Have You Met A Dolphin?

Writers: Sia, Shawna, Halyonix
Date Posted: 25th September 2024

Characters: Oriene, Aydhara, Cirina
Description: New friends and dolphins meet
Location: Dolphin Hall
Date: month 13, day 29 of Turn 11

Oriene

Aydhara

Cirina was still working on her 'tour' for Aydhara, although they'd moved on from spicy fried foods to sweet fried foods, and Cirina had managed to talk up a bottle of overly-sweet mediocre wine from somewhere that they were passing back and forth. Along with the wine, the tour had shifted more to the flavor of gossip about every familiar face they passed, though Aydhara really lacked the context to know why many of these tidbits were scandalous.

Suddenly spotting something, Cirina turned, pulling Aydhara with her and whistling, "Oriene! Come meet my new friend!"

Glad to spot a familiar face after having to cancel her initial outing plans with Tirraze, Oriene waved brightly as she came over. "Cirana! You made it!"

Aydhara was a little tipsy from the wine and gossip so the spinning wasn't _great_, but it was well worth seeing another pretty girl. "Hi! I'm Aydhara, from Barrier Lake Weyrhold! You're Cirina's friend?"

"Yes! I got picked to give a tour to a very important guest. Oriene, meet Aydhara. Her mother is the weyrwoman second at Barrier Lake Weyr. Aydhara, this is Oriene, one of my dear friends. She's another candidate at Dolphin Cove Weyr with me," Cirina gave the whirlwind introduction by gesturing between the two with the wine bottle. "You should join us."

"Hi there!" Oriene said brightly to Aydhara while she stuck out her hand in greeting.

"Hi!" Aydhara repeated. She took Oriene's hand and instead of shaking it, pulled her along. "Yes, join us! We have lots left of the bottle, right?"

"Are we on a mission to drink?" Oriene asked with a giggle. "What's Barrier Lake like? I assume it's on a lake with that name."

"No, but it's a nice bonus." Aydhara said. "Ugh. We have Barrier Lake the Lake, Barrier Lake the Weyrhold, and Barrier Lake the hold. They were very inventive when naming the area. Though I guess it was Barrier Lake Mine first."

"That sounds really confusing," Oriene said. "I mean, Dolphin Cove Weyr has Dolphin Hall nearby but at least our major Hold is Emerald Falls. Do you like it there?"

"Sure! There's lots of wine left!" There was about half a bottle, but Cirina passed it over to Oriene, "Ooooo it was a mine? Do you have like gems in the walls?"

"No." Aydhara said mournfully. "Just badly carved tunnels." Not actually so bad, compared to the haphazard planning and growth of High Reaches. "I do like it, though! It's got character. And everything is so new. Back home everything has a _history_, so nothing can ever be moved or changed. There's always something new going up at Barrier Lake. The weyrlake has some getting used to, though. It's a harbour instead of the Weyrbowl. What's it like living so close to the ocean?"

"I love it," Oriene said unashamedly. "I grew up at Dolphin Hall so the ocean is in my blood. But if I Impress, I'll be the first dragonrider in my family instead of a dolphineer, so that's pretty exciting. I mean, if it happens. I hope it will."

"Of course it will. Next time. We're all going to get our dragons next time," Cirina said firmly. Then, leaning towards Oriene, she said in a whisper that was a little too loud, "Aydhara here wants a blue. Like Tirraze!" Who was definitely not the first female bluerider, but the one Cirina was most attached to.

"You have a female bluerider here too?" Aydhara asked loudly. "Is she here? Do you think she'd like some wine, too? One more person and we'll have enough for our own party!"

"Oh, Tirraze is a weyrling. Her blue hatched with Aeoluth. the brown that gave me a ride, so they're still at the Weyr and restricted from any fun," Cirina said.

Oriene looked a little uncomfortable at the mention of Tirraze. It had been their initial plan to spend Turn's End together, here at the Hall, but...

"Have you met any of the dolphins yet?" Oriene asked brightly, purposefully changing the subject away from female blueriders. Not that she had anything against them! She just...didn't want to talk about them today.

"Oh boo." Aydhara said with a pout. "Do you think you could introduce me to her later? When she's allowed to have fun, that is." It took her a second to process Oriene's next question, but her pout was quickly replaced with a grin. "No! We can _meet_ dolphins? My Dad would be so jealous!"

"Sure!" Oriene replied brightly. "They aren't due for their show for a bit. I'm sure one's hanging around the docks to greet the guests. Let's go!" She grabbed the other two women's hands and pulled them happily towards the water, chattering all about the pod and who was paired with whom and all of their personalities as she went along. When they arrived at the dock, sure enough there was a dark grey dolphin swimming in lazy circles nearby. "Tib!" Oriene cried, recognizing him.

"Oriiiiiii!" Tib squealed back. He leapt high to get a good look at her. "And friends!"

"Tib, this is Cirina and Aydhara! They're here for the party," Oriene introduced. "This is Tib. He's Pershal's partner."

"Ciiiiiiiiir and Ayyydra," Tib repeated. "Good to meet!"

"Hi, Tib," Cirina smiled at the dolphin, but stayed a little back so that Aydhara could get as close as she liked. With a bit of home-Weyr pride, she said, "Barrier Lake Weyr probably doesn't have anything as neat as our dolphins." She secretly felt that the other candidate had missed out by her mother not being assigned here instead.

"It sure doesn't!" Aydhara said excitedly. She sat on the dock and leaned down, smiling down at Tib. "Hello, Tib! I'm so happy to meet you! Are you going to be performing tonight?"

"Yes!" Tib said enthusiastically. He swam closer to get a good look at the other women. "Aydra and Cir watch?"

"Of course," Cirina said brightly, "and it's Aydhara's first show, so make it a great one, alright?" Not that she had any doubts.

Tib squeed and leaped into the air. "Alwayssss! Get ready now! Bye!" And he was off to prepare for the show.

"So that's a dolphin," Oriene said with a proud smile.

"That. Was. Amazing!" Aydhara shrieked. "Come on, we need to get good seats before the show starts!"

"Yeah!" Cirina agreed.

Last updated on the October 17th 2024

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Have You Met A Dolphin?