Back to the Hall

Writers: Estelle, Paula
Date Posted: 20th November 2018

Characters: Jayala, Ueltin
Description: Ueltin reports back to Harper Hall and is debriefed by Jayala.
Location: Emerald Falls Hold, Harper Hall
Date: month 7, day 11 of Turn 9

Jayala

Few days after his escape from Holder Jobent's clutches, he got a
reply from the Harper Hall. He was called back there. The message didn't
tell what the consequences for him were, it was very brief.

Once Uetia was free from her duties, she gave him a ride again.
Dragonrider-sister was handy to have around. Since Ueltin had left all
of his belongings to the Hold, he was travelling light.

He waited until Sirjath had disappered to /between/ and then turned to
face the Hall. He had not been here since he walked the tables a
decade ago.The building wasn't the same. Trying not to feel nervous,
the tall harper
sauntered thru the main door.

The arrival of the dragon and her passenger had not gone unnoticed,
and as soon as he set foot inside, he was approached by a young
apprentice. "Sir, are you Journeyman Ueltin? Master Jayala would like
to see you in her practice room, right away." Although he didn't say
so, there was something in the boy's tone that suggested he'd better
not keep the Master waiting.

"Well, you better show me the way then, this is my first visit to the
rebuilt Hall," Ueltin replied.

"Yes, sir, it's this way. Welcome back," the apprentice added, slightly
awestruck at meeting someone who'd been out travelling and seeing the
world outside the Hall. He turned and led the way down a corridor and up
a flight of stairs, and knocked on a door bearing the name of the master
instrumentalist.

"Yes?" Jayala was seated at her desk, frowning at a schedule of classes
for the junior apprentices. Some of the journeymen teachers had been
complaining that they were rushed off their feet half the sevenday, with
no time for their daily practice, and she had agreed to look into it. It
was true; the timetables certainly needed reworking. After an hour spent
on them, the arrival of Journeyman Ueltin was a relief - even if he did
bring a whole new set of problems with him.

"Ah, Journeyman, please come in and sit down. Thank you, Hyllem, you can
return to your gitar practice," she said, dismissing the apprentice. The
boy left at once, giving Ueltin a brief sympathetic look.

"Greetings, master," Ueltin greeted, bit surprised to see such a young
female master. The ones who had been at the Hall during his
apprenticeship had all been old ones. The idea itself didn't bother
him, and he had met female master harpers at the Weyrs.

"Welcome back to the Hall." He must have been away for a while; Jayala
didn't recognise him, although she had been at the Hall since it had
been located at the Weyr. From first appearances, he looked the part of
the handsome young craftsman who got naive holder girls into trouble,
but experience had taught her not to make hasty judgements.

Instead, she got straight to business. "I understand from your report
that you had some difficulties at your last posting, which led to your
abrupt departure."

"Yes, that," Ueltin grimaced. Not his brightest moment. "I was
assigned to Jobent's Hold for few months. His daughter accused me of
getting her pregnant. He wanted me to marry her. Since I didn't touch
the girl, I though better to leave. In a hurry. With men chasing me."

"I see. You've had quite an adventure." The master met his gaze
steadily, as if she was trying to measure how much truth she was hearing
from his expression. "I assume you had assistance from Dragonsfall Weyr
in your escape, since that's where you've been these past few days?"

"Yes, my sister, she's a greenrider in Dragonsfall," Ueltin replied.
"I sent my firelizard to her with a message."

"I hope you and your sister had the sense to keep quiet about your
reason for being at the Weyr," Jayala said, a note of severity in her
voice. If this incident became gossip among the dragonriders, the story
of the harper's 'daring escape' would soon spread all over the Southern
Continent.

"I didn't stay there that long and she can be discreet," Ueltin
replied, although he hadn't thought of asking her to keep quiet about
it. He was mentally kicking himself for the oversight. Some harper he
was.

"Good. Perhaps you could send that firelizard of yours to her with a
reminder, just in case." Given what she'd heard about the work he did
for the Hall, Jayala thought it best Ueltin's name didn't become too
widely known.

She turned over the papers on her desk and drew out the one she'd been
looking for. "However, I still need to understand the precise
circumstances of your departure. As well as your report, the Hallmaster
has received a letter from Holder Jobent. To say that he is dissatisfied
with your services as hold harper would be rather understating the
case." Once again, her eyes met his, and this time there was a definite
chill in her voice. "He says you seduced his daughter and then fled from
your responsibilities as the father of her child."

"I did not seduce his daughter," Ueltin replied indignantly. "She was
trying to seduce me and I was trying to refuse her as gently as I
could. Too gently perhaps," he shrugged. "I never laid my finger on
her, definently didn't get her pregnant. Apprantly she takes after her
father, and tried to circumvent my no by other means. Or maybe she
takes after her mother. Now, there's frisky a woman who knows what she
wants and likes." He sounded admiring when he talked about the
Holder's wife.

"Journeyman Ueltin! We are not in the Weyr any more, and that is not an
appropriate way to talk about your Holder's wife." Jayala was aware that
the journeymen did discuss women that way, and even some of the masters,
but that didn't mean she had to tolerate it in her presence.

"Let me be plain with you," she continued, giving him her best quelling
look. "If the Hallmaster and I are going to take your side in this
matter, we must be absolutely certain that you are telling the truth.
The reputation of the Craft is at stake. At the moment, you're not doing
a very good job of convincing me." In truth, she didn't think he'd have
responded that way if he'd been guilty, but she saw no reason to let him
off lightly. "But if you'd prefer to return to Thorn Creek for your
wedding..."

"I prefer not," Ueltin replied. Sheesh, she was tough one, he thought.
"You see, I didn't sleep with the daughter. I slept with the mother,
Jobent's wife. If I go back there and he founds it out, I'm as good as
dead," Ueltin said with matter-of-factly tone. Ueltin wasn't proud of
it. He knew he was good catch in Hold women's eyes: young journeyman,
tall and good looking. So, sometimes he took advantage of it. Most of
the time he didn't stay in one place long enough to get into this kind
of trouble.

Jayala gave him a long and deeply disapproving look. Just when she'd
thought it couldn't possibly get any worse... "Sometimes, journeyman, I
think that it should have been young men that were banned from this
Craft all those Turns ago, not women. By the Star! How could you have
been so foolish?"

"I don't know. I was bored, I suppose. I don't usually do things like
that, I'm more careful," Ueltin replied. He wasn't so sure how much
she knew what he did besides teaching Hold kids, so he didn't
elaborate. His involvement in smuggling women to safety of the Weyr was
not widely know. The Hall needed to be able to deny any involvement, had
Ueltin ever been caught. He had accepted that long ago. This business
with Jobent had nothing to do with that, it was completely his own
fault.

"Bored?" Jayala shook her head in disbelief. She could only hope he'd
remember this experience the next time he felt 'bored'.

"Well, we can't send you back to Jobent. After what you've told me, it
would be an insult, and the Hall doesn't need any more enemies." There
were already those who grumbled about their policy of accepting women as
crafters; a scandal would only fan the flames of resentment, even if it
was a man who was responsible. "I'll look into the matter and discuss it
with the Hallmaster. If he decides you ought to marry the girl, I'll
suggest that she comes to live here."

"Yes, master," Ueltin thought it best to keep smart remarks to himself.

"In the meantime, there'll be plenty to occupy you here at the Hall and
keep you from getting bored again," Jayala said with a meaningful look.
She didn't want him getting caught in bed with one of the Masters'
wives. "As a matter of fact, I was looking for someone to teach the
junior apprentice class on history and charter law. They can be rather
boisterous and prone to silly pranks, but I'm sure a journeyman with
your skills would be able to cope."

"Alright," Ueltin knew he had no choice in here. "I could also use the
opportunity to brush up my skills."
So far he had not spared a thought for possible mastery. Maybe now was
the time, since it looked he was going to be stuck at the Hall.

The master nodded. "Always a good idea. You're a teacher, aren't you? Do
you have any other specialities?" She was already thinking of the
various chamber groups she organised, and where she might be able to use
another musician.

"I can play the most common instruments and I'm sure Master Eilomar is
still moaning after the loss of my baritone from his choir. I'm also
pretty handy in making instruments," Ueltin replied. "Nothing fancy or
complicated mind you, mostly I carve pipes or flutes out of wood. Not
much other materials available when you're on the road. I sometimes
sell them for little extra mark. I can also fix roofs."

Jayala couldn't help but smile. "You're clearly a man of many talents,
journeyman. Fortunately, the Hall is new, and our roof isn't in need of
repair. You can speak to the Choir Master, and once you've settled in
I'll assess your instrumental ability and find you a group to practice
with." A slight frown creased her brow as she noticed his lack of bags
or cases. "But you don't seem to have any instruments with you?"

"I was forced to leave them behind," Ueltin replied with an obvious
annoyance. "There was a very good guitar," he said with regret.

"Well, you can borrow from the master instrument crafter for now. I'll
see what can be done about getting them back, but it might be worth you
starting on making replacements." Having read Holder Jobent's letter,
Jayala didn't hold out much hope for the instruments. She made a note to
check, anyway. "You can see the Headwoman about living quarters, and
anything else you need. I'll draw up a timetable for you. Until then, I
suggest you spend your time settling in. Introduce yourself to the
Masters you think you might like to study with, and the other journeymen
- but please be discreet about the reason for your return. Just say that
you completed your assignment and were called back to the Hall."

"Yes, ma'am," Ueltin replied. He could agree to that easily, he didn't
want any embarrassing stories about him circulating either.

"Good. I hope you'll be both hard-working and productive while you're
here at the Hall, journeyman. That's all." She put Jobent's letter to
one side and looked down at her stack of timetables as if to dismiss
him, but as he got up to leave, she spoke again, as if a thought had
just occurred to her. "Oh - there is one small matter you could attend
to for me, while you're here."

"Yes, master Jayala? I'm happy to help in any way I can," Ueltin asked
and replied.

"We have a journeywoman from the North staying with us at the moment.
She's an archivist, here to study our Records. Or so she says." Jayala
knew that there were those in her Craft with the skills to work in
secret, of which Ueltin was one. She didn't doubt the Northern Craft had
their own agents, and she suspected the young journeywoman was one of
them. "I would very much like to know what she's really here for. I want
someone to keep an eye on her, and report back to me."

Ueltin nodded, understanding the unvoiced implications. "I better get
acquinted with her then," he flashed a charmings smile.

Jayala raised her eyes to the heavens. "I'm not even going to ask how
you plan to do that, journeyman, but be careful. If you get the young
lady pregnant, I'll tie a bow around your neck and send you back to
Holder Jobent with my compliments." She did not want to have to
explain _that_ to the Northern Hallmaster.

"Don't worry, master, I never make the same mistake twice," Ueltin replied.

"I'm glad to hear it." The corner of her mouth twitched as if trying to
suppress a smile. "Go on, then, and do try to stay out of trouble."

"Yes, ma'am."

Last updated on the January 21st 2019

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