Энн Маккефри - Dragon’s Kin

While people were at their most alert during the day and slept at night, watch-whers were the opposite, sleeping during the day and awaking at night. That was why they were used to keep watch in the great Holds during the dark hours of the night. In the mines, the night shift could do more excavating of new shafts than any of the day shifts because of the watch-whers.

But really, not much was known about watch-whers. Even his own father was largely self-educated—through his experience with Dask.

Kindan had heard that originally there had been two other watch-whers at Camp Natalon. One had died, and the other had left along with his handler. Kindan had heard his brothers complaining about it, and about Tarik’s sour opinion of watch-whers.

Kindan knew that he would be extremely lucky if he were ever considered for a watch-wher egg.

Still, he really liked singing.

Kindan turned away from Natalon’s hold to look down toward the lake and the cottages.

The cottages were built with rough-hewn stone to window height and timber the rest of the way. They were covered with long, high-peaked, overhanging roofs. It was possible that the roofs could be covered with slate and built to withstand Thread, but most people would feel safest in a “proper Hold.”

“Kindan!” Danil’s voice interrupted Kindan’s reverie. He turned and followed Danil’s beckon back to the Harper’s cottage.

“I’ll see you at the ceremony,” Danil said to him. Then, to Kindan’s surprise, his father leaned down and hugged him tight. “I love you, son.”

Kindan fought back the tears in his eyes as he said, “I love you too, Dad.”

Danil strode off briskly with a little trailing wave of his hand. Kindan returned to the cottage, his chest swelling.

Inside the cottage, Master Zist gave Kindan a long, penetrating stare.

“Your father’s quite a man, lad,” he said at last. “Quite a man.”

Kindan nodded.

“One more time through ‘The Morning Dragon Song’ and then we’ll go through the whole lot,” Zist said to him. He held up a restraining hand as Kindan swallowed a lungful of air. “No! Not like that, lad. Remember what I told you.” Zist placed his hands on his own sides and pressed them into his diaphragm. “From down here. Breathe up and down, not in and out.”

The wind tore through the Camp’s main square as Kindan accompanied Master Zist down to the wedding platform. Both were dressed in their best clothes, Master Zist looking completely regal in his Harper blue. Kindan tried not to think too hard about how he looked, fearing that the rest of the Camp’s kids would fill him in painfully on his appearance in many future encounters.

Master Zist must have guessed how Kindan felt for he chose that moment to say, “You look great, lad.”

Traditionally, the marriage ceremony was performed in the morning, timed so that as the couple completed their marriage vows, the sun would rise, signifying the warmth of the new relationship and how it would lighten not only the bride and groom but also all those associated with them.

However, such a ceremony would mean that Dask could not attend. So Jofri had come up with the idea of performing the ceremony with the setting sun, instead, and lighting a bonfire as the final vows were made. Master Zist had seen no reason to contradict that.

Everyone in the Camp was gathered in the main square. The dining tables had been pushed to the edges of the square, while the benches had been arranged in rows in front of the wedding platform, which would be used after the ceremony by the musicians.

Kindan could smell fresh-cut branches of pine piled on the unlit bonfire. The wind died down as the sun continued its downward arc in the sky.

It was time.

Master Zist, holding Kindan’s shoulder, guided him to his place on the platform. Kindan sketched a quick grin to Zenor, who was dressed in similar finery and stood on the opposite end of the platform. Seated next to Zenor was Journeyman Jofri, with his drums in front of him and his guitar placed beside him within easy reach. Master Zist moved slightly away from Kindan to stand next to his own pipes and guitar; Kindan guessed that Jofri must have set them up for the Master.

At a nod from Master Zist, Jofri began a long flourish on the drums. The people in their seats grew quiet. Out of the corner of his eye, Kindan could see his father and a radiant girl dressed in a marvelous gown standing at the back of the benches. Kindan realized with a start that the girl was Silstra!

Jofri changed his beat and the sound of Master Zist’s pipes joined in. Everyone stood as Danil led Silstra down the aisle. At the same time someone lit the long row of torches that had been placed on either end of the benches.

A beam of light burst out from the sky above Silstra and followed her as she made her way down the aisle.

“Kindan, what is that?” Zist hissed in between his piping.

“That’s Dask,” Kindan said proudly. “He must be flying with a glow in his claws.”

“Even as I see it, I can scarcely believe it,” Zist whispered in awe. “Truly amazing.”

Indeed, above the pipes, Kindan could hear the watch-wher’s chirping voice in counterpoint to Master Zist’s melody.

Zist’s pipes stopped when Silstra reached her place on the platform, facing the audience.

Jofri began a different, more martial drum sequence and Terregar, resplendent in his craft’s colors, started his walk up the aisle, accompanied by Journeyman Veran, the trader in charge of the caravan.

Again, Dask flew overhead, illuminating the groom from above as he had the bride.

Terregar’s assumption of his position beside Silstra on the wedding platform was the signal for Kindan and Zenor to start their duet. Jofri introduced them with a flourish and Kindan started to sing only to realize that Zenor had not joined in.

Kindan looked frantically at his friend but saw that Zenor’s eyes were skyward, watching Dask as he hovered over the wedding platform.

Kindan strengthened his volume to cover Zenor’s lack until Jofri tapped Zenor on the shoulder. With a horrified look of apology at Silstra and Terregar, Zenor joined in singing the song with Kindan. A titter ran through the watching crowd.

After they had completed their song, Master Zist stepped to the center of the platform and started the ceremony. Kindan had seen three other weddings in his life, but he’d never participated in one before. He listened carefully to the words Master Zist used to ask Silstra if she would have Terregar as her husband and to ask Terregar if he would have her as his wife. Then Master Zist spoke of the changes that each had agreed to, and the joy that their union brought those gathered here and his hope that their union would bring joy to all of Pern.

“For now that these two are one, we are all more,” Master Zist intoned. He placed Silstra’s hand in Terregar’s and kissed each lightly on the cheek. “To Terregar and Silstra!”

The crowd stood up and roared back: “Terregar and Silstra!”

“Long life and happiness!” Master Zist intoned.

“Long life and happiness!” the crowd roared back.

Master Zist stepped back from the married couple. He waited until the shouting had died down and then nodded to Kindan.

Kindan started his solo.

“In early morning light I see,

A distant dragon come to me.”

But as he sang, he heard a strange echo. He tried not to look around and merely concentrate on his singing, but his expression must have been noticed by Master Zist, because the Harper surreptitiously pointed skyward—Dask was singing along! Kindan broke into a grin as he continued his song, working in Dask’s counterpoint to the beat of the music and the spacing of the words. He finished with the opening refrain again: