Setting the Hall to Rights

Writers: Jane
Date Posted: 11th August 2014

Characters: Solynt, Iresdu, Lynta, Quier
Description: The journey-ranked printers talk over breakfast.
Location: Harper Hall
Date: month 8, day 2 of Turn 7

"All I can say," one of the other journeymen said from further down the table,
his voice carrying - hopefully - not beyond the group of journey-ranked printers
gathered at the breakfast table, "Is that I'm glad I'm _not_ a harper. They must
be beside themselves."

Solynt had run into a few of them since the announcement of Master Artist
Vestian's appointment as Hallmaster and 'beside themselves' was as good a
description as any.

"It doesn't bother me in the slightest that he's an artist -" Iresdu said from
beside Solynt, "- thought I can see it's probably an unusual choice in a craft
where music is so important, but I can't understand how a master of only nine
months seniority is made Hallmaster over others who are here."

Quier glanced up from his breakfast and sent a warning look at his youngest
brother and was reassured by Iresdu's calm return of the look. It might be a
nice moment of family loyalty to think one's father, a master of many Turns, had
more right to the Hallmaster's job, but it would be foolish and embarrassing to
the family to mention him by name. As long as the Iresdu - as long as they _all_
- stuck to generalities there probably wasn't much harm in the discussion. There
was no doubt that it would be discussed by most at the Hall, but now the
appointment was an accomplished fact the last gnashing of teeth and partisanship
of one master over another should die down to acceptance.

"Not even just here," Lynta added. "Almonteo was posted in to be Hallmaster
after Gilas's - er - retirement, remember, and he was there to help us get set
up at Dolphin Cove. There must be dozens of more senior masters from more
traditional disciplines than could have come in as Hallmaster, even if all the
ones here were to be overlooked for some reason."

"It was never going to be a printer," Solynt said a little sadly. Although he
didn't consider himself very politically-minded he did wish that the Halls could
separate again, even just in administrative terms where they might be co-located
in the new Harper Hall building, but the printercraft once again had its own
Hallmaster and rank structure. Quite apart from anything else it would give the
printer masters a chance for Hall appointments and the most senior of the
journeymen and women more chance for promotion.

The journeyman next to him shrugged. "It might have been if Thanja was still
Hallsecond here." He looked around at the sounds of disagreement. "Why not?
Vestian's an artist, Thanja was a printer - not much to choose between them from
the point of view of the purist harpers."

"Printers are always going to be printers," Quier said firmly, not having
intended to get involved in the conversation but finding that here was an
opinion he couldn't help but voice. "The more we get involved with the _Harper_
Hall the more likely it will be that printing just becomes a branch of
harpercraft. I'm sure none of us want that, do we?" He looked around the table
and was pleased that nobody seemed to want to challenge his comments.

"Gilas was an artist, too, wasn't he?" an older journeyman said, scratching his
head as if to encourage his recall. "Can't remember what the man before him was
- Walstin was his name. Before we came here."

"But Almonteo _wasn't_ an artist," Lynta pointed out. "The poor old musicians
must have thought they were finally back to being a proper Harper Hall and now –
another artist calling the tune."

Solynt couldn't help but smile at his sister's apt turn of phrase, and her
ability to deliver it without any hint of amusement.

"I agree with Iresdu," somebody said, further down the table. "A man with less
than a Turn's experience as a master in the craft – what does that say about the
other harper masters? If I was one of them I'd be pretty testy about being
passed over like this."

"Unless ..." Lynta looked thoughtful. "What if he was the only master they
thought could be relied on not to go back on having women in the Hall? What if
he was chosen because of us – the printers with women in the craft – and the
girl harper apprentices?"

Quier winced, hoping that wasn't the case. He didn't like to think that there
would be so few master harpers in the South that would support women returning
to the craft that the not-long-promoted Vestian was the pick of them.

Solynt sighed into the silence of the journey-ranked printers considering
Lynta's words. "Awful possibility. Do you think that we'll get to provide a
Hallsecond to replace Thanja?"

"They might appoint a musical harper to _that_ position to balance having an
artist Hallmaster."

"Then it wouldn't be a woman."

"It doesn't have to be a woman," Lynta said, "Just somebody who accepts women in
both crafts." But a printer Hallsecond would be better, she felt. Otherwise
there would be no coherent representation for the craft in the Harper Hall and
Quier's prediction that they would end up just a specialisation of the
harpercraft in the Southern Continent might become an reality. "Somebody from up
North would be nice."

"Somebody to keep those wretched junior apprentices' minds on their chores would
be a bonus, too," Quier said, getting to his feet abruptly, his attention
already on the muddle of apprentices making more noise than progress at their
after-breakfast chores. His dark eyes flicked back to his peers at the table.
"There's nothing we can do about the Hallmaster. That's done. And there's not
much more we can do about the Hallsecond position, either, other than making
sure the printers' profile stays high for the _right_ reasons."

Solynt got to his feet, too, realising belatedly that he was rostered to
supervise a chore section, though not the one Quier was already decimating on
the other side of the room. "If he's saying it wouldn't do for us to let the
apprentices run wild right now then he's probably talking to me."

"Not only you," the eldest journeymen said, also rising. "Excuse me, everybody.
We'll no doubt gather together at the same time tomorrow and again set the craft
- and Hall - to rights ... over breakfast."

Last updated on the February 18th 2015

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Setting the Hall to Rights