Mistral

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The morning of Threadfall, a clear tenor voice woke the Harper Hall.  There was much grumbling, mostly because the tenor wasn't supposed to be singing at that time of the morning.

Mistral grinned in spite of himself.  No one could really blame him, since it was his Master, Novac, that made him sing so early.  On days of Threadfall, someone had to sing the traditional duty song, and Mistral had begged for many weeks to sing it.  Novac grumbled a little, and said that he had to wake up early so his voice could be warmed up.  Mistral didn't mind in the least, especially since it meant that he was also the one to wake up the entire Hall.

Mistral was just a few months short of reaching Journeyman, and everyone agreed that it was very likely he would, with wonderful tenor voice and his skill with the gitar.  Mistral really wanted to travel, to visit far off Holds, and better yet, to visit Weyrs. 

"Hey handsome, that was some gorgeous serenading you did this morning.  I'm sure they all heard it all the way from the Hold."  Yeral put his arm around Mistral's shoulder, and gave him a big smack on the cheek.

"I'm glad you liked it.  Most people I'm sure are right about to kill me for waking them up so early."  He returned the favor by giving Yeral a big squeeze.  

"Did you know that there's going to be some dragonriders coming here after Threadfall?  G'dak told me about it.  Apparently they're going to pick up some Journeymen for assignment.  G'dak isn't going to be one of them."  Yeral sighed.  Mistral knew that Yeral and G'dak were close, but they didn't get to see each other often.  Mistral sighed too.  Yeral would never choose Mistral over the greenrider.

The two of them continued to eat their breakfast in silence, Mistral was going over the Duty song in his head.  He wanted this to be perfect.  Maybe, just maybe, they would let him walk the tables sooner if he showed them all how good he was.

The warning drums began.  Novac stood up, and looked over at him.  Even though he was shaking, Mistral stood up confidently.  He began the song just as the warnings were finished.  He looked around, and smiled inwardly.  They liked it!  He was doing it well.  Even Novac looked proud!

The last notes trailed away into silence, and there was much clapping.  As he sat down again Yeral hugged him.  Novac came up to the table.

"You need work."  Mistral looked crestfallen for a minute.  Novac smiled then.  "But it wasn't bad."  Mistral smiled down at his plate.  The highest praise he had gotten from the Master, and it felt good.  A couple of the female apprentices also came up and hugged him.  He hugged them good-naturedly back.  These were girls who often came to him with there problems, including problems with guys, because they knew he wouldn't have any reason to turn it against them.  In the meantime, Mistral took the information they gave him, and told the Headwoman just which girl needed a little extra attention.

They went about their duties for Threadfall, in the usual rush and bustle.  Mistral kept humming different tunes under his breath, and he noticed several others doing the same.  It made the work go faster if the had something else to concentrate on, like scales and notations.  Or the newest ballad the Choral Master was making them sing.

Just like Yeral said, after Threadfall had finished and the groundcrews had finished their cleansweep, several dragons landed in the courtyard of Harper Hall.  They were all blues and greens, probably the ones that flew the first part of Fall.  Blues and greens couldn't fly an entire Fall, so these guys got to rest up a bit before coming here.  Some of them still smelled like firestone.

"Hello Harpers!  We're here to pick up some journeymen.  Are they around here?  Betranth would like to get back for a bath."  Called one young greenrider, dismounting his dragon.  Mistral thought he was cute, and he stepped forward towards the rider.

"They're around here somewhere, but it might be a bit.  Would you and the rest like to come in to wait?"  He gestured to the other riders. 

"Sure thing.  And who might I say is hosting us?"  He smiled at Mistral.  He was excited.  The green rider actually smiled at him.  He had no idea about what the rider was actually smiling about.

"I'm Mistral."  He grinned back.

"I'm D'wabol.  Hey listen, Mistral, Betranth tells me that you would make a good dragon rider.  The other dragons think so too.  You have Candidate material in you.  Would you like to stand at a Hatching?"  That came so out of between that Mistral was taken aback. 

"Me?  A dragonrider?  But I'm just a few months short of Journeyman, and I..."  D'wabol laughed.

"If you don't want to be, that's fine."  Mistral shook his head furiously.

"It's not that I don't want to be, its just..."  Novac came up behind him.

"Don't want to be what?"  Novac looked at the dragon rider.  "You know that if the dragons  Search you, you're free to go.  That's the way it has always been."

"But what about my classes?  I still would like to reach Journeyman..."  Novac laughed. 

"You can still make the level, in fact, the Masterharper was suggesting that we do it soon.  He was much taken with you're performance today.  Now get going!  I don't want you here any longer."  Mistral turned to the D'wabol.

"Where would we be going?"

"Eistanza Weyr is the only one with eggs on the Grounds, so we'll head there after I drop off one of the Harpers.  Lets go!"

Mistral was Searched for Eistanza Weyr