Chap. 101 The Dolphin Bell

Chap. 101 The Dolphin Bell

K'ndar, B'rost and Lindea were sitting on the new dock, rebuilt after the hurricane. D'nis, Weyrleader at the time, had had a dolphin bell installed. 

"Isn't this bell supposed to be used only in emergencies?" B'rost asked, a bit hesitant.

"Um, I don't know. We don't have a dolphineer here at the weyr, the closest one is up north.

But…the bell is here. And the dolphins use it to call us, too, remember," Lindea said.

"I wish there was a way to call them other than the bell," K'ndar said.

"Maybe we should yell for them?"

"Dolphins!!! Dolphins!!" they began to shout. 

A few children came running, hoping to see dolphins,  and added to their shouts.

"Dolphins!! Dolphins!!"

No response.

"You gotta ring the bell, sir," one boy said, helpfully.

"I know, but this isn't an emergency," K'ndar said. 

"Why do you want the dolphins?" a little girl asked.

"We found this bone and want to know what it's from."

"Ooh, it's big."

"What's it from?"

"We found this big sea creature, we have no idea what it is. We want to ask the dolphins if they know," B'rost said. He then turned his gaze to the sea and yelled, "Dolphins!! Dolphins!!"

The others stood, silent, feeling ludicrous. 

"You gotta ring the bell, sir," said the first boy, repeating.

"Maybe we should fly out there and look for them," B'rost said. 

"Yeah, but…"

"SIR. You hafta ring the BELL," said the boy, obviously fed up with these witless twits.

K'ndar, feeling foolish, submitted.

He took the rope and gave it a light tug.

The bell made a soft, little 'ting'. 

"I'm sure that isn't loud enough,"Lindea said.

"I know, but I don't want to, well, raise the entire ocean, or the weyr, for that matter, with what is NOT an emergency." K'ndar said. They looked expectantly out to sea, but saw nothing.

"Do it again," B'rost said, his eyes still on the horizon.

K'ndar gave it another hesitant, light pull.

"ting"

No response.

The boy finally lost patience with these morons. 

"No! Like THIS!" he cried, jumping on the rope. He gave it half a dozen mighty tugs.

CLANG CLANGCLANGCLANGCLANG!

It was deafening.

The three adults were aghast, but K'ndar was relieved-if someone was going to get into trouble, it wasn't him.

"See? Like THAT," the boy said, satisfied that he'd taught the obtuse K'ndar a lesson. And these are adults? Supposed to know everything? he wondered. 

"Look! Here they come!" the girl shouted.

Several dolphins were leaping towards the dock.

"Keendar! Hello Keendar! Is emergency? 

"No, I hope I am not bothering you?" K'ndar said,

"You first ones to ever ring bell. We hear soft, soft, but think, maybe wind make ring. You got to pull rope HARD," Swash said.

"See, sir, I told you," the bellringer boy said. He was amazed that two dragonriders and the woman who worked in the dining hall could be so stupid.

"Yes, but, it's supposed to be used only in an emergency."

"Is okay. Not always need emergency to ring bell. Sometime just want to talk," Swash said.

They stood upright in the water.

"Is okay, Keendar. We want talk to you. How mosar bite dragon tail?"

"Oh, mannnnnnnn, " K'ndar thought, you dolphins are gossips. We hadn't been back an hour, and every dolphin in Pern knows?

A crowd of people came running, having heard the bell. 

"Is it an emergency? Is someone lost at sea?"

"Is it the dolphins?"

"Who rang the bell? That's new, isn't it!"

"Isn't it supposed to be used only for emergencies?"

"Is okay," Swash called out, "Not always for emergency. This time for Keendar to tell how mosar bite dragon tail," he squeaked.

"What?"  "What's a mosar?" "Something bit a dragon?" "Is it okay?" "Call the dragonhealer, quick!" "Where's the dragon?" 

K'ndar stood up as tall as he could.

"QUIET!" he yelled. Everyone shut up. "Everyone, just listen. Please. We wanted to ask the dolphin a question, and had no idea how to summon them without using the bell."

"False alarm, what?"

"That's alright, I needed a break."

"I woulda just called 'dolphin' 'stead of making everyone think something's gone wrong," 

"We did that, " the boy said, still proud of himself. "didn't work. Gotta ring the bell, like this," but Lindea grabbed him before he was able to pull the rope again.

"IS OKAY" Swash said, again.

"It's okay. There's no emergency. Please, folks, go back to what you were doing, I'm sorry to have interrupted you," K'ndar said. 

Grumbling, most of the folks turned around and went back to what they were doing. 

K'ndar definitely heard the word, "fool". Well, it was better than cussing.