Angus declined Eamon's offer of the strong drink, and his eyes grew distant as he thought back to his home. "Cold, most of the year. It's near Norgate Fief, so we get heavy snowfall in the winter. You can see the northern mountains clearly, and the foothills reach close to my family's home." The two boys reached a junction in the road, and Angus led the way to the now-visible castle. "What about you, Eamon," Angus inquired. "Where are you from?"

"Cold, huh?" Eamon's grin faltered for a moment, and he was silent. He didn't know how Angus would respond to the full truth, so he gave a partial answer.
"I'm from one of the Hibernian kingdoms that faces the sea to the west. This is whiskey, what I have right here," He lifted his canteen onto display, and changed the subject as fluidly as possible. "an' the other flask in my pouch is a 'ole 'ell of another story. Brewed back home, too."
"It doesn't always snow, but, beh gahd, is it cold there. That's what this an' the whiskey's for, eh?" He puffed on the furred collar of his elk-skin and looked expectantly at the other.

Ash turned to dust and said "we'll lets head into the castle" and pushed open the castle door. revealing a big table full of food. but barely anyone was there Ash looked at dust and said "Well it appears we are early"

As the day turned later the populace gathered for the feast and the choosing that would come beforehand, first the masters would choose anyone who stood out to them. Then the apprentices would attempt to be accepted by the masters of their choice. The apprentices stood in line, and the masters looked over them appraisingly, it was time to choose.

the Food was good. pretty much everyone smiled. Heck even Ash Smiled for once.and then It was Ashes Turn to pick. so Standing Infront of the line. Ash calmly said "I Choose Dust".

the Choice was pretty obvious also a lot of people were Late to the Choosing ceremony which was pretty bad since you could be fired for missing the Choosing Ceremony
But oh well. that just means Less People will become Apprentices

The last vestiges of daylight streamed in through the windows at the end of the hall, and Angus shifted a few inches to avoid the light aimed into his eyes. He stood confidently, back straight, feet a foot apart, and hands clasped behind his back. A small grin was on his face, and he looked back at the various skillmasters as they passed him. The young man pondered the different skills available, and measured his own skills against the needs of the trades. Angus wasn't the sneakiest of people, and he was a little too big to be hiding in bushes, so being Ranger was out of the question. He had already spoken with the Battlemaster, but if he was offered a place in battleschool again, Angus might take it. Healing wasn't really his thing, and the glares he was receiving from the Alchemy Master didn't endear her to anyone. That left the sailmaster, an old man in baggy clothing who looked like a sea breeze would blow him overboard, and the brewmaster, an ostentatious man with a less-than sober appearance. Redmont was said to have the best skillmasters in Araluen, but Angus was less inclined to believe the legends now that he saw them in person. Yes, appearance isn't everything, but you'd think that they'd at least try to put on their best face for Choosing Day.

Link sighed at this and stretched his arms thinking 'this is a such a boring thing..' he looked at the masters and wondered if this would take long at all.

Charlie looked over the apprentices and rubbed his chin before taking a step back thinking and looks at the other masters before looking at the apprentices again. thinking 'well there is only one requirement for one to be my apprentice... got to have some kind of touch with animals even if it's small... it can be built up' he waits for the other masters to get enough of their looks into the candidates.

Gilfrod looked at the crowd of young people waiting in line. He glanced at a particularity fiery-headed girl(Thea) and took another good look at her. Going off of his instincts he went over to her and asked, "Hey there young lady, how'd you like to apprenticed to me? I'm the horsemaster here." he said simply and to the point

Harbour looked out over the crowd of whippersnappers disappointed as usual with this years haul. I suppose i should pick of of these miscreants he grumbled to himself. Hobbling down the line on his cane he picked out someone random. "You kid, i bet you're a Jace aren't ya. How you like to come work at the docks with me?" he rumbled

Tlah sat in a shadowy corner waiting and watching one of the lads in particular, Braid was his name. His father had been a ranger and his skills were ideal, yet Tlah had never gone out of his way to get an apprentice before. Perhaps he would make an exception but not unless he thought the boy was worth his time.

Jace had lined up with the rest of the soon-to-be apprentices, and did his best to stand up straight and put on a charming smile. The Sailormaster, Harbour hobbled his way down the line. He stopped in front of Jace, and the boy swelled with hope. "You kid, I bet you're a Jace aren't ya." He was so happy he forgot to listen to the rest of the old man's sentence. He stood grinning ear to ear and swelling with confidence, all while staring at the old man.

Harbour looked quizzically at the lad in front of him. Of course I picked one of the slow ones "Do... you... speak... Common...?" the old man said slowly and exasperated.

The old sailor snapped him from his daze. "Yes. Of course I do, and I am Jace." He said quickly. "Sorry, it's just that your exactly who I was hoping to be picked by." He reached up and rubbed his neck.

Harbor peered at the lad again. "So yeh want to learn about harbor work do yah? Well then get back in line with me and once this ruckus ends we can get to work." he said and hobbled back to his place.

For what was not quite the first time, Eamon was second-guessing his decisions.

For one, he hated being lined up like this; they weren't livestock. One can not assume which are the strongest of a group by lining them up and analyzing their appearance. He didn't like being analyzed to begin with, but how were they to tell what a possible student's aspirations & strengths were? How were they to know if they had poor work ethics?

Which led to the question, what was he doing here? He didn't have a skill set, nor good work ethics, nor any aspirations aside bringing food and shelter and safety back with him when he returned home. His personality was designed for a dinner party--talkative and friendly, sure, but what did that amount to? He was too scrawny to fight, too lazy to think, and too easily distracted to ever dream of notching an arrow. He wasn't sure if he was good at anything but mooching and talking, really.

Still, the vagabond smiled as sincerely as he could. Maybe grinning would make up for a severe lack of talent.

Jace nodded and followed Harbour to his spot, it seemed like he was one of the first to get picked. And to get picked by his first choice was another thing that filled him with happiness. "well I don't really want to work on the harbour, don't you think we could go out to see." He whispered to the old man, he was quite sure he didn't want the other masters to hear; he didn't want to seem ungrateful after all, but he thought that this old man was up for reasoning.

Harbor frowned. Of course it was one of these ones wasn't it, "You have to do things in order lad, you can't just go willy-nilly to the sea, first you have to know how things work at the harbor or you won't get anywhere. We'll get to go sailing eventfully lad don't you worry about that." He replied, it seemed the other masters were taking an awfully long time.

Ash walked up to Dust and said "Hey congratulations your now a healer-apprentice" Ash said smiling it was years since she smiled, it was hard being a doctor, what am I saying I already told everyone this

Most apprentices Ash had gotten we're drop outs or failures, But ash knew that dust would succeed,

"Thank you." Dust says softly smiling at Ash. "wonder where the other masters are?"

"we'll they're over there" Ash pointed to the other masters

"Okay that makes sense.." He said with a nod, of course he would have to learn how to work the ship and the docks first. He fell into position beside Harbour and starting thinking about the upcoming chores he would have.

"I know that but many of them are missing." Dust replies not wanting to be rude.