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Menolly, understand that!"
Menolly, sensing his kind concern, swallowed against the lump in her throat
and managed a tentative smile.
"It is never easy, sweet child, to have a real gift: some-
thing else is withheld to compensate."
Menolly was startled at the sadness, that melancholy in his eyes and face, and
he went on, almost to himself, "If you won't surrender the mark, you'll never
be more than halt alive. Speaking of marks . . ." and his expression altered
completely. He leaned forward, across the sand-
table, rummaging in the compartments of the central bridge built above the
actual sand level. "Ah, here," and he pressed something into her hand.
"There's a gather today, and you deserve some relaxation. I suspect diver-
sions were few and infrequent in your Sea Hold. Find something pretty to wear
at the stalls ... a belt perhaps
. . . and buy some of the bubbly pies. Piemur will lead you to them, the
scamp.
"But tomorrow," and Master Robinton waggled a finger at her, "back to work for
you. Sebell says you make a good copyist. Did you have a chance to polish the
Brekke song yesterday evening? I think you'll agree the melodic line falters
in the fourth phrase ..." and he hummed it. "Then
I want you to rewrite the ballad observing all the tradi-
tional musical forms. Think of it as an exercise in musi-
cal theory. Mind you, I'm of the opinion that the strength of your work will
lie in a looser, less formalized style.
There are, however, purists in the Craft who must be mollified while you're an
apprentice."
Zair, his belly so swollen that the individual lumps of meat could be
discerned against his skin, gave a sudden
burp and collapsed into sleep in the crook of the Harper's arm.
i6p
"I say, Menolly, how long will he do nothing but eat and sleep?" The Harper
sounded disappointed.
"The first sevenday, and mayhe a few days longer,"
Menolly answered, still trying to assimilate his astonish-
ing instructions and philosophy. "He'll develop a person-
ality in a very short dme."
"That's a relief." The Harper heaved an exaggerated sigh. "I'd been worrying
that perhaps his brains had got addled, going between so much in the egg. Not
that I'd care for him any the less," and he smiled tenderly down at the
sprawled form. "How did you ever manage to fill nine rapacious bellies?" Now
his smile was all for her. "And what a relief to have you here to help us. In
this I am your apprentice." His eyes held hers a moment longer, still
twinkling with amusement although his face settled into a serious expression.
"In all other matters, you are to consider yourself my apprentice, you Imow.
"Now, you may take the tray back to the kitchen, and you are dismissed to the
gather. Unless, of course," he added with that winning smile, "something
untoward happens to this fellow."
She brought the tray and empty dishes to the kitchen, where Abuna, with more
than her usual courtesy, sug-
gested that Menolly had better get some breakfast before it was all gone.
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They'd be clearing the tables soon, and if the lazybones hadn't eaten, too
bad. Not but what they couldn't stuff themselves at the gather's stalls.
That reminded Menolly of the mark that the Harper had put in her hand. At
first she thought it was the dim light of the passage, but when she got into
the entrance hall, she could plainly see that the two was underscored:
it wasn't a half-mark, which would have been scored above. She clenched the
precious piece in her fist, amazed.
The Master Harper had given her a whole two-mark piece to spend on herself.
Two whole marksl Why, she could buy anything!
No, he'd said that she was to buy something pretty to wear. A belt. The
Harper's keen eye had noted the absence of hers. And it was a worn belt,
anyhow. But a new one, instead of one handed down ... a belt she
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could choose for herself! How very kind of Master Rob-
inton. And he'd said she was to buy bubbly pies. She looked about the
scattering of boys at the apprentice tables for Piemur's curly head of hair.
He was, as usual, deep in conversation with several boys, and probably
planning mischief to judge by the closeness of all the heads. There were no
masters at the circular table and just a few journeymen at the oval ones,
clustered about Sebell, ad-
miring Kurd, asleep on his arm.
"She couldn't give 'em away if she wanted to," Piemur was saying in a strident
tone as Menolly approached his
group. Someone must have jabbed him in the ribs because he glanced over his
shoulder and, while he looked in no way abashed, it was obvious from the
expression of the others that Menolly had been the "she" he'd meant.
"Can you?" he asked bluntly.
"Can I what?"
"Give anyone else one of your fire lizards?"
"No."
"I told you!" Piemur pointed an accusing finger at
Ranly. "So Sebell couldn't have given Robinton the queen. Could he, Menolly?"
"But the Masterharper should have had the queen,"
said Ranly, rebellious and unconvinced.
"Sebell did offer the queen to Master Robinton when
She hatched," Menolly said quickly, "but it was too late.
Impression had occurred, and that can't be altered."
"Well, just how did Sebell get his hands on the queen egg?" Now Ranly's eyes
hotly accused her of complicity.
"Completely by accident," she said, mastering her irrita-
tion at such an outrageous suggestion. "First, there really isn't any positive
way of knowing which is the queen egg in a fire lizard clutch. Second, it
isn't anyone's busi-
ness but Master Robinton's and Sebell's." She'd just lay this divisive rumor
into an early grave and repay a little of her great debt to both men. "Third,
I picked the two biggest eggs in the clutch for Master Robinton," and the boys
nodded with approval, "but they could both have been bronzes." Then she
laughed. "It all happened so fast when the eggs started to hatch, no one
bothered to see
which pot was whose. Master Robinton and Sebell just grabbed because both pots
were rocking fit to fall. The little bronze hatched first, right into Master
Robinton's hands, and that was that, right then. He caught it just before it
could fall from the hearthstone." The boys snatched in breath for that near
catastrophe. "And then there was Sebell with a queen in his hands. Then, he
tried to give her to the Harper, but Zair had Impressed and so had little
Kimi. There's no way to change that.
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And I don't want to hear another word from any of you as to who got what and
who shouldn't have. There's enough gossip flying about this Hall." She wished
she could forget her worries about what those girls had told the Lord Holder.
"I kept trying to tell them," said Piemur, throwing his hands out, his eyes
bright with injured innocence because
Menolly was now glaring at him. Then he clutched dra-
matically at his throat because his voice had squeaked on the last word. "I've
gone hoarse talking ..."
"Can't have the golden throat hoarse, can we?" said
Ranly sarcastically.
Piemur was testing Idah pots on the table to see if there were any that was
still warm. Finding one he poured two mugs, offering one to Menolly. He
gurgled as he downed half a mug, rubbed his hand across his mouth and then
told her that she'd better eat quickly because they'd be clearing any minute.
"Now, let's get back to the mark problem. This will be only the second gather
of the Turn, so I figure that they'll be sending an older journeyman from the
Smithcraft
Hall, to keep an eye on the younger fellows and super-
vise the bargaining. And that journeyman is just likely to
be my father's friend, Pergamol; and if it's Pergamol, then I can guarantee
that you'll get top marks for your work. And . . ." he held up a silencing
hand as Ranly opened his mouth to comment, "if it isn't Pergamol, it'll be
someone who knows him."
"And if it's just a young journeyman who's on to you, Piemur?" Ranly asked in
a caustic tone.
"Then I blubber!" Piemur dismissed this problem with
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all the disdain of the practiced dissembler. "I'm just a li'l feller, and I
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