Just when Gennell thought he’d settled the question of which journeyman should take which assignment, more holders applied for trained personnel he did not have. With a hard winter, it was impossible to ask journeymen to tour from one hold to another, spreading their services by spending four seven-days in one place and then moving on. Every family had the right to learning, to be instructed in the Teaching Ballads, so there was no misunderstanding about what was due to whom and when.
He thought longingly of the times, now several hundred Turns back, when the six Weyrs of pern had assisted the major Halls with dragon transport. Those on the east coast still had Benden Weyr, so Lord Maidir could boast of dragon rides to distant Holds and Gathers whenever he needed them. But Fort Weyr had been empty over four centuries, and no one really knew why.
Gennell had once looked at the Records kept in the archives of both the Harper Hall and Fort Hold, and there was only the one entry: shortly after the end of the last Pass.
“The MasterHarper was asked to Fort Weyr this fifth day of the ninth month, first Turn after Pass End.” That was it: short and cryptic. In other similar instances when the MasterHarper was called to the Weyr, a more fulsome explanation was given.
The next entry was by the then MasterHarper, Creline, with a date a full two months later when Fort Hold’s tithe train duly arrived with supplies and found the Weyr abandoned, and nothing but broken pottery on the top of the midden heap. Other Holders had noticed that their flags requesting dragon assistance had gone unanswered and, while annoyed by the discourtesy, people were far too involved in relaxing after fifty turns of ground-crew duty to wonder much about the absence of dragons from the skies. It was enough that Thread was gone.
A Conclave had been convened when it became all too apparent that five of the six Weyrs were empty. Benden’s two Weyrleaders were as mystified, and even the bronze or green riders questioned seemed to be truly surprised by the abandonment, and by Benden being the only remaining Weyr.
Many theories had been put forth. A favourite claimed that a mysterious disease had spread through the five Weyrs, killing both dragons and riders. But that didn’t account for the missing weyrfolk or the absence of every stick and stitch belonging to them.
Benden Weyr had even sent a wing, with reliable Hold and Hall passengers, to scan the Southern Continent in case all five Weyrs had – for some unknown reason – decided to resettle south, despite the hazards of that country.
The matter was under discussion – often heated – for Turns afterwards, and no one the wiser for all the talk.
Then Creline performed a new work, which he called the Question Song, and which was to be included in the compulsory Teaching Ballads. Gennell had made a mental note to return the song to that category since someone – he wouldn’t like to point a finger – had let it drop out some time before he became MasterHarper. Such things happened: but they shouldn’t, considering the importance with which Creline had treated the work.
Odd song. Haunting melody. Yes, worth reviving.
Another fifty-five Turns remained before Threadfall was due again. That is, Gennell amended to himself, if it was going to Fall again. Many believed Thread was gone for ever. A common theory claimed that the Weyrs had been bound by some bizarre suicide pact, leaving only Benden to carry on the draconic traditions. That made no sense whatever to a thinking man. But at least he was unlikely to have to contend with that in his term as MasterHarper.
With a sigh of relief, he firmly turned his mind towards sleep.
Merelan’s cough developed into a chest cold shortly after TurnOver. Sniffles and coughs were prevalent during the beginning of any new Turn when the weather remained cold and snowy, and young Robinton and Petiron both suffered from colds, but they threw off the worst of the infection quickly. But Merelan’s cough seemed determined to linger, and she could rarely get through a vocal exercise without having to break off in a spasm. For the first time, Petiron became seriously worried about her health.