I Have Shells

Writers: Chelle, Heather
Date Posted: 14th December 2013

Characters: Thayde, Veerona
Description: She meets Thayde and tells him about herself.
Location: Dolphin Hall
Date: month 4, day 8 of Turn 7

Thayde

Thayde whistled to himself as he walked down toward the beach. He knew
that Ada would be off with the pod, and he wasn't wearing his normal
diving gear, but just a normal pair of swimming bottoms. Even when he
wasn't working, Thayde loved being in the water, and swimming amongst
the breakers and waves was one of his favorite things to do.

Following along after the harper and the other children, Veerona was slowly
gathering up some flowers that she was going to draw around later. Maybe
she could even learn their names! There weren't very many flowers when they
came to the beach, though. But there was a man!

Spotting the class of youngsters out along the beach, Thayde nodded
and waved to the journeywoman that was in charge of the little group.
It always made Thayde smile to see children out and around the Dolphin
Hall. He firmly believed in raising up a new generation of children
who would be reared with respect for the creatures that saved lives
everyday, and no, he wasn't talking about dragons.

Brialla smiled when she saw Thayde, especially since he was shirtless,
"Good day to you Journeyman Thayde. Class, say hello," she instructed
the children.

Bringing her head up and turning it into the man's direction, Veerona piped
up. "Hi!" Her hair was once more in pigtails and she was wearing a simple
white dress and sandals. Her flower pile was growing in her little pail.

Thayde smiled at the little girl with pig tails, finding her to be
impossibly cute, "And what might your name be?" he asked, squatting
down in front of the child.

"My name is Veerona. Sometimes they call me Vee." This was said with mock
seriousness and she did sort of look up at him with her eyes as the pail
swung between her hands. There were a few places where teeth were obviously
missing.

"Well Vee," Thayde said, "it is my pleasure to meet you. What are you doing
out here today?" He asked, shooting a wink at her teacher.

"We're collecting." The word collecting took some time to say but she finally
got it out and smiled, proud of it. That was a new one word she had learned.

"Ooohh, that's fun. Can you show me what you have collected?" Thayde
remembered collecting shells and other things along the beach as a
youngster growing up.

"Well we're learning their names. But I got some of these and those and..."
She started to pull out everything, one-by-one, to show to him.

"Those look great, Vee, it seems as though you have got a good eye."
Thayde complimented the child as he looked at the assortment of shells
that the girl had picked up. None of them were precious or rare, just
the normal shells that one normally saw on the beach, but Thayde knew
that the child was proud of them.

"I thought maybe I could make a necklace maybe. Harper is going to
show us how. Do you gather shells?" She wondered if grownups ever did it. Was
it a grownup task?

Thayde smiled, "Sometimes I do, if I see an extra pretty one that I
like." He had gathered so many shells when he was younger that they
had filled a couple of buckets in the corner of his room.

"Oh well that's good then. Maybe.." She dug through her trove and
brought one out. "You can have this one. It's pretty."

"Thank you miss Veerona, I will keep it in a safe place. It is not
everyday that a lady gives me a gift." Thayde said, making a great
show of tucking the shell into the front pocket of his tunic.

She gave a small chuckle. "Silly. I'm not a Lady. My mama was a
crafter. Like you." She was proud of that fact, though she didn't
mention anything about her father. Veerona didn't really know him.

"Is that so?" Thayde raised his eyebrows, "Well then what about
you? Are you going to be a crafter when you grow up?"

"I don't know. Everyone says I have options. So we'll see." She didn't know what
that meant really, but she supposed it was a good thing. "Did you
always wanna be a crafter?"

Thayde nodded his head, "Always." The man smiled, "Well, Miss
Vee, I have to be on my way now, there are some dolphins in the
infirmary that I would like to check on. Maybe I will see you again
soon?"

"Sick fins? Oh that's sad." Her little lip went down as she considered. Then
she looked back up at him, thinking he was important. "Maybe you will."

Last updated on the January 19th 2014

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I Have Shells