Chapter 11

Rumour runs always on hasty feet with bad news; and somehow all the apprentices had news that not only was Journeyman Menolly ill, but that lord Jaxom had the same complaint and had certainly died of it!

Menolly was certainly ill; and the drums called for a healer skilled in treating an illness called firehead. Young Master Sebell was white faced and distraught for several days until it was apparent his lover was out of danger, but still the rumours about Lord Jaxom persisted.

"Huh, wherry teeth" said Meeri, on finding a group of boys discussing this matter, half taunting the bossy and humourless Keilom, who came from Ruatha. "Ruth is one of the most popular dragons on Pern, he's popular with dragons as well as with firelizards. And Lord Jaxom's been flying in to the Weyr pretty much every day until he disappeared. We'd have heard the dragons keen; and certainly all the FIRELIZARDS would have keened for Ruth. They do for some dragons anyway and you KNOW how they love him. And if Lord Jaxom were dead Ruth would go Between for all time. Rumour is no fact you dimglows; you hope to be Harpers and I'm ashamed to be in your class if you're all so mentally defective you can't even reason your way out of a carisak."

The boys muttered; but dispersed. The logic was unassailable.

"Thanks Meer" said Keilom.

"Huh, you've an excuse to worry: he's your Lord" said Meeri. "And even if he were at death's door they've no right to rag you… if they do it again, tell me. I can lick any one of them."

"Nor will he stand alone" said Laghen, touching Keilom's arm. "we're no friends, and I don't know much about having an overlord, but I am sorry for your concerns."

"Thanks" growled Keilom, and stalked off.

"It was well done" said a soft voice; and Meeri looked up at the tall figure of Sebell, alike enough to the Masterharper that she wondered briefly if he were Robinton's son, or nephew. Or cousin of course; she looked enough like her own cousin T'arla to be taken as her sister."

"Rumour IS no truth" Meeri said. "Sir, what IS known please?"

Sebell shrugged.

"Lord Jaxom has been iller than Menolly and took ill bathing in a distant location; but Ruth called in help. He'll be fine; Lord Groghe is going with D'ram to verify his wellbeing."

"Poking around Southern then" said Meeri thoughtfully. "WHAT a place to take ill!"

"I'll ask you to keep such speculation to yourself, apprentice" said Sebell with some asperity. Meeri grinned at him.

"Discreet as a full-fledged Harper, sir" she said.

"Good" he nodded, and strode off.

"I'll go tell Keilom his Lord Holder is expected to be fine" said Meeri. "Master Sebell didn't say we couldn't."

oOoOo

Keilom appreciated the news Meeri had discovered; and said so. He was never likely to be a close crony of hers and Laghen's; but honest boys who never forgot grudges also rarely forgot kindnesses either, and Keilom, for all his irritating manner, was an honest boy.

Domick was pleased with Meeri too and said so when she went next for gitar practice.

"I hear you've scotched a silly rumour" he said. She shrugged.

"Well, rumour is just that: rumour. And they knew I know something about dragons because of having Weyr relations. I know less than I sometimes pretend but you can't spend a couple of months in a Weyr without picking up some things."

"No, I suppose not" said Domick. "Even if it's only a desire to get one's colleagues to compose for firelizards….."

Meeri grinned.

The subject had been one for spirited debate between Domick and Shonagar at the Masters' table, Shonagar having returned from the Weyr with significant ambitions!

"Firelizards don't need writing for" she said. "They make up their own perfect counterpoint. It's dragons who like to see it written down. At least, Renpeth and Solpeth do; I don't know much about singing dragons out of the Harperweyr."

"That's because there aren't any" said Domick, dryly.

"High Reaches," said Meeri proudly, "is different. Like Ruth and Lord Jaxom. We sort of take a proprietary interest in them."

Domick laughed.

"And so does the Harper Hall. He'll be fine."

"Oh yes! Master Sebell said so" said Meeri. "And he ought to know, as Journeyman Menolly had the same thing…..they are an item, aren't they?"

"Pestiferous brat, yes they are. Now, are you going to play for me, or try to wriggle out of it by yapping like a Holderwoman?"

Meeri gave him a hurt look. She had been practising it quite hard and was quite chagrined when he laughed.

"Don't overdo it, Meer: it goes from pathos into bathos" he warned. "Now get on with it!"

Meeri got.

She was looking forward to making the gitar sing the way it did for the Master; and knew she must crawl through the preliminaries before she could even walk, let alone perform virtuoso acrobatics on it.

Domick came round behind her to correct her hold on the strings.

"You muff that B minor every time" he said. "Here, let me place your fingers…."

The touch of his hand on hers was a jolt of energy!

She turned towards him.

His eyes were dark with sudden emotion.

"Concentrate" he said. "Hold the chord."

Meeri put the gitar down.

"Why are you lying?" she said.

"What do you mean?" he asked sharply.

"You felt it too. To try to act like nothing happened is lying. You KNOW it happened" she accused.

He stepped away very deliberately.

"So it happened" he said. "It is best…ignored. Sometimes such involuntary physical reactions are best if one takes no notice of them. Pick up your gitar."

His voice was remote; but Meeri's ear was well enough trained to hear that he was having to force regular breathing.

"Master…."

"Forget about it, child. It was an aberration. You have no need to fear that I would act on such. Pick up your gitar."

She scowled, but did as she was bid; her instinct was to please him, and she wanted to do well for him, even on this clumsy bovine of an instrument!

Somehow she stumbled through the exercises; and he dismissed her.

oOoOo

Domick took himself for a brisk walk before turning in.

On his return he frowned.

He did not recall leaving the glows uncovered in his bedroom; but the window was softly lit.

When he let himself in, he froze in shock.

Meeri was in his bed and he strongly suspected that she was naked.

"Get your clothes on and go back to your own bed now!" he ordered her harshly.

"But then they'll wonder who is sleeping in my bed so sound" said Meeri.

"What?" he stared.

"I arranged a curly black caprine pelt on top of my bolster" she said. "Bent in the middle for tucked up knees. It looked really lifelike. Dorasha hadn't come in then and I climbed out of the window."

Domick firmly refused to let his mouth fall open in a mix of amazement and horror.

"Well – get your clothes on, at any rate" he growled.

"Why? I don't have any blemishes to put you off."

"Meeri…. My dear child!" he cleared his throat. "Don't you see how wrong this is?"

"I'm not a child" said Meeri. "And you're not telling me that you've lived life celibate, are you? For me it's a reasonable assumption, but not for a mature man."

"No of course not….Meeri, I am a Master, you are an apprentice. I stand in place of your parents."

She gave a gurgling and wicked chuckle.

"But I wouldn't want my father to do what I want you to do" she said plaintively.

"No reasonable parent would want a young girl violated by a much older man" said Domick firmly.

"Wherry teeth! Father was talking about selling my virginity to the highest bidder at the next Gather when T'arla rescued me and took me to the Weyr; I was grateful he'd waited so long."

Domick was truly shocked and sat on the bed, white faced.

"Meeri! Truly? Yes, I see it in your eyes…. But it is wrong, and one reason it is wrong is because I have a duty of care…..even if your father betrays HIS duty of care…."

"Your body doesn't agree" said Meeri, reaching out her hand; he grabbed it before it could touch anything embarrassing.

"It's not just to you, you know" he said. "I have a duty to all the apprentices. If anyone even thought I was conducting an affair with one – and they think you are a boy, remember! – it could undermine my position and frighten other boys into thinking that I use my position to get sexual favours – or give out good marks in return for them."

"Oh!" said Meeri. "Well, I suppose there's one of two ways round that."

"What?" he asked, knowing that he should not even ask.

"Either marry me, or make sure no-one finds out" said Meeri.

"I can't marry you!" he said, aghast.

She went white.

"I see" she said. "Of course – you're an important person and I'm only a tinker brat. I – I forgot the disparity because of how much you seemed to like me."

Forgetful of her lack of attire he grabbed her shoulders to shake her.

"Little fool! It's nothing to do with your birth!" suddenly he was kissing her passionately, almost savagely; and he felt a sudden brief shock from her body and tried to bring himself to her senses as her body's reaction changed to eager response, and her arms slipped about his neck. Her lips opened under his, her body moving against him.

Domick was glad of his clothes to save him as the kiss lengthened; and at last he dragged himself from it, embarrassed that merely kissing her had brought him to sharp release.

Meeri's eyes were dark and she moaned little inarticulate cries of happiness.

Both Fugue and Snatch hummed happily on the bedboard; which did not help.

"Dom….more….?"

"I cannot marry you because it is improper for a Master to wed an apprentice; there might have been undue influence brought to bear" he said, his teeth gritted.

"Then we'll just have to be careful until I'm a Journeyman….Dom, please…"

He got off her and moved away from the bed, moving awkwardly at the now uncomfortable embassy of his pleasure.

"Meeri….what you need to understand is that where a man has indulged in light flirtation all his life, then reaches middle years and falls ridiculously in love with a girl young enough to be his daughter….young enough on paper to be his granddaughter had any of his apprentice exploits born fruit" he blushed. "Then he is afraid, totally afraid, of his own emotions, of frightening her, of taking advantage, of….of making a fool of himself" his voice was raw.

Her eyes blazed.

"You love me Domick? Truly? So hard, so jealously?"

"Shells help me, yes" he groaned.

"Then what's to worry about? I – I was afraid if you tired of me, being used to sophisticated variety, it'd be embarrassing in lesson time."

"I, tired of YOU? More likely the other way about!" he snapped.

"Oh? And who can write music to stir my belly like you do? Playing your music is almost as being kissed by you… it's like a rehearsal for it, and I want to spend my life making music with you. Rearing brats if you want 'em, though I'd rather foster out…."

"That's looking a long way into the future" he said.

"It'd be daft to embark on something without considering the future. You ought to have children and pass on the talent" said Meeri.

"Hmm, yes. I'd not be jealous of a child with more talent than me, I wager" he said dryly. "But sometimes people of talent produce ordinary children."

Meeri shrugged.

"So if we have babies who are composing symphonies in their cradles or if we have ones who are tone deaf and prefer to raise porcines for a living, it doesn't matter. So long as they feel loved and encouraged to do their own thing – whatever that is. This is too heavy a conversation, Domick, I'd want to wait for several turns before thinking of children. I want you to myself first, or I might resent them and that'd be real bad."

"It would" he said softly, ignoring her lapse into a lack of grammar. "Meeri…my dear… please leave me for now….we – we need to talk about this in – in a less emotive situation."

Meeri grinned impishly.

"I can find better use for your mouth than talking about it" she said. "All right, my dear, I'll go….but I had to force you to face it, you do understand?"

He nodded, and averted his eyes as she swung her slender body out of his bed and pulled on trews and tunic to slip out.

He lay awake for a long time in the darkness after she had gone.

And the pillow smelled of her sweet scent.