Chapter 7
Meanwhile, T'rin was not the only one who found T'arla's cavalier attitude to musical rules annoying, especially as she was so obviously talented. L'gal overheard a particularly snide comment one day and could not refrain from comment himself.
"T'arla, may I ask you one or two questions?" he said mildly.
"Talking's free…..Bronze Rider" she added the honorific a trifle sullenly to her insolent return as he looked at her.
"Why do we put on fighting straps in a particular way?" he asked.
"For safety. That's scarcely comparable, Harper."
L'gal continued as though she had not added her rider to the answer.
"When the instructions were laid down by the ancients to 'watch for the grubs' what happened?"
"The fool farmers killed them. What's that to do with it?" she tossed her curly black mane.
"If the ancients had had disciplined harpers who were trained to make a message clear, do you think it as likely that the misunderstanding would have occurred?"
T'arla shrugged.
"Maybe not. But that's nothing to do with making music the way it comes naturally, is it?" she said. "Any more questions, Harper Bronze Rider? I'm getting bored."
"Just two" he said grimly. "If the Greenrider can spare the time. First – what is it that you're afraid of that you must needs keep carping at us; and second, how would you like a fardling good spanking if you don't lay off and stop undermining our discipline with the kids we're teaching who DO want to learn?"
T'arla actually blushed!
"I'm not afraid of anything!" she declared hotly.
"No? It seems to me that you go to great lengths to mock the Harper way. If you were indifferent you'd not need to do so."
"I don't need to listen to you!" T'arla snapped, and flung out.
"Whew!" whistled T'rin. "That got her going all right!"
"About time" growling L'gal. "I'm sick of her wasting all that talent for some childish principle."
"Calm down!" suggested T'rin. "An old man like you needs to watch his pressure!"
Twenty-three turn-old L'gal thumped his young colleague judiciously.
T'arla sounded off about L'gal to Mi'a; and the other girl listened to the end of the diatribe. T'arla finally started to run down with comments about 'who does he think he is' before Mi'a interrupted.
"I'd say he KNOWS he is a blooded Bronze Rider" she said, rather coldly "Who deserves respect for that alone; as well as a Journeyman Craftsman who may be held to know therefore something about the craft that he is trained in; and you are not. To rephrase his question, what is it about Harper training that gets you in such a twist?"
T'arla flushed as L'gal's status was reiterated; she knew she had behaved unnecessarily insolently, even for the relaxed atmosphere of High Reaches. She answered Mi'a's question without acknowledging her fault, however.
"Isn't it obvious? My music is free. Not confined into prescribed forms. Like Geriana's painting; she's self taught and everyone respects her."
"I think you'll find" said Mi'a, mildly, "That Geri tries her hardest to learn techniques whenever she can to improve on her own natural style. And I am self-taught in my music; but I find that the forms and conventions give me structures to build on so that my music is better. T'rin is the same, you know; so we do both know what we're talking about, he the journeyman more even than I. And as you've only tried one way, it's rather foolish to condemn out of hand something you don't understand."
It was a long speech for thr introverted young Greenrider; and T'arla stared open mouthed.
"You're accusing ME, who prides herself on fairness, of being unfair?" she asked.
"Yes" said Mi'a calmly. "For you make a big noise about your own prejudices, bullying the rest of us who are uninterested in your views by interrupting OUR studies. The Journeymen are willing to show you a whole new world. And you're doing nothing but bite at them, like a badly treated canine that's hungry but mistrusts the hand that offers food."
"My family said it would be like this. That they'd try and trammel me and make me conform to other people's ideas" said T'arla sulkily.
"That's not true and you know it." Mi'a scowled, letting her irritation show. "T'rin's offered to teach you. You turned it down. Your choice. Did he pester you? No. Did he try to make you come to his view? No. Did you force your ideas loudly and rudely on the rest of us? Yes. And it's bad for the little ones to see a grown up – and an Impressed Rider at that! – behaving so badly. Now go away. You're boring and as I don't fancy you, I don't have T'rin's recourse for finding something interesting about you."
T'arla's mouth fell open again! She was not alone in mistaking Mi'a's quiet manner for a lack of fire; for although she could pick up on the girl's emotion – and Mi'a was angrier than T'arla had ever known her – she knew that many people swallowed their emotions, afraid to speak out, especially to someone of forthright and readily expressed views. Indeed she rather enjoyed needling people to see how well they contained themselves, little realising that it was a form of bullying: and the turning on her by a suddenly articulate Mi'a was a shock, in that the girl expressed herself and reproved her as effectively as might have T'lana or Pilgra! T'arla had much to think about, not least the concept of being boring!
T'arla went in search of T'rin; and could not have picked a worse time, for the journeyman had been present when L'rilly had fainted with a sick little cry and had been whisked to the Healer Hall. And despite his bad start with her, T'rin had become quite fond of the volatile Weyrwoman.
T'arla knew nothing of this, having been arguing with Mi'a when the incident had occurred.
"About your Harper theory" she began. T'rin interrupted with an exasperated sigh.
"Just put a plug in it, will you, T'arla? L'rilly's ill, really ill, and I just can't be bothered to play with you today!"
it was an unkind speech; and T'rin knew it. But he was not feeling kind, especially towards someone who took what he saw as a frivolous attitude towards something he held in such reverence as music and at a time when one of his extended family was so ill. For L'rilly had become like a sister to his beloved foster mother T'lana, and his own sister Sh'rilla; and he loved her despite her effervescence.
T'arla took one look at the young Journeyman's face, and left, wordlessly. It was a shock to realise that T'rin thought her antagonistic behaviour childish enough to 'not be bothered to play'. Especially as she had intended to ask a genuine question. But she had picked too many quarrels on the subject for the Journeyman to anticipate anything else but the same; and T'arla had at least the wisdom to realise that. Unaccustomed so seeking help in anything, she took herself to the drumheights to think.
L'gal found T'arla at the drumheights later when he came to drum a message; the marks of tears were still on her face, though she turned it into shadows at his approach.
L'gal knelt down beside her.
"What is it? Who has been hurting you?" his voice was angry as he turned her face back into the light.
She shrugged.
"Me, I suppose" she answered laconically. "Do you all think I'm childish and stupid?" she asked.
L'gal made himself more comfortable, sat on the floor beside her.
"I think you've been given some rum ideas" he said. "Which you cling to irrationally. Like F'lim did."
"F'lim? He's really good."
"Yes. Now. His family are all musical – but he's the first to come to the Harper Hall. And he'd learned wrong fingering on the gitar; which is fine for dances and shanties, but is a problem if you want to play more complex music – because although it's easier to learn, you don't have the freedom to switch to more complex chording for a wider repertoire. It means you are always limited in what you can play. Once T'rin explained that to him, he was just fine."
"Why didn't T'rin explain that to me?" she asked resentfully.
L'gal smiled dryly.
"Did you ever give him the chance? Besides the two of you are physically involved. And he's still a little young to stand back from that."
"Can we make a pact?" she asked.
"Maybe" the Bronze Rider said cautiously.
"Will you show me things – and if I agree I can do more with what you've shown me, then I'll become an apprentice: and if I don't, I won't. But whatever, I'll try not to sound off about it so much, all right? I know I'm prickly, and I've been disrespectful, but I've never been used to being under anyone before, and it's a sight easier to be grateful to the Riders one sees flying sweep when you never have to meet them to be respectful to anyway. And besides, it was mostly because it was fun making T'rin change colour several times" she added. "Though I DON'T want to be trammelled and confined, which is why I only want to give it a try – not agree to tie myself to apprenticeship without experiencing both sides."
It was a long speech; and came close to being an apology. L'gal laughed in relief, for having T'arla and her outspoken and uneducated views underfoot had been trying.
"I'll agree to that pact willingly, young T'arla – for you'll discover in a few short months how much freer your music will become. No-one can trammel or confine a Harper; our souls are always free. And your music is only as limited as your own imagination: that no amount of rules can limit or extend! True, the unimaginative use tricks and techniques – like that girl Carlinna and her drawing – and any true Harper recognises them as such. They please enough laymen however that like pretty and meaningless twiddles that they serve their purpose" he added cynically. "And I'm sure you already can think of a few popular lays that I'm thinking of; and perceive such travesties as the confinement that you worry about. But you'll soon see."
T'arla was much struck by that; there WERE tunes that were no more than tricks that she had assumed were the stock in trade of Harpers. That L'gal referred to them as travesties was truly encouraging! She held out a hand; and solemnly he grasped it to seal their agreement.
T'arla started to put as much effort into learning as she had previously done into avoiding rules! Her lovers were unceremoniously dropped – with a dragonet to care for as well as extra lessons, she had no time for outside recreation, as she rather loftily informed L'zayn and Z'nil, T'lana's twin cousins. They took it in good part; unlike some girls who were generous with their favours, T'arla was definitely 'one of the lads'.
L'gal worked hard too, teaching T'arla the basics she had never learned, making it as interesting as he could so as not to fray her fragile patience. When she started asking 'why?' more frequently than 'must I?' he knew he had won!
HHHH
T'lana meanwhile watched the byplay as much to keep herself from worrying about L'rilly as anything else. To have to have an operation of the sort Master Oldive had described was no joke; and T'lana knew that her friend would be long recovering, if indeed she survived. The young Queenrider commented to R'gar,
"If she'll have him, she'd never have to worry about another dragon catching Frith."
"Mmm?" R'gar did not always follow the leaps in conversation introduced by his mercurial little weyrmate.
"T'arla. And L'gal. Solpeth being Bronze" explained T'lana. It was enough of an explanation, and R'gar nodded comprehension. He said.
"And not unheard of either. Quite apart from M'gol and J'nara."
T'lana nodded.
"Quite. After all, Bronzes must have their fun too. And there's not enough Queens for one each. But it strikes me that it would be more natural if the majority of Green Riders were female, the rest homosexual. After all, there's as many Greens as the rest of the colours put together, on average. And whilst there's bound to be some random occurrences in mating flights – like Breeneth flying Tanath" – she winced, remembering Y'lara's pithy comments on the ineffectiveness of her weyrmate M'kel in not managing to get Vorth to catch Tanath "It could lead to largely settled relationships amongst riders, with mates able to share all their lives. I bet it would forestall any Oldtimerism."
R'gar shrugged.
"Maybe you're right. Though it doesn't always take a one-on-one to make a stable relationship.
"You're thinking of S'net, S'negen, B'kas and Geriana; but they are fairly unusual. Though I agree. I'm not saying it should be expected that people should be monogamous, for as with Tanath's choice this time it won't always happen; but that if effective marriage happened fairly naturally, it would save some of the friction the more….volatile riders can cause."
"High Reaches is already unusual in the number of monogamous relationships we have."
"And who flies the most efficient sweeps?" said T'lana triumphantly.
"Take it up with your father" R'gar suggested.
A martial light came into T'lana's eye.
"I might just do that. Or better still, Lessa!" she said.
R'gar groaned. It was obvious T'lana was pregnant; she had gone into her 'fix-it' way of thinking!
HHH
L'gal was trying very hard to be impartial. It had been his attraction to T'arla that had first made him speak out as vehemently as he had, trying to make her understand instead of merely exerting his authority as Bronze Rider Journeyman to tell her to stay out of the way of the Harpers. That and his hatred of wasted talent. However hard he tried to be impartial though, he was aware of the girl and as he corrected her holding of a new chord he was teaching her she leaned back against him: and he caught his breath.
He was not so naïve that he thought it accidental.
"This is not a good idea. Nor the time and place" he reproved.
"No, it isn't is it?" she sounded surprised. "But it seems so right" she turned and looked at him, her merry dark eyes unwontedly serious. "I can read emotions, you know, L'gal. if I try very hard."
"I see" he said. His words were not as even as he had intended. T'arla flushed lightly.
"I – I'm not sure what to do. Which isn't like me. Because it – it's different than usual" she said in a small voice.
L'gal ignored her grammatical irregularities.
"Because we talk without quarrelling and actually exchange ideas?" he suggested.
"Something like that. I – I guess I figured I should get to, er, know potential mates for Frith. Conversation never was important."
He nodded.
"It's a waste of your intelligence not to share conversation with a lover."
"Like it's a waste of my talents not to learn?"
"I don't like waste."
"Like a good little Holder Boy?"
"Like the kin of a good little Ruathan Runner Trader, my girl. All the best dragonriders come out of Ruatha."
"Sez you"
"Sez all the legends" he contradicted lazily.
"And are there rules about Green Riders being with Bronze Riders?" her question was half scornful, half hopeful.
"Oh yes" his voice was grave.
"I thought so" she tried to sound uncaring.
"The rule is, they have to have fun" L'gal said.
It took a moment to sink in; then she laughed.
"Of course. I should have realised; there's already M'gol and J'nara. It never occurred before. Well, what are we waiting for, Bronze Rider?"
"For you to get that chord right."
"Fardles. It'll wait."
L'gal gave in. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
HHH
T'rin's own love life took what could have proved a complex turn on an errand to the Harper Hall, carried by R'cal and Camnath. He came face to face with the beautiful Traysa.
She smiled warmly at him.
"Well, you've certainly come a long way since I last knew you, Journeyman Blue Rider" she smiled.
He nodded.
"And in some ways, full circle. I came to the Harper Hall from the Weyr: and now the Weyr has me back."
"Is it good to be back there?" she asked.
He nodded enthusiastically.
"It's one of my two homes" he said "And it's where my kin and fosterkin are."
"I've heard it is a lovely place. T'rin, do you have anyone special?"
"Not exactly" T'rin was cautious.
"I was thinking about settling down…..while I still have my looks. I always liked you, you know."
T'rin looked down at her and gently cupped her chin.
"Traysa, you have always made my blood race. But it's lust, not love. And you can't build a relationship on that. And as such it would be unfair to you – and on others in the Weyr."
She nodded sadly.
"Somehow I thought you'd probably say something like that" she said. "You always were bursting with integrity."
"That's not to say" added the young man "That I'd not come for you and care for you if you were ever in trouble – because I would. So promise you'd not hesitate to send for me, huh?"
She smiled at him and his heart pounded with the memory of their shared bodies.
"I hope there's a girl who deserves you" she said wistfully. "Yes, I'll call on you if I'm in need. And I hope we are friends?"
"Always" he embraced her; and left her watching after him.
Apart from his official errand – a request to borrow teaching scrolls to copy – T'rin wanted to look in on his friends and to find out how Kitiara was coping. Though it was none of his design, he felt vaguely guilty that the girl had fallen so hard for him. He hoped she had managed to transfer her affection to the likeable Ferry; though he anticipated that the girl was quite likely to fall in and out of love several times before she settled down. He was secure in the knowledge that Ferry had good common sense and would behave with all propriety, ignoring his, T'rin's, own facetious suggestion to get Kit pregnant! For Ferry's love for Kit was likely to be no more than calf love too; and if it proved otherwise, well, both youngsters had time enough to bring Kit's father round to it.
When T'rin ran his friends to earth – making writing sheets from reed pith as he had taught them – Kit and Ferry did seem on excellent terms. He raised an eyebrow at his frined, whose berry brown hair and skin were currently obscured by sticky mud. Ferry found it impossible to do any job cleanly. The boy shrugged in reply to his older friend's raised eyebrow.
"Half a loaf" he commented. T'rin pulled a sympathetic face: there was nothing else he could do. He suddenly realised one of the accustomed number was missing.
"Where's Shoris?" he asked.
Ferry grinned.
"His voice broke. So while he's alternating squawking like a wherry and bellowing like a dragon, the Masterharper sent him on a hush-hush mission to the Woodcrafter Hall."
T'rin looked interested.
"Oh yes? Our Elissa's there, I wonder if she's discreet enough not to let on who he is." He said cheerfully.
"Who's Elissa?" Kitiara was still inclined to leap in jealously with such a question.
"She's H'llon's apprentice. Talented by all accounts, and singleminded about wood. Boring kid, but it takes all sorts" T'rin shrugged. "Well, if it's hush-hush I shan't ask any questions. I daresay I shall find out about it from H'llon sooner or later."
T'rin applied himself to spending an afternoon with his friends as R'cal was also running errands for T'bor at Fort Weyr. For a short while he was able to shed all his responsibilities; and he enjoyed every minute of it!