No More Crafting

Writers: AL, Jane, Kaysea
Date Posted: 16th August 2008

Characters: Kateena, Swift, Alydelle
Description: Alydelle is out with Kateena when she faints. She runs into Swift on her way to get a healer.
Location: Dolphin Hall
Date: month 11, day 15 of Turn 4

The water was warm and when Alydelle broke through to the surface, the air felt cooler than it really was against her skin. Her hand clasped the weight that had been part of the lesson that Kateena had been teaching. With the help of Kateena's partner, Civi, Alydelle had been able to retrieve it. She smiled to the journeywoman as she turned, holding her hand out to show her the prize. That smile faded when she saw Kateena's face, ashen, then her eyes spasming before closing and the woman began to sink.

"No!" The weight dropped from Aly's hands, falling back into the water with a low plunk as the apprentice whisked forward in a desperate attempt to get to Kat before she submerged. Civi got to her first, bouying the woman long enough for Alydelle to close the distance and get a hold on her. The dolphin knew just what to do, pulling them along, Alydelle keeping Kateena's head above the surface of the water. Kat awoke halfway to the shallows and when they finally reached the point where they could both stand, Alydelle was relieved of her teacher's weight.

"I'll be fine now." Kateena gasped to Alydelle. "Go and get a healer, but please, don't let Swift see you, he'll only panic." She pushed the girl away from her, leaning more heavily against Civi than she usually would. The fainting spell had happened again, but this time they had been too far out from shore for her to stand or even be supported by the young apprentice she was teaching. Thank Faranth Civi had been close enough and sensed what was happening, almost before she lost conscious.
She saw that Alydelle had stopped to look back and she called out again urging the girl to hurry. Civi towed her the rest of the way into shore, and she lay on her back on the shoreline, controlling her breathing as she did so.

Fine? Fine? How could she say she was fine? Kateena was anything _but_ fine. Aly was still out of breath from helping Civi get her to shore. Healer...healer...healer. Her feet pounded the word into the sand as she ran, almost blind from her attempt to hide back her tears and panic. What if she were too late? Would a healer be able to help her?

A figure loomed up before her, startling her into a stop and Aly gasped out a, "help me!" before she realised who it was.

"What's wrong?" the kitchen-hand asked, concerned at the panicked look on the young apprentice's face. "Take a deep breath and tell me what it is."

"Journeywoman...Kateena." Alydelle bent over in an effort to catch her breath. "She fainted...she fainted in the water. We were swimming...she fainted!"

"And?" Swift reached out to shake the girl, trying to get the words out of her. "Was Civi with you?" Civi wouldn't have let anything happen.
Surely.

"Yes, we got her to the shallows, but she needs a healer!" She wasn't supposed to tell Swift, but he had just been there. What was she going to do? Lie? Besides, it meant Kateena wouldn't be alone. "I'll...I'll go get a healer. Can you stay with her?"

"Of course. You go fast - and then get the rescue team as well."

"Yes sir!" Alydelle didn't dawdle any longer, but turned and headed back to the hall, her feet flying beneath her.

"Kateena!" Swift ran in the other direction, toward the main beach of the bay, soon able to see a dolphin in the shallows ... More than one.
"Kateena!"

***

Kateena lay in the shallows with Civi, and the rest of the pod, a short distance away. They had only stayed in waster deep enough that they wouldn't be beached as the tide began to recede. The breeze had picked up a little, but she felt as if she had no energy - certainly not enough to pull herself further up onto drier sand. There was no pain involved, she just felt completely enervated.

She could hear a voice calling her name, it sounded like Swift, but surely he didn't know what had happened, surely the girl hadn't told him before anyone else? She rolled over and peered up the beach to see a figure running down the sand towards her. "Swift!" she called, her hand raised so he could see her better. Tears pooled in her eyes are the sight of her husband.

Swift knelt beside his wife in the shallows. "What is it? Are you all right?" He glanced away for just a moment and was reassured to see the dolphins moving out into deeper water. Though they had stood by there was very little they could do in the shallow water, other than strand themselves. "Are you hurt? Is it the baby?"

"No.." she shook her head, "not hurt, I fainted again." she admitted, "this time out in deep water. I was lucky Alydelle, Civi and the pod, were with me. I think this means no more crafting, until after the baby."

"I think that would be the very minimum that it means," Swift said, trying to conceal his panicked thoughts. "Are you sure you didn't swallow any water?"

"No...Civi had me on he surface so quickly Alydelle had no idea what had happened." she shook her head, her eyes not leaving his. "Is this usual, Swift?"

"Belevi got _sick_ during her pregnancy and _died_," Swift said with more panicked honesty than sensible forethought. "So I don't know anything about 'normal'."

"I...I'm sure it can't be _that_ serious, can it?" she asked, real worry in her eyes once more as she looked up at her husband.

"No. No, I'm sure it's not." It couldn't happen twice in one man's lifetime, could it? "Civi would have said something before this."

"True..." she said, looking back to the water we pod where the pod were swimming and frolicking in the deeper water. "Here's the healer." she said, nodding back up the beach behind Swift. "Hopefully they'll know, this time, what is wrong with me."

"This time they had better find out," he growled.

Last updated on the August 16th 2008

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No More Crafting