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Velath had Risen two sevendays after the Revolutionaries' War had concluded. Cetalese had begun to worry then, but only in brief bouts of nervous concern or long conversations with herself late at night where her brain posed questions where she never seemed to have any good answers. There had been so much to do with cleaning up the Weyr that she'd had plenty of ways to keep herself busy, normally long after she should have been resting. Even when D'lin had managed to get her to sleep, she had simply gone back to working as much as possible the next day. Hands were needed and that outweighed any concerns over which she could do nothing.

She had known from before she was Chosen that eventually Greens Rose and then did so with considerable frequency. It was a common fact, even among those who lived in the Holds. Of course, she had never really consciously thought about it while Halith was growing. That was a 'later' event, one she would think about when the time came, not when she had other work to do.

Of course, it wasn't until after the Gather that Cetalese realized that even more time had passed since Velath had Risen, more time in which she was growing closer to the same situation Eliza had found herself in. Halith hadn't shown signs of being ready to Rise yet, but she had already waited beyond the majority of the Greens from her Clutch. Whether that was because Cetalese didn't feel ready or just from coincidence, Ceta wasn't sure. She doubted it was conscious design in any case.

Unfortunately, the more time that passed, the fewer things Ceta found that would distract her from considering the inevitable. She grew quieter around her few friends and acquaintances (she was already so quiet with everyone else no one would have noticed), began falling into more frequent and longer bouts of thoughtfulness when she was alone or thought no one was looking.

Although her arms were full of items she was transporting to the nearby Candidate Barracks, Cetalese found herself staring blankly out over the lake, again lost in consideration of an event over which she had no control. It was surprisingly clear from her expression that whatever she was thinking about was not a happy thought and it was weighing on her deeply, at least in that moment.

Ceta jumped at the sudden voice and snapped her head around. She'd been gathering wool again, only this time she'd been caught my someone who knew her. That wasn't in keeping with her usual attitude at all. Ceta tried to shake off the feeling of discomfort that considering Flights brought.

"D'lin." Cetalese hesitated, then looked back at the lake. She didn't feel like lying to her friend, so she simply pushed on. "Is this a purposeful meeting or a coincidence? You didn't need me, did you?"

Cetalese reached out slightly to see what Halith was doing, but as far as she could tell Halith was having a good time with Velath at the moment and hadn't received any summons.

Cetalese blinked at him, then tried on a faint smile. Silliness, that was all. "No, you don't have to go. I was supposed to be getting to the Candidate Barracks, anyway, not daydreaming. If you don't have other obligations, the company would be nice."

She turned away from the lake and started a slow walk to give D'lin time to fall into step with her. She could almost sense his unease and looked for a way to soothe it. "How's Rubble holding up? Less wild than you expected?"

Pets were generally a good way to move the conversation into something more casual, and Cetalese knew all about D'lin's miniature dragons, though she hadn't had much of a chance to see Rubble in action yet. They were all so busy that there wasn't much time to chat and she'd forgotten to inquire about it at the Gather.

"Then I'll keep my fingers crossed that he turns out more sweet than Vix," Cetalese replied, smiling again. "Though I think Browns tend to be the more affectionate of the colors in most cases. Browns and Blues. I suppose there's a reason to be glad that Vix is half-wild and off all of the time; you might have ended up knee-deep in Green Clutches."

Her smile fell, and Cetalese looked down at where she was walking, silence falling over the pair. A shadow fell over them as a Green passed overhead and Cetalese followed the dragon with her eyes for a moment, looking back only to narrowly avoid running into the corner of a weyr. She swallowed rather than exclaiming and side-stepped the building neatly.

"Aren't we due for a practice some time soon?" she inquired. Between the rebuilding and the Gather it seemed as if practices had somewhat fallen to the way-side. "I don't mean that as a critique, but we don't know when Thread will fall again, and I'd like to know that we've all practiced enough that we don't lose our edge."

Greens were always caught. Ceta had never heard of a Flight where the female wasn't caught. In fact, she was pretty sure it was impossible. If the males all somehow failed to succeed, the Green would choose one just to soothe... the ache, for lack of a better word.

She was glad she'd had the presence of mind to inquire about training rather than making that comment aloud. D'lin would have known for sure that something was up, even if Ceta's sudden dropping of her gaze and refusal to look in his direction hadn't given her away. Still, she managed to keep her face mostly distant and her voice sounded steady to her ears.

She missed the wink because of her own preoccupation with appearing normal, so all she caught was his tone of voice. "That sounded ominous. Should I be concerned?"

There hadn't even been enough time to intercede, even had Ceta known she needed to (which she hadn't). Cetalese nearly lost control of her limbs and dropped the items in her arms. Her green eyes widened as she stared at Eliza in a combination of shock and horror.

"Eliza!" she exclaimed breathlessly, stricken nearly dumb by her friend's sudden show of insight. D'lin's question sent a shock of fire through her and she looked at him with as much surprise as she had Eliza. Honestly, it was more likely she didn't have the time to change expressions from one person to another.

"Nothing is wrong with Halith. She's perfectly healthy. I'm not worried." She stared him, looked at Eliza, then tightened her hold on her armload of goods. Her mind wasn't exactly whirling, but she thought her ears were getting hot and they were certainly ringing. Her voice was tightly controlled anxiety and brusque business as she continued. "I have to get these to the Weyrlings. This is silly. I don't know what either of you are talking about and we should all be working. There are still things to be done to get the Weyr back in order, and we're standing here talking about things that can't be changed. Eliza, how could you have just left the Weyrlings alone. You know some of them will be bouncing off the walls."

How had Eliza guessed that? Certainly gossip was her forte, but Cetalese had told no one, not even Eliza, not even Halith. Faranth, she could never confide that in Halith and she was glad her Green was still distracted. Ceta couldn't imagine the conversation she would have to have if her dragon caught whiff that people thought Ceta thought there was something wrong with her. Cetalese had known she was a bit distracted lately, but Eliza's casual dismissal and the spilling of a problem Ceta had thought she'd kept private said that she had apparently been a bit more than distracted.

Caught between surprise and a tiny part of her that said she was justified for being afraid-- and since when had she classified it as fear?-- Cetalese suddenly held out her armload of items to Eliza. "Are you going to help me carry these so we can get there faster?"

She felt her muscles tensing faintly, contracting so that she held herself slightly more erect than usual. Her face was equally tense as she glanced at the area around D'lin's arms, where he now carried her burden. Figuratively as well as literally, in a way she hadn't wanted.

"We'll be right along," she said, her voice clear but a distant consideration with everything else she knew she was about to deal with. Later, Ceta would remember that D'lin wasn't Eliza's Wingleader and that it had been good of her to try to stick around so that she wouldn't leave Cetalese to suffer at the hands of Eliza's mistake. In the moment, though, she was more focused on keeping herself steady.

Ceta took a long, deep breath and then looked out toward the lake again. She could continue denying it, but Eliza's blurting seemed to have clued D'lin in to what was going on. She wouldn't treat D'lin as if he was stupid; it would just make things more difficult and would make them both look and feel bad. Cetalese tried not to let her stance get any more tense as she prepared herself for a very awkward conversation. "There isn't anything to talk about. No, there are no signs. Unlike many of her Clutchmates, Halith seems not to take an interest in males as anything other than playmates. And not the way we're talking about." She thanked the stars she had darker skin so that her flush wouldn't really show.

She ignored D'lin's jab about talking to someone. This was the very situation she had been trying to avoid. She looked at his armload of supplies again and dropped her gaze to the ground as her mind flitted back over Halith's past interactions and the last time Ceta had seen her, confirming to herself that no, it wasn't happening yet. At the very least she didn't intend that it would take her by surprise.