Songs From The South

Writers: Estelle
Date Posted: 15th April 2018

Characters: Tasni
Description: Tasni asks Calenta for advice about her new posting, and receives a request in return
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 4, day 3 of Turn 9

Packing for her journey hadn't taken long. Tasni had a natural tendency
to travel light, and her favourite pair of worn and comfy boots and a
gitar in a scratched and battered case made up most of her luggage along
with a few clothes she hoped would be suitable for the climate.

She hadn't been able to take the gitar with her on her last assignment -
it would have given her away as a harper at once - and her technique had
got a bit rusty in that time. She'd have to do some serious practice
over the next few days, or else the Southern harpers would end up
thinking all Northerners, or women, were as incompetent as she was, even
if instrumental work wasn't her main area of study.

Being posted to a Hall, even one that was excitingly unfamiliar, did
have its drawbacks.

Tasni sighed and closed the gitar case. She'd go and find Calenta first,
and practice when she got back.

Calenta's door was half-open, and the pure high notes of the
journeywoman singer's voice could be clearly heard down the corridor,
though she was singing softly, perhaps to save her voice for practice
later. It wasn't a tune Tasni was familiar with. Certainly it wasn't
part of the usual teaching syllabus.

She waited for a moment, letting the last note die away before she knocked.

"Calenta? It's me, Tasni."

"Oh! Come on in." She was standing by the window, her hand resting
lightly on the sill. As she turned, she was smiling, though her eyes -
sightless since birth - didn't follow her visitor as she entered.
"You've caught me singing old songs from the South when I should be
practising my part for Master Ikoren's new choral work."

"That's from the South? It's pretty." Tasni sat down on the bed at her
friend's gesture. "Sad, though."

"Yes. It was one I learnt from my first Master, back at the Hall at
Emerald Falls. It was written before the plagues."

"Funny you should be remembering it now." She'd been wondering how to
bring up the subject with Calenta, who usually avoided talking about her
past, but it seemed that chance had given her an opening. "I just got my
next assignment, and..."

"...it's to Emerald Falls."

"How in the world did you know that?" Tasni asked, incredulous. She
thought she knew all the Hall gossip about what the Masters were
planning as well as anyone, and she hadn't had the faintest idea.
Although... "Was it Beniran? He's pretty close with the Hallmaster,
these days."

She smiled. "He told me someone was going to be posted there, although I
didn't know it was going to be you. But when you came to see me bearing
news that concerned the South, I guessed. Congratulations!"

"I'm glad someone thinks it's a good assignment. Everyone else seems to
be under the impression that I'm being punished."

"I'm sure that's not the case. They wouldn't post someone there they
didn't trust."

"That's what I thought." Tasni studied the journeywoman's face,
wondering how much she'd put together. Calenta had always been the type
of harper who lived for her music and showed no obvious interest in Hall
politics. If she knew more than she was saying, then not a trace of it
appeared in her expression, which was as serene as ever. "I actually
wanted to ask your advice, if you don't mind talking about it. Although
I was born in the South, I've never been to Emerald Falls or any of the
other Holds down there. I'm weyrbred and that's...different."

"Of course, though I haven't been back since I left - it must be six,
nearly seven Turns now. And from what I've heard, a lot has changed."

"That's what the Hallmaster said. They have female crafters at the Hall
now, and they say the Hold is more open and less prejudiced against
women in general than it once was, which is comforting. I suppose what
worries me is that not everyone has changed their opinion, even after so
long."

"That's almost certain. When I was there, there were people who
were...extreme about what they considered a woman's place. Even some
quite young men, and women too. Of course, they'll have to keep it quiet
now, with the new policies, but it wouldn't surprise me if things hadn't
changed much at all in the outer holds. Even in the main Hold, you might
come across some unpleasant comments."

"I can live with that." If nothing else, Tasni thought, she bet she
could match any holder for insults. "I'm sure it's not nearly as bad as
people say."

"No. There were good people there too. I remember..." Her voice trailed
off and a faint line creased her brow.

"Calenta?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I was just thinking." She hesitated again, then appeared
to make a decision and sat up a little straighter. "Actually, I wondered
if you could do something for me, while you're there. Could you carry a
message to someone I used to know in Emerald Falls?"

"Of course." She wondered why Calenta wouldn't have sent a firelizard;
surely Beniran had the influence to arrange it. It must be too personal
to trust to a messenger she didn't know. "Who is it?"

"His name is Gilbek. He was a Hold guard, back in the old Lord's time.
Of course I can't say from experience what he looked like." Calenta
smiled apologetically. "I can tell you his voice was quite light, but
warm - a tenor, and he was taller than me. His shoulders were here." She
raised a hand to the level of her cheekbones. "He had callused hands,
from his work. Perhaps you'll find someone at the Hold who knew him and
can describe his appearance for you."

"I'll do that." Tasni committed the name to memory. It was certainly an
interesting challenge to find someone from the description given by a
blind woman. "Is he...a family member?"

"Yes - well, yes and no." The journeywoman breathed in slowly, the way
she would before beginning a solo, to control her voice and banish
tension or strain. "He was my husband."

Last updated on the April 7th 2024

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Songs From The South