Robinton never did find out from his mother the real reason for their precipitous departure from the Harper Hall, but he did learn that no one at Benden Hold had ever expected the famous MasterSinger to come there. And because she curbed the loudness of Maizella’s rather good basic voice, she was very welcome indeed – not just by the girl’s disenchanted half-brothers and sisters, but by many of the adults who resided in the Hold. Lord Maidir was a good man, and generally fair, but he adored his daughter Maizella, who at sixteen hadn’t the wisdom or common sense that characterized her brother Raid. Robie found Raid a bit stuffy and prim, but he had inherited his father’s sense of fair play and would take criticism from any of the more senior members of the large group of people who managed the big Holding. Unlike his sister, he was popular. And there was a discreet understanding that Hayon, Rasa and Naprila, the older of Lady Hayara’s children, were to be protected from Maizella, who either teased them outrageously or ignored them as the fancy took her. Inured to such tactics as Robinton was, having survived Halanna’s antics, he learned to smile and keep his tongue in his mouth. He had some sort of revenge a little later when his mother required Maizella to sing duets with him. He knew he had a good treble voice and had been more than adequately trained by Washell as well as his mother. In fact, he would have stepped into Londik’s place as senior boy soprano when Londik’s voice changed, but he’d also observed what happened to apprentices who flaunted their prowess. Besides which, his mother wouldn’t have stood for such behaviour from him for one moment longer than it took to twist his ear to remind him to keep his place.
Dealing with Halanna had also taught Merelan a trick or two about overdeveloped conceits.
‘Sing with a child?” The girl’s tone was insulting.
“Singing with a well-trained treble voice, which my son -” Merelan paused briefly “- has, will prove how much more he already knows about singing than you do. Shall we begin at “Now is the time” …?”
Merelan lowered her left eyelid just slightly at Robinton as she raised her arms to beat out the measure, and he was ready. He knew she meant that he should sing out now, something he had not done before since he knew better than to dominate in group singing.
Maizella almost missed her entrance, she was gawking so hard at him. Robinton enjoyed this moment of ascendancy and, from the susurrus of whispering from the rest of the class, so did the others.
Maizella naturally tried to drown him out, and his mother cancelled the beat and called her to order.
“In duet singing, the voices must balance for the best effect. We know you can sing the crawlers out of their webs, Maizella, but there are none in this room.” Merelan regarded those who were tittering with a stern eye. “From “Now is the time” – and sing with the treble, not against him.”
This time Maizella modulated the volume, and even she could sense the effective difference – though she did not, from the scowl on her face, appreciate it.
“That was much better, Maizella, much better. Let’s see if we can blend in the third voice.” And when the soprano line began, it was Merelan who sang it and showed, by her example, exactly what she had meant by balancing voices.
The rest of the children in the class clapped as the song ended.
“You didn’t tell me you could sing like that,” Falloner accused Robinton as they trotted out to the courtyard where they had a half-hour’s respite from lessons.
“You didn’t ask,” Robinton said, grinning.
“You been waiting to show Maizella up?”
“Not waiting,” Robinton said, bouncing the large goal ball. There was a hoop set on a pole, and the aim was to see how often one could get the ball through the hoop each go. Rob was pretty good at goal ball but, just as he was aiming, he saw the dragons flying in a distant formation and missed the hoop entirely.