Free The Dolphins of Pern by Anne McCaffrey Page B

everything else harpers seem to be required to do right now.”
    While it was the hot season on the Southern Continent, it was bitter cold in the North, and there were few who would turn down the opportunity to come south. So it came as no surprise that Alemi’s plea to Menolly for a harper to teach the children of Paradise River Hold resulted in the message that one was coming as soon as transport could be arranged. What no one at Paradise River expected was to see Menolly herself and her young son, Robse, carried by the sturdy, loyal, lack-witted Camo, stepping out of Master Idarolan’s longboat onto the beach.
    On learning that a harper was being sent, Jayge had organized a work party to put up a neat three-room hold near the old storage shed. The shed could be used as the schoolroom, and the little hold was far enough away from other dwellings to give a harper privacy. When he discovered that the Masterharper Menolly had arrived, he was all set to oust one of the younger settler couples and give her better accommodations.
    “Nonsense. It’s not as if I can make Paradise River a permanent home,” Menolly said to an embarrassed Jayge. “I can only stay until the babe is born. And that is solely,” she added wrinkling her nose in disgruntlement, “because even Sebell’s got tired of my complaining about being too cold to compose, much less play. See?” She held out her long fingers. “Chilblains!” She brushed past a dithering Jayge and onto the wide veranda, which had a hammock slung on its “breeze” corner. “Besides, down here you spendmore time outside than in. There’s enough space for a small cot for Robse in my room and a room for Camo; he’s so good with Robse, who adores him, since he’s not much more than an overgrown baby himself. You’ve made a very nice kitchen, and I can always use the store shed, can’t I? If I need space to work in?”
    “No problem. Or I can settle Camo in space in the store shed. That way, he’s near but not underfoot all the time.”
    “Well, then, we move in here,” she said, turning on the ball of one foot to circle back to the house, hugging herself before she threw her arms out in an expansive gesture. “Oh, it’s so grand to be warm.”
    Jayge gave her a cynical smile. “Wait till the hot weather really starts.”
    “Whenever,” Menolly responded, tossing her thick mop of hair behind her, “but at least my blood is thawing.” She gave a convulsive shudder. “It’s
never
been so cold.”
    Camo arrived then, pushing the barrow with the household effects she had brought with her, Robse perched on the top, hugging a lap harp case. A good third of the baggage consisted of musical instruments and an enormous supply of writing materials. Later Aramina told Jayge that Menolly had brought only two changes of clothing for herself and one long, elegantly embroidered “harpering” gown.
    The gown was worn by Menolly the first evening, when Aramina and Jayge hosted her at a quickly organized Gather. Everyone living in or near Paradise River Hold wanted to meet Master Menolly. Only the new settlers at South Bend Holding were unable toattend—they were too busy raising a big stone beasthold—but two of their aunties came to help with the cooking. Jayge could be proud to host such a large crowd that night, for the inhabitants had increased over the past Turns, each new arrival bringing needed skills or crafts. Jayge had been able to be selective, though there was only one couple he had actually dismissed. So forty-seven Hold residents, adults and children, gathered that night along with the crew of the
Dawn Sisters
, anchored in the bay.
    With a Gather to attend, Masterfishman Idarolan was quite willing to stop over a day to see these “doll-fins” of Alemi’s.
    “Catch two fish on the one hook,” he said drolly to his craftsman, his eyes surveying the neat fishhold that Alemi and his two journeymen had constructed.
    Alemi had had to sternly keep under