Leaned back against a bale of hay Xanael rubbed his forearm across his brows, sweaty covered strands of his bangs swished off to the side as he did so; it was well into the evening, nearly time for lights out and in the barracks but he couldn't help but use his free time to check on a pregnant female and clean. After mucking out her stall so the shifting and uncomfortable lady could rest he had simply set down to make certain that she did just that, though it had taken some time. Even her handler was gone by now, having tipped a hat as they'd left the stables with a chuckle, knowing full well she would be fine in the candidate's hands.
Maybe there would be some day that he could learn all the things about dragons and their needs, especially if he ever actually Impressed to one which he was learning about more each day and becoming somewhat fascinated by. They were so dramatically different than any other beast out there, which of course made them intriguing and shiny since they were so new to him. Older brothers that were riders hadn't been around too often since getting away from their former Hold and so he'd never even met two of the dragons. With any luck he could actually ask his brothers if he could look their dragons over if he began to learn how to become a dragonhealer, since there was a very good chance that he wouldn't Impress. There were a lot of candidates there after all and many had been there for turns and turns waiting to meet the one dragon that would be their partner. He wasn't even a teenager, so the odds were stacked against him.
Shaking that off suddenly, Xan shook his body and head, taking that opportunity to roll to his feet effortlessly and shake the rest of it from his legs. He'd been in worse situations than not Impressing a dragon, it wasn't as if he'd been at this long anyway, if he could overcome what he'd been through even coming to Western then he could make it without meeting a dragon. There were other things in life, anxieties often yelled in his head, but he had discovered that fact at every turn in his life, that there were always new opportunities around every corner. Slowly the man reached out a hand and rubbed the little female runnerbeast's nose gently, happy that she was feeling more comfortable. "You just relax for the night, I'll come back before morning lessons and check on you again small one. That baby of yours is gonna come into Pern nice and strong, you'll see."
Running his palm up her head to her ears he turned to leave, hands stuffed down into the pockets of his trousers as he stepped out of the stables into the starlight, head tilting back to stare up at them. Western was dark at night and every star danced around one burning red one, "Very cool."
houllow