Chapter 11
Teffie was a little inclined to be a bit snippy that her sister has abandoned her woes for some Harper – her mother had stayed to cuddle and comfort her while her father had gone to see if H'gey had required any moral or other support – but she was mollified to find out that Kitiara and H'gey had been discussing her potential Impression of a Green at High Reaches Weyr at the instant before he Impressed. She subjected Kit to a far more searching grilling about H'gey than either of their parents had done, claiming a sister's right to look out for her younger sis!
Kitiara had the tact to forbear to throw up Teffie's having left her in a ditch, which event had ultimately led to Kit's enrolment as an apprentice in the first place; she felt she was turns older than Teffie in responsibility, having a craft! It seemed to help Teffie to have something to interest her besides her disappointment, however, so Kit sighed inwardly and answered her questions with all the best Harpercraft evasion she had at her command.
It satisfied Teffie, anyway; she came away with the impression that H''gey was a weyrbred journeyman having his craft status confirmed. Teffie was far more concerned about Birth and Status than Kit, but at least felt that being Weyrbred equated to being of the Blood!
Robinton requested a dragonflight to High Reaches to speak to T'bor, who promptly broke out his best Benden Red in honour of the Masterharper and because it was a good excuse.
"Ahhh….a Gorton seventeen" said the Masterharper "A vintage year."
T'bor grinned.
"It's what you get for having F'lar's daughter around" he said "She's very good at wheedling. Is there a problem, Masterharper?"
"Not a PROBLEM, Weyrleader T'bor" said Robinton "No, not REALLY an problem….let me tell you about it from the beginning."
Master Robinton explained how Journeyman Horgey had discussed with him his desire to return to teaching duties at High Reaches, hopefully bringing a Harpercraft candidate with him too; but that, well, there'd be another passenger as he put it.
"And who would that be, Master Robinton, and why do you mention him or her in such a tone?" asked T'bor warily, wondering what weird or wonderful protégé Horgey had picked up.
"His dragonet Brieth" said the Masterharper.
Only respect for the vintage prevented T'bor from coughing out the mouthful of wine he had just taken. As it was, he turned purple and choked gently for a moment or two.
"You Harpers" he said, dryly, when he could speak again "Have impeccable timing. In this case impeccably bad" he took another swig to soothe his throat after the coughing fit.
Robinton grinned.
"Sometimes it's hard to resist" he said. "I have to say, I had a shock when a dragonet was brought out of Fort Weyr to be housed in the Hall."
T'bor's eyes narrowed.
"Why? Why brought out? What's wrong?"
Robinton gave him a sideways look.
"Promise me faithfully you won't go and say or do anything rash to interfere with interweyr relations?"
"I'm starting not to like the sound of this" said T'bor dangerously.
"Your promise."
"Very well. In the interests of Pern – and more, as a favour to YOU, Masterharper – I promise to avoid doing anything rash and without due consideration. Will that do?"
Robinton nodded.
"It runs like this: N'ton could not guarantee the behaviour of some of his Riders towards a er, cripple" he said bluntly. "It was decided for Brieth's and H'gey's sakes that they should weyr in the Harper Hall for a while. H'gey was, I gather, quite forceful. I gather he looks on you as a model Weyrleader and gets snippy if he feels others don't live up to that" he grinned.
T'bor rarely swore, but it took him some two minutes to run out of expletives this time!
"I'd like to see the dragonet through his first sevenday before taking him Between" he said abruptly. "Is that too inconvenient?"
Robinton shook his head.
"As long as is necessary" he said "The Harper Hall is honoured to accommodate any dragonrider any time. But perhaps at your earliest convenience will avoid too much embarrassment all round. H'gey informed Lord Groghe that he had duties in the Hall that he wished to see completed, and it is a good official reason, that his sense of duty will not permit him to leave until he has cleared every matter before him…. A sevenday should be sufficient for him to wrap up all the ends of the sorting out he has been doing with my problem pupils. He seems to have caught it from T'rin."
T'bor managed a thin smile.
"Who caught it from T'lan…it's a High Reaches feature, interfering. And quite right that he should not shirk his duties to Hall."
"Quite; and he could hardly predict, after all, that he would Impress from the tiers, and so have his affairs in order before the hatching, could he?"
T'bor's eyes lit up with unholy glee.
"Of course, it had not sunk in…he Impressed in the tiers! Stupid of me, he'd have let us known if he'd been a candidate, and he'd have done that with us anyway….well, N'ton and his people can scarcely complain any more about OUR tier Impressions!" he crowed. "Well. I'll keep it all very quiet – outside of this Weyr, anyhow; and I'll only apprise the truly discreet of the true circumstances. Well, well, I liked the lad more than I was expecting, and the dragons always know!"
Robinton grinned.
"And his disabilities trouble you not one whit" he said.
T'bor snorted.
"We've hoists. His arms are strong. And I hear he's getting stronger in the legs too. Where's the problem? Besides, minor problems like that are made to be overcome."
Robinton smiled as he savoured the last of his glass of wine.
He liked the people of High Reaches.
When H'gey woke to the promptings of Brieth's hunger, he found apprentices and journeymen coming in with meat already!
"Vaek spent the night and the moment Brieth started shifting he ran for us to get meat" explained Ferry. "those of us with firelizards know some of what to expect, so here we are!"
Brieth broadcast his thanks, startling the boys, and bringing tears of emotion to more than one pair of eyes – for to be spoken to by a dragon, even a baby one, was an honour!
"He's awful big already, but I wasn't going to let that scare me!" boasted Vaek, who in truth had been terrified of sleeping the night with a dragon, but was too stubborn not to put his name in to be drawn with the others! Having been spoken to by the little dragon, his fears were subsiding – for Brieth was a person, just a rather large one!
After feeding the little dragon, it was time to oil him; and H'gey was certainly glad of help with that! He could stand, leaning on Brieth, to oil him, and the joy of being with such a friend was beyond belief! He would never be lonely again, never!
Asrina's bout of hysterics when the Ranking girls turned up to find a dragon in their classroom – H'gey and Kitiara had both clean forgotten them – was too funny for Kitiara, though H'gey tried hard not to laugh, as his love rolled around on the floor in whoops of mirth over the way Asrina seemed to take it as a personal slight!
Brieth was faintly offended. The girls had no need to be afraid of him; and so he told them.
Tireena fainted and Asrina fled, weeping.
Varalie promptly mucked in with the rest of the apprentices; and H'gey thought it would do her no harm at all to discover that commons were people too! She was of an age with Gavel and Kit and the boys from Kit's dormitory and he saw no reason the girl should not learn to have a little fun!
Of course, Asrina complained to the Masterharper that there was a dragon in her teaching room.
Robinton listened impassively; and pointed out that dragons were generally to be found near to those who just Impressed them. She surely knew, he said, that dragons were never dangerous to people once hatching was over; and where else did she expect Journeyman Blue Rider H'gey's dragon to weyr anyway, since he felt his duty to people like HER so deeply that he stayed temporarily out of the Weyr?
Asrina was not pleased; but how could she argue with a Harper who seemed to think it utterly normal to find a dragon asleep between the desks?
She could not know that at the Harperweyr it WAS completely normal to find a dragonet asleep between the desks; or even joining in the singing for that matter!
H'gey utilised the time while Brieth slept – which was a great deal – to put matters in order, finish his harp – he had already finished his twelve string gitar – and make sure that Gavel was getting on well with the other boys. He knew he would, in the Weyr, be learning such varied things as basic dragonhealing, simple formations and the construction and care of fighting straps; and he was glad to have a Harper-trained memory that would enable him to catch up on such practical basics. It was amazing how much of R'gar's teaching came back to him from what he had idly overheard when sitting outside in his wheeled chair over the summer and early autumn, when the Weyrlingmaster was speaking to the most recently Impressed, and to candidates. That the girls discussed their dragon care lessons in the Harperweyr Hall was also useful, for he could recall a lot of the discussion between I'linne and C'lara! Consequently, when N'ton visited after a couple of days, expecting to find a tail-thickened dull-skinned dragonet, he found as well cared for a creature as any currently in the Weyr; and better than some.
H'gey pulled himself to his feet.
"Weyrleader N'ton" he inclined his head. "I'm sorry I was – forthright – right after Impression. It was an – emotional – time."
N'ton nodded.
"Understood" he said, appreciating the apology. "Just looked in to see how Brieth was; he's still under my overall care until you move north."
"He's spoiled rotten" said H'gey cheerfully. "He has a team of apprentices vying for good marks in class to be picked as the ones to help with him. He's the best discipline aid I've ever had."
N'ton grinned.
"I bet" he said. "So you're still teaching then?" he was surprised.
"A little desultorily…his needs ARE demanding. But informal lessons whilst bathing an oiling him go in very well" said H'gey. "We wrote a little carillon – it goes:
"What shall we do with a thickened tail
Mix up the senna in a pail
Then spoon it in to force it out
And he'll be better without a doubt!" he sang.*
The song ran down the octave in the first two lines, then in thirds in the last two lines. N'ton blinked.
"Um…could you write that out for me?" he asked "And any other teaching songs you come up with for weyrlings? Please?"
H'gey smiled.
"It'll be a pleasure, Weyrleader. I've already made copies for R'gar, of course: these boys do deserve recognition for their concerted efforts. T'rin has a few that we use in the Reaches: I'll ask him to do you some copies if you'd like. We sing a lot there."
"Er, quite; thank you!" said N'ton. He was pleasantly surprised!
Perhaps he should take the effort to actually talk to T'bor properly sometime.
It was L'gal who came to collect H'gey, Brieth and Kitiara. He brought with him a passenger too; T'arla's cousin Meeri, who had been preparing for an apprenticeship during the time H'gey had been gone. H'gey was in some ways sad to be leaving the Harper Hall; but he was also glad to be going home! And for the first time in his life there was somewhere to truly think of as home!
"Don't forget your winter woollies" warned L'gal. "It may be thinking about being spring down here in the soft south, but up in the High Reaches it's still cold enough to freeze your wotsits off!"
H'gey appreciated the warning. It was easy to forget! And Kit had never seen a northern winter. Nor, H'gey reminded himself, had he – not really! It had been the beginning of winter when he had left, and it was almost the end of winter as he returned!
Most of the Harper Hall turned out to bid its unexpectedly resident dragonrider farewell; and Lord Teefer and Lady Kiarna came up with Teffie too. Teffie had not decided yet if she wanted to try for a Green egg; so she would not accompany them this time; but she wished her little sister all the best!
The younger apprentices looked pretty forlorn; more, H'gey suspected, over losing their dragon friend and well disrupted lessons than over fondness for their teacher! In this he was mistaken; for his class of eight slow learners really appreciated his gentler touch and would miss his ability to put a lesson into different words if they could not understand something, for in this ability he actually surpassed T'rin!
Kit sniffed hard.
"Cold wind" she said.
H'gey did not mention that the day was flat calm.
"Dust blowing about too" he agreed, surreptitiously mopping his own eyes.
Solpeth finally took off with the powerful thrust of the back legs and single downstroke that was all that was needed to launch a Bronze Dragon into the air; he cradled Brieth in his front paws, H'gey strapped on his back this time in his own chair, adapted for the straps originally designed for Sh'rilla, and the modification quickly added by L'gal, after instruction by H'llon!
And then they were Between, three heartbeats of utter cold and blackness.
And out above the Seven Spindles, black against the snow; and coming in to land in the Bowl with the entire Harperweyr and most of the logicators there waiting to cheer them home, and greet them with a canon of welcome that was so plainly from the pen of T'rin that H'gey wept again with emotion!
* A/N the tune is much as is sung to the nursery song 'Upon Paul's steeple stands a tree'
The End of Part 1
Part 2 'Kitiara and the Harperweyr' will be posted as a separate story starting tomorrow as if it were the next chapter which in a way it is.