Chapter 6

The first-turners spread the story of Breda's blue hair, of course; it was too good a story not to tell. It got to the ears of the other paying girls too.

"Wouldn't blue hair have been a better fashion statement if you were at the Harper Hall?" suggested Kelia.

Breda went red and looked close to tears.

Kelia repented.

"Hey, kid, no offence meant, and if the ghastly stuff is yellow to start off with, and weird sounding stuff that is, I guess it's an easy mistake," the weyrbred girl said hastily. "I dunno that blue might not suit you more anyway, with your eyes – if you had the sheer gall to carry it off. It'd certainly be different! I wonder if T'rin – he's a Harper Blue Rider – would do it if I dared him? He's got that wild streak!"

"Oh, surely not!" protested Indeela.

"Whaddya bet I can get him to do it?" said Kelia.

"You Weyrfolk will bet on anything!" said Barla.

"Heh, my brother is the weyrbookie; our weyrartist drew a caricature of him chalking up the odds on Sharath's brown flanks," said Kelia. "As if Sharath would stand for that … K'len's never without his slate, though, to record a bet."

"I feel almost uncomfortable about having three siblings in the Weyr, with that going on," said Rulene. "Mother doesn't approve of gambling."

"Nothing wrong with gambling, as such," said Breda, forgetting her hair. "It's not knowing their limits that makes some gamblers into real losers. My Pa won enough to invest wisely and get rich by betting carefully."

"I guess the trick," said Marra, for Master Lynger had not yet returned with news for her, "Is only to bet what you can afford to lose, and also to make informed choices by knowing something about what you bet on."

Breda opened her mouth to say something scathing, shut it again, and shrugged.

"Well, that's right in principle, I guess, kid," she said, patronisingly. "And not knowing their limits covers those who bet with what they can't afford to lose. Have you ever gambled?"

"I don't have any marks to do so, as you know," said Marra, clearly, "But I like picking the runnerbeasts. Last races Lord Eveny hosted, I picked four winners in a row," she shrugged. "It's just fun to see if you guess right; you don't need to risk your marks on it."

"Shells, girl you could have done plenty well if you'd only put some on!" said Breda. "What did you use to pick them? What criteria?"

"Oh, if they looked eager," said Marra, "You know, that look in the eye, and the … the feel about them."

"Hey, maybe you're part whisperer," said Kelia. "Tell you what, kid, pick a winner for every race, and note down if they win or place, and I'll run a statistical probability on your choices, and see if you're on to something." Kelia had discovered that T'lana's mathematics included skills that were of use to a gambler and had been an assiduous student! She added "And I'll put a quarter mark on every runner you choose, because I'd like to bet anyway, and if they win, I'll split the profit with you, deal?"

"That's more than generous," said Marra.

"It'll be fun," said Kelia.

Bresa was feeling quite gratified. She had been able to have a conversation with the girls without being leaped on for being improper, even though they had teased her about her hair! She could not resist asking Marra, however,

"So, no comment from you about my hair?"

Marra looked at her thoughtfully.

"If you cared less about your outward appearance and thought more about other people, you'd be so much prettier, 'cos you wouldn't pull such awful grimaces and get sneer lines," she said. "I don't actually care what you look like or if your hair is green with pink stripes in it."

Breda stared, open mouthed.

"Y'know, the kid has no tact, but she has a point, young 'un," said Kelia to Breda. "You picked up some odd ideas; but if you just looked on the world expecting to find it good, you'd look more contented, and contented people stay good looking longest. It is one of the advantages of Impression, I suppose. Men, of course, who are content tend to put on weight. T'bor has to watch his waistline! But that's just like a man, very little between the ears other than contemplation of the next meal."

Breda just nodded.

There was more to being a lady than being rich and having the right skills.

oOo

Marra was summoned to Master Lynger's office; and returned beaming all over her face to pack her things.

"What, surely not being sent home?" asked Breda. She was surprised; but maybe Amrys had spoken to her parents and they had taken a dimmer view of a drudge associating with the Ranking than their strange little daughter. In a way that would almost be a disappointment, because it would confirm what she had thought she had known, not what she was learning.

Marra grinned happily.

"Oh, no! It seems that Lady Varilka didn't know I could have a proper apprenticeship, so now I'm to learn everything, and not just the stuff they can trust even paying students not to make too much of a mess of!"

"Cheeky," said Kelia, without rancour.

Marra beamed at her.

"Apprentices are s'posed to be," she said. She was bubbling over with pleasure and forgot to be shy.

Kelia was fairly certain that the barbed comment had been aimed at Breda anyway, not the rest of them.

"Well, best of luck, kid," the weyrbred girl said. "I hope you enjoy it."

"Well, I guess I don't need a job to train for," said Breda, half envious that Marra was accepted and not about to show it.

"Nope," said Amrys, coming into the room. "I've come to help you with your stuff, Marra, by the way. No, Breda, you don't need a job. You can do what a farrowing sow does every spring, with as much training as she, once you've caught your boar. No need to use your brains at all; which is just as well."

"What do you mean?" demanded Breda, furiously.

"Well if you had any brains, you'd have figured out by now that your histrionics – isn't that a nice word? – and new wealth don't impress anyone at all. And you'd maybe have asked how a lady is supposed to behave instead of acting like a loving wench who caught an elderly Holder and thinks that the only way to feel above other people is to put them down, thereby making all her underlings despise her. You're uncomfortable in Ranking society, or you wouldn't put on such foolish airs and pretend to be high and mighty. Politeness is the prerogative of princes, you know; prince is an archaic word for Ranking. If you want to learn, you can come and talk to me, otherwise, stay the fardles out of the way of all the apprentices. Is that everything, Marra?"

"Just my workbag."

"Good, we can manage it all between us," Amrys nodded to the other girls. "Have a nice day, ladies, try not to feel to disheartened that you're only paying students."

"Pest," said Kelia. "I swear, you're worse then Sagarra!"

Amrys laughed.

"More apprentices around me to encourage me than there are weyrbrats around her," she said.

oOoOo

Rillys and Corbin wanted Jilamon and Amrys to be a part of opening the Gather; and had asked Master Lynger if they might have their offspring to be official.

Lynger was happy to agree; Lady Amrys was a crafter only until she confirmed, after all, and had other duties as Lady Holder.

Master Braelek had sewn Summer Gather clothes for the youngsters, and they wore them for the opening. Jilamon wore a pale blue linen shirt, embroidered in a darker blue and in white, with dark blue trews; Amrys had a gown of cream damasked with pink in patterns of figure-of-eight knots at the meeting of diamonds, and pink wherry-flowers between. It was very pretty, and Amrys wore with it to guard against the heat, a wide-brimmed had of straw, bleached to the colour of the gown, with a pink ribbon around it. Jilamon's straw was a serviceable and masculine dark blue.

oOo

Rillys and Corbin were proud of their handsome children, as they declared the Gather open. Trading had already begun, of course! But the official opening also declared that the Hog Roast was also open. There were cheers.

A young man approached Amrys and bowed gallantly; and she recognised him as the southern fosterling whom she had rescued from the result of his own foolish antics on thin ice.

"My lady!" he said. "Though of tender years, you promise to be an unforgettable beauty! May I reserve a dance this evening?"

Amrys regarded him meditatively.

"No, I don't think so," she said. "I couldn't guarantee you're not as inept at dancing as you are at skating."

"My lady! Who can have been so unkind as to say I am an inept skater?"

"Me. I saw it with my own eyes. Your jumps are heavy and you're stupid enough to ignore safety notices. And I guess you're also a liar because if my beauty was unforgettable, I should think that one face you ought to remember is the one you clawed at when you were panicking; the face that hauled you out of that hole in the ice you put yourself in. Oh, do shut your mouth; it makes you look more like a landed packtail than you did up as the Esvay Falls."

"But … but that was a scrubby apprentice brat!"

"Yup, that's me. Apprentice Weaver Amrys, hoping to make Journeyman before I'm confirmed as Lady Holder. Some of us think that Blood obligates, beyond making silly objects of ourselves in front of sillier friends. Don't ever think of courting me, I want a husband who can achieve more than one thought a turn, and if you talk to me again, I'll write to Lord Sangel and ask him to keep his ovines at home." And she stalked off.

"Well, I don't see any difference between you politeness and mine, there!" said Breda, who had been hanging around and had eavesdropped shamelessly.

Amrys grinned.

"But then there's history between him and me. I was horridly rude to him, wasn't I? He has tried to drown me though, so fair's fair."

"Tried to drown you?"

"The idiot was showing off, went past the notice warning of dodgy ice. He went through. Zayven held Jilamon and Jilamon held me, and I threw the idiot my scarf – which was ruined, by the way – and he kept trying to grab at me, which would have dragged me in too, as I told him, and maybe Jilamon too. And were he and his friends in the least bit grateful? Were they, fardles! Silly wherries, all the girls did was scream! Is that the sort of Ranking you want to be? Useless articles who think themselves great purely for their birth? It's all they have, I assure you, birth, for there's nothing between the ears! They exist, I fear, and I despise them!"

"I … I guess I wouldn't like that," said Breda. "I … I want to own Runnerbeasts!" she added in a rush.

"Heh, well, you could do a lot worse than foster a turn with Tragen," said Amrys. "But you'll work as hard as, and alongside, his stableboys. A lot of work goes into caring for Runners, and if you don't know all the jobs, you've no real right to own them. Even Zeleika has a passing understanding of what to do, though she's more interested in them as commodities than as beasts! Same as how a Holder's wife should know how to scrub floors, lay fires, cook, launder and sew before she presumes to order others to do it. How can you tell someone to perform a task if you don't fully understand the task they're performing? You don't know if they're doing it right."

"Do … have you done all that?"

"Of course! Mother expects me to know my duty properly," said Amrys, "and I've a passing acquaintance with economics too, though I'll learn more about Hold accounting as I get older. However much income a Hold has, it has to be used carefully, as profligacy leads to poverty. A trader's daughter must know that already; your father doesn't buy more than he can sell, or fails to buy what he thinks he can shift, even if that means gambling on taking a loan. In a hold, you don't buy in more than can be eaten, even at bargain prices, unless you have a way to preserve it. Because there'll be waste, and waste is profligate, and the bargain is totally lost. Your early training will help you there, it's a good grounding. And you'll understand, too, how to dicker with traders and craftsmen to get the best price. Tradercraft is a useful thing to know."

"Oh!" said Breda. "My father said if I learned all the right things I could live in luxury and never have to do anything!"

"Well, your father can't know many Holder's wives I guess," said Amrys. "and how boring! Do you really want to have nothing to do but embroider cushion covers and play the gitar? I bet Lady Varilka oversees all that goes on – how else would she have noticed Marra's good work? The sooner you get over being jealous of her, the better!"

"Jealous of her?"

"Jealous of her," said Amrys. "You're jealous that Lady Varilka noticed her and was prepared to sponsor her; and jealous that she's good enough to warrant it. Maybe sewing isn't your talent; maybe caring for Runnerbeasts is. Think about it. If you're prepared to work for what you care about, I'll respect you for it, and I'll respect you if you also knuckle down to learn what you can this turn to be as good as you can be. And if you really hate it, well, Tragen takes his fosterlings at Turnover, and I can have words with the right people to have you included. But good sewing and weaving skills are good for any woman to have, you know!"

"Father wanted me to go to the Harper Hall."

"Tragen has a Master Harper and quite a little Harper Hall at his Hold. They work closely with the Harperweyr too," said Amrys. "For extra tuition in singing, dancing and an instrument, I'm sure arrangements could be made. From what I've heard, the Harper Hall panders to ninnies who can't hold a tune in a sack and they don't have to do much. You'd be bored silly. And I think there's a nicer girl inside you than the one I've been being rude to. You've been a bully but I think you can get over it or I wouldn't be troubling to talk to you now. Your father let the marks go to his head, and drive out his shrewd trader brains for a while, I guess – and encouraged you to do the same! I expect he wants the best for his little girl, as the best fathers do! But I don't think he really knows the best way to do well by you. He's speculating in a market that's new, like a mountain man trying to trade in fish. He and you need to learn how the market works before you go out to trade for a suitable husband."

"You make it sound so mundane!"

"It is. Most Ranking marriages are made with an eye to alliance. If your father is rich, a Holder may look on him as a means to expand his Holding, exchanging that for giving you position. It really can be that coldblooded! And the way you spoke, you seemed to expect that your wealth would buy a Ranking husband! I'd like to marry for love, but I'm not naïve enough to expect more than friendship and affection even if I may hope to have something as close as Rillys and Corbin have. But I've a wide sphere of contacts, and I could marry within the weavercraft, too, without it being looked down on, because the Hold hosts the Craft. Eyebrows would be raised if I wanted to marry someone without Rank, unless he was at least a Journeyman of a craft that was loosely associated with the hold, and I don't know if I could do it even if I wanted to. It's my blood that counts, so I guess if I fell in love with a … a caprine herder, I could just produce babies and not wed. On the whole, though," Amrys added thoughtfully, "people tend to stay in lowly occupations 'cos they haven't the brains or the inclination to get out, since boys at least can try for apprenticeship. Girls have fewer options; less crafts take them, at least, not willingly. And it's only recently the Weyr took girls for Green dragons."

"So you don't actually think a lot of drudges and labourers?"

"I never said that. I said they tend not to be very clever. The exceptions, like Marra, hopefully get noticed and get a hand up. But whether they are clever or not, I respect them for doing their job according to their duty and ability. I would not disrespect them by making extra work for them by being untidy, or by pushing them around. That would be most ill bred. Everyone has their place; and it's proper to respect someone for fulfilling that place, you know. And to respect, too, those with aspirations to rise. I don't dislike the idea of you wanting to marry into the Ranking, I I dislike the way you think you ought to behave as Ranking. And I despise and loathe those who are Ranking that behave like that, 'cos they ought to know better. You have the chance to learn. And a real lady would apologise to Marra for being bullying, and would be big enough to explain about being jealous of her abilities, because deep down you realise that money can't buy talent. Which is what it's all about. But perseverance can buy ability; and is worthy of respect."

"I – I'll think about what you've said," said Breda.

"You do that," said Amrys, "and act naturally to her, me, and all the others alike, and you might just find that you make Ranking friends instead of me trying to escape you being sycophantic and determinedly presuming on me being informal. Forcing yourself on someone is bound to make them dislike you, you know! 'Scuse me, I have to make pretty at our more distinguished visitors; mother is beckoning."

And she left Breda with even more to ponder.

Amrys did not think she would ever find Breda likeable, but if she could have some of her ideas adjusted, she might at least become bearable!