her love of music and the Masterharper". Menolly married Sebell some time after he became Masterharper following Masterharper Robinton nearly fatal heart attack and retirement. They had three children—Robse, Olos and Lemisa. Menolly went on to become a Master Harper and helped with the movement to banish Thread from Pern forever. Her songs were very important to Pern's evolving society. Piemur Piemur, originally the son of a herdsman in Crom, is taken to the Harper Hall as an apprentice due to the excellent voice he possesses, though he has little aptitude in other Harper skills such as instrument-making and transcription. Piemur is chosen as the special apprentice of Master Shonagar, the Master of Voice at that time. Due to his small stature, he is forced to develop other talents in order to be able to enjoy his residence at the Harper Hall, and becomes known as a person of constant mischief and disregard for Hall regulations. When during Dragonsinger Menolly arrives at the Harper Hall (though both this and Dragonsong are viewed primarily through the eyes of Menolly), Piemur is one of the first to get to know her. At first this interest is merely curiosity regarding Menolly's possession of nine fire lizards, though it grows to a close mutual friendship throughout Dragonsinger, the second book in the Harper Hall trilogy. Piemur has doubts about his future in the Harper Hall, unsure what will become of him when his voice breaks. He shares these doubts with Menolly, who convinces him to concentrate more on the present. At the start of Dragondrums, Piemur's voice begins to break. While his voice is in transition he is unable to sing. He becomes the special apprentice of Masterharper Robinton himself, but this is kept secret. Piemur is publicly assigned to the Drum Tower (a communications system using tympani-style drums and complicated drum measures to communicate over long distances) as a drum apprentice under Drum-Master Olodkey. Robinton's plan for Piemur is to use his natural talents to gather information that could be useful for the planning the future of Pern. These missions include a visit to a nearby sapphire mine, where Piemur discovers that the exiled Oldtimers are taking gemstones without payment. The other apprentice and journeyman harpers in the Drumheights know Piemur's reputation, so they harass him according to the mischief they expect in return. Piemur believes that this is a test, in which