Tales from the winter solstice: How in Aquella are we getting this home?

It was the season for the winter solstice, a special time of year when aqrion from all across the seas would gather together to celebrate. Nendo had been making his way out of his frozen home toward the city to see the festivities and if they needed any help. In his travels he noticed a small aqrion, one he didn’t recognize at first. They looked a lot like a dolphin at a first glance, being much smaller than the giant aqrion. The phin singer in question was black and white, sporting a beige hourglass. The stranger was making a series of whistles and clicks as they looked at the small pile of driftwood various aqrion were contributing to. Nendo’s curiosity got the better of him as he came over, fins perked up. “What’s going on over here with all the driftwood? Haven’t seen this much of it since the last time I looked at a human nest.”

Monte looked up at the giant aqrion who approached him, clicking excitedly “We’re building the concert hall for the Symphony Singers! They’re coming to town soon but the hall isn’t big enough for everyone, so we’re all pitching in materials to help make it nice and spacious.” Nendo wiggles his cheek fins and hums, looking over the aqrion hustling about. “The Symphony Singers, huh? I heard a thing or two about them as a pup. What sort of materials are you looking for right now?” The phin singer perks up, seeming pleased that Nendo is offering help. “We really need more driftwood to start building up the stage, I’ve seen a big gathering of it off the seagrass meadows, but I’m not strong enough to gather it all. Mind lending me a fin?”

Nendo nods, giving a chirp to Monte “Sure, I don’t see why not. We can fasten together a rope to pull the bundle here, that should help get the hall built.” He carefully dove down to gather up some loose kelp he could tie together to make a twine. Monte was swimming around to gather up the twine until he ended up covered in it. Nendo gave a bark of laughter and took the twine gently, nodding out toward the open water. “Let’s get going, that wood won't haul itself! I’d like to get it back here before it gets dark on us” The smaller aqrion nods to him and leads the way out into the seagrass meadows, where a large clumping of driftwood has indeed built up on a rock formation that barely breeches the water's surface. The grey-brown giant looks at his little companion and nods, heading over to the mass in front of them. 

 The duo take a careful lap around the driftwood to make sure there’s nothing hiding around it, Nendo is carefully wrapping his kelp twine around as they go. The mass was...bigger than Nendo expected, a small part of him wondered if they had enough kelp to pull it back to the city. Monte broke his thoughts with a clicking laughter, swimming around Nendo. “I told you, this thing is huge! I just wonder how it ended up here..” The giant nods and gives a small smile “I have no idea, but it looks like fate was nice enough to leave it here for us. Think we’re ready to pull?” The phin swam over and gave an experimental tug of the kelp, nodding to Nendo before the larger male joined him. They both grabbed the kelp in their mouths, excess kelp resting on their backs and fins to provide more pull. With a clap of Nendo’s fins they both pulled with all their might

….until the mass slit into a bunch of large pieces. The center had been hollow, which made the boys burst into a whole new round of laughter. Monte went up for a quick burst of air before coming down to help Nendo retie the now free pieces to their little driftwood sled. After a few minutes of this the two grabbed up their kelp ropes and set off for the concert hall.

Nendo had found this to be an easy enough trip, he was used to lugging around large materials with his two boys. It suddenly occurred to him to notice that Monte was no longer beside him in pace, when he turned to see the phin singer struggling to pull the driftwood. With a chuckle the giant swam back over and carefully took the kelp from Monte. “I got this, do you mind being my sonar and making sure there’s nobody in the way?” The singer seemed relieved, nodding and darting ahead. The pair traveled in a comfortable silence until they got into the city with the driftwood in tow, Monte made sure to warn everyone to clear the way so nobody got hit. When all of the driftwood had safely touched down Nendo let go of the kelp, moving to start to untie it all. Monte playfully bumped him with his snout “You take a breather, that had to be heavy! I can get help untying it later” The giant raised his fins for a second before nodding and relaxing his fins as he glanced around again. It had seemed like even more aqrion had gathered since they left. 

The giant broke his silence, speaking softly. “With all these aqrion helping, do you think we’ll have it done in time?” Monte looked at the crowd for a minute, before nodding. “I know we will, it’ll be the best performance anyone has ever seen.” Nendo smiles, swimming up a little. He waves a flipper in goodbye as he turns to head home for the day. ‘I’ll have to be sure to come back later, they might need more help’.