When everyone had settled down again after that diversion, Merelan signalled for the group of singers and players she had been practising with to take their places. Robinton hurried to join them.
The Duty Song, which was one of the first Teaching Ballads taught by any harper to a class, should be sung in honour of any drug-onrider guests: Robinton had heard it practised prior to every Gather. From the quick look he shot at the Weyrleaders, they were expecting it, but they hadn't foreseen a proper instrumental accompaniment.
Nor the quality of the soloists. Robinton waited for his mother's signal and sang the first verse, noting the surprise on S'loner's face. So Robinton sang the words with all his heart for this special audience.
S'loner kept right on smiling and tapped out the rhythm as the chorus came to 'from those dangers that are by the dragons braved'. The applause was suitably enthusiastic, his loud clapping leading the others.
Then Maizella stepped forward from her place in the chorus.
Robinton heard the rustle: dismay or annoyance. They were in for a surprise too, now that his mother had taken the girl in hand.
Instead of planting herself in a defiant way, as if to indicate that she was going to sing and everyone had better listen to her, she came to the front in a quiet and professional manner and then looked to Merelan, who was accompanying her on the gitar.
Robinton couldn't miss Weyrwoman Carola's expression – total dismay – until Maizella started singing. Even S'loner regarded the girl with a pleased look and murmured something to Maidir, who nodded and smiled back.
Maizella sang harmony to the chorus of the song, which had three more verses. The hearty applause was certainly as much an improvement as her performance, and there was a nice rumble of remarks as she stepped back.
Merelan beckoned for the rest of the chorus to attend her signal, and they sang a ballad which was new in the Harper Hall and had such a beat to it that, before long, everyone was stamping or clapping to the rhythm.
The band played new music and although Robinton caught a few sour notes, he knew how hard they'd worked. A few more rehearsals and performances and they'd be as good as any Gather band. But he was glad he'd be singing with just his mother to accompany him. And he was next: at her gesture he came to her side. Flute in one hand, she put her other arm around his shoulders as she made her introductory remarks.
'This song is very old and, although it's supposed to be in every harper's repertoire, it has lately been sadly neglected. I don't find it even in the very comprehensive Benden Library, so it's about time I reintroduced it to you all.' She smiled at the audience. 'You children will be learning it next week, so listen closely.' With that she put the mouthpiece to her lips and nodded to her son.
Gone away, gone ahead,
Echoes roll unanswered.
Empty, open, dusty, dead.
Why have all the weyrfolk fled?
Where have dragons gone together?
Leaving Weyrs to wind and weather?
Setting herd-beasts free of tether?
Gone, our safeguards, gone but whither?
Have they flown to some new Weyr
When cruel Threads some others fear?
Are they worlds away from here?
Why, oh, why, the empty Weyr ?
There was a stunned silence when Robinton let the last note die away and his mother lowered the flute. Almost an embarrassing silence, and yet he knew he had sung it well. Everyone looked at the pair of them as if they couldn't believe their ears.
Then there was the noise of a chair scraping and S'loner rose to his feet, his expression almost severe.
'I thank you, MasterSinger, for the beautiful rendition of the classic Question Song.' And he inclined his body to them both with the greatest respect. 'It has haunted every Benden Weydeader for generations. I learned it as a weyrling, but I haven't heard it in ...
oh, decades now. I think it needs to be heard more often. Maybe someone will find its answer.'
'Then, S'loner, do you believe that Thread will return?' asked a man, rising from the far end of the head table. Robinton hadn't seen him before, but he must be a Benden holder of some prosperity to judge by his clothing and where he was seated.
Robinton was close enough to see Carola tug at S'loner's sleeve, her brows drawn together in a scowl. Rob glanced over to where Falloner still sat, and saw an eager expression on his friend's face.
The entire audience seemed to hold their breaths.
'We've another fifty turns to go before the Star Stones will tell us yea or nay, my friend. But the dragons are here and Benden keeps up its strength. That is the pledge we made to Hold and Hall when the first dragon cracked its shell. It is one that I, and every Weyrleader after me, will keep!' Then he bowed again to Merelan, caught Robinton's eyes briefly and sat down.
Quickly then, Merelan gestured for the instrumentalists to strike up a merry tune. That was also the signal for the drudges to come and clear the tables, to make space for dancing in the centre of the Hall. There was a lot more talking while the tables were cleared, dismantled and stored to one side, chairs rearranged and the younger children taken off to their beds.
Robinton was playing hand-drum for the early sessions of the dancing, so he didn't get a chance to speak to Falloner that evening.
But the next morning in music class, the moment he and his mother entered the room Falloner leaped on him, hauling him by his shirt to one side.
'Who told you to sing that?' he demanded in a harsh whisper, his expression intense, almost accusing.
'Mother,' Robinton said, having hoped to hear something else from his best friend: like, 'You sang that well.'
'Shards, but it had Carola going!' Falloner grinned. 'S'loner must've been over the moons with delight. Our old harper – the one before C'gan – didn't know it and couldn't find it even when S'loner made him hunt through the Records for it. He only knew that he'd learned it. It's possible G'ranad, the Weyrleader before him, struck it out of our Teaching.'
'It's back in Harper Hall Records,' Robinton said. 'I had to copy it out several times for harpers going off on assignment.'
'Well, one thing sure, you made my father very happy.'
'Why?'
'Because he knows -' Falloner paused significantly, his expression oddly intense, '– that Thread will come again. And he's fighting to get others to believe it. That song is a warning, as well as a question.' He clapped Robinton on the back. 'And I'll be following him, on a fighting bronze. Just you see if I'm not.'
'But, even if Thread comes, it's not due for another fifty turns or more, and you and I will be old.'
'Fifty isn't old when most dragonriders live to their tenth decade and better. Old M'odon's nearly one hundred and ten, and there's nothing decrepit about his brown Nigarth.'
'Does he remember Threadfall?'
'Naw, he's too young for that, but his great-grandfather flew it.' Just then Merelan called the class to order. 'We're going to learn the new song today, the Question Song. Weyrleader S'loner particularly asked me to teach it. Robinton, if you'll sing it again for us so we can start learning the melody, we will honour that request, as we should honour all dragons and their riders.'
Five days later a green rider came with an invitation for the MasterSinger and her son to dine at the Weyr and, if she would be so kind, to bring some of the new music that had been heard in Benden Hold.
Robinton was never sure if it was because he had sung the Question Song or because the Weyrleaders wanted his mother to sing more for them.
'Of course it means I'm to sing, love,' she said, grinning at her son, 'so we'll take instruments with us. But I'm glad that you've been invited, too. I've wanted you to see Benden Weyr.' She paused and then winked conspiratorially at him. 'Then, when you have to spend the night up at Fort Weyr, you won't be the least bit scared.'
