Almost Complete Failure

Writers: Heather, Miriah
Date Posted: 3rd September 2021
Series: The Hallmaster's Ladies

Characters: Thayde, Jalodwyn
Description: Jalodwyn's test of her equipment goes badly
Location: Dolphin Hall
Date: month 9, day 14 of Turn 10

Thayde

Jalodwyn watched as the crew loaded the modified diving bell onto the
ship, keeping a careful eye that they didn't accidentally damage the
modifications that had been made. Crossing her arms over her chest,
she ignored the other dolphineers that were boarding the vessel; they
had their own duties or plans for this voyage, she had her own.

As she ignored them, they ignored her; it had become a standard since
she'd been made to come to the Hall and she was satisfied with it. She
kept to herself and avoided people as much as she was able. Nor did
she socialize with anyone. As a result, rumors hadn't been as rampant
and it felt at least as though she'd been forgotten about. .

As the bell was lowered to the deck, Jalodwyn quickly checked the
connections that had been carefully added. There were no issues, so
she breathed a sigh of relief. Picking up her pack, she looked up and
blinked as she saw someone familiar come on board. Her lips thinned
immediately as she turned away.

Thayde wore a full length wetsuit suitable for deeper diving, his
shoulder length hair pulled back away from his face and a pair of
goggles bumped around his neck with each step.

The Hallmaster stopped and had a word with nearly every dolphineer on
the vessel, checking with them on their assignments or duties, before
making his way over to Jalodwyn and her new diving bell.

"Everything set?" he asked, studying the modified design she had come up with.

Immediately feeling defensive at his presence, Jalodwyn's arms crossed
over her chest. She was, however, able to answer him without much bite
to her words. "Everything is fine." She then frowned. "Why are you on
board? I didn't see you on the roster for this week."

Thayde's furrowed brow made it plain that he thought his reasoning was
obvious. "You are trying out new equipment on a deep dive. Of course
I'm going to be here. You know the first rule of diving, never go
alone."

Her immediate urge was to tell him that she didn't want or need his
help, but she bit it back as she took a deep, slow breath. Why wasn't
there someone else who could dive with her? Biting the inside of her
cheek, she resisted the urge to argue; if she did, it might affect her
completing or achieving her Mastery. Instead, she nodded curtly. "Very
well. I'm going to stow my gear. It'll be a while before we get to the
salvage area anyway."

The Hallmaster nodded, watching her leave before going to have a word
with the Captain of the vessel. Truthfully, he looked forward to
getting out of his office and onto the sea. Thoughts of being in the
water, of exercising his sea lungs, was too enticing to pass up, even
if Jalodwyn was a bit prickly.

The voyage out, even with a good wind filling the sails, took most of
the morning. By the time they dropped anchor around the salvage site,
the sun was hitting the midday mark and every sailor and dolphineer on
board was looking forward to cooling off in the water.

Jalodwyn didn't come out of her berth until she felt the ship drop
anchor. Now clad in her wetsuit, she emerged on deck to move
immediately to the modified bell. She didn't join in with the other
dolphineers as they chatted amongst themselves, readying for their own
salvage tasks. Instead, she checked the weights added to the bell and
the smaller ones that would assist her with keeping deeper in the
water.

"I probably won't be able to maintain the same depth as you," Thayde
said as he opened his bag beside of Jalodwyn and pulled out the
traditionally used diving bells. "But you can tug on the line if you
need me." Even as he said it, he knew Jalodwyn wouldn't tug on the
line unless she was literally near death.

Jalodwyn felt other eyes upon both of them and refused to even glance
at the other dolphineers as they began to slip off of the deck and
into the water. She shook her head. "No, most likely not. Your bell
isn't set up for deeper water." She didn't answer his last statement,
instead silently echoing in her mind what she didn't realize he was
thinking. **Not likely to happen.** "This ship was supposed to be
carrying a load of gems, jewelry tools, and smithcraft marks in bags
in the aft hull for Sunstone. Those are what I'm aiming for." It was a
small cargo, hard to get to and hard to find in deeper water, but it
would prove what she needed it to prove. "There's supposed to be a
narrow crack in the hull that will allow someone in long enough to
search. The bell will be lowered by that area."

Attaching the necessary lines into the new modifications, she helped
the ship crew lower her bell into the water, then slipped into the
water to dip under the surface and into the bell.

Thayde shouldered his air tank on, adjusted his goggles, popped the
air piece into his mouth, and then stepped off into the water, one
diving bell dangling from his hand. He knew that Jalodwyn resented his
presence, so he didn't over much as she got adjusted and began her
descent. Instead, he began his own dive, not far from the central line
that would take her down. Ada swirled around him, frolicking beneath
the water as her partner explored.

It took time to reach the depths of the wreckage, but thankfully the
ship that had been lost hadn't sank in waters too deep to be truly
unsafe. She wished once again that she had a dolphin partner, but
she'd seen Thayde's Ada below her more than once as she added more
weights to the bell and felt the pressure increase as they sank lower.
Jalodwyn took several deep breaths to calm a sudden surge of nervous
pressure in her chest. **This is it. You can do this. You've
practiced.**

When they finally got to the required depth, she adjusted her tank,
checked it and slipped out of the bell. She glanced at the line that
Thayde had attached, then grimaced behind her goggles. Safety required
it, so she took it, but silently resolved that she wouldn't need it.
She checked her modifications, found the sealed airline and pulled it
carefully towards the crack that she spotted in the dim light from
above.

She reached it and checked the width. Swimming with grace, she
examined the length again and grimaced behind the mask. She wouldn't
be able to fit through with the tank, just like she thought. **Time
for the trial.** She gripped the air line as she carefully took
several deep breaths from her tank, then unhooked it, hanging it
carefully on a outthrust piece of wood. Slipping through the crack,
she felt a tinge of pain as her hip was scraped, but she made it
through into the hull.

Feeling the pressure on her lungs, she felt along with her hands to
where she thought the gems might be, but found nothing. Before her
lungs began to burn, she unhooked the air seal of her line and was
able to take a deep breath from the air. With a smile, she resealed
it, watching the bubbles filter upwards. She had more to search.

Deeper into the hull and coming back several times for a quick breath,
Jalodwyn reached the limit of the air hose. It would not come further.
But she had more searching to do. She thought she felt....*AHA!** She
grabbed at the heavy bag. **Gotcha.** Hefting it, she swam back to the
hose and tugged just a little then felt the line suddenly collapsed
and a rush of bubbles near the opening of the distant opening to the
hull.

The hose had rubbed one too many times against a jagged piece of wood
and the resulting bubbles told her enough. No air! She swam as hard as
she could towards the opening, knowing she had limited time to reach
the remaining flow in the line. Already the resulting air flow had
jostled the hose away from the crack. As she reached the crack in the
hull, she felt a jarring stop as she was halfway through. Where she
had felt the scrape previously had caught against another crack in the
hull and held her tight. Struggling, she strained with her hand to
reach the hose. **AIR!** Any air! The bell cord! It was just out of
reach... and... her lungs filled with water as her vision faded.

A dark shadow slipped past the breach in the wrecked ship's hull. The
shadow paused and then grew larger as it approached the hull
curiously. What was that sticking out of the hull? Ada squeed in alarm
when she recognized the thing coming out of the hull as a human hand.
Darting closer, the bottle-nose bumped the hand repeatedly.

"Heeeelp? Awaaaaake?"

Ada jabbed furiously at the rotted hull with her nose, ramming into
the wood repeatedly. With no success, Ada whipped around, her tail
propelling her forward with a burst of speed as she went to fetch her
partner.

Thayde jerked up short, startled when a slick grey body suddenly
appeared before him out of the watery darkness.

"Heeeeelp!" Ada whirled around in an invitation that Thayde easily recognized.

Hooking his hand onto the dolphin's dorsal fin, he held on tightly as
she towed him at a quick clip towards the hull of the ship.

Thayde assessed the situation quickly- the dangling air tube,
Jalodwyn's hand, the hull. Cutting through the water, he grabbed one
of the jagged pieces of wood in one hand and then hooked his other
around Ada's dorsal fin once more. Giving a nod to his partner, Thayde
tensed and gritted his teeth as the dolphin leaped forward, jerking
him along with it, but successfully breaking loose the board he'd been
holding on to with his other hand.

**Shardit, shardit, shardit,** Thayde's mind provided a litany of
curses as he pulled Jalodwyn's limp form, which had been floating up
against what remained of the hull, out from the wreckage.

Jerking the air piece out of his mouth, he plugged it into her's, but
he logically knew she had already taken in too much water.

The air pack was heavy and would slow his ascent. Shouldering out of
it, the mouthpiece trailing from Jalodwyn's lips, Thayde hooked an arm
around her torso, and then grabbed on to Ada. He squeezed her dorsal
fin twice - the signal to rise, and quickly.

As the surface neared, he could feel his ears throbbing from the quick
change in pressure, but a little decompression sickness was
survivable, drowning was not.

When they broke through the top of the water, Ada was squealing an
alert which brought the sailors on the ship running to the port side.
A rope ladder was thrown down and hands stretched out towards the pair
of dolphineers. Shouldering Jalodwyn's limp body, heavy in its
laxness, Thayde gritted his teeth and climbed the ladder. Worry and
adrenaline leant him strength as he felt her head lolling against his
back.

The sailors talking around him as they grabbed Jalodwyn from his
shoulder was a blur. Her blue lips, her pale skin, those were the only
things that Thayde could see as he hit his knees on the deck beside of
where the sailors had laid her.

The hallmaster shoved aside one of the sailors who had already begun
compressions. Brain on autopilot, Thayde did not allow himself to
think about anything other than the things he'd been taught in basic
dolphineer classes and healer classes. Tilting her head back, Thayde
covered Jalodwyn's mouth with his and gave her some air - once, twice
- and then he gave a few sharp, but not crushing compressions.

**I got to her fast enough. I got to her fast enough.** He chanted. He
just had to get the swallowed water out of the way so she could
breathe.

Jalodwyn's body jerked with each compression, but there was no
response until the cycle was repeated three times. Her eyelids
fluttered before water spewed out from her nose and mouth in a sudden,
heaving coughing fit. Her head turned to the side as she took a sudden
intake of breath, coughing out more water with wracking heaves of her
lungs. Color filled her lips and cheeks as she struggled to take in
more air and her limbs flailed in confusion and shock.

Relief made Thayde feel weak as he grabbed Jalodwyn up into his arms
and thumped her on the back lightly. "Easy, easy," he soothed.

Jalodwyn was too weak to object to being held by Thayde as her mind
tried to comprehend what had happened. There was lingering panic and
fear, a painful burning in her chest and a struggle to cough up what
remained in her lungs. Finally she was able to take in deep,
comforting breaths and lay slack, too exhausted to struggle or take in
what was being said by the crowd of dolphineers around her.

"Do we need to take her to the infirmary, Master Thayde?" "Is she
okay?" "What happened?" "I think we should head back to the Hall."

Thayde couldn't answer the questions immediately. He was trembling as
he held onto Jalodwyn. They had come so close to... she had almost
been... **I almost lost her.** Releasing a shaky exhale, he released
her. "Take her to the ships infirmary. I'll be there in a moment.
Captain, return us to the Hall."

Pushing to his feet, he went to the side of the ship and leaned
against the railing, gripping it with white knuckles as he looked down
at Ada's bobbing head in the water.

"She's okay," he told his waiting partner before reaching into the
pouch at his waist and tossing a treat out into the water.

Ada snapped the treat up with a happy bob of the head.

She didn't know who carried her back to the infirmary and she didn't
ask questions as she was quickly stripped of her wetsuit, bundled
under warm blankets, and examined by the ship's Healer. His words
barely penetrated her brain, "Risk of lung infection, possible
pneumonia, keep an eye on.... have to bandage that wound..." She
simply laid there, breathing, and feeling weak as she nodded without
really knowing what the man was saying. She struggled to think about
what had happened and how she had gotten back on the ship. Had it been
Thayde? Had it been his face that she'd opened her eyes to?

Thayde slipped into the infirmary, he'd changed out of his wetsuit
into something dry. "How are you feeling?" he asked, coming over and
bracing his hands on the edge of Jalodwyn's bed as he looked at her
accessingly. He knew the ship's healer was more than competent, but he
couldn't help but check for himself.

Still bundled under the blankets, Jalodwyn opened her eyes to look at
Thayde. Her voice was hoarse when she answered. "Weak. Stupid. The
wood caught the air hose and tore it. I got stuck." Her brow furrowed.
"What happened after that?"

"After that," he said, edging onto the cot to sit beside her. He
lifted her up and tucked her, wrapped in her blanket, against his side
where he could hug her against him. "After that you scared the sand
out of me and Ada. Ada found you, fetched me, she and I pried you out
of the hull and brought you back to the surface." He knew he was
taking liberties by holding her, but having almost lost someone who
had been in his life since he was a teeanger, and the mother of his
daughter no less, had left him with the need to touch her and make
sure she was real.

She was weak enough that she couldn't struggle much against him
picking her up, but protested about being held. "Don't..." But after a
moment, she held still and went limp in his arms, too tired to object
further after a sudden fit of coughing.

"The least you can let me do is hold you after nearly dying on my
watch." Thayde said as he rubbed one hand idly up and down the side of
the blanket where her arm was tucked. The motion made him wince as he
remembered the bandage on his hand, the one he'd used to pry open the
rotting wood of the hull to get her out. He hadn't noticed it in the
heat of the moment, but he'd been left with a good gash and several
splinters across the fleshy part of his hand.

"You don't need to. I'll be fine.We hate each other, so stop." She
swallowed hard, trying to deny that with her frayed nerves, the
soothing motion was helping. She shivered from the remaining cold and
felt the warmth of him soaking through the blankets. Another wracking
cough shook her and she gave up, laying limply against him, her still
damp head of hair resting against his shoulder. With her eyes closed,
she lay against his shoulder, relaxed, drowsy, and on the verge of
sleep.

"We can hate each other on dry land." Thayde murmured, tilting his
head back and resting it against the polished wooden planks of the
cabin.

She didn't answer him. Rocked by the gentle motion of the ship and
soothed by the warmth, Jalodwyn had already fallen asleep in his arms,
cheek pressed against his shoulder.

Last updated on the October 1st 2021

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Almost Complete Failure