A Curiosity

Writers: AL, Jane
Date Posted: 31st December 2009

Characters: Seriand, Swift, Leisenn, Ylisahn, Westni, Teira
Description: Westni finds something surprising on the beach but doesn't keep it for long.
Location: Dolphin Hall
Date: month 6, day 2 of Turn 5

Westni crouched upon the sand, rolling the object over and over in her hands. She had to admit she was rather surprised to find such a thing, or rather, to have one of the dolphins find such a thing. It was the sort of thing she expected to find in a river, not off the coast. Maybe someone had found it elsewhere then lost it? Maybe it had fallen overboard and washed on shore, despite its heaviness. Westni couldn't be sure, but it was rather fascinating in a way.

"What have you got there?" Seriand asked as he waded out of the water, drawn to Westni's side as usual. What was unusual was that the girl wasn't studying, instead she was fiddling with something.

"It's a stone." But not just any stone. The young man could see the shape of it when he drew close. It was round as round could be, sculpted whether by man or sea, it was impossible to tell. Westni held it up so Seriand could get a better look.

"Huh. Don't see many like that." He held out his hand. "Does it look like somebody made it?"

"To be this perfect, I would say probably, but I guess I shouldn't rule it out as a product of nature." Westni stood and then pointed to the rocks not far from where they were. "Hess found it over there."

"I wonder how it got -" He looked up as the bell tolled. "I'm late now," he said, his tone accusatory but his expression amused. "All your fault - and I'll tell them so. Are you going to carry that rock into the meal?"

"My fault?" Westni stuck out her tongue, then cradled the rock to her. "Yeah, I want to see if anyone else has seen one like it. Do you think it's from a force of nature, or did someone carve it?" He'd asked her, she might as well get his opinion.

"I reckon it's the reason we're going to be late," he said, taking her arm and dragging her toward the main doors. As they passed his pile of clothes he dipped to pick them up and then released her arm so that he could struggle into them as he walked.

Westni wasn't the sort to usually be late, but she had to admit that the rock had distracted her. She had been on her morning run and was on her way back when she had found it. It was still odd to her. She cast a glance at Seriand and laughed at the way he hopped about to get into his clothes. "You look awfully silly doing that."

"That's my lot in life. Look, are you going to lug that thing into the dining hall? Put it down somewhere and we'll get it when we come out."

"Oh...all right." Westni found a little nook between another rock and the wall before Seriand dragged her inside. She had to admit, even without the shape it was a nice rock. Sort of a greyish lavender with sparkles. She just wish she knew where it had come from.

~ ~ ~

Swift stopped and walked backwards a few steps. There was something sparkling in the light there. Between the rock and the cliff-face that formed the Hall's walls.

The kitchen-hand bent down and then straightened with the round stone in his hand. He smiled at it, considering it a curiosity. He glanced around but there was nobody to tell him how it had come there - surely not by accident or natural occurrence. He would take it back to the kitchens and put it somewhere safe.

When he got to the kitchens, though, the meal service was ending and everybody was rushing around, so he left the stone in one of the bowls of fruit that were set out on the servery for snacks between meals. He smiled. That would amuse somebody.

~ ~ ~

Leisenn picked up the stone as she hurried past. It was an automatic gesture to grab some fruit and eat it on the run; the result of long Turns of hard work as an active dolphineer. No amount of being the Hallmaster - and being _old_ - could stop some habits.

But the weight and the feel of the stone did stop the elderly woman and she paused to peer at what she held.

A stone. A rock? She turned it over a couple of times, rather intrigued, but almost immediately she recalled her errand and swapped the rock for a richly coloured redfruit. That would stave off the hunger pangs for a while in a way no curiosity about an almost perfectly round rock would.

To her mind it was a fair exchange.

~ ~ ~

Just a few moments later, Teira swept by the bowl and her hand grasped at a redfruit. In the split second it took to curl her hand over the stone, she didn't think about it's strange coolness or its texture. She didn't notice anything odd about it until she tried to lift it from the basket and the object was quite a bit heavier than she expected. She fairly tripped in her startlement and dropped it onto the table. She caught the stone before it could fall to the ground and drew it closer for inspection. How odd. A perfectly round stone. Surely it was carved somehow. Didn't some harpers make statues and things out of stone? Was this supposed to be a part of some sort of statue?

"What's that?" Ylisahn asked the girl as something thudded to the table and rolled. "Has somebody been messing around with the fruit bowl?" She peered at the bowl closest to her but nothing looked amiss in that one.

"I guess so...either that, or they put it down and forgot about it." Teira held up the smooth, round object so the Headwoman could have a better look. "Isn't it odd? I don't think I've ever seen a rock like this. Someone must have made it."

"Or perhaps the sea has worked it smooth. What are you going to do with it?"

"I don't know. I just found it." Teira shrugged and then held it out to Ylisahn. "Would you like it Headwoman? I really have no use for a rock, even a round one. Playing ball with it would probably get me killed."

"It might at that." Ylisahn took the rock with a smile, glad she wasn't going to see apprentices throwing it around - and the likely consequences. "Why don't you take a redfruit instead?"

"I think that is a very good idea." Teira concurred as she reached back into the basket and plucked a redfruit from it. "Maybe you'll find some use for it." She commented as she motioned to the round item with her redfruit.

"Maybe I will," Ylisahn said, not exactly sure what use she might find for such a thing.

Last updated on the January 5th 2010

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A Curiosity