Chapter 12

"Why does it happen?" Amrys asked Sadvia "Ranelly was just the same about Kylara from what I've heard; it's how I guessed about it."

Sadvia shrugged.

"It seems to be when someone practically worships another and will do anything for them – not with the distant hero worship that someone might feel for a dragonman, say, or a Master, but with a close intimacy that allows conversation and flattery. No, I don't really mean flattery, because it isn't; flattery implies a falseness, and the worshipper believes all they say about how wonderful their pet idol is; and they egg on the belief of greatness and being owed more in the object of their adoration, who in turn calls for more and more examples of devotion. It's an awfully odd and sick relationship; one of my sisters had some sycophantic 'friends' when she fostered away AND a rather fawning drudge. Daddy dismissed the girl when he caught her telling Indeela how wonderful she was and how much a nicer lady than a hoyden of a sister who had taken apprenticeship – that's me – andit took a whole turn round to turn my sister from being a stuck up snob back to being the sunny natured girl I'd grown up with. I THINK she's cured; but it was tough."

"Shells!" said Amrys "I'm glad I don't have a personal drudge; p'haps that's why Rillys never fixed one for me; it'd be bad for me."

Sadvia laughed.

"Somehow I can't see you being such a wherry-headed little fool as to be flattered by sycophantic maunderings" she said "You're too level headed; like my smallest sister Ambreen who's a woodcraft apprentice. And, I'm afraid, one of the most creative pranksters the Hall has ever know" she added ruefully. "She's a turn or so younger than you."

Amrys grinned.

"Oh I'm no great prankster" she said "There's no point competing with Jeral, Larek and Kyilin. And I have enough fun without having to pull pranks anyway – unless you count the midnight feast."

"Oh, not at all" said Sadvia "Midnight feasts are common fun and easier here than for girls stuck in a cot with a chaperone at the Woodcrafter Hall. The boys get all the fun there!"

Amrys grinned.

"We'll have to invite you when we next have one then" she said "You don't REALLY count as authority who has to report things 'cos you're a woodcrafter."

Sadvia wondered whether to accept that piece of casuistry; and decided to do so.

She was not, after all, so much older than the senior apprentices here!

Master Telarish had decided that the acrimonious background of the late Master Dwilon's craftcot was unhealthy for the two apprentices; and had sent them to pack forthwith to be whisked back to the Hall at Rivenhill. Quick tests placed Greggor in Lower Bronze and Tarek in Blue. Tarek was a little boy who liked to conform and would be mostly harmless; and in Lower Bronze with hard working talented boys like Tirley, Nelon and Sherek, Greggor would get into less trouble than with such luminaries as Jeral, Larek and Kyilin, who tended to be backed up quite enough by Traal and Jilamon, even if Irral and Lalter were less effervescent in Brown!

As it happened, another new boy joined the Hall at this odd time of Turn; Telonas had been trained in the tiny Hold called Flaxmeadow, which boasted two Journeyman weavers and a number of apprentices, and had as its sole claim to fame the Impression of a Green dragon by the Holder's daughter, M'eela, a turn before. Telonas was a cheerful boy with a ready wit and a joy in plays on words.

Placed in Lower Bronze for his hard work and attainments for longer term assessment – the Master did not think him quite ready to be a senior – he was soon firm friends with Greggor; and both were keen logicators very quickly!

It satisfied the logicators well enough to have a real case to discuss and pull apart the motives of all the protagonists; and Sadvia heaved a sigh of relief.

Her own introduction to logicating, the placing of Thread in tree roots, and subsequently the terrible mistreatment of the girl apprentices by the evil Sandrina had been baptisms of fire; but Sadvia had been much older than these babes, having been sixteen when Elissa burst upon the Woodcrafter Hall with logicating. Not that Sadvia had disputed the inclusion of Amrys into the team sent to investigate; being Ranking herself she too had grown up with the maxim that 'Blood obligates'; and approved Amrys taking a necessary interest in the seamier side of life as well as its more pleasant aspects.

Rillys had, as might be expected, taken a dim view of Feraysa's using of her old nurse; but it was impossible to determine if she had ordered Millita to kill Dwilon or had only made wishful-thinking sounding hints. For which reason Rillys would not employ the death sentence; she could not determine if Feraysa had really intended the death of her husband or had played along when half hopeful wish became reality. Millita was no help at all in determining the level of guilt of her nurseling; declaring alternately that it was all her own idea and that she would do anything her darling wanted. She was unhinged; and Rillys placed her to drudge within the Hold, under the care of a competent and sensible woman as her overseer and – effectively – keeper. Feraysa was harder to deal with. Rillys ruled that the woman forfeited her share of marks left in Dwilon's will; and gave it as a fine to the larger crafthall at Rivenhill for their trouble of having to sort the mess out. The woman she sent as a housekeeper to a cotholder as a bonded labourer for life. The cotholder involved had never married; being gay. Feraysa would have no luck wiith her seductive charms there; nor would she risk being improperly used. The cotholder was agreeable to see she did the work set her – and as she would share in the food she cooked, there was the incentive to make it palatable and not spoil it of spite!

All this Rillys later told Amrys; for the girl needed to know how justice followed up the uncovering of a crime.

It was time to celebrate with a midnight feast.

This feast was unmarred by officious intrusion by the likes of Serry; and, greatly daring, Amrys also invited the Ranking girls who were packing to leave in a day or two.

Siresha declined such childishness – to Amrys' distinct relief – but could be relied upon not to diminish her own dignity by sneaking!

Brown dormitory was decided upon as the venue; and it was an exceedingly tight squeeze!

"I'm afraid this is the last whole Hall feast we'll be able to have" said Amrys, regretfully, handing round bubbly pies "We'll never get another Turn's intake in. It'll have to be a one or two dormitory thing in future."

"And honoured we are to be at this historic feast" said Vana who had discarded much of her own accustomed dignity. Sadvia too was giggling quite as much as any of the paying girls to be crammed together all on one bed!

"We never did anything like this in the Tannercraft Hall" said Dwinie "I'll suggest it when I get home!"

"Could be because she's not a real apprentice AND the child of a master" Amrys muttered to Jilamon.

"If she shows willing she might just make real friends though" her brother opined.

"Do they do this in the Weyr, you weyrbred?" asked Keiriel.

"Not to my knowledge" said Bretine.

"Not at Telgar" said Jilamon.

"I left when I was too young to be invited if they did at High Reaches"said Amrys "But I wager both candidates and weyrlings are too tired to be able to. And it's no excitement to Blooded Riders 'cos they end up eating at whatever peculiar hours Thread forces on them."

"Why candidates?" asked Keiriel.

"Why, because they have to get fit enough to be ABLE to care for dragons – and R'gar at least don't like some of the lazy little wherry-heads to have too much time on their hands to play spite games anyway!" said Amrys. "You so will WORK!"

"Ah well, worth it for the chance to Impress" said Keiriel.

It was voted a good feast; and came to a rapid end when Journeyman Otelek's voice was heard in the corridor outside.

"Now I wonder if I heard a noise? After I've been downstairs I must check each dormitory!"

There were stifled giggles a deaf journeyman must have heard; and the piercing whisper,

"Good ol' Otelek, he's a real sport! C'mon people, he says it's time to break it up!"

Rubbish disappeared as if by magic; and stealthy figures retreated quickly to their own dormitories ready to feign sleep when the journeyman came on his rounds with shaded glows.

Amrys heard the conversation between him and Sadvia, who had kindly kept cave for the little girls.

"Ah, Journeyman Sadvia….you heard a noise too?"

"Oh quite so, Journeyman Otelek" said Sadvia demurely.

"Would you check if the girls are all right?" asked Otelek gravely.

"My pleasure" said Sadvia.

"Oh, Journeyman" said Otelek "Just wipe that bubbly pie crumb off before you go in, won't you? Won't do to give the little imps ideas…." And he grinned at her.

Sadvia was young enough to remove the offending crumb from the corner of her mouth with her tongue.

Otelek thought it rather sweet; and wondered how to get her closer to the obviously smitten Master Telarish, who was a young master and had been a popular senior apprentice when Otelek was a first turn apprentice; and he had been as indulgent a journeyman as Otelek now was!

Discussing design for the new brocade looms, obviously, thought Otelek.

Telarish was a good friend. The least he could do was to help his rather shy friend with his romance!

And he knew that Sadvia appreciated Telarish's intelligence and the way he had picked up the salient points in that nasty little case of poor Master Dwilon's murder. The Woodcrafter girl was very stylish too; he would engineer discussion on fashion between her and his father Braelek when Telarish was there to comment; for on his own subject Telarish was NOT so shy!

Nice girl, Sadvia; and well worth keeping at this Hall!

That would have been an end to the midnight feast; save for the fact that Amrys was running down the stairs early in the morning unable to see over the hamper full of dirty napkins – just as one of the Hall drudges was carrying up a jug of klah for the Masters and their wives.

There was a CRASH! And a pair of yells, slithering sounds and a heavy FLUMP of the descending basket.

Amrys sat amidst broken klah jug and napkins.

"Shells! Are you all right Teevie?" she asked the drudge.

"Oh yes, Lady Amrys, apprentice ma'am!" said the drudge giggling "Cuh you do look a fright! Are you all right?"

"Oh fine" said Amrys "Bruised more in dignity than fundament – isn't that a nice word for the arse? – and the klah was cooled enough by its flight not to scald as it came down."

Teevie giggled even more at Amrys' solemn little voice as she viewed the destruction around her in dismay.

"Amrys" Master Lynger stood at the top of the stairs resplendent in a patchwork dressing gown "WHAT has happened?"

"Ah…would you accept, an egregious concatenation of entirely unforeseeable and infelicitous circumstances, Master?" said Amrys.

"In short?"

"I was running downstairs too fast and ran into Teevie and the klah" said Amrys with a sigh.

"Have you apologised?"

"No sir; I thought checking she wasn't scalded was more important" said Amrys.

"Quite so. Rectify the matter, clean up that mess and make more klah so Teevie can rest her shattered nerves and I'll see you with my morning brew in minutes ten" said Lynger, taking his majestic dressing gown back to his room.

Amrys looked dismayed.

"Minutes ten? That's fardling unreasonable!" she said, starting to mop spilled klah with soiled napkins. "I say, Teevie I AM really sorry, you know."

"Oh that's all right, My Lady; and that's my job you know!"

"No, it's mine for not looking where I was going" sighed Amrys "But I'd take it as a favour if you'd get more klah started up!"

Teevie giggled again.

"That was most awfully funny!" she said "And I'll get a proper cloth and help!"

Amrys grinned.

"Reckon it must have looked hilarious to anybody else!" she said "Don't you LOVE his dressing gown? I'm going to make me one just like it!"

Lynger was busy explaining the matter to his wife, Hiliana.

"Little minx was getting rid of the evidence of last night's midnight feast….WHAT was it she said – 'an egregious concatenation of entirely unforeseeable and infelicitous circumstances' – that has to be one of Amrys' best ever!"

Hiliana roared with laughter.

"You can't deny she's quick witted!" she said. "That child will go far!"

"Indeed" agreed the Master "She may not be our most talented student ever; but she's a hard worker and knows how to have fun too. She's a good little girl that one!"

And Amrys never knew how hard the Master and his wife worked at presenting a perfectly straight face each when she came in with their morning klah!

Life settled back to routine quickly enough once the Ranking students departed; Vana to High Reaches Weyr; Keiriel to Igen and the others to their respective homes.

"And another lot due in a few days" said Amrys. "Well, I suppose it's all revenue to the Hall; but I'm glad I'm a proper apprentice not some snotty brat who thinks it 'nice to learn a bit more'.

"I guess it's a way to learn more if you're not encouraged to be a real apprentice for sure" said Lyssa tolerantly "And isn't it just that half the silly parents are afraid that their precious offspring will be being ill treated by the wicked low born apprentices once they discover daddy's dharlin is of Rank; and I'm thinkin' that some apprentices might just be less than gentle if they think they've got precious dharlin's t' play with."

"That's daft"said Amrys, unravelling her friend's idiom "Any apprentice worth their salt is going to respect someone for putting aside Rank for learning."

"We respect you for it, and Tirley" said Kevanna.

"'Tisn't always likely to be so" said Nelon "Master Lynger is kind, but he don't allow foolishness. Nor don't he fawn on your Rank. Some places, a kid'd be bullied just for being Ranking, especially if the Masters made much of it and were all smarmy; and then the apprentices would DARE them to complain as proving they're sneaking snots – even if they have grounds for complaint about worse bullying than most people get. You don't half hear stories at a big Hold like High Reaches!"

"But why should people do that? I concealed my Rank like Tirley did, and Sajed, so people wouldn't pre-judge us 'til we settled; but even so the worst I expected was to be ignored or sneered at" said Amrys "Is there really THAT much resentment?"

"Sure, there's more resentment some places than others" said Lyssa "And no-one would've bullied Lord Jaxom in Ruatha if he'd apprenticed for a few turns instead of Impressing which having done of course he didn't have the other option; but too many Ranking are too like our precious Siresha I'm thinking, and if enough apprentices have come across their likes, then ye can hardly blame them for thinkin' them all alike!"

Amrys sighed.

"Oh well, I guess the only thing to do is to persuade more people to apprentice Ranking children, people we know; that'll knock any corners off the kids too real quick; and make it common enough for people not to get stroppy. Lord Groghe's got craftsman children."

"Not girls" said Lyssa "Boys can stand on their own feet; but sorra a Ranking girl – present company excepted – can fight, and they melt like sugar!"

Amrys pulled a face.

"And that's their parents' fault" she said "And their parents decide they're too delicate – it's a vicious circle" she declared gloomily. "Oh well, we'll soon see how delicate our new Ranking flowers are!"

The others laughed; and agreed the new girls could not, at least, prove as bad as Siresha!

the end of another half turn

I'll try to get another story started soon...