Chapter 10
All apprentices were equal in the new crafts of Turning and Marquetry; and also in the new class Isimy decreed of Tool Care.
"Without the knowledge of caring for your own tools you will find yourselves unable to fend for yourselves as Journeymen in an isolated Hold. We will bring this Hall into line with Lemos from now on that until you have passed Jointcrafting and Toolcare you cannot be a senior apprentice" he informed the assembled apprentices "It's not my speciality; but in the absence of a Toolmaster I will teach that."
There were subdued cheers from the younger ones from last turn; Isimy was massive and could look threatening but he was popular for breaking, with the aid of his team, the power of the bullies!
Isimy also announced the unique position of Acting-Journeyman to be held by Rillen and Kemmern for their responsible attitude, though they would have to catch up their actual crafting skills to be worthy to hold the knots of full Journeymen.
Both boys were overwhelmed; and Isimy knew he had been right to give them that boost. Both would work their hearts out! The idea of losing even half a rank would spur them on as much as the desire to fulfil the trust placed in them by their new Master.
"I have two lots of senior tassels to pass out too" Master Isimy said "To the two boys who have managed to keep working despite difficulties. You are STILL not of a standard I should like, Zaygan and Bellon; but you both work hard and that I applaud and wish to demonstrate the Hall's approbation."
There were several boys older than Zaygan and Bellon, including the disgraced Skollin and Banessan; both of whom scowled, each having thought that they were to be one of the boys honoured by the coveted senior tassels; for Skollin had assumed that a few sevendays' disgrace would be all that would be imposed and Banessan was deluded enough not to really realise that he was not the advanced student the favouritism of Maybret had given him to understand.
Zaygan and Bellon were just grinning all over their faces when they went to collect their tassels.
"No more practical jokes for a senior apprentice though Zaygan" said Isimy as he passed the boy his badge of rank.
"No sir" said Zaygan regretfully, reflecting that the Master was quite right; that it was not seemly for a senior to lark about. And that such larking about was as much a part of the rot of this Hall as had been the bullying; because Zaygen had the imagination to recognise that fact with the barest hint.
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Alaran seriously wanted to scream after he had repeated the same safety lecture and introduction to lathework six times.
He had, at least, one treadle lathe available on which to demonstrate; and with the aid of Deaky's Journeyman father Deano he had built one pole lathe with each class, and a further two so each apprentice even in the largest class could be working a lathe. Deano had been glad to give his time; and in return the Woodcraft Hall subsidised a treadle lathe for him to improve his work. The Journeyman had been honoured to be given a ride dragonback to bring him to the crafthall from his cot in the depths of winter and to return him home when all the classes had built their lathes. Master Isimy was much impressed by Deano's work and wrote to Gerney at Lemos to propose the man as a Master of Lathecraft, which would too mean another master available for administrative purposes.
And Deaky was Alaran's Special apprentice of course!
Despite feeling the tedium of repeating himself, Alaran had moments which offset this; he was pleased to find that two others in Deaky's class had some real talent with lathework, and the boy Siffio was worth training fairly intensively too.
Further up the apprentice rankings, one of the two acting Journeymen, Rillen, proved to be a natural on the lathe as much as was Deaky. Alaran spoke to him.
"Rillen, I know it's a bit against the dignity of an acting Journeyman to suggest this, but would you like to special with me?" he asked. "A second lathe-trained journeyman would be handy, and will stand you in good stead when you come to Prove your knots; it's a discipline that not all master and you'd be looked at favourably. I'd like you to start working on the treadle lathe soon, and that means you can turn out goods for sale for the Hall while I'm tied up teaching."
Rillen flushed with pleasure.
"I'd gladly be a special of yours!" he said "Turning is very soothing – I love it! I've always loved wood but…. Well, this is what I've been looking for all my life!"
Alaran grinned.
"Well you already have a reputation of having a forbidding scowl but of showing kindness to kids" he said "Got to keep up the reputation of us turners!"
Rillen looked briefly startled then realised that the Journeyman was teasing, and grinned back.
"I'm not as good overall as Kemmern; it'd be nice to excel at something" he said.
"And Margand says you took quite well to marquetry too" said Alaran "The two can go together; it's the love of precision."
"And just GUESS how much of a mess Banessan made in marquetry!" grinned Rillen "This is going to be such a really good Turn!"
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Alaran and Margand, comparing notes, agreed that it was going to be a really good Turn; though as Margand said, by comparison to previous Turns that was scarcely going to be difficult.
None of the oldest apprentices save Rillen had made any kind of showing with Marquetry, though as he had more talent for lathework it was obvious where the acting-Journeyman ought to be specialising. One of the new Senior apprentices, Bellon, did show an aptitude for the more decorative crafts; and he was to be Margand's special apprentice. Margand was also impressed by a lad in the class below Bellon's former class; Alon was incapable of holding a chisel straight on the lathe but Margand praised his patience in cutting and lining up pieces of veneer.
"And none of the second-turners are dire" he said "None of them got in a hopeless mess anyhow. And of the new ones I might take that kid Prin assuming he passes basic jointcraft and toolcare to give him those periods as free time."
"Prin is good enough for your classes? Good" said Alaran "He broke two chisels and the tail-stock in my class. He's scared of the machine and goes at it too tentatively; consequently it bites back and he has the chisel wrenched from his hand which reinforces his fears. Unfortunately you can't tell him that. He had drawn to go on the treadle, which is fast even though I geared it right down; I'll give him a try on pole lathe, but if he can't learn to cope I shall have to excuse him the class. He's a danger to himself and the rest of us; though I don't dare tell him that or he'll be more scared" he groaned. "And I must make it clear that I excuse him – if I have to – for lack of aptitude, not for discipline, so it won't count as a strike against him, or he'll worry about that too."
"The poor brat is scared of his own shadow" said Margand. "The way I understand it, his father has some fosterlings with the kid's older brother and one of them picked on small Prin to show off how ….manly….he was" his voice dripped scorn.
"Porcine" agreed Alaran. "well we'll set Kamar teaching these little ones self defence. I expect Bierel and Sarney will join in if asked."
Margand grinned.
"Oh Sarney's girlfriend will want him to teach her!" he laughed.
"She's too young to call a girlfriend!" said Alaran.
"Almost fourteen turns. Well, thirteen and a half, anyway" Margand amended the comment "Just the age to pick one and pin him down; and if she was Holdbred quite likely to be married."
"Well I dare say we shall see" said Alaran "Come to think of it, our Elissa wasn't hugely much older – a Turn or so perhaps – when she singled out Gerney. But they grow up quicker in weyrs of course; they have to if they half expect to be fighting Thread by not much more than Haella's age."
"They grow up fast in cotholds too" said Margand dryly. "And there's a fairly cothold atmosphere here with all the loggers in the outcots. But as you say, we'll see!"
"Mmmmm" said Alaran. "Y'know what, old man? Let's not say anything to Journeyman Hagel right now!"
Margand laughed.
"Tchah! How right you are!" he said "A girl's father should be the LAST to know whom she plans to marry!"
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Hagel had actually noticed his daughter's hero-worship of Sarney. He liked the boy and appreciated the care he had given to a vulnerable girl before Maybret's abrupt and fatal departure. Even so he wanted to know more. He decided to approach Alaran to ask the young journeyman.
"What's Sarney's background?" asked Hagel abruptly.
Alaran met his eye.
"He's born of a craftbred mother. There's no father apparent and general consensus is that he was sired by a dragonman same as Master Gerney was. Benden Weyr was pretty closely involved in setting up the Woodcraft Hall after all. He certainly has the guts – and the honour – to be a dragonman's boy; and the protective instincts. He'd never hurt your daughter intentionally. And for what it's worth I don't care what his background is, and I also think that Haella is worthy of my friend Sarney."
Hagel flushed.
"A father has to check" he excused his questioning "She's too young of course…."
"And a wise father might insist on a long betrothal rather than insisting on waiting for her to be older before giving permission should a girl get premature ideas" said Alaran. "Master Bendarek insisted that our Elissa should be Journeyman before getting married; it's a good convention to go by. Leichalle waited for her knots too to marry Arkis – that's Master Isimy's son. With such examples to cite she can't reasonably complain."
Hagel nodded.
"Yes, that's a very good idea. Is he courting her do you know?"
"Doubt it" said Alaran "Reckon he hasn't actually noticed she's not just a little girl he's protecting; in his mind, I think she's the same age as kids like Siffio. He's not yet realised that she's moved on to have that marrying light in her eye. I'M not about to tell him either; it'll spoil the surprise!" he grinned wickedly.
Hagel returned a reluctant smile.
"Poor Sarney" he said "Well with the good excuse to insist she wait – and I guess the Master will back me on that – I feel happier. I'd hate her to wed a hero and grow up to find that they bore each other."
"You're a good chap" said Alaran "It'll last or it won't; either she'll grow out of it before he notices or they'll grow together. She's nobody's fool, your Haella, and she'll plan a long campaign to my thinking. Should be fun to watch!"
"NOT for her father" said Hagel dryly.
"Why not suggest to your wife that she mention – casually of course – in front of Haella that she hopes that with more female apprentices none will bring the craft into disrepute by lax morals, illegitimate babies and using the place purely to catch a husband since the Hall here already has so fragile a reputation" said Alaran. Hagel brightened.
"Brilliant!" he said "Thanks, Alaran" he slapped the younger man on the shoulder.
"You're welcome!" Alaran grinned. "I've been watching Elissa gently manipulate people long enough to have caught the trick… especially as I was one of her fellow apprentices she practised on!" and he grinned fondly thinking of his weyrbred friend.
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The apprentices buckled down to work. The weather was fairly inclement, and frequent blizzards prevented much outdoor play, so hard work was spurred on by the incentive of avoiding boredom. As bullying and horseplay no longer disrupted classes as a general thing, classes might proceed normally; and many of the apprentices suddenly found that learning could be interesting! With real work able to be done too, more personal projects might be embarked upon, and such projects were taken up enthusiastically! There would be a Spring Gather at Three Woods Hold; and Master Isimy made it clear that those pieces made in personal project time that were suitable to be stamped as of reasonable standard could be sold. The concept of earning marks was as great an incentive to most as anything else!
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Isimy had made the decision to suspend classes on fine days when the snow was frozen hard enough to go out; he had been warned that such good days were rare enough in the High Reaches winters and he chased the apprentices out to take advantage of good weather so they might take the air and the thin sunshine. He permitted them to do more personal work on inclement seventhdays, normally a day off that was enforced for the good health of growing bodies, by way of compensating for chasing them out at other times. The apprentices would have had difficulty concentrating on their training in any case, with the knowledge that sparkling snow beckoned invitingly!
At the insistence of the Weyr all the apprentices were issued with snow goggles to play; and a fine to be imposed for failure to wear these.
"It's not like snow in Lemos" said H'llon seriously "The sun is brighter in these higher altitudes; and it can blind in minutes of exposure to glare from snow. Trust me."
Isimy had always trusted his nephew; if young Hallon had said something categorically, he was ready to accept that this was so. And anyone who distrusted the word of a Bronze Rider who knew the region was an idiot.
And the first incident that proved H'llon's point graphically was a salutary lesson to all.
Though the bullying of Banessan and Horslas had been stopped, there were others of a bullying nature who, by being the lesser of the problems at the Hall, had not shown up as much to the team from Lemos. Murgen, a boy of some fourteen turns, was in the habit of picking on a classmate, the boy Alon whom Margand was half considering taking as a special in Marquetry. Murgen thought it funny to snatch Alon's snow goggles off his face and throw them, after running away, over the river. Alon ran after him; and stared in despair at the goggles. The river ran fast, even in midwinter; and it rarely froze completely. Its dark, restless waters were visible below the thin layer of ice on its surface.
"Go on, walk across; or jump. I dare you!" Murgen taunted.
Alon stared harder, starting to sweat. Then he put his hands to his eyes and screamed in real terror.
Bierel, who had been supervising but not closely enough to stop the horseplay, had run over to him.
"Murgen you DIMGLOW!" he said "You might as well throw chisels about! Alon, old man, are you all right?"
"No senior apprentice" whispered Alon "It – it's all red and swimmy. Oh and I'll be blind and never do marquetry again with Journeyman Margand!" and he burst into tears.
Bierel beckoned over another boy to help guide the boy to the infirmary.
"It's all right kid" he soothed "It wears off – you're in for a bad few days, but it will get better. And it's not your fault and so I shall tell the Master."
Alon continued to sob; he was convinced he would never see again and that Bierel was just being kind!
The Healer was High Reaches bred; and dosed him with a light dose of fellis to calm him down and bathed the boy's eyes with saline with a ruthless gentleness, talking soothingly as the fellis took hold of the boy's thoughts enough to keep him from becoming hysterical. She knew full well that an adolescent was quite capable of sobbing his way into a hysterical fever that would not help his healing!
Bierel reported the incident to Master Isimy.
"Sarney's out there controlling the little ones" he said "I heard an indignant little voice shouting 'pull HIS fardling goggles off' so there's no question THEY are not about to be isolated and bullied; and too I trust Sarney to nip in the bud any overenthusiastic retaliation."
Isimy grinned.
"Not that I'll sorrow much if they succeed" he said "Of all the stupid stunts! And after they were all warned too! At least it's not permanent, but from what I've heard he's in for a painful few days poor kid."
"Reckon he's already had a few unpleasant turns from Murgen" said Bierel "He's really hoping to be a special for Margand; between sobs I heard something about it giving him a few hours rest from Murgen."
"Hm" said Isimy "Well a disciplinary offence of a dangerous nature is enough for dismissal. I think Three Woods can do without Murgen. This is NOT the first time I've heard his name. And I never said that to you, boy."
Bierel grinned.
"Said what?"
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Murgen spent an unpleasant half hour in Master Isimy's office; and was sent to pack under the supervision of Journeyman Margand whose special apprentice he had hurt.
He was pursued on his way to the Hold to await someone travelling to his father's craftcot by a hail of snowballs and catcalls.
"His father is one of those with rather spurious Journeyman knots" Alaran remarked to Hagel "A logger really, no more; big, bluff, basic sense of what he fondly believes is humour and utterly insensitive. The kid's the same I'm afraid. At Lemos there might be the chance of pulling him up; but we haven't the spare reserves to commit here. And we can't send all our failures to Lemos."
"I'm glad to see him go" said Hagel almost viciously "He started noticing Haella."
"We'll have trouble with his father come Spring" prophesied Alaran "He'll come roaring up here after the Gather, drunk as a Harper, swearing and cursing and demanding to know what the – insert invective of your choice – we mean by – insert second invective – well throwing out his son and are we all invective- invective ponces."
Hagel gave a thin smile.
"You seem to have HIS number" he said.
"Heh, well, I've met a few loggers" said Alaran "They're much alike anywhere I guess. I rode a load down to Igen once; great fun. Learned a whole new vocabulary that I doubt the Harpers bother to record for posterity. The loggers weren't, on the whole, bad hearted, save the odd really cranky one. And I guess this boy and his father make up that odd cranky one."
Hagel nodded.
"Well there's nothing to be done until the fellow does come, assuming you're right" he said philosophically "And I'd not say you aren't."
"True enough; no point borrowing trouble before it happens" said Alaran "I say, let's take the kids' minds off it, Masters and Journeymen against apprentices snow fight; let our hair down a little. No harm in being human on a day off."
"Won't it destroy respect?" Hagel worried.
"No; it's a bonding thing but we're the enemy too" said Alaran. "We always respected those Masters who could step aside from the knots to have fun, in a safe sort of way, and step back into stern in class. It was the ones who tried to be friendly in class we despised" he added "Which was generally inexperienced Journeymen who were scared of the distance between instructor and instructed. Friendly is only good if you can keep discipline too; not everyone can manage that."
"You do it very well" said Hagel enviously "They respect you and like you too."
"They know where the line is that they may not cross" said Alaran simply. "Establish that and the rest is easy. And it's easier to start strict and lighten up than to be too lenient at first and then try to bring in more discipline. Margand and I read the little kids a lecture first on respect due to Journeymen; THEN explained things more kindly."
Hagel nodded.
"I see. Well, what are we waiting for when we have a challenge to issue?"
The snow fight between the apprentices and their elders was much enjoyed by all; and as Alaran had thought, released a lot of tension.
It also made for a shared happy experience for the whole crafthall to build upon.