This phase and last the finpod has been hosting a cross-species interactive behavioral seminar, in the harbor just out from Balance Reef. There were amazing insights throughout the conference, too many to parse all at once. What is lingering for my memory at the moment is the last morning of the seminar. A representative group from each species present spoke publicly about what they had learned and any insights they had gained or questions they still had unanswered. So the Saereshin had a typical speech about learning trust and cooperation, and the Lyriceans sang about overcoming integral water-immersion fears and learning new songs from a new culture. The Vikkrans gained insight into how another species can specialize sensory input as refined as Vikkran sight is (the dolphin sound and echolocation experience, there were some nifty neural networks on loan from Teacher Town designed to help translate equivalent experiences between senses to enhance understanding). Tellurians talked about the differences of dolphins from their world to here, and how much of that was due to the philosophical differences in how we approached studying with the dolphins on Mother. Zayzans discussed their excitement in how many new phrases and concepts the translators were able to communicate between the dolphins and the others during the conference.

The people-translators were obviously fatigued from the extent of the messages transmitted, by the time everyone else was done, and even the mechanical whistle-click interpreters were starting to sound out obvious errors in translation. The dolphin pod seemed silent for several moments, though the equipment showed that they were politely conversing among themselves in sound frequencies that even the Lyriceans couldn’t physically hear. Lili, a beautiful cetae with a jaunty scar under one eye, flipped over two podmates, rose up on her fluke and bowed to the rest of us, and whistled at the closest interpeter-box.

“Don’t forget to play, every day.”

When I looked back they were already halfway to the Gurge’s edge, cascading over and across each other in a complicated aquatic hopjump game before diving out of view. I sailed home with a smile on my face that won’t leave since. And now, I hear the waves and my board calling me to come play with them, and so I shall.

– Fali, Rider