"You don't need to go all the way up north to see those," Xander said with a snort. "I've seen them with Calypso."

"Really? I've never seen them." Corey blinked. He'd thought you had to get way up north to see them properly.

"Yeah. Twice now. We went up more north above the weyr and watched one for a while. It was pretty cool." She shrugged.

Ryan shrugged.

"The north isn't the only area where you can see them," he commented. Clearly, Xander was one of those disagreeable types, and he didn't feel like arguing with her over something so trivial.

"Well, I want to see them," Faith replied. She'd never seen an aurora before, she it sounded fascinating. Lapis nodded her agreement.

I'm sure they must be beautiful, she said.

"They are pretty." Xander shrugged and relaxed on top of Calypso. She yawned briefly and stayed where she was.

Corey went over to go check on Vyren, checking him over to make sure he was all fine. He rubbed some oil into a spot and then let him go play in the water again.

Ryan went over to Yue as the conversation tapered off. Yue watched him approach, and lowered her head to nuzzle him briefly before letting him check her over. They had been partners since Ryan had been fourteen, so verbal communication was no longer necessary for them, and they trusted each other implicitly. As Ryan looked over her scales Yue watched the younger dragons interacting with their riders. Even when she had been that young, she hadn't been anywhere near as openly affectionate with Ryan as these youngsters seemed to be with their partners.

Lapis had gone over into the water and was shuffling around in the shallows, trying to see if she could find anything pretty like she could near the ocean weyr. After a moment, though, she left the water again to follow Faith around.

Calypso hissed when another dragon got too close to her and Xander, and the dragon moved a safe distance away again. Xander opened one eye briefly before settling down again.

Corey finished with Vyren and stayed there while Vyren went out to go fishing. Vyren snagged two fish fairly quickly, gobbling them down quite happily.

Faith noticed when Calypso hissed at one of the other dragons.

She seems to be just as bad-tempered as her rider, she said privately to Lapis. I wonder how long we'll have to put up with them.

I hope is isn't long, Lapis agreed. At least the white dragon, Yue, wasn't so openly bad-tempered. She was just cold.

There are no proper fishing spots here, Yue complained quietly to Ryan. There are no seals, no penguins, what are we supposed to do?

We have to make do, my sweet, Ryan replied. Try fishing like these forest dragons do. Perhaps it isn't so different.

Yue didn't reply, but Ryan could feel her lingering displeasure. Clearly, this trip wasn't going the way she had wanted it to, and she was going to make sure he knew it.

Calypso looked over at Faith and Lapis, seeming to know that they were talking about her, before she curled her neck around to check on her rider and settle down again. Honestly. Some people and dragons thought everything should be flowers and butterflies.

Vyren brought back a fish for Corey, depositing it in front of him.

And what am I supposed to do with this? Corey said, raising an eyebrow.

Eat it. You haven't been eating well. You need to eat to stay strong. Vyren nudged his rider.

I'm fine, Vyren. No need to worry about me. But I'll take it to the kitchen for someone to cook, alright?

Lapis settled herself down in the sun to doze for a while. The air was nowhere near as damp here as it was back near the ocean weyr, so it was much more comfortable for sleeping. Her scales shimmered in the sun a little bit as she sprawled out. Faith grinned a bit, but let Lapis do what she wanted.

Yue delicately picked her way into the water to see if there were any fish around. She was a interested to see how this fishing thing worked when there was no ice around to work with. She would much rather have a colony of seals or penguins to pick from, but she would make do.

Calypso opened one eye to watch Yue with some amusement. She'd show her how it was done, but she didn't think the white dragon would appreciate the help, and she didn't feel like moving Xander.

Corey took the fish into the kitchen, where they took it to start cooking it for dinner, and then he headed back to check on everyone. He could see them potentially having problems, since Xander and Calypso could be... prickly.

After a few tries to catch a fish, Yue was starting to get frustrated. She didn't appear outwardly frustrated, but it was very clear to Ryan that she was annoyed. Taking a deep breath, Yue exhaled bone-shatteringly cold air. A patch of about six cubic feet of water instantly froze. Carefully, she fished it out and set it on dry land. The ice was almost perfectly clear, and inside were two fish, frozen mid-swim.

Ryan couldn't help but chuckle. Creative problem solving at its finest.

Faith watched the whole thing, and blinked, impressed. She didn't know dragons could do things like that.

"Is that a fish-cicle?" she ventured. "That's kind of awesome."

"Every dragon has their own special ability," Xander repeated from her lessons. "It varies through the types of dragons, and is indicitave of where they live." She shrugged and rolled over onto her stomach, getting more comfortable. "Guess that's an ice dragon's ability."

"Makes sense," Corey agreed. "Still kinda cool. But it makes sense." Idly he wondered what Vyren would be able to do, besides changing hisbody temperature.

Yue seemed pleased with herself after that little stunt. Taking the block of ice, she chipped away at it easily to get to the fish. This was something she was used to doing: it was always easiest to literally freeze something in its tracks and then pick at it at her own pace. There were ice chips littering the ground around her that were starting to melt, but she ignored them.

"I'm glad she's getting more comfortable," Ryan commented, glancing over at Yue. "She's not exactly pleased with the climate around here, not that I blame her."

"I guess it would be a little weird," Faith replied. "It must be really different around here than back home for you two." It wasn't too different from the mountains, so she and Lapis had a much easier time settling in, but transitioning from the far north to the forest must have been much more jarring.

"Yeah. Dramatic temperature changes are not fun." Corey grimaced. "Neither are big altitude changes. So I guess it really sucks to be you, since you're up at the top of the world normally."

Xander couldn't help but chuckle. The phrase 'sitting on top of the world' came to mind, which confused Calypso, but she thought it was funny.

"I still need to go into the nearest town and see if I can't find proper clothes for this region," Ryan said. He grinned a bit. "Furs don't work around here, I've noticed."

"Yeah, I wouldn't think so," Faith replied. "What kind of furs are they?" She was kind of curious. As far as she knew, there weren't all that many furry animals native to the far north, but she only knew what she learned from textbooks.

"Imported ones, mostly," Ryan replied. "Seal skins, a lot of times, but thicker furs come from further south."

"That's kind of neat, actually. Mostly we have leather and deer hide and things," Corey said. "I know we can get other things though, like bear skins on occasion."

Xander nodded her agreement. "We don't have leather, naturally, but we have some seal skin, sometimes they'll have things made out of fish scales, believe it or not. If they're wearing anything at all." She rolled her eyes.

The fish scales might be kind of cool, depending on what gets made out of them," Faith said. "Might be kind of pretty, depending. We get some furs in the mountains, but a lot of what we have is metal." She had actually been surprised at how much silver and copper the mountain weyr was able to get, but it made sense.

"Makes sense." Xander shrugged, resettling herself to be more comfortable, while Calypso yawned hugely. "Mostly the women make skirts out of the fish scales. It's... interesting. I saw one made entirely of little shells once too."

"That had to have taken a while." Corey didn't even want to know why someone would put so much time and effort into a single garment.

"Not so long with the amount of clams and mussels and things that we go through."

"We're able to get a lot of whalebones," Ryan said. "A couple of ice dragons working together can take down a whale, and we can always find uses for the bones afterwards."

"Makes sense," Faith nodded. "You know, I bet there are tons of trade opportunities between us all, any idea if there are actually any trade policies in place? You know, besides the exchange program thing?"

"Not that I've ever heard of or seen," Corey said with a shrug. "I know we trade with the cities, but I don't know about each other. If someone hasn't suggested it already I'd think someone should."

Corey, I found a clam! Vyren practically trotted over, clearly pleased with himself, holding a big clam between his jaws.

Good job, buddy, Corey said, taking it with a grin when Vyren presented it to him. Let's keep the pearl this time when you crack it open, okay?

Xander snorted. Vyren looked so pleased and puffed up it was kind of hard to not laugh at him. Calypso was much more routine about that; then again, she was an ocean dragon. Such things were commonplace for them.

Yue actually looked kind of interested when Vyren came back with a clam. Things such as pearls were rare in the north, exceedingly so, and even the dragons with the biggest treasure hoards rarely had pearls and other gems.

"Trade would be interesting," Ryan agreed. "There are a couple of minor weyrs near the southern coast that we trade with, sometimes, but they're still ours. We just get furs and things from them, because they're far enough south for them. I don't think our weyrleader ever thought about trading with other regions, though."

For once, Lapis didn't care about the idea of a pearl. She had one already, stashed away safely in Faith's bag until they got back home to the mountains. That was good enough for her for the moment. Already, she had more gems and valuable things than other dragons her age.

"It makes sense, especially just from a material standpoint," Faith said. "I mean, think about it. They get things like pearls and precious gems from the ocean, we get precious metals from the mountain, it makes sense for us to trade for the one we don't have. I'm sure we can also trade leathers and things."

"It does make sense," Corey agreed. "It would probably profit everyone too." He handed back the clam so that Vyren could play with it for a while. "I don't know why no one had thought of it before. Hell, maybe this is why we're doing this whole exchange thing."

Vyren got the clam open even faster this time, getting the pearl first and then eating the clam. He brought the shell and the pearl over to Corey, who put the pearl in a pocket and figured he'd find something to do with the shell.

"We should talk to one of the ones in charge and see what they think," Faith said. "I mean, this exchange thing would be the perfect basis for it, at least to start. Send a few riders off with trade goods on an exchange trip, and see what they end up coming back with."

Corey nodded. "We'll get around to it. Eventually." He stretched briefly, setting the shells down for the time being.

"Hey, anyone know where they're shipping us off to next?"

"I think we're going to either the River or the Lake," Xander piped up. "I think. Then the Plains, then somewhere. I think they're just kind of shunting us around to see who can handle us the longest."

"I think they're sending me off with you until either the Lakes or the Plains," Ryan said. "Then I think we get sent to the Mountains, while you all head either way north, or way south."

"The plains will be interesting," Faith commented. "And the rivers. I don't know how the desert will be, though. I'd imagine it's even grittier than the beaches." She grimaced a bit.

"And hotter, I'd expect," Corey added. "Meaning this lump will love it." He patted Vyren's shoulder. Vyren hardly noticed, too busy watching some native wildlife move through the trees behind them all.

Xander shrugged. "Yeah, I'm not going there. We don't do non-water places." She grinned briefly. "Besides, by that point Calypso will be too big to really get anywhere without being in deep water."