He's aware first of all that the air around him is scorchingly hot rather than shady breezy cool; second of all, that he's not alone.

"You're not supposed to be here," the kid points out, one blonde-bleached eyebrow raised, lips twitching. "Varnith'd kill you if she knew."

Varnith? The name's obviously a dragon's but unfamiliar nonetheless. Feeling distinctly wrong-footed, he inquires about it - the other kid smirks with the pleasure of superior knowledge, and Rayos grins back at him a little sheepishly.

"Varnith's clutchmother - the gold," Blonde tells him, amused, and they both take a moment to stare up at the bright queen curled watchfully around her beloved eggs. Blonde looks away first, offhanded like it's no big deal, and shoots Rayos a searching look. "Say, you really didn't know that, did you?"

"I didn't," Rayos admits, then hurries on quickly - "only been here a day, though. I haven't been near the sands before."

"A whole day and you haven't?" Blonde's brown eyes widen in shock faked or maybe real. "What you could have found out in a day... You've really been wasting time!"

Rayos shrugs, grins wrily. "I wasn't really trying, I guess."

"Obviously," Blonde agrees, italics in his voice. "What have you been doing with yourself, then?"

"... Exploring." Blonde kid's sneering slightly, but Rayos doesn't care, pushes on - if Blonde laughs, he laughs, oh well. "I've been in the forest, actually - I went out this morning just at dawn, the watchdragon didn't see or didn't care. And then I walked - just straight, steady, as far as I could go. Because I could," he explains, since Blonde's already mouthing the word why.

Blonde nods slowly, frowning just slightly, still staring like he's not quite sure about Rayos' sanity. "They did tell you that it's neverending - the forest, right?"

Yeah, the searchrider'd mentioned that - said it just cooly, almost bored, and since he wasn't watching he didn't see the sudden-flaring surprise and interest in Rayos' eyes. "That's why I did it," he explains. "No one's ever been to the end of the trees - they say it's not possible to get out of here that way. So I wanted to, I wanted to go there and come back."

"You didn't," Blonde observes, like it's not even a question.

"No."

"So you gave up? Got bored or just realized they were right?" Blonde's laughing - but quietly, when gold Varnith's shadow still hangs so near.

"I don't give up," Rayos argues, mildly annoyed - his sense of humor reinstates itself, then. "No, actually - the forest didn't like me trying, I don't think. Tried noises, first, strange animals like I've never heard, and when that didn't work it got all quiet and shadowy even though I knew it was maybe noon at the latest. It threw my compass off - and then the air tightened up and squeezed like twisting reality and it threw me out. Which is why I'm here. I wasn't trying to sneak in here, really."

Blonde looks out at Varnith, looks back at Rayos, opens his eyes even wider and nods like he doesn't believe him.

"No, seriously -" Rayos has the compass in his pocket still; he fishes it out now, holds it out cupped in his palm. They both watch the hand swing lazily around, north-south-east-west and then, bored with this, quiver against the glass cover like it's trying to point up. Blonde stares at it, stares at Rayos, and shakes his head, blinking.

"Okay, put it away. Things like that shouldn't happen." His expression, as Rayos complies agreeably, shifts from unease to disgust. "The best hiding place on the sands, this is, you could reach out and touch an egg if you wanted to, and you weren't even trying. And that excuse - I mean, I'd be proud to come up with something like that, should her golden highness over there catch me - which she won't. You weren't even trying," he repeats, like it's hard to believe. "That's just sad."

He's so dramatic with all his eye rolling and good-natured contempt that Rayos chuckles in spite of himself - and then breaks off suddenly to shoot a suspicious glance at Blonde. "Hey, you actually did sneak in here to look - and you tried telling me off for being here?"

Shrug. "So?"

"You've got some nerve, kid," Rayos admits, laughing, and Blonde smirks back at him.

"Why, thank you." He's so pleased with himself that he doesn't notice Rayos' eyes widening with guilt and apprehension - so he freezes stiff, utterly surprised, when a hand clamps down on his shoulder.

"Do you have any idea," the goldrider demands, hazel eyes flashing, "how lucky you are that this is me catching you and not Varnith?"

Blonde can't look at her, but he stares at Rayos, a look of conspiracy; Rayos looks back and slowly, almost imperceptibly, his lips curl into a smile. Blonde twists around out of the slim fair hand that holds him, and they chorus together, "We didn't mean to, really - the forest - it threw us here!"

Varnith's rider, Rayos reflects, cannot have done much exploring of her own. She doesn't believe them in the slightest.



After the goldrider's marched them back to the bonder barracks and stalked off, Blonde shoots Rayos an unrepentant grin. "Well, it was a good try... That's not bad odds, anyway. 'S the third time I've been in there, and Aisling's only caught me once."

"Won't Varnith find out?" Rayos wonders - he, being more practical, is not quite so amused by the episode. But Blonde shrugs this too away.

"Nah - Aisling won't tell her, I shouldn't think. She doesn't want a raging queen on her hands, does she? We'll be okay. Say, where're you rooming?" he inquires, in a sudden change of topic, and grimaces when Rayos points out the room he's chosen, the last branching off the shared common room. "Oh, you don't want a room by yourself - you don't choose something, they've got the right to throw whatever newcomer they like in with you. Say, want to room with me?" And he reaches for one of Rayos' bags almost before he can nod sure.

"Name's Ceroh," he adds, flopping down lengthwise on his own bed, once they've finished moving Rayos' belongings. "You are? Well, nice to meet you then, Rayos. So you're standing too, and you've only been here a day... Know what you're dreaming of?"

"Bronze, I guess," Rayos admits, smiling. "Yeah, call me a traditionalist."

Ceroh glances at him, head tilted consideratively. "Mm... You in the habit of doing things if people tell you it can't be done, 's impossible? Well, not exactly smart, but - yeah, guess you could go bronzer. I wouldn't want one, myself - people notice you, you've got a big bronze or brown, you can't just slip by and out of memory."

"So what are you looking for, then?"

Ceroh shrugs absently. "Eh, I'm not picky - don't really care whether I bond or not, actually, and I probably won't. It'd be okay, though, I could stay on here - I only got myself searched so I could get out of Abri fast."

Rayos blinks at him, grey eyes mildly puzzled. "Why do you keep sneaking onto the sands then, if you're not even trying to impress?"

"Gathering inside information." Ceroh grins. "I've got a bunch of bets lined up on this clutch - I want to be right, obviously, I do need the money. I'm always right, though, so I'm not too worried... 'S why I had to get out of the Nidus so fast, actually." He's smirking like it's a fond memory. "Bunch of people said I'd been cheating..."

"Had you?" Rayos asks, pointedly. He's not entirely fooled by Ceroh's winning smile.

"Of course not," Ceroh pouts, brown eyes big and trying to look hurt. "I only used the information at hand - that's not cheating, if you bet on a horse that was obviously going to win, they wouldn't say it was. No, I just told them I knew what color every egg in this purple's clutch would hatch. They didn't believe me, and then they got all sore about it when I was right..."

"How did you do that?" Rayos wants to know, and Ceroh flashes him a broad white grin.

"That was the clever part... The purple's rider, see, has this special thing - she can tell something's color if she touches it, so when her dragoness clutched she let Mayte touch the eggs... I thought she would, Helindivioth's pretty easy going, so I made myself all friendly-like with Mayte beforehand, and I asked her what she'd felt in the eggs afterwards, just offhanded. Anyone could have done it, so it wasn't cheating just because they weren't smart enough..."

Rayos isn't sure about this logic, but he lets it go.

"I didn't tell Mayte I was making bets, though, and after the hatching she mentioned to someone that'd she'd prophesied the colors and told me... The guys were pretty sore already, since they'd just lost their savings, and they ganged up on me when they heard that - wanted their money back or some crazy thing. So I ran into a visiting searchrider just by accident and came out here to stand."

"I see." Rayos glances at him, lips twitching. "Wouldn't it have been easier just to give the money back?"

"Easy!" Ceroh's scornful. "I couldn't do it now, anyway. I spent my earnings on a rukel egg when I got here - bit of a waste, actually, since the sharded creature never seems to be around. But you take your losses." Shrugs. "Anyway, I'll make some money off this clutch - 's why I like Pernese dragons, they don't go all pretentious and throw a couple rares in. I'm not running anything on Eusyscth's clutch - too many wildcards in there. But I'll hang around here for a while, and maybe once I earn enough to pay those idiots back if they really want it, I'll go back... Of course," he adds brightly, "they may have forgotten all about it by then. S'pose I'll just have to take that risk..."

Rayos grins, though he's making bright red mental notes - careful with Ceroh, not enough money to give it up like that. So Ceroh's timing's not the greatest when he asks, all bright and shiny smiles, "Hey, three silvers that Varnith's clutch goes half unbonded even if she does come from Pern?"

"That's okay," Rayos smiles, and then he laughs as Ceroh snaps annoyedly.

"Shardit, why'd I go and get myself a smart roommate?"