Firelizards were clever creatures, on the whole. They were social enough to organize themselves into fairs with or without human assistance. They had good enough memories to between to anywhere they’d been, and resourceful enough to find people and deliver messages. They were also – on the whole – empathetic, protective of their people, and excellent company. Oh, there were exceptions of course. There were some flits who were ill-tempered, poorly trained, or just dumb. But Thomas had gotten lucky. Since his arrival on Pern, Thomas had been gifted six – holy shit, six – eggs, all of which had become lovely charming companions.

And all of them were on the ceiling.

Well, not technically all. Comfrey was on Tom’s head. But he was beaming confused-firelizard-joining-friends? at Tom, so if it was the thought that counted, Comfrey was right up there with them.

It had started with the rover who came in to pester Tom. The apprentice dragonhealer-slash-xenobiologist had no idea what Sam wanted, but his presence (and the flashing screen, and the electronic noises) had been enough to set Tom’s entire fair to swarming. And then, after the rover gave up and wandered off, in had come one of the new hybridhandlers looking for a checkup… And off they all went again. So Cress, Hyssop, Hazel, Yarrow, and Willow – two greens, two blues, and a brown – were all clamoring noisily as they clung to light fixtures and upper shelves. Nothing had been knocked down quite yet, but Tom suspected it was only a matter of time.

“Come on. Good flits,” he called. “It’s okay, the scary hybrid is gone now. No one is getting eaten.” Clicking hadn’t worked. Calling their names, likewise. Not even shaking the bag of treats… although that had coaxed Comfrey into moving from Tom’s head to his shoulder. Now the blind bronze was crooning hopefully. Tom sighed and handed him a little bite of jerky.

This was going to be a long day.

"Hell-ooooo?"

Valana's voice vastly preceded her, the word (sung more than spoken) echoing through the room where Tom stood long before the woman herself strode in, flit on her shoulder and wherlizard tailing her at what must have, for a solid, lumbering sort of beastie, been quite a brisk clip. She stayed just about on Val's heel, at least, which was enough for the Master Dragonhealer. This wasn't technically her first visit to the Peregrine infirmary; she had been in there the other night to see what went on and had met a few of the regulars, but she hadn't been wearing her knots then. She had introduced herself, asked a few questions, and then wandered off to explore the rest of the fascinating new Weyr. Most Weyrs were very 'Seen one, seen them all' but Peregrine had all sorts of fascinating contraptions that Val really quite enjoyed. Showers, for instance.

Now there was true ingenuity, using water pressure and a specialized head instead of a tap, to recreate rain so that the running water didn't collect all the dirt you washed off yourself. A bath and rinse all in one! Why had none of the Pernese thought of that, it was so simple! But ah, that wasn't important right now. What was important was that she was once again in the Infirmary, looking for someone that she knew was around here - oh, goodness! What was this? "Well, my boy, it seems you've managed to relocate all your eggs into one basket - or rather, all your lizards onto one ceiling." Propping her fists on her hips, the redheaded woman tilted her head back to investigate the flock of five at altitude and the one on Tom's shoulder.

...Did that bronze not have eyes? Remarkable! Val resisted the urge to squeal with delight and instead crossed the rest of the room in a swish of skirts (voluminous skirts for a Pernese woman, in shades of purple and green that must have come from offworlders because even the best Pernese weavers probably couldn't achieve something that bright) to stand next to Tom. "Would you like a hand getting them down?" she asked him in a somewhat gentler tone, flashing a pleasant smile and inclining her head in a way that sent her earrings (large, dangly silver flits set with tiny glass beads that caught the light and reflected it in dazzling flashes) swaying. The green flit on her shoulder nibbled at one, then looked curiously at the fair on the ceiling and cocked her head theatrically to one side.

The wherlizard had already wandered off and flopped down under a table, laying her head on her forepaws and watching the entire scene from a distance.

Loud-woman-in-Infirmary! Tribble sent to Cordel, interrupting his meal. (A meal instructed by La, nonetheless; the girl was just an Apprentice Healer, but her broom-craft was formidable and she wasted no opportunity to demonstrate it to Cordel). Tribble had been left behind in the Infirmary to keep an eye out for emergency cases. She was more reliable than the white firelizard, who could normally only be depended on to do things like 'be adorable at patients'. Chewing a bite of meatroll, the Healer listened intently to his gold. Loud woman, huh? Well, that wasn't hugely helpful, not really.

Loud-woman-on-fire-in-Infirmary! Tribble insisted, more emphatically this time. That was enough to get Cordel to drop his meal and return to the Infirmary quickly, white You on his shoulder.

Gold Tribble flitted into the room, landing on some of the shelves to scold the other firelizards. They were being too noisy! This was a place of healing! Naturally, this message had to be relayed with a large amount of wing-flaring and hissing and general noise-making. The shaking jerky bag temporarily mollified her b... NO. This was her place! And the others were being too noisy! She would not be silenced with treats!

At least, not just one or two.

Cordel's entrance was no less noisy than Valana's, but it involved less singing. "What's going on here? Wher... w..." his sentence structure promptly tripped over itself as it all tried to stop at once. W... yes, he knew that woman. OhFaranth, the dangly earrings, the far-too-bright dresses (was it just his imagination or did they actually get brighter even as he stared?), the all around Valana-ness of the Master dragonhealer. And, technically, his boss.

Well...

This was awkward... "Master dragonhealer Valana," he said, a little stiffly as he mentally interrogated Tribble. You, meanwhile, looked at the redhead with large fascinated eyes and OHFOOD.

"Screee!" he said with delight. Quick as a squirrel, he skittered down Cordel's shoulder and across the floor and up Thomas' to sit opposite from the blind bronze. "Creee?" he repeated, nuzzling the boy's ear hopefully. Can-has-food-is-good-flit!

Tom turned at the sound of the voice (it was hard to miss) and stared in mild bafflement as a lady he’d never seen before swept into the room. Given her outfit, her demeanor, her – everything – Tom would have immediately assumed she was an offworlder, if not for the fact that he knew all the Peregrine folks and he was pretty sure that he would remember someone like her. So instead she got a puzzled blink, followed up by an “Er… Hello.”

She was offering help getting them down! Help would be wonderful. Perhaps she could hold Comfrey while he fetched a ladder to retrieve the others…? But before he could offer this suggestion, another person joined them in the room. Cordel, this time – no surprise that he would come in a heartbeat at any sign of commotion in the infirmary. Tom waved sheepishly. He really hadn’t intended to set firelizards all over the ceiling – there had just been, well, hybrid and then it happened and all his flits were beaming TERRIBLE BLACK THING EATING LITTLE FLITS at him no matter what he did.

Except – except had Cordel just addressed the woman as a master dragonhealer?!

Oh flits and firestone this was exciting there was a master dragonhealer! Right here in the room with Tom! And it was one who didn’t hate him yet! The young man probably could have exploded in excitement right there. He extended a hand halfway on instinct to introduce himself, before remembering his Pernese manners and turning it into a little bow instead. This caused Comfrey, on his shoulder, to squawk in protest. “Ah, sorry, sorry – hello, You – um, not you, You is the name of the firelizard, the little white one, I’m sorry, ma’am. Hello. Name’s Thomas Sinclair, it’s an honor to meet you.”

His hands moved automatically while his mouth ran straight off the road on autopilot. Jerky treat for Comfrey, jerky treat for You.

"Cordel!"

It didn't matter that the journeyman dragonhealer was all of ten feet away from her, Valana's voice continued right on at the same volume it had been when she entered the Infirmary, and in a swish of skirts, she flounced across the room to throw her arms around him. She somehow managed not to unbalance the green firelizard on her shoulder, who was used to it and took the moment to move from Val's shoulder to Cordel's, where she matter-of-factly straightened a few stray strands of hair with her forepaws and then sat patiently. "I'm glad you're doing well, are you keeping the infirmary on its toes? How is everything here? Oh, it's wonderful to see you!" The torrent of words didn't really stop as Valana let go of Cordel, once again looking up at the ceiling.

"I'm glad to meet you too, Thomas Sinclair," she answered, taking a moment out of her busy schedule of looking at the firelizards on the ceiling to look at Tom and give him a bright smile. "You have two names, which means you're one of the offworlders, which means congratulations on being a dragonhealer! You're the first, I imagine?" She didn't give him a chance to respond before she was once again in the center of the room, looking up at all the firelizards there. "Now then all of you, come down from there," she said firmly, shaking her head. "There's nothing down here but us and we're all friends here - except Cordel, if he's in one of his moods." He probably was.

From Cordel's shoulder, the green firelizard stretched up toward the ceiling and crooned a single inviting note. Nothing-bad-down-here. Nice-woman. Sparkly-decorations. Because yes. Val's earrings. The green was fairly intelligent for a firelizard and tended to forget she wasn't people, but the earrings were a thing. Particularly ones as sparkly as these.

Comfrey wasn't the only one upset by the bow. "Krrp!" said You as Thomas suddenly shifted. Little claws dug into the healer's shoulders and the white's wings flapped to help him keep his balance. The white firelizard creeled sadly, eyes suddenly whirling gray. Y u do that, Thomas? You thought you loved him. :CCC

OH WAIT TREATS. All was forgiven in the name of jerky treats. You's eyes swirled back to blue as he sat back on his haunches to nibble the peace offering.

Aaand suddenly hugs? It was hard to tell who was more baffled by the sudden gesture of affection: Cordel or Tribble. As Valana seized Cordel in a hug, the gold firelizard found herself decidedly unbalanced; people did not hug hers, not unless the Tall Girl Who Smelled of Oils put a sign on his back that said 'Hug Me'. And even then, people usually did it with more caution. "Skrrr!" she scolded Valana, and then stopped mid-scold.

"Crrooo?" suddenly interested flit was interested! Tribble's wings settled back and she curiously ventured over onto Valana's shoulder to check out the Shiny Dangling Things.

Cordel was always in one of his moods. He had many varieties of moods, most of them on the key of Annoyance with perhaps a riff of Anger. But now he had a new mood: Complete confusion at being hugged. Reacting on instinct, he returned the affectionate gesture. After all, it was Valana. NOT hugging her would have been like giving a firelizard a treat only to take it away. And the WORDS WORDS WORDS.

"Wel... I'm doing well," he managed to get out, trying to maintain a modicum of dignity that he didn't really have. Conversations with Valana always went like this: a sudden storm of words and all a person could really do was bob among the flood, hoping to pick something out here and there. Offering a hand to Liz, Cordel scratched the green firelizard's eyeridges a few times. "Yes, Thomas is our first offworlder dragonhealer. He's shown a lot of promise. Valana, not that I'm unhappy to see you, but what are you doing here?"