Chapter 2
As the first crazy, tiring days passed, T'rin started to get to know his fellows properly. Naturally at first he spoke more to the weyrbred lads he knew, S'trul and V'ris; the three much younger weyrbred lads stuck together. That B'lova and J'nara were Logicators gave him a point in common with them – but the girls were so inseparable they scarcely needed anyone else!
T'rin went out of his way to pass the time of day with D'nor and B'lan, expressing pleasure in meeting another journeyman dragonrider; his recent adventures at Sunnyvale Hold had given him some knowledge of minercraft, with the help of his minercraftbred apprentice Felimmy; but he found himself having to explain hurriedly to a slightly pugnacious D'nor that he had no interest in seducing B'lan! Once the misunderstanding was cleared up – T'rin frankly admitting that it was not his idea of good sex – the boys were friendly enough, for T'rin might personally hate the concept of homosexuality but had been weyrbred long enough to accept it in others.
T'rin also went out of his way to get to know the laughing eyed Bronze Rider M'san; but found that although the boy was merry enough and intelligent, he had little in common with the Harper, having little interest in Logicating, being tone deaf and, in many ways, being far less mature than T'rin who had been teaching for some time and who had had a high measure of independence for many years. It was disappointing; but T'rin hoped to get to know M'san better 'when he grew up' as he put it to T'lan.
T'lan laughed.
"Yes, they get younger every turn." She agreed, teasing him.
The person T'rin really wanted to get to know was T'arla.
Once the girl realised that his offer of friendship was genuine and not an attempt to get into her furs, she was more than happy to open up.
She had been one of a band of Holdless, holdless from choice because they hated confinement. Unfortunately both her parents had recently been caught out in Threadfall. Tasarla had debated with herself her choices; there had been no-one in the band she fancied marriage with; she could all too easily pick up what men were feeling. And as she also knew pretty much what dragons felt, it seemed like a good idea to come to the Weyr and see what happened. She had heard that High Reaches took women for Greens; but it didn't seem worth while overemphasising her gender in case what she had heard was wrong.
T'rin grinned as he listened to her potted history.
"And you found out that no-one is put out in the least." He said cheerfully. "Have you told R'gar or anyone else that you can sense other people's emotions?"
She shook her head.
"Should I have?"
"Jays, yes. T'lana caused a fardling great stir when they finally found out that she can talk to dragons – especially as she was totally disguised as a boy back then, before we started putting girls to Greens!"
"There's a story in that, Harper!"
T'rin grinned again. He was always happy to talk about his beloved foster family and extol their virtues.
"It's a long evening story for accompaniment with sweet wine and bubbly pies" he told her. "And I will tell it, don't worry!"
T'rin had a large audience for his tale; a proper Harper-told tale was a luxury not to be passed up! The newcomers to the Weyr were particularly keen to learn more about the people who were to be their colleagues and T'rin also put in a recommendation that those who were interested should join the Logicators. Even those who knew the story were happy to hear it again, told by the silver tongued Harper Journeyman, using the measured cadences of his trained voice to bring immediacy to even a well known tale. T'lana absented herself firmly; she took on the job of caring for such children as were to young to attend, pleading embarrassment at her foster son's extravagant phrases!
T'rin had quickly slipped back into old friendships, picking up with his old crony R'ben where he had left off. He felt, in truth, more at home with previously Impressed friends than with most of his own clutchmates, though the older ones seemed good fellows. In fact, it was the three girls with whom he felt most happy! J'key also made himself a bit of a nuisance, but T'rin was used to adolescents and tried hard to be patient. He also had the happy thought of suggesting to the boy that with his Healer Hall experience, R'gar as Dragonhealer might relish another helper! J'key was happy to transfer his hero worship to T'rin's foster father and his main dragonhealer aide T'ral, Sh'allen's brother.
Whether R'gar would thank him or not, T'rin did not know. But there was only so much he felt he could take from a child with whom he had nothing in common, not even the love of music even his most dilatory pupils in the Harper Hall generally felt!
As well as the odd whole Weyr entertainments, T'rin would sometimes play for his new clutchmates to try to form more rapport with them, feeling as he did, a little guilty at his easier relations with their seniors than with his current peer group. When he did so, T'arla would often fish out a tambourine to play along.
After the second time, T'rin fished out his pipes.
"Can you do anything with these?" he asked.
T'arla gave an impudent little trill, and played a cheerful shanty.
"You should be a Harper apprentice!" said T'rin, impressed at the raw talent.
T'arla laughed at him and tweaked his nose.
"There's a good little journeyman looking for talent!" she mocked. "I've no intention of being pushed around in a craft hall, T'rin. It's all stupid rules of exactly the right way to do it according to some old time idiot's criteria. I just like to please myself and enjoy my music. Life's too short to put music in a cage!"
"It isn't like that at all! I was self taught too, you know!" expostulated T'rin. "And I found the rules hard at first – but now I understand them I can write better tunes and play with more depth and feeling."
T'arla laughed scornfully.
"But I bet you've lost spontaneity" she disagreed.
He shook his head quickly.
"Once you're trained, the rules are just there, like breathing. It doesn't affect the spontaneity at all. If anything, it helps to create what you might not have been able to without that framework."
T'arla threw back her head again to laugh mockingly. It was all too plain that she didn't even want to listen.
T'rin sighed. So much talent left untutored and undeveloped! He now understood how Master Domick had felt about his own early tunes! Still, there was no point forcing anything – and at least she shared a love of music with him, as well as being a fun companion in their dragoncare lessons and in the logicator meetings. T'arla was an all round good sort – a bit like young Kitiara!
The sudden thought of Kitiara stirred T'rin's conscience! He had not done more than scribble a cursory note right after he had Impressed; and now he sat down to write a long and newsy letter to all his friends, care of Kitiara. He was not to know how the little girl fumed as she read his enthusiastic description of T'arla; but Kit consoled herself that at least her idol wrote about this girl in the same terms as he wrote about S'trul and R'ben. Later she remarked tartly to Ferry,
"I wonder if T'rin has ever realised that there are differences between boys and girls."
Ferry looked surprised.
"Jays, of course he has! Don't you remember how smitten he was with Trayse? And there were at least two girls in the kitchen who were um, entertaining him, I'm sure!"
Kitiara's face was stricken; and Ferry struck his brow as he realised what he had done!
"I'm sorry Kit – I didn't know you had it THAT bad!" he apologised inadequately.
Kitiara burst into tears and stormed off.
She came to supper resolved to suffer in silence thereafter, her appetite ruined, wasting away for spurned love.
That each of the boys in her circle each slipped her one of his two bubbly pies went a long way to restoring both her jaded notion of boys and her jaded appetite!
oOoOo
When Mirrith rose, a month to the day after T'rin had Impressed, the young Harper was very pleased. With the anticipated search for candidates, it meant that he and his fellows would be promoted to single, albeit ground floor, weyrs. Most dragonets had found their wings to assist their ungainly half-hopping half-flapping motion; though it would still be a while before they had any degree of aerial control and a considerable time before their riders would get to fly with them. T'rin loved to watch the little dragons practising and jotted down a jaunty little tune mimicking the antics of still gawky dragonets. The tune soared at first, climbing sweetly, then fell with a glissando into a cheerfully tumbling melody. Absently he whistled it as Renpeth flew; and noting the fact that the other dragon babes were as clumsy in the air as his own dear Renpeth realised that with only a little alteration the tune would make a perfect fugue, different parts chasing the main theme around and around even as the inelegant dragonets played chasing each other's tails. He could work on it – now that Renpeth did not need such constant feeding – until they were ready to fly together and the next bout of exhaustion came! That would not be for six or seven months, even with the larger dragonets; a first flight lasting seconds only, building up to a minute slowly over a whole month to avoid straining the delicate wing muscles by the extra weight of a passenger.
R'gar was strict about how much flight time was permitted; and was justly proud of never having lost a pair through strained wing muscles leading to a fatal fall. T'rin, remembering witnessing the foolish young pair who had fallen to their deaths at Fort Weyr while he had been in the Harper Hall, was glad that his foster father was so stringent in his application of the rules. And after they had learned to fly, it would be another year yet before they would go Between for the first time, training for the time when they would join the Fighting Wings when the young dragons gained their full maturity at two turns old. There was some room for flexibility, of course; R'gar judged on size and strength of each dragonet, as compared with the size of the rider, as to when each might be permitted to try flight together. Some pairs were ready sooner than others, especially Bronze pairings, by virtue of their innately greater strength and stamina; and when it came to the first flight Between then the common sense of both rider and dragon could be a factor in whether they were permitted some leeway or held back. Some Weyrs, T'rin knew, hastened training if the Fighting Wings were short on numbers, something High Reaches did not have to worry about: but even so, T'rin doubted that it would be the case here, for he knew R'gar's views on sending smokeless weyrlings only half trained to fight Thread! Even with a careful training programme lasting two full turns, many of the young riders would be only just fourteen turns when they first faced Thread; and it would be a testing period. It was the reason Pilgra had started putting new riders in the Queens' Wing for their first few tastes of facing Fall as a fighter; and the initial Blooding by carrying firestone went to the Green dragons that supported the Queens' Wing before the weyrlings carried sacks to the higher and more exposed Main Wings. Certainly High Reaches had an enviable record so far as casualties during Blooding were concerned; from the messages T'rin had heard drummed to the Healer Hall from other Weyrs, the injury rate to youngsters at High Reaches was lower than most!
Of course that did not mean that any weyrling could afford to be blasé; and the first flight Between would be challenge enough, not to say terrifying. He would be responsible for making a good enough visualisation for Renpeth, not merely there as a passenger, a whole different proposition. T'rin hoped he would be good enough; his memory was superb, but worked more on auditory stimulus than visual. Even R'gar occasionally lost a weyrling Between on a first trip though, presumably through a momentary inattention or carelessness. Hence the Weyrlingmaster's lectures were stern, even frightening; T'rin approved. Losing anyone was demoralising for the whole Weyr. Losing a youngster on the verge of life made the tragedy worse. In T'rin's eyes it were far better to put the fear of – well, mostly the fear of R'gar – into the often feckless youngsters than end up having them die of stupidity!
Even fit T'rin had little enough time over the next few months to worry overmuch about future flights Between. R'gar presumed upon being the youth's foster father to find him extra duties helping the younger ones to help reiterate lessons the boy had learned before becoming a harper; and to make sure he did not think he already knew them! R'gar also believed in keeping his weyrlings occupied during the enforced confinement of inclement weather; the unseasonably early cold High Reaches winter made dragonets alternately grouchy at being unable to bask in the sun and over-excited at playing games in the crisp sparkling snow and ice on fine days. Snowfall was light and soon gone as the sun was still strong enough to melt it at midday; but it was still snow and made the youngsters silly! With the tensions of confinement, mostly caused by heavy miserable rain, spirits amongst the lads tended to run to the high side too, and mischief was rife. R'gar was ever vigilant to be sure it did not get out of hand!
Mindful of the tale of Mirrith's slide, made when the young Queen had been just a dragonet about Renpeth's age, T'rin was careful when walking near the partly-frozen lake; and it was not he who had an involuntary bath through slipping into the lake on a dragonet slide!
oOoOo
It was not only the weyrlings who suffered shortened tempers in the bad weather; T'rin found himself having to cope with his friend M'kel, when the older Blue Rider wanted T'rin to get drunk with him after his Vorth had failed to catch his weyrmate Y'lara's Tanath and she was flown by T'chal's Breeneth instead. Y'lara had taken umbrage at what she perceived as a lack of proper feeling in M'kel – she had enjoyed the flight well enough, but it had been the principle – and was inclined to blame him for, she said, Vorth getting fat and lazy. M'kel was finding living with his fiery and intolerant weyrmate a little more interesting than he liked. Relations were soon restored to normal, but while M'kel suffered, his friends suffered with him! The lighter side of life had been M'gol's consultation of T'rin about a desire to learn more about life outside a weyr; and T'rin, after laughing at him, had referred the matter to T'lan. The upshot was that M'gol set off with Z'kan as a pair of craftsmen to see life!
Meanwhile early candidates were coming in; and one of them moved T'rin to talk seriously to L'gal.
Masterharper Robinton was pleased – and not a little amused – to receive a drum message from High Reaches.
DDD Journeyman Harper Bronze Rider and Journeyman Harper Blue Rider request permission to train promising candidate as apprentice DDD
Evidently they had found a lad of talent who had not, for whatever reason, been apprenticed. The Masterharper replied
DDD It is the right and duty of Journeymen to pick suitable talent for the craft but obtain permission from the dragons first! DDD
T'rin and L'gal chuckled over the reply; Renpeth was still very demanding, though Solpeth was almost fully grown, a turn and a half ahead of him. L'gal and his best friend H'llon had recently been assigned to the Fighting Wings however, and despite all the training, L'gal was still adapting to the demanding job of fighting Thread at any hour of day or night he might be required. Even though both Harpers were frequently tired, however, from their respective duties, both had been struck by the untrained talent of one of the candidates, the girl Mira, whose sullen manner hid a sensitive soul too used to receiving sneers at her love of music to do anything but scowl at the world.
The young Harpers had met the girl first when Renpeth gave T'rin time to return to the habit of attending Logicator meetings. L'gal and H'llon were some of the Logicators' leading lights; and T'rin was delighted to be drawn into their social circle. He had briefly met, and liked, the Weyrwoodcrafter before; and had admired L'gal from the time before the older journeyman had left the Harpercraft Hall to go to High Reaches Weyr. T'rin was overjoyed to renew a nascent friendship, with now the shared bonds of both being journeymen as well as their shared experience of Impression!
Into the Logicator circle, the Weyrartist Geriana had drawn the new candidate Mira. Geriana had not been backward in telling the two Harpers that Mira played the flute beautifully, though the girl had scowled discouragingly. It did not augur well for an auspicious beginning; but as the girl became more interested in Logicating, it was soon apparent to both journeymen that she had a very quick ear for tone and nuance as well as the ability to mimic others!
T'rin and L'gal had come to an unspoken agreement to hear her play regardless of any protest; and pestered Geriana to arrange for them to hear Mira. Geriana, wanting to help her new friend, was more than willing to indulge in a little subterfuge so that the young men could be around to listen when Mira, more relaxed as she settled in, played for Geriana and her friends. They were sufficiently impressed to sent the drum message to Master Robinton, deciding to ask permission before broaching it to Mira and risking disappointment if the Masterharper should for any reason refuse. With his approval, they were all set to ask Mira if she would become an apprentice! T'rin duly strolled towards the female candidate barracks in search of Mira, revelling in a period of watery sunshine.
On the way a dark girl, pretty enough in a rather sulky way, accosted him. T'rin could think of no other way to describe it; her intention was quite plainly deliberate and purposeful. T'rin recognised her as she altered course to intercept his; T'lan had made several pithy comments about the artist-trained girl passed over for promotion to journeyman, and carrying a chip on her shoulder about it, convinced it stemmed from discrimination against her gender. The normally sympathetic weyrwomen had quickly taken the measure of the embittered artist and had come to the conclusion that it was more like to be discrimination against bad workmanship. Carlinna had not made herself popular when she had made snide comments about the self-taught in an attempt to put Geriana down; and had furthermore refused to have anything to do with drawing visualisations since she believed that the higher class artists only took portraits. There were some unkind comments to the effect that her drawing was not to the standard to give a good visualisation anyway! Geriana was popular and anyone who tried to cause her grief was not likely to find themselves at the top of anyone's list of favourites; and many deliberately avoided Carlinna. She had also had the embarrassing experience of being snubbed by a Bronze Rider, albeit unintentionally; H'llon's painful truthfulness had obliged him to tell her that although she might have some promise, her portrait of him was poor and she should seek advice from Geriana!
Carlinna was a spoilt girl, certain of her own genius and was unwilling to accept that Geri might possibly be better than she!
Her aim in accosting T'rin was to gain an ally who had close relations with those of importance in the Weyr; she felt certain that as an artist in his own medium T'rin might prove sympathetic, and that he had a Blue dragon to fly the Green she was sure she would Impress was an added bonus. Perhaps it was to her credit that even Carlinna did not aspire to a Queen!
"Oh – Journeyman T'rin!" she cooed.
T'rin stopped, and schooled his expression not to look dismayed.
"Yes?" he asked.
"You've forgotten my name, haven't you, Journeyman?"
She actually batted her eyelashes at him.
"I'm afraid so" he said curtly. He had little enough free time and didn't want to waste it. "I can't remember the name of every new candidate."
Evidently she could not –or would not – take a hint.
"It's Carlinna" she smiled. "I so wanted to talk to you because we've SO much in common – we're both craftsmen, both creative, artists in our own ways."
T'rin was more worldly wise than many of the weyrlings his own age; or indeed weyrbred riders twice it. He recognised the type readily, and knew that anything that could be construed as encouragement would be. He had been told by a delighted L'gal of H'llon's unintentional snub, and privately applauded it. He decided to be blunt.
"My dear girl, if you Impress, we shall have a job in common. Otherwise if the examples of your work I have seen to date typifies your work, you have a long way to go before you can truly call yourself a craftsman. I've only studied enough drawing to be able to plan out instruments, but I do know enough to be aware that you should give more thought to your basic technique and less to vain twiddles. Good day."
He left her gaping.
Rianna, Shevanne and Mira were frankly eavesdropping just inside their barracks door. Geriana was not with them; she was with her lovemates. Prisca was not there either; aside from the fact that she looked down on the other candidates, she rarely stirred from her bunk during free time!
Shevanne grinned at T'rin.
"NICE one Journeyman Blue Rider!" she spoke for them all.
T'rin pulled a face.
"I'm not normally so harsh. If she were one of my students, I'd feel I'd failed her" he said glumly.
"She brings it on herself, I'm afraid" shrugged Shevanne.
"I'd like to be sorry for her" put in Rianna "but she makes it very difficult."
"I'D like to ram a paintbrush down her throat" ventured Mira. "But I know what Rianna means. I guess too much praise from relations can be as damaging as too little."
"Do you take encouragement from non relations?" asked T'rin. She looked wary.
"What do you mean?"
"Just that Journeyman Harper L'gal and I were both on the teaching staff at the Harper Hall before we Impressed" - the idiotic smile of joy swept over his face again as he remembered Impressing dear Renpeth before he schooled it firmly – "and we have heard you play. We both hoped that you would accept an apprenticeship."
A hungry look crept over her face.
"A real apprenticeship? A regular official thing? That if I don't Impress you could recommend me to the Harper Hall? You really think I might be good enough?"
T'rin nodded.
"You're good enough alright. No, you'll never be another Menolly, but you're certainly talented. You have no training, that's fairly obvious, but we can teach you all the basics and lot further in our own specialities. L'gal is good at drum measures, Gitar and voice; I'm no slouch myself with a drum and I also do harp, pipe, tunecrafting and instrument making" he grinned. "I dance a mean jig too, but I've never yet won a dance out contest."
A shy smile touched her face, transforming her rather sullen features into something akin to beauty. T'rin added,
"And if by some chance you don't Impress, one of us will fly you to the Harper Hall when we can't teach you any more and bully one of our favourite Masters into taking an interest in you!"
Mira actually managed a laugh at that!
"I've picked up some drum measures from the Logicators" she ventured. T'rin pulled a comical face.
"The Boolean tables! Master Domick nearly went spare at escaping craft secrets until he found out that T'lan is at least as intelligent as he is! The reason for secrecy is to be sure and not frighten people with certain messages – you can guess how some would react to, say, the word 'epidemic'" he explained, seeing her look puzzled over Domick's reaction to T'lan's knowledge of the drum measures. She nodded with quick comprehension at his explanation.
"I really can't think of anything I'd like more than a proper apprenticeship" she told him sincerely. "Save perhaps Impression itself. When do I start?"
T'rin laughed happily at her enthusiasm and clapped her on a shoulder; but wrinkled his nose as he thought.
"I'm afraid I'm bagging firestone right after the break is over. What about this evening? we can use the Teaching Hall."
Mira nodded wordlessly: and her eyes shone!
She was actually an uncommonly pretty girl, thought T'rin!