Part 6 (2/2)

”Didn't think there'd be a morsel after my crew took their haul from the tables,' he said, helping himself to a pastry. Un.o.btrusively he was peering into the wide windows of the hold. ”Nice place you've made here. As neat as the yard! s.h.i.+p shape. I like to see that, not that a son of your father would be anything else.”

”Ah, mention of Master Ya.n.u.s, ah I trust, Master Idarolan, that . - - ah, you would be - u ”Not mention your doll fins to your sire'?” Idarolan laughed, his eyes crinkling into well-established wrinkles, carved by wind and sun. ”Not likely, though I like to see a man accept something new and different - now and then. Someone who latches on to just any newfangled ”The a.s.sociation of humans and dolphins is not newfangled . . . ” Alemi said firmly.

”Certainly not if you got your information from Aivas itself And now Idarolan did chuckle, deep in his chest. ”Master Holder Ya.n.u.s is a fine seaman, trains up a good apprentice, has a good feel for Nerat Bay weather and a solid knowledge of his own coastline Idarolan paused, then glanced sideways at Alemi, his eyes twinkling, ”but, as a man to accept a new idea oh no. Doesn't trim sail that way.” He leaned closer to Alemi, at the same time dipping his hand into the bread basket again. Between you and me, lad, he doesn't believe there could be such a - . . creature, a device, like Aivas. No, there can't be such a thing as this Aivas.”

Alemi rubbed the back of his head, grinning. ”Doesn't surprise me a bit. ”Surprises me that Ya.n.u.s and Mavi could produce children like you and Master Menolly.”

”She's the real surprise.

Idarolan shot his craftsman a quick look. ”At least you're proud of her.

”Very.”

”You're why she came, you know. Told me one night she'd never had a chance to get to know you but you were the best of the lot.”

Alemi stared back at his Master. ”She said that? About me?” He felt his throat get tight with pride and love of her.

”Not that s.h.i.+p journeys don't get people saying things they'd never admit to on solid ground,' Idarolan added slyly. ”Come, lad, pour me another cup of klah and then show me these doll fins of yours.”

”Dolphins.” Alemi absently corrected the p.r.o.nunciation as he refilled both cups. He reached for the second pail - with the half eaten breads and cakes. He hadn't any fish left over from yesterday's catch to give and didn't know if the dolphins would accept human food. Then he led the way, taking the track that crossed directly from his house to the jetty.

Idarolan scrambled down the ladder to the float as neatly as Alemi did. Feeling a trifle self-conscious, Alemi grabbed up the small handbell and vigorously sent the peals of the ”Report sequence out across the gently lapping tide.

Both he and Idarolan flinched when two dolphins, crossing each other's paths, leaped out of the water, finger widths from the edge of the float.

”That's jumping to with a vengeance, boy!” Idarolan said.

”Lemi, ring Bellill! Reporrrit! Afo reporit!” The words came distinctly to both men.

”Kib reporrrit!” came from the second dolphin.

”As I live and breathe!” Idarolan gasped out the words in a low awed tone. Kneeling at the very edge of the float, he tried to follow the motion of the now submerged dolphins.

He lurched back as one surfaced right in front of him, its rostrum nearly touching his chin. ”My very word!” He stared at Alemi for a long moment.

”000 rang?”

”Kib?” Alemi said, holding out an offering of bread. ”You eat mans food?”

”No fish?”

”Not this morning.

”He distinctly said ”no fish?” Interrogatory tone!” softly exclaimed Master Idarolan, rocking back on his heels.

Alemi grinned.

”No fish?” the second dolphin queried, bobbing up in front of Alemi who put out his hand to scratch under the chin.

”Will scratching do? Or do you need bloodfish taken off?” He grinned as he explained to Idarolan about the parasites.

”Well I never and they let you sc.r.a.pe ”em off with your knifr?”

”They seemed very pleased to get them off. I think I've done five in this pod. I've since discovered that they like to be scratched. Sometimes their skin sloughs off but that's normal.

Skritching or does someone have another bloodfish?”

”Skritch. Blood fish,' and the dolphin enunciated carefully as he raised his head. ”Gooddee. Again,' and the dolphin twisted his head so that the exact spot was under Alemi's fingers.

”What do they feel like?” Master Idarolan asked, his hands twitching.

”Find out yourself. Give Afo a caress. Don't touch the blow hole but just about anywhere on the head - the melon - and the nose will please them.

”They're rubbery, but firm. Not at all slimy. Like a fish.

”Not fish. Mammal!” was Afo's instant response.

”Stars!” Idarolan lost his balance in surprise and sat down so heavily on the float that it bounced in the water and they got soaked by the backwave. ”It knows what it is!'

Alemi chuckled. Just like we do. Do you doubt their intelligence now?”

”No, I can't,' Idarolan admitted. ”I'm just gobsmacked, is what I am. All these Turns I've admired ”em and never thought to pa.s.s the time of day with ”em. Never thought the sounds they were making could be words so I didn't listen! Oh, I've heard others who got rescued tell me what they thought and he put a gnarled finger to his temple and twisted it in the old gesture of mental instability, ”but a' course, they'd have been under stress being nearly drowned and all - and the wind and storm so bad anyone could easily mistake the matter. But I've heard ”em now and no mistake. He gave his head a decisive jerk. ”So, what do we do now, young Alemi?”

”Reporrrit?” asked Kib, one eye on Alemi and its mouth parted in its smile.

Both men laughed aloud at that and the two dolphins tailed it, squeeing and clicking.

”Belllill? Belllill?” the cry sounded across the sea and Alemi and Idarolan saw more dolphins heading toward them. ”Bellill rrrring! Bellill ring!'

Idarolan shook his head from side to side. ”They're making ”bell” into two syllables.”

”And oo is you. Blufissh are the parasites. Alemi grinned at the stupidity of not having understood such a common marine hazard. ”A couple of other oddities but I think if I just use the correct p.r.o.nunciations, we'll have them talking the way we do.

What I'd like to do now, Master Idarolan, is consolidate this start. Aivas gave me instructions on how to proceed. You could use your s.h.i.+p's bell at sea use the sequence I rang - and ask them to report. Aivas said they know where fish are schooling, where rocks and reefs form, what the weather's likely to be. We know they rescue the s.h.i.+pwrecked. But there were lots of other tasks that humans and dolphins did together.”

”Hmmm - check a s.h.i.+p for barnacles and holings. Check the current for speed - - - Aivas gave me the logs kept by a Captain James Tillek .

”Tillek! Tillek! T'ere is a Tillek?” cried the dolphins with such pa.s.sion and surprise that Alemi and Master Idarolan were startled.

”No, no Tillek here,' Alemi said. James, and Alemi stressed the first name, ”Tillek is dead. Long dead. Gone.” The dolphins nosed each other and a sad sort of sound came up from the group. ”Any rate, the captain ” and Alemi grinned at using that reference to forestall another violent delphinic reaction, was one of the first settlers to chart our Pernese waters. I've been reading about how the dolphins helped people get safely to the north after the volcanoes erupted. Amazing journey. Lots of small boats and the dolphins saving everyone from drowning in one of those squalls you whip up down in these lat.i.tudes.” He gave Idarolan a dour glance for such squalls. ”Hmmm, smart as they are, maybe they could take messages now and then. Maybe not as fast as fire-lizards but some of those distract easily. Not smart enough to keep their mind on one thing at a time.”

The other dolphins had reached the float by then and were crowding about to be recognized, to speak their name and find out what Idarolan's was.

”How do they tell us apart?” Idarolan wondered.

”Ezee. Mans color,' Kib said, gargling.

<script>