A Little Exercise

Writers: Heather, Ames
Date Posted: 2nd October 2013

Characters: Thayde, Aslvor
Description: Aslvor and Thayde take some of the dolphins out for exercise, but Aslvor is the one who gets a surprise
Location: Dolphin Hall
Date: month 4, day 3 of Turn 7

Thayde

Thayde raked his fingers through his shoulder length hair, pulling it
back into a haphazard knot at the back of his neck. Shrugging out of
his tunic, the Journeyman pulled up the front of his swimsuit and
pushed his arms through the skin tight sleeves. Making his way through
the infirmary, he called good morning to some of the dolphins that
were in the containment pools. One dolphin in particular drew his
attention because he and Aslvor were going to be taking Hak out into
the open water.

"Are you excited to be going out into the waters today?" He asked the
dolphin as he kicked aside his shoes and lowered himself down into the
pool with the bottlenose.

"Haaappyyy!!" Hak squeed in his baritone.

Thayde chuckled, "Ada will be out there too." Ada was Thayde's own
dolphin partner. He rubbed his hands soothingly over Hak's sleek face.

Aslvor arrived a short time later, wearing the more formal swimsuit
she used when working, over the more revealing one she preferred when
out for a fun swim.

"Good morning," she greeted both Thayde and Hak. She smiled at the
pair of them in the pool together. "I've asked Cec to meet us out by
the waters also," she added, having heard Thayde's last words. Then,
Aslvor slid into the water with a little splash, bouncing off the
bottom of the shallow pool.

Hak squeed happily, bobbing his head up and down in agreement. Thayde
smiled at the creature's excitement to get back around some of his pod
mates. The journeyman also could not help but notice the nice curves
that Aslvor's swimsuit outlined. Thayde felt that he had returned to
the dolphin hall just at the right time.

"Let's get out to the open water then." Thayde flicked open the latch
on the gate and pushed it open.

Aslvor swam beside them, supporting Hak as needed, and as soon as they
were out in open water once again Cec poked her head out of the water
and squeed happily.

"Hak!!" Cec cried with a bob of her head. She swam around the trio as
another dolphin joined them.

Ada quietly approached, as was her general habit, and Thayde smiled as
he swam out, one hand outstretched. The dark grey dolphin eagerly swam
to the man's touch. No words were necessary for Thayde and Ada. They
had worked together for so long that their relationship was
comfortable and often they didn't need speech to communicate.

Hak emitted happy trills at the sight of his long time pod mate who
had returned from her travels. Ada squeed back in reply, using her own
body to help keep Hak from turning an accidental barrel roll.

"I know everyone makes a big hoopla about dragons, but dolphins are
the real sweethearts." Thayde said as he watched the trip of dolphins
interact.

"Oh, I know," Asvlor replied. "They are spirited and playful in ways
that I've hardly seen among the dragons." She was watching them with a
smile on her face. "Don't you wish that people greeted each other so
kindly all the time? I mean, dolphins are never angry or unkind. I
wish the rest of the world could always be like that."

Thayde lifted his eyebrows, "Speak for yourself, I am pretty sure that
I am never angry or unkind...." A teasing grin played along the man's
mouth, "At least I am pretty sure that I am only angry or unkind in
the morning before my fourth cup of klah." Not everyone could be a
morning person, and Thayde certainly was not. It usually took him a
good candlemark or so to warm up before he even felt like cracking a
smile.

She chuckled. "I tend to need my klah more in the middle of the day.
It's like the warm sun and hard work start to lull me to sleep. I just
need a pick me up to keep trudging, or should I saw, treading,
forward." She grinned at her own little joke.

"Come on, I'm eager to see how Hak will do. What do you have planned
for him exactly?"

Thayde smiled as they moved out to deeper water, "I was thinking about
an easy game of tag. What do you think Hak?" Even as he spoke, the
journeyman watched as Hak's body trembled in excitement. Playing tag
was one of Ada's favorite things to do as well. Even though the
dolphins could, literatelly, swim circles around their human
counterparters, they usually played along and allowed themselves to be
tagged.

Aslvor chuckled at the suggestion. She often enjoyed playing tag with
the dolphins as well. Cec was eager as well, already starting to swim
around them in excitement.

"Ada, you are it first. When I count to three you can come after us,
okay?" Thayde rested a hand supportively on Hak's side.

"Treeeee!!" Ada ageed, bobbing her head.

While Thayde counted to three the group swam away, putting some
distance between themselves and Ada.
"Allright Hak, I am going to let you go now." He warned before turning loose.

"Treeee!!" Ada squealed before swimming after the dispersed group.

Aslvor swam beside Cec as they darted away from Ada in the game. In a
matter of moments, however, Cec was off, swimming around them so that
Aslvor couldn't keep up.

The instant Ada got the go ahead, Aslvor watched as the dolphin swam
right for her. She tried to put some distance between them, but in the
end she got tagged. Grinning and laughing a bit she turned to try and
catch the others. Her eyes fell on Hak, who was doing well in the
water, though much slower than the other dolphins. She hoped he was up
for some fun.

Swimming as hard as she could, Aslvor tried to catch up to Hak. Even
with his injury she still had to work to keep pace with the dolphin.
Then, she finally managed to play a sneaky move, twisting one way and
then the other, and then she managed to tag Hak.

"Tag, you're it now Hak! You can do it!" She called out.

Thayde smiled as Hak wobbled to and fro, having to use twice the
effort that Cec and Ada used to navigate the water. Even then, it took
long, powerful strides to stay clear of the injured dolphin, and
Thayde felt his muscles becoming warm at the exercises. When he looked
up, Thayde realized that he had swam close to Aslvor, they were within
an arms-length of each other and Hak was closing in on both of them.

"Sorry, my dear." Thayde shot Aslvor a not-so-apologetic smile before
cupping his hands in the water and splashing her. If he could delay
her swimming, for she was quick and tricky he had noticed, then he
might have a chance to escape from Hak.

Aslvor sputtered when the water splashed over her face. The surprise
of it all caused her to stop swimming as she tried to clear her
vision. _That_ was when she got tagged _again_. This time by Hak.

"Iiitttt." The dolphin trilled happily. Aslvor wanted to thrust her
hand into the water angrily. Thayde had cheated to get away. Well, she
would show him.

Her competitive side emerging now, Aslvor took off swimming right for Thayde.

Thayde was surprised by the speed Aslvor showcased in her swimming.
Each time he glanced over his shoulder she seemed to have gained on
him. Sensing that he couldn't out swim the journeywoman, he took a
deep breath, filled his lungs with air, and dove beneath the water.
Without goggles he hoped that the water would conceal him enough so
that he could change directions.

She'd almost had him! Then he'd dove down. Narrowing her eyes, she
took a deep breath and tried to follow, but she wasn't able to make
out the shapes under the water the way she had above. Her lungs near
to bursting she re-emerged above water, sputtering. Deciding to try a
different route, she treaded water while she eyed all her prey. Her
eyes fell on Cec. The dolphin was playing happily nearby, almost
eagerly waiting for _her_ turn.

She grinned. Cec hated when she didn't get to be _it_. Deciding to
forgo Thayde at the moment, she made for Cec, who chirped happily when
she saw Aslvor heading her way. The dolphin started to swim off, eager
for the chase. Aslvor put on some speed, and that was when she felt
the muscle in her leg cramp. Before she could blink, she'd lost her
swimming stroke and gone under. She pushed at the water, but the fire
in her leg made it hard to swim. It felt almost as though it had
turned into a dead weight. She struggled to propel herself back to the
surface.

Strong arms wrapped about Aslvor's midsection, just below her
shoulders, and pulled her back to the surface. "Easy now, I've got
you." Thayde's voice spoke into her ear while he held her against his
chest. He had been close by when he saw her struggling.

She sputtered a bit, but then relaxed in his grip. She was still
gasping for air. "My...leg...cramped." She was glad he was there to
support her, though she felt foolish that such a thing had happened.
She was an excellent swimmer, and she'd wanted to show off a bit for
Thayde.

"Happens to the best of us." Thayde chuckled, although he did not
release Aslvor, "Maybe we should head in now?" Hak had gotten some
good exercise, and he knew that Ada would be returning to the pod
soon.

She nodded and responded, "Probably a good idea. I should stretch and
relax the muscle instead of pushing myself further." She didn't squirm
out of his arms. Not only because she still felt the slight cramping
in her leg, but because she liked being there as well.

Thayde directed them back to the pier, one arm still firmly anchoring
Aslvor against his side. Hak followed sedatedly behind them, obviously
pleased with the exercise he had gotten, and he had been allowed to
see his podmates.Towing Aslvor to the wooden latter that reached down
from the pier to the water, Thayde smiled as he placed one of her
hands on the bottom ladder rung, "Here you go. I'll take Hak back to
the infirmary."

"Thank you," she replied, already starting to pull herself out of the
water. "I'll, um, see you after then." She was still feeling a bit
embarrassed over the whole incident. It wouldn't hurt to have some
time to herself to recover from the little incident. She smiled over
her shoulder at him, hoping he wouldn't think less of her after the
little adventure today.

Thayde squinted against the sun as he watched Aslvor walk away. The
corners of the man's lips twitched into a grin before he turned and
patted Hak on the side, "Let's go fella."

Last updated on the November 2nd 2013

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

A Little Exercise