Chap. 4 The Non-Restful Day

           

“This is unfair. It’s WRONG.” Borost grumbled.

Kandar paused in shoveling muck into the wheelbarrow. He

looked at the 19 year old who was  being very careful to

stand in the one spot where there was no dung.

“What’s unfair?”

 “It’s REST day! I don’t call this ‘resting’.”

 “Beasts don’t stop dunging just because it’s a rest day.”

 “Like they know? It’s not fair. The regular hands should be doing

this. We shouldn’t be expected to work on a rest day. Besides, it will

be here tomorrow.”

 “That’s true, only there will be twice as much,” Kandar said, having noticed

that Borost wasn’t working very hard..indeed, he was making an effort

to appear to be working without actually doing anything.

 Lindea brushed aside the lock of hair that had the annoying habit

of falling into her eyes when she worked.

“Where I come from, we never had a rest day,” she said.

“Me neither,” Kandar agreed. “In fact, until I got here, I’d never

known such a thing existed.”

“You two may be used to this, but I’m not. I’m Crafthall bred. We

didn’t do this. This is drudge work.”

 “Did you eat breakfast this morning?” Kandar asked.

 “Of course. What’s that got to do with it?”

 “A drudge was up before dawn, collecting the eggs for your breakfast.

Another had the cooking fires going. Your breakfast was waiting for

you when you arrived in the dining hall. There was fresh klah and

bread still warm from the oven. None of those people whinged about it

being a rest day.”

 “That’s what they DO!” Borost shouted. “I’m a Crafter. We make

cheese. I shouldn’t be expected to get all dirty and smelly working

with beasts.”

 The voice of Nyala, the Journeywoman herder, interrupted them. Stray bits of

hay clung to her tightly curled black hair, and she idly twisted a

hay fork in her gloved hand. Her demeanor was that of a woman who did

not suffer fools gladly.

“Well, Borost, then what SHOULD we have you do? Should we just allow

you to laze about in your bed?”

 “Um, well…,” Borost’s eyes searched the ground, not allowing his eyes to meet hers because they'd say that was exactly what he wanted.

Nyala said in cold tones, “I stopped worrying about ‘fairness’ in allotting work assignments to

candidates a very long time ago. You are no longer a privileged

crafthall child. Your status here at the Weyr as a candidate is BELOW

Weyrling, and just one notch above drudge. During your entire tirade

about how unfairly you are being treated, Lindea, the fisherman, and

Kandar, the herdsman, have continued working, whereas you, my

cheesemaking lad, are utilizing the trick of running your mouth to

divert attention from the fact that you’ve not accomplished a lick of

it.

Should you be so lucky as to Impress a dragon, you’re going to learn

that riding them is very hard work. You need the exercise. You appear

to have been on good pasture for a very long time.”

 Kandar snorted to keep from laughing.

 “Now I suggest you bend your back to your work.  You are in control

of your day’s schedule. The sooner you finish your work, the sooner

you will be able to enjoy the rest of the rest day.”

She tossed the hay fork lightly onto her shoulder and walked off.

Borost stuck out his tongue at her departing back, and in a mocking tone, said(softly), “I’ll bend YOUR back, you old hag.”

He turned, expecting to see Kandar and Lindea encouraging him. Instead,

they were glowering.

He opened his hands and with a shrug of his shoulders, said, “What!

I’m not used to this. I don’t know how to do it. Can you help me?” he

begged Lindea.

“I’m not doing any of your work, Borost. This is all new to me, too.

You need to just shut up and get it done.” the girl said.

 He looked at Kandar, who only shook his head at him.

“Nope, don’t try that on me, either. I only look stupid.”

“Yeah, you do. You look like a wherry with those ears sticking out

like that. Wherry ears, that’s you.”

 Kandar, lifting his shovel, examined it with a calculating eye.  “Hmmm. I wonder

how it would feel bringing this upside your head?”

Borost bristled.

 “Is that a threat?”

 “Nahhhh,” Kandar said, his eyes narrowing, “It’s a promise.”

 Borost sized him up. He was taller than Kandar by a head, but Kandar, muscled and lean as a whip from years of handling unruly livestock, gave him a look that begged Borost to try something.

 “You two are pigs from the same sow,” he mumbled, and began to shovel.

Lindea smirked at Borost and grunted like a pig.

Later, Kandar and Lindea walked to the beach. Kandar marveled at it.

The footing was too soft in some spots, and firmed as it approached

the water line. The tide being low, the strand was covered with

shells, bits of sea creatures, and smoothed rocks. The surf lapped

quietly at their feet.  Seabirds swirled overhead. He could see tiny

fishes darting here and there in the water.

“This is amazing! Look at these beautiful stones!" he picked them up, but dropped them when they dried back into plainness. Lindea examined a few of them and pocketed several. "Sometimes you can find agates and even sapphires," she said. Then it struck her.

“Haven’t you ever been to the beach before?” Lindea asked, astounded.

 “No. Never. I’ve seen the Lake once, but…I’m a herd boy. I stayed on

the cothold my whole life. We didn’t ever GO anywhere but a drive once a

year with tithe beasts.”

“So that’s how you know how to clean up a horse barn.”

He laughed. “I’ve been mucking stalls since I was old enough to hold a

shovel. You were working too hard at it, this morning, but I didn’t

want to give Borost any hints.  Later on, I’ll show you some ways that

makes it go a lot easier.”

He shook his head. “So odd, I thought I’d come here to Impress a

dragon and here I am, still shoveling muck.”

“Oh, it’s okay. You know that. We have to wait until Hatching. It will

be better then. And even then, Weyrlings have tasks, just like what we did today."

 “I know. I was just wondering at how life comes out sometimes.” He

found himself liking her a lot. He’d not had much contact with girls

who weren’t family. She made him a bit nervous. He felt like a raw colt thrust in with an alpha mare. Girls-and mares- always exuded an air of self confidence.

“You were laughing when she said Borost had been on good pasture. Was

that an insult?”

“You bet it was. It was a veiled way of saying he’s fat. Went right

over his head.”

She giggled, and then laughed outright.

“How about you? The journeyman said you were a fisherman?”

“My family have been fishermen, I think, from the first days of Pern,”

she said, shading her eyes to look out to sea. “Look! Dolphins!” she suddenly cried, pointing seaward.

He looked, not sure where, and within a moment, saw a pair of shining, lithe forms leap from the sea.  One did an aerial backflip and splashed back into the sea.

“WOW! I’ve heard of them but I never thought I’d see one! That’s amazing!!”

 “They’re really beautiful. You should see them racing in front of the

boats. They go as fast as the boat but you never, ever hear of one

getting hit.”

“They …race? Like horses?”

“I’ve never seen horses race, but it has to be the same.  They’ll

ride the bow wave just for fun. It doesn’t matter how much sail you

have pressed, the dolphins tease us for going too slow.”

“Dolphins can…talk?? Like us?”

“Kind of. They tell us where the shoals of fish are. They know when a

big storm is coming. They tell us where the currents run so we don’t

hit a reef. They have names for themselves and then they have names

that they know we can pronounce. They’re really smart. I think they’re

smarter than we are.”

 He filed that information into a corner of his brain until he could

take it out to marvel at later.

 “What’s a ‘bow wave?”  They ‘ride’ it?”

She sighed in frustration. How to describe the fluidity of the sea?

“Honestly, it’s easier to see it than to describe. When a boat is

going fast, the front end, that’s called the bow, pushes the water up

and aside as it cuts through the water. The dolphins ride it, but I

don’t know if they’re actually just riding on it or if they’re caught

in it. They make it look like a game.”

Aquadynamics and physics being just a bit beyond him, Kandar shrugged.

“It’s okay. I might just be ‘stupid’.

“You’re NOT, Kandar, stop that. Even I don’t know how it works, I just

know that it does.”

They continued walking down the beach.

 “What kind of dragon do you want?” she asked.

 “Oh, I don’t know. I don’t think I’m bronze material. I think a brown

would be nice. Something big enough to do the job without me needing

to have all the brains it takes to be a wingleader or a Weyrleader.”

“Not a blue?” she teased.

“Well, if I'm chosen by a blue, I'll still be straight. But I'd prefer a brown.”

 They continued walking down the beach.

“How about you? What do you want in a dragon?”

 Her face twisted and she began to cry.

 “What! What! Did I say something wrong?” he cried, aghast.

Shaking her head and hands, she was unable to speak.

“I’m sorry! What did I say? I’m sorry!”

He stopped and found himself holding her arms. Then he pulled away,

self-consciously.

“No, it’s okay. You said nothing wrong. It’s just…,” she hiccupped.

 “No, I didn’t mean to hurt you. I won’t pry.”

 “It’s okay, Kandar, you haven’t done anything wrong. It’s just…my

family was so proud that I was Searched but honestly, Kandar, I don’t

think I WANT a dragon.”

“Wha…?" he stopped, slack jawed.

 “I don’t think I could be a gold rider. Being Weyrwoman is a big job,

one maybe that’s too big for me. All I know is how to fish and pilot a

ship. And I…well, I know how our society is, especially with dragon

riders. I don’t…I don’t want to live the life of a green rider. I know it sounds

childish, but it’s not fair, we girls get only two choices in dragons.

Maybe that makes me strange, but I just can’t, right now.  That makes

me ‘stupid’, right?”

“No, I don’t think you’re ‘stupid’, and you shouldn’t, either. I think

you’re being honest with yourself.  I…I know how it is for the world

to try and force you into a mold. Believe me, I know, and that’s why

I’m here today, because I wanted something better than being a

muck-booted boy for the rest of my life.”

 She nodded, wiping her cheeks on her sleeve. “What’s bad about it is

I don’t want to go BACK to being a fisherman. I couldn’t face my

family, they’d think I’d failed. I want to do something else with my

life. But there’s only so many people allowed to live in the Weyr. And

none of them fish.”

 He looked at the sky, trying to think.

 “There’s got to be some way to work this out. I am so new here, I

don’t know how things work. Why don’t you talk to the Weyrling Master?

I’m sure he can advise you. I mean, look. Boys can impress four

different colors of dragons, and girls only two…and a queen usually

only lays one gold egg. If there’s three female eggs and six girl

candidates, the odds are stacked against you. So I think they’ll

understand.”

“You..you don’t think they’ll be angry?” she asked, hope in her eyes.

“I don’t know, but there are plenty of people in the Weyr who aren’t

dragon riders. Just look at us in the barn this morning. We are

‘hands’ right now, expected to do any task assigned to us. You mucked

out stalls without ever having done it before, and you never kicked

once, unlike Cheesy Borost.  Me, it was easy because I’ve done it all

my life, but if they’d told me, Kandar, you have to, um, um, clean the

bow wave on a boat, I’d be lost. But I’d give it my best shot.”

She started to giggle.  “Silly, you don’t clean a bow wave, the boat MAKES it.”

Befuddled, he pressed on. “Okay, but you see my point, don’t you?

There’s always work to do that doesn’t involve dragons. No place can

function without workers.”

 Without warning, she gave him a hug. “Thank you, Kandar, you are so sweet.”

So are you, and I wish you’d do that again, he thought, his mind

spinning in dizzy circles.

 “C’mon, let’s go wading in the sea. We’ve got some time before

dinner,” she said.