Dragondrums - Chapter Six

[kalinara]

So last time, we learned that apparently attempted murder isn't enough to get someone expelled from Harper Hall. Also Meron might be dying, leaving a potential succession crisis.



We rejoin Piemur, who is convalescing. He's been in and out of sleep, comforted by Menolly's flying cats, who adorably seem to take shifts watching over him. And, oh, this is sad:

If Menolly's fire lizards were with him, he reasoned, during the moments he drifted into consciousness, then Master Robinton couldn't be annoyed that he'd been stupid enough to fall and hurt himself just when the Harper needed him. For that was how Piemur construed the Harper's urgent query about his injury. He fretted, too, about what Clell and the others might do with his possessions until he saw his press against the wall beside his bed.

How much does Robinton suck as a teacher if an expression of concern is so alien that a student thinks it's an accusation instead?

Silvina comes in with some soup and to fill Piemur in on what's going on. She reassures Piemur that yes, there had been grease on the steps.

“Indeed and there was!” Silvina frowned, pursing her lips in an angry line. Then she patted his hand. “Those little sneaks saw you fall, scampered down and washed the grease off the steps and handrail... but,” she added in a sharper tone, “they forgot there'd be grease on your boot as well!” Another pat on his arm. “You might say, they slipped up there!”

Your joke would be funnier if it came accompanied with an expulsion. Also where the hell is Olodkey? Considering he's supposed to be Piemur's master now, why haven't we ever actually met him?

The joke does make Piemur giggle, and when she leaves, he starts wondering about his own fate. His stuff is with him, so he thinks that means he probably isn't going back to the drumheights, so now what? But he can't concentrate and wonders if Silvina had laced the broth she'd given him. It wouldn't surprise him.

...what...

Water rations. Attempted murder is not an expellable offense. Being bitchy to Menolly is though. And apparently the headwoman drugs the kids. What the fuck kind of place is this.

Piemur wakes up later. Menolly's bringing food this time, and it's good stuff: fish, tubers, and bubbly pies. Oh, hey, we get an update! And we find out what happened to the other apprentices!

Master Oldive checked you over last night when he returned. Said you undoubtedly have the hardest head in the Hall. And you're not going back to the drumheights.” Her expression was as grim as Silvina's had been. “No,” she added when she saw him glance at his press, “no more pranks. I checked. And I checked with Silvina to be sure all your things are accounted for.” She grinned, then, her eyes twinkling. “Clell and the other dimglows are on water rations, and they won't get to the Gather!”

...they tried to KILL an apprentice and their punishment is that they can't go to a party. But remember how Pona got kicked out without Robinton ever once listening to her side of the story? Maybe she should have just tried murder instead.

Piemur groans at the punishment but Menolly defends it:

“And why not? They deserve restriction. Pranks are one thing, but deliberately conspiring to injure, and you could have been killed by their mischief, is an entirely different matter. Only...” and Menolly shook her head in perplexity, “I can't think what you did to rile them so.”

“I didn't do anything,” Piemur said so emphatically that he slopped the water glass on his tray.

Rocky chirped anxiously, and Beauty took up the note in her trill.

“I believe you, Piemur.” She squeezed his toes where they poked up the sleeping furs. “I do! And, would you also believe, that that's why you had trouble? They kept expecting you to do some typical Piemur tricks, and you were so busy behaving for the first time since you apprenticed here, no one could credit it. Least of all Dirzan, who knew all too much about you and your ways!” She gave his toes another affectionate tweak. “And you, bursting your guts with discretion to the point where you didn't tell me or Sebell what you bloody ought to have. We didn't mean for you to stop talking altogether, you know.”

They should be expelled!

I'm also not fond of the faint victim blaming tone here either. Even if Piemur was going to do a "typical Piemur trick" (which so far seems to be to get people to give him pie) that wouldn't excuse the deliberate destruction of his property or the greased stairs. And it's not surprising that a kid who's already had Robinton disapprovingly suggest he can't keep a secret become closed mouthed. It's the adults' jobs to notice something was wrong.

Hell, he even told Silvina!

That said, this Menolly and Piemur scene is pretty cute. She's got his next assignment. He's going to Nabol with Sebell. This means he'll be going to Meron's Gather instead of Groghe's. Menolly says it like it's a reward - he gets to miss Tilgin's singing, but I can't help notice that aside from "water rations" (which Clell already had for mouthing off to Menolly earlier), Piemur is getting essentially the same punishment as the kids who hurt him. He's working through a holiday and expected to be happy about that!

Anyway, Menolly points out that the bruises might be useful. Piemur likes the thought of playing the poor apprentice boy who's beaten by his master, and his mischievousness reassures Menolly that he's on the mend.

Later, a dust-grayed, raggedly dressed man shuffles into the room. Piemur initially thinks it's a "cotholder" looking for Oldive. But nope, it's Sebell in disguise! Piemur gets more details about his own role, he'll be playing Herder's boy again.

And this is both sad and cute:

“Master Robinton's not angry with me, is he?”

“Not a mite.” Sebell shook his head violently for emphasis. Kimi swooped in, scolding because Sebell had made her wait outside. Then his expression became serious, and he waggled a finger at Piemur. “However, you will have to watch your step with Master Oldive. We've sworn blue to him that this isn't going to be an energetic adventure for you. Even heads as hard as yours must be treated with caution after such a fall. So, instead of hiking you in from Ruatha Hold as I'd planned,” and Sebell gave a mock scowl at Piemur's burst of laughter, “N'ton will drop you off at dawn in the valley before Nabol Hold. Then we'll proceed at a proper pace with beasts suitable for sale at the Nabol Gather.”

It's cute, because I like Sebell as a mentor and I think he and Piemur have a good dynamic.

It's sad, because Piemur assumes Robinton is angry (has he even come by to see the poor kid while he's recovering), and Robinton himself is such a dick to him in White Dragon. Piemur deserves better.

Anyway, Piemur's decided that since "[d]iscretion had got him nothing but misery, confusion and unwarranted accusations", he'll ask questions instead. He wants to know why they're going.

Sebell says there's two reasons. First, to see if it's true that there are more fire lizards in Nabol Hold "than there should be".

...what does that mean? The northern holds don't OWN firelizards. Piemur remembers overhearing the Lord's complaint at the Hatching, and Sebell wishes that Piemur had said that before. But he acknowledges that Piemur couldn't have known that Sebell would have wished to hear that information. He explains further:

The journeyman smiled a quick reassurance. “No, you couldn't've known. Now you do. We know that Lord Meron had his first fire lizards from Kylara nearly four Turns ago, so they could have clutched at least once, possibly twice. And he'd've made certain he had control of the distribution of those new eggs. Nonetheless, he has distributed more in Nabol than we can account for. What is equally important is the amount of other supplies that are being brought into the Hold and... disappearing.”

So basically, Meron is illicitly trading with the Oldtimers. Piemur says as much, and Sebell scolds him mildly for leaving off the title of Lord. But agrees.

So they're spying for info about that, as well as info about which of Meron's male heirs would be the most acceptable successor "to craft and cot".

It sounds like Meron's dying of syphilis or some other STD based on Sebell's comment:

“Oh, yes, a wasting disease.” Sebell's grin was malicious, and there was an unpleasant gleam in his eyes as he met Piemur's astonished gaze. “You might say, a very proper disease to fit Lord Meron's... peculiar ways!”

So anyway, the next night, Piemur gets to go for his mission. Menolly wakes him up for it and sees him off on N'ton's Lioth. He gets dropped off in secret and makes to rendezvous with Sebell. Some fire lizards spot him, but he scares them off by thinking of Between really hard. Clever trick!

While waiting for Sebell, Piemur spots a number of caravans with a shit ton of fire lizards. He reports this when Sebell finally appears. He's got some herder beasts to sell, and a truly dreadful accent to use while selling them. He also brought hot klah and a meat roll, which is very welcome.

Sebell really is the best mentor.

So they go to the Gather. Sebell is playing drunk herdsman, which gives him an opportunity to cheerfully say things that no one would get away with sober. Piemur gets sent off to haggle for fodder (he saves an eighth on the dealing and pockets it, like any apprentice would). He comes back to hear Sebell haggle and admires his technique.

Piemur notices something else about the beasts: their ownership marks aren't new. He realizes Sebell has probably played this trick before, and there's likely a cotholder in Ruatha who keeps the beasts for Harper Hall.

Eventually, Piemur gets sent off to investigate. He doesn't think much of the Gather. It doesn't even have bubbly pies! And the craftsmen at the stalls are all very junior. He observes the fire lizard and notices something interesting: most of the lizards flying around are green, with some blues and browns. Bronze lizards are only on the shoulders of prosperous people.

He ends up hearing a smith bitch about having received a dud egg from Meron. He doesn't seem unhappy about Meron's upcoming death. Piemur puts things together:

Eggs handed out in quantities, eggs that had been badly handled and wouldn't hatch. Unless... and Piemur reflected over something that Menolly had said about fire lizard eggs. Green fire lizards laid eggs as well, having been fertilized by a mating flight with a blue or brown, sometimes even a bronze. But green fire lizards were stupid. They'd lay a clutch, ten at the most, Menolly said, and leave them with such a shallow covering of beach sand that they were easy prey to wild wherries or sand snakes. Very few green-laid clutches survived to Hatch. Which, as Menolly had succinctly stated, was just as well or Pern would be up to the eyeballs in little green fire lizards.

I wouldn't mind having a little green flying cat.

Eventually, Piemur manages to hitch a ride on a cart and get into the Hold proper. He lucks out and finds some coveralls being dried in the sun, he slips one over his head so that he can pretend to be a drudge. It works so well that Piemur is immediately pressed into service. Fortunately, Piemur has spent enough time with Camo that he knows the tricks to this kind of work.

He overhears some of the staff talking about Meron's health. They seem amused, but Piemur can't really ask why. They seem to be taking sly amusement in Meron's "game" with the would-be heirs, who are apparently tending Meron themselves in hopes of being named.

And that's when Piemur gets lucky. Since he claims to have been sent from the Hold for the Gather, the rest of the staff have been taking the opportunity to give him their most unpleasant chores, which include airing out Meron's chambers. This gives Piemur a unique opportunity:

Reposing on the health were nine pots of exactly the size in which fire lizard eggs were placed to keep warm and harden. Mastering his urge to gag, Piemur ducked across the room to investigate. One pot was set slightly apart from the others and, lifting the lid, Piemur scraped enough sand away to see the mottled shell before he covered it carefully over. He took a quick look at the contents of the first pot in the other group. Yes, the egg was smaller and of a different hue. He'd wager every mark he owned that the separate pot contained a fire lizard queen egg.

Piemur's not about to give up an opportunity. He swipes the queen egg, shoving it into his shirt. Then he goes back to work. He ends up hiding the egg in a nice warm ash pit, while plotting his escape. He makes the attempt to leave during the Feast, but learns, to his dismay that, unlike the rest of Pern apparently, drudges aren't permitted to go to their own Hold's Gather.

You know, I think it'd be worth a deeper look at how drudges work in Pern. It seems to be a social class. Are people born drudges? Is there an opportunity for advancement?

Lessa was treated as a slave. But of course, Fax is evil. The drudges still seemed subject to fairly unreasonable orders even in Ruatha though. Children can be drudges, since we know Piemur is fourteen and small enough to look even younger. And disabled people. Can drudges quit? Can they leave?

How do they enjoy a Gather? Are they given money? Are drudges paid?

Anyway, Piemur realizes that he's not going to be getting out that way, and his plan to wait until the coast is clear and leave the same way he came in isn't going to work either when he hears shouting, and people talking about the strange drudge that had appeared to help with the Gather.

So basically, the theft got discovered, and people have figured out who did it. They even remember him trying to leave. So the search is on.

Time for a new plan. Piemur HAD been hiding in the ashpit, but it's only a matter of time before they find him. However, just above his head, he sees the window to a storeroom. It's perfect, because the storerooms are locked from the outside. He waits for the opportunity, then climbs in, closing the window behind him. He ends up landing on a sack.

He's just in time, he can hear rattling on the other side of the door, but the searchers dismiss the room as a possibility since only the Steward has a key. Just in case, he crawls inside one of the sacks. A clever trick using the weak stitching of a seam gives him a way to retie the sack above him. He ends up falling asleep, surrounded by cloth bales.

He does rouse enough to hear some of the searchers actually open the storeroom door, but he's safely hidden. He goes back to sleep.

Only to wake up with a profound sense of heat. And when he finally shifts enough sacks aside to see out, he sees a bright blue sky. Definitely NOT Nabol's sky.

Basically, what had happened is that Piemur had hid in the shipment of illicit goods meant for the Oldtimers. And apparently the Oldtimers came and got them.

It's a struggle to get out, rather effectively written, but Piemur makes it, protecting the egg all the while. He ends up at the top of a considerable mound of goods, and the Oldtimers are coming.

One of them is Mardra! Anyway, they start tugging at the sacks. Piemur manages to scurry down the other side. Fire lizards spot him, but Piemur uses his "I'm not here." trick again. (Amusingly this causes Mardra to demand "Who's not here?" So presumably one of the lizards is hers.) Anyway, Piemur runs for it. He seems to make it, staggering his way through the foliage until he finally finds sanctuary beneath a flowering bush and falls asleep. The chapter ends here.