Dragonsong - Chapter Eleven
Jan. 3rd, 2020 10:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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i_read_whatSo last time, Lessa!
Oh and some other stuff happened. Fun stuff actually! And Menolly went spelunking!
So Menolly and T'gellan are bringing a grand total of THIRTY-ONE eggs back to the Weyr. Egads! Menolly is now looking like an under achiever with her nine. Even Lessa is happy:
“As well,” she said in her dry fashion. “One hatching at a time is enough. Better still, we can present the worthies with their eggs at the Impression.” She seemed inordinately pleased with that solution and smiled on Menolly. “Manora says that your feet aren’t healed yet, so you’re in charge of the clutch. And, Felena, get this child out of those ridiculous boots and into some decent clothes. Surely we have something in stores that’ll make her look less disreputable.”
God damn, I love you, Lessa.
So after Lessa leaves, a woman named Felena issues many orders. We're told she's tall, willowy, and has beautiful curved eyebrows and green eyes. It occurs to me that Menolly gives us quite a bit more description for women than for men. I wonder if it's a reflection of Pern socialization. Or perhaps Menolly is bi. I like that interpretation.
A bit of fuss is made about Menolly's hacked off hair, which I don't remember hearing about before. Felena asks how old Menolly is and is disappointed to hear that she's fifteen, and therefore doesn't need much more fostering. Felena would like to have her as hers.
...that seems a bit abrupt considering we've just met the woman, Ms. McCaffrey. I mean, up until this point the only folks Menolly has explicitly met are Mirrim (too young to foster her), T'gran and T'gellan, who confused me at first because the names are just similar enough that I forgot they were different people. I suppose men can't foster kids or something. But it would have maybe worked a bit better if we'd met Felena a bit earlier?
So anyway, Menolly bursts into tears, which causes a bit of havoc as her lizards are protective. But that's when Manora appears to shush everyone. She asks why Menolly's crying: it's because she's happy as opposed to being creeped out that a complete stranger suddenly wants to adopt her. Manora gets her calmed down and chats with her about the eggs. She notes that Menolly had done well, which she'd expect from someone Mavi trained.
Actually, the idea that Mavi is well known enough that the Weyr staff know of her is very interesting. But sadly, the only thing that's going to come of it is that we're going to have yet another reason to hate everyone at Half Circle Hold.
Menolly gets to eat, and relax. Felena trims her hair and Menolly gets to change into the first brand new clothes she's ever had, given that she's the youngest in a large family. The tanner who measured her feet for boots also made some nice hide slippers to fit over her bandages. Apparently she's so changed in appearance that Mirrim almost didn't recognize her. Menolly was afraid Mirrim was avoiding her, because she hadn't told her about the lizards, but nope! Mirrim just sits down happily.
Mirrim introduces her own lizards, Tolly, a brown, and Reppa and Lofc, two greens. She is very certain that three is quite enough and is curious about how Menolly manages to feed NINE. Eventually they're joined by T'gellan, who gets Beauty to eat some food off his knife. He and Mirrim banter a bit about Mirrim being jealous. I'm actually kind of curious as to how old T'gellan's supposed to be. Menolly just thinks that she wouldn't have dared address an "older man" like Mirrim is.
Mirrim isn't able to get Beauty to eat off her hand, but does get Lazybones. Menolly enjoys watching them banter, and then is surprised as wineskins are passed around. Apparently Sea Hold only served wine on special occasions. T'gellan offers a cup to the girls. TSK. They're underage! (I suspect Pern doesn't have a drinking age though.) T'gellan is proud of Benden wine, though Menolly doesn't mention she actually doesn't have anything to compare it to.
Apparently the Weyr has a Harper, Oharan, and as he plays Menolly starts humming along without realizing it. I'm skeptical of this, honestly. Menolly is a prodigy sure, but given how hostile Sea Hold was to Menolly ever "tuning", I'm pretty sure they'd have discouraged her singing along to anything.
But well, I've ranted about Sea Hold before. Anyway, Mirrim notices and calls Oharan over, telling him that Menolly has a new harmony for his song. T'gellan joins Mirrim in coaxing Menolly to sing along. Oharan approves her sense of pitch, and Menolly starts getting nervous: what if Yanus heard she was singing at the Weyr? But he'd never know.
...Yanus had her singing publicly, Ms. McCaffrey, the issue that you said he had was-
Oh never mind. I should be used to the idea that the Sea Hold folk only exist to give Menolly an origin point she will never return to. I'm just annoyed because this was the first book in this series in which McCaffrey bothered to give her villains any sort of dimension, and she's promptly tossed that away as soon as it wasn't useful anymore.
Oharan gives her another ballad and this time there are other voices humming along. The fire lizards. Now this is suitably impressive to everyone. Mirrim is amazed, she's had her three longer than Menolly, but didn't know they liked music.
I go back and forth on this. I'm a little annoyed by how Ms. McCaffrey feels like Menolly has to be the best ever at everything. But on the other hand, I do think that it makes sense that Menolly has done more with her lizards than Mirrim. Mirrim had a lot of duties, both at Southern/Fort Weyr and at Benden. Menolly on the other hand has basically had nothing but free time to observe and interact with her lizards, once her immediate survival needs were addressed. And she could accomplish those immediate survival needs WITH her lizards.
This bothers me less than "Menolly can play every single instrument perfectly" I guess, is what I'm saying. And I like that Mirrim and Menolly can be good friends. But I feel like there's this underlying sense of competition, not between the girls themselves per se, but I feel like I'm supposed to see Menolly as the "better" of the two whenever a comparison comes up.
The banter ends as Menolly starts hiccuping. Because of her exhaustion and probably her inexperience with wine, it's hit her harder than expected. The boys help her back to her chamber, while Mirrim fusses at them.
This was a really short chapter! That said, we're not too far from the end of the book, so I don't feel the need to consolidate it with another. That and I'm very lazy today.
Oh and some other stuff happened. Fun stuff actually! And Menolly went spelunking!
So Menolly and T'gellan are bringing a grand total of THIRTY-ONE eggs back to the Weyr. Egads! Menolly is now looking like an under achiever with her nine. Even Lessa is happy:
“As well,” she said in her dry fashion. “One hatching at a time is enough. Better still, we can present the worthies with their eggs at the Impression.” She seemed inordinately pleased with that solution and smiled on Menolly. “Manora says that your feet aren’t healed yet, so you’re in charge of the clutch. And, Felena, get this child out of those ridiculous boots and into some decent clothes. Surely we have something in stores that’ll make her look less disreputable.”
God damn, I love you, Lessa.
So after Lessa leaves, a woman named Felena issues many orders. We're told she's tall, willowy, and has beautiful curved eyebrows and green eyes. It occurs to me that Menolly gives us quite a bit more description for women than for men. I wonder if it's a reflection of Pern socialization. Or perhaps Menolly is bi. I like that interpretation.
A bit of fuss is made about Menolly's hacked off hair, which I don't remember hearing about before. Felena asks how old Menolly is and is disappointed to hear that she's fifteen, and therefore doesn't need much more fostering. Felena would like to have her as hers.
...that seems a bit abrupt considering we've just met the woman, Ms. McCaffrey. I mean, up until this point the only folks Menolly has explicitly met are Mirrim (too young to foster her), T'gran and T'gellan, who confused me at first because the names are just similar enough that I forgot they were different people. I suppose men can't foster kids or something. But it would have maybe worked a bit better if we'd met Felena a bit earlier?
So anyway, Menolly bursts into tears, which causes a bit of havoc as her lizards are protective. But that's when Manora appears to shush everyone. She asks why Menolly's crying: it's because she's happy as opposed to being creeped out that a complete stranger suddenly wants to adopt her. Manora gets her calmed down and chats with her about the eggs. She notes that Menolly had done well, which she'd expect from someone Mavi trained.
Actually, the idea that Mavi is well known enough that the Weyr staff know of her is very interesting. But sadly, the only thing that's going to come of it is that we're going to have yet another reason to hate everyone at Half Circle Hold.
Menolly gets to eat, and relax. Felena trims her hair and Menolly gets to change into the first brand new clothes she's ever had, given that she's the youngest in a large family. The tanner who measured her feet for boots also made some nice hide slippers to fit over her bandages. Apparently she's so changed in appearance that Mirrim almost didn't recognize her. Menolly was afraid Mirrim was avoiding her, because she hadn't told her about the lizards, but nope! Mirrim just sits down happily.
Mirrim introduces her own lizards, Tolly, a brown, and Reppa and Lofc, two greens. She is very certain that three is quite enough and is curious about how Menolly manages to feed NINE. Eventually they're joined by T'gellan, who gets Beauty to eat some food off his knife. He and Mirrim banter a bit about Mirrim being jealous. I'm actually kind of curious as to how old T'gellan's supposed to be. Menolly just thinks that she wouldn't have dared address an "older man" like Mirrim is.
Mirrim isn't able to get Beauty to eat off her hand, but does get Lazybones. Menolly enjoys watching them banter, and then is surprised as wineskins are passed around. Apparently Sea Hold only served wine on special occasions. T'gellan offers a cup to the girls. TSK. They're underage! (I suspect Pern doesn't have a drinking age though.) T'gellan is proud of Benden wine, though Menolly doesn't mention she actually doesn't have anything to compare it to.
Apparently the Weyr has a Harper, Oharan, and as he plays Menolly starts humming along without realizing it. I'm skeptical of this, honestly. Menolly is a prodigy sure, but given how hostile Sea Hold was to Menolly ever "tuning", I'm pretty sure they'd have discouraged her singing along to anything.
But well, I've ranted about Sea Hold before. Anyway, Mirrim notices and calls Oharan over, telling him that Menolly has a new harmony for his song. T'gellan joins Mirrim in coaxing Menolly to sing along. Oharan approves her sense of pitch, and Menolly starts getting nervous: what if Yanus heard she was singing at the Weyr? But he'd never know.
...Yanus had her singing publicly, Ms. McCaffrey, the issue that you said he had was-
Oh never mind. I should be used to the idea that the Sea Hold folk only exist to give Menolly an origin point she will never return to. I'm just annoyed because this was the first book in this series in which McCaffrey bothered to give her villains any sort of dimension, and she's promptly tossed that away as soon as it wasn't useful anymore.
Oharan gives her another ballad and this time there are other voices humming along. The fire lizards. Now this is suitably impressive to everyone. Mirrim is amazed, she's had her three longer than Menolly, but didn't know they liked music.
I go back and forth on this. I'm a little annoyed by how Ms. McCaffrey feels like Menolly has to be the best ever at everything. But on the other hand, I do think that it makes sense that Menolly has done more with her lizards than Mirrim. Mirrim had a lot of duties, both at Southern/Fort Weyr and at Benden. Menolly on the other hand has basically had nothing but free time to observe and interact with her lizards, once her immediate survival needs were addressed. And she could accomplish those immediate survival needs WITH her lizards.
This bothers me less than "Menolly can play every single instrument perfectly" I guess, is what I'm saying. And I like that Mirrim and Menolly can be good friends. But I feel like there's this underlying sense of competition, not between the girls themselves per se, but I feel like I'm supposed to see Menolly as the "better" of the two whenever a comparison comes up.
The banter ends as Menolly starts hiccuping. Because of her exhaustion and probably her inexperience with wine, it's hit her harder than expected. The boys help her back to her chamber, while Mirrim fusses at them.
This was a really short chapter! That said, we're not too far from the end of the book, so I don't feel the need to consolidate it with another. That and I'm very lazy today.