Chapter 4
Horgey enjoyed the session working with Master Jerint. T'rin was a fine instrument crafter and had brought him on a lot; and H'llon had helped him with some of the woodcrafting aspects too. But T'rin was also in many ways an instinctive worker, though he knew the theory well enough; but some of the things he did were from sheer feel, and he could not always explain to Horgey why some slight change had lifted an instrument from good to excellent. Jerint was delighted to find Horgey well versed in the mathematical relationships regarding string length and thickness and the placement of holes in wind instruments; but was also able to give the young man several practical pointers in crafting more complex instruments than he had been able to do with T'rin!
"I really enjoy making instruments, Master Jerint" said Horgey, happily.
"That is apparent from the few I have already stamped for sale" said the Master Instrumentcrafter. "You'd not skimped, even on simple drums and tambourines, but made sure to get the best sound out of them,"
"Well…yes" said Horgey. "If people are going to buy them to play, they'll want good tone…oh, I see" he flushed. "Before I only did as much as I had to and hoped to get marks for it, because I wasn't thinking through about people wanting to have good instruments…and I suppose too I didn't really understand what I was doing, nor yet why, or how to improve; and I was too busy being a sad bully to listen."
Jerint started.
"My dear boy! You've a remarkable ability in self honesty, young Horgey!" He said. "Perhaps it's why you've become a quite respectable instrument crafter; because you want your instruments to sound true and to be true to themselves too."
Horgey blinked.
"I'd not thought of it like that" he said "But I'd not say you're not right at that, sir. I did a lot of thinking flat on my back, and in such a situation there's no way you can hide from yourself. And if you don't like what you find in yourself, then you have to change. Because if YOU don't like you, who else will? And you have to find the real you inside and only by utter truth can you do that."
Jerint nodded.
"T'rin has done wonders with you" he said "But after hearing that, I'd confirm my suspicions that Horgey has also done wonders with Horgey. The Harper Hall failed you initially my boy; we'll try not to fail you now you've found yourself."
"Thank you very much, sir" said Horgey, touched!
Horgey used his time with Master Jerint to start to prepare some really good instruments for his own use; a larger lap harp than the one he was currently using and with a full chromatic scale; and a twelve-stringed gitar that would require complex and demanding fingering but would produce as much fullness of tone as a really good harp. He appreciated the opportunity to use a wider range of tools than he had available at the Weyr, and to learn how to prepare materials from scratch, like hides from uncured hide. It was widely rumoured that Master Jerint could look at a herdbeast and predict what sound the hide would make on a drum; and Horgey did not discount the rumour. Being bred of a small Hold he had some idea of assessing how good a hide on a beast would be before the animal was slaughtered, and could see that experience making drums would lead to the next step of assessment. Horgey was also pleased to have a wider range of materials at his command; H'llon provided all the wood the Harperweyr needed, and more for each apprentice than the Harper Hall itself was used to; but the metalworking tools in Master Jerint's vast crafthall meant that Horgey could start work on a big metal xylophone as an accompaniment instrument to replace or supplement the wooden one that was currently Kullana's favourite instrument.
He could learn too the best way to season wood for instruments, and make more specific requests of H'llon.
Horgey was certain that he was going to enjoy himself – apart from his teaching duties!
The next lesson with the Ranking girls started off a bit better.
Kitiara had heard that Lesara had gone to complain to the Masterharper himself and received a similar message to the one she had received from Silvina along the lines, though less bluntly put, of 'shut up and put up or ship out'.
Horgey appreciated Kit's ability to 'just hear' things. She and the boys had a VERY efficient information gathering network.
Thus, Lesara was sulky, but at least less outspoken; if she despised Harpers in general or Horgey in particular as a commoner who was little more than a music-drudge then she kept her opinions to herself. If looks could have killed, however, her smouldering glares would have reduced him to the same state Thread was reduced to by Agenothree! Horgey elected to ignore such fulminating looks; though he did frown at a bruise on Varalie's arm that showed when she reached forward to adjust her music on the stand.
"How did you get that bruise, Varalie?" he asked.
The look the girl shot at Lesara was quick, but frightened
"Oh….er, I don't know, I must have bumped into something" the youngest girl said.
"It looks to me" said Horgey, dryly, "As though you bumped into a bully. It may, or may not, help you to know that bullies are miserable creatures who can only feel good by making others feel bad. They have no friends – no TRUE friends – and they are quite the unhappiest creatures alive. They are to be pitied as weak, stupid, despicable people who are inadequates. Does that help any?"
Varalie had brightened and was starting to grin.
"Yes, Journeyman, thank you!" she said.
Lesara was livid.
She could scarcely however dispute being called down so, without admitting to the bullying; and what hurt worst was Horgey's summation that she was to be pitied! She fumed gently. Varalie knew that this probably meant more pain to come; but pain was easier to bear when you had a weapon to taunt your tormentor with. Varalie knew she could fight the urge to cry out; pitying Lesara out loud should make her stop!
The song 'Flying' was played to open the lesson with more or less – mostly less – competence. Dorasha had managed to work out the fourth chord used in it, the Em chord and played if not with panache at least with a creditable accuracy for just two days practice since the last lesson. Horgey nodded.
"Much improved, Dorasha. Switching you around to take advantage of your handedness has worked very well; you must try it with other instruments you feel clumsy on. Tireena, that was also better, but I wish you'd concentrate a bit more on the placement of your fingers than that of your legs. I'm not interested in the dubious sexual charms of a bunch of scrubby brats, and the apprentice boys aren't here to look."
Tireena blushed, and shuffled, and tried to look as though she hadn't been trying to make a good impression with her charms. Horgey went on, "Varalie, you've got the basics quite well, but you would do better if you didn't try to rush it, you're too busy thinking about the next chord to come, you let your fingers drift for a sour thrumming noise that does you no favours. If you can't move quickly from one chord to the next on time, just practise doing that on your own time, until you can. I would rather you missed a beat with your right hand to get your left properly positioned than that you gave me noises like farting firelizards."
Varalie too flushed, but giggled at the description; Horgey's tone was not unkind. He sighed, and went on.
"Asrina, you are the sloppiest chord changer I have ever seen, not excluding the drunken Brown Rider who was trying to kiss three lower cavern wenches as well as serenading them. Lesara: you have fairly accurate chording, if you would work on the timing of your strumming you would do yourself a big favour. You right had is completely off beat. If you need help because your sense of rhythm is poor, watch my hand and count if need be without strumming until you have the feel of it."
Lesara just scowled! The idea that anyone should criticise anything she did was anathema to her; her father thought she was wonderful, and she was amazed these ignorant commoners dared to disagree! Horgey could see all this in her face; and he reflected that she made Carlinna - in the days before Master Artist Agatta had broken through the girl's exaggerated sense of self worth – look relatively self critical.
Horgey sighed and continued the critique.
"Very well; none of you breathed in the right places to sing because you were all concentrating on your fingering; and Dorasha, not breathing at all just because you have good lungs is NOT a substitute for breathing correctly. We'll take some red ink and mark the breathing on this, now, ladies; then sing it without accompaniment to get you breathing. Master Shonagar will unravel my guts and use them to hang me with if I let you develop bad habits."
This sally got a giggle from most of the girls, even Asrina, and left them relaxed enough to make a reasonable second attempt with breathing.
Horgey had brought some more music to pass out for the girls to examine with a view to developing their sight reading skills; and while they looked through it he drummed very rapidly to Kitiara,
DDDD spend a couple of nights in Dunca's cot for me and find out what goes on. If Lesara is intimidating the others she'll have to go.DDDD
Mmuch of this being in the old style of spelling words letter by letter he thought it doubtful even the best educated girls would pick it up!
Kitiara replied,
DDDD I'll see what I can do DDDD
Horgey had every faith in the girl to find out EXACTLY what was going on!
Lesara was too clever to actually bully anyone while Kitiara was sleeping in Dunca's cot – to mixed feelings of THAT worthy. Kit did not mind a room with a window, as most girls did; and her parentage appealed to Dunca's snobbery. On the other hand the idea of the girl being a full apprentice like 'that awful Menolly girl' did not please Dunca one little bit!
The prudishness of the girls irritated Kit.
The boys had at first given her the courtesy of using the bathing room first; but after several sessions of skinny dipping in the river with them she had quite given up such excesses of modesty, especially as they treated her just like another boy. She had recently taken to bathing with her back to them, for her mammary development embarrassed her; but she saw no reason to worry about nudity in front of other girls, and thought Dunca's shriek of horror downright childish.
She said so.
"Anyone would think you had mixed sex here" she said in scorn "None of us has anything the rest don't, you know; we're all built to the same specifications."
"See?" said Dorasha "If it's good enough for a granddaughter of Lord Groghe to strip without embarrassment, you lot can stop getting at me!"
Seaholders tended to be less nice about such things at the best of times; and Kit suspected that Dunca had made poisonous remarks concerning civilised living and back of beyond sea Holds. The woman was quite unfit, in Kitiara's opinion, to have care of young girls; her values were all cockeyed.
Kitiara had hoped to use communal bathing to look for bruises normally hidden by clothing; but as most of the girls eschewed public nudity, dressing and undressing inside a drying cloth and wriggling from it into the water, she was out of luck. True, Dorasha had a bruise on her arm; but it looked as though nobody had got very far with the finer points of a Bitran Burn; having two firelizards as partisan protectors tended to be a deterrent to bullies who had none!
Dunca loathed firelizards; but had to put up with them as popular pets of the Ranking. It gave Kitiara great satisfaction to arrange with her apprentice friends for their assorted firelizards to pop Between in rotation, so any time Dunca looked round she had a different coloured firelizard on her shoulder, and sometimes more than one. Kit was of the opinion that their firelizards considered all the apprentices to be part of their fair too, and they certainly happily worked in common for any one of the boys and her as well as their more special relationship with the one to whom they looked.
Dunca was soon completely confused and upset and stayed well away from Kitiara, learning to refrain from any snide comments with remarkable alacrity!
Besides Lesara, the only girl who did not have a firelizard was Varalie; and that, in addition to her being the youngest, must be why Lesara was picking on her. And Dunca would do nothing, even if the old fool saw anything, because Lesara was the highest Ranking of the girls and could do nothing wrong in Dunca's eyes. The girl poured out sugared poison to put the other girls down, especially poor Varalie, who came in for spurious sympathy over her relatively plain gowns of less rich materials than the wealthier girls wore, often carefully mended.
Kitiara murmured that if she was as clever with a needle as Varalie plainly was, she'd be prouder of that than having to walk around in a sleeping robe because she wanted to hide what must be a truly bad figure – a reference to the loose garb of the Igen region, and the long, quilted over-robe that Lesara wore to try to keep warm, evening garb for hot Igen. She could bitch as well as Lesara if she had to. But she saw no more than general unkindness.
Kitiara therefore had to admit something of failure to Horgey.
"And please don't ask me to stay in that miserable place any longer" she begged "The bitching of those girls will send me Between at this rate!"
He grinned apologetically.
"Sorry, Kit" he said "Perhaps I shouldn't have asked it of you. But you've not failed, for you've picked up a lot of background; and that it's Varalie who's most vulnerable for her lack of firelizard, as well as being poorer and younger. Could you see your way to asking the boys if some of your firelizards to keep an eye out for her? I know weyrlings have combined forces and pooled lizards before against bullies amongst candidates; and I hesitate to use Cadenza, as I hesitate to ask the Masterharper to take her out of Dunca's cot entirely, it smacks of either favouritism or making yet another difference to bully the kid about. And she's not got quite the talent to make a full apprentice, or I'd suggest that. As a boy she might make it, but there is prejudice…."
"And without making her a full apprentice the Masterharper can scarcely find an excuse to heave her out anyway, unless I was living at home and she fostered with me; and I'm not prepared to jeopardise my profession when there's other ways round it" said Kit. "I'll certainly talk to the boys; their lizards have been enjoying irritating Dunca. Oops, you didn't hear that…yes, you can't have Cadenza do it, horrid things would be said, not least about you spying on her in private through your firelizard's eyes….not quite nice."
He flushed.
"That aspect hadn't occurred to me….what horrid creatures those girls are!"
Kitiara laughed.
"Aren't you the sweet and innocent one, Journeyman! If there's any improper connotation that can be put on anything, the prurient minds of the adolescent girl with too much leisure and too little common sense will find the worst possible slant to it!"
Cadenza crooned for attention and Horgey stroked her headknob. The little creature knew her name well enough; and if she was being mentioned she should also be properly fussed!
A day or so later, Lesara sported a scratch on her face that looked as though it came from a firelizard claw; and Varalie was grinning broadly.
At least, Horgey reflected, his pupils could all be protected so physical fear would not inhibit their performance!
The third lesson with the girls would coincide with Threadfall; and the Masterharper had decreed that they could be battened down as well doing a lesson as in Dunca's cot, and the better for having something to take their minds of it.
"If they have minds to distract" Kit muttered just loud enough for Horgey to hear.
The female apprentice arrived for the lesson in trews and tunic with heavy wher hides in hand.
"I usually walk sweep, Journeyman, may I?" she asked.
Asrina gave a little shriek.
"Oh Kitiara, how can you?"
"On my feet, usually" said Kit with sarcastic literalness. "Fardles take it, if the Blood won't walk sweep, how can we ask the commons to do so? Blood obligates! Grandfather ALWAYS walks sweep. We have a partnership with dragonriders, to deal with any stray Thread the dragons miss, and sear any burrows before they take hold."
Several of the girls were actually trembling violently, glancing nervously at the shutters though the Thread siren had not even sounded yet.
Horgey remembered that such reactions were common when he was a child in their small Hold. Since then he had lived Holdless and then in the Weyr, where even quite small children went out with Agenothree and were trained to use flamethrowers as soon as they were big enough to lift them conveniently. Horgey had grown more or less accustomed to seeing Thread. He would not describe himself as indifferent to it – nobody ever was – but there were things that scared him more. His uncle, for example; or, worse, being friendless again.
"Anyone else want to walk sweep with Kit?" he asked. "No?"
"I – I'd like to try, but I'm clumsy with a flamethrower too" said Dorasha.
"Ah, of course, like L'rilly. We'll see that you're taught to use it left handed; L'rilly and T'lana reckon that a right and left hander working together can cover far better than two of the same handedness" said Horgey "And judging by the way they clear Thread side by side on their Queens I'd be inclined to believe that they're right. "Give that a miss this time, then, better to learn such things under safe supervision. No-one else? All right let's get on."
"I – I'll go" said Varalie suddenly, pushing back her chair with a scrape that made Asrina jump and shake. "You'll help me, right, Kitiara?" she was plainly scared; but wanted to impress Kit – and do something that terrified Lesara!
"Sure" said Kit. "We'll fit you up with Agenothree if you're not flamethrower trained; I don't want you scorching me. Flute does that often enough when he gets overexcited!"
Flute was chittering anticipation on her shoulder, scolding away, his eyes whirling angrily orange as he awaited Thread.
Once the siren sounded, Asrina clung to Lesara, moaning gently. Lesara was in scarcely better state; and Tireena hunched up, gazing fearfully at the shutters. Even Dorasha shuddered.
"Come on girls, let's have a good sing to drive away gloomy thoughts!" suggested Horgey.
"How CAN you, Journeyman?" wailed Asrina. "It's OUT there!"
"Exactly" said Horgey crisply. "It's OUT – operative word – there. Not in here. The shutters are good, brand new even. The roof is good slate. If it had got in here you'd have some excuse for behaving like a bunch of worry-wherries. But it is not; and you do not. We are safe inside. The dragons and their riders are out there doing their job, facing Thread up close and personal. THEY have a right to be scared; and I know that many of them are. But they do what they do regardless, which is why they are the bravest. Also the most insane; but it's as well somebody is that insane. Now get out your music and stop being so childish."
"Sir, aren't you afraid of Thread?" asked Tireena.
He gazed at her.
"Do I look stupid? Of COURSE I'm afraid of Thread. Do I let it interfere with my life? No, of course I don't. It's not going to win by making me act scared. But maybe it helps having seen it close to; having the known peril to fear is perhaps easier than the unknown."
"Have you seen it up close then?" asked Dorasha.
He nodded.
"I gather Kitiara mentioned the time T'rin and I were out of the Harper Hall….it involved some Holdless Renegades and I'm not going to tell you anything more than that; and that's not giving anything much away, so I'm not being indiscreet to go so far. We spent Fall in some river cliffs, not very deep scrapes I assure you, with Thread a few spans away. And since I've lived in the Weyr I sometimes go to watch, just to remind myself again why I so respect dragonmen. The ledges of weyrs are safe enough if you don't go out from under the overhang, but you can look out…."
"What's it like?" Tireena wanted to know, though she squirmed in horror.
"What's it like? Grey. A shiny silvery grey, a bit like pewter embedded in snot. Thick, wriggling worms of grey, alive and not alive. It falls sometimes in sheets almost like sheets of heavy rain: but more often in clumps, the way snow falls at the beginning of a big snowstorm before it sets in properly. It has no intelligence but it looks as though it feels malevolent. A clump landed in front of me once at the weyr mouth and it gave me great satisfaction to pour Agenothree on it and watch it bubble and dissolve…I felt I'd done some of my bit towards killing it. Silly perhaps; on the rock there was nothing for it to grow in, it would have died anyway. But that's how I felt. I can't for obvious reasons walk sweep."
"That's pretty brave of you, Journeyman" said Dorasha. Asrina was sobbing hysterically.
"No, not really; brave is what dragonmen are" he said. "Threadscore is ugly. The High Reaches wings are very good, I understand; and injury, serious injury anyway, is virtually unknown, but most Riders pick up Threadscore at some point. They can freeze it off Between: and then they go right on fighting it. That's bravery. And some of them girls younger than you lot at that. NOW! That singing!"
"Thanks for telling us" said Dorasha "It IS easier to face something you know about. I feel better about going out with Kit next time."
The singsong was not entirely successful; Asrina refused point blank to do anything but sob and Lesara was not so ebullient as normal, being white faced and shaking, and unable to hit a single note to save her life!
Kitiara and Varalie returned some half an hour after the all-clear sounded, stinking of Agenothree. Varalie was quite plainly terrified by the experience, but somehow satisfied as well.
"I don't know that I'd do it again" she said "But I'm glad I can say I have done it. Kitiara's braver than me, and I acknowledge it freely!"
"Familiarity to the idea" shrugged Kit. "I've been walking sweep since I was ten turns old; you get used to it. Besides, I'm naturally phlegmatic. It's why I don't write good music; not enough imagination."
It was odd, Horgey reflected, in a way, to be back where these girls' reactions to Thread were considered normal. And yet how odd it had felt to be under shutters again!