Chapter 1
"Mother, Corbin, I think I should be thinking about my future" said Amrys seriously over breakfast.
Rillys blinked.
"Your future is as Lady Holder!" she said "What's to think about dearling?"
"Oh yes, provisionally" Amrys was proud of that nice long word "But now you have Corbin, it might be that one of my siblings, Corrys or any brothers I might have in the future, or sisters for that matter, might prove better; and I'd be doing poor duty to my people not to step aside under those circumstances" she smiled sunnily at Corbin, whom she loved as dearly as though he were her father by blood.
"But Lord Deckter named you Lady and me Lady Warder" said Rillys.
"Huh, Lord Deckter's a practical man, he'll go with what's best" said Amrys. "I think I'll make a good lady Holder 'cos I've had a good teacher in you mother; but you can't say that Corrys or others yet unborn won't be better. Besides, suppose I accidentally Impress? Sagarra always invites me to hatchings. And if I did, I have to then consider the unthinkable…" her gaze twitched to Corbin, the dragonless man. His face tightened.
"You didn't ought to worry about things like that so young" he said, his voice raw.
"But it's a possibility I can't help being aware of, dearest Corbin" said Amrys "And if more weyrlings worried about it the way High Reaches weyrlings have R'gar to light a fire under their tails to worry about it other Weyrs would have a better accident rate. But it can still happen to the best – like you. And if that happened I'd need hard work to fall back on. There! It's not likely 'cos I'm not likely to Impress because I don't really want to; but I need more than one string to my bow. Besides, H'llon reckons half the Holders and their ladies are plum lazy and can't do a day's work to save their lives and I'd hate to have anyone think that of me. If I can display journeyman's knots I'll have proved myself capable of hard work. Fish Holders have to be Master Fishermen. So I reckon ought other Holders to be Masters – or at least Journeymen – of their local crafts. And you've been talking about inviting more crafthalls in, specially a Weavercraft Hall; and I like weaving and sewing and I'd like to learn more – how extra heddles make fancy patterns, how to dye the wool and linen. We raise ovines and caprines and I know how to shear ovines; we grow flax by the river and the Mulgan train can bring in long haired caprine wool and llama wool from the High Reaches."
"She's certainly thought it all through well" said Corbin.
"She's a bright and thoughtful girl" said Rillys "Even if she does interfere in love affairs that are progressing quite well without her intervention."
Amrys flushed, and grinned.
"Oh I was very young then" she said airily of events a whole turn past.
Rillys and Corbin laughed.
Amrys was glad, if a little puzzled as to what was funny. Corbin rarely laughed; even the love of her mother and his little gold firelizard Silka rarely displaced the empty look at the back of his eyes, though he managed to put himself aside from it to be with his family. He would even take trips dragonback now; Amrys had asked Camnath, her favourite dragon, if the High Reaches dragons would talk to Corbin to fill the void, as she had heard that it had helped Brekke, the bereft one-time Queenrider. It helped somewhat, and Corbin was grateful to Camnath and to R'cal who took no offence at the Blue dragon chatting to another.
"Well if you want to be an apprentice, you should live in properly and only have Gatherday meetings with us" said Corbin "Or you'll find yourself being teased as mummy's precious babe."
Amrys nodded.
"I kind of figured that already" she said "And I did wonder if I should be sent right away; but I think it would help Rillys to know I was close on hand if you both needed me. And yes, of course I'm going to miss you both and baby Corrys; but it's important."
Rillys nodded.
"We've been through such a lot…. I don't want to be a clinging mother, but…."
Corbin tightened his arms around her shoulders and Amrys nodded sagely.
"But you mustn't interfere" she said to her mother "I promise if I can't cope with any bullies I find I'll ask for help if I can't sort them out another way. But I MUST learn to stand on my own feet. I'll have to as Lady Holder."
"Quite right" said Corbin, gravely.
He forbore to mention that standing on her own feet was the last thing he worried about with Amrys, who not only stood on her own feet but used them and her fists indiscriminately on bigger boys who were in her opinion acting the bully. At eleven turns old she was if anything too full of responsibility, as her carefully thought out reasons for taking apprenticeship highlighted rather sharply; and having the chance to be away from responsibilities and mixing with and playing with feckless and cheerful apprentice lads her own age might be good for her!
As it happened, negotiations had already been underway with Masterweaver Zurg; and he agreed to send six or eight Masters and as many journeymen to form the basis of a subsidiary crafthall at Rivenhill Hold. The majority of the new apprentices were to be drawn from the immediate locality; though any from the High Reaches region would be accepted if they appeared suitable.
Zurg intended to send several senior apprentices too, including those close to journeyman status; it would give a more natural start to have some more knowledgeable lads, who would also be of real help to those journeymen who were manufacturing rather than teaching. Of his Masters and Journeymen he picked from those with wives and families who were prepared to travel; a successful crafthall needed Craftbred children in it; and an undercook thus became head cook to a new Hall, and her son of age to start his apprenticeship there, for having a few new apprentices bred to the craft would not hurt either.
This little Nabolese Hold had a mix of fibres available and promise to be quite useful! Zurg thought he would suggest taking along some sisal-thread plant that grew wild throughout Southern Boll and other southerly locations; whilst cotton would not ripen so far north, Rivenhill might just be sheltered enough for the sisal-thread. Gossamer-spinners might also be cultivated indoors, their thread and that of the sisal being the nearest approximation the Weavers had in sheen to the unreproducible silk that the ancients used, and which existed only in precious fragments in the Weavercraft museum. If Rivenhill could produce sisal and gossamer thread on commercial levels this hall might yet rival Fort Weaverhall with fine brocades!
Zurg was an ambitious man.
He always frowned to hear of 'Fort Brocades' when they were Weavercraft brocades, produced largely in the Fort Hold Weaverhall. He thought it unseemly that by so calling them it was Lord Groghe who had the credit for them, not him.
Accordingly, Zurg picked a talented Master of brocading as his Masterweaver to go to Rivenhill!
Masterweaver Lynger was a romantic.
The story of Rillys and her dragonless husband thrilled his heart; and he was quite able to extract the tale in detail from the beanpole of a child who was his guide. The Lady Amrys, he reminded himself.
"And so you promoted the match?" he asked when Amrys told him the story.
Amrys grinned ruefully.
"Well, they were so plainly suited, and Sagarra and I thought they were being slow realising it. I was young and impatient" she laughed, telling him the rest of the story.
"Well, My Lady, I think it very resourceful and kindly meant of you" he said approvingly.
"Oh Master Lynger! You shouldn't call me 'My Lady' you know, because I'm only one of your scrubby apprentice brats after all!" said Amrys.
"Er, you are?" he was startled.
"Oh dear, didn't mother say in her letter and ask if I might? I'm sorry, and of course you might not want me; but I do want to learn and I do think it right I should know the main craft we're hosting, don't you, sir?"
Master Lynger beamed even more approval on Amrys, not least on her pretty deference to his earned rank.
"Personally I agree wholeheartedly. I see no reason you should not apprentice; to learn more about the craft is admirable in one of your position. Even if you have relatively little aptitude, you will still get the insights; and it's not as though you had to make your way in the craft. If you DO have aptitude, it is of course a bonus. Only we DO require our female apprentices to cut their hair; partly for the danger of catching it in the big looms and partly because people do not like finding unauthorised fibres as you might say in their clothing." He regarded her warily; for Amrys had a long thick plait.
The little girl grinned and patted her soft neat brown hair.
"It'll be no hardship, sir; and worth it for the chance to learn anyway" she said. "I'd thought about clipping it anyway, 'cos it's more convenient for trips dragonback – I have Weyr friends – only mother made horrified noises. If I've got a good and – and compelling reason" that was another good word "She can't gripe at me for cutting it off on a whim, can she?" the child smiled beatifically up at him.
He smiled down austerely.
He must avoid making a pet of her, engaging scamp though she was; and it would do her no favours with her peers. But he would watch her!
And if she had Weyr friends, that could be a very good market to develop, just what Master Zurg would want!
The Crafthall was to be built away from the Hold, some hundred lengths or more downriver to give it more autonomy; and it was to be constructed entirely of masonry. Large windows would be needed, especially on the north side to take advantage of the pure light without sunlight to dazzle. That meant big Threadfall shutters too, of course, to cover the big windows during Threadfall for the peace of mind of the Weavers. Lady Rillys suggested a set of buildings around a courtyard like the Harper Hall to have as many windows as possible; and Master Lynger was delighted!
The dyehouse was to be separated from the main complex of course, for its oft times noxious smells; and the retting too. Lady Rillys suggested covered ways from the main building to each of these outbuildings, pointing out how inclement the weather could be in the High Reaches, as well as making a safe run during Threadfall if anyone should be out of the main building during Fall for any reason. Tunnels, she said, would be impractical in the river valley for the possibility of flooding, especially near the retting pools. Lady Rillys also suggested building a mill to more readily ret the flax.
"And any short and substandard fibres can be sold to the Weyr for their Woodcrafter to make paper" she said "He makes a lot of paper. I should think he could help build your mill too; he has his own watermill to work some of his woodcrafting machines, though I'm a little vague about what they are and what it does."
"He sounds most resourceful" said Lynger "We'll have a woodcrafter attached to us to build and mend looms, but I'm not sure Benor could manage the workings of a mill."
"I'll ask H'llon to pop over and chat to you" said Rillys cheerfully.
To find out that the Weyrwoodcrafter was Impressed was enough of a shock!
To find him, when he arrived within a couple of hours, to be a Bronze Rider Acting-Master with a flightleader's tassel on his wingleader's knots who ruffled Amrys' hair and pass various firelizards to her was more of a shock. The weyrfolk the Ladies Rillys and Amrys knew were more important than he realised!
Once Lynger realised that H'llon was about the furthest any man could get from arrogant and overbearing without having the fault of diffidence and that he had some good ideas and competent plans he warmed to the young Bronze Rider no end. H'llon was, after all, a fellow craftsman. And Lynger was not averse to a quick daydream of what it might have been like had he become a journeyman rider instead of a Master!
Actually, Lynger thought that H'llon was the sort of man anyone might wish to have as a friend; and hoped fervently to be in that enviable position one day.
He mentioned their resident woodcrafter.
H'llon tried not to pull a face.
"You know Benor, Bronze Rider?"
"He's a cousin of The Masterwoodcrafter, Master Benelek" said H'llon "I suppose Master Benelek is exceptional and it's unfair to compare relatives."
"YOU don't think much of Benor then?"
"Well…." H'llon was loath to pass his opinion, which lay somewhere between the uncomplimentary and the frankly scatological.
"It's all right; I shan't take offence" said Lynger "I'm just interested in a woodcrafter's opinion."
"Well, in that case… and mind, it's turns since I saw him….. I'd say once he'd learned a skill like loom building he'd be very good at doing it providing he didn't have to deviate from the basic design. He's one who has trouble putting ideas into his head, but once they're in there, they're pretty immovable."
"You mean he's an unimaginative, stubborn fool?"
"Master Weaver, you said it not I" said H'llon "They did teach me some tact since I Impressed. He's also impatient; I imagine you already watch him to see he doesn't skimp to the detriment of safety."
Lynger was startled.
"I don't; it hadn't occurred to me. But I shall" he said "And I surely do appreciate the warning. The last thing a new Hall needs is an accident, however minor, to shake confidence in it. And it'll be the first time he's had sole charge of building looms too."
H'llon nodded.
"Safety first, I always say" he agreed "You see, I don't know if he appreciates how much a loom will shake with the pedals of a dozen heddles going and two hefty journeymen slinging shuttles at each other."
"You know something of weaving?"
"Oh not really, Master Lynger, only the odd few things I've picked up. I got chatting one day to Lord Warder Lytol – he was weavertrained, you know, and somehow the conversation drifted. I was fascinated; I like to know how things work."
"Well, may I call on your good graces if we need anything beyond Benor's capabilities?" Lynger dared ask.
H'llon grinned cheerfully.
"Subject to Threadfall of course" he said "Always happy to help friends of the Weyr – and any donations of cloth for our orphans of the childhold if I do a good job will be gratefully received. You need a better mill race here, you know; best to set the mill back and have a mill pond, because that'll help during the seasonal floods too not to damage the mill. That's all easy to build, though. Rillys has minecrafters and builders to hand I expect; simple job!" he beamed.
Lynger was delighted.
This was going to be a far, far better posting than he had thought at first, when the thought of going so far north had filled him with dismay!