Happiness is a Smile Away! (Phai/Sam/Open)

[Rowana]

Annatolli skipped down the hall, her golden curls bouncing in her wake along with the sound of her sweet humming voice. She was in a much better mood than when she'd first arrived at this new home. Auntie Hoayamae really was nice under all her grumpiness and had even promised to teach her how to make sweet rolls before long. Anna still missed Mommy, but Auntie Mae was right to say she wouldn't want her daughter to be sad all the time.

It was still alright to have fun, right? Besides, so many other people were gone too and many people were sad. They needed to be happy again! Especially now that they could all live together with most of the mean people gone or acting nicer. Anna couldn't stand people being sad for too long, it just wasn't fun. The biggest reason for the small girl's good mood, however, probably had to do with the dark blue creature she was gently hugging. Nhim wasn't really used to females with such smaller hiding places, but at least this one liked to give him attention while Mae was busy. He purred happily in her arms as she explored the nooks and crannies of her new home.

"Look over here, Nhim!" Anna nearly dropped the fire lizard as she pointed, who retreated to draping himself over her shoulders. The girl peered into an unused and dusty room. "Who do you think lived here?" she asked, with curious excitement. Nhim chirped and whistled his uncertainty. "Maybe a prince!" Anna decided with a grin. "We could find clues to where he's gone!" Delighted with the new game, Anna pushed the door open further, blowing at the cobwebs. He certainly was a messy prince, whoever he was!

[Ruby]

Phaiden was playing hide and seek with one of the unattached Razorclaws around the Weyr. Her mother had shooed her away, and she'd ducked out of the Creche, finally deciding she was too old for that sort of thing. She'd pulled her long, dark blonde hair back into a runner tail and dressed in a pair of pants and one of her mother's white shirts, belted at the waist with a stray bit of rope - her own candidate robes. She'd found the Razorclaw haunting the hatching sands, and had chased it all the way back into the dark tunnels on the outskirts of the Weyr. MUCH more fun than hanging around the stupid creche.

Stalking the bird had brought her to a dark hallway, and she crouched low, flexing her fingers. If she could catch one of the birds, she could keep it, right? That's how these things worked. All of a sudden, the little girl exploded upwards, snatching at the bird. With a squawk, the Razorclaw took off in a flurry of feathers, leaving the little girl pouting and sucking on a finger that the bird's sharp claw had gouged. While she stood there, though, Phaiden heard a voice echoing down the corridor, and went to investigate.

Soon she located the door the other voice had come from, and it's source - another little girl, close to Phai's age. Pushing on the door, she grimaced as it creaked, hovering in the doorway. If there were adults around, Phai would have been silent, but without any adults she was somewhat more outgoing. "Hi, I'm Phai. What're you doing? Is that... is that a firelizard?"

[Aftershock]

Samael walked down the hallways of the Weyr, with Heimdall walking beside him and Freyr above him, each watching out for their blind companion at their respective levels. Heimdall still limped slightly, but time had slowly healed the canine's bruised back left leg, and it wouldn't be long before he was fully recovered.

Samael wasn't even sure where he was going at the moment. He had been in a depressive funk for the past few sevendays after the dragon hatching where Vellani had Impressed... and where he'd found she was dating a dragonrider. He had known, deep inside, that the girl wasn't actually interested in a simple, blind weryboy like himself, with her being a Candidate and therefore destined for the glory of battling Thread and defending everyone, but having her disinterest in him made so undeniable with Er'ani's heroic actions to save her at the hatching from being mauled by the dragonlings really made him understand what he was doing.

From that point forward, he had understood that he had let himself fall in love with the cute blonde Candidate (now weyrling), and that now especially that she'd Impressed, he needed to stay out of her life, as she was so kind, she would likely feel bad if she discovered she had inadvertently broken his heart, and he did not wish to hurt her in such a way, so he had instead kept to himself, trying to avoid her in order to let her forget he'd even existed... let her move on with her new life.

Suddenly, Freyr felt the presence of another firelizard mind in the area, and chirruped, sending images to Heimdall so that his bondbrother could direct His towards the flit... and hopefully to it's owner. Freyr did not understand why His was so sad lately, but he didn't like it, and he hoped that this potential person might help make His happier. As Samael approached the room containing the two young weyrbrats, he heard the voices of the little girls and slowed as he approached the door, calling out softly, "Hello? Is someone out here? I apologize if I'm interrupting anything..."

[Rowana]

Nhim chirped warmly, making Annatolli turn to see another girl enter the room. She beamed and waved happily at her new friend, because someone you didn't know was obviously destined to be your friend. "I'm Anna!" she replied brightly. She already liked Phai and they looked to be close to the same age too. They could play games together! "I'm looking for princes! This is Nhim," she pulled the fire lizard off her shoulder and hugged him until he squirmed free into the air. "He's Auntie Mae's, but he likes to play with me." She stood proudly gazing at Nhim, who was debating whether it was safe to stick around two clinging, hugging girls at once.

Just as he thought about returning to the kitchen, another fire lizard made his presence known. He trilled happily to Freyr, inviting him to come play as well. The girl his mistress had adopted was sweet, but she could be a handful sometimes! Annatolli grinned again. Another friend! This was turning into a good day. This one could be her 'prince' and Phai could be sister princess! "Hello! I'm Anna and this is Phai! Are you a prince? Will you play with us?"

[Ruby]

"Hi Anna," Phai said, still a touch shy... but the shyness faded away as soon as the girl kept talking. "And hi, Nhim! Can I pet him?" she asked, reaching out to the firelizard before he flew away. That made Phai pout, but she recovered just as quickly. "Princes? I like princes, but I like dragonriders better. But princes are ok, I guess, sometimes they have firelizards and -"

The young man's voice cut Phai off, and she whirled towards the door. She smiled and waved at the man, echoing Anna's greeting, but then pulled her brows together. There was something wrong with his eyes, and he didn't react to her wave at all. Phai was old enough to know that it wasn't polite to blurt out something like 'hey, your eyes are weird!' so instead she dropped her eyes, put her hands behind her back, and asked, "Are you... lost?"

[Aftershock]

Heimdall walked into the room with Samael, following the instructions from his bondbrother, and seeing the bronze's reaction to the two little girls, figured it was safe and wagged his tail at the two little girls as Freyr landed before them, crooning happily and displaying his heart-shaped "birthmark" before flying up to chirrup at the blue flit in a friendly manner, introducing himself, His, and his bondbrother to the other firelizard.

Samael, for his part, stopped as he heard the little girls both talk to him, and scratched the back of his head, a bit embarrassed, and replied, "A prince? Er, no, not at all. I'm just a normal weyrfolk, just like you two. I think I've heard your names before around, though of course I haven't seen you," he added, indicating his clouded eyes with a sad smile. Moving farther into the room, he continued, "Er, I'm Samael, and this is Heimdall," he added, patting the large canine's side, who's tongue lolled out as he continued to wag his tail as he looked at the two young girls, "And I'm not lost, per se. Just... wandering. I... I guess I'm not really sure where I was going when Freyr," he said as he indicated the bronze firelizard above them, using his bond to negate the need to see where he was, "heard you two and decided to come see you. I suppose I could play with you, though I think Heimdall would more likely be glad to. Just be careful, he sometimes forgets how big he is."

Concluding his introduction, he patted Heimdall on his side once more, saying, "Go on, boy, go play with the little girls," prompting the large canine to limp forward towards the two little girls, tail wagging even harder and a large "smile" on his face.

[Rowana]

"You could be a dragonrider prince," Annatolli suggested helpfully, latching onto Phaiden's idea. It didn't matter to her who he was to start with, anyone could be a prince or princess if they wanted. Besides, he was nice and that was the first step to be a good prince! If Anna noticed Samael's lack of sight she payed it no mind. What she did notice was his large and adorable canine. "Oh! Is he your steed? And you have a fire lizard too! Hi Heimdall! Hi Sam! Hi Freyr!" She immediately bounced forward to offer Heimdall a loving hug while trying to wave at Freyr at the same time.

Nhim was pleased to see Freyr, if only because it seemed to make the girls happy. Besides, he wasn't pink and anything not pink was good in his eyes. Perhaps they could play while the humans were busy with each other? Nhim hardly ever got to play with other fire lizards and Tae could be so annoying when he wanted to win at every game.

[Ruby]

Phai was somewhat more reserved than Anna, happy to let her more gregarious friend take the lead. She did offer a wave to all three of their guests, and looked up at Samael through her eyelashes. Heimdall scared her a little, he was such a big dog, but if Sam said it was alright... She took one step closer, then another, reaching out at last to scratch Heimdall behind the ears. Glancing up at Sam again, she backed Anna up. "You can be a prince if you want, it's just pretend. I think you are a dragonrider prince, and Heimdall is your dragon! He looks like a brown, but a big brown. Or a Wher? You could be a Wher prince!" Her father had told her that he was the King of Whers, but apparently the place for prince was still open. "Heimdall's near big enough to be a Wher. My daddy's a Wherhandler," she boasted, then blushed prettily. It wasn't polite to boast.

Attempting to cover for her mistake, she rushed on into the story. "So you're the prince, Heimdall's your Wher or your dragon, whatever you want. And I'm Princess Phaiden, and this is my twin sister, Princess Annatolli. And... or would you rather be the evil villain, trying to steal us? Heimdall can be our steed. Or, Anna, will Nhim be the villain?" Spotting a twisted old bit of something across the room, Phai bounded over, balancing it on her head. "See, a princess!" Now that she had her crown, though, Phai changed the subject abruptly, presumably to let Anna find her own raiment. "Are you a candidate, Samael?"

[Aftershock]

Samael laughed a bit, trying (and for the most part succeeding, but not entirely) to hide the bitterness behind his laugh as the young girls went on about their play fantasy. "Oh, I'm sorry, girls. I can't be a dragonrider prince, or even a wher prince. I can't even be a Candidate. They don't let people who aren't... fully capable... have such important jobs," he added, indicating his clouded eyes with a wave of his hand as he said "fully capable". As usual, he wasn't actually looking at the girls, instead pointing one ear in their direction.

Heimdall, for his part, wagged his tail as Annatolli hugged him, and when Phaiden scratched his chin, his tongue lolled out to give the girl's hand a quick lick before she could retreat entirely. When Phaiden mentioned her father was a wherhandler, Samael smiled slightly and said, "You should be proud of your father. Wherhandlers are very important, just like dragonriders. They protect folk like us from Thread, and the wherhandlers were especially important when the earthquake hit Old Selenitas. If it weren't for them, many more people would have been hurt, or worse. Your father is a hero," he concluded. His voice choking a bit, he added, "I have... well, had... a friend who just Impressed a dragon, who's going to become a hero protecting us just like your father does. I'm really happy for her..." With that, Samael trailed off, a lump forming in his throat that cut off his words momentarily.

[Rowana]

Annatolli cocked her head and frowned slightly. "Why can't you?" she asked in puzzlement. She didn't care if he had troubles, anyone could be a 'prince' couldn't they? Besides, her mother had always told her it was the dragons who choose, not people. "That's not fair," she pouted and went to Samuel to take his hand. "I think you would make a great prince!" She thought about some of Phaiden's ideas. "Maybe Nhim and his friend can be the wicked devils come to kidnap us!"

Anna paused in her excitement to listen to the other two while she found a twisted bunch of roots for her own crown. She nodded fervently at Samuel's words. "My parents were riders too," she said with a proud smile. "Just like Phai's dad!" In her mind, she saw no difference between wherhandlers and dragonriders, they were all wonderful. "You must be proud of your friend!" She beamed up at him, but her smile faded a little when she saw his face. "What's wrong?" Maybe he was afraid for his friend. Her parents hadn't come back, after all. It must be hard knowing they weren't always safe.