Chapter 9

J'ton was jigging about like a lad of Harri's age, big with news, after G'narish returned from the hatching at Ista.

"Petrilla is now P'rilla!" he said.

"Oh, does that mean she's stuck at Ista and can't help anymore?" asked Leealla, disappointed. "Mind, she's a lovely lady and DESERVES a dragon."

"No, it's a bit irregular" said J'ton. "A weyrling broke a tiny egg, and it was a Queen, only hardly more than a firelizard – smaller than the White Dragon, even! And P'rilla Impressed her. And G'dened was pretty good about it, would have supported her staying there, but T'bor claimed her for High Reaches. And I guess it IS her home, 'cos she's got Greenrider sisters there. But I'd loved to have seen the faces of some of the stuffier Istans!"

"You're a bad boy, J'ton" said Jessenia. "I could almost think you were my brother. And seeing you lark about with Lenner, I wonder if you almost are!"

J'ton grinned unrepentantly. He enjoyed working out with the acrobats and was proud of how quickly he had progressed. He had quickly learned how to handspring onto Brown Coroseth, just because it was fun to show off when visiting other weyrs!

He was such a boy still – hardly older than she was, Jessenia realized with a shock, and yet a Blooded Brown Rider! And, having been Holdless, he did feel apart from some of his fellows: Lenner, Tas and Roban were people with whom he could relax. If Roban Impressed, it was likely that he and J'ton would be close friends for evermore, with hardly more than a turn between them; it would be nice.

Especially if she did consider J'ton for a weyrmate. One day. In the future.

If only she did not look on him as a spare brother.

Still, once boys became more interesting, perhaps her feelings would change.

The girls had spent some time with Bretine, too, who had befriended the sisters known to Leealla as close to her in age; and though the younger girl was not so close a friend to Jessenia as Carya, she was truthfully able to say she would miss her when the girl left for Rivenhill Hold Weaverhall a little before Turnover.

Dragonmen willing took the acrobat troupe to Igen Hold for the Turnover Gather. J'ton and Carya were to perform as well; as J'ton said, getting their faces known as acrobats amongst the Holdless would do no harm. They walked in the last mile or so, having been deposited beside the road by Coroseth, Asreth and Gyarmath himself, as G'narish took a personal interest in the Holdless. P'rilla and her family were still there, waiting to sort matters out to hand over to a fellow named Voll to take her place, and according to J'ton a good fellow and probably a soft touch to overpay any urchin who brought him their prized rubbish. He and the girls were to chat to P'rilla and make themselves known around, the girls carrying knives and looking tough. As they had been learning some knife fighting skills from V'sheren already, they looked less uncomfortable wearing belt knives than they might otherwise have done!

Seeing the acrobats, or at least some of them, on good terms with the Cavern Fence – as P'rilla was now known – most of the more villainous elements at the Gather gave them a wide berth. Lady Petrilla seemed able to produce hard-faced men at the drop of a hat to back her up. The more innocent visitors were duly impressed by the acrobatic display, and the take was good, Ranee helping Harri to take the hat round, for she was not to appear in public yet!

Fordel was pleased, and praised Carya too for doing very well for an amateur.

"You girls have given us a good cushion of takings, and if we can winter turnly at the Weyr it will help no end. You see how doing your duty always brings good returns in the end."

"Yes, Grandfather." Said Jessenia dutifully.

"Yes, Grandfather." Said Carya, eyes wide.

"Grandfather? Well, if you'll have me so I'll be pleased." Fordel patted the girl's shoulder and twirled one of her dusky curls affectionately; that Rayner's older children should call him kin was more than he had expected!

The girls spent some time – and the spending money Fordel gave them, supplemented with Carya's own marks – at the Gather. The Weyr would clothe them, and Weyr clothing was good quality, but they might purchase frivolous items to liven any plain garments up by their own efforts.

They certainly avoided the secondhand clothing stall.

Jessenia heard that its proprietor, 'Gruesome' Gresham, got his stock from anyone who died in the Holdless cavern, and it made her shudder.

His laundry techniques were at best basic.

Somehow, already, her life as an acrobat was becoming unreal; the Weyr was her home! And if she Impressed, she would never again have to grovel to overdressed fools, or fear their familiar hands and lustful eyes, nor take the jibes of well-dressed women about guttersnipes and their cheap tumbling tricks, as though it were an easily acquired skill!

There were Holds where it might be fun to visit and be mildly arrogant in sweet revenge, though one must not let THAT attitude become a habit!

All in all, Jessenia was glad to return to the Weyr, and so was Carya.

"Not that I'd have missed the experience" Carya said, "it was exhilarating to hear them gasp and applaud!"

"It is," said Jessenia "And if we Impress we'll do feats as risky and all we'll get for it is grumbles about having to walk sweep from the stupider bovines."

"Welcome to the real world" grinned J'ton, who was listening. "Why do you think we like fellows like your family with a stern sense of duty? It's not all kicks, though – we DO get respect, or awe at least, from a lot, and plenty of people like to admire dragons – from a distance, at least."

"How long will it be before there's a clutch?" asked Carya

"Three long months and three hot weeks – haven't you been told that one? End of the second month of this new turn, then the joy of new candidates and their shock at the chores in store!" J'ton grinned. "I LOVE having Ranking candidates and watching their faces!"

"He is like our respective brothers, isn't he?" remarked Carya.

"But more loveable" said J'ton.

"Don't kid yourself" the girls said in chorus, and giggled.

Sometimes they thought the same thing at the same time, just as if they really were close relatives!

They were eating in the main cavern when the Headwoman Nadeena came over.

"Bretine said you suggested I stand for a clutch, my dear" she said to Jessenia. "You young things would not think me foolish to do so?

"Oh no!" said Jessenia earnestly. "We quite see how nice it would be to have more in common with B'tin. Go for it, Lady Nadeena!

"Oh yes!" agreed Carya. "It's a lovely thought!"

Nadeena flushed prettily. She was not so delicately boned as her beautiful sister, but she was still a lovely woman.

"Anyway," added Jessenia, "You want to impress first, before Bretine grows up enough to stand; having your daughter with more seniority might be a bit odd feeling."

Leealla said nothing; Nadeena was an important person and she felt nervous about speaking up!

Nadeena nodded.

"Then I shall stand; one of my underlings must be acting headwoman. Though I'll HATE handing over to anyone else" she laughed a tinkling, silvery laugh that was much like her twin's.

"Guess you'll have to fit in Headwomaning around fighting Thread; reckon it'd be a hard act to follow" said Jessenia. "They'll sort something out."

"My cousin has no tact" said Carya.

"But she is as true as Impression" said Nadeena. "We've had our share of sly candidates; I prefer them blunt, myself."

Jessenia gave a rueful grin.

"Sometimes my tongue says what I'm thinking before I've listened to the thoughts to see if I agree with them" she said.

Nadeena laughed again.

"I like that way of putting it!" she said. "Oh, I had a letter from Bretine – she's happy, has lots of friends, and is learning to ski. Nothing much about Weavercraft except that knitting was invented to torture apprentices and all the Masters and Journeymen are nice. She has a Keroonian friend I gather, because things are now 'bonza'."

Jessenia grinned.

"They are a bit colourful, Keroonians" she said. "We go there sometimes to perform; they expect a lot but they're generous and unstinting of praise in a job well done! I'm glad Bretine is happy; I thought she was pretty nervous!"

"One of the paying students is likely to come as a candidate, she writes, but not for this clutch to be laid because their paid period runs from summer to summer. I expect we'll learn more about her later."

Jessenia nodded.

"Or if not from correspondence, then when she arrives" she said philosophically.

It was odd to think that when candidates started to arrive she, Carya, and Lealla would be settled weyrfolk ready to show them around!

It would give Lealla more confidence too!

Anticipating another clutch and a fresh intake of candidates lead V'sheren to a decision too. Now there was more dialog between Igen and High Reaches, V'sheren plucked up the courage to take himself to the cold northern Weyr to discuss with R'gar how he avoided weyrling accidents.

V'sheren quailed when introduced to the forbidding-looking, one-eyed Weyrlingmaster and swallowed hard, hoping that the capable-looking man not think him too much of a fool to come asking advice.

He need not have worried.

As V'sheren struggled through voicing his concerns, one of R'gar's rare smiles lit his naturally stern visage.

"Lad, it takes a real man to admit not knowing things!" said R'gar. "I respect you for that! I confess I do have an unfair advantage over keeping the weyrlings in line though."

"What's that, sir?" asked V'sheren.

R'gar laughed.

"I look scary!" he said. "I have a certain . . . reputation for grumpiness, as has Laranth, which I have to say we cultivate. You'll have to work a bit harder to make them fear your wrath more than anything else, for though I tell mine WHY they must obey my strictures, I swear they take the more immediate threat of being bawled out more seriously than Threadscore, or going Between into solid rock!"

V'sheren nodded.

"I'll remember that" he said. "Boys – and girls, I suppose, now we're taking them – are a scatty lot."

"That's Faranth's own truth" said R'gar. "And you have crosswinds all turn round – we have some cranky weather here too, but not usually so vicious unless it's too bad weather to fly. Come and have a mug of klah, you look half frozen, and we'll draw out diagrams and see if there's a good way to drive the message home. I'm thinking of using folded paper cut to a dragon shape in the smoke of a fire to show how it lifts . . ."

V'sheren was delighted!

R'gar was a good man and he was going to learn a lot from him!

V'sheren asked the girls and Roban to join all the weyrlings while he addressed them. The boys – and the one young Queenrider – waited, wondering what he might want.

"I want all of you who have been injured or had an accident in training to step forward" said V'sheren, quietly.

Eight boys stepped forward, and after a hesitation, Larissa, the young Queenrider.

"Step back L'torin, you tripped over running to avoid the unseasonal hailstorm we had last winter; I'll not count that" said V'sheren to one lad. "The rest of you: who would attribute their own accident to their own careless disobedience or another's?"

The eight youngsters shifted, and Larissa spoke up, clearly.

"We all either disobeyed a stricture, or did not listen properly or, in Sh'kel's case, got dragged into trouble by his friend."

V'sheren nodded.

"Quite. I was HOPING to get all to acknowledge it for themselves. Now, would any weyrling like to guess how many weyrlings have had careless and disobedient accidents in the same time span at High Reaches Weyr which has a clutch two or three times more often than us with 4 adult Queens?"

The boys looked at each other mystified at the question.

"It ought to be sixteen or eighteen then, sir" said one boy.

"I'll bet it's a trick question" Larissa muttered to herself.

"Sir? May I guess?" said Jessenia.

"By all means."

"Less than two, Sir."

There was derisive laughter, and V'sheren held up his hand.

"Jessenia is correct" he said, quietly. "The only weyrling accident at High Reaches involved a boy falling over his dragonet's wings at Impression. And I want you to reflect on that, and wonder why."

"Sir, I can't believe High Reaches kids are better than us!" blurted out Larissa, indignantly.

"No, Larissa, but their Weyrlingmaster is sterner than I. I have been lax with you and too free and easy. That will stop from today. I will still be available with a sympathetic ear for any troubles, but any transgressions – ANY – will be jumped on forthwith. I have let you down by too much leniency, and I felt you needed to be forewarned, and given the reason why I am going to tighten up. Some of you are ready to learn to go Between; and I would be failing you if I did not make sure you were ready. I will also, gradually, be increasing the fitness regimen to bring it in line with the extremely high standard as well as testing knowledge more strictly. You who are ready to learn to go Between will, together with your dragon, be tested strenuously on your ability to visualise as of tomorrow. Dismissed!"

It was a subdued group of youngsters who dispersed.