gravid at High Reaches, there was much to do at Western in order to prepare the Candidates for transfer over. Soui had only been there once, for the Tea Party, and it had been quite fun. Discussions with other candidates and a few riders had lead her to believe that High Reaches was quite ...different, in terms of traditions and rules than the far more liberal Western, and thus the little teen had taken it upon herself to study. She honestly doubted she'd Impress while there, considering her participation in the candidate exchange something akin to a cultural exchange, but it never hurt to be prepared and have the correct manners while visiting somewhere new.

And so she found herself sitting on the beach on one of the candidate's rare days off, the sky free from Thread and the temperature nice enough that she didn't risk dying beneath the sunshine. Atop her head, her bronze firelizard napped while his beloved master looked over a few scrolls containing information about the other Weyr. It'd been easy enough to get them (all she had to do was ask), and carefully Soui picked over every bit of detail in an effort to memorize everything. Names, dates, even down to the dragons from each clutch; Soui didn't want to be ignorant going in.

Remedy startled a bit at the chirp, his movements nearly unsettling him from his perch, though he was careful not to fall. He returned the greeting in kind, just as Soui went on to answer the question asked of her. "I'm studying for the hatching that's supposed to happen in the future. They said it's going to be two Queens so there will be a lot of eggs, and I've never been to a hatching before, so."

The little healer - now candidate's - answer was short and sweet, and she blinked against the light that came from turning to look at her conversation partner. "I want to make sure I have everything right and that I don't make a mistake. I don't want to embarrass myself at High Reaches, or embarrass our Candidatemaster." Soui didn't quite understand all the ins and out of candidacy or Weyr politics, but she did understand that first impressions were often the only ones people had and she was determined to make sure hers was a very good one.

Also she wanted to have good memories come from this when she came back.

Soui listened to what the stranger had to say, all the while nodding her head as she absorbed the information. Whomever he was he seemed to have a good deal of knowledge on the subject, meaning he'd been a candidate for a while, and so the teen mentally filled that away. Obvious making a comment about what he knew could also be considered an insult, seeing as some people could hold bitterness over not obtaining a lifemate. As she'd yet to properly touch or stand Soui held no such feelings.

"Magical voice they liked the most? What do you mean by that?" She'd heard many different stories about Impression but nothing ever called like that. It was refreshing and new and certainly had her interests now. "You mean like they remember you from the touching and want to find you based on your voice, or?" Soui needed to be careful lest she drown the man with questions but sometimes studying could only bring so much before a person was required to fill in the gaps. A book wasn't a living lesson after all.

When the sausage roll was offered she saw no reason to not take it, and did so with gratitude between bites. Had she been studying so long she'd missed meals? Sometimes that single-minded devotion towards a subject wasn't so bad but other times it resulted in going hungry. "Also no secrets here, not yet. I was just reading about Fianth and her clutching history, trying to figure out who her babies are and what they've gone on to do."

"Nothing really, not anything that we don't already know from being taught in lessons." Soui sounded a little disappointed but at the same time a tinge relieved. She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting while looking through records like that apart from maybe giving herself small hopes that perhaps her dragon was among the eggs that Fianth would lay. That maybe her name would appear in these records one day and some future candidate would be reading about her.

There was a small ego rub in those thoughts and Soui shook the feeling away. Being arrogant was unbecoming of her, especially at the age where she needed to know better. Granted anyone would say it was silly for a thirteen turn old child to say such things but that was what Soui honestly believed. "Maybe she'll lay a Queen egg? Though you're a boy so it wouldn't be as important to you - perhaps there will be lots of bronze dragons, then."