Chapter 1
Meeri came to the Weyr, ostensibly on Search, with her father's vicious words ringing in her ears.
"If you take notice of that Harper rubbish, you're no daughter of mine!"
Could one's own father be totally wrong? And was it disloyal to think so? Yet Cousin Tassarla's – T'arla's, she corrected herself – playing and singing was much richer, more vibrant, more varied since she had learned Harper tricks, and it did not sound like any cheap trickery either.
Meeri had never enjoyed a close relationship with her father anyway; he was too dogmatic a person to be close to. And she had missed her merry cousin. Music was more important to her than her father or any of her kin bar T'arla. And her new cousin, Bronze Rider L'gal seemed worth getting to know too, she supposed. He was nice; and he had promised that the Harperweyr could teach her quickly enough to make up for turns of missed education through living Holdless, enough to avoid being in trouble with some terrifying sounding entity called Master Morshall at the Harper Hall.
L'gal was stern as well as kind; she had sung and whistled happily to herself, making up the tunes as she went along as usual; and he had been decidedly snippy when she told him that no, she had no way of recording it and nor did she bother to remember tunes she made because she could always make up more.
Apparently it was an important Harper thing to keep tunes to use over; and when L'gal pointed out that it was nice for other people who could NOT make up fresh tunes daily to have your music to listen to she quite saw his point.
Meeri had actually been astounded to find out that most people did NOT just make up tunes to please themselves as they went along, indeed could not! How sorry she was for those people! L'gal was quickly able to persuade her to let him jot down her little tunes for those poor folk who were so deprived that music did not make itself naturally for them to suit every task.
One of the first things that happened in the Weyr was being given a firelizard egg by T'arla, who thrust it at her younger cousin in her abrupt and boyish fashion.
"Here, you can get most of the hard work done learning stuff while the shell hardens….. I've not much time for 'em myself but if you're off to the Harper Hall you never know when it'll be handy to have a partisan friend watch out for your stuff and help against bullies. Dunno what colour it is, but it sure has a good pedigree, it's one of Merry's."
"Merry?" Meeri asked.
"Little queen that belongs to Queenrider T'lana - the little redhead. Merry is one of Merga's, who belongs to Lord Groghe and she's out of Beauty, Menolly's queen. THEY always involve their humans in the clutching, not like some lizards; in fact Merry always clutches in Mirrith's weyr and expects her favourite dragon to help care for her eggs" she grinned. "I swear she thinks Mirrith is an outsize firelizard. They get up to all sorts of antics – I mind how shocked I was the first time I saw Merry fly full tilt into Mirrith's mouth! She goes Between you see, to just under Mirrith's tail fork and grunts like she's squeezing out as if she's gone all the way through, silly critter" T'arla grinned again "And Mirrith is pretty indulgent. They sing too. T'rin's Prism does a superb descant; better than any boy, even if you stood on his nuts."
Meeri grinned. She knew her cousin too well to even imagine T'arla doing anything so cruel to any of the apprentice boys under her!
And this gift of a firelizard egg was beyond price; how kind it was of her cousin's exalted friends to consider letting her have one! And there would be no strings attached; T'arla would never agree to anything like that!
oOoOo
Somebody called Horgey had gone to the Harper Hall to confirm as a Journeyman; and he was reckoned the best at bringing on those who needed catching up, so in his absence all the Harpers rallied round. It was a little galling to be surpassed by Kullana, more than five turns Meeri's junior; but Meeri shrugged and got over it. No point getting your yolk addled because others were more talented and more knowledgeable than you, she told herself cheerfully!
I'linne and her pedantic speech scared Meeri a little until, after a particularly involved period to T'rin, the solemn faced Green Rider Harper deliberately winked at the newcomer while T'rin was still plainly trying to unravel what she had actually said.
"There was something funny, Apprentice Meeri?" asked T'rin irritably as Meeri could not stop a grin coming to her face.
"No sir; only wind" said Meeri, blandly. There had been discussion, with T'lana's triplets and T'rin's daughters births, over how much of a baby's first smiles were deliberate efforts and how much was as the Healers insisted, only wind.
T'rin decided to leave it.
T'rin was himself very good at bringing on those left behind; he had been in that situation himself when he first went to the Harper Hall. Meeri was even further behind than he had been; at least he had been able to read and write fluently, while for her it was still a laborious task; and he had also been word perfect with all the teaching ballads. Meeri had never even sung the Duty Song!
Unlike T'arla though, who had resisted learning, Meeri took her cousin's converted views to heart and proceeded to put her heart and soul into study. By the time her little brown firelizard, whom she named Snatch, had hatched, and his voracious appetite ate into her studies, she had already learned more than she had ever realised that there was to learn!
oOoOo
Meanwhile L'gal had jotted down several of Meeri's spontaneous tunes and took them to show Master Domick.
"These have great potential" said the Master. "But none of them are finished. Is your apprentice lacking in application that they are left?"
"Oh no!" sighed L'gal "It's just that it comes to her so easily that she tunes, then discards and moves onto something else as her mood moves or her chores change. I'm still not sure that she wholly believes me that most people do NOT make up music as they go along just to suit their mood. These are only the ones she hums or whistles; I swear that music passes constantly through her head in time to her current occupation, though she does at least hum and whistle most of the time regardless of what she's doing. Even bagging firestone" he handed another sheet to the Tunemaster.
Domick hummed to himself, the the heavy fourth beat fitting the rhythm of hefting rock, glissands echoing the crackling, crumbling feel of it.
"I see what you mean" he grunted. "She NEEDS the Harper Hall. I hate to put you down, but neither you nor T'rin are capable of developing this."
"I concur fully, Master" said L'gal "And she's got no interest in Impressing. Dragons to her are useful transports, quite pretty, and handy for dealing with Thread. She wants to come; but she came to us virtually illiterate, never mind having basic musical training or even knowledge. We need to prepare her. T'rin coped: T'rin does coping very well. Meeri probably could, but having the twin handicaps of being born Holdless and being a girl….could you hide her like you did with Kit?"
Domick grunted again.
"I'll see what I can do" he said "Get her up to standard and we'll talk again. And keep noting down everything she produces."
oOoOo
By Turnover Meeri was progressing well; and L'gal spoke to her seriously.
"I know a lot of apprentices begin at Turnover, it is the main new intake; but if you'll put up with being a little late to the Harper Hall, I think another month's concentrated study with us will more than catch you up. There are still a few basics you stumble on; and I've yet to break you of your bad habits of fingering with playing the fiddle that would get you into trouble. But it is up to you – would you prefer to start under the cover of others but still ill prepared, or would you like to be sure and be able to keep up and more?"
Meeri considered.
It was remarkably nice of L'gal to give her the choice, and she told him so.
"I appreciate you letting me decide" she said "And whichever I choose someone is going to pick on me I expect, whether for being late or for not knowing enough. I guess from the way you worded it your recommendation is to go later than sooner?"
He shrugged.
"You're going to be feeling a little bit of a loner for being a girl – there's another couple of girl apprentices by the way, Dorasha, though she's older than you,, and Kitiara who's probably transferring here in any case. And I think you'll find your feet quicker if you only have to worry about making friends and allies and not as well about making the grade – and too, those who pick on you can only do so much if they can't taunt you for any failure. You're a hard little worker and you've come on no end; I think in another month you'll hold your own against the best prepared and most talented of the boys entering in a few days' time."
Meeri flushed with pleasure!
"Thank you Master L'gal" she said formally.
He grinned at her.
"The best thanks I can have is you doing well, little cousin" he said, indicating a close of formality. "Are you starting to note down your own tuning?"
She nodded.
"And there's a joint thing I did with Lyseder and Kullana" she said.
L'gal whistled in surprise.
"Kullana likes you then. She almost never tunes with other people" he said.
"Well it kind of just happened" said Meeri. "I remembered my firestone bagging thing like you told me to, and went back to it while we were helping the weyrlings: and Lyseder and Kullana started adding parts, and so did Snatch, and Lyseder made us help him write it all down afterwards. It's much better than my original twiddle."
"Show me" he demanded.
Meeri fished around in her work bag; and L'gal studied the sheet she handed him.
"Yes, it has Lyseder's stamp of maturity – I know that's a strange thing to say when he's turns younger than you, but he's had adversity to make him take tuning more seriously than you" he added.
Meeri nodded; she knew Lyseder's story.
"He and Kullana are so talented" she said.
"You too, my child; but you've been as neglected as Lyseder in your own way and learned so many bad habits. It's still essentially your piece though and see, Lyseder has put your name to it to credit you, naming himself and Kullana as crafting variations. You can use this as a basis to craft your own variations with a clear conscience, it hasn't been usurped" L'gal told her.
"Thank you! I didn't know if that was allowed" said Meeri.
"I'll make a copy if I may of clear evidence for those two in variation and part crafting, to go in their dockets of work when I submit them as Journeymen; a long time away, but every piece adds" he explained.
Meeri nodded eagerly.
"Now I've seen what can be done I want to work more into my own tunes to add parts" she said eagerly.
L'gal grinned.
"Good girl….we're getting there then. Again, I'd like to see you with a few more tools at your disposal – musical tricks as your father would style it – before you do much, in case you spoil these for inexperience and become downhearted. I THINK you've got an instinct to add counterpoint and harmony but I'm not the great Tunecraft teacher Master Domick is, and nor is T'rin for all his clever music. For him, like you, it's so instinctive that he can't always say WHY he does something that works. Me? I'm a competent tunecrafter of good, singable songs and I can give you the basics. Master Domick can give you the flourish and panache to make your tunes real music."
Meeri was looking confused.
"He'll make me clean out the firepits?" she asked.
L'gal laughed, working out what had confused her.
"Panache, my dear, not ash pan. It means…. It means like T'rin when he's showing off. Style, showmanship, verve, élan, the ability to present your work."
"Oh" said Meeri. "I've learned lots of words from I'linne but that wasn't one of them."
"Of course not!" laughed L'gal "It's only got two syllables!"
oOoOo
Meeri set herself to study even harder, mostly under T'rin and F'lim, the young senior apprentice having also had to be broken of bad habits learned from a father and uncles who played instinctively. The sevendays flew past!
T'rin received a message carried by a green firelizard one day in class and roared with laughter as he read it.
"Heh, whaddya know?" whooped the Journeyman Blue Rider. "Our Horgey's only gone and Impressed at Fort Weyr from the tiers and become H'gey…" his eyes narrowed as he read further. "N'ton's let him take Blue Brieth back to the Harper Hall because he's afraid of incidents happening to a cripple… H'gey will be coming back here. Well we'll be glad to have him home – and as a Rider – but oh BOY! RUCTIONS!" he said.
"You didn't ought to talk of ructions in front of scrubby apprentices" said Kullana virtuously.
"Harpers know when to be discreet, don't you?" said T'rin. "We're family here, bratling, and you'd soon hear about it from Pilgra and T'bor sounding off if I didn't let you know first and the lot of you would pick up rumours and make up the rest. Keep it in the family. You know that."
Kullana grinned.
T'rin looked at Meeri.
"You just about ready to go to the Harper Hall, sprout?" he asked.
She nodded eagerly.
"I – I think so sir!"
"Good. Be packed in a sevenday; L'gal may as well drop you off when he collects H'gey and Kitiara, she is definitely coming too, kids, and she's an item with H'gey. Great news huh?"
There was a murmur of assent from those who knew the crippled Journeyman.
"Would this momentous occasion prove to be of sufficient auspicious grandeur to lead the Journeyman in granting his apprentices some vacation to celebrate appropriately?" asked I'linne innocently.
"Oh for shell's sake take the rest of the day off do!" said T'rin balling up the message and throwing it at the young Green Rider. "In the face of such loquacious prolixity I could scarcely refuse."