Devious plan [egg stall]

[Kisha-Ra]

It was inevitable, after circulating the whole gather with R’fuin that Darya was going to sneak off here while her currently miserable friend was in the loo. The egg stall always had a certain allure for her, even when she didn’t intend to buy anything. Today though Darya had a devious plan, she couldn’t replace Trick, not that she’d ever try, but another firelizard would give Flirt some company (R’fuin’s blue firelizard was looking distinctly down without his partner in crime) and hopefully R’fuin would be so busy caring for a baby flitter and being furious with Darya for buying it for him that he’d stop moping over Trick so much. She’d rather have her friend not speaking to her than going around being miserable, that was Darya’s privilege and she was far better at it than R’fuin.

Together Darya and Imp peered at the various eggs, noting the prices and sizes. Avians were right out she decided, something huge and firelizard eating might hatch out of those eggs, and getting R’fuin’s remaining pet eaten wasn’t on the plan. Firelizard eggs should be what she was looking at. Small might be best, they’d probably hatch out greens for Flirt to flirt with, and they were naturally the most reasonable of the bunch. Besides medium and large eggs contained too much potential for a brown, which Darya would prefer to avoid.

Naturally a second selection of eggs caught Darya’s eye, ones in a bowl marked no clue. A slight smile tugged at her lips, she recognised the form, eggs that hadn’t been clearly marked jumbled together and sold off. Not a bad idea really. Except there could be anything in there.

[Ember]

A woman sat on a stool behind the stall idly watching the other woman look over her selection of eggs. The stallkeeper was an older version of her daughter, with bouncy black curls and dark blue eyes. Upon noticing that the woman had a salamandyr though she was concerned over the wellfare of her eggs. Rather than have a fit she sent her gold to guard her own eggs. Alia would no more let harm befall her own eggs than the mystery or avian eggs. The visitor didn't quite look ready to purchase yet and perhaps the gold could convince her of what to buy.

A gold firelizard leapt off of her mistress' shoulder and landed on the table. The gold was a dark gold that was often easily mistaken for bronze. If not for her size people might think he the sire of the clutch. She was a very large gold and her hide was a deep colour similar to antique gold. She had a small yellow-gold patch on her nose. She chittered in warning to the salamandyr. No eating the eggs. She eyed him for a moment before looking at the woman. She wanted an egg yes? The gold hopped along the table to the bowl of small eggs and looked from Darya to the eggs and back again a few times.

She trilled sweetly and climbed into the bowl, careful not to break any of the eggs. She touched her yellow nose to one before grasping it in her paws and holding it up slightly. Alia trilled again and looked down at the egg she was holding. She impressed on the woman that this one would do well for her, very well indeed. The gold liked to try and match eggs to people and she felt that the baby within would be a good one for Darya. She was certain of it. Her owner smiled and finally got up from her stool. To the rider she said, "My Alia has a gift. She's very good at picking out a good egg for each person. Was there anything in particular you were looking for?" The gold chittered at her mistress. What she was looking for was right here in her paws!

[Kisha-Ra]

Darya was focused on the carefully displayed eggs for the moment, so she failed to notice the look her salamandyr was given. In fact she barely noticed the stallholder at all. Imp, however did notice and his frill rose, slowly, insolently at the woman. At least until a beautiful streak of gold came into his view.

‘Can’t you ever stop?’ Darya muttered at Imp, noting his interest in the gold firelizard that appeared from somewhere nearby and crossed the table. The bronze’s frill had entirely flicked up, in a display of pride and strength rather than threat, though he did seem rather confused by the warning chitter. Darya was not. Certain salamandyrs, queens mostly, had given the whole species a bad reputation for eating firelizard eggs. Clearly this gold’s bonded had heard of it. Imp, naturally as he was a fan of firelizards more than his own species, wouldn’t think of eating firelizard eggs, and therefore was utterly confused.

What was that queen up to? Darya raised an eyebrow inquiringly at the creature so carefully climbing among the eggs and selecting one. Oh, that was a novel way of picking out an egg anyway. Darya chuckled quietly, finding the firelizard rather endearing despite herself. The bluerider would have liked to think her soft spot for firelizards and salamandyrs was better concealed than it really was.

A polite smile for the stallkeeper, and a blink for the gold firelizard’s insistence crossed Darya’s face in rapid succession. ‘Ah, well I do hate to disappoint such a lovely queen but I’m really looking for something for a friend of mine.’ She explained. ‘And since I see you’re placing a limit of one egg per customer, I should really think of R’fuin first.’

Sad now is no Trick. Trick make happy with tricks. No more. Imp elaborated helpfully to the woman and the queen, his proud stance drooping as he did so. He, too, missed the brown salamandyr. ‘Yes.’ Darya agreed, reaching up to stroke Imp’s back. ‘He recently lost a salamandyr to that heat sickness they all seem to be so susceptible to. Poor brown took sick and with losing his mate so recently he didn’t have the will to fight it.’ Darya’s expression turned solemn as she explained a little. ‘I was thinking R’fuin and his firelizard could use a bit more company, and to be honest, those small firelizard eggs seem ideal. I’m trying to avoid a brown you see. Flirt would like a green probably, R’fuin will most likely be mad at me whatever hatches.’ Darya’s grin was careless as she said that last bit. Too bad if her friend wanted to wallow in misery, he wasn’t getting a choice, and maybe this interesting gold firelizard would find the perfect egg for him.

[Ember]

Alia listened to the woman and chittered a bit sadly before placing the egg back down. Poor baby. Another would come by for it, she was certain. She gave it a gentle pat before walking to the edge of the bowl closest to Darya, setting her paws on the rim and listening with keen interest to the woman's needs. Something for a friend, hmm? The queen sat wondering which egg might do for the woman's friend with her mistress conversed with the woman.

Mama E, as she was so often called by friends, listened to the bluerider. She ahhed understandingly at the explanation. Eggs were a popular gift for close friends and family, though the woman always wondered why. Unexpected pets could be a lot of trouble for the recipient. It wasn't her place to try and convince others of this though. She had come to sell eggs to customers and that was just what Mama E intended on doing.

The further explanation had both queen firelizard and stallkeeper making a sympathetic sound. Mama E shook her head and said in agreement, "The heat is quite a problem for the little ones. If he did lose a brown another one probably wouldn't go over so well. Only remind him of his lost one, yeah?" The black haired stall keeper looked down at her firelizard before smiling at the bluerider. "I do believe Alia has heard enough to search for one for your friend."

True to her mistress' words, the gold was looking amongst the eggs again. She walked up to one and clicked her claws against it gently before emitting a soft hiss and moving away from it. Most definitely not that one for the woman's friend. She almost passed by the next one but with a sniff she turned to regard one curiously. She placed her truly gold nose patch against the egg. She withdrew and chittered excitedly, holding up that egg in much the same manner. This one, this one! She even hit the bottom the bowl with the end of her tail. She couldn't tell if the baby was nice or not but she had a feeling it would help the woman's friend and his Flirt.

[Kisha-Ra]

Darya looked regretful for a moment that she had to disappoint the queen by not taking the egg she’d selected, but in the next moment she wryly thought that this woman had a very good sales pitch going indeed if her gold always acted this way. Imp was creeping down her arm as she talked to the stallholder, and Darya absent mindedly poked him, silently reminding him to behave and not flirt too much.

‘Right.’ Darya nodded once, decisively. ‘The idea is to distract him, tie him up with this, and maybe even really annoy him. Anything to stop him moping, even if he’s plotting revenge.’ Darya’s eyes flicked to the gold firelizard who poked among the eggs again, and smiled when the little queen chittered and held up her choice.

Imp, who had finally made it all the way down Darya’s arm to the tabletop swaggered confidently around the bowls until he reached the one the gold occupied and sat down quietly next to it. It wouldn’t do to just invade a nest, even if this gold did seem to have rather a lot of eggs in several nests. What do? What do? He inquired curiously, standing up on his hind legs for a better look into the bowl nest. Good is? Make not sad? Will take.

Darya chuckled softly over Imp’s acting as if he were the customer and Darya some useless piece of baggage. ‘Yes, we’ll take that egg then please.’ She agreed with the salamandyr, fumbling for the appropriate marks, however a chance movement to the side of the stall drew Darya’s attention that way before her eyes dropped curiously to the bowl of mismatched eggs. ‘You really have no idea what these might hatch?’ She inquired. ‘I don’t suppose you’d care to sell me one of the mysterious eggs as well?’

[Ember]

Mama E watched the salamandyr careful as it started towards the table from the woman's arm. It wouldn't do to have something eat her wares, now would it? Her protectiveness went farther than that. The eggs had babies inside and the stallkeeper didn't want to sell or lose any eggs to the fiendish egg eaters. A good number of the eggs were her own queen's get and she was especially protective of them on behalf of Alia.

She looked up as Darya spoke and smiled. "Well, if you be looking for a distraction, then one of these little eggs will certainly do the job. Careful what you wish for though, miss. You may really find yourself peppered with whatever revenge he plots up." The woman already knew the risks so instead of being a genuine warning, Mama E winked and went back to discreetly watching the bronze salamandyr.

The black haired woman was pleasantly surprised as the salamandyr merely sat beside the bowl her firelizard was occupying. Even when he stood up and his back legs he stayed out of the bowl. As long as he looked but didn't touch she was willing to let him near the eggs. The gold caught sight of him and watched him warily. She chirped at his words though. Yes, egg baby be good for friend. At Darya's agreement of taking the egg Alia fluted pleasantly and let her mistress take it.

Mama E took the egg her dear gold was holding and was ready to hand it over to the dragonrider when she was asked about the bowl of mystery eggs. "Not a clue. They were from a caravan you see. They failed to appropriately mark down what was in 'em. Just about anything that starts as an egg can come from those I warrant. You're welcome to buy one of 'em but I warn you that whatever hatches - if it even hatches - may be quite unsavory."

[Kisha-Ra]

Darya’s answering grin was positively wolfish. She was pretty sure she was prepared for any form R’fuin’s revenge might take, she’d just have to get Imp and Bit to check out her weyr for tunnelsnakes before she went to bed. She was mildly irked by the subtly wary reactions to Imp’s presence on their table but she couldn’t actually blame either the woman or the firelizard. Hopefully Imp’s good behaviour might go some way toward repairing the reputation of salamndyrs. Although Imp was either ignorant of their caution or ignoring it, it was hard to tell with him sometimes.

‘I’ve seen that type before, might even have come from the same caravan as visited the Weyr some time back.’ Darya commented idly as her eyes ran over the odd assortment of eggs. ‘Ah, well this one’s for me so it doesn’t matter if something strange hatches from it. I’ll try my luck with that one.’ Dary indicated an unassuming slate blue egg from among the pile. She really hoped it wasn’t a chicken, or a tunnelsnake. ‘So that’s ten marks I owe you, yes?’ Darya didn’t even make a token attempt at trying to lower the price, she was pretty useless at haggling.

[Ember]

Alia climbed out of the bowl and chirped at Imp. He'd been a very polite salamandyr. He'd stayed out of the bowls. She wandered closer to him and briefly touched her nose to his head before moving back to her mistress and carefully climbing up the woman's shirt. She eventually reached Mama E's shoulder and nuzzled her. The stallkeeper idly rubbed the gold as she kept her attention on Darya. The grin earned one in return.

The bluerider seemed to know what she was doing so Mama E dropped it. Perhaps they would meet again at another Gather and she could ask how the distraction went. She wondered if it was the same caravan that stopped by the weyr that she acquired the eggs from. The black haired woman rescued the egg from the bowl and set the two eggs on the counter gently as she went to grab her log book and a writing implement. She placed those on the table as well and stooped to pick up the marks case. "That's right, miss."

[Kisha-Ra]

Imp’s frill unfolded and the bronze arched his neck, pulling his muzzle almost to his chest in a display of pride. He just knew the gold liked him really! It was shame they had to go now really, but they had to give Trick’s the eggbaby. Darya sighed, and beckoned the salamandyr back to her. ‘Come on Imp, this no time to be flirting, we need to work out how to get R’fuin to take this egg.’ She called to him.

Yes. Give baby, make not sad, sneaky I, sneaky Dar. Sneak sneak. Imp agreed, flapping his frill up and down a few times as if to wave to Alia before he climbed back to his preferred perch on Darya’s shoulder. Having successfully distracted Imp from Alia enough that she could look the stallholder in the eye without blushing Darya fished out five two mark pieces and laid them in a row on the table.

[Ember]

Alia was amused by the bronze. Oh yes, very amused. He was cute in the sense that he was like a little baby receiving praise from his clutchmother. She often thought of those smaller than her like babies that all needed some protection or encouragment occasionally. The gold watched him crawl back onto his mistress.

The stallkeeper smiled knowingly. Sometimes her customers told her how they intended to slip a person an egg and other times they didn't. She'd be kept amused by imagining the siuation as she sat on her stool waiting for others to come by. Mama E took the marks and put them into the mark case. She put it back in its place before jotting down the information of the sale. To Darya she said, "The eggs are yours. Take care of the one you're keeping if it hatches. I wish you luck with your friend."