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"Well, I didn't think he'd be able. Is he well?"
Melongel frowned slightly, rubbing at his chin. "Now that's the oddity. I've
known Faroguy a long time. Had many messages from him, and he always enquires
after Juvana. She spent a Turn with
Lady Evelene, you know. Odd that he didn't this time."
Robinton felt a surge of concern. "If he is ill, could the message have come
from someone else?"
"Farevene would have asked, too." Melongel frowned. "Well, we've enough to do
today without adding other problems. I see you've finished your meal, so we'd
best adjourn to the Court Hall.
We've a full morning."
Robinton rose, suppressing a sigh. Unlike some of the larger
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Holds, Tillek used a stone building closer to the centre of the
Holding for such proceedings - right in the middle of the Gather, which was
already in full swing. Both official CraftHall and independent booths were
doing a good business. The entire fishing fleet was moored in the harbour or
alongside the wharves, and distant sails indicated that the home crowd would
swell even more with the passengers coming in from up the coast. Melongel and
Robinton had to slow their steps to the crowd's pace, with people
either smiling a greeting or nodding courteously as Lord Holder and harper
passed.
Robinton felt a tug on his sleeve and was surprised to see Pessia at his side,
and, beyond her, the gaggle of Sucho, Tortole, Valrol and Klada, who peered
out from behind the protective bulk of her father until Robinton's eyes fell
on her, and she ducked away.
"Good Gather day to you, Lord Melongel," Pessia said with a polite jerk of her
head, and then she looked right back at Robinton, a proud if shy smile on her
face. "You did a great deal for us, and especially Saday. This is for you
and your spouse." She threw a cloth-wrapped parcel at him and, before he could
prevent her, ran off, the others following like leaves blown from a tree in a
high wind.
"Your wall folk?" Melongel asked.
"Yes." Robinton tried to see in which direction they had run, but there were
too many people milling around and, despite his advantage of height, he
couldn't find them.
At Melongel's gesture, he unwrapped the parcel as gatherers politely skirted
the two stationary men.
The cloth was new, the smell of the dye acrid, and when he had removed it he
gasped as he held up the wooden bowl.
"Elegant!" Melongel said. "Truly elegant."
They both examined it with their fingers, feeling the thin, smooth wall and
then discovering the band of tiny flowers which ringed the top, so perfectly
done that they seemed to blossom from the wood rather than having been carved
from it.
"A beautiful gift, Harper. And deserved."
Then Melongel touched Robinton's sleeve and indicated that they should
proceed. They were not far from the Court Hall and the knots of anxious men
and women looking their way. Carefully re-wrapping his gift, Robinton matched
strides with the shorter-legged
Lord Holder, and they were soon being smiled into the building by those they
would shortly be judging.
Good fortune seemed to favour Robinton that day. They were hearing the
representations and alibis of a holder who had been delinquent in managing his
fields and cot when a messenger slipped in and handed Lord Melongel a message.
He read it, gave a sniff and then, with a slight grin on his face, handed it
over to the harper to read.
"You may leave. Other duties take precedence," Melongel murmured.
Reading the note, Robinton wasn't at all sure if he should take the excuse to
leave. The message told him that F'lon had arrived with Holder Bourdon and
his spouse, Brashia, who were awaiting him in Juvana's apartment. He dreaded
meeting Kasia's parents far
more than he dreaded being bored by the court proceedings. When he did not
immediately rise, Melongel gave him a stern look. And so he pushed back his
chair, nodded to Minnarden and to the faltering holder, and left.
The first thing he saw outside the Court Hall was everyone looking up at the
Hold heights and pointing out the bronze dragon settling himself in the sun.
Like rider, like dragon, Robinton thought as Simanith made quite a show of
extending his gleaming wings before, with a smart crack of the tips, he folded
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them to his back and sprawled, his shorter front legs overlapping the edge.
F'lon was lounging against the front entrance to the Hold and grinned as he
saw the harper hurrying towards him.
"I brought them safely here," he said, slapping Robinton on the shoulder and
then holding him off to inspect the new clothing.
F'lon whistled and his amber eyes gleamed with mischief.
"Someone's taught you a thing or two. The lovely Kasia, perhaps?"
"I'm well able to choose my own clothes," Robinton said. Then he asked in a
lower voice, as F'lon hurried him into the Hold, "Why did you have to bring
them here so early?"
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