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Orlina had finished her Candidate chores early and slipped off when she was done. Normally she would have let the person in charge know and allowed herself to be given more work, but the tasks she had been assigned were done and the day was so beautiful that Orlina felt an itching in her feet that demanded she seek out a way to quell it.

It wasn't hard to come up with a plan for the day. The lakes had interested Orlina since she had come here. The ocean she had grown up by, of course, but she hadn't ever experienced fresh water like the lakes before. Any chance she got when she didn't have another adventure in mind would find her searching for more flit eggs on the sandy beaches or attempting to dive to the bottom of the lake.

In the last few sevendays, also, Zarike had become her almost constant partner. If there was exploration to be done, he was her stalwart ally (and often was more adventuresome than she herself).

That thought alone summoned Morning Star, her first flit and by far the smartest of the two Orlina had. Orlina smiled at the Gold when she chirruped and mentally sent her the image of Zarike.

"Find him and have him come to the lakes, Star."

The Gold let out an acknowledging peep and disappeared again. Orlina dropped by the Candidate Barracks, sneaking inside to put her swimsuit on under her clothes, and then sneaked back out again, thankfully not running into any of the Candidatemasters. They might have thought she was shirking her responsibilities, and she didn't want to get in trouble. Adults misunderstood, sometimes.

She continued at a trot to the lakes, scanning the shores for Zarike. He hadn't made it quite yet, but that just gave her time to scan for eggs. It was more of a habit than anything; she knew how unlikely it was to just find a Clutch lying around when riders and other Weyrfolk came through all of the time. If there had been eggs, someone else would have found them first.

No luck with the eggs, of course, but that wasn't a bother. Soot had joined her while Star was off getting Zarike, and when the Gold returned they had begun swooping up and down the beach. Her little Black had been growing steadily recently. Orlina was fairly certain that he had almost reached his full size, judging from the other Blacks she had seen.

She heard a call behind her and turned, then dropped a huge grin on her face and waved frantically at Zarike, who was barreling toward her. "Hello!"

The dark girl waited until he had come to a stop before she pointed at the lake, practically vibrating with excitement about her plans. "It's beautiful today! This would be the perfect chance to see how far upriver we can go and scout out any hidden bays." Secret bases were a current favorite with her; she had this concept of having them scattered throughout the Trine Weyr area for refuge, planning and play with Zarike. "I changed into my suit. You remembered yours, didn't you? Or can you swim in what you have on?" Star was generally clear enough with her messages that Orlina didn't really question if the person her Gold had gone to had understood the gist of what Orlina was saying.

Orlina pointed up the lake from where they were standing, approximately in the direction of the river that filled the lake. She'd had occasion to see a map of the area, so at least they wouldn't aim for the river and end up at the Dolphin Hall.

Orlina turned to look down the shore of the river for said-Hall, but all of the dolphineers appeared to be indoors or preoccupied with their own tasks. They wouldn't pay any mind to a couple of weyrbrats running around, especially if they didn't venture near the Dolphin Hall.

"Yes, definitely that way. Come on!" Orlina grinned and took off at a run down the shoreline. They could get a fair way on foot before they entered the water to throw off the trail of any well-meaning adults. In the water they would be less conspicuous, but swimming was also harder work than running, and Orlina wanted to conserve her energy so they could explore more of the river. If they tired out too quickly, they would never find anything.

Star and Soot flew with her, the latter thinking that Orlina was trying to race him. Excitement whirled in his eyes, and he disappeared between, only to reappear several yards ahead of her with in a rather smug mood. "Cheating" was not in his vocabulary, so clearly he was beating her.

Soot looked up at Terra and then made a very rude-sounding squawk in her direction before winging down the beach, tail flipping up briefly in rather haughty gesture.

Eventually, the lakeshore did have to end, and by the time it did Orlina had slowed down. She carefully began to climb along the shore, using the first of the trees as handholds to help her clamber into the undergrowth that quickly became jungle.

"We'll have to start swimming, soon," she said over her shoulder to Zarike. "There jungle will--" Her words broke into a startled shriek as her grip slipped and she lost her balance, sending her tumbling into the river.

She landed with a significant splash, but popped up almost immediately. Thankfully, the river was deep enough that she had barely brushed the bottom when she went in. Star chittered anxiously at her, but Orlina waved her off while sending waves of reassurance her way.

"Now's the time to get in, I think! Mind the last step!" she trilled at Zarike, grinning at her friend and beginning to backstroke her way up the river.

A nudge at her side startled her and Orlina jerked hastily away from whatever had touched her, images of water-dwelling tunnelsnakes coming to mind.

The beady black eye that peeked up at her from a gray mass earned a stare before Orlina processed that she was looking at a dolphin. Though the swell of excitement drove her into silence, a brilliant grin spread across her face as she tread water and stared back at her new acquaintance.

Orlina turned her head sharply, staring at Zarike with a comical cross between offense and confusion on her face. Her face scrunched into a confused smile.

"What in Faranth's name are you doing?" She started laughing, exhilaration and confusion and Dorado's still frightened but rather offended shrieking combining to send her over the edge. "Zarike, stop, stop--" Orlina reached out and swam forward a few paces, trying to stop his flailing arms, "You're going to hit one of the dolphins!"

The dolphin behind Orlina lifted its head from the water and let out a long set of clicks, almost sounding curious. It rolled over in the water gently, keeping its distance from the strange human male and his friend. The Crimson's unfortunate fate and Zarike's actions had clearly told the dolphins to hold off on any excited greetings.