Author's Note: I am not Anne McCaffrey, nor in anyway related to her. Ergo, I do not own Pern or its people. This story is set in Pern but focuses on my characters, with appearances by Ms. McCaffrey's.
"Mordekai! Where are you?" Dioron cried, peering through the milling crowd. All around him, wagons were being packed with goods the people of Fer Hold were hoping to sell at the Spring Festival.
From the third wagon over, his mother called, "Have you found him yet?"
"Not yet, Mother!" he called back, and as he said it, a hand came down on his shoulder and a voice yelled, "BOO!" Dioron jumped and nearly shrieked, but he stopped himself just in time and turned to find his younger brother Mordekai clutching his sides, helplessly laughing.
"You should… have seen… your face!" he gasped between giggles.
Dioron scowled. "Mother and I have been looking for you all morning! She wants help packing the wagon for the Festival."
The Spring Festival was one of the biggest events of the Pernese calendar. For two days, everyone on Pern came to Fort Hold. The Festival was where apprentices were chosen and new craftmasters made. Goods were bought, sold and traded and there was food, wine, dancing and music all day and all night long.
Mordekai's eyes lit up. "I can't wait to get to the Festival! I've been saving my marks for two Turns!"
"Well, if our wagon isn't packed in time, we'll be left behind and we'll miss it!" said Dioron, amused.
"Then let's hurry!" Mordekai cried, dashing towards the wagon. "What'll you buy with your marks, Di? I want some bubbly pies, and another pipe, and maybe a redfruit…"
The list went on and on as he reached the wagon and started lifting things into the back. Dioron smiled. Every child always wanted bubbly pies at any Gather or Festival, and Mordekai loved his pipe collection, which he added to whenever he could. He usually made his own, but it was always a treat for him to look at, and buy, those made by others. And as the Festival was held at Fort Hold, with the Harper Hall just across the square, there would be a wide selection of them.
"Di?" Mordekai asked, setting down a small chest. "What do you want?"
"Me?" said Dioron, surprised.
"Yes, you! What do you want?" Mordekai asked, grinning.
"I want to apprentice to the Dolphin Hall," Dioron replied.
While Mordekai loved music, Dioron loved the sea. Fer Hold was carved into one of the rocky cliffs on Tillek's coastline, and you could hear the crash of the waves everywhere in the Hold. A dolphin and his dolphineer had once guided the ship Dioron's father was on safely back during a storm, and Dioron had never forgotten it. He had been saving his marks for five Turns for one of the masks and tanks that allowed humans to breathe underwater and that all dolphineers had.
"Did you ask Mother if you could apprentice?" asked Mordekai in awe.
"I asked her last night after you went to bed, and she smiled and said I could. She and Father always wanted us to apprentice ourselves when we were old enough, and she's delighted that I chose the Dolphin Hall," Dioron explained.
"Could I apprentice too, but to the Harper Hall?" Mordekai asked excitedly.
"You're too young. You have to be twelve Turns to be an apprentice."
"Not always. They say that Master Piemur started his apprenticeship at eight Turns. And I'm two Turns older than that," said Mordekai defensively.
"Maybe that did happen, but there are so many stories about Master Piemur that no one ever knows what to believe!" Dioron said with a small laugh. "Now, we'd better hurry. Aunt Jayne's wagon is heading towards the gate!"
Up ahead, Jayne's wagon was trundling out of the gate, her younger brother's close behind. "Let's get moving, boys," said the boys' mother, coming up behind them. Ilia was no longer young, but you couldn't tell from her face. Her long black hair was always tied back, and wings of white at the temples only gave her an air of dignity, not age. Since her spouse's death three Turns earlier, she had taken upon herself the burden of raising her family, and the strain showed in her face, though only to those who knew her well.
"Mother, is Dioron really going to apprentice to the Dolphin Hall?" asked Mordekai.
"If Master Readis accepts him," she answered with a smile.
"Nobody could turn down my big brother," said Mordekai proudly.
She smiled. "He won't have a chance to be accepted or turned down unless you two get into the wagon!"
Dioron and Mordekai scrambled into the back of the wagon as Ilia harnessed Thir, the family runner beast.
"We're off!" yelled Mordekai. Dioron grinned at his brother's joy, and lay back in the straw to contemplate his hoped-for apprenticeship.
Two days later, the wagons arrived at Fort Hold.
"We're here!" the boys cried together.
"Yes, and before you run off, I want you to help me unpack and set up the stall," said Ilia, smiling at the boys' enthusiasm.
"Yes, Mother," they chorused. She laughed, and the boys joined in.
Ilia halted Thir, and the wagon rolled to a stop behind him. "Di, you help me set up the table, and Mor, you start getting down the smaller boxes," she instructed, climbing into the back of the wagon.
"That's the last of it, Mother," called Dioron later, putting the last delicately carved cup in its place among the others. Ilia was a woodcarver, and a good one. Her carved wooden cups, plates and bowls even graced the table of Lord Ranrel, Lord Holder of Tillek.
"Can we go see the Festival now, Mother?" begged Mordekai.
"I suppose so. Off you go! I'll join you this afternoon."
Dioron and Mordekai raced off, laughing with each other, Ilia gazing after them with a smile on her face.
"Where do you want to go first?" Dioron asked, loping beside his brother with long, easy strides.
"To get some bubbly pies!" Mordekai shouted happily.
As the boys ducked and weaved through the crowd, they heard a voice call out to them. "Hey, Di! Mor!" They stopped, and soon spotted their friend Drianne waving at them.
"Drianne!" they called back, and as soon as the coast was clear, they ran across the square to her.
"How are you, Drianne?" asked Dioron politely.
"As good as ever!" she replied cheekily, and threw her arms around him.
"It's great to see you two again!" she added, giving Mordekai a hug too.
He returned it and said, "How is your family?"
"They're fine too. Mother said that I was to invite you and your mother to join us when we walk around the Festival later if I saw you."
"Well, we're going to have a look around now, but we'll come with you later too," explained Dioron.
"I'm going to get some bubbly pies!" said Mordekai excitedly. "Do you want to come?"
"Of course!" she laughed. "Let's go!"
The three children headed for the baker's hold, where the first batch was already being served up. And, to their dismay, was already being bought by a man dressed in harper blue. He turned, the hot pastries in his hands, and grinned at them.
"Hello, Drianne," he said in a deep voice.
"Hello, Uncle Piemur," she replied, matching his grin.
"You'll have to call me Master Piemur along with the others after tomorrow," he warned jokingly.
"But only during classtime," she laughed.
"Classtime?" Mordekai asked.
"After tomorrow, Drianne will be an apprentice at the Harper Hall," Piemur explained.
"Really? Congratulations!" exclaimed Dioron. "I plan to apprentice to the Dolphin Hall this Festival."
"I hope you're accepted," she said eagerly.
"So do I," Piemur added.
"Look, the next batch of bubblies is finished. Get them quick, or they'll go cold!"
"Six for a thirty-second," said the journeyman baker.
"Here you are, sir," said Dioron, passing over the mark. "My treat, Drianne. Take two, and you too, Mor," he added, turning to look at his brother. Mordekai took the pies, mumbling his thanks to the journeyman and Dioron, and turned away.
"I'll see you later," Piemur said, and moved off towards the rest of the Festival.
"Bye!" Drianne called after him.
The rest of the day was spent running around the Festival. At first it was just the three of them, but mid-afternoon their parents joined them. All through the day, Mordekai was silent. Nothing he saw seemed to interest him and he didn't even ask to go to the Harper booth to look at pipes as he normally did.
"Mordekai?" Dioron said quietly as he sliced his wherry during dinner. "What's wrong?"
Ilia was dancing in the square while Drianne's mother took a turn with two other harpers, and Drianne herself had gone for more bubbly pies.
"Nothing," Mordekai mumbled.
"You can't fool me," Dioron admonished. "You've been awfully quiet all day. You didn't even want to look at pipes! What's wrong?"
"It's… Drianne," Mordekai admitted. "I know she's twelve Turns old, but…"
"Oh, so you're in love with her, are you?" Dioron teased.
"No!" said Mordekai fiercely. "But I am jealous of her," he sighed, settling back down.
Dioron gaped. "Jealous of her?"
"Because she's an apprentice at the Harper Hall and I'm not," Mordekai explained. "I want so much to be an apprentice, even though I'm too young, that I'm getting jealous because one of my best friends is becoming one! I hate being jealous of her!"
Unnoticed in the shadows behind them, Drianne listened thoughtfully. An idea struck her, and she smiled to herself. She started forward, and put the tray of bubbly pies down on the table, ignoring their surprised faces.
"Here we are, fresh bubblies!" she announced happily. "Mind them until I come back, will you? Thanks." Before the astonished brothers could say anything, she dashed off.
Drianne ran through the crowd, occasionally stopping to look around. It wasn't long before she found the man she was looking for. The MasterHarper was a hard man to miss, tall and dressed from head to toe in blue.
"Father!" Drianne called, racing across the square to him. Sebell looked down at his youngest daughter and smiled.
"Hello, Drianne!" he laughed, leaning down and giving her a hug. "How are you doing?"
"Fine. Father, I have a favour to ask," Drianne explained.
"Oh?" he said, a mock frown on his face.
"You see, my friend Mordekai loves music as much or even more than I do, but he… can't apply to the Harper Hall."
"Why not?" he asked.
"He wants to, but his mother is really protective, and she doesn't want to let him go," explained Drianne.
"She'll have to let go of him sometime," Sebell chuckled.
"Anyway Father, you were saying the other day that you needed a few more boy sopranos, and Mor's voice is still high and pure. He even has a better voice than Dioron, and you've heard him sing."
Sebell looked puzzled, then his face cleared as Drianne said, "Remember, Father? You heard Dioron and I practising a song for a Gather together once, and I remember you being really disappointed that he wanted to become a dolphineer rather than a harper. You said he had a wonderful voice."
"Oh, him! Yes, I do remember now. And you say the younger one is even better? Hmm. What exactly do you want me to do, Drianne?"
Drianne rejoined the boys a short time later, grinning from ear to ear. Dioron was about to ask why she was so happy, but was forestalled by Ilia's arrival.
"Are you three having fun?" she asked, sliding onto the bench.
"Yes, Mother," the boys chorused.
"Well, if you can take care of yourselves, then I'm going to go and have another dance with L'dis. We might even have a go at the toss dance," she said with a smile.
Well, that's the first chapter! I appreciate reviews, because I really do want to know what people think.