"Training Flight" is copyright 1996 by Barbara Cummings and is reproduced here by permission.Training Flight
by Barbara Cummings
Tower Year -75
The bowl of the sky above the Redrock Valley was flawless, depthless azure. Tiny strokes of white cloud feathered the blue, minute imperfections in the glaze. High above Tower Mountain three hawks wheeled and dove. Below them a fourth hovered, wings almost motionless against the morning wind.
Rahirah perched on the stone railing of the eyrie's main landing, watching the birds and their riders. The same wind that held the great birds aloft ruffled her short cornsilk hair. They were doing the hard drills this morning, the ones that Eylar and Tanyel would not allow her to join no matter how much she begged, the ones she had to fly far, far from the Tower to practice in secret. They were the tricks you used should a rider fall from her hawk, injured, unconscious and unable to glide. If you left your mount's back in midflight you sent a command that told it all was well; if a rider ever left without that command the hawk had to be trained for an emergency rescue.
One of the tiny specks that were elves fell, her hair a flaming comet-tail behind her. Rahirah knew that there was no real danger now; Doleera was a glider and even if she panicked Tanyel was waiting below as a safety precaution. Still, her heart speeded up as she watched the descent. Almost as soon as Doleera left the saddle her hawk was folding its wings and diving faster than she could fall, cutting beneath her her and pulling up. In the absence of other instructions the hawk was supposed to land as quickly as possible, but this time Doleera ordered it upwards again, to be out of the way when the next rider tried the same stunt.
Rahirah sighed, a wistful expression in her large green-gold eyes. She could have joined them, if only Twillor had given her leave! She had her own bond-hawk, while most of the other candidates for the Declared still rode unbonded `trainer' hawks. But then, she was not a candidate for the Declared. She was, as the flight leader constantly reminded her, the hawkmaster's assistant, and lucky to be allowed a hawk at all. She had other tasks to do. Well, I do them, she thought. It was not as if she did not enjoy her work in the eyrie-- she loved it. It was just that there was so much more waiting just beyond her reach.
As her eyes followed the flight patterns of the hawks her hands selected another length of elkhide from the assortment lying over the railing beside her. Automatically she checked it against the one she already held for a match in width and thickness, then took the needle from her mouth and began to stitch it onto the harness strap she was making. Part of her mind noted the footsteps approaching behind her, and at the first light brush of fingers against her shoulder she twisted out from under the descending hand. In the same lithe movement she leaped to her feet and turned to face the elves on the flags behind her. "Father!" she said with a reproving laugh.
Taywar laughed and held out his arms to give his daughter a fierce hug. He was a big elf, broad-shouldered and, for one of his kind, heavy-set. Rahirah looked like a child of eight and four beside him. Taywar's grey eyes glinted roguishly at his companion as his daughter tousled his rough brown hair. Silara frowned.
"Taywar, are you mad? You might have startled her off the railing. What are you doing sitting here, Rahirah? No one is near enough to catch you if you fall." Silara's tone was forbidding even though her words showed concern; she had never liked the idea of allowing Taywar's daughter the freedom of the eyrie. Taywar laughed again, swinging Rahirah into the air.
"Hah, but she never falls, Silara. How's the eyas training going? Who's Tanyel got out there this morning?"
The young elf brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes, squinting into the sun. "Mistwing, Shadowflight, Shiverleaf and Frostfeathers."
"I don't mean the hawks, little feather-head, I mean those who're riding them," Taywar teased. Rahirah laughed delightedly and made a face indicating that mere elves were beneath her concern.
"Doleera, Kiriel, and Ayla. Mindar's got Evanda and Chimreh and Valli for weapons drill this morning." She wriggled free of her father's arms and jumped over to balance on the narrow rail, watching the manuevers of the hawks. "Doleera's the better rider, I suppose, but Ayla knows better what the hawk wants to do." She bent and began to pick up her harness-making paraphernalia. "I wish Twillor would let me practice with them. After all, I need to know that kind of thing more than they do-- I can't glide no matter whether I'm awake or asleep."
Silara, whose frown had returned at Rahirah's careless mention of her daughter, said abruptly, "If Twillor listened to wiser heads than sit on Tanyel's shoulders you'd be sitting in places where a lack of Talent would mean no harm. Get back into that eyrie and don't let me catch you out here again."
"Yes, Silara," Rahirah murmured, taking her leatherwork and walking back towards the huge archway of the eyrie entrance. There was a definite air of rebellion in the exceptional straightness of her back, but she made no effort to argue. Taywar watched the slight golden figure with a curious mixture of pride and hurt. What a rider she would have made, if only...
Not fair, not fair, not fair! Rahirah stalked through the dusty bars of sunlight that striped the mews until she reached Sunscatter's eyrie. It occurred to her as she flopped down beside the hawk's perch and dug her needle viciously into the tough hide, that she ought not to have made any kind of slighting reference to Doleera in her mother's presence. Silara was overweeningly proud of her daughter-- as long as her daughter was not present. Well, it was true, she thought. Doleera made her birds do what she wanted them to, but Ayla knew the trick of making the hawk want to do what you wanted.
"Rahirah! Are they in yet?"
Rahirah looked up as Vallaree came pattering down the mews, her soft slippers sending puffs of dust from the flags. Valli's long chestnut hair was caught up in a clasp at the nape of her neck, and a towel was draped about her shoulders. There was a raw scrape on her cheek and the beginnings of a nasty bruise beneath it.
"Fish guts! What's Mindar been doing to you?" Rahirah exclaimed, dropping her stitchery and jumping to her feet. Not being Declared-in-training, she had never suffered the weaponmaster's tender ministrations, and it was perhaps the one thing about Vallaree's position that she did not envy. Being a practical soul who believed in offering more concrete solacethan sympathy, she went to the wall niche where she kept various hawk medicines and took out a pot of ointment.
"Picking on me, as usual," Vallaree replied, wincing as the younger elf smoothed some of the pungent cream onto her cheek with a delicate finger. "I'm doing the best I can, and he knows it! I get all the moves right, and he still complains. What does he want me to do, try to chop his arms off? Oh, I don't want to talk about it!" She threw the towel into a corner, skimming Sunscatter's beak with the cloth. Sunscatter started; Rahirah sent a calming thought and the hawk quieted. It sometimes occurred to her to think that someone who had been as carefully trained to follow in her father's footsteps as Vallaree had should be well past the stage of startling hawks by now. That Vallaree had not yet been allowed to ride hawkback, as Kiriel, only a few years her senior, had, also seemed odd.
"Tanyel hasn't brought them in yet," Rahirah said in answer to the earlier question. The two of them stared down the length of the mews to the arch of blue at the end, where hawk wings flashed in the sunlight. Doleera was executing another perfect fall-and-catch. Doleera was undoubtedly the shining light of the Declared cadets. One might say that Ayla had a better feel for the hawks, or that Vallaree was a stronger glider, or that Evanda was quicker with the blade, but Doleera was the one who did all things with excellence.
"It always seems so easy for her," Vallaree said a trifle wistfully. "It's all Kiriel can talk about anymore-- how wonderful Doleera is! You should hear her and Kaethe go on sometimes; you'd think Doleera was Lord Tyaar and six High Ones wrapped up in a package. And never mind asking Emerel or Frith or Ban's opinion--"
"Valli, what mite's nipping your ears?" Rahirah wiped the last of the ointment off of her fingers. Vallaree was one of the least malicious elves she knew, and never indulged in catty remarks.
"I suppose Mindar whacking me in the head with a sword just puts me in a bad mood," Vallaree said lightly. "Never mind, I'll be good. Have you time to come to see Leravie with me this afternoon? For that gold-satin shift?"
"Of course," Rahirah replied, somewhat surprised. "We've planned that fitting for the last moon."
There was a gratified relief in Vallaree's smile that surprised Rahirah even more, but she did not even try to interpret it. "Come on, Valli, let's go watch them land. Silara's chased me off once already, but we can stay in the archway."
A thin, high scream floated in on the wind as the two elves edged up to the landing. Vallaree and Rahirah stood together and watched as the candidates brought their mounts in for a landing on the low stone scrollwork one after the other. Tanyel's mount, younger and more expertly ridden, soared over their heads and executed a flashy turn before settling on the railing next to Doleera.
"That's all for today," the hawkmaster said briskly, gliding down from his hawk's neck and stretching. "Get your birds watered and taken care of, and then--" Tanyel peered down the length of the eyrie with exaggerated care. "Eylar's not here," he continued in a loud whisper. "Half-holiday all around. I have spoken." The three younger riders caught each other's eyes and giggled. "Seriously," the hawkmaster continued, "you've all done very well these past few years. Eylar and Mindar may well have further tortures in store for you, but very soon you'll be to the point where I push you out of my nest to fly for yourselves. Treasure this bit of praise when you find yourself plummetting groundward." He grinned, flung the ends of his scarf over his shoulder melodramatically and stalked off. Dawnflyer, his hawk, hopped down from his perch on the railing and stalked after his rider in unconscious imitation.
Taywar and Silara, about to leave on patrol, drew their hawks to one side as the new arrivals filed into the mews and headed for their individual eyries. As Doleera went by her mother called out "Doleera, your form on that drop was execrable. I'll see you tomorrow morning and we'll go over it."
"But Mother," Doleera protested, startled, "Tanyel said--"
"Tanyel may be satisfied with your second-best efforts, but you shouldn't be. I certainly am not. Tomorrow. After the sunrise patrol has left."
Rahirah looked nervously over her shoulder, hoping that Silara wouldn't see her; she'd been hoping that the hawkrider would leave from one of the side bays. Taywar did see her; he smiled and winked at her. Doleera looked from her mother to Taywar and thence to Rahirah. Her full mouth tightened and her emerald eyes snapped rebelliously.
"Sunrise, Mother," was all she said.
Rahirah had taken the trainer hawks to their perches and seen to it that they were comfortable; they were mostly older birds and needed some special attention now and then. Ayla had helped her, something which she was not really required to do, but which she always did. When the two of them returned to Sunscatter's stall, Kiriel was standing just outside of it, with Doleera waiting somewhat impatiently for her a little way down the mews. Ayla looked at Kiriel and Vallaree, shook her head and went to stand with Doleera.
"Valli, I know, I promised," Kiriel was saying earnestly, "but we can talk to Leravie any time, can't we? And this is so important! Doleera convinced my brother I should be allowed to go to his party tomorrow night-- one of my brother's special parties, you know--" she giggled knowingly. "And I simply must make the best impression I can! Beliel is having Peysol make me something special, and I absolutely have to go now. Tell Leravie I'm sorry, and I promise I'll get together with you soon."
"Tomorrow?" Vallaree asked.
Kiriel hesitated, looked over at Doleera, and faltered, "Well, not tomorrow... perhaps in two or three days? I'll arrange it with you later-- I really have to go! Thank you for being so understanding, Valli, I knew I could trust you!" She smiled brightly and raced away to join the two older cadets.
Rahirah watched the exchange with wide eyes. Two squares of years before she had even been born Vallaree and Kiriel had been best friends. She slipped into the stall and caught one of Vallaree's hands, and squeezed it. It did not strike her how different the two clasped hands were: Vallaree's fair and smooth and soft, with beautiful nails, her own lightly touched by the sun, rough and harness-callused, the nails exactly long enough to be useful in prying things out and no longer. She saw only that her friend had been relegated to the status of unwanted youngster. She had never minded the role for herself, but to see it thrust on someone else drew an unaccustomed anger from her.
"Not even Peysol can turn out a whole new costume on one day's notice-- not for Kiriel, anyway. She must have known for days that she wasn't coming with us, and just didn't want to tell me. And I thought that being Declared was the only thing I ever wanted in the world," Vallaree said softly. Rahirah felt awkward.
"You'll feel differently when you get a hawk of your own, Valli. Believe me, it's worth the wait and the work, even worth Mindar whacking you on the head with a sword. And when you can fly with them, then..." she trailed off. Vallaree looked up and saw that Rahirah had begun to smile; the sweet, brilliant smile of one who has just realized something of wondrous and momentous import. It was a smile that she had seen before, and it usually boded upset and possible disaster-- and, Vallaree was forced to admit, considerable fun. "I've thought of something," Rahirah announced. Vallaree had heard that before, too. The last time it had involved diverting part of the flow from the water gardens to make a waterslide down the Grand Stair.
"Look, why don't I show you how to ride? I don't know why Tanyel hasn't taken you out before this. We can fly out, oh, tomorrow morning, and make a day of it-- take a lunch and just have some fun."
Vallaree's hand leaped to her mouth, fell away, and fluttered to rest once more. "But Father and Tanyel haven't given me leave to take a hawk out yet. If Twillor finds out!"
"Finds out what?" Rahirah demanded. "Aren't you going to be a hawkrider? Who else has more right to ride a hawk? If anyone asks, why, we're giving one of the unbonded hawks exercise."
If anyone else had suggested that she take a hawk out flying without the supervision of a senior hawkrider, without any real experience, without telling anyone, Vallaree would have refused in an instant. Rahirah was afraid she would refuse now, for she knew that Vallaree was really a rather timid person when it came to physical danger. She underestimated her own power to convince. Her face alight with the possibilities of her grand scheme, Rahirah radiated a sublime confidence that Vallaree, as usual, was swept up in. No matter what one remembered of the consequences of previous grand schemes, the leashed skyfire in those eyes made refusal unthinkable. Besides, there was the sting of Kiriel's desertion still fresh on her spirit.
"When shall we start?"
The dawn patrols had left long since, but it was still quite early. Rahirah liked mornings, the fresh damp scent of them and the slight chill on the breeze, and the way the light looked falling on the Tower's sides. Morning light was very different from afternoon light, even from midday light. Rahirah did not know the exact way to describe the difference-- cleaner? The color was different, if the medium through which color was expressed could be said to have color itself. Midday light was clear and strong, afternoon light was... fatter, and golden, but morning light was...
"Pellucid," she whispered, liking the sound of the word. She'd heard it in one of Nez's songs once, and it fitted perfectly. She never tried using the word herself, for fear she hadn't got the meaning quite right. Humming to herself she went into the tack room and took Sunscatter's harness from its peg. It was a double loop of braided leather, no more, but Vallaree would need a regular harness. She looped her own harness over her shoulder and took a standard one from the next peg, grunting at the weight of it. The thing was larger than she was. Leaving the tack room at a run she skipped across the open space of the main landing, darting like a swallow through the checkerwork of light that lanced the stonework screen dividing the eyrie from the sky.
The eyrie was laid out after the pattern of a hawk in flight and the mews were the extended wings. Turning the corner that corresponded to the wrist-joint Rahirah looked back to see if Vallaree had gotten to the eyrie yet. Vallaree had not, but someone else had, and the resulting collison knocked her flat on her back.
"Watch it!"
"Ow! I'm sorry." Rahirah rubbed her elbow and got up off the flagstones. In planning to leave between patrols, she'd forgotten all about Silara and Doleera-- High Ones, was Silara still about? **Where's Silara?** she sent to Silara's bondhawk. **Is she with you?**
#not (self-location)# the bird replied. #(Silara/rider) (flight-bindings)not-with self#
**Thanks.** Doleera glared down at her; she, being a glider, had not fallen, but the harness-edge had given her a healthy poke in the ribs. She looked tired and cross. "What are you doing with that thing?"
Rahirah bit her lip. She was no good at deception, especially spur-of-the-moment deception. "Er... I'm going to take one of the eyases out..." Her words faded out as Doleera raised her delicate brows and pointed at Sunscatter's harness, coiled neatly over her shoulder. Rahirah shot desperate glances to either side.
**Rahirah! Sorry I'm late, but Mother needed--**
Rahirah moaned. Vallaree, soaring down the length of the mews at full tilt, pulled up with wide-eyed confusion. "Oh. Hello, Doleera."
Doleera's expression had gone from quizzical to knowing as she added Vallaree's presence to that of the extra harness. "Are you mad, Rahirah? Twillor would have your hide, not to mention Eylar! And Vallaree, I thought you at least knew better than this!"
Rahirah cast about for some kind of glib explanation, but there was none. She had to say something, for Vallaree was looking dreadfully guilty. The only thing that came to mind was "You sound just like your mother."
Surprisingly enough, that appeared to have some effect. Doleera's lovely face twisted through several indecipherable expressions, and she changed her tactics. "Where were you going?"
"Probably out to Owl Bluff..."
"Hopeless!" Doleera threw her hands into the air and whirled around. "Well, come on," she said over her shoulder. "If you're going to do it I supposed I'd better see that you do it right. Don't you know that anyone flying cross-valley patrol would see you at Owl Bluff?"
"The updrafts are better there," Rahirah objected, as Vallaree picked up the other side of the harness and the two of them trailed along after the flame-haired cadet. Doleera snorted ungracefully.
"If you're going to have secret plots, Rahirah, you really do have to keep them secret. We'll go to that big shale slope at the south end of the outer valley ridge."
Two hawks knifed across the wind.
As always in the air, Rahirah felt all was right with the world. Which was probably a good thing, as she might otherwise have resented Doleera's complete usurpation of the outing. After checking the duty roster in the eyrie and finding that Jand and Dijin were up for morning patrol, Doleera had calmly produced a rough outline of their favored patrol routes and the route that they themselves would have to fly to avoid observation. And they did indeed reach the shale slope without incident. It was outside the Redrock Valley altogether, far enough away that casual patrol sweeps were not likely to bother them. Doleera had taken Vallaree out on her own hawk, well strapped in, and now that they were here, Rahirah was reduced to matching Sunscatter's turns to those of Doleera's hawk, and feeling rather useless.
She had to admit that Doleera was probably the best instructor that Vallaree could have wished, short of Eylar and Tanyel themselves. **All right, Vallaree, I am going to put Riverwind into a bank--hold on and lean into it.**
**No! I--I mean, wait a moment.** Vallaree's sending had a ragged edge to it.
**Very well.** Doleera's hawk leveled out and swung into a broad, shallow turn. **Don't worry. You can't fall.**
**I'm not afraid of heights. I'm a glider too, you know,** Vallaree replied with returning spirit. However, her hands retained their white-knuckled grip on the harness straps and Rahirah could see, even from her somewhat distant vantage point, that her eyes were wide and white-rimmed.
**Are you all right?** she locksent. Vallaree might not want to appear the coward in front of the irreproachable Doleera, but if she were really afraid...
**I'm a glider,** Vallaree repeated. **I've just never...been so high...so fast...**
**You're breathing too quickly,** Doleera's sending broke into the private conversation. **Locksend with me--in, out, in, out--slower! That's better.**
Vallaree slowly ceased hyperventilating, though Rahirah saw that her cheeks were bright with embarassment. She wished with all her heart that she had never proposed the scheme. Had she and Vallaree come out here alone, at least Vallaree's difficulties would have remained private--to be exposed as so callow, so inexperienced, in front of her rival for Kiriel's affections must be excruciating.
To Doleera's very great credit she made no further reference to the panic attack. She led the two hawks in a series of very simple maneuvers back and forth along the slope. As Vallaree became more accustomed to flight she seemed to relax a great deal, and by the time the sun was high she actually seemed to be enjoying herself. Doleera was patient and firm in her instructions. Rahirah was becoming positively bored; there was nothing for her to do save watch. Doleera's hawk was not doing anything complicated enough to make Sunscatter's matching her a challenge.
**Do you think we ought to be heading back?** she asked at last. **It's almost noon and someone will be missing us soon.**
Doleera glanced at the sun. **You're right,** she replied, as if confering a favor.
**Oh, no, just a little longer!** Vallaree begged. She was flushed with excitement and accomplishment now, and Rahirah was fairly certain that Doleera's circle of admirers was about to gain another member. **Do you think--just for a moment--I might fly alone? If you can glide off a ways and watch me--if I stay strapped on--nothing could happen, could it? And Father would be so proud of me!**
Doleera hesitated visibly, but Vallaree's hero-worshipping expression seemed to be thawing her reservations. **Very well. But just for a moment.** She kicked her feet free of the harness stirrups, gave her mount the assurance that her leaving was deliberate, and was immediately blown free of Riverwind's back by the wind of his passage. Vallaree jumped at the suddenness of it and twisted round in alarm; Doleera was hovering in mid-air behind her, growing increasingly small with distance. Rahirah continued to direct Sunscatter to follow Riverwind's every wingbeat, duplicating every maneuver with less than an elf's height between the two birds' outstretched wingtips.
**Now, remember your signal for the turn?** Doleera sent. Vallaree nodded, intense concentration twisting her face as she pressed one knee into Riverwind's side and shifted her weight in the harness. Riverwind executed the turn perfectly and Vallaree's expression became exultant.
**I did it! I did it! Oh, Mindar's wrong, I WILL be Declared!**
**That egg hasn't been laid yet, much less hatched,** Doleera sounded amused, as at a small child declaring the intention to be Lord of the Tower once grown, but there was no malice in her sending. **Well, we'd best be heading back to the Tower. Come and pick me up, Vallaree.**
**Just a moment, there's something I must try--** Vallaree was fumbling with the harness straps. At the point in Riverwind's circling which had him at the greatest distance from Doleera, Vallaree unfastened the safety straps.
**Vallaree!** Doleera cried in some alarm. **You don't--**
--know how to compensate for the wind resistance without a safety strap! Rahirah's mind completed the thought even before Doleera could finish sending it. And before either of them finished thinking it, Vallaree was buffeted by the onrushing wind and was tumbling head over heels backwards, off of Riverwind's back.
**GLIDE!** the other two elves screamed in unison, but blind terror blocked their sendings from Vallaree's mind and voices were entirely useless against the wind-rush. Without a second thought Rahirah pitched herself sideways off Sunscatter's shoulders.
There were ways to fall correctly. All the Declared candidates were taught them: how to stop a mid-air tumble, how to edge to one side or another. Rahirah could not glide, but she had studied those lessons with all the single-minded determination that characterized her family, and she knew how to fall. Arms at sides and legs together, she arrowed straight down, past the wildly flailing Vallaree, and then spreadeagled herself and managed to get herself close enough to catch at Vallaree's leg. The impact lost her her equilibrium, and the ground was rushing up at them with diving-hawk speed, and out of the corner of one eye she could see Doleera racing towards them but she was still too far away--
Something grabbed her around the middle and jerked her upwards violently. She kept her death-grip on Vallaree's ankle and another something snatched at the other elf, relieving her arms of the weight. "Sunscatter," she gasped. "Oh, Sunscatter, wonderful hawk, Sunscatter, Sunscatter..."*****
"...I reached them just as the hawk caught them both in his talons and was able to transfer them both safely back to the harnesses," Doleera continued in an expressionless voice. She was standing in the middle of the conference room, back perfectly straight, face perfectly composed. Behind the long table in front of her Twillor, Eylar, and Tanyel, as well as Taywar and Silara, were seated, in attitudes ranging from Eylar's stiff-backed disapproval to Tanyel's inattentive-looking slouch. Vallaree and Rahirah stood a little behind and to each side of Doleera, varying expressions of misery on each face.
There was silence for a moment. "So," Twillor said at last, "in essence: you took a cadet who was as yet unauthorized for flight at all out on an unsupervised ride and allowed her to solo--to SOLO, by all our revered ancestors!--and in the process she nearly died." He rose.
"I cannot begin," he said quietly, in a voice somehow the more terrible for its lack of volume, "to tell you how angry I am. This is the most irresponsible--"
"It was all my fault," Rahirah interupted desperately. "It was my idea, I convinced Doleera that--"
"Be quiet!" Taywar snapped. He was restraining his temper, but barely. Rahirah bit her lip and stopped. She had seldom been the object of her father's wrath, but she'd seen it directed at her brother Vaynyar often enough to have a healthy respect for it. She had spent the remainder of the previous day in a slowly growing agony of self-recrimination--not because of the rules she'd broken or any realization of her own brush with death, but because she had nearly brought Vallaree to the same fate, and now both Doleera and Vallaree were suffering for her actions. Twillor barely spared her a glance.
"If that is indeed true, then Doleera, I hold you even more at fault in the matter. Vallaree and Rahirah are both very young, and Rahirah at least has demonstrated a previous lack of judgment in such matters. As the senior cadet--as a cadet who was...WAS to be recommended for full Declared status soon--" Doleera let out a small, wounded gasp--"I expect you to behave as such. You have disappointed me unutterably. As a result of this incident I will be withdrawing my recommendation to Lord Tyaar at once. You will be demoted to junior cadet until such time as you prove yourself worthy of that title, much less any more exalted one. You may step down."
Doleera took one step backwards. Twillor turned his glacial eyes upon Vallaree. "Vallaree. You have behaved extremely irresponsibly as well, but certain parties--" he flicked a glance towards Eylar--"have argued that your experience constitutes punishment enough in itself. Bearing that in mind, I will relieve you of cadet status for the space of one year. At the end of that time you may apply for reinstatement." Vallaree gulped back a sob and nodded. She was still sore; part of their punishment included lack of access to the healers, once it had been determined that none of their injuries were life-threatening--mainly a collection of sprains and bruises from the poorly controlled fall and Sunscatter's less than gentle rescue.
"And lastly, Rahirah." Twillor stared at her for a good five heartbeats. "You are quite as culpable as Doleera in your own way. It appears that your training Sunscatter to catch a falling rider saved both your lives--but the situation would never have arisen had you not suggested this mad venture. In addition, that very training was something YOU were not authorized for. This is a rather disturbing pattern of deception, is it not? You have done this again and again, reaching for things which, for very good reason, you have not been given. I cannot have an untrustworthy rider in the eyrie, even in so subordinate a position as you hold. You are relieved of your position there, and you are to report to Tanyel tomorrow morning for the last time, to dissolve your bond with your hawk."
Rahirah flinched as if she had been struck. "Please, Twillor...I would do anything..."
"Dissolving the bond with your hawk is included in 'anything,' is it not?" the flight leader inquired. "This is not a bargaining session. Do it, tomorrow. After one year you may reapply for the position."
Rahirah shot one pleading look at Tanyel, but he avoided her eyes. There was no help there this time; he'd pulled her off the ledge too many times already. Her stomach sank slowly into her boots, and she scarcely heard Twillor dismissing them. Along with Vallaree she shuffled to the door (Doleera did not shuffle) and at first she had no idea what happened when she tripped over the edge of the carpet in the corridor outside and did NOT fall flat on her face.
"Rahirah! Come on, we have to..." Vallaree turn and stared. "Rahirah, you're gliding."
"I am?" Rahirah stared dully down at the carpet several arms-lengths below her nose. "Oh. Well, it's too late for it to do anything now, isn't it? Pull me down."
Vallaree rose up and dragged her newly Talented companion down to earth and hurried around a corner. "Rahirah, this is wonderful! We have to tell someone!"
"Why?" Rahirah asked bitterly.
"Well...because we do! You always tell someone when you find your talent! And bright and constant moons, you're almost six squares old--who ever thought it would come so late!"
"It's come later," Rahirah said listlessly. Vallaree, once free of Twillor's intimidating gaze, seemed to be reviving quickly. She'd already been through her father-daughter session with Eylar, something Rahirah had yet to look forward to, though she felt sure that nothing Taywar could say or do could match Twillor's verdict. She began tracing the veins in the nearest stone column with one finger while Vallaree dashed off to let someone know the momentous news. So she was a glider now. What difference did it make?*****
What she remembered afterward was the angry betrayal of Sunscatter's scream when she dissolved the bond which had united them very nearly from the moment of the hawk's hatching. Sunscatter did not know what it was that he was losing. There was no wound or illness to trouble him, but something he considered his by right had been removed. He struck angrily to the right and left, hissing and mantling at the human attendants, as Twillor and Tanyel led Rahirah away from the mews and out to the landing of the Grand Stair. She heard Ayla soothing the hawk behind her. Already trained as well as any full Declared's mount, Sunscatter would not sit idle long--any Declared whose mount was injured, brooding an egg, or not yet fully trained would be eager to use him as an alternate. And in a year...would he accept her attempt to renew their bond? Or would memory of her current betrayal cause him to reject her forever?
Twillor and Tanyel left her on the landing. Neither spoke to her; it was as if she had ceased to exist. She stood there for a moment, unsure, and then began the long trek downstairs. Her feet didn't touch the stairs after the first few steps, but she scarcely noticed. She drifted to a stop a few steps above the first landing below the eyrie. She'd been sure that she would dissolve in tears, but instead she felt curiously empty. Tears were trivial.
What was she to do now? Rahirah had never quite realized how much of her life revolved around the eyrie. Without her duties there, the days ahead loomed long and empty. She had no talent for art or music, nor any real passion to create either. She had her mother's knack for plants, but without Reevirah's love of them; she gathered herbs mainly for the benefit of others. She knew something of leatherworking and woodcarving, but not enough to make a trade of either. In the days before the Tower she could have been happy as a huntress and tracker, but who could hunt from the Tower without a hawk? The thought of spending her days in idle crafts-dabbling, gossip and parties as so many of her age-mates did was unimaginable. In fact--
Something shoved her from behind, throwing her off balance. Rahirah instinctively drew in her limbs and spun away, allowing the momentum of the blow to carry her away from its source; then shot out her arms and legs at once, halting her rotation with only a touch of Talent.
"Not bad," said Taywar, "but you shouldn't have let me touch you. Come back here."
Her father was standing on the stairway, holding a quarterstaff. She'd fallen only an arm's length or so and she was now suspended over the landing which interupted the lazy descent of the Grand Stair. Obediently, Rahirah straightened and floated upwards to meet him. Taywar watched her critically; then swung the staff in a leisurely arc. Rahirah, surprised, dropped under the swing. "Good," Taywar said cryptically. "Come with me." He vaulted over the balustrade and dropped downward. Rahirah took a moment to close her mouth and then followed.
**Father?** she asked apprehensively. **Where are we going?**
**The workout room,** he replied shortly. They'd fallen several levels now, and he pulled up and dropped onto another landing, beckoning her to follow.
Down a short spoke of corridor and through a series of small rooms they went. These were not the main practice rooms of the Declared, but smaller, more private places where the non-Declared athletes of the Tower often came for workouts. The sound of voices, distorted by echoes and intervening stone, came from one of the rooms.
"...not satisfied, Doleera! How do you expect to regain Twillor's approval when you are so careless in practice?" Silara broke off abruptly when she saw the Taywar and Rahirah approaching; beside her, Doleera shot a sulky look at the arriving pair.
"Hullo, Silara," Taywar said, ignoring the tension between the two--whether out of politeness or simple obliviousness was impossible to tell. "I need to confirm that route for the next Wide Patrol with you. Wait over there, Rahirah."
Rahirah stopped awkwardly by the door, left with the unappetizing prospect of sinking into the stonework as Doleera stalked past her into the hall. Since the day of their hearing she and Doleera had avoided each other, and Rahirah would rather have stuck her hand in a rattletail's den rather than confront her now--but it had to be done sooner or later. "Doleera," she started nervously, "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry--I really--"
"Sorry?" hissed Doleera. "Is that all? 'Ooooh, Doleera, I ruined your life but I'm SOOOORRY.'"
Rahirah, taken aback, stammered "It's only for a year...and you're still in the cadets..."
"Do you think that matters to HER?" Doleera jerked her head at her mother's back. "Do you think anything I do, ever, will ever make this up to her? Of course you don't understand. You're Taywar's perfect little doll. You could...you could KILL someone and he wouldn't care. It's not fair--it's not fair! I work my tail off on the balance beam for years--you dance along the eyrie rail like it's flat ground! I sweat blood to get accepted into cadet training and you stumble over a hatching egg and end up bonded to a hawk! I couldn't please Mother by bringing back Lord Meiron and all his kin, and you break every rule of the eyrie and your father starts pushing for you to Declare! Get out of my sight, you little bread-and-milk... CHILD!"
Rahirah stood stunned as Doleera left; she couldn't even respond to Silara's cool acknowledgement as she left a moment later. She couldn't believe it; Doleera the Perfect Cadet angry at HER for having it easy? And Declare? Impossible. She watched as Taywar walked over to a short rack of weapons and pulled out a light cane sword. "Here. Take this. You're too small to use anything but a rapier very effectively; you'll have to make up with speed what you lack in size. Now: has Mindar shown you anything at all?"
Rahirah took the practice sword, baffled. "No. Of course not." What did Taywar mean by this? She'd been dreading this confrontation, but he'd turned all of her expectations on their heads. Taywar took a strip of cloth from his belt and tied it round his head, pulling his shaggy brown hair out of his eyes, and selected a sword for himself. He looked intimidatingly large.
"I'll begin from the beginning, then."
"Father," Rahirah interrupted desperately, "why are you doing this? I don't understand."
"You know hunting. You know hawks. You don't have any formal weapons training. It's the only thing left," Taywar said, as if that explained everything. He took a relaxed guard stance. "You see the way I'm holding this..."
"Left for WHAT?"
Her father straightened and dropped the point of the sword. "Left to teach you before submitting you as a candidate for the Declared, daughter." He was not smiling, but there was a mild humor in his grey eyes.
Doleera was...right? But why? "You... you aren't angry?"
"Furious. But I am not quite as inflexible as some people think. Being furious with my children has not done any noticeable good in the past." There was a weary pain underlying the light tone this time, and Rahirah knew that he referred to the arguments which had led to her brother leaving the family apartments for good the previous year. "You are being punished for your transgressions, but I don't see why that means you can't learn something else useful in the meantime." At her unbelieving stare Taywar took her chin in one hand and regarded her gravely. "It's admirable for a glider to save someone from a fall. You weren't a glider. What you did was selflessness, and courage. And that, Rahirah, is what makes the Declared--not oaths, not honors, not fancy clothes--" he plucked the collar of his flight leathers disdainfully. "Courage, and the willingness to serve. On the day the Declared forget that, they will be blown away like chaff in the wind--and they will be worth no more than that chaff."
She had never heard him speak so before, for Taywar was, as she was, one for acts rather than words. Rahirah only looked at him and then hugged her father fiercely. She knew he was wrong--what she'd done had been necessary, not courageous, but she loved him for the error and for his unwavering faith, and vowed within her heart to prove herself worthy of it. She would live out this year, and she would be back in that eyrie where she belonged, and someday she would be there by right, not sufferance.
"Take up the sword," her father said, and Rahirah nodded.
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