Disclaimer: I own none of this. Pern and all its people belong to Anne McCaffrey.
Author's Note: This is the sequel to "Silence Song," and doesn't make a lot of sense without reading the other story first. This was my second attempt at writing fan fic and was published on the KTL Fan Fiction Forum on the Worlds of Anne McCaffrey site several years back. Some revisions have been made.
A New Voice
Nerrim looked about in terror as Master Robinton took the meat bowl from her hands. Her mind swirled. What had she done to bother the Masterharper?
Robinton turned to call Silvina only to find her at his elbow. She asked what was going on as he gave her the bowl.
"Your drudge here was just gracing us with a lovely song this morning," he answered. Her forehead crinkled in confusion. "Oh," Master Robinton continued with a sly smile painted on his face. "She borrowed one of Menolly's firelizards to provide the voice."
"Nothing unusual then?" Silvina quipped back with a wink at Nerrim. She sighed deeply. "I suppose you'll be wanting her for an apprentice then?"
Robinton chuckled. "You know me too well."
"You know this means no more of those new sweet rolls you like so much, don't you?" she asked. "Nerrim's the only one who knows how to make them."
The Masterharper pouted. "No more sweet rolls?" he asked pitifully.
Nerrim began signing frantically. She was trying to say she could easily teach some of the others how to make them, but her hands were shaking so badly that she stuttered. She was so busy with the action she didn't notice Menolly was fighting to keep from laughing out loud at the Masterharper's antics.
"Oh, child," Silvina sighed as she reached out to calm the girls furiously flying fingers. "You've done nothing wrong. Don't worry yourself so." She turned on Robinton. "You really must stop frightening poor girls, Masterharper."
Robinton immediately took on an air of repentance. "What is she trying to say?" he asked. "I'm afraid I've not learned the hand language yet."
"Nothing but that she is willing to teach me how to make the sweet rolls." Silvina straightened, placing her hands on her hips as if irritated at not only the Masterharper but herself as well. "She is sorry for causing so much trouble." She snorted softly and looked pointedly at Menolly. "She reminds me of someone else I know."
The Journeywoman threw her hands up defensively. "Hey, I've stopped apologizing for everything I do."
Robinton was still chuckling to himself even as he waved Menolly and Nerrim away from the kitchens and toward his office. Nerrim tried to calm herself, but despite all of her best efforts, her heart pounded in her ears. She simply couldn't shake the idea the Masterharper was about to send her home. And, she had only arrived a few weeks ago!
Once inside his office, Master Robinton asked both of the girls to sit down. "Can you understand the hand language, Menolly?" he asked.
"I'm afraid I can't yet," she answered blushing slightly. "I simply didn't find the time before, but I shall make time now."
He sighed and apologized for his ignorance as he offered Nerrim the use of his sand table to answer his questions. The three spent the next hour discussing Nerrim's past and the possibility of her becoming an apprentice. After a while, the harpers' kind natures calmed her shaking nerves. She'd never dreamed that an under-grown girl without a voice could ever become a harper, but her heart swelled at the new promise her future held.
The matter was agreed. Nerrim was to become a full apprentice except for singing lessons for obvious reasons. Menolly offered to share both her room and knowledge with the young woman in exchange for lessons in the hand language. Both girls went to request that another bed be added to the room and left the Masterharper to write Nerrim's parents to tell them of the girl's new station.
The weeks progressed quickly as both young women learned from each other. Nerrim's small frame wouldn't allow her to play the full range on a floor harp, but she had a great aptitude for the lap harp and could play most any song after hearing it once or twice. Learning how to read and notate the music she was playing was another matter however. She became ever more irritated while trying to read a piece of music she'd never heard before.
"Why can't I just hear the piece?" she asked again and again during Menolly's lessons.
"For the same reason I can't simply speak back to you during the hand language lessons," was always the patient answer. "You do not learn without practice."
Nerrim hated getting that answer every time it was given, but her memories of Menolly's early frustration with the hand language would always push their way to the forefront of her mind. Things didn't come easily to her at first either, but she pushed through it and now the two could hold complete conversations without saying a word. Such thoughts reminded her of the rewards brought by such study, so she kept telling herself learning how to read music was the only way she could put down the melodies that filled her waking hours.
Weeks turned to months, and before she even realized it, a year had passed for Nerrim at the Harper Hall. By following Master Oldive's advise to the letter, she had managed to grow more in stature and strength in that year than she had ever hoped possible. Yet, her arms were still too short for the floor harp, but she had fair skills with any other instrument she was asked to play. She'd even made a set of multiple pipes of which she was extremely proud.
Nerrim was sitting in her and Menolly's room scribbling fiercely. She'd composed a new piece that morning which she was trying to put down before the cords left her mind. Her heart almost stopped when someone knocked on the door. She hated to leave something once she had gotten started, but it was no excuse for being rude. She put a small piece of glass over her sand scribbles and rose to open the door.
Menolly was standing on the other side, holding a basket full of warm sand in both arms like it was something incredibly precious. Nerrim stepped out of her way and watched in confusion as the harper slowly and carefully placed the basket in front of the fire.
"What's in the basket?" she asked when Menolly stood again.
A big smile spread across Menolly's face. "Well you can't expect to keep borrowing Mimic and the others when you want to perform one of those firelizard pieces of yours can you?" she asked teasingly. "There are three firelizard eggs in that basket, and don't think for a minute Master Robinton didn't have trouble securing so many eggs for an apprentice."
Nerrim was utterly shocked. "I never asked for a firelizard," she signed defensively.
"No, you didn't. But, you were the first to compose music written to be sung by their voices. Who better to introduce this new form to Pern?"
Nerrim couldn't believe her luck. Despite all of the nests found in Ista, and most recently in the Southern Continent, the creatures were still incredibly rare.
Menolly waved her into a chair. The smile never faded from the other harpers face as she took a seat next to Nerrim. "They're close to hatching," she said. "You should have plenty of time to train them before the fall gather."
Nerrim looked up in surprise as the harper's message sunk in. "Do you mean Master Robinton wants me to perform at the gather?" she signed excitedly.
Menolly nodded. "You're the main act!"
The next few months were full of practice and composing for Nerrim. Menolly helped with the impression and then the training of the three new firelizards. In the weeks before the gather, Nerrim became increasingly nervous. Her small fair, a green named Irissa, a blue named Treitan, and a brown named Ienon, were well behaved. They had spent most of their lives learning Nerrim's pieces under her gentle and loving hand, and they knew them well. Yet, the young apprentice harper couldn't control her nerves.
She'd never performed for people outside the harper hall before. She couldn't stop worrying about how her work would be received. Like Menolly had told her, she was the first to use firelizards for the main part of a composition. Enough problems arose when the creatures were first discovered and trained to be messengers. How would others take their being used as singers? And, what would it mean for her if the audience at the gather didn't like her performance?
Menolly tried to reassure her nearly every day, but nothing could stop Nerrim's racing heart on the morning of the gather. Silvina made sure Nerrim ate a good meal that morning, and the food sat heavily in her stomach throughout the day. She and Menolly fed their combined fairs with Camo's usually more than willing help. Then, Nerrim went to the washrooms to clean up and get dressed for the gather. Masterharper Robinton had given her two marks, and she wanted to get something to send back to her parents. She could never forget that without her mother's providing for her fostering at Harper Hall, she would have been a drudge all of her life if she'd lived at all.
The sun had risen only two hours before, but the gather was already in full swing when she left the hall. Vendors from all over Pern vied for customers with colorful wares and rich aromas. Nerrim went about her way looking for something her parents would enjoy and use. That is, until she came face to face with them at the tanners stall. The three met each other with smiles and open arms.
When asked how they came all the way from High Reaches, Xeander told her about a letter that they had received several months before asking them to please attend the fall gather at Fort Hold. "Ethcole let us come down with his caravan on the condition that your mother would do the cooking," he said with a wink. "He had business here today anyway."
"We've heard so much about what you've been doing here," Malyn said, whipping a tear from her eye. "We're so very proud of you."
Nerrim spent the remainder of the morning and well into the afternoon in the company of her parents. She showed them the Harper Hall and the compositions she'd written. Her father was well pleased with her careful use of hides and neat notations. Malyn, however, felt out of place being outside of the kitchens when there was so much work to be done. Despite Nerrim's urging to relax and enjoy herself, Malyn went down to the kitchens and offered her services in preparing the evening's meal. Yet, she did promise to watch the expected performance after the sun set.
When the early dances of the evening began to play, Nerrim went up to her room to prepare for her first true turn as a harper. She checked to make sure her gather dress was still clean and straitened her hair, which the wind had all but torn down. Then, she checked the tuning of her multiple pipes and guitar before heading back down to the stages.
Her time came when the evening meal was served. The dancing had worked up an appetite in the guests, and they were glad of the meal. Nerrim took the stage, directing her fair to take their perches beside her. She looked out over the crowd. It was the largest group she'd ever been, and most of them were looking at her in anticipation. Her heart skipped a beat before she found the faces of her family and friends sprinkled about the tables.
She took a deep breath and took up her pipes. She began the melody, soft and sweet like daybreak in early spring. She lowered the volume of her playing after the first phrase so Irissa, Treitan, and Ienon could be heard clearly. All the conversations going at the time fell silent as all ears turned to the song.
As the last tones died away, Nerrim began to feel the full weight of her nerves returning. This was the moment of truth for her. The crowd sat completely still as if waiting. Then, one after another the assembly erupted into applause.
Nerrim breathed a sigh of relief. She smiled broadly through the remainder of the evening, well pleased to have brought a new voice to Pern.