Chap. 153 The Gatha at Ruatha-the vendors

Chap. 153 The Gatha at Ruatha-the vendors

Funny, K'ndar thought, I thought I'd want to be going through the sideshow by myself, but I'm enjoying having Glyena with me.

They were nibbling on pastries they'd purchased. His was a flavor he'd never had before.

"It’s a new cultivar," the baker said, "something my Holder's been working on for a while. It's a cross between a blackberry and a raspberry."

"It's very good," K'ndar said. Glyena tugged on his arm, hoping to disengage her brother before he got too involved in a conversation.

"Look," she called, "there's another crowd of kids, let's go see what's going on."

Well, maybe not so much, he thought. He liked kids but their interests no longer squared with his.

But this time it was different.

They joined a group of adults at the edge of a group of young children. Their attention was on a woman sitting facing the children, a large, illustrated book facing towards them. What was interesting was, a camera of sorts was in front of her, projecting the book in her hands onto a clean, almost white curtain behind her. The projector magnified her hands and the book, so that the kids in the back could easily see the pages.

What an amazing thing, he thought, the entire crowd can see the book without having to be close.

On the page was a large letter K. Below it was a drawing of a kitten and a mug of klah.

"Now, children, what words start with K?" she asked.

"Klah!" "Kitten!" "Cloud!"

The last was greeted with laughs. "No, cloud starts with a "c", one kid jibed the other.

"Well, it SOUNDS like k, right, ma'am?" he protested.

"It does, you're right, this is why we need to learn the alphabet," the woman said, turning the page. "What letter is this? What does the picture tell you?"

"L! Lizards!"

"Right! You're all very quick! Next?"

The picture was of a pair of men, one with a pickaxe, the other with a wheelbarrow full of rock.

"Ummmmm,"

"Them's miners, ma'am, it's M for miner!" one boy cried.

"It is! It's M!"

"You're right, but the grammar is "They are miners. And how do you know they're miners?" the woman said.

"They's…they're wearing the minecrafthall badge," he replied.

"Which starts with?"

"M!"

"Correct! What other words start with M?"

"Me!" a child called.

The woman laughed. "Yes, unfortunately, there's no picture for you. Or me. Any others?"

"Morning!" "Meat!" "Metal!"

"This is much easier way to learn to read then the teaching songs," said a woman next to K'ndar.

"I've never seen a book for children before," K'ndar said, "It's amazing. Why hadn't it been thought of before?"

"I haven't either. It's a wonder, it is. It took me forever to learn to read, the songs just didn't connect with the letters, and we had an excellent harper," the woman lamented.

The woman with the book wore a badge bearing Ruatha's colors and the symbol of the Printer's Hall. Ah, he thought, remembering his history. Ruatha was the first Hold to host a crafthall, that being a printerhall. The main printerhall was at Landing, another at Lemos.

Once again he appreciated the innovations introduced…or recovered? by Aivas.

Huh. Aivas, so feared by Abominators and for what reason? Other than ignorance? or refusal to accept change? They'd organized and spent time and lives trying to staunch the tide of technological innovations. This, despite the fact that Aivas had pointedly said that the original colonists had expressly wanted to remain at the lowest possible level of technology, but that comforts-such as fans and electric lights, machines that made life easier, like steam engine hay bailers and computers, were not to be foresworn.

Would he have liked to have the starships still able to maneuver through space? Well, perhaps, but, that, Aivas had said, was for the Pernese to learn and develop. It insisted that learning begins with books, like this one, for children.

"I know how to spell, and how to read, let's go. This is for the little bitty kids," Glyena said.

"True. But don't you agree it's an easier way to learn the alphabet?" K'ndar said, as they moved on.

Before she could answer, though, K'ndar stopped cold. The next booth was paydirt.

A large banner bore the words: "Bookstore"

Beneath it was a quote:

"Any frontal attack on ignorance is bound to fail because the masses are always ready to defend their most precious possession-their ignorance."-Hendrik Willem van Loon, Terran journalist, 1882-1944 Terran

Huh, he thought, wonder if there's an Abominator in the midst that would even bother to read it.

This is how we will teach everyone to learn, and accept innovation, without fear. He remembered Jenmay, the Oldtimer who'd murdered her way to Weyrwoman. That quote described her perfectly.

What odd names the Terrans had, he thought.

With growing glee, he looked at the book laden tables before him. Over there was one with notepads, and writing implements! There were even a few boxes of what appeared to be pencils but were labeled 'watercolors'. What a watercolor was, he had no clue.

The books were separated into categories. He immediately looked for the science section, joy beginning to fill his heart. Books! The titles beckoned and he felt a sense of greed, quickly squashed. I have enough money, right now, to buy as many of these as I want. I want this one and this one….

He was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Hello, K'ndar!" Elene, Landing's Head Librarian greeted him. There were several other folks with her, from the other two printing halls. "And who is this lovely lady at your side?"

"I'm Glyena!" his sister piped up, "My brother and me, we're on a date."

Elene, always the teacher, corrected her, saying "My brother and I are on a date. Anytime you get confused as to which to use, 'me' or 'I', just omit the other subject, in this case that would be the words "my brother". Try it," she said.

Glyena, beginning to wonder if this was a gather or a classroom, said, "I are..I AM on a date," she said, a bit resentfully.

"Correct! You knew to change the plural 'are' to the singular 'am'. Try it the other way, omitting "I". Glyena was confused for a moment, then said "Ummm, 'my brother IS on a date."

"Ah, you're sharp, miss Glyena, some kids wouldn't have known that," Elene smiled.

"Oh, ma'am, I am so happy to see all these books!" K'ndar said.

She smiled. "The printers are hitting their stride. We have so many, so many that we want to print," she said. "We heard about the dragonriders from YOUR weyr harvesting so much papergrass," she said. "Please tell them I, personally, thank them. The ink is coming from Telgar Weyr and Hold. Who would have thought coal dust would be so useful?

The problem we're going to have is finding room for the expansion of the library. How is the one at your weyr?"

K'ndar hung his head. "Ma'am, I've been so busy, I've not had a chance to check."

"It's little," Glyena said, "and there's no books for kids."

"Glyena," Elene said, "that is something we are rectifying right now. We now have books for people your age, too." She moved to a table and chose one of the titles, handing it to Glyena.

Glyena smiled politely, not believing the librarian, then read the title. She gasped. "The Animals of Pern," she cried. She immediately opened it. "K'ndar, look! It's all about our animals! Look, here's a dolphin! and and here is a horse, look!" she cried, jubilant.

K'ndar looked over her shoulder. That horse….he recognized it!

He looked up at a smug Elene. "Are these drawings…are these by Francie?"

"Ah, lad, you've an eye in your head, that one is most definitely Francie's work. Some of the others are photos taken from the database, some from "Walker's Mammals of the Galaxy", but Raylan insisted that some of his wife's work was just as good as what is in the database."

K'ndar grinned.

"She does good work, she does," a voice at his side said. He turned to face Raylan, one of the techs at Landing, and Francie's husband.

"Raylan! I saw Francie just a little ways back," K'ndar said, shaking the tech's hand.

Raylan grinned. "Did you see the new additions to the routine?"

"See them? I'm still laughing! By the egg, she's clever," K'ndar said.

"She is that, and the lizards catch on quick. In fact, the routine with the slalom course was invented by Sisi. She can be lazy, but intelligently so. She didn't want to waste time going through it, let's just cut to the chase, what? So typical of her! But I can see that you're literally drooling over the books. We coordinated with Ruatha and Lemos's Printerhalls to print as many different titles as possible. We've got all sorts, too…everything from math books to cookbooks," he said, proud of the range.

"To include children's! I saw the one with the alphabet. Who thought of that?" K'ndar asked.

"One of the kids at Landing. She wanted to know why there were no books for children in Elene's library. I thought Elene'd turn herself inside out in consternation. No one had ever thought to create books for kids! She was in Council's office in minutes, burst in without so much as a 'excuse me' and told Lord Lytol and the rest of the planning committee that "children need books. TOO," Raylan said, laughing.

Elene protested, "Well, it WAS a glaring omission! But, given how long it's taken us to work up to production, it can be forgiven."

"So the rest,well, several folks, Elene included, came up with topics and wrote books suitable for various age levels. The drawings in the alphabet book? The one at the booth a little ways back there, with the kids? Those are Francie's, too," Raylan said.

"By the way, K'ndar-that book Glyena is looking through? Ma'am, would you please hand me another copy of "Animals of Pern"? It would appear that Glyena's deep in her copy," he said.

Glyena, sitting crosslegged, was oblivious to the foot traffic and the conversation.

Raylan riffed through the pages. K'ndar could smell the fresh print. It must have just come off the press in the last week, maybe less.

Raylan handed it to him, opened to a specific page.

It had a good photo of the flying fox.

"Whoa, this is a good picture of it!"

"Read the description. All the way to the end," Raylan said, smiling in anticipation.

The description was verbatim from "Walker's Mammals of the Galaxy", as well as the information provided by the database in the computers.

But at the end, it had an addition:

"A small population of flying foxes still exists on Far Western Continent, discovered by K'ndar, of the Kahrain Steppe Weyr expedition of 2547."

K'ndar was gobsmacked. "But..."

Raylan held up his hand. "Before you go any further, yes, you DO deserve that recognition. That's what good writers...and scientists..do."