Chap. 110 Tillek Hold is Something Old

Chap. 110  Tillek Hold Is Something Old

Tillek Hold was like nothing K'ndar had ever seen before.

Not that he was unfamiliar with holds, no, it was the age of Tillek that amazed him.  The interior walls, covered with tapestries, related the history of this, one of the first holds to be established.  Stairways, cut into the rock, had been worn into hollows by twenty five hundred years of feet. The mountain itself seemed to emit a scent of great age. Or was it the forests? There were both hardwoods, with boles like bulwarks, and towering conifers, the latter of which he'd never seen before. Centuries of dragonriders fighting Thread in Tilleks skies had  allowed the trees to grow unharmed. Or was it the terraced farms, stairstepping their way up the mountainsides? Was it the deep, perfect harbor, the immense docks built with stones as big as a barn, cut with laser precision? The many ships in harbor, their bare masts swaying with the windwaves and the ocean swell? 

The fisherfolk were as if from another world. Now he could appreciate Lindea's and Siena's backgrounds. The fishers were like dragonriders in that they had their means of conveyance-their ships, which in most cases, were built by the crew who lived on them. Ships that became as much a part of the family as one's dragon. The fishermen had their own argot and culture, and the dragonriders were the newcomers.

All of it was so strange, so much so that he felt provincial. Kahrain Steppe Weyr was relatively new. True, it's weyrs had been cut into the mountain when the Ancients had originally settled on Southern Continent. But it had been abandoned when the Ancients moved to the Northern Continent, and only in this Pass (the 9^th) had it been re-inhabited. 

He felt as he had his first days at the Weyr, when he knew no one and had no idea the culture or the traditions. He was grateful for D'nis and D'mitran's presence.

"We'll stage here for a few days," D'nis said, "not just to read maps and plan in greater detail, but more to acclimate ourselves, before we go on to Far Western Isle to start the survey. Tomorrow, we'll meet with the other members of the team."

K'ndar shivered. "I'll need the time. It's so cold up here!"

D'mitran felt the same way. "We're fairly far up north, and then the winds coming off the sea-there's nothing to stop the winds save US." 

He was right. The onshore wind was sharp and cut right to the bone.

"T'ovar has us staying in one of the hold's weyr's, large enough for our dragons," D'nis said, wishing he'd brought some warmer clothing. "He will be here in a moment, to give us a tour of the place."

Siskin wants to know why it's so cold? Raventh said.

So do I. I had no idea it would be so cold here, and they tell me this is just the beginning of winter. Are you warm enough?

Yes. I'm fine. Siskin can stay here with me, I'm warm enough for both of us

Make sure you get something to eat

Oh, don't worry about that! The other dragons here have told me the fishing is great. Arcturuth and Corvuth are already out there. I'll make sure Siskin eats, too, even though he's not much for fish.

You're going to go in the water? It looks cold

That's where the fish are, am I correct? Raventh snarked.

K'ndar snorted.

T'ovar approached them, looking happy at being back in his home climate.

"I don't have to ask, I can see you men are cold," he said, laughing.

"I think you're getting even for our weather at Kahrain," D'mitran said.

"Aye, not so much getting even, just happy to be able to walk about without breaking out in a sweat," T'ovar said. He pounded his chest. "This is the type of weather to put hair on a man's chest." 

"I'd give anything to have a full coat of it, right now," K'ndar said.

T'ovar roared, and pounded K'ndar on the back, almost knocking him down.

 "Me wife, she said you'd be cold, so she's collected some sweaters for you. She's a dab hand at knitting, far better than me. I think she's got some to fit all of you, so come with me, my friends. We'll get you kitted up, maybe a bit to eat, then I'll take you around."

K'ndar had doubted that a sweater would keep him warm, but he was amazed that the one T'ovar's wife handed him was warm, amazingly light, yet wind proof.

"This is beautiful," he said, appreciating the knitted pattern, "my mum, I think she'd love to learn how to do this." 

"All Tillek folk knit," she said, pleased at K'ndar's compliments, "even the dragonriders, like my man, who've moved here. Even the little 'uns, they learn. 'Ere, you see this, this is Tillek's exclusive pattern. Other Holds have they own, so we can tell immediately, if someone's wearing a sweater, where they's from. Or at least, where the sweater's from. I 'ope you don't mind, K'ndar, that this one has some errors. Me youngest knit it, a long time ago, you see, when he was still learning."

"Mind? Ma'am, I don't mind, it could have a hundred errors, I'm just glad to be warm! Would he be willing to sell it?" He didn't want to take it off.

"SELL it? Oh, lad, what you said! Sell it? Nay, nay, it's yours to keep, K'ndar, and you other gentlemen, as well. I'm happy they fit you and that they're going to a good cause.  But thankee, lad, for the offer. We weren't using them, see.  They's all too small for me boys, and T'ovar, now," she said, patting her husband on his belly.  "He were rail thin when we married."

T'ovar put his arm around her and pulled her close. "Aye, but it wasn't knitting that put this belly on me, woman. It's your cooking, and don't you deny it. I only knit when, as, the fishers say, it's too filthy to fish. Not that this dragonrider ever caught one!"