Dragonsong

As Menolly lies in bed that night, she reflects on her second encounter with the fire lizards. The adventure fills her with joy but also raises many questions about how the queen understood her and whether she’ll be able to return to the cliff to see the eggs hatch despite the increasing frequency of Threadfall. The next day, a storm keeps everyone inside the Hold, and Harper Elgion performs in the Great Hall. Menolly already feels troubled about listening to music when she can’t play, and she feels deeply upset when her mother pinches her and tells her to sing quietly or not at all. Feeling as though her parents don’t want her, Menolly leaves the hall and hides.

Early the next morning, Menolly sneaks out of the Hold and leaves its heavy metal doors unbarred, which violates the Hold’s safety rules. The weather is foggy, but she doesn’t think much of it. She fills her bag with spiderclaws, which she intends to use as a gift to the fire lizards. Menolly doesn’t think that anyone in the Hold will notice that she’s gone until they find some onerous chore for her to do, and she begins to dream of running away because then she’d be “able to sing or shout or roar or play if she so chose” (69). However, her daydream is spoiled when she remembers the Thread.

Suddenly, the sky fills with gray spores and flashes of fire as dragons hasten to burn the Thread to ash. Menolly is now too far from the Hold to reach it before the Thread descends, so she climbs into the fire lizards’ cliffside cavern. The creatures emit a “soft rhythmic thrumming” (70) as the eggs begin to hatch. To Menolly’s horror, many of the newborn fire lizards leave the cavern and fly directly into the falling spores in search of food. She manages to keep some of the hatchlings inside the cave and alive by feeding them spiderclaws until the Threadfall stops. Menolly is able to feel the little lizards’ great hunger, but this sensation abates somewhat when the queen leads her entire flock away on a flight. Exhausted, Menolly lies down in the cave and falls asleep.

The narrative moves to Half-Circle Sea Hold. Menolly’s absence isn’t discovered until her older sister, Sella, wants her to look after Old Uncle. When her family realizes that she was out during Threadfall, even Yanus feels anxious about her safety. However, Menolly’s relatives take comfort in Elgion’s suggestion that she could be safe in a cave. Her older brother, Alemi, fiercely defends her intelligence and character when some members of the Half-Circle community imply that she is foolish and has brought trouble upon herself. Yanus asks everyone to keep an eye out for any trace of Menolly while they go about their usual work, but he does not send out a search party. This decision surprises Elgion, who offers to look for the girl. In private, Alemi tells the Harper, “I think she’s alive and better off wherever she is than she would be in Half-Circle” (82).

Elgion is troubled that the Sea Holder won’t search for his own child. He realizes that he has never met Menolly and that the other members of the Hold are oddly secretive and resentful toward her. Elgion is no closer to discovering the identity of the mysterious songwriter, whom he is supposed to send to the Harper Craft Hall for training because songmakers are “[s]omething to be sought and cherished” (84). A dragonrider named N’ton asks Elgion to recruit some of the Hold’s boys and look for fire lizards because the creatures can bond with humans just like dragons can. Elgion agrees and tells the dragonrider about the missing girl.

The narrative moves forward in time and returns to Menolly. As the days pass, she makes a hearth, a bed, and clay vessels for her new home in the fire lizards’ cavern. Nine of the hatchlings imprint or “Impress” on her, and she can feel their love for her through their psychic link. She spends much of her time finding food for them and playing music for them on a pipe made of reeds. When some of the hatchlings develop skin lesions, Menolly kills a bird called a wherry and uses its blubber to prepare an ointment. While cleaning the carcass, she thinks about the fire lizard queen and is surprised when the queen and her flock appear.

As time passes, Menolly begins to notice the hatchlings’ distinctive personality traits. She names the somewhat pitiful blue fire lizard Uncle, the short-tempered green lizards Auntie One and Auntie Two, the bronze lizards Rocky and Diver, and the brown lizards Lazybones, Mimic, and Brownie. She calls the tiny golden queen Beauty and notes that she is as “imperious and demanding as a Sea Holder” (96). The hatchlings adore her singing and pipe-playing and hum along to her tunes.

The narrative shifts to Half-Circle Sea Hold. Elgion shows Alemi the songs that Petiron sent to Masterharper Robinton, and Alemi obeys his father’s wishes by feigning ignorance of the songwriter. When the Harper declares that Robinton wants the songs to be performed, Alemi regrets keeping his sister’s identity a secret. Elgion surmises that the songmaker did something to find disfavor in the Hold but will “surface to the sound of his own music” (100). The two young men grow close, drawn together by Alemi’s great curiosity about the world and Elgion’s readiness to share what he knows.

At the Harper’s request, Alemi teaches him how to sail, and they head for the Dragon Stones. Elgion tells Alemi about N’ton’s request, and Alemi is excited because he once saw fire lizards. As they near the fire lizards’ cave, Elgion hears someone playing the pipes. He realizes, “Your sister, the one who’s missing. She wrote those songs” (107). Alemi admits the truth of his words, but he thinks that they must be hearing the wind because he doesn’t think that Menolly can play music with her injured hand. Elgion is aggrieved over the way Menolly’s parents have treated her gifts like something shameful, and he wishes that Petiron had told Masterharper Robinton about the girl so that she could have been brought to Harperhall right away. A few days later, Elgion sets out to search the cliffs for the mysterious piper.