Dragon's Kin by Anne McCaffrey Read Free Book Online

considered for a watch-wher egg.
    Still, he really liked singing.
    Kindan turned away from Natalon’s hold to look down toward the lake and the cottages.
    The cottages were built with rough-hewn stone to window height and timber the rest of the way. They were covered with long, high-peaked, overhanging roofs. It was possible that the roofs could be covered with slate and built to withstand Thread, but most people would feel safest in a “proper Hold.”
    “Kindan!” Danil’s voice interrupted Kindan’s reverie. He turned and followed Danil’s beckon back to the Harper’s cottage.
    “I’ll see you at the ceremony,” Danil said to him. Then, to Kindan’s surprise, his father leaned down and hugged him tight. “I love you, son.”
    Kindan fought back the tears in his eyes as he said, “I love you too, Dad.”
    Danil strode off briskly with a little trailing wave of his hand. Kindan returned to the cottage, his chest swelling.
    Inside the cottage, Master Zist gave Kindan a long, penetrating stare.
    “Your father’s quite a man, lad,” he said at last. “Quite a man.”
    Kindan nodded.
    “One more time through ‘The Morning Dragon Song’ and then we’ll go through the whole lot,” Zist said to him. He held up a restraining hand as Kindan swallowed a lungful of air. “No! Not like that, lad. Remember what I told you.” Zist placed his hands on his own sides and pressed them into his diaphragm. “From down here. Breathe up and down, not in and out.”
             
    The wind tore through the Camp’s main square as Kindan accompanied Master Zist down to the wedding platform. Both were dressed in their best clothes, Master Zist looking completely regal in his Harper blue. Kindan tried not to think too hard about how he looked, fearing that the rest of the Camp’s kids would fill him in painfully on his appearance in many future encounters.
    Master Zist must have guessed how Kindan felt for he chose that moment to say, “You look great, lad.”
    Traditionally, the marriage ceremony was performed in the morning, timed so that as the couple completed their marriage vows, the sun would rise, signifying the warmth of the new relationship and how it would lighten not only the bride and groom but also all those associated with them.
    However, such a ceremony would mean that Dask could not attend. So Jofri had come up with the idea of performing the ceremony with the setting sun, instead, and lighting a bonfire as the final vows were made. Master Zist had seen no reason to contradict that.
    Everyone in the Camp was gathered in the main square. The dining tables had been pushed to the edges of the square, while the benches had been arranged in rows in front of the wedding platform, which would be used after the ceremony by the musicians.
    Kindan could smell fresh-cut branches of pine piled on the unlit bonfire. The wind died down as the sun continued its downward arc in the sky.
    It was time.
    Master Zist, holding Kindan’s shoulder, guided him to his place on the platform. Kindan sketched a quick grin to Zenor, who was dressed in similar finery and stood on the opposite end of the platform. Seated next to Zenor was Journeyman Jofri, with his drums in front of him and his guitar placed beside him within easy reach. Master Zist moved slightly away from Kindan to stand next to his own pipes and guitar; Kindan guessed that Jofri must have set them up for the Master.
    At a nod from Master Zist, Jofri began a long flourish on the drums. The people in their seats grew quiet. Out of the corner of his eye, Kindan could see his father and a radiant girl dressed in a marvelous gown standing at the back of the benches. Kindan realized with a start that the girl was Silstra!
    Jofri changed his beat and the sound of Master Zist’s pipes joined in. Everyone stood as Danil led Silstra down the aisle. At the same time someone lit the long row of torches that had been placed on either end of the benches.
    A beam of light