Ready or Knot

Writers: Halyonix, Heather
Date Posted: 19th July 2025

Characters: Cidra, Oriene, Noreia
Description: It's not that knots are hard work, but they are if you're a knothead.
Location: Dolphin Hall
Date: month 8, day 14 of Turn 12

Cidra

Oriene

The apprentice barracks reminded Oriene a little of the Candidate barracks at the Weyr, just with less people and, therefore, less noise. Two of the apprentices where sitting on one bunk, working on something, so Oriene drifted over there. “Hi Cidra, hi Noreia. What are you working on?”

Noreia looked up at Oriene, then at Cidra, before back at Oriene to say, “We’re practicing knots.”

“This feels like _seacrafter_ work,” Cidra sniffed plaintively as she pulled her rope through and the knot fell apart. “UGH,” she tossed the offending rope down on the bed.

“There’s so much overlap between our stuff and seacrafter,” Oriene noted as she took up the remaining free space on the bed. Noreia quietly worked through her knot and held it up for review once she had tied it correctly.

“Watch,” Noreia said to Cidra as she picked up the rope the other apprentice had dropped, intending to show her how to do it properly.

Cidra rolled her eyes and snatched the rope back from Noreia. “I can do it myself,” she huffed. Like she needed some random holdling to show her how to tie a rope. Noreia released the rope and quietly observed.

“Taut line hitches and fishing knots are the hardest ones,” Oriene remarked, trying to see which one Cidra was doing.

“It’s supposed to be a bowline,” Cidra sighed in frustration. Surely her future dolphin wouldn’t need her to tie rope knots, would it?

“Oops,” Oriene giggled. “That’s a pretty useful knot to know though. I’m sure you’ll get it.”

“Can we do something more fun? Like grab some snacks and head down to the beach?” Cidra pleaded with the other girls.

“We have practices for a reason,” Noreia said without judgment. A flat reminder of what it took to pass their eventual exams.

“I think we can take a break,” Oriene countered lightly, grinning at Cidra.

Cidra’s eyes lit up. “Yes! That’s why you’re my favorite, Oriene,” she said, cutting her eyes sharply in Noreia’s direction.

--

It was the golden hour on the beach by the time the girls arrived with their snacks. The amber light of the setting sun gilded the waves and shoreline in warm sunlight.

“See? Much better than practicing rope knots,” Cidra said to the others.

Noreia wanted to disagree but she didn’t want to start a fight.

“Oh, the sunsets out here are just perfect,” Oriene said as she settled down. Fins could be seen gliding through the waters further out. “Do you think they’re having lessons for the unpartnered dolphins about what to do with humans?” she asked the other two.

“I sure as shell bet they’re not learning rope knots,” Cidra said, for the first time with a hint of humor. “I _do_ wonder what the elder dolphins tell the younger ones when they’re singing their histories and lessons to them.”

“Probably something about how humans are terrible swimmers,” Oriene remarked with a giggle. “Well, we are! If we don’t have our long fins, we never get anywhere. We’re made for walking, not swimming.”

Noreia quietly disagreed. She felt quite at home in the water, sometimes more so than she did on land, where she felt gangly and awkward.

“We’re just lucky they want to partner with us at all,” Cidra said, her mind going back to that stormy night on the sea when she was rescued by a dolphin. “If they ever figure out how to remove bloodfish on their own, we’re toast.”

“Out of a job, just like that,” Oriene agreed with a chuckle and a snap of her fingers. “I think they like the novelty we bring. They bring us stories from the sea, we bring them stories from the land.”

“Let’s hope they never wise-up, then.” Cidra’s eyes watched the water, looking for a telltale dorsal fin silhouette. Was the dolphin who saved her out there? And would she ever see him again?

Last updated on the July 29th 2025

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Ready or Knot