Ryan put away the pieces that Yue had chosen, making sure they wouldn't get lost or damaged. She was accumulating quite a few things, and he was certain she would spend quite a while trying to get them just so in her eyrie once they got back up north. As much as she pretended otherwise, he knew that Yue liked pretty things as much as any other dragon.

By the time the bell rang for dinner, Vyren was very clean and Corey was tired. He headed back to the weyr with Vyren and took Xander with them. It was a long walk, after all.

"You can come sit with us," he said with a grin, leading the way to the hall and taking a quick look round for Faith.

Ryan followed them back to the weyr with Yue. Once they got there, he followed them to the mess hall and let Yue go back to her temporary eyrie.

Faith heard the bell for dinner, and made her own way to the mess hall. It took her a couple minutes of searching, but she found the others.

"I think Lapis is sufficiently distracted by her pretty things," she said as she sat down with them.

Corey snickered. "It must be a female thing," he said with a shrug. "Vyren's showed no interest whatsoever in anything remotely shiny. It's kind of funny, actually."

"It also depends on the type of dragon," Xander piped up. "Some types aren't very hoarde-happy, as I call it."

When Corey looked at her weird, she went red. "What? I've been doing some research," she mumbled defensively.

"Yue likes to pretend she doesn't hoard," Ryan said, "but she does. She's picky about it, but she does. So Xander's right, it probably varies between individuals."

"Is there even anything TO hoard up north?" Faith asked, curious.

"Not really," Ryan admitted. "Yue has some furs in her eyrie, some whale teeth, a couple of narwhal tusks. That's about it, though. She has some things set aside for when we get back home, so she'll be able to keep decorating."

Xander paused as she relayed this information to Calypso and got a reply. "Is there any particular pattern or color that she likes?" she asked, looking at Ryan. "Or does she just kind of hoarde things?"

"Lighter colors," Ryan replied. He didn't even need to ask Yue. "Whites, tans... The back wall of her eyrie is so coated with ice that it's blue." He knew exactly what was in Yue's eyrie. He made good use of the furs that the dragon had, and he'd spent a few not-as-cold summer nights in the eyrie.

Xander nodded and relayed the information back to Calypso. "Alright."

She didn't say anything else, instead just eating quietly and watching everyone else.

Corey shook his head and finished his dinner. "Well, anyone have any good ideas for things to do or do you all just want to go to bed?"

"Actually..." Faith said. "I am going to go to bed. I'm going to get up early, and see about going back to the city." She'd been thinking about it while she watched Lapis move things around in her eyrie.

"You're going back there?" Ryan asked. He didn't see the point, chances were that she wouldn't even be able to get in.

Faith nodded.

"Yeah, I want to see if I can't figure out what's going on, at least partially."

"Good luck with that," Corey said. He'd really rather not go. "Maybe you'd like to go, Xander?"

Xander shrugged. "If you want company," she offered. "Dunno how much help I'd be, though."

"Might be helpful to find out what's going on, though," Corey agreed.

"I wouldn't mind," Faith replied. "I mean, I have a legitimate excuse for wanting to get in to the city, my parents live there." It would be digging up the information they wanted which would be the tricky part.

Xander nodded. "I'll hit up all the local bars and pubs," she said with an easy shrug. "Shouldn't be too hard to find something. You can visit your parents for as long as you want."

"Aren't you a little young to be bar-hopping?" Corey asked after a few moments. He'd worked in a bar, and he'd never seen someone younger than 17 in there.

"Nah, not really. Been doing it for years, back in the city." She shrugged, completely unconcerned. "Not like I'm going to let someone get handsy. Just gonna try to get some information."

Faith raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment. She wasn't one for bars, so she hadn't planned on going into them. If Xander wanted to go in, then Faith wouldn't stop her.

"Well, I'm going to stay here," Ryan said. "No sense in me going with you, I'd just get in the way."

Xander looked at the two males for a few moments before she shrugged. "Suit yourselves," she said, getting up.

"I need a place to sleep for the night. It's too damn cold here to stay outside."

"I got you that sleeping bag, but if you don't think it's enough, you can bunk in my room if you want," Faith volunteered. "I'm probably going to stay in Lapis's eyrie for the night." She had a sleeping bag stashed in the eyrie for just such a night, and staying next to Lapis kept Faith warm enough.

"We'll see how cold it is outside," Xander said after a moment. She was kinda wimpy about cold temperatures, and she'd never been so high up before in her life, meaning she wasn't used to the chill in the air.

"You know, there's a hallway between all the eyries," Corey said casually. "It's a lot warmer than outside, but you're not actually in anyone's space. You know. In case you're interested."

Ryan snorted. It was definitely warmer inside. Yue complained about it, even though it was cooler than in the forest or by the water and she kept her temporary eyrie as cold as she could.

Faith nodded.

"It is warmer in the eyries," she agreed. She snickered. "Which is probably Vyren's fault."

Corey grinned. "Probably," he agreed easily. "He likes his eyrie fairly warm. Remember, we agreed he'd probably fall through an iceberg or something."

Xander just had to snicker at the mental image that provided. It was just too priceless.

Faith snickered.

"He'd probably somehow make a hotspring out there," she teased. "Somehow."

Ryan just grinned and shook his head.

"They're going to hate him in our eyries," he said. "He already annoys Yue, but she's kind of just annoyed on principle half the time."

Corey snickered. "Yeah, he doesn't mind cold. He just makes himself warmer to compensate." He grinned. "I can see him greatly annoying just about every dragon up there."

Ryan grinned.

"That's when we show you to the rocky cliffs, out in penguin country," he joked. "Nothing to melt there, and stone holds heat nicely."

"Sounds fine to me," Corey said with a shrug. "Bet he'd like to try penguin. I swear, he'll eat just about anything if it's vaguely edible."

"Yue likes penguin," Ryan commented. "She doesn't like the feathers, she likes the meat well enough. Although she likes seal and walrus better. And whale, when she can get it."

"I know that Vyren tried chicken a couple times. Said it wasn't big enough, and I know he's had fish." Corey shrugged. "It would be interesting to see them get a whale, though."

"I mentioned Yue has a couple of narwhal tusks?" Ryan said. "She kept them as trophies. She caught the whales herself."