A swim lesson with Tseyrin and Jessa...
Infirmary/Dolphin Pool
The stairs are bit slimy here, so watch your step, or lower yourself in on the overhanging ledge towards the ocean. Cool aquamarine waters lap at toes, knees and shoulders as you slowly ease yourself into the pool. This is the area where dolphins come for medical treatment, or prolonged healing. An opening, large enough for two apprentices and three dolphins to move through comfortably, opens onto the ocean, and the blue filtered light dances across the ceiling.
It is a spring evening.
To the east, you see one ship.
Tseyrin is here.
Obvious exits:
Outside Waters Main Hall
Jessa enters the pool area, attired appropriately for a swim lesson. A towel is in Jess' hands, and she looks around the area. There's only one other here, and this one has a bracelet indicating journeyman rank, so Jess assumes that the other person is going to give the lesson. Unfortunately Jess doesn't know her name, "Hello?" Jess ventures, "Are you here to give a lesson?"
Tseyrin is, in fact, just swimming in fromdeeper waters, finishing up a lap with a light touch on the slippery wall. Standing up in the shallows, she nods. "Aye, and you're right on time. Just you, then?" Eyrin glances behind her to see if anyone else will be joining them. "Well, good, I like personal lessons. I am journeymand Tseyrin, of Ista, though recently transferred from Southern. And you?" Head tilted, Tseyrin dries off her hand and offers it in warm greeting.
Jessa grins and takes the offered hand, "I'm Jessa, I just got here from Keroon, so I'm still just an apprentice." Jess glances around, "I guess I'm the only one." There's a pause, then Jess asks, "So, what am I going to be learning?"
"Well, lets see..." Stepping out of the water, Tseyrin walks over to pick up a clipboard, staring at it speculatively. She flips through the pages, then nods to herself. "I guess we'll be working on the crawl, though I want to see you perfect your kick, first." Clipboard set asside, Eyrin wanders back to the edge and settles down upon it. "Very important, you know -- kicking proparly is what actually gets you /moving/ in the water." A hand is waved towards the still pool. "In ya go."
Jessa puts her towel down in a spot away from the water. With a grin Jess then eagerly enters the water. Then she looks to Tseyrin for instructions.
Tseyrin nods at the quick compliance. "So, have you swam before? Know the general idea, kick your legs a bit and you go forward?" Eyring leans over on her side, proping herself up on her elbow, so that she can show the proper form for a good kick. But not yet. "Lets see what you can do, and what needs work. Swim to that near wall there," a slender finger indicates the wall in question, "with your hands folded in front of you. Face in the water, but turn to the side to breath when you need to."
Jessa nods her head. "Yeah, I've swum before. When I was a kidlet in Keroon we all learned to swim." Though if Jess can swim as well as expected right now, is something else. Perhaps she can, perhaps not. Jessa obliges, she leans down, and with a push off from the bottom, she pulls her legs up to the surface and kicks her feet. As instructed, Jess keeps her hands folded in front. Big splashes result as Jess kicks along the surface. But she does move. And she does move her head to the side for air, although she doesn't find that very comfortable, at least not yet.
Tseyrin watches, motioning Jessa back over when she surfaces at the other wall. "Good, for a start. Too much effort for too little gain, though." Stretching her legs out, Tse demonstrates a neat, tight scissor kick. "With the thighs -- don't bend the knees -- and point your toes. It will be hard to get used to at first, but well worth the practice. Gimme two slow laps. Focus."
Jessa comes back over to Tseyrin, and watches the motions. Jess nods her head. Then she performs the two slow laps. Her start is much as before, a quick push off from the bottom of the pool, legs brought up to surface, and then she kicks. This time it's not as sloppy, she really is trying. Occasionally Jess manages a nice scissor kick, but then there's also the big sloppy kick that sprays up lots of water that appears. Jess swims around, going pretty darn slowly. This is hard when you're concentrating so much on which muscles are being moved! When she finally completes her two laps, after taking her time, Jess moves back over to Tseyrin and awaits for the report, she's also a little out of breath.
Tseyrin gives one of her rare smiles, nodding approval. "Improving already. That's going to take time and practice, though, so I expect you to be out here doing laps after morning chore rotation. That's the only way you're going to get it to come naturally. Now," Eyrin rolls over on her stomach, rotating slightly on the edge to be in the best view for Jessa. "Don't stop swimming continue to tread water while I demonstrate. You'll cramp up, otherwise. Combine what you know," On her stomach, Tse does four full strokes, accompanied with precise scissor kicks. "Stroke, stroke, breath. And continue. Always breath on the same side... probably the right if you're righthanded. But don't neglect your kicks. Two more laps, when you're ready."
Jessa treads water, as Tseyrin advises her. After all, Jess does not want to cramp up. That would hurt. Jess watches Tseyrin's movements and listens to her voice. After catching her breath and hearing the instructions, Jess begins her laps. Her kick doesn't improve too much. Sometimes she manages to get in a tight scissor kick, but for the most part it's a compromise between the nice kick that Tseyrin explained and demonstrated, and the first kick that Jessa performed. However, there are less big sloppy kicks than before. Jess' strokes are a bit uneven, occasionally she forgets a stroke or adds an extra stroke. The result is a jerky movement in the water, which evens out as Jess nears the end of her second lap.
Tseyrin slips into the water as Jessa nears at the end of her laps, treading comfortably by the wall. "Good, you get the general idea. Just a few things to perfect..." Patting the wall, Tseyrin indicates for her to hold on and stretch her legs out behind her. "Hold the wall with one hand, take a stroke with the other, and as you bring the hand forward, grab the wall and switch off. You can keep your head up for now, but I want you to do your scissor kicks at the same time as well. Don't stop until I say, I'll be moving you and making adjustments so you can /feel/ how its supposed to be."
Jessa takes hold of the wall, moving her legs in the water to keep her muscles warm. She kicks out her legs and begins the stroke, keeping her head above water. The movements are still a bit sloppy, though she is working on getting her kicks tighter. Jess does as instructed. One hand holds the wall, and is switched with the other one.
Tseyrin assists Jessa as she practices, adjusting an elbow here, straightening a leg there, pushing this up or that down. Finally, the apprentice seems to be doing a satisfactory job, and Tse waves her to stop. "Good. I want you to keep practicing, ya here? Efficient swimming /will/ save your life some day." Eyrin gives her a very stern look, but lets her face warm into something a bit friendlier. "You can go towel off now. Dismissed."
Jessa had been adjusting her moves according to Tseyrin's own adjustments. Well, that does seem easier, now that Tseyrin has corrected her movements. She comes to a stop and grins. "Of course I'll keep practicing." Why wouldn't she? It beats doing chores anyday! Jess beams, "Thank you so much!" She would practically hug Tseyrin, although Jess has the impression that not everyone loves getting hugged here. The Keroonians didn't seem to like being hugged all the time either. Jess leaves the pool and towels off. Then she heads to off to eat or go to bed or cause some other mischief.
All references to worlds and characters based on Anne McCaffrey's fiction are © Anne McCaffrey 1967, 2000, all rights
reserved, and used by permission of the author.
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