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Elibrie couldn't quite say that she felt at home in the Weyr yet, or even that she liked it. Though she'd been at High Reaches for half a Turn now, she still wasn't entirely certain what to think of it all. It was just so completely different from everything she'd ever known, and promised the possibility of a life so unlike anything she'd ever imagined, that she'd yet to fully process it. It was easiest not to think on it overmuch and to just live day by day, chore by chore and lesson by lesson, and wait for things to make sense.

She had her sister to lean on at least, and her Aunt Nadry of course, but that was. Well. Her aunt's situation was every bit as confusing to her as everything else, although her little cousins were precious, and she enjoyed what snippets of time she had with them. Taking care of babies was familiar, at least. Speaking of which, she had a new one of her own: a tiny, freshly-hatched blue flit cradled in her lap, feasting on bits of wherry. Paler blue Lord Chomps sat off to the side, snaking his head in to snatch every third piece away , while dark Lullaby was perfectly content to watch from his perch on her shoulder.

"It would need to be, yes," Elibrie agreed, looking up with a small but friendly smile. Juhvek had been nothing but kind to her and her sister, and he was always a welcome sight. Lord Chomps was considerably less pleased to see him, though, and left off his food-stealing to hiss a warning at the young man. That was close enough!! This was his person, and his food, and-

The territorial flit squonked as Elibrie pinched his muzzle. Hey! Not fair!! Once she released her (gentle) hold, he wilted into a sulk. "He is, obviously, but my aunt did warn me he would be. Lullaby is easy. This one?" She looked back down at the new blue and shrugged. "I guess we'll see."

"Fair enough," she conceded with a nod. Lord Chomps did mostly behave himself with her, unless he was really in a tizzy and forgot himself for a moment. "I would rather he be a little more sociable, if only to spare other people's fingers, but he hasn't gotten us into trouble yet."

"Not nearly as well-trained as some, I'm sure, but I try." A Candidate was expected to be properly responsible for their pets, after all, and Elibrie was devout when it came to rules. Meanwhile, the hours-old blue in her lap was intrigued by the reached and then retracted hand, and bumbled forward over her legs for a better look at the young man, peeping all the while.

Chomps took this opportunity to seize and inhale the last bits of wherry.

The tiny blue craned his neck out to sniff the offered finger, then gently nibbled, then reeeached with his forefeet to grasp onto Juhvek's hand and pull himself closer. Apparently this flit was of the naturally friendly variety, because he was quite pleased to make the acquaintance of this large new person.

"That would be awful." Elibrie was clearly mortified by the very thought of such an ill-behaved pet. That would certainly not go over well with the other Candidates (or anyone other poor soul such a flit happened to encounter), let alone the Candidatemaster. "I'm surprised you don't have any flits, they seem very common here." Indeed, in a matter of months she was up to three, and it wasn't as though it had been a goal.

Lullaby had been a gift, Chomps she had admittedly asked for in spite of being warned the parents weren't the most pleasant of flits, and this one...okay, this one had been a bit of an indulgence, if she was being honest. But they made her feel a little less lonely.

The curious nibbling continued, but it was all soft and harmless, and he did indeed decide to clamber up onto Juhvek's arm...up up up, wobbling his way all the way up to the Candidate's shoulder. So high!! He cheeped proudly, quite pleased with himself.

"Are they really?" Elibrie's eyes widened at the revelation, and she looked almost guilty. "I thought- I know they are in Holds, but I thought here it was different. They seem like they're everywhere, and someone's always got a basket of eggs..." She looked at her collection of little blue friends with the barest hint of distress. Had her uncle bought her Lullaby's egg? Could her aunt have sold Chomps' instead? Should she have accepted when she asked if she wanted another? How expensive were they actually?

Chortling to himself under his breath, the young blue did his best to mimic the pose that Lullaby had adopted on Elibrie's shoulder...for a few moments, at least, before he noticed that Juhvek's ear was conveniently close, and proceeded to whuffle at it.

Ah, but now Elibrie couldn't help but look at her pets in a new light, or to worry over it. Uncommon as they were outside of the Weyr, she'd rather thought that having at least one was the norm here; even two or three didn't seem all that rare. She'd stopped viewing them as exotic or a luxury soon after she'd arrived, as they seemed so ubiquitous. Sensing her concern, Lullaby nuzzled her cheek, and even Chomps rested her head on his leg to peep up at her...and then fixed Juhvek with a suspicious look. Did he have something to do with why his person felt upset all of a sudden? Did he? He rumbled a little flit-sized rumble.

"Chomps, hush. It's fine." She stroked a finger along his snout until he quieted. "They were already the nicest things I've ever had, I just...didn't realize quite how nice." Finding out that, contrary to what she'd assumed, they were still essentially luxury items, was giving her a miniature identity crisis. "Do you want a flit?"

If such a thing were at all possible, she'd have offered him her new one on the spot, but it didn't work that way, and he was already very much hers.

Oh! Oh no! Swinging fast from introspective and guilty to panicked fretting, Elibrie practically lunged forward to grab for the ear-tickling baby flit. "No, no, you're not supposed to do that!" The little blue warbled confusion as he was seized from his perch, and wriggled in her grasp, straining to get back to Juhvek. "I'm so sorry! He doesn't know any better yet."

"You're sure it's alright?" Even if it clearly hadn't been anything that hurt, and Juhvek seemed amused rather than upset, she couldn't banish the concern. It was her flit, after all, even if it was brand new, and she was ultimately responsible for how it behaved. She'd have been in for quite the lecture had she been home, and Juhvek anything like her family.

The little troublemaker peeped back in answer, and finally succeeded in wriggling out of Elibrie's grasp and back to Juhvek, clambering onto his hand. Chomps slipped into her lap to offer himself for soothing pets, and to better keep a wary eye on the boy.