No One's Fool

Writers: AL, Devin
Date Posted: 1st December 2008

Characters: Cosani, Salubri, Tilly, Marai, Estanza
Description: A group of Candidates invites Cosani to swim, but they aren't being friendly ...
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 13, day 2 of Turn 4

Cosani

Cosani sat on the edge of her bed and sighed, glad to get out of the sun. It was much better than bundling up to go anywhere, like at Dragonsfall, but the heat did get to her after a while. If she could find a little time today, she was going to go down to the beach.

A gaggle of girls came into the barracks, their voices tittering back and forth. After a moment, they paused to look over at Cosani, then whisper among themselves. Finally, one broke away from them and approached. "Hey."

"What?"

"We were all just planning on going down to the beach to swim and were wondering if you would like to come with us." The girl offered, smoothing her hair out of her eyes. "Interested?"

A little frown crossed Cosani's face. "Why are you inviting me?"

"Well, you're new here and it would be nice to get to know one another better." She motioned to the other three girls who flashed bright smiles and waved to her. "That's Tilly, Marai, and Estanza." The girl turned back to Cosani and held her hand out to her. "I'm Salubri."

She looked at her hand for a moment before taking it. "Cosani."

"Well met, Cosani." Salubri shook the hand, then released it. "So are you interested?"

"You don't have to. I'm fine by myself." Maybe they were just being nice, but she would feel awkward. They were all friends, obviously, and she was just the new girl.

"Aww, come on, it will be fun!" The girl pressed, her smile growing. "Besides, we're going to be here together until the hatching, we might as well get to know one another.

"I don't know ... I'm not very social ..."

"Well, maybe it's time to start hm? It will be fun. We're going to see who can swim the fastest!"

Cosani frowned. "Maybe I'll just watch." She was only an ok swimmer.

"Sure." Salubri turned and began to walk away, though she glanced back at Cosani. "Come on!"

Cosani got off her cot. Well, she had wanted to go to the beach, anyway. Trying not to feel too self conscious, she followed the other girls.

The four girls made attempts to include Cosani in on the conversation, asking where she was from and that sort thing. That didn't last long, however, and they simply began to fall back into their twittering gossip, talking about who did what, when, and to whom. Finally they reached the sea and the girls began to strip. Salubri turned to Cosani. We're going to have a race."

"Go ahead. I'll just ... watch until you're done." She sat down and pulled off her sandals, wiggling her toes into the sand.

"Scared?" Salubri asked as she too took off her sandals and began to wriggle out of her tunic. "You don't seem the type to be scared of a challenge."

"I'm not _scared_!" Cosani glared at her. "I'm not a very good swimmer. There's no way I would win." **And you would all laugh at me when I got left so far behind.**

"Well then, I guess you're scared and just not good enough." The girl shrugged and slipped her trousers off and tossed them next to her tunic. "None of us are the best swimmers, but we're not scared to try."

"Fine!" Cosani jumped to her feet. "But if you start laughing at me, I'm going to make you regret it!" She stripped off her shirt and threw it on the sand. She was going to look like a fool floundering in the waves. but she wasn't going to have them sneering at her for being afraid.

Salubri shrugged again and shot a look at her friends that Cosani couldn't see, then made her way toward the sea. The girls laughed and danced back as the waves tickled their feet and then began to tease one another. Finally, they all stepped in, Salubri glancing back at Cosani. "Get ready girls!"

Cosani bent, ready to jump forward into the deeper water. Maybe she could at least beat _one_ of them.

"Get set!" Salubri glanced around and then shouted, "GO!" At that, the girls rushed into the water, giggling and splashing commencing as they each began to kick and try to push themselves through the water.

Moving through the waves as fast as she could, Cosani kept glancing over at her competition. Two of them looked like they knew what they were doing, but none of them looked like they were taking this too seriously. Cosani still didn't think she would win, but it didn't look like she would be left way behind, either.

For a few seconds, it seemed like Cosani and two of the girls were neck and neck. The last girl lagged behind woefully so. Then, the other three began to fall back and Cosani pulled ahead, actually winning! In fact, she was pulling further and further ahead. Finally, the girls without so much as a word to Cosani turned and began to swim quickly back to the shore. The girl who had been last was already there and dressed and waving to all of them. The slow speed that the other three had taken was evidently a farce of some sort as they swam quite quickly back to the shore. They began to run as soon as their feet touched buttom and were out of the water and throwing their clothes on before Cosani was even halfway back. By the time she got to shore, they were running away, laughing, her clothes with them.

Cosani stood on the beach, panting. She could run after them, and look like an even bigger fool, or she could let it go, for now. She was glad she almost always wore her swimming clothes and didn't swim naked like so many people here. Still, they were _stealing_ her clothes, and that had obviously been the point from the beginning. She was going to play along for now --oh ha ha! That was a good one! -- but she was going to get them back.

No one made a fool out of her.

Last updated on the December 3rd 2008

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No One's Fool