Nosy Questions

Writers: Estelle, Francesca
Date Posted: 7th April 2022

Characters: Tasni, Arrilon
Description: Tasni meets Arrilon on her return to the Harper Hall
Location: Harper Hall
Date: month 10, day 27 of Turn 10
Notes: Mentioned: Corowal

After six months' traveling in Emerald Falls as a holder woman, Tasni's
return to the Harper Hall felt almost like coming home. As well as the
hot baths and soft bed, she could wear her hard-won journeyman's knots
and practice her craft with no need to hide who she really was from the
people around her...mostly. She knew that within a month or two she'd be
longing to get back out on the road again, but just for now, she
savored the luxury.

Although she'd come back with plenty of material for her studies and to
pass on to her Masters in the North, the trip to Forest Springs hadn't
been a complete success. The Holder they'd gone to investigate had been
greedy, grasping and no friend to Lord Corowal, but despite a careful
search, they hadn't found any firm evidence of wrongdoing, or that he
was sheltering her missing guard. She wondered if she'd ever find the
man. Maybe he'd gone Holdless, or died.

Once she'd reported to Hallsecond Jayala, found her assigned room and
bathed, washing off the dust from the road, she headed for the archives.
Most of what she'd discovered was in her head, since it was safest when
working undercover, and she needed to start writing up her report.
Stepping into the warm, sunlit room, she breathed in the familiar dusty
scent of long-stored paper and hides.

Looking around for the journeyman on duty, she saw a young man she
didn't recognize. A new arrival during her absence? "Hello!"

Arrilon had been slowly familiarizing himself with how the Hall's
archives were organized. While there were certainly similarities
between these archives and the ones at the Weyr, the organizational
systems had some differences, and the categories were understandably
different as well. For example, the collection of sheet music was
staggering, and he hadn't fully learned how it was categorized.

He appreciated that the Master Archivist had so far just given him
small projects, which allowed him plenty of time to poke around and
get comfortable in the space. He was just glancing through a section
that looked to be recent compositions when he heard a voice that
seemed to be directed at him. He turned and saw an unfamiliar face,
but that wasn't surprising, since most residents were still new to
him. A quick glance showed that she was a Journeywoman, which was a
bit of a welcome surprise. While he had seen a fair number of female
apprentices, Journeywoman were less common than he had assumed.

"Hello," he replied, giving a small smile. "I'm Arrilon, and I'm
pretty new here. But is there anything I can try to help with?" He
probably wouldn't actually be able to help with much, but it didn't
hurt to ask before bothering another journeyman.

"Just some paper and a pen - and maybe a map of Emerald Falls
territory," she added as an afterthought, since she'd need to include a
copy of her route. "But I can remember where to find them, if you're
busy. I'm Tasni. Just got back from traveling in the Hold, and I need to
write up my report."

She wasn't in too much of a hurry to start, though. "You're new here,
huh? Where were you living before?"

"I can help with some of that," Arrilon replied, relieved he at least
knew where the paper and pen were. He had a guess as to where the maps
were, but wasn't quite sure.

His interest was piqued when she mentioned having been traveling.
Where had she gone, and what had she experienced? But, before he could
come up with a question, she asked one of her own. "I just got here at
the beginning of the month," he explained. "I transferred from Dolphin
Cove Weyr." Luckily, Turns of the Hall being located at the Weyr had
meant little resistance from the Journeymen he had met so far,
although he wasn't sure if some of them were just pretending to be
friendly. He still felt very much like an outsider though. "My parents
are from Amber Hills Hold though," he added. Sharing that he was
holdbred seemed to help at least some harpers relax.

"Oh, is that where you grew up?" Tasni asked, always intrigued to hear
about life in the other Holds. She was encouraged to know that he'd been
living at Dolphin Cove, since Weyr-trained harpers were rarely bothered
by a female crafter. She smiled. "Sorry if I'm being nosy, by the way.
I'm studying the history of the Southern Holds since the plagues, so
when I meet someone who isn't from Emerald Falls they get grilled with
questions."

Arrilon was both a bit taken aback by Tasni's questions and flattered
by the interest. At the same time, he wasn't sure what she might find
interesting about his childhood at a Hold. He couldn't imagine what he
could share that would be worth a harper making note of. "Yes, I was
there until I was 17. My father is a guard and my mother helps in the
kitchens. Most of my siblings are still there too." He shrugged.
"Nothing particularly interesting happened while I was growing up.
What exactly are you studying about the Southern Holds? That's a big
topic."

"I'm looking at the ban on female crafters, and other effects of the
plagues on women. Both in the immediate aftermath, but also any
continuing repercussions today. I should explain, I trained in the
Harper Hall on the Northern Continent, and we never had such strict bans
there. It seems..." She thought for a moment. "Strange, to me. It's
something I want to understand, and it's interesting to my Masters in
the North, too."

Arrilon barely knew Tasni, but felt he was already developing a crush
on her; a professional one, of course. It had to take courage for a
female harper from the Northern Continent to come to the South to
study the ban on female crafters. He hoped the other harpers treated
her well. He hadn't heard any worrying comments yet from his peers,
but he was still new. Besides, others could probably guess his view of
female crafters from his time spent at the Weyr and so might hold
their tongue around him. But, rather than diving into the politics of
a Hall he wasn't very familiar with yet, he decided to stick with his
own family. "Well, if you ever want to know what it's like to live in
a Hold and have lots of children, my mother would be happy to talk
with you. I'm one of 13. And a number of my sisters already have a few
kids each."

"Thirteen?" The journeywoman's eyes went round at the thought of having
thirteen children. Growing up at the Weyrhold, it hadn't been unusual to
have lots of foster and half-siblings around, but the idea of taking
care of so many was more than she could imagine in the life she'd
chosen. "She must have been busy! Amber Hills Hold, you said?" She
thought for a moment. "If you really don't think she'd mind, I know a
few dragonriders. We wouldn't have to tell anyone I'm a harper if it
would cause any trouble..." She smiled. "You see, we only just met and
I'm dragging you into my research already. How about you? Are you
specializing as an archivist, too?"

Arrilon shrugged. "My youngest sister is 10 now, so I'm sure my mother
feels like she has lots of free time. And my sister is a greenrider,
so I don't think she'd find a female crafter so strange... not that
she'd let any of my sisters apprentice." At her question about his
specialization, he gave a small shrug. "I'm interested in teaching and
the archives. Luckily, I have a chance to do a bit of both, at least
for now. I'm not working on any of my own research yet." Hopefully he
would come up with a project in the next few months. "I think a map of
Emerald Falls territory is over there," he said, pointing to where he
knew at least some maps were. "Is it for your research?"

"For my report to my Masters. I'll make a copy and plot the route I
traveled, so I can refer back to it when I write up my notes." Tasni
walked over to the shelf he'd indicated and began to look through the
rolled-up hides, checking the neatly scribed labels for the one she
wanted. "It'll make sure I get everything in the right order, at least.
Ah, this will do." She unrolled a map and held it at arm's length.
Detailed enough to show the main points of her journey, but not so much
that it'd take an age to copy. "Want to see where I went?"

"Sure," he replied eagerly, pointing to a table nearby where she could
spread out the map. He realized he didn't have as much knowledge of
the Emerald Falls territory as he probably should. He'd add that to
the ever-growing list of things to learn.

Tasni unrolled the map onto the table and weighted down the corners with
a couple of books and some stacked hides. "All right, I started here at
the Hall, and we - the journeyman I was traveling with and I - took the
riverboat north and then east, towards Forest Spring Hold. I'd heard
that the holders in that territory are not as ready to accept female
harpers as they are closer to the main Hold, where Lord Corowal's
influence is greater, so I hoped to hear what they had to say."

Arrilon's brows furrowed in confusion. While it made sense that she
had traveled with a male harper, and she had apparently returned to
the Hall unscathed, it seemed unproductive to send a female harper out
to talk to holders who were very likely against female harpers. "Did
any of them talk to you? What did you learn?" He quickly added, "If
you're able to share."

"They did, and I listened. Men can do a surprising amount of talking
when there's a woman around, especially if she...doesn't exactly
advertise that she's a harper." The young woman grinned slyly. "And what
the women had to say was even more interesting. I probably shouldn't say
too much before I submit my report, but some of the attitudes were
pretty strong. It's as though they'd forgotten the craft bans only ever
came about because of the plagues. It's become tradition."

Arrilon was embarrassed he hadn't immediately realized Tasni would
have travelled in disguise. The embarrassment was soon forgotten
though as she shared some of what she had learned. After Turns spent
living at Weyrs, it was shocking to hear that so many were against
female crafters. He shook his head, a small frown crossing his face.
He knew she couldn't share everything with him, but he couldn't help
asking, "Was it any different with older holders, who were alive
before the craft bans? They must remember what it was like."

"Yes, though anyone old enough to remember would be getting on in Turns
now. Some have grown used to it, others - well, they were the ones who
brought in the bans in the first place." Tasni shook her head. "But
there were a few, and they're the best if you can find them. They can
talk about what it was really like, without a lot of self-justification.
Some of them lost half their families to the sickness. I don't think I
really understood how frightened people were, back then. Holds were
being abandoned, harpers didn't come any more. There was a fear that the
South would decline, slowly die out."

"That would be scary," Arrilon said, although he still found it hard
to understand why the plagues would have led to craft bans. There were
plenty of examples of female crafters with children in the Weyrs.
Although, he wondered if they progressed more slowly in their crafts.
He had never really thought about it before.

While she was very friendly, and he found her, and her research,
fascinating, Arrilon worried he was coming across as over-eager.
"Well, I don't want to keep you from your work. Anything else you need
before you get started?"

"No, I think I've got everything." Tasni drew a slate towards her to
begin drafting her report, then looked up. "Hey, if you ever want to
study together, or talk over ideas for a project, just let me know. Us
archivists should stick together." It was a relief to spend time with
someone who'd lived at a Weyr, and didn't look at her as if a woman
crafter was some sort of strange curiosity, or worse, a freak. "And if
you really mean it about talking to your family, I'd be really interested."

Arrilon smiled, and nodded. "That would be great. I'd love to run some
ideas by you, once I have them." That would certainly be less
intimidating than speaking directly with the Master Archivist. "And,
I'm sure we can find a time to take a trip to Amber Hills Hold." He
was surprised she actually wanted to speak with his family, but
couldn't imagine it leading to negative consequences. "See you
around." With a final smile, he moved away from the table, and back to
perusing the shelves.

Last updated on the July 15th 2022

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