[Child of the 7th Age]

Huge clouds filled with rain and thunder streamed overhead. The two skiffs bobbed out of control, spinning this way and that in response to the rising gales. Kali and Bird tugged hopelessly on the ropes. They could no longer swim forward, no matter how much they strained or struggled.

Kali cried out to Bird, "Do you know where we are?' His voice barely rose over the backdrop of the storm. In response, the shapechanger shook her head no, and turned once again to the traces, pulling and tugging in vain.

Cami peered out into the darkness. The light of day had totally disappeared. She did not know where they were or what she should do. Her heart pounded furiously in her chest as fear and despair took hold. The lighthearted jests of a few moments ago were gone, replaced with uncertainy and doubt. Water had begun to come in over the side of the skiffs. Rose bailed it out as quickly as she could manage.

Then, suddenly, from nowhere, Cami felt a stern tug at the ropes. In an instant, the boat began to slide forward through the waters. On and on it went. The same thing happened to Daisy's skiff. In relief and surprise, Cami called out to her friends, "How did you manage that?"

Bird quickly responded, "We didn't. It's not us. Something's happened we don't understand."

At that moment, a head popped up by the side of the vessel. Cami looked into the eyes of another hobbrim, a face that looked strangely like Kali, and yet somehow different."

The face gazed up at her and smiled, "You are Nitir and Azra. We have found your golden wyrm on our shores and have come to rescue you, as we feared you'd fallen from her back into the seas. I see now you have a boat, but you still may need our help. I am Batta. There are four of us now on each of the ropes. "

Cami spluttered out the words from her rain soaked face, "Yes, I'm Nitir, and this is Azra." Rose nodded in respect to the hobbrim. "Thank you, thank you. We did not know where we were and had lost control of the boats."

They were interrupted by Kali suddenly popping up and squealing, "Cousin? Cousin?? COUSIN!!!!"

In joyful desperation Kali launched himself at the newcomer, throwing his arms around Batta's neck. Batta replied, "Hello! Hello," as Kali repeated, "Cousin! Cousin!" and clung to him. In another moment, another head popped up out of the water, and Kali released Batta and siezed the second Hobbrim, crying, "Cousin!" gleefully.

Then Kali momentarily ducked underwater, popped back up, and delirously shouted, "Eight! Eight cousins! Eight cousins!" and dove back under.

"What's happening?" shouted Daisy, straining to see below the grey and tossing surface. "I don't know, I can't see," Cami shouted in reply. Cami was afraid that they would lose control of the boats again if a general reunion was about to happen. But her fears were unfounded.

Below, Bird in Dolphin form had a better view. One at a time, a hobbrim would release the rope, embrace Kali, and Bird would hear their soft, high-pitched greeting; then that hobbrim would return to the rope, and another would embrace Kali.

If I was in human form, thought Bird, this would be a real tear-jerker, it would. But now that I'm in Dolphin form-- well, shucks, I may as well celebrate. She circled, faster and faster, around the wonderful group of eight-- no!-- nine happy hobbrims, and then building up speed she dove, and turned upward, and letting out a high-pitched sqeal she shot into the air, twirling and squealing with sheer delight. As she reached the top of her trajectory her squeal suddenly paused as she thought, Uh-oh! I hope I miss the skiffs.

Miss them she did, coming down between them, but she splashed into the middle of the hobbrim party, thrashing.

The skiffs rocked as Bird thrashed in the tangled ropes, and a few hobbrim lost their grip. "Bird! " Cami wailed, already soaked from the rain and now even wetter. Rose and Daisy, much less aware of the danger, laughed and laughed.

As the laughing hobbrim untangled themselves and Bird from the two ropes, Kali cried gleefully, "Cousins! Meet my good friend, Birdee! Birdee, these are all my cousins! Eight cousins!" When she was free, the hobbrims reached out and greeted her with gentle caresses, and Bird's whistles of delight could be heard even in the bobbing skiffs.


One more gleeful laugh, and then they returned their attention to the ropes, four hobbrims on one rope, and five on the other, escorted by their newfound Dolphin friend. But the one with five hobbrims didn't go that much faster at first, because Kali, although he tried to pull hard and keep up, was now shedding underwater tears of joy and relief. His wait was over. Whatever happened next, he had a tribe to belong to.

Batta popped back up and said to Cami, "Just hold on and we'll get you to the coast, to the warmth and dryness of our caves."

Despite her own tears of joy for Kali and exasperation about her second drenching, Cami threw back her head and laughed. The rescuers had become the rescued. And what was Angara doing on the shoreline, she wondered? But, right now, was no time to question. She felt in her heart enormous gratitude and relief that they were making their way to the safety of the shore.

[ September 25, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]