Girl Time

Writers: Chelle, Eimi
Date Posted: 9th January 2012

Characters: Parale, Syren, Venrys
Description: They head to the sea for some much needed girl time.
Location: Sunstone Seahold
Date: month 5, day 22 of Turn 6

The girls didn't have lessons today and Parale had prepared for this
eventuality. "So, you have choices. Do you want to stay inside and make
some neat things or do you want to go swimming?" She looked at their
faces, waiting to see.

"Making things!" Venrys cried, even as her sister gave a definitive,
"Swimming!" That awarded the five-turn-old a rather sour look from her
older sister.

**How did I guess this was going to happen?** Looking at the two of
them, she frowned. "Okay...compromise. Swimming for a little while then
making things. Hm?" The swimming would get the energy out so the craft
time wouldn't be so hard.

"Yay!" Syren cried, jumping up and down in front of their stepmother,
arms up-stretched towards her while her sister looked on with a scowl.

"I hope you get sunburnt," Venrys muttered under her breath, her arms
crossing sulkingly over her chest. Of course, the frown disappeared
once she saw the water.

Carrying a carisak with suncream, water, towels, and some toys, Parale
plodded across the sand. Finding a good spot, she set it down and began
to lay a blanket out to sit on along with a few other things. There were
a few snacks as well. "Allright, listen-no going out too far. Stay where
I can see you."

She had already slathered the girls with cream and now it was her turn.
Putting the white stuff on herself before she went in the water, she
made sure to get all the bare skin.

"Last one in the water is a rotten tunnelsnake's egg!" Venrys said,
making a dash for the shoreline with all the confidence of one a good
two hands taller than her opponent.

"Venrys! Give me a head start!" Syren whined as she started moving her
shorter legs as fast as she could. "Venrys, wait! It's not fair!"

"You're a rotten tunnelsnake's egg!" her older sister laughed as she
splashed full in.

"I am not!" The little one felt rather indignant at the insult. "Take
it back!"

"Tunnelsnake's egg! Tunnelsnake's egg!" Venrys called tauntingly,
moving further out into the water.

"You'll both be a tunnelsnake's egg in a minute if you keep on," came
the warning as the adult stood up, covered in cream. She looked around
to make sure the people down the beach hadn't heard her children
behaving like that.

Walking up to the water, she went in and let it come up to the middle of
her bathing costume. Squatting down, she squidged the sand between her
toes and enjoyed the ocean. "Renling, show me your backstroke." While
Syren was a pretty good swimmer by now, Parale still felt it important
to continue with the lessons.

"Ok!" Syren was always happy when she could show off her talents for
Parale. She thought carefully about the sequence as she first rolled
onto her back. Once she was satisfied that she was in position, her
legs began to kick one and after another in a decent rhythm. Now her
arms. "See! I'm doing it!"

"I can do it, too," Venrys called from out in the water as she did a
much smoother transition into the stroke. She was always happy to
remind her little sister who the boss was.

"Good job, both of you. Now, who remembers the free stroke?" she
asked as she let her hands float in the water. This was quite relaxing.
Her eyes watched the girls, careful not to let them get too far. The
current wasn't too bad, but one never knew.

"I know," Venrys replied almost immediately. She turned onto her belly
and began gliding through the water once more. Her sister, who had
forgotten, was watching intently, and was soon repeating her older
sister's actions, though a bit more clumsily.

"That's exactly right!" she praised as she decided to end the little
game
for a bit. "Now let's just all enjoy the water. Much better to be
swimming
in it than stuck on some awful boat again!"

Syren had a definite opinion that she felt the need to share. "I liked
the boat. I could see shipfish, and sometimes there would be big waves,
and..."

"I hated the boat," Venrys said, cutting her sister off completely. "I
felt sick all the time."

"You threw up! I saw you!" Syren giggled, loving the idea that her
sister got sick when she didn't.

Venrys didn't like looking the fool to her 'baby' sister! "Shut up,
Syren, it's not funny."

"No it's not. I got sick a bit there too. Very unpleasant." Grimacing
at the memory, she tried to steer to the good part of the conversation.
"Do you ever see dolphins here? Someone said they come sometimes
to take the boats out."

"I've seen them, out there by the Stones," Syren said, pointing out
towards the rocks jutting out of the water that gave the Hold their
name. "I've seen them _jump_ out there before!"

Looking up, she noticed the sky was getting darker. "I don't like the
look of that. Maybe we should get everything and head in." Unsure,
she searched the shore to see if everyone else was going inside.

"But we just got here," Venrys frowned. She had forgotten that
splashing around in the water hadn't been her idea originally.

"Aye but..." And then she saw a strike of lightning. "Out of the water-
now!" Parale stood up and grabbed Syren quickly, knowing Venrys
would listen. Half slogging, half running through the water, she
reached the sand. "We have to get inside since we're wet."

Throwing things into the carisak, she tried to hurry as fast as she
could. As an afterthought, she gave the girls towels and started to
half run up the hill behind them. "Careful, don't trip," she urged,
though she was really moving by then.

"But it's still a ways off," Venrys protested as she climbed the hill.

"I'm tired," Syren whined, stopping to look at Parale. "Can you carry
me?"

There was another one and then the cracking sound came, followed
by a rumbling. Shouts were being heard over at the docks, but they were
far from there. Parale almost jumped. At Garnet Valley, there had been
trees everywhere. She knew never to get near trees in a storm. Here,
there was water everywhere. "Venrys, take the carisak please."

Grabbing Syren without a thought, she got them both up the hill and
toward the Hold. Once they were inside, she stopped to put Syren down
and breathe a bit. "We'll try again on a better day. Now, we can go
clean up and make something nice."

"That's what I wanted to do in the _first_ place," Venrys reminded them
both with a roll of her eyes.

Last updated on the January 15th 2012

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Girl Time