Dragondrums - Chapter Eight
May. 22nd, 2021 07:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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i_read_whatSo last time, we saw the guy who apparently won't expel adult students who actively try to murder a fourteen year old boy torture a dying man to get what he wants.
The sad thing is, even with that, this has been the most readable that the Pern series has been in a very long time.
We rejoin Piemur in this chapter, as he's waking up in the middle of the jungle. He's still got the egg, which is warm and safe inside his tunic. He's got a very short amount of time to find the egg a warm place for the night, but fortunately, the Southern Continent has a lot by way of sandy beaches. He buries the egg and builds a nice rockpile to mark the spot.
Piemur then sees to his own needs: he finds a tree with orange fruit, and uses a stick to knock some down, before sleeping through the night. He stays there most of the next day, resting, washing himself and his clothing in the seawater. Every so often, he has to find shelter to avoid fire lizards and dragons overhead though, which tells him that he's still too close to the Weyr.
Piemur resupplies himself with fruit and picks up some dried hulls that he uses to carry water and the egg (in hot sand) before heading westward.
This bit is odd to me:
Afterward, he never could figure out why he felt the Weyr and the Southern Hold were dangerous to him. He just felt he ought to avoid any contact with them, certainly until his egg had hatched and he had Impressed his own fire lizard. It wasn't logical, really, but he'd endured a harrowing experience, had already been in the role of the hunted, and so he continued to run.
This paragraph is very weird, because it seems to be trying to explain something that doesn't need explaining.
I think they're dangerous to you because you're aware that the Southern Weyr is made up of people who don't like you, who have schemed against your political allies, that you've witnessed engage in extortion type behavior, and have, in a few cases, actually tried to kill people.
You've got something that they want.
As for the Hold, that's a bit more ambiguous. Toric's goals and allegiances haven't been made clear in the story yet. There's no way for Piemur to know if he'd be a protective ally or just hand him over to T'ron and Mardra. It makes perfect sense for him to avoid them.
I kind of get the sense from this paragraph that Ms. McCaffrey believes that Piemur is acting selfishly, and motivated primarily by the idea of bonding with the lizard. But so far, it seems like Piemur is primarily motivated by safety and by keeping the egg from the folks who intended to use it for a power play.
Honestly, I don't think it'd be a bad thing if Piemur was primarily motivated by keeping the egg, because almost every character on Pern wants a fire lizard egg, but I don't feel like this is Piemur's sole motivation.
Anyway, at some point the "second moon" rises and I'm taken aback because I don't remember Pern HAVING more than one moon. It's possible however that it was mentioned and I never noticed. Either way, moons are cool.
So Piemur walks and rests as needed. There are more than a few times where the egg gets cool and he has to scramble for warm sand to protect it. Already, I feel like Piemur's put more work into taking care of this egg than F'nor or Menolly ever had to put into theirs, so I do think he should get to keep it, damnit.
There are more survival concerns: Piemur's started getting some digestive issues thanks to the raw fruit, and he realizes that he needs a more varied diet. He remembers Menolly's stories about fishing, and manages to use his knife to transform some thick vines into fishing line, which he baits with fruit. It takes a long time, but he does manage to get a fish.
That said, Piemur is not one of McCaffrey's favorites, so he's allowed to make a blunder here:
. But as he rose from his cramped position and turned, he realized he'd been very stupid. His rock was now isolated from the cove's arm by active surf, With a shock, he realized his second mistake. He had buried the egg in sands that would shortly be underwater. His yellowtail was considerably mangled by the time he had paddled, jumped and splashed ashore. His immersion in salt water had disclosed another shortsightedness on his part. His face, particularly his nose and the tips of his ears, had been badly sunburned, as well as the parts of his body showing through rents in his tunic.
It's a silly thing to focus on, but I can't really think of any time that any of McCaffrey's favorites: F'nor, Brekke, Menolly, Jaxom, Robinton, et cetera, were ever referred to, in narrative, as "shortsighted", no matter how stupid their actions might be.
Anyway, Piemur saves the egg and finds higher ground where he can light a fire and cook his fish. As if to taunt him, he sees more fish leaping out of the water, and suddenly remembers Menolly's claim that fishing was best at sunrise or sunset. He'd been fishing at midday.
This might be interesting to any environmentally inclined people:
His face and hands burned now from too much sun, so he hiked deep into the woods that lined the beach, looking for fresh water, for ripe fruit, and seeing in the luxurious undergrowth, familiar, but oddly outsized, leaves of tuber plants. Experimentally he yanked on a handful of stems and up came a huge tuber root, which he dropped when he saw the small gray grubs that swarmed over it. But they disappeared quickly back into the rich loam, leaving clean the enormous white tuber. Suspiciously Piemur picked it up and examined it from all sides. It looked all right, even if it was much bigger than any tuber he'd ever seen. He was certainly hungry enough to eat all of it.
...wouldn't a raw tuber be as much a problem as raw fruit?
Oh, spoke too soon, he takes it back to the fire and cooks it before eating it. Good lad! This chapter reminds me of the survival chapters in Dragonsong, and I like it a lot. Piemur goes back for more tubers and takes only what he can carry.
Now that it's evening, he tries fishing again and has more luck. After his meal, he reclaims his egg and goes walking until it's too dark to proceed. (He makes sure he sleeps in a way that the rising sun will shine in his face to wake him to catch more fish.)
Rinse and repeat for a few days until he realizes that he hasn't seen lizards or dragons for a long time. He makes plans to find a place to settle for the egg to hatch. He's starting to enjoy his adventure:
That evening he began to wonder why he had continued moving away from hold and Weyr. Of course, it was kind of fun, discovering each new cove and the vast stretches of sandy beach and rocky strand. To be accountable to no one except himself was also a new experience. Now that he had enough to eat and some variety of food, he was enjoying his adventure very much indeed. Why, he'd wager anything that he'd set foot on places no other person had ever trod. It was exhilarating to be first at something, instead of following others and doing just what every other apprentice had done before him Turn after Turn after Turn.
So Piemur fishes in the morning, and has the inspiration to use the oil as a salve for his sunburn. He notes that the egg is really hard now and probably close to hatching. Eventually he finds his location:
At midmorning he stumbled out of the shade onto a wide expanse of gleaming white sand that forced him to squint against its glare. Shading his eyes, he saw a lagoon, partially sealed off from the sea by a jagged barrier of massive rocks, which must once have been the original coastline. Carefully climbing along that rocky arm, he could see all kinds of fish and crawlers in the clear water, trapped there after the higher tides had retreated. Just what he needed, his own private fishing pond. He retraced his steps and continued along the beach. Parallel to the point where the lagoon broke into the sea, he discovered a small stream emerging from the jungle, feeding into the lagoon. He followed it far enough up its course to clean water untainted by the sea.
Perfect!
(A beautiful cove, not tainted by Robinton or Jaxom!)
Piemur has a new concern now: food for the baby lizard. He fishes, lying prone on a grass pad that he'd made to protect himself, when a new disaster strikes: THREAD!
Piemur dives into the lagoon. Fish swarm him, apparently eager to consume any thread that falls into the water. The catch, of course is that Piemur needs to breathe. So he has to periodically surface before diving deep to Thread-free depths. He realizes pretty quickly that he can't keep doing that for the entire Threadfall.
But there's a solution:
If he could find it, if it were sufficiently above the surface of the lagoon at this time of the tide, there was an overhanging rock. He desperately tried to place its location on the lagoon arm the next time he surfaced, but he could barely see with eyes red and stinging. He was never sure in the mist of panic and anoxia how he found that meagre shelter. But he did. He scraped his cheek, right hand and shoulder in the process, but when the redness cleared from his eyes, his nose and mouth were above water and his head and shoulders protected by a narrow roof of rock. Literally, just beyond the tip of his nose. Thread sheeted into the water. He felt fish bump and dive against him, sometimes sharply nibbling at his legs or arms until he flailed the attacked limb and the fish darted after their customary food.
Okay, now that's a terrifying experience.
It also makes me wonder how the fish will adapt once Thread is no longer a factor. But that's a question for a much later novel.
After Thread stops, he finds his egg. (Interestingly, the sand surrounding it is full of grubs, which disgusts Piemur, given their similarity to Thread. But I wonder if they didn't protect the egg somehow. Also I'm looking forward to seeing Dragondawn discuss the origins of the grubs. Anyway, he still needs food!
He quickly makes some new fishing lines, and also gathers some fruit and nuts. The hatchling will need meat but anything edible is better than nothing. It's also sinking in for Piemur that, actually, he's doing pretty fucking awesome:
It was while he was fitting the thorn hook into the end of the vine that the impact of the day started to hit him. His fingers trembled so that he had to pause. He, Piemur of... well, he wasn't a herdsman's boy anymore, and he wasn't a harper's apprentice either... Piemur... Piemur of Pern. He, Piemur of Pern, he went on more confidently, had survived Threadfall holdless. He straightened his shoulders and smiled broadly as he glanced proudly across his lagoon. Piemur of Pern had survived Threadfall. He had overcome considerable obstacles to secure a queen fire lizard egg. It would hatch, and he would, at long last, have a fire lizard all his own! He glanced fondly at the mound in the sand that was his little queen.
Yes! Go for it, kid!
So anyway, Piemur's been gone for eight days. He's a little surprised that Kimi or Rocky haven't come to look for him, but also realizes that they'd have no way to find him even if they knew he was here. I am absolutely not surprised that Piemur does not think of Robinton's Zair. Of course Robinton wouldn't bother looking for a missing apprentice.
Unfortunately, fishing is not very successful. But then he hears a noise! The egg has hatched! He picks up the fish he has managed to catch and gets to her. She's very determined, basically trying and failing to eat the fish whole, but Piemur manages to hack chunks off to feed her properly. It's quite suspenseful, and Piemur races to keep ahead of her hunger. He's a little worried about the effect that entrails full of Thread might have on her, but it's what he has.
She starts to calm down and relax, when the wherries that circled overhead (drawn by the hatching noises) start descending, with talons positioned to grab. He grabs the lizard and runs for it, trying to fight the now attacking wherries with his knife.
Adorably the flying kitten keeps trying to grab the dangling fish head when they run.
This is quite exciting:
The fourth attack occurred so quickly that Piemur couldn't duck in time and felt a sharp pain as the wherry's talons scraped across his shoulders. Twisting upward, he slashed out with his knife, tripping as he did so and instinctively rolling to the right to protect his precious burden. He saw the wherries trying to veer fast enough to come at him on the ground, shrilling out that their prey had fallen and was at their mercy.
The little queen was now aware of their peril and slipping from his grasp, jumped to his shoulder, spreading her wings and screaming defiance at the attackers. She was so valiant, the little darling, so small in comparison to the wherries that her courage gave Piemur the impetus he needed. He scrambled to his feet, felt her cling to his hair, her tail tightly wound about his neck, continuing her stream of defiant cries as if by her fury she could repel their attackers.
Awww.
They keep running, when suddenly, the wherries start making noises of fear. Dragons have arrived! They circle the hatching spot, but thankfully, there's no one to tell them where Piemur and his lizard have fled.
--
Unfortunately, we scene shift from Piemur to the Harpers. Bleh.
Well, to be fair, we scene shift to Sebell, who I actually do like. He's gotten a message from Toric, via Kimi.
Ugh, Robinton is here too. He's sighing about how it's taken Meron eight days to die instead of just one. Sorry that you're being inconvenienced, guys. Sebell is more concerned with Toric's message: no one's come to him for shelter, and he hasn't seen any outburst from the Weyr to indicate a stowaway was caught.
Toric HAS observed signs that a shipment has arrived, though, so their theory is still a good one. Sebell figures that Piemur may well have escaped and made himself scarce.
Robinton and Menolly approve of this, but their emotional reactions seem different to me.
Here's Robinton:
“Which is sensible of Piemur,” said the Harper, idly twirling his wine glass with one hand. His face was expressionless, but his eyes moved restlessly with his thoughts. “Piemur would undoubtedly deem it discreet not to come to the Oldtimers' notice.”
Here's Menolly:
"I'm positive that Piemur won't attempt to seek anyone out until that egg has hatched and he's Impressed. I know I wouldn't if I were in Piemur's boots. Oh, I wish I knew if he were all right.” She beat her thighs with her fists at her helplessness."
I like that Menolly agrees with Piemur's course of action. And maybe I'm not being fair, but it definitely seems like Menolly and Sebell care a lot more about Piemur than Robinton does.
This bit annoys me a little though:
“But I feel responsible for Piemur,” she said, and then shot her Master an apologetic look for interrupting him so rudely. “If I hadn't encouraged his interest in the fire lizards, if I hadn't filled his ears with the pleasures they bring, he might not have been tempted to steal that egg and get himself into such a predicament.” She looked up because both men started to laugh, and she exclaimed with exasperation at their callousness.
Piemur didn't steal the egg just to have an egg. He stole the egg to keep it from Meron. There is a difference here, and I'm irrationally annoyed that Piemur isn't getting credit for his own egg theft. It's not like we haven't heard about Jaxom's ad nauseum.
I'm going to be mean to Robinton again though:
“Menolly, Piemur has been getting in and out of trouble since long before you arrived here,” said Sebell. “You and your fire lizards calmed him down considerably. But I think you're right about Piemur not showing himself until Impression's been made. And Toric is on the alert for him. He'll show up.”
“Meanwhile,” said the Harper, rising from his chair and reaching for his flying gear, “I'd best go and assist the new Lord Deckter to secure his Hold.”
While Sebell isn't as worried as Menolly, I think it's made very clear that it's not because he doesn't CARE about the boy. He just has faith that Piemur is resourceful. He still goes out of his way to reassure Menolly.
Robinton is a callous dick.
And White Dragon makes me mad all over again. (WHY, Menolly???)
The sad thing is, even with that, this has been the most readable that the Pern series has been in a very long time.
We rejoin Piemur in this chapter, as he's waking up in the middle of the jungle. He's still got the egg, which is warm and safe inside his tunic. He's got a very short amount of time to find the egg a warm place for the night, but fortunately, the Southern Continent has a lot by way of sandy beaches. He buries the egg and builds a nice rockpile to mark the spot.
Piemur then sees to his own needs: he finds a tree with orange fruit, and uses a stick to knock some down, before sleeping through the night. He stays there most of the next day, resting, washing himself and his clothing in the seawater. Every so often, he has to find shelter to avoid fire lizards and dragons overhead though, which tells him that he's still too close to the Weyr.
Piemur resupplies himself with fruit and picks up some dried hulls that he uses to carry water and the egg (in hot sand) before heading westward.
This bit is odd to me:
Afterward, he never could figure out why he felt the Weyr and the Southern Hold were dangerous to him. He just felt he ought to avoid any contact with them, certainly until his egg had hatched and he had Impressed his own fire lizard. It wasn't logical, really, but he'd endured a harrowing experience, had already been in the role of the hunted, and so he continued to run.
This paragraph is very weird, because it seems to be trying to explain something that doesn't need explaining.
I think they're dangerous to you because you're aware that the Southern Weyr is made up of people who don't like you, who have schemed against your political allies, that you've witnessed engage in extortion type behavior, and have, in a few cases, actually tried to kill people.
You've got something that they want.
As for the Hold, that's a bit more ambiguous. Toric's goals and allegiances haven't been made clear in the story yet. There's no way for Piemur to know if he'd be a protective ally or just hand him over to T'ron and Mardra. It makes perfect sense for him to avoid them.
I kind of get the sense from this paragraph that Ms. McCaffrey believes that Piemur is acting selfishly, and motivated primarily by the idea of bonding with the lizard. But so far, it seems like Piemur is primarily motivated by safety and by keeping the egg from the folks who intended to use it for a power play.
Honestly, I don't think it'd be a bad thing if Piemur was primarily motivated by keeping the egg, because almost every character on Pern wants a fire lizard egg, but I don't feel like this is Piemur's sole motivation.
Anyway, at some point the "second moon" rises and I'm taken aback because I don't remember Pern HAVING more than one moon. It's possible however that it was mentioned and I never noticed. Either way, moons are cool.
So Piemur walks and rests as needed. There are more than a few times where the egg gets cool and he has to scramble for warm sand to protect it. Already, I feel like Piemur's put more work into taking care of this egg than F'nor or Menolly ever had to put into theirs, so I do think he should get to keep it, damnit.
There are more survival concerns: Piemur's started getting some digestive issues thanks to the raw fruit, and he realizes that he needs a more varied diet. He remembers Menolly's stories about fishing, and manages to use his knife to transform some thick vines into fishing line, which he baits with fruit. It takes a long time, but he does manage to get a fish.
That said, Piemur is not one of McCaffrey's favorites, so he's allowed to make a blunder here:
. But as he rose from his cramped position and turned, he realized he'd been very stupid. His rock was now isolated from the cove's arm by active surf, With a shock, he realized his second mistake. He had buried the egg in sands that would shortly be underwater. His yellowtail was considerably mangled by the time he had paddled, jumped and splashed ashore. His immersion in salt water had disclosed another shortsightedness on his part. His face, particularly his nose and the tips of his ears, had been badly sunburned, as well as the parts of his body showing through rents in his tunic.
It's a silly thing to focus on, but I can't really think of any time that any of McCaffrey's favorites: F'nor, Brekke, Menolly, Jaxom, Robinton, et cetera, were ever referred to, in narrative, as "shortsighted", no matter how stupid their actions might be.
Anyway, Piemur saves the egg and finds higher ground where he can light a fire and cook his fish. As if to taunt him, he sees more fish leaping out of the water, and suddenly remembers Menolly's claim that fishing was best at sunrise or sunset. He'd been fishing at midday.
This might be interesting to any environmentally inclined people:
His face and hands burned now from too much sun, so he hiked deep into the woods that lined the beach, looking for fresh water, for ripe fruit, and seeing in the luxurious undergrowth, familiar, but oddly outsized, leaves of tuber plants. Experimentally he yanked on a handful of stems and up came a huge tuber root, which he dropped when he saw the small gray grubs that swarmed over it. But they disappeared quickly back into the rich loam, leaving clean the enormous white tuber. Suspiciously Piemur picked it up and examined it from all sides. It looked all right, even if it was much bigger than any tuber he'd ever seen. He was certainly hungry enough to eat all of it.
...wouldn't a raw tuber be as much a problem as raw fruit?
Oh, spoke too soon, he takes it back to the fire and cooks it before eating it. Good lad! This chapter reminds me of the survival chapters in Dragonsong, and I like it a lot. Piemur goes back for more tubers and takes only what he can carry.
Now that it's evening, he tries fishing again and has more luck. After his meal, he reclaims his egg and goes walking until it's too dark to proceed. (He makes sure he sleeps in a way that the rising sun will shine in his face to wake him to catch more fish.)
Rinse and repeat for a few days until he realizes that he hasn't seen lizards or dragons for a long time. He makes plans to find a place to settle for the egg to hatch. He's starting to enjoy his adventure:
That evening he began to wonder why he had continued moving away from hold and Weyr. Of course, it was kind of fun, discovering each new cove and the vast stretches of sandy beach and rocky strand. To be accountable to no one except himself was also a new experience. Now that he had enough to eat and some variety of food, he was enjoying his adventure very much indeed. Why, he'd wager anything that he'd set foot on places no other person had ever trod. It was exhilarating to be first at something, instead of following others and doing just what every other apprentice had done before him Turn after Turn after Turn.
So Piemur fishes in the morning, and has the inspiration to use the oil as a salve for his sunburn. He notes that the egg is really hard now and probably close to hatching. Eventually he finds his location:
At midmorning he stumbled out of the shade onto a wide expanse of gleaming white sand that forced him to squint against its glare. Shading his eyes, he saw a lagoon, partially sealed off from the sea by a jagged barrier of massive rocks, which must once have been the original coastline. Carefully climbing along that rocky arm, he could see all kinds of fish and crawlers in the clear water, trapped there after the higher tides had retreated. Just what he needed, his own private fishing pond. He retraced his steps and continued along the beach. Parallel to the point where the lagoon broke into the sea, he discovered a small stream emerging from the jungle, feeding into the lagoon. He followed it far enough up its course to clean water untainted by the sea.
Perfect!
(A beautiful cove, not tainted by Robinton or Jaxom!)
Piemur has a new concern now: food for the baby lizard. He fishes, lying prone on a grass pad that he'd made to protect himself, when a new disaster strikes: THREAD!
Piemur dives into the lagoon. Fish swarm him, apparently eager to consume any thread that falls into the water. The catch, of course is that Piemur needs to breathe. So he has to periodically surface before diving deep to Thread-free depths. He realizes pretty quickly that he can't keep doing that for the entire Threadfall.
But there's a solution:
If he could find it, if it were sufficiently above the surface of the lagoon at this time of the tide, there was an overhanging rock. He desperately tried to place its location on the lagoon arm the next time he surfaced, but he could barely see with eyes red and stinging. He was never sure in the mist of panic and anoxia how he found that meagre shelter. But he did. He scraped his cheek, right hand and shoulder in the process, but when the redness cleared from his eyes, his nose and mouth were above water and his head and shoulders protected by a narrow roof of rock. Literally, just beyond the tip of his nose. Thread sheeted into the water. He felt fish bump and dive against him, sometimes sharply nibbling at his legs or arms until he flailed the attacked limb and the fish darted after their customary food.
Okay, now that's a terrifying experience.
It also makes me wonder how the fish will adapt once Thread is no longer a factor. But that's a question for a much later novel.
After Thread stops, he finds his egg. (Interestingly, the sand surrounding it is full of grubs, which disgusts Piemur, given their similarity to Thread. But I wonder if they didn't protect the egg somehow. Also I'm looking forward to seeing Dragondawn discuss the origins of the grubs. Anyway, he still needs food!
He quickly makes some new fishing lines, and also gathers some fruit and nuts. The hatchling will need meat but anything edible is better than nothing. It's also sinking in for Piemur that, actually, he's doing pretty fucking awesome:
It was while he was fitting the thorn hook into the end of the vine that the impact of the day started to hit him. His fingers trembled so that he had to pause. He, Piemur of... well, he wasn't a herdsman's boy anymore, and he wasn't a harper's apprentice either... Piemur... Piemur of Pern. He, Piemur of Pern, he went on more confidently, had survived Threadfall holdless. He straightened his shoulders and smiled broadly as he glanced proudly across his lagoon. Piemur of Pern had survived Threadfall. He had overcome considerable obstacles to secure a queen fire lizard egg. It would hatch, and he would, at long last, have a fire lizard all his own! He glanced fondly at the mound in the sand that was his little queen.
Yes! Go for it, kid!
So anyway, Piemur's been gone for eight days. He's a little surprised that Kimi or Rocky haven't come to look for him, but also realizes that they'd have no way to find him even if they knew he was here. I am absolutely not surprised that Piemur does not think of Robinton's Zair. Of course Robinton wouldn't bother looking for a missing apprentice.
Unfortunately, fishing is not very successful. But then he hears a noise! The egg has hatched! He picks up the fish he has managed to catch and gets to her. She's very determined, basically trying and failing to eat the fish whole, but Piemur manages to hack chunks off to feed her properly. It's quite suspenseful, and Piemur races to keep ahead of her hunger. He's a little worried about the effect that entrails full of Thread might have on her, but it's what he has.
She starts to calm down and relax, when the wherries that circled overhead (drawn by the hatching noises) start descending, with talons positioned to grab. He grabs the lizard and runs for it, trying to fight the now attacking wherries with his knife.
Adorably the flying kitten keeps trying to grab the dangling fish head when they run.
This is quite exciting:
The fourth attack occurred so quickly that Piemur couldn't duck in time and felt a sharp pain as the wherry's talons scraped across his shoulders. Twisting upward, he slashed out with his knife, tripping as he did so and instinctively rolling to the right to protect his precious burden. He saw the wherries trying to veer fast enough to come at him on the ground, shrilling out that their prey had fallen and was at their mercy.
The little queen was now aware of their peril and slipping from his grasp, jumped to his shoulder, spreading her wings and screaming defiance at the attackers. She was so valiant, the little darling, so small in comparison to the wherries that her courage gave Piemur the impetus he needed. He scrambled to his feet, felt her cling to his hair, her tail tightly wound about his neck, continuing her stream of defiant cries as if by her fury she could repel their attackers.
Awww.
They keep running, when suddenly, the wherries start making noises of fear. Dragons have arrived! They circle the hatching spot, but thankfully, there's no one to tell them where Piemur and his lizard have fled.
--
Unfortunately, we scene shift from Piemur to the Harpers. Bleh.
Well, to be fair, we scene shift to Sebell, who I actually do like. He's gotten a message from Toric, via Kimi.
Ugh, Robinton is here too. He's sighing about how it's taken Meron eight days to die instead of just one. Sorry that you're being inconvenienced, guys. Sebell is more concerned with Toric's message: no one's come to him for shelter, and he hasn't seen any outburst from the Weyr to indicate a stowaway was caught.
Toric HAS observed signs that a shipment has arrived, though, so their theory is still a good one. Sebell figures that Piemur may well have escaped and made himself scarce.
Robinton and Menolly approve of this, but their emotional reactions seem different to me.
Here's Robinton:
“Which is sensible of Piemur,” said the Harper, idly twirling his wine glass with one hand. His face was expressionless, but his eyes moved restlessly with his thoughts. “Piemur would undoubtedly deem it discreet not to come to the Oldtimers' notice.”
Here's Menolly:
"I'm positive that Piemur won't attempt to seek anyone out until that egg has hatched and he's Impressed. I know I wouldn't if I were in Piemur's boots. Oh, I wish I knew if he were all right.” She beat her thighs with her fists at her helplessness."
I like that Menolly agrees with Piemur's course of action. And maybe I'm not being fair, but it definitely seems like Menolly and Sebell care a lot more about Piemur than Robinton does.
This bit annoys me a little though:
“But I feel responsible for Piemur,” she said, and then shot her Master an apologetic look for interrupting him so rudely. “If I hadn't encouraged his interest in the fire lizards, if I hadn't filled his ears with the pleasures they bring, he might not have been tempted to steal that egg and get himself into such a predicament.” She looked up because both men started to laugh, and she exclaimed with exasperation at their callousness.
Piemur didn't steal the egg just to have an egg. He stole the egg to keep it from Meron. There is a difference here, and I'm irrationally annoyed that Piemur isn't getting credit for his own egg theft. It's not like we haven't heard about Jaxom's ad nauseum.
I'm going to be mean to Robinton again though:
“Menolly, Piemur has been getting in and out of trouble since long before you arrived here,” said Sebell. “You and your fire lizards calmed him down considerably. But I think you're right about Piemur not showing himself until Impression's been made. And Toric is on the alert for him. He'll show up.”
“Meanwhile,” said the Harper, rising from his chair and reaching for his flying gear, “I'd best go and assist the new Lord Deckter to secure his Hold.”
While Sebell isn't as worried as Menolly, I think it's made very clear that it's not because he doesn't CARE about the boy. He just has faith that Piemur is resourceful. He still goes out of his way to reassure Menolly.
Robinton is a callous dick.
And White Dragon makes me mad all over again. (WHY, Menolly???)