Block and Strike (and Repeat) [tags; Raelestriata & Weyrlings]

Self-defense was a necessary lesson for all Dragonriders.

At least, that was what Tiv had been taught since he started taking lessons. After all, if the Rider died, the Dragon died, and when people were drunk or passions were running high (Tiv had heard at least three stories about Lord Holders trying to kill Weyrleaders. They might have been false, but, well, Tiv kind of doubted it) it was good for a Dragonrider to know at least how to defend until they could get away.

Self-defense was also Tiv's least favorite lesson. It hurt (it wasn't suppose to, but invariably someone messed up and hit where they weren't suppose to, or hit too hard), and it was boring (drills the entire time unless you showed aptitude- which Tiv did not). It also cut into his Velikath time, so both of them disliked self-defense training.

But Tiv understood the point of it, so he didn't complain. Well, to anyone other than Vel.

Today, Tiv had been partnered up with Raelestriata, who seemed to share his distaste of the lesson, and so the two of them put the time to better use.

By gossiping.

Tiv was sweating a little bit, and his clothing was pretty stripped down, but his voice was even (normal Weyrling training was much more effort than this lesson), and he had enough breath to laugh (but quietly because the instructor got very upset when he thought people weren't taking it seriously).

Solieth would definitely not be pleased later. Raelestriata preferred lessons where she got to move around some but sparring wasn’t her favorite. The boys over powered her for the most part (exceptions being men like T’veli). The other girls were not quite as fit as she was which was why she was paired with a male greenrider.

T’veli wasn’t really the strong type, by any meaning of the word but Raelestriata only had one real beef with him and as long as they stayed off that topic they should be fine. Raelestriata did not like attack and block lessons. She really did not foresee herself coming into a situation where it would be necessary to know.
Instead she had some gossip to start.

“Sooo did you hear about that new Candidate? She was seen following S’jiro to his weyr. We can guess what happened then. How do these fresh hold girls keep bedding the handsomest Bronzers? I mean its totally unfair. I’ve lived here my whole life and I don’t even get a hello from guys like that.”

Raelestriata blocked as it was T’veli’s turn to strike but it seemed silly. He was barley attacking just as she was barely blocking.
The instructor saw them and mentioned, “If you are going to spar you have to mean it. You’re going to do this until time is up or you get some real strikes in…” The instructor’s warning was noted but Raelestriata was not thrilled. She upped the intensity about .001 more times than before.

This time coming at T’veli with just enough force to hear their blades clank… like a bell.

Tiv sighed, and upped his intensity so that it matched Raelestriata's as he struck and shifted into a blocking position mindlessly.

"Thrill of a challenge maybe?" Tiv offered after a moment of thought. It was a little biting, but not too bad. T'veli actually did think that was why Bronzeriders went for Hold Searched girls. That, and the fact that were new and exciting, and the Bronzeriders didn't remember what they looked like before they went through puberty.

Their blunted blades clanged again as T'veli struck inexpertly.

"My question is why the girls go for it." Tiv continued. "All the Holders I've ever met have stories about lusty Riders who seduced a sister or something and then left them without a goodbye."

As they shifted positions again, Tiv cast his mind around for something to share with Raelestriata. It was hard staying the same group all of the time- it reduced the chance for unknown gossip.

"Have you heard anything about the new prank the Weyrbrats are planning?"

Sparring but a few feet away from Raelestriata and Tiv, Nova had been placed in another group for spars: one just for the boys who had shown a little more promise in their sparring drills.

Nova always took their exercises in weyrling training seriously, but he tended to frequently make it appear as though such was not the case. Antics were common, typically trying to get some kind of attention from Rae, but he could probably get away with it because everything more or less came naturally to him. He was smart and quite talented, even if he did try to play himself off as a dunce much of the time. Just antics.


Sparring was one of the activities that Nova enjoyed the most, outside of drills which involved their dragons -which would be getting to be more interesting as they soon learned how to fly. Physical activity was what Nova seemed to excel at the most.

The whole time they'd been sparring, Nova's eyes roamed periodically to see how Rae was doing in her activities. Of course, he ever wanted to spy her covertly glancing his way. Since he and his partner were only a couple of pairs down the line from the Greenrider, they could pretty well see one another -if she'd just look. Every time he looked over at her though, she was preoccupied with Tiv. That didn't irritate him too much, though. They couldn't help who they were partnered with.

Nova's attention was soon back on his own partner, the two of them practicing the moves they were being taught with great enthusiasm. More than once, the two of them had started showing off, letting themselves get a little rambunctious with it, and eventually one of them would end up on the ground, in the dirt. And more than once, Nova hoped that Raelestriata had seen that 'slick move' he just pulled.


Both Blueriders were back on their feet before the instructor came back by to see their progress. The two of them were executing fairly clean jabs at each other, and had gotten down pretty well how to change grips on the knife handle without losing it. They would go right back into alternate forms of strikes they'd learned the previous week, integrating new and 'old' knowledge.

Once the instructor had passed them by, and their pairing had shown the instructor what he wanted to see, Nova was back to antics.

Laughing she said, “Now Tiv, you know you’d jump at the chance to be with someone as good looking as S’jiro or Sh’nar. The real question is why not go for it while you are young and have a better chance at succeeding.”

Raelestriata was not sure who he had a crush on, he wasn’t very open about the boys he liked but she did know he was really close to Nova, as much as she was and often wondered if perhaps he had some small crush there for the other boy. Or maybe they were just really close friends, like Raelestriata and Nova were.

“Nah… but you know Thanekar will know what they are up to. Haven’t seen him around as much as usual though…” She said, casting a sideways glance as Nova’s opponent hit the floor.

“Next time we should have Nova come spar with us. He gets so much more into this fighting stuff.” Instructors shouldn’t pair people off so readily based on their enthusiasm and skill. It would help those less skilled to have other people help them.

Tiv snorted slightly.

"There are a lot of good looking people in the Weyr." Tiv started, then glanced around to make sure that none of the Holdborn were close enough to overhear and be offended.

"I'd rather be with someone who will make sure it's as good for me as it is for them. Pretty makes no difference when it's dark."

T'veli's grip slipped slightly when Raelestriata mentioned Nova, and he hoped that his flush would be mistaken for embarrassment about his previous comment or just as an effect of the drills.

"That would make sense from a teaching standpoint, but Nova takes this a lot more seriously than I'd like to."

Tiv glanced covertly back over at the bluerider who was showing off again. Tiv had a sneaking suspicion that the antics Nova was up to were intended to be noticed by a specific person rather than just Nova's usual exuberance. After all, Nova didn't usually glance at Tiv when he was doing anything.

"If Thankar has been disappearing over this prank, I'm not sure that I want to know what's going to happen. Vel doesn't like it when I worry too much about the future."

Perhaps taking a little too much interest in Raelestriata at the moment, Nova found himself distracted in the fact that she and Tiv seemed to be doing more talking than practicing. Growing slightly jealous over that, he wondered just what they were so intent on discussing in the middle of class?

Of course, it would be his luck that distraction just had to come at the wrong time. Nova's partner got a good jab in, which brought the young man's attention back to where it should be, but the other weyrling didn't stop there. Immediately following through with a secondary attack, Nova found himself a little knocked out of breath and doubled over. Not that his partner was trying to cause serious injury, but he'd assumed Nova would have been paying better attention.

Holding up a hand in momentary retreat, Nova held his stomach with one hand, leaning forward to catch his breath. "Oh! oh! Why'd you have to go do that!"

Since they'd been full of antics all afternoon, his partner decided to try and trip him this time, laughing, even as both boys hit the ground. It was unexpected, and Nova's eyes went wide, "No!" But quickly brought back to present situation, Nova was able to poise himself in an advantageous position, at which point the Bluerider made show of wildly fake-stabbing his partner with the blunted 'weapons' they'd been given. "Raaahhhh, take that! And That! Ahahahahaha! Victory!"

Nova got up to go about a victory dance, but no sooner than he'd gotten up and the other boy swept his feet from under him again. Nova found himself on his back, having hit the back of his head on the ground and landed hard enough to make him cringe in pain; though it wouldn't have been unlike him to play it up a bit.

Curling up on his side, Nova rubbed the back of his head. "Ahhhh... Whyyyyy? Ah ah ah. That smarts. And you're supposed to be dead!" Mean-mugging his partner, then, he apparently decided to stay put for long enough to know he wasn't about to be assaulted again, eyes ever on the other boy.

She giggled, there were a number of men at the Weyr which were beyond gorgeous and the rest were not bad either, not by Pern standards. At least Holdborn were alerted to the dragonrider's needs and their ability to charm young Hold women and men to their beds.

Although from her weyrbred perspective that wouldn't be such a bad thing. Nova did have a point however, "Oh? Did you have a certain person in mind?" She was half teasing and half serious. clearly having missed the signs that the other had any feelings for Nova but she suspected he did like someone. A pretty boy like him should have offers already.

Tiv would probably tell Nova before he told her. They weren't really friends though they did try to be for Nova's sake.

"Yeah, I don't worry much but Solieth isn't big on considering our future. She figures I have it all planned out. Hah. I do agree with dragons though, things will be what they will. No use worrying about it. Thinking about the future too much will take away from the present."

She swung the blade towards him in another half-hearted attack then moved to block his blow. Ignoring the instructors complaint that some of them still weren't trying.

Hearing so much noise from Nova, she directed her attention to their fallen friend. "Lets go see what happened. Sooo dramatic. You'd think he was in front of an audience." She laughed, walking over to where Nova was on the ground.

"Look Tiv, a bluerider, knocked down, unable to defend himself..." She took her sword and pointed it at Nova. "Dragonrider, you have a choice, either die here, impaled by our blades or become our slave to serve us for eternity..."

Tiv didn't rush to Nova's side when the Bluerider had his accident, but it was a close thing. He was keeping his crush top secret, so he didn't even head over towards the Bluerider until Raelestriata headed over herself.

With no small measure of relief (at both not doing drills any longer and at getting close enough to Nova to see that the bluerider didn't seem to have hurt anything other than his pride).

When Raelestriata threated him, Tiv choked back a laugh as he waited to see what option Nova chose, his mind dancing to the tune of Nova as the personal servant of all of the Greenriders in their class; carrying harness, and offering foot massages and behaving with decorum.

"Make your choice quickly." Tiv jumped in, placing his blade in a threatening position as well (ignoring what sounded like the instructor realizing that people had stopped even pretending to take his lessons seriously).

As soon as Nova and his sparring partner realized they were attracting more attention than he'd anticipated, he looked up to see who it was standing over them. He stared up at Raelestriata for a long moment, seeming a little dazed, but then he was hopping back to his feet, slapping her blade aside.

They were impossible options she'd given him, and he refused both of them, "Dragonriders don't know how to surrender. Defeat me if you can!"

Of course, just as the words were out of his mouth, the instructor came up behind them all, breaking up the little circle...at which point, Nova lowered his weapon to turn and halfway face the man, one hand raising to rub at the back of his head again, as if feeling sympathetic once more for his own sake.

V'nius jumped back from his partner, holding his blunted sword up and swinging it with a fairly limp hand.  He really didn't have a knack for this at all, and he'd been unlucky enough to be paired with someone who did.  Maybe because they were the odd ones out when it came to who was good and who wasn't, or maybe because the instructor thought Vinnie would actually learn something from the exercise.  Whichever the case, the greenrider really didn't think it was fair.  "Come on, can't you just take it a little easier on me?" he complained, though he seriously doubted Q'rijn knew how.

Catching sight of Nova and his partner as they goofed off, he almost pouted-- they clearly got to have fun with their exercises.  But, they were better at this, anyway, so he doubted the instructor would say anything to them.

With a sigh, he turned back to his brownrider classmate and reset his stance.

"Your grip is too loose again, V'nius," the instructor called from the opposite side of the pair beside them, causing Vinnie to flush.  "And your feet are too close together to properly brace yourself.  Wrap your fingers higher on the handle and hold the blade farther away and up-- remember, you want to protect your core and your face, not leave them open to attack."

V'nius did as he was told, his face hot, and lowly grumbled, "Why does he always have to complain at me?"

He waited for Q'rijn to come at him, so he could block again, but was distracted by the sound of loud laughter and Nova's complaints, which earned him a hit to the arm.  "Hey!" he protested, poking out his bottom lip at the brownrider and rubbing the spot that smarted.  "I wasn't ready!"

The instructor looked furious, and T'veli felt terrible as soon as he got a good look at the instructor's face.

"Since none of you seem to be taking this seriously, I'm going to be switching your partners." W'riq announced seriously, looking upset. His face looked even worse when another pair of students (well, just one of them) exclaimed in pain.

"Q'rijn, you're with Nova's partner, get over here. Nova, you're with Raelestriata. Try to get her to put some effort into it. Raelestriata, keep Nova from making any more bad choices."

W'riq frowned, and looked at T'veli. T'veli looked at his feet. He heard the instructor sigh, but didn't look up.

"T'veli, help V'nius with his grip. You've at least got that down, even if you won't put any effort in."

T'veli scurried over to V'nius without a second thought, and was ready to immediately launch into an explanation about how to properly grip the swords, but as his mouth opened, Tiv froze.

"Hey, is your arm alright? Q'rijn smacked you kind of hard."

Raelestriata had her blade at the ready when Nova decided to choose neither option. "Come now, there is no need for bloodshed." Her voice was sly. She would have made another smart remark but the instructor had come over to get them back into gear. She should probably have tried to hide her excitement when they switched pairs.

As T'veli went to spar with V'nius, she smiled. At least she wasn't the only one who had been happy with the switch. Now she didn't have to feel guilty for stealing Nova's attention again. It was a fact that Tiv wasn't too thrilled that Nova spent so much time with her. Well at least he was friends with V'nius too. Now she didn't have to go out of her way to be nice and not stir up trouble.

Grinning, "Not to worry, I'll make sure he stays on his toes..." Her stance changed as she prepared for him to attack. Although she didn't have a lot of force, because of her lack of body mass, she was quite agile and had some stamina. After all she did run everyday. "Ready to lose?"

Nova's face lit up with obvious enthusiasm as they were given new partners, but he still ended up with a sour face over the fact that the the drill master was getting onto him, too. 'Bad choices' ?He'd done nothing wrong.

Anyway...

Turning attention to Raelestriata, he was always glad to be paired with her for activities. They were good friends and of course.. he liked her. Not to mention, when paired for activities like this, they typically did pretty well considering they had some similar strengths and could better keep pace with one another or help each other get the movements down. Nova also, did not have a lot of body mass and was just quicker on his feet, relying more on agility -and in recent weeks, Nova had started running with her.

"Good deal, Rae. We'll be partners. Now you have to face me." Nova tried to tease her, but no sooner, and she was pointing her weapon at him again. First reaction was to hold his hands up in surrender. Well.. he thought she was going to point her weapon at him again. But when it was just in preparation to accept an attack of his own, his hands gradually lowered, taking up a similar stance.

Nova made a face again, mouth twisting with mock skepticism, "Lose? Yeah, right!" Always going kind of easy on Rae in the sparring drills so that their strengths were more evenly matched and they could move in a more coordinated fashion, Nova met her guarded stance with the first stab of his weapon.

She saw him grinning and figured he thought she would be easier to defeat. It wouldn’t be a fair fight no matter what he did though. She really didn’t mind at all. Sparring would be more fun with someone she was actually friends with than someone whom she had a strained relationship with.

Tiv was nice. He was close to Nova and she had accepted they were friends for a long time. However Raelestriata would never be close with the other greenrider. There was history, too much of it, to ever really be at ease with the other boy.

With Nova she could say what she meant and not be worried about feelings being hurt. Speaking of which, Raelestriata frowned at the use of an unapproved nickname. “How many times do I have to tell you my name isn’t Rae? It is Raelestriata.” And she refused to have it shortened by silly boys!

Blocking his attack, she swung her own blade upwards with what force she could manage. She laughed, “Don’t hold back on me Nova. I know you can do better.”

Vinnie winced as they were all basically reprimanded.  He shot an apologetic look Q'rijn's way, hoping the brownrider wouldn't blame him for getting their particular pair in trouble.  He wasn't sure what his classmate thought, however, as he rarely let any emotion show on his face.  Maybe he'd be happier with his new partner, since clearly the other bluerider Nova had been working with had a much better idea of how to handle his mock sword.

Turning his attention to T'veli, V'nius nodded with a small sheepish smile.  "I was distracted, so it wasn't entirely his fault."  He rubbed the injured limb again, hoping the smarting sensation would go away sooner rather than later.  He doubted their instructor would let him take too long of a break, much as he'd prefer to just be done with the exercise for the day.  "I'll live, I think," he shrugged, trying to make light of the situation.

The others, of course, had moved off to their respective new partners, ready to pick up where they left off.  Vinnie was certainly happier about being paired with T'veli-- not that there was anything wrong with Q'rijn; he was just too quiet and the greenrider wasn't sure if that meant his classmate thought him an idiot for not knowing how to handle a practice sword, or what.  Tiv, at least, would talk to him.

Heaving a sigh, the greenrider shifted his feet, watching the ground as he moved to stand where he'd been before, opposite Q'rijn's place.  "I'm just really not any good at this," he lamented with a little wave of the hand holding his practice blade.

Even if Nova did seem to get the hang of their sparring routine quicker than some of the others, he didn't consider himself necessarily greatly skilled at it. Having to practice with swords seemed a little over the top to him. He didn't see why they would ever need them. Anyway, most riders only carried around a knife, and even that could be written off as more for utility purpose if you really wanted to argue it that way. Nova couldn't remember the last time he'd heard about an incident with someone outside the Weyr getting outright violent with a Rider.

As soon as Rae got onto him for unapproved nicknames, Nova found himself grinning, all to tease her because this was something they went over time and time again, and he always had to laugh at her reaction. He didn't do it often enough to really irritate her, but she knew it was done in tease. Or sometimes he really just wasn't thinking about it when he said it. Meh. She understood him.


Able to goof off more with his previous partner, Nova was still very glad to be paired with Raelestriata. Though she encouraged him to come at her with more force, he was wary of it; whether she was strong for a girl or not, boys were still stronger. He didn't want to hurt her.

Nova grumbled inwardly to himself over that for a moment, dancing aside of her incoming swipe, holding his own blade up in a blocking technique. Considering her, Nova didn't want to insult her by not giving her more effort either. So, in his next strike, Nova put more exuberance into it, though he was careful to hold any through-motion so if she didn't block in time, he wouldn't hurt her.


After they'd exchanged a few strikes and blocks, Nova piped up, "So, I had this idea. We should all sneak out of the barracks soon and have some fun while everyone's asleep." Without needing to say more just yet, he left that idea with her to bounce around in her head and see what she came back at him with on her own.

When he gave his blow a little more effort she smiled, blocking with her blade as instructed and then advancing on him with an attack of her own. She was not surprised he was scheming to get out of the barracks to have fun. So long as he was going to be ready for a run in the morning, she didn’t mind staying up late. She smiled knowing that he probably hadn’t thought farther ahead than sneaking out of the Barracks.

“And what were we going to do once we’ve snuck out?” They couldn’t be too loud or they would draw the attention of the watch dragons. “We’ll need a couple of people to grab snacks and drinks from the kitchens. Maybe someone has kitchen chores later?” She wasn’t sure who but this was Nova’s idea, he should be able to convince someone to help out. Maybe they could bribe a Weyrbrat or Candidate to help.

“Who is invited?” So they could start spreading the word to those who were interested. She found her arm getting tired of swinging the wooden blade around. She hoped she would never need to use one. There were concerns though, with the world becoming more dangerous for riders and holders alike, she may one day need this skill. Fate favored the prepared, right?

“No riders right?” Then it would be okay if she didn’t get dolled up but she couldn’t go to a function without being so if certain handsome men were going to be there. Of course there was no way that Nova could know the reasoning behind her question. She didn’t think he would understand. It was something she could talk about to other girls. With Nova they talked about everything but guys, unless she wanted to tease him. Or was just making a passing comment.

Nova was shrugging even as he moved to block Raelestriata's next stab at him, following through the motions they'd been taught to rehearse over and over. And she had been right; the Blueriders had only thought the plan through so far. But he trusted Rae and the rest of their weyrling class to come up with the rest. He wasn't worried about it.

"I don't know. We can explore some of the older corridors that they don't use much anymore. Some of the ones that have been blocked off." The boy's eyes lit up with mischievous intent, accompanied by a foolish grin typical of him, "I heard there were some haunted ones." He didn't elaborate, because really he didn't know the full stories, but Nova was always coming up with some random gossip he'd overheard, that sparked some curiosity in him. And because of his general attitude of aloofness, no one seemed to take him seriously enough to be afraid of speaking things around him.

"Yeah, I'm sure that someone has kitchen duty this week." But he didn't remember who. With that, at Rae's prompting, he addressed her next question, and she was right that her meaning behind it was somewhat lost on him. If he did get it, it didn't show. But then, he didn't usually let his jealousies show in front of her. He was just glad to be with her. "I thought it would be just weyrlings from our class."

Somehow, that response only seemed natural to him; like it would be expected.

“Haunted?” She asked, knowing she didn’t really believe in ghosts but it would be interesting to watch some for the more superstitious of their group deal with that. “It’ll be worth it just to see Tiv and Vinnie afraid of everything that moves.” She laughed quietly, trying not to draw the attention of the instructor and continuing to block and strike as she was supposed to. “I’m not sure who is on kitchen chores but I’m sure whoever it is will help if you ask them.” Especially if it were one of the other girls, as Nova tended to be dramatic and draw attention to himself, most of the girls in the class had noticed him.

“Perfect.” She said, in response to who would be attending. It would be better just the people in their class. “Well you better invite Tiv personally.” Or she was going to have to deal with his irritation at her the whole evening. As if she had ever tried to keep Nova to herself. It was frustrating but the other boy didn’t like her relationship with Nova, even if it was just a close friendship.

"My arm is tired. We need to work on strength more..." She said with a sigh. Raelestriata took staying in shape seriously almost too seriously which was why she worked out with Nova. He was almost never serious.

Nova couldn't help but snicker at the thought of Tiv and Vinnie out on their little adventure together. "Sure. I'll ask him to come. We'll try to catch everyone after class and I'll find out who's on kitchen duty."


To be honest, Nova's arm was getting a little sore, too; but he wasn't about to be done making jabs at Rae while they were partnered. He knew that she liked to push herself to work hard and excel in physical activities. And every minute she held that wood sword up, her arm was getting stronger.

With a lunge forward, Nova thrust his sword at her again, not letting up on her. She'd told him she didn't want him to go easy on her.

Fighting against his blow with a pretty good block she broguht her sword up and swung it towards him with a little more force, "I said not to go easy on me but that doesn't mean try to put me on back." she complained. Even as she said those words though, she fully expected him to try to knock her down even harder. Raelestriata liked to be pushed to her limits, which Nova understood.

"Stop everyone. I expect you all to put more effort forth next time." The instructor said, "Please put the swords back where they belong on your way out. Dismissed."

Raelestriata laughed, "More effort, yeah cause I'm going to need to kill someone with a sword someday." She spoke low enough so that no one but Nova could hear her. "Better make sure Q'rijn knows too. He's so quiet, I never know if he gets invited or if he just has no interest in showing up to our get-togethers."

"Here, I'll put both swords up, you go spread the word of your idea." She took his sword from him and walked over to the chest where they were stored, laying both swords in gently. Then she got stuck there as people expected her to hold the top of the chest open.

"Oh, thank Faranth," V'nius sighed as their instructor finally called practice to a halt.  He grinned a Tiv and added, "Thanks for not clobbering me."  His arm, at least, wasn't really sore any more, and he didn't think he'd have a bruise.  His fingers, though, might be another story-- he still couldn't decide if he had a splinter, or not, after the way the handle of his sword had rubbed against his palm a couple of times.

Following suite with the rest of their class, the greenrider got in line to return the practice blade.  He tapped it nervously against his leg as he waited for those ahead of him to move, then hurriedly set it down inside the wooden bin as if the weapon was going to suddenly catch fire and burn him if he didn't let go.  "Thanks, Raelestriata.  Here, you've been holding that a while, I'll keep it up."  He went to the other side of the bin and reached to hold the lid up so she could let go.

Conversationally, whether she moved or not, he added, "I hope they're making some good stew for dinner-- I'm starving now."

Nova was hungry, too, but he wasn't thinking about food. The boy was more concerned with spreading the word about their he and Rae's plans of sneaking out one night soon and exploring some of the less used corridors in the Weyr for fun. It would be exciting enough to just sneak out after curfew and not get caught by the Watch wher or Weyrling Master -or any of his assistants.

Just as Vinie was offering to hold the top of the trunk up for Rae, Nova sauntered over in his own sly way, leaning an arm on the other boy's shoulder with nonchalance. "So. I guess you haven't heard yet about a bunch of us from class sneaking out of the barracks after curfew to pull an all-nighter? We're going to explore some of the old corridors. Isn't that right Les?"

Calling Rae by another unapproved nickname, Nova regarded the other boy again with a hopeful glance -hopeful that Vinnie would join them. "It's just weyrlings from our own class so we don't have to worry about anyone ratting us out. We want to go explore some of the older corridors that aren't used anymore. What'd'ya think? Are you in?"

The grin on Nova's face was absolutely devious, as he was positive that their classmates would all oblige and join in.

"Thanks V'nius." Raelestriata said, letting go of the chest lid. Although it seemed most of the people had already put there swords up. Rubbing her arms, she backed away from the chest and the boys. "I've told you at least a hundred times, my name isn't Les or Rae its Raelestriata." She pinched his upper arm. "Got it?"

Once she was sure her point was across she let go. It was in good fun but she also wanted her friend to take her seriously when she was adamant about her name. "You should come V'nius. I'm sure we can get T'veli to come too." She said, looking at Nova. He better invite T'veli or there would be some drama and it would not be pleasant later on.

"I gotta run, Solieth is starving..." Which made for intense mock stomach pains for herself. "See you guys later." She said and walked out of the room. Dragons were so demanding!