considering lodging a demand for the return of some of the fee since you
were so obviously very new at your art, and the fee had been for a
seasoned painter, not a young upstart.” Leopol grinned at lantine’s
furious reaction.
Oh, don’t worry. Your master wasn’t born yesterday. M’shall himself
brought him to Bitra Hold, and they said that there was not a thing
wrong with any of the work you’d done for that Lord Chalkin.” He cocked
his head to one side, regarding lantine with a calculating look.
Seems like there’s lot of people wanting to sit their portraits with
you. Didja know that?” lantine shook his head, trying to absorb the
injustice of Chalkin’s objection. He was speechless with fury. Leopol
grinned again.
Don’t worry, lantine. Chalkin’s the one should worry, treating you
like that. Your Master and the Benden Weyrleader gave out to that Lord
Holder about it, too. You’re qualified, and entitled to all the
courtesies of which you got none at Bitra Hold. Good thing you didn’t
get sick until after Zulaya and K’vin had a chance to hear your side of
the story.
Not that anyone would believe Chalkin, no matter what he says.
Did you know that even wherries won t roost in Bitra Hold?”
Convalescence from the lung infection took time and lantine fretted at
his weakness.
I keep falling asleep,’ he complained to Tisha one morning when she
arrived with his potion. How long do I have to keep taking this
stuff?” Until Maranis hears clear lungs in you,’ she said in her
no-nonsense tone. Then she handed him the sketch paper and pencils that
Waine had given him on his first night in the Weyr. Get your hand back
in. At least doing what you’re best at can be done sitting still.
It was good to have paper and pencil again. lt was good to look about
the Lower Caverns and catch poses, especially when the poser didn’t
realize he was being sketched. And his eye had not lost its keenness,
and if his fingers cramped now and then from weakness, strength
gradually returned. He became unaware of the passage of time, nor did
he notice people coming up behind him to see what he was drawing just
then.
Waine arrived with mortar, pestle, oil, eggs and cobalt to make a good
blue. The man had picked up bits of technique and procedures on his
own, but picking things up here and there was no substitute for the
concentrated drill which lantine had had: drills that he had once
despised but now appreciated when he could see what resulted from the
lack of them.
Winter had set in but on the first day of full sun, Tisha insisted on
wrapping him up in a cocoon of furs to sit out in the Bowl for the good
of fresh air’. As it was bath-time for the drago nets lantine was
immediately fascinated by their antics and began to appreciate just how
much hard work went into their nurture. It was also the first chance
he’d ever had of seeing drago nets He knew the grace and power of the
adult dragons and their awesome appearance. Now he saw the weyrlings as
mischievous – even naughty, as one ducked her rider into the lake – and
endlessly inventive. None of this last Hatching were ready to fly yet,
but some of the previous clutch were beginning to take on adult duties.
He had first-hand observation of their not-so-graceful performances.
The next day he saw P’tero and blue Ormonth in the focus of some sort of
large class. As he wandered over, he saw that not only the weyrlings
from the last three Hatchings were attending but also all youngsters
above the age of twelve.
Ormonth had one wing extended and was gazing at it in an abstract
fashion, as if he’d never seen it before. The expression was too much
for the artist in lantine and he flipped open his pad and sketched the
scene. P’tero noticed, but the class was being extremely attentive.
What T’dam was saying slowly reached through lantine’s absorption with
line and pose.