I Read What?!

So we've reached the point where the entire first half or so of the book was building toward: the Bardic Trials. Will Rune succeed? Let's find out.

So as a slight warning, some of this review spoils plot points from later in the novel. I don't THINK anyone is doing some sort of read along with these reviews. And every review is pretty much a spoiler anyway. But if you do care about such things, read ahead and come back.



We rejoin Rune as she's on the last leg of her trip from Norton to Kingsford, the location of the Midsummer Faire. We're told that she's not walking on the road itself, if she was, she'd be trampled by all the traffic. Instead, foot-travelers are walking on the "road's verge". It's very dusty, but people can move without getting stepped on by a horse.

Rune can see the gates of the Faire in the distance, so she separates herself from the throng of travelers to take a moment to regroup at a little hillock under a forlorn sapling. There's a nice rock to sit on and a bit of shade. It's really hot, and Rune's feet are very tired.

And the Faire is quite overwhelming to look at, even more than Nolton was. Rune is certain that there'll be nothing available for free once she gets in. She only has a few coppers left and that's going to have to see her through the three days of trials. After that, of course, she'll have the Guild to see to her food and shelter. She refuses to imagine failure. Tonno would never forgive her.

So her first goal is to find a place to get cleaned up, where she can sleep, without a price tag attached. She does this by going down to the river. There's docks on both sides, and the water up close is muddy. There's no real place to bathe or to leave her belongings there, so she goes upstream away from the faire, and crosses over a stream into what she thinks is probably Church land (The Faire is held on Church property), that had been left overgrown. (This is apparently common for Church land that's too hard to farm.)

Rune eventually finds a tiny little cove, secluded, where trees overhang the water. There are hollows between the roots that are just big enough to hold her sleeping roll. And in one of the trees, there's a nice hollow to hold the belongings that she doesn't want to carry into the Faire.

So she waits until dusk to scrub down, worrying a bit that she's probably not the only country-bred person to think of this. She considers whether or not to change into her new, special clothing that she'd brought tonight, or if she should wait until tomorrow. But now that she's clean, she can't resist.

We're told that these new clothes (well, new for her) are second hand silk and velvet, cut down from men's garments by Maddie. She's sewn them up on the road. She's been able to cover faded and frayed places with ribbon and embroidered material that she'd sewn while sick. Maddie had done something clever: she'd reversed the shirts, so that the wine stained fronts became the back and the stains are then concealed by Rune's vests. She was able to beat the dust out of her hat, and adorn it with feathers taken from some roosters on her trip. Her boots are new. She looks swanky. She hides her remaining changes of clothing and heads to the faire.

She checks in at the gate, where she states that she's there for trials rather than busking (though, of course, if she HAPPENS to get paid while practicing, that's a little different). She's made good time. The trials start tomorrow. The guard gives her directions.

The faire certainly sounds busy:

The first impressions she had were of noise and light; torches burned all along the aisle she traversed; the booths to either side were lit by lanterns, candles, or other, more expensive methods, like perfumed oil-lamps. The crowd was noisy; so were the merchants. Even by torchlight it was plain that these were the booths featuring shoddier goods; second-hand finery, brass jewelry, flash and tinsel. The entertainers here were-surprising. She averted her eyes from a set of dancers. It wasn't so much that they wore little but imagination, but the way they were dancing embarrassed even her; Amber had never permitted anything like this in her House. And the fellow with the dancers back at the Westhaven Faire hadn't had his girls doing anything like this, either.

Rune is very hungry, so she makes her way to the taverns, where she learns that the local merchants are shrewd judges of wardrobe. She doesn't look poor enough to get shooed away, but she doesn't get free samples either. She carefully compares prices and quantities and ends up in a humble tent that sells meat pastries and fruit juice. She knows better than to ask where the meat comes from.

There's a funny bit where she notices that the mugs are different for milk and juice than for alcoholic beverages: the milk/juice mugs are big and capacious while the alcoholic mugs have a thicker bottom. Rune thinks it's because children will notice when they're not given what they expect, while adults are less observant.

That's when someone asks if she's here for the trials. I'll show you his description:

He was of middle years, red hair just going to gray a little at the temples, smile-wrinkles around his mouth and gray-green eyes, with a candid, triangular face. Well, that said nothing; Rune had known highwaymen with equally friendly and open faces. His costume was similar to her own, though; leather breeches instead of velvet, good linen instead of worn silk, a vest and a leather hat that could have been twin to hers. But the telling marks were the knots of ribbon on the sleeves of his shirt-and the neck of a lute peeking over his shoulder. A minstrel!

She realizes quickly that he's not a Guild Minstrel or Bard, but he'd spoken kindly enough and she knows that "not everyone with the music-passion had the skill or talent to pass the trials" and she thinks of Tonno.

She says yes, and notes that she thinks she has the talent and others have said as much. Apparently even Brother Pell wished her well when he learned her reason for leaving, and actually cracked a smile. Aw.

This fellow though is a bit different, and Rune gets the feeling that, like Tonno, this guy isn't actually fooled by her disguise. He points out that many have thought the same and failed.

And for the first time, Rune actually uses her bragging rights:

"That may be-" She answered the challenge in his eyes, stung into revealing what she'd kept quiet until now. "But I'd bet a copper penny that none of them fiddled for a murdering ghost, and not only came out by the grace of their skill but were rewarded by that same spirit for amusing him!"

The man raises an eyebrow, but Rune also feels like he believes her. He asks if she's made a song about it. And Rune decides that yes, now is a good time to actually sing her song.

It's for the fiddle, but fortunately Rune knows the trick to sing while fiddling. (It's not easy, she says, and I'd bet that's true.) She fixes a few lyric changes in her mind because the original version makes it clear she's a girl. She plays.

We get lyrics. I never really know how to judge lyrics in books. I'd wondered if Lackey might have recorded it as a song the way she did some of the ones from the Herald of Valdemar books, but sadly, if she did, YouTube can't find it. (FYI: McCaffrey released her songs too, including Menolly's. They're interesting! Brekke's song is not what I expected at all.)

Anyway, there is one bit of poetic license, where the ghost gives her a pile of gold instead of silver. (Silver doesn't rhyme as well.) But she triumphantly makes it through, and is quite surprised when people start throwing money into her fiddle case and the cook tent's owner gives her a second pie and more juice. Apparently they'd have brought her wine, but "Master Talaysen" told them that she mustn't be muddled for the trials.

Rune is taken aback as she hadn't meant that to be a performance, but the minstrel, presumably Master Talaysen, tells her to take her reward and not to argue with people who have a bit of copper to fling at her while recognizing her Gift-capital G. He acknowledges it himself.

Rune notices that everything in her case is a coin, NOT a pin. They fling money around a lot here.

Rune and the minstrel converse a bit more, and Rune talks about how the real money was silver and it kept her fed. She trips over her tongue a bit by saying that she'd just be another tavern-musician otherwise, but the fellow doesn't seem to mind.

"Like me, you are too polite to say?" The minstrel smiled, then the smile faded. "There are worse things, child, than to be a free musician. I don't think there's much doubt your Gift will get you past the trials-but you might not find the Guild to be all you think it to be."

Rune thinks that this man reminds her of a much younger Tonno, and finds herself wanting his good opinion. She asserts that only a Guild Minstrel could have a place in a noble's train and only a Guild Bard can sing for royalty. Rune's had her taste of wandering, she wants something secure.

He sighed. "I hope you never regret your decision, child. But if you should-or if you need help, ever, here at the Faire or elsewhere-well, just ask around the [Roma] or the musicians for Talaysen. Or for Master Wren; some call me that as well. I'll stand your friend."

The minstrel exits gracefully, pulling his lute around to the front, and Rune can hear a few notes of a love song. "the words rising golden and glorious from his throat" So...maybe this guy isn't one who lacks the TALENT to be a bard.

Anyway, Rune strolls about the Faire a little longer and eyes the scenery in more ways than one:

She strolled the Faire a bit more; bought herself a sweet-cake, and watched the teaser-shows outside some of the show-tents. She wished she wasn't in boy-guise; there were many good-looking young men here, and not all of them were going about with young women. Having learned more than a bit about preventing pregnancy at Amber's, she'd spent a little of her convalescence in losing her virginity with young Shawm. The defloration was mutual, as it turned out; she'd reflected after she left that it might have been better with a more experienced lover, but at least they'd been equals in ignorance. Towards the end they'd gotten better at it; she had at least as much pleasure out of love-play as he did. They'd parted as they'd begun-friends. And she had the feeling that Maddie was going to be his next and more serious target.

On one hand, I'm not sure it's REALLY necessary for us to know all this. It's a bit TMI. But after the Pern series's aggravating emphasis on virginity, I rather enjoy the novelty of the heroine actually being cheerfully sexually experienced. And well, given that this is a book where the main couple has a significant age difference (which is comparatively rare in Mercedes Lackey's books), I appreciate anything that lessens the power differential.

Anyway, Rune realizes that if the Guild is as difficult as she expects, she probably won't have time for "dalliance" anyway. She'd best get used to celibacy again. She realizes that she probably needs the sleep more anyway, and heads back to her camp.

She's first in line the next morning, long before there's anyone to take her name down. She's surprised to see that the Guild Registrar is a Churchman and realizes that the Church and Bardic Guild are more connected than she thought. She starts getting anxious, did they have a way to check back in Nolton and Amber's and determine she's a girl?

Common sense springs up then: obviously they can't go to Nolton and back in a day and why would they bother for one candidate?

She signs in. Her choice of primary vs. secondary instrument gets an eyebrow raise, because fiddle's a relatively rare choice. She declares her song choices: "Lament of the Maiden Esme" for fiddle on day one. "The Unkind Lover" for lute on day two. And finally her original song: "The Skull Hill Ghost" for fiddle on day three.

She regrets having to use the crappy title, but the real title, "Fiddler Girl" would give obvious things away...honestly, I like Skull Hill Ghost better. Fiddler Girl seems very bland to me, but I am not a musician.

Since Rune's there early, she can perform reasonably early too. She's not first. The first few slots are for boys with fathers in the Guild already, or who can bribe their way to the front (ideal because they play early and enjoy the rest of the day). But Rune gets to play by midmorning.

We find out that she chose "Lament of the Maiden Esme" because it's perfect for the fiddle, with few and simple words, and a wailing melody that gives her lots of room for improvisation. The judges give her a style: florid style, and that encourages the improvisation. They seem to enjoy her performance.

(I like hearing Rune's reasons for the songs she chooses, so I'm sharing them.)

She's far more nervous than usual, but it seems to go well. She gets some food after and thinks she catches sight of red hair in the crowd, but if that was the mysterious Talaysen, she doesn't catch up with him. Sadly, because she's officially taking part in the trials, she can't busk anymore, but she can stroll around and listen. Finally, it's time to look at the first day's results. She placed THIRD!

(It's weird to be delighted by this, but I feel like Menolly would have placed first from the start. Obviously Rune will be first by the end, but I'm glad she's working her way up.)

The second day is more nerve-wracking, because they perform in order: lowest ranked to highest. The contestants each play, and then drum for the next contestant. Rune starts panicking, worried that each person she hears is better on their secondary instrument than she is. She's only had a year. (Lackey is very shaky on timeline throughout the book, we were told a few chapters ago that it was two years since she left Westhaven. But maybe travel time cuts into that.)

So Rune finally gets to play. She thinks her song choice, "The Unkind Lover" is a ridiculous song. it's about a suitor who puts up with all sorts of shit for the sake of "a kiss on her cold quiet hand". She'd parodied it, but thinks that nothing she wrote matches the silliness of the original. But it's a strategic choice: she gets to play up her singing voice (which, as a high contralto, can become a imitation of a boy's soprano that few of the others, already in puberty, can match) and downplay her lute-strumming.

The judges indeed LOVE her voice and she even hears them wonder if she'd agree to be gelded to preserve it, since there are half a dozen courts "that would pay red gold to have a voice like his in service." Rune imagines their surprise to discover that she won't need to be eunuched!

She waits for the results and...posted SECOND.

"I told you," said a familiar voice behind her. "But are you still sure you want to go through with this?"

She whirled, to find the minstrel Talaysen standing in her shadow, the sunset brightening his hair and the warm light on his face making him appear scarcely older than she.

Bards and their drama. Anyway, Rune repeats what the judges said about her voice. Talaysen asks if she really wants to be caged like that, bought and sold like so much mutton?.

Rune counters that she'd prefer that to trudging down roads in the rain, fearful of sickness, and being hungry. But more importantly, Rune wants to LEARN and she doesn't have the money for more lessons.

Talaysen starts to tell her that there are people who will teach her for the love of it. But Rune thinks immediately of Tonno and her face gets hard. Talaysen misinterprets that as anger and graciously departs.

Finally it's the third day. She's second in line to perform. It's a little less nerve-wracking, because of the kids left, she can tell that not many have the gift to CREATE music like she knows she does. She thinks there are only five real contestants for the three open Bardic slots.

This is actually pretty interesting: she starts her song and realizes with some horror that they don't approve! She improvises some fiddle bridges as she analyzes why. She realizes that the problem is that she talks about boasting. (The lyric, which we heard with Talaysen is: "I sit here on a rock, and curse my stupid, bragging tongue,"). Guild Bards don't admit to that!

So Rune improvises a verse on the folly of youth and how if she were older and wiser, she'd never have gotten in that predicament and wins back the judges. By the end, they're smiling and nodding. And when she finishes, they APPLAUD.

Now there is no doubt that very soon, Rune will be the winner. We knew that would happen from the moment the Trials were described. But I really like the build up of the trials. And I like that Rune doesn't have to be the best at every single aspect of being a Bard to be the best Bard.

She came in third on her primary instrument, which implies that at least two other people are better than her as a strictly technical musician. But Rune's very special talent is in her ability to compose music. And I think it's satisfying to see that rise.

And I really liked that she had to recover for an unanticipated fuck up, and I can see what that proves in terms of her ability as a performer: she can judge her audience and creatively adapt. I think Amber gave that to her as much as Tonno taught her her other skills.

So then the results are announced and Rune prepares for her big reveal, just like she and Tonno planned:

"First place, and first apprenticeship as Bard-Rune, son of Stara of Westhaven-"

"Pardon, my lord-" Rune called out clearly, bubbling over with happiness and unable to hold back the secret any longer. "But it's not son-it's daughter."

She had only a split second to take in the rage on their faces before the first staff descended on her head.

I think Tonno miscalculated the guild's love of music.

Fortunately, Lackey shows restraint here, and we skip the actual beating:

They flung her into the dust outside the tent, half-senseless, and her smashed instruments beside her. The passersby avoided even looking at her as she tried to get to her feet and fell three times. Her right arm dangled uselessly; it hurt so badly that she was certain that it must be broken, but it hadn't hurt half as badly when they'd cracked it as it had when they'd smashed her fiddle; that had broken her heart. All she wanted to do now was to get to the river and throw herself in. With any luck at all, she'd drown.

Aw.

But happily, there'd been someone keeping an eye on her all along. She hears a familiar voice saying that if he thought they'd go this far, he'd have never let her go through with this farce. It is Talaysen of course. Our "Master Wren", the second titular character of the novel. Introduced approximately 250 pages into the story. (I actually kind of love that. You can't claim that Rune is being sidelined for a dude here.)

Talaysen and someone she doesn't recognize help her up. She starts weeping for her broken instruments. Her arm is also broken, but that's an afterthought, which makes Talaysen laugh a little, though there are tears in his eyes too. Of course she cares more about her instruments. He tells her to come away, "come where people can care for such a treasure as you".

She finds herself in a camp. There are a lot of people who are quick to help her down to a bed, and bathe her cuts and even set her broken arm. OW. She starts getting anxious, but fortunately, Talaysen comes by for an explanation.

Long and the short, these folks are "Free Bards". Apparently Talaysen had banded them together a while back, when he realized that there were other people who had the "Gift and Talent" to become Bards, but weren't willing to put up with Guild nonsense. They go where they want, serve who they want and sing what they want.

They've also been keeping their eye on Rune for a very long time.

Remember that string of suspiciously bird named instructors that Rune had as a kid? Apparently, at some point, a traveling musician had come to the inn, heard her fiddle and passed the word. Rune realizes after a bit that a few of those instructors are actually HERE. Including the lanky Master Heron from the earlier chapters. And Nightingale of the wailing laments that the Ghost loved so much. And Raven, the one she'd learned from the most, is NOT here, but he's mentioned, and had been specifically sent to be her main teacher until she reached the point where she was ready for something more formal. They figured she'd figure that part out, if she were a true musician.

As a side note, we learn why Master Heron had known so much about the Guild Trials: he'd gone through them himself, but when HE heard a similar line about wanting him to stay a soprano for the rest of his life, he understandably bolted.

Rune gets some praise for her idea of dressing like a boy, which Talaysen says might have worked if the Guild wasn't so fanatic about women. They teach that women are lower than men and can NEVER have the true Gift. Rune's victory was counter to everything they believed and they're not ready to admit that their teachings are wrong.

Anyway, the Free Bards exist for the same reasons the Guild used to: to band together, help each other, if any of them are in need, and teach each other.

Rune wonders why the Guild allows it, but Talaysen just laughs. Apparently without the Free Bards, the Guild wouldn't have a large majority of the music that they play. In fact, Rune turns out to be in the presence of the writers of the songs she played at the trial.

The Roma girl, Gwyna, demonstrates by singing her original version of the Unkind Lover, which is actually about a shepherdess teasing a cowherd lover. And the end reward is considerably raunchier than a kiss on her cold dead hand.

And Talaysen himself wrote the Lament of the Maiden Esme!

Rune asks what they'd have done if she'd been accepted, and:

"Oh, you wouldn't have lasted long; can a caged lark sing? Soon or late, you'd have done what I did-" Talaysen told her. "You'd have escaped your gilded cage, and we'd have been waiting."

It's a rather clumsy way to establish that Rune is the titular lark in the title, but Rune is more focused on the other implication: that Talaysen himself is an ex-Guild Bard. Which she feels like, in a way, she'd known all along. But she's never heard of him...

Talaysen tries to play modest here, but Gwyna blows that out of the water. Talaysen had changed his name. Back when he was a Bard, he went by "Gwydain" instead.

So...Rune just accidentally solved Tonno's favorite mystery.

Talaysen is basically the Robinton character of the book, though considerably younger. Tonno's recollection would place him at forty. Later dialogue/narration will inch him down to somewhere in his late thirties. I'll go with that because, well...

Well, we didn't get to Dragondrums yet. But one thing that does come up in later books is a mutual attraction between Menolly and Robinton. Thank the gods, Menolly ends up with Sebell instead. But Lackey, in what really does seem like a deliberate pastiche of that series, cuts out the middle man. This Menolly does end up with Robinton. Albeit a considerably younger one with a decreased power differential. (Rune will be eighteen when they finally get together, but try not to notice the fuzzy timeline that doesn't seem to allow for that much time.)

It may still squick you, understandably. We'll have to judge the execution for ourselves.

Anyway, the Free Bards want Rune to join. She thinks she can't because, at least for now, she can't play. Her instruments, legacies from Rose and Tonno, are gone. She'll need weeks to recover.

The Free Bards remind her that this is why they exist. She's one of them, so they'll help her until she can play again. And Talaysen is even able to give her some replacement instruments from their own stock:

The fiddle and lute he laid in her lap weren't new, nor were they the kind of gilded, carved and ornamented dainties Guild musicians boasted, but they held their own kind of quiet beauty, a beauty of mellow wood and clean lines. Rune plucked a string on each, experimentally, and burst into tears again. The tone was lovely, smooth and golden, and these were the kind of instruments she'd never dreamed of touching, much less owning.

Aw.

Eventually she's left alone with Talaysen (she decides she prefers that bastardized version of a traditional Bardic name better than the other one):

"If you're going to let me join you-" she said, shyly.

"Let!" He laughed, interrupting her. "Haven't we made it plain enough we've been trying to lure you like cony-catchers? Oh, you're one of us, Rune, lass. You've just been waiting to find us. You'll not escape us now!"

"Then-what am I supposed to do?"

"You heal," he said firmly. "That's the first thing. The second, well, we don't have formal apprenticeships amongst us. By the Lady, there's no few things you could serve as Master in, and no question about it! You could teach most of us a bit about fiddling, for one-"

"But-" She felt a surge of dismay. Am I going to have to fumble along on my own now? "One of the reasons I wanted to join the Guild was to learn! I can barely read or write music, not like a Master, anyway; there's so many instruments I can't play"-her voice rose to a soft wail-"how am I going to learn if a Master won't take me as an apprentice?"

"Enough! Enough! No more weeping and wailing, my heart's over-soft as it is!" he said hastily. "If you're going to insist on being an apprentice, I suppose there's nothing for it. Will I do as a Master to you?"

This is of course another of those sections that feel like a direct response to the Harper Hall Trilogy.

"What am I supposed to do?" This is a question that Menolly never really asks and Robinton never really answers. Here, there's a concerted effort by both parties to be on the same page. Rune desperately wants to know what's expected of her, and Talaysen lays it out clearly.

And also, here we see some of the mitigation that will eventually allow them to be romantically involved without as much of a severe power imbalance. The Free Bards are established as mostly egalitarian. There's no real hierarchy, and at least in theory, Talaysen doesn't outrank say Gwyna or Heron.

Talaysen is Rune's "Master" as basically an affectation meant to reassure her that she'll get the teaching that she was promised. Their actual dynamic will be very informal and without real hierarchy.

It's of course a little more complicated than that. Talaysen is the founder of the group after all, the one with the most formal education, and was a legend even before he joined. That power imbalance is still there. It's at least implied however that the Free Bards wouldn't follow him if he were the type of man that would abuse his power. And, as we'll see later, the Roma are very much involved with the Free Bards. To the point where they are probably the dominant political voice, or would be if they wanted. Talaysen's Guild Bard influence won't take him very far with them at all.

So...again, this is kind of one of those things that a reader has to decide for themselves. Is this enough to mitigate the dodgier aspects of the relationship?

It's probably too soon to tell really, but I have to admit, after certain other books, I really do appreciate the effort.

Talaysen notes that Rune has made a liar of him, dramatically declaring that he had sworn to never take an apprentice. He returns with a new gift, a very small harp that can be played one handed, so she has something to learn while she recovers. It's his own first instrument.

The chapter ends with a declaration that, in the morning, she'll get her new task: to teach HIM her ghost song! And then Rune falls asleep.

So there we go, we've had our trial. Rune won, lost, and won again. We're not quite done with the coming of age section of the novel. We're close, though. There'll be a couple more chapters in which Rune finds her footing with her new friends, and when Talaysen does act like a more formal mentor before they settle into the partnership that they'll have for the rest of the novel. And there'll probably be a few more Harper Hall comparisons made. But we're really moving on past that. The second half of the book will go off in its own direction. Hopefully an enjoyable one.