Chapter 1
"Of course, you know WHY we're good enough to get to go to the Harper Hall, don't you, twin?" said Raisa.
"Yes," replied Ranya, her sister. "But Pa is still our Pa, even if we were incidentally sired by Journeyman Dacky; and he's named us well enough for himself and acknowledged us always."
Holder Ranyer made no distinction between any of the children of his late wife – or, for that matter, his children by his mistress – despite the obvious resemblance between the twins and the Hold Harper.
"It's the red hair and oversized ears," sighed Raissa, "though at least we can hide the ears with enough hair."
"Reckon Carissa must have been daft," said Ranya, with tolerant contempt towards the birth mother the twins had no recollection of. "I love Mother Relda better than someone silly enough to play fast and loose with any man SO different in colouring to Pa, well, why she would want to have an affair at all beats me."
Holder Ranyer had a very dark complexion and curly black hair; and whilst his wife had been lighter skinned, with reddish lights in her dark hair, the difference was very apparent!
"Well, we inherited the music as well as the ears, and we get to be with music; and that's good," said Raissa. "And if we don't make the grade as Harpers, we can go to Igen Weyr early and hope to Impress Green dragons like Carya has, rather than going as Journeymen to start a Harperweyr there too."
Carya, one of their older sisters, had gone to Igen Weyr to await a clutch, being close friends with their cousin of courtesy, Jessenia. Jessenia was the niece of their effective stepmother, Relda, and she was famously dragon-mad. Relda's family were acrobats, and Relda had initially joined Ranyer's family in order to train his children to be fit and supple. When Carissa had died, Relda had taken on the role of foster mother to her children, and in due course had proceeded to present the Holder with a further five children on top of his extant seven – if one counted the twins. And as Ranyer most certainly counted the twins, and had forgiven his wife her little lapse, nobody else was about to comment, at least not directly. There was no question at all that they had the choice to attend the Harper Hall, based on their talent and love for music, and were not embarrassments to be sent away. That the Harper Hall was now openly accepting female apprentices had come, the twins considered, at just the right time!
oOoOo
It was kind of Bronze Rider V'sheren to give the twins a lift to the Harper Hall on his still limping, Threadscored dragon, Asreth; and the little girls thanked both man and dragon prettily, vaulting off athletically, to avoid paining any of the dragon's scars.
"Reckon he's sweet on Cousin Jess," giggled Ranya, when Asreth had taken off, "his voice goes all soft when he talks about her!"
"Reckon you're not wrong, twin," agreed Raissa. "Who's this coming? Oh, he's important, he's a Journeyman, we should be very polite 'cos we're nobody here!"
The Journeyman had come hurrying to see what a Bronze Rider had wanted – and amended that to help anyone who was important enough to rate a lift from a Bronze Rider. He saw two identical little girls with large carisacs wearing the knots of direct line, minor hold.
"Ladies!" he said, nonplussed that they seemed rather young.
Raissa giggled.
"How do you do, sir?" she said. "We've come to study; please, where ought we to go? It's awf'ly cold here."
The twins were starting to shiver; the winters of Fort were considerably colder than the more southerly Southern Telgar from whence they hailed, and their flying gear had been borrowed.
"Come with me," said the Journeyman, "I'll see if I can find any apprentices to carry your bags."
"Oh, they're not heavy, sir!" said Raissa. "Just because we're girls doesn't mean we're FEEBLE, you know!"
He gave a strained smile, and made a half-hearted attempt to take the bags. This offended Ranya's and Raissa's sense of What Was Right, when they were only apprentices, and they held on to them.
The Journeyman led them round the side of the big, imposing Harper Hall building to a cot built against a ramp that led up towards the ancient Fort Hold. He knocked.
A fat, bad-tempered looking woman opened the door.
"Two for you, Dunca," the Journeyman said, politely.
The woman took in their knots and smiled ingratiatingly.
"What are your names, my dears?" she asked. "You seem rather young!"
"Oh no, we are turned twelve!" said Raissa. "I'm Raissa, and my twin is Ranya."
The woman frowned and consulted a list.
"I don't seem to have you down," she said. "I have enough names to fill the cot, but not you."
The twins exchanged a look of consternation.
"Pa's efficient," said Ranya, firmly and with faith. "He WILL have sorted it."
"Yes," said Raissa, "He said he had enrolled us as apprentices, so we MUST be somewhere. Is there anywhere else apprentices live, then, Dunca?" she asked hopefully. It was, after all, a rather SMALL cot to accommodate all the apprentices who must be here.
Dunca's face changed; it became quite malevolent.
"APPRENTICES?" she hissed, "I don't have apprentices! I have paying students, REAL ladies, not those who betray their blood with trade!"
The twins retreated before her fury.
"Then I guess we're sorry the Journeyman mistook us for real useless ornaments," said Raissa, who felt that if a grown-up was rude first it was in order to retaliate in kind. "We'll go and see if we can find anyone who knows about real things," and they beat a hasty retreat.
"Horrid old bovine!" said Ranya, when they were out of earshot.
"I'll say! I say, there's a jolly-looking apprentice there, let's ask him!" said Raissa.
The jolly looking apprentice wore senior tassels on his knots, and had curly black hair in an untidy mop around his head.
"Are you Raissa and Ranya?" he demanded.
Two red heads nodded emphatically.
"Good; I'm Meeri. I'm a female apprentice from the time when we didn't make an issue of it; you'll be in my dormitory. Follow me, and walk sharp, you'll need to stay warm until you can get better boots. WHAT was the Bronze Rider thinking of, letting you come Between in thin ones like that and no flying gear?"
"They do have wherry down in them, Meeri, honest," said Raisa, "only our over-trews and jackets were borrowed from weyrlings and had to go back, so we are chilly. We got thicker clothes to come here, but we couldn't guess HOW cold it was really going to be! And snow staying on the ground, too!" she marvelled.
"Be pleased you're not at High Reaches," said Meeri, "where I hail from! You may as well know, I've dragonrider kin, someone will mention it."
"Oh, our sister and cousins are standing at Igen," said Ranya, earnestly.
"Oh, it's true then, that G'narish has opened his Greens to girls? Excellent," approved Meeri. "One of my cousins is a female Green Rider; she's also a Harper. You might get Searched by High Reaches for their Harperweyr if it does run in the family. C'mon, up here!" and she led them quickly to their dormitory, which was presided over by the elegant, dignified girl identified by Meeri as Dorasha.
oOo
Meeri soon found apprentice knots for the twins.
"Save any more misunderstandings," she said. "I didn't manage to intercept the Journeyman before he jumped to conclusions over your Rank knots and being brought on a Bronze. I was expecting you; because I was told off to look out for two flame-headed imps."
The twins grinned.
"Who was that horrid woman, Dunca, and why was she so nasty about us being apprentices?" asked Ranya.
"Oh, Dunca's a snob," said Meeri. "She houses paying students – Ranking girls whose folks pay for a little knowledge over a turn, just to make pretty tunes. Pretty idiots who don't take it seriously. Though in fairness," she added, "some come for love of music because they COULDN'T be apprentices, like Varalie, now V'lie, who's half competent and perhaps might have made it to Journeyman if there wasn't the prejudices. Dorasha too, 'cos of being mucked about with by her idiot Hold Harper, who couldn't figure out that she was left handed and adapt to teach her back about face. Only SHE escaped in with the real apprentices after H'gey – Journeyman Horgey as he was then – managed to show her how to do it left-handed. Dorasha is in the dorm with us, and so's Irette; come purposely to apprenticeship, she has a good voice and is a bit silly, but no real trouble."
"Are there many others to come? Girls I mean?" asked Raissa.
"Another four this Turn," said Meeri, "and the Hall extended too, so it doesn't mean dropping the number of boys. And at some point, my Cousin T'arla and her friend M'ia will come to confirm as Journeymen: there's a mini weyr with teaching room that H'gey used when he unexpectedly Impressed up at Fort Weyr. It's a long story, and one for a cold Winter evening. I'll show you around, and when all the apprentices have arrived, you'll gather in the Great Hall to get your timetable for the turn. You must just learn to endure Master Morshal: he's dour and sour and no-one can please him. He'll expect girls to giggle and fail. Please disappoint him. You have to pass his basic music craft class before you may drop his classes and specialise with another Master. Work hard. Work with other apprentices to bring each other on. Try not to get into too much trouble, and we're all tired of the pasta-dyed-grey to look like Thread trick. It's been done too often. Avoid irritating Drummaster Olodkey if you should cross his path; he has a nasty tempter, but apprentices not specialising in his classes should not have to worry. Do you know about periods, and do you have sanitary stuff?" she added abruptly.
They nodded.
"Yes," said Raissa.
"And yes," added Ranya.
"Good; I think that's all. Now follow me if you've unpacked; YOU may as well see where all the teaching halls are. It's the advantage those who get here early have over the rest; guided tours by those of us who don't go home for holidays."
The twins exchanged looks.
This Thread trick might be sad here, but come the holidays at home… and maybe here, they were not used to twin tricks! There was a lot of scope for imagination!
oOoOo
After a quick guided tour, the twins were left to their own devices 'to explore, settle in, and get into whatever trouble you mean to,' as Meeri said.
They were accosted by a tall, sallow boy with a shock of dark brown hair as they set off.
"I say, are you to be new apprentices?" he demanded.
The twins regarded him thoughtfully.
"Yes," said Raissa.
"Oh good! So am I! I'm Belenar; my dad works with Master Arnor, the Scrivener, and my mother cooks. You two look fun!"
"We're twins," said Raissa, "and that means born to have fun. I'm Raissa, and my twin is Ranya. We're from Southern Telgar."
"You came on the Bronze Dragon, didn't you?" Belenar asked, his nose positively twitching with curiosity.
"V'sheren is sweet on our cousin; she and our sister are candidates," said Ranya. Raissa frowned slightly; that was giving away a lot of information for little in exchange.
"Great Shells! They're brave, then!" said Belenar, admiringly. "I mean, one respects dragons and dragonmen without wanting to necessarily have anything to do with them."
The twins exchanged another look.
He seemed a little strange, but then some people were nervous of dragons; they had been told this.
"We suppose music is more important to you than dragons?" asked Raissa, politely.
"Oh, yes! And to have the chance to apprentice and not grow up to drudge is great!" enthused Belenar. "And to get to have fun and play tricks like the other apprentices – like Vaek for example, he's famous for his tricks!" added Belenar, awed.
"Pasta dyed grey as Thread, by any chance?" asked Raissa.
"Yes! I helped make that when I was smaller, because of having the run of the kitchens," said Belenar. "How did you know?"
"Some exploits just get about, I guess," said Ranya, "'cos we've been expressly forbidden to repeat that one as too boring."
"Pity; I heard it really makes people jump when they see it first and think it's Thread," said Belenar.
"We have our own original ideas anyway," said Raissa, firmly.
"I bet you're often in trouble where you come from. What's your father do?" asked Belenar.
"Loads… he works very hard, 'cos he's the Holder and there are always jobs to get on with. But he finds time to play with us in the evening," said Ranya.
Belenar did a double take.
"You – you're RANKING?" he gasped. "And real apprentices, not stuck in with Dunca?"
"We're apprentices and Pa said if he finds out we've thrown Rank around he'll tan our jackets," said Raissa. "only you did ask…."
"Cuh!" said Belenar. "Well, anyway, I reckon we could all get up to plenty."
The twins preferred to reserve judgement.
They were used to being sufficient unto each other; and though half the fun of being apprentices was to be with other youngsters, they liked to choose their own friends. And as both planned to follow Carya to the Weyr one day – and to Igen to set up their own Harperweyr, whatever Meeri might suggest about High Reaches – a boy who was at best lukewarm about dragons was not necessarily a kindred spirit, be he never so good at pranks!
oOoOo
Back in their dormitory, there were two more girls the twins had not yet met; an older girl who nodded to them. She must be the girl Irette, mentioned by Meeri in passing; she seemed on reasonable terms with Dorasha, which confirmed them as knowing each other.
The other girl was taller than either of the older girls, though plainly no older than the twins, being as flat-chested as they; and she had big brown eyes, which gazed at them hopefully from a pale face surrounded by a cloud of dense black hair.
"Hello," she said, "I just got here; my name's Shivanny."
The twins introduced themselves.
"I bet you cause mayhem through being identical," said Shivanny, appreciatively.
The twins grinned confirmation. She had a lot more appreciation of the realities of life than the optimistic would-be prankster they had just been talking to!
"Well, as you're early too, we can get to know each other a bit better," said Raissa.
Shivanny smiled sunnily.
"I'd like that," she said, "I've never had friends before who could understand why I want to whistle and sing and hum all the time; my father tells me off for making a row, but it can't be so much of a row, can it, or I'd not have been accepted as an apprentice? Anyway, Lady Benoria heard me whistling and asked my parents if I was to apprentice here!"
"Reckon Lord Groghe's wife ought to know if you're tuneful or not, living on top of the Harper Hall at Fort Hold," said Ranya, pleased to remember all she had mugged up about the notables at Fort.
"Well, I passed the test, to my parents' surprise. I did TRY to take an interest in cooking and bakery, but I am most awfully pleased to be let off and allowed to make music instead," said Shivanny.
"Your parents are cooks?" asked Raissa.
"Father's a senior journeyman and mother is a journeyman too in the Bakercraft. It's not such an official Hall as some crafts, but Fort Hold is the centre of Bakercraft. And I guess I like eating nice things, but I'm not so keen on preparing them. When you've filled four thousand and more bubbly pies, you don't feel like eating them any more," she sighed.
The twins were aghast!
It seemed to them to be cruel and unusual punishment to make someone go off wanting bubbly pies!
Every sympathy went out to Shivanny.
