Chapter 6
Lyseder and Mira stood close together on the hot sand, sharing a scared smile. Mira was part of the small knot of girls, with Shevanne, Riana, Geriana, Prisca and Carlinna. Mira grinned to herself as a surreptitious notebook appeared in Geriana's hand, several small paper leaves sewn together at one end and a piece of willow charcoal tied to it by a long thread. Geriana never could resist making visual notes! Lyseder caught Mira's eye, laughing. The lad, to be honest, had no expectation of Impressing. He knew full well he was under age; and R'gar only permitted him to don the white tunic to conceal the fact that his youth was known. After the Hatching, T'rin and R'gar had hatched the story that the boy was to be too busy with his harper studies to consider being a candidate; that he would wait. That way he would not run out of the permitted number of hatchings before he truly was of age; nor risk Impressing too young. And it would not be a lie. Lyseder wanted to be a Harper far more than he wanted to Impress. So the lad hung back; and watched.
Lyseder was startled, therefore by the cry,
"Go on, Lyseder! Go forward!"
The cry came from the stands; and the voice belonged to his cousin Eseledur! Lyseder turned – and saw his mother there too! As the older boys made their way forward toward the eggs and hatching dragonets, Lyseder ran towards the stands to throw himself into his mother's arms!
A brown dragonet was also making its way towards the stands, apparently following the young boy, to the consternation of those who knew his true age.
"Lyseder – Lyseder, turn round!" Eseledur shook his cousin's shoulder. "A dragon babe! He's adorable – he – he's Eshalath!" he cried as the piteous dragon babe looked up at him pleadingly. "And he's so HUNGRY!"
Kister, waiting with Lyseder's family, gave the boy a push on the back.
"Go on, E'ledur, take your dragonet to R'gar. He'll help" the harper said.
E'ledur nodded, dazed. He was not even a candidate!
"but I needed you" Eshalath said.
E'leder wrapped his skinny brown arms around the long brown neck, revelling in the mental joining he had with his new friend.
"We need each other" he replied fiercely.
"I'll help you with him" said Lyseder, firmly from beside him. "I'm not going to Impress, not this time anyway. So I can show you what to do, because I've done all the lessons."
"Thanks, kid" E'ledur really appreciated the offer. With one arm about his wobbly young dragon and the other draped over the shoulder of his young cousin he made his way out of the cavern with the other lucky candidates!
Kister and Felimmy watched the hatching entranced. T'rin joined them, yodelling happily when Sukith tumbled damply from her shell and Mira lifted her chin; T'rin had never doubted that his pupil would Impress.
"Well done our Mi'a!" he roared with all the strength of his harper-trained lungs. Mi'a looked up and smiled a smile of pure joy. T'rin was crying if he but knew it. Kister grinned.
"Your girl?" he queried.
T'rin shook his head.
"No….." he said "But she was our first apprentice…."
And she was a nice kid. He'd have to see what Sukith thought of Renpeth!
It was to no-one's surprise that neither Prisca nor Carlinna Impressed. Those who understood her were also unsurprised that there was no dragon for Geriana. She took her art too single-mindedly. She tried to hide her disappointment as her three weyrmates led her comfortingly off. Sh'anne and Ri'a had been more fortunate with Amianth and Zayth, both of them overjoyed to have attempted a second time on the hatching grounds!
There was only one little dragonet left , a little blue, bawling disconsolately. Disappointed candidates tried to catch his eye, but he shouldered them away impatiently.
"Oh, this is ridiculuous!" burst out Felimmy, hurdling the barrier. "You silly Berith! Do you really want me?"
"of course"
"But you never felt me before!"
"Yes I did. I felt you later before."
Somehow it made perfect sense. Both Eshalath and dear, wonderful Berith knew that he, Felimmy and Eseledur – E'ledur, he corrected himself – were coming! They could sense Between time! And why not?
"Hmm" said T'rin. "How to contract you….F'my sounsa greedy; F'limmy is silly. How about F'lim?"
"That's quite proper" Berith told his new partner.
Felimmy – F'lim – grinned.
"Berith likes it. So I do too."
HHH
Master Harper Robinton had a serious meeting with his senior masters.
"Craft Halls have been designated outside a main Hall before now. Other Crafts do it regularly. I suggest that as High Reaches Weyr has collected several of our promising youngsters, they should not be hampered in their future development."
"They're hampered by having another job" grunted Domick. "It'll slow them down."
Robinton shrugged.
"Slow is not stop. Either we can send a permanent master, or arrange regular assessments."
"It seems a shame, Rob, to take away the senior authority of L'gal – and moreover to set a permanent master over a Bronze Rider" was Domick's opinion.
"Then they must receive visits regularly!" said Robinton, gaily.
Allessa was overjoyed to be with her son again; the cruel edict that he not be mentioned had been almost as painful as the worry about him. And if she was secretly pleased not to lose him yet to a dragon, she said nothing of it. Lyseder was a little disappointed, of course, but not disconsolate. And he was delighted to introduce his mother to his journeyman teacher T'rin whose interference had made it possible for Allessa and E'ledur to be there, he told her!
T'rin grinned self deprecatingly.
"Just nosiness really" he said.
"Please, Blue Rider, I'm very grateful for all your care for my son" Allessa was scrupulously deferential.
"Aw, crackdust" said T'rin. "He's a good kid. And I like to help m'father – the Weyrlingmaster – with the kids. I've done a lot of teaching as Journeyman before I Impressed."
"Blue Rider F'lim is one of T'rin's pupils!" said Lyseder. Where he had come by that information, T'rin had no idea! "He can carry on learning with us!"
T'rin grinned.
"In a class of his own, sprout. I'm afraid he's way ahead of all of you!"
"That's okay. He's got a dragon to care for now; p'haps I can catch up!"
T'rin laughed and ruffled the boy's hair while his mother gasped at his temerity at speaking so to a Dragonman! T'rin said,
"Allessa, if you're staying here with us – as we hope you will – get one thing straight. Here you need fear no-one. And if anyone tries to upset you, I or R'gar or any of the girls will sort them out, and GOOD! See?"
Allessa did not see – then. But she smiled her thanks at his kindness.
"I may stay then?" she asked. "I have nowhere else to go, but did not like to ask…."
"Assuredly you may. We always need people to care for we poor helpless dragonmen. And if you are within age, there's no reason on Pern you should not be put to egg and stand a candidate."
She hook her head.
"I could not face Thread….I'd rather drudge here."
T'rin nodded acceptance of her honestly expressed limitations.
"I'll take you to see Keerana; she runs the place, being Headwoman. Tell her your skills; she'll soon sort out a niche fore you" he told her cheerfully.
"Thank you!" Allessa gave him a warm smile. T'rin thought that when she had lost the pinched look of the habitually bullied she would be quite pretty; and then she'd not take long to find a decent, honest lover.
HHH
T'rin and Renpeth were contemplating flight; so with two of the class Impressing, lessons were of necessity somewhat truncated. The younger ones worked on with L'gal, who also set them a lot of free study: because he, like T'rin, wanted to help F'lim and to a lesser extent E'ledur, since they had not had the benefit of previous classes on dragon care. Although E'ledur had no interest in harping, the two journeymen felt a degree of responsibility towards their young apprentice's cousin since their intervention in his Hold had ultimately led to the boy being in the Weyr. Lyseder himself was able to be a great help to his cousin, and E'ledur soon caught up on the routine! For harper trained F'lim, learning a new skill was easy enough too, especially with all the support he had from the other apprentices.
T'rin saw a great deal of Allessa too; she had no real fear of dragons and mucked in to help the youngsters, and with Keerana's permission took it upon herself to clean up after and bring klah for the little harper group. She enthusiastically endorsed R'gar's suggestions that the harpers needed a real Harper Hall within the Weyr, especially in light of Masterharper Robinton designating it a true Crafthall. F'lim dredged up what he could remember of his minercraft background to run some preliminary surveys on suitable sites; and T'rin's clutchmates D'nor and B'lan were pleased to offer their expertise too when they found out what was proposed at F'lim's tentative request to them. Masterminer Nicat was consulted; High Reaches folk were currently high in his favour for solving a multiple murder within a minehold and preventing a worse incident, and he was glad to help. The decision was made to dig back from a weyr above the teaching caverns to make a number of teaching rooms for different aspects of the craft, and run a flight of steps down to the main ground floor corridor near the teaching cavern used by weyrlings. The weyrs on that side were less popular; and L'gal had no trouble swopping his own weyr for one close enough to run steps down to the new complex. T'rin was content with a smaller empty weyr there; Renpeth was never going to grow as large as Bronze Solpeth. A similar flight of steps was added for him, and the journeymen voted the arrangement ideal. Allessa cleaned out an old storeroom near the weyrling kitchens for herself; and prepared to make herself available as main drudge to the harper caves. The weyr from which they had been dug would be snug accommodation for visiting dragons bringing harpers, and Allessa set to work on a second quilt – she was already making one for E'ledur's Eshalath – to lay on the sand couch to help against the biting cold of the High Reaches.
T'rin, finding her at work after he had been inspecting the progress of the mining of further caves, laughed and bent to give her an affectionate hug.
"Don't work too hard for us" he said. "Get your strength back to grow more beautiful!"
She raised her eyes rapidly, and lowered them again as quickly; but T'rin had already seen the expression on her face. He knelt down beside her where she sat, and cupped her face.
"You should know that I'm not planning on settling down yet" he said gently "And I'm hoping for a weyrmate who will have a dragon for Renpeth. I'd be unfair if I didn't make that clear. And I'd not necessarily be faithful to a love mate, for I already share fun with another girl."
She looked up again, blushing becomingly.
"You mean – you'd consider – you might want me?" she whispered wonderingly.
T'rin put a hand to her face.
"You're pretty. You're kind. You make me feel good. But I don't love you, Allessa. I like you very much, but I'll not lie. Anything we did would be for fun and from friendship – not for keeps. And if that's going to hurt you, I don't want to start anything, for I'm far too fond of you to cause you pain."
Tentatively she slid her arms up round his neck and pulled his face towards hers.
"And is not that far more than anything I've ever had before?" she asked. "Friendship is more even than Lyseder's father offered, looking back, though he knew how to make me feel good while we were together. And even that was an improvement."
"You can do better than me" said T'rin, ruefully; and he kissed her.
Her response begged more; and the young harper led her to his weyr to make love to her. It was not the violent urge he had felt with T'arla; it was a gentler, more sharing experience. When he and T'arla shared a bed each took what they needed: and it worked fine. But Allessa had been hurt, and T'rin wanted to help heal that. It was good, teaching her how to receive loving. From her responses as much as much as Allessa's comment on Lyseder's father T'rin strongly suspected that the harper had been a selfish little creep, exploiting a lonely, unhappy woman: and resolved to thrash the fellow if ever he met him. Teaching Allessa self confidence and the ability to take as well as give could prove a long job.
It would take as long as it took.
Mi'a asked T'rin some days later,
"How many women do you have on the go right now?"
"Me? Only two" T'rin sounded injured.
"Two? And do they know about each other?"
He shrugged.
"They know I'm not exclusive. I don't know if they know each other's identity. I doubt T'arla would care much. After all, she's not exactly exclusive herself either. And I warned Allessa I was seeing another girl."
"I just hope Allessa doesn't get hurt" Mi'a disapproved. "I couldn't help noticing the way she looks at you."
"I hope not as well" said T'rin with a sigh. "I know that however much I may warn her, I can't stop any feelings she may have. But we're not suited long term, and I hope she'll come to realise that inside as well as by what I've said. What I'm hoping is that some nice protective brown rider will sweep her off her feet when she's ready to be loved for real."
"I hope you know what you're doing" admonished Mi'a.
T'rin shrugged again, spreading his arms wide to express his helplessness over the situation.
"So do I. But she is attractive and she needs to know that. Not that it's any of your business, young apprentice."
Mi'a tossed her head, ignoring the implied reproof.
"Of course it's my business. She's a woman who's attached to the Weyr-family in our Harper Hall here. And she needs looking after. R'gar and T'lan always talk about the duty of dragonriders to protect; I'm looking on her as someone who needs my protection."
T'rin grinned.
"You've certainly come out of your shell since you Impressed. You sound almost like Y'lara."
She glared at him.
"Anything wrong with that?"
"Not necessarily. So long as you don't start teaching me naughty seabred words"
Mi'a laughed.
"I'm never quite sure if I want to hit you or hug you" she confessed.
"I'd settle for the hug" T'rin winked at her.
"I bet, you proddy little porcine."
"Shells, you do sound like Y'lara! Don't try too hard to be like her, huh?"
Mi'a flushed.
"I – I guess it's a different sort of defence. To cover being shy. I thought I'd try it out on you because you're safe."
T'rin touched her face.
"Thank you for thinking me safe. But Mi'a, don't force it. You have the steel core – else Sukith would not have chosen you. Stand up for what you know is right – like tackling me over Allessa. But don't turn into a sticklebush!"
Mi'a laughed.
"Thanks, T'rin" she said. T'rin leaned over and dropped a light kiss on her cheek; and she looked up at him warily.
"The best things in life make haste slowly, if they happen" he said cryptically. "As for Allessa, I'd not see her hurt if I could avoid it and I'll do my best not to do so; but I have no control over the thoughts and feelings of others. At least I can give her some pleasure and happiness – and hope that what I do is to prepare her for another."
"You're a decent man for a proddy little porcine" said Mi'a affectionately.
T'rin's love life was briefly interrupted by the discovery of the Ancient artefacts by H'llon in the minehold when he stopped to investigate the dying man injured by an ancient rock cutter. More properly the artefacts had been in an old minehold broken into by more recent passages; Master Nicat's men were opening up the ancient hold, and T'rin and L'gal had volunteered to record any finds for posterity. It appeared, however, that the original sleeping chamber found had been the only one that had been abandoned with its contents intact; the other rooms they found had been cleared of possessions. Evidently the occupants had had the time to go back for their things after the first rockfall. The two Harpers, like all the Logicators, were fascinated by the manual, or casebook, of what the ancients had evidently referred to as 'detection'; and L'gal helped H'llon to understand the strange and archaic stories of the case histories. The new addition to the number of the Logicators in the person of Journeyman Healer Ketelin was also enthusiastically received for the bringing of more expert knowledge to assimilate into the group and to help decipher the old manual!
Between this excitement T'rin continued his affairs with T'arla and Allessa; T'arla was not promiscuous but she had picked herself several lovers whose dragons might be expected to catch Frith, and who attracted her. That way, she figured, Frith would have a wider choice and she, T'arla, should be happy with who the little Green chose. Her relationship with T'rin was less intense than it had been; but their couplings were stress-free fun. The same could not be said of any conversation between tham. T'arla's oft expresses scorn of proper musical methodology irritated T'rin because he knew she threw contentious remarks to needle him. He fought hard with himself to make himself return soft and conciliatory answers; it gave him some satisfaction that this annoyed her at least as much as her comments annoyed him, but he let himself be drawn into the occasional splendid little spat just for the satisfaction of making up afterwards!
Allessa was both less stressful than T'arla and more. Physically she stood in constant need for reassurance; but her presence out of bed was soothing. T'rin started making personal files on suitable long-term lovers for her; because he liked her a lot and wanted her to be happy when their affair – as it inevitably would – ended. He discussed it with Mi'a.
"Are you always so cold blooded?" she asked.
"I didn't mean to be cold blooded" he said, hurt. "I just want the best for someone I'm fond of."
"Haven't you ever been desperately in love?" she scolded.
He frowned.
"No. No, not really. Even Traysa was pure lust."
"Traysa?"
He grinned, savouring the memory.
"A loving-woman at the Harper Hall, way beyond my means, really….my first experience, if you must know."
"I see."
"No, you don't. But it doesn't matter."
"I hope you fall hopelessly and painfully in love" she said, vehemently.
"I'd like to. But I'm of the opinion that the best kind grows out of friendship and deepens with time; sudden things tend to end as suddenly, you know."
She sniffed.
"If you noticed any such thing as love growing under your nose."
He grinned.
"I think I'd notice" he said.
She snorted; and he laughed.
"Nobody can do more than their best nor give more than they have to give" he said philosophically "And at least I try to think through the consequences of my actions – unlike some real proddy little porcines. And you'll meet enough of them."
She shrugged.
"Why do you think I'm getting in my practice now before Sukith's ready to rise?" she said. "My teacher can give me lessons in more than harping – like how to give a well turned set-down."
"Ah, and that too will come with harping" he said cheerfully "For you'll learn to craft those well balanced cadences!"