Vyren caught his own deer after she'd gotten hers, settling off to the side to eat his deer. He was very pleased with today's pickings. But he knew they couldn't hunt there too often.

Corey rolled his eyes at the dragons but didn't say anything, just relaxing where he sat.

Faith climbed down and let Lapis enjoy her deer. Going over, she settled herself next to Corey.

"So now what?" she asked. "We're not allowed back to the city, and I'm not sure when they'll shove us off on another weyr, if they're going to do it at all."

"I kind of hope they do. I like traveling." Corey grinned briefly. "It's kind of fun, you know?"

He glanced over at the dragons, his smile sliding away. "But I don't know. I mean, we could just travel ourselves, I guess."

Faith nodded. She liked traveling, too. Seeing new places was always fun.

"I guess we could," she replied. "I mean, as long as we stay away from the cities..."

Corey nodded. "As long as we stay away from the cities we should be fine. Most of the weyrs should know about the exchange program, so we should be okay."

At least, he fervently hoped so.

"We can always ask which weyrs are in on it," Faith suggested. "The weyrleaders would know. Once we know which ones, we can pick where to go from there." She wouldn't mind heading back towards the ocean, if she got the chance... It was very different than the mountains, but it had still been enjoyable. And Lapis loved being able to get her claws on shiny things so easily.

Corey nodded his agreement. "Yeah. Maybe we'll head back towards the ocean. At least then Xander and Calypso will be more comfortable."

He'd seen part of Calypso the other day, and she was getting rather huge. He didn't think she'd fit in the lake for much longer.

"So let's do that, then," Faith said. "I'm sure Xander and Calypso will be glad to see open water again, and maybe we'll see other weyrs on the way if we take a different route." She stood up and brushed herself off. "Why don't we go run the idea by Xander and Ryan, then? See if they like it."

"Sounds good to me. As long as they're done eating." He looked over at Vyren.

It was tasty. Vyren licked his lips for emphasis, but waddled back over to Corey so they could go again.

Lapis went over to Faith when she was done with her meal.

I want to do this again, she said. It was delicious.

"What about fish, my lovely?" Faith asked, patting Lapis affectionately.

Fish are tasty, even though they have too many scales. Lapis looked at her curiously. Why?

"We're thinking about going back down to the ocean," Faith replied. Lapis brightened.

I liked the ocean, the dragon said. When are we going?

"We need to talk to Xander and Ryan first, and see what they think," Faith said. She climbed up onto Lapis's back. "Do we need to get back to the weyr." Lapis nodded and shook out her wings, and then turned to wait for Vyren.

Vyren snorted and shook himself, letting his scales resettle before he let Corey climb up on his back. And then he headed for the weyr, stretching his wings but still taking his time.

The sunbathing was nice at the ocean, he said to Corey and Lapis both. I hope we go soon.

Corey just snickered and patted the side of Vyren's neck fondly, muttering something about giant lizards.

Lapis took off after Vyren, also taking her time. It felt good to just fly with her rider, rather than flying to BE somewhere. She wasn't disappointed to see the weyr again, though. She wanted Faith to hurry and get permission to go back to the ocean, even though she didn't know why it was necessary. They should just be able to go where they wanted.

Once they landed, Faith slid down from Lapis's back. Time to go look for Xander and Ryan.

Vyren snorted and nudged Corey off after Faith while he went to go lounge with Lapis. Hey, might as well.

Corey followed Faith up to the temporary weyrs, where he found Xander lounging around watching Ryan cleaning his dragon. She was too lazy to go help.

Ryan was working on cleaning some of the hard to reach places on Yue's back that the dragon couldn't reach herself. The dragon kept murmuring to him, pointing out spots that were bothering her, and he climbed around on her back to get at them for her.

Faith grinned when she found them.

"There you two are," she said.

"Yup." Xander looked over at Faith briefly before going back to watching Ryan. Hey, what could she say? He was a fairly attractice male, and she was bored. "What's up?"

"We were thinking of going back to the ocean weyr for a while," Corey said, smirking when he noticed where Xander's attention was. He had to wonder if Ryan realized.

"Cool. Calypso's starting to outgrow your pond anyway."

Ryan had no idea how Xander was watching him, which was probably a good thing at the moment. He looked up from where he was oiling a patch on Yue's shoulder.

"A change of scene wouldn't be a bad idea," he agreed. Yue didn't particularly like the ocean weyr, just for the fact that it was so hot and humid, but she was getting tired of the mountains.

"It wasn't going to take long for her to outgrow the pond, anyways," Faith pointed out. "Lapis wants to get out of the mountains again for a while, and I wouldn't mind going back to the ocean for a while."

"Cool. That's all settled, then." Corey glanced at the others. "Any idea when you want to leave?"

"I should probably leave later today. It'll take Calypso and I longer to get down the mountain than the rest of you lunkers." Although she insulted them with affection.

Corey just rolled his eyes at her.

"Fair enough," Faith said, grinning. She knew that Xander was just teasing them by now. "You go on and take your sweet time, we'll wait for you there."

Ryan just snorted and watched the verbal ping-pong match. It wasn't quite a tennis match yet, but it would get there soon if the girls had their way, he was sure of it. He glanced at Corey.

"I could always lead everyone up north," he offered.

Xander snorted. "Yeah, but only until you get to the water. Then we'll be leaving you behind." She smirked.

"That sounds fine to me. We haven't been up there yet." Corey rolled his eyes at the girls, figuring they'd catch up with the conversation eventually.

"We would have to make sure to get you appropriate clothes for the trip," Ryan mused as he glanced over at the girls. "Furs and such. It might be summer, but it's an arctic summer."

Faith blinked when she tuned into the other conversation and nudged Xander a little to get her attention.

"What's this about an arctic summer?" she asked.

"We were thinking of going up North, since we haven't been there yet," Corey said, looking over at the girls. Seems they'd decided to pay attention after all.

"That sounds... rather chilly." Xander paused.

But he said they haven't explored down there! Calypso wheedled. Think of all the pretties I could find!

Xander sighed. "Of course, as long as we have warm clothes, it shouldn't be unbearable."

I want to go up north! Lapis said. Clearly, she had been listening through her bond with Faith.

You do? Faith asked, a little surprised.

Please? Lapis wheedled. Faith sighed. She knew when she couldn't win against her dragon.

"Well, Lapis thinks it's a good idea," she said. Ryan nodded.

"Then we can go as soon as we can get the supplies together," he said. "Shouldn't take too long, and we can pick up heavier furs along the way as we get closer." Are you ready to go home, my lovely? he added to Yue.

More than ready, Yue replied. Ryan could feel her pleasure at the prospect of going back north again.

Xander nodded, figuring she'd stop back at her home weyr briefly to drop some things off before going up North. Once they hit the water, they'd probably be there first anyway.

"Alright. Well, I'm going to get going now, or maybe later tonight, so that we have some extra time." She yawned briefly, letting her gaze linger a little longer on Ryan than necessary.

"Alright. Need us to haul anything for you?" Corey smirked when he noticed where her gaze was wandering.

"If I think of something, I'll dump it on you."

"Well, I need to go pack, then," Faith said. She definitely needed to see what kind of cold-weather things she had and decide if she needed more. Not that she would know where to get more, since she wasn't allowed in town anymore... But she would figure something out. "How long will it take to get there?"

"A few days to the coast by flying, give or take," Ryan replied. "We're not so far south it would take any longer than that, and if we keep the pace quick, we can shorten the trip. But it'll take a while to sail to the Frozen Coast, since it's too far for any dragon to fly at once, and there are no rest spots in between."

"So basically we hurry to a boat to meander along for a week," Corey grumped. He didn't like boats. Period. But he'd put up with it if he had to.