he is supposed to remain silent about the bullying in order to prove his discretion. He further antagonizes his fellow drum-apprentices by rapidly surpassing them in knowledge of the drum code, demonstrating a real aptitude for communication-drumming. The combination of these two factors leads to the other apprentices greasing the steps leading to the Drumheights: Piemur slips on the steps while carrying a message. Taking a dangerous fall, he is lucky to escape with nothing worse than a severe concussion. Following this incident, he is removed from the Drum Tower. When Piemur recovers from his fall, Master Robinton assigns him a mission with Journeyman Sebell. They are to join the Gather at Lord Meron's Hold (disguised as cattle traders, ironically enough), to report the commoners' mood concerning Lord Meron's association with the banned Oldtimers as well as the Lord Holder himself, who is slowly dying of a wasting disease. One of the first things they notice is the extreme number of fire lizards in the Hold, mostly greens. They deduce that the fire lizards are the payment Lord Meron has been receiving from the Oldtimers for the goods he trades them. After a series of events, Piemur finds himself being chased around Nabol Hold, unable to escape, with a fire lizard egg stolen from Lord Meron's hearth that he believes is a queen egg. He hides in a sack in a small storage room and promptly falls fast asleep, presumably due to his recent head injury. While Piemur sleeps with the egg tucked warmly in his shirt, the sacks are transported between to Southern Weyr, where the Oldtimers reside, and Piemur escapes without being discovered. He flees the area until the fire lizard, which he was correct to assume was a queen, has hatched. He names the fire lizard Farli (possibly as a coincidence, this has the same pronunciation as the Scandinavian "danger" – "farlig", "farleg", etc.). On his way to Southern Hold (inhabited by pioneers from the Northern Continent, not the Oldtimers of the Southern Weyr), Piemur meets Sharra, a Healer from Southern, and helps her gather plants and herbs used by the Healers, and with the research she is conducting on the native plants of the Southern Continent. They return to the Hold on the same day that Menolly and Sebell, who until now have been searching the Northern Continent for him, arrive at Southern Hold. As there