'Bryn!'
He heard his mother's voice and went to the door. She was coming up the path from the harbour with a basket of fish. She turned when she saw him and pointed to the sanctuary pool.
'Bryn. The dolphins are making a lot of noise. Shouldn't you take a look at them ... see what's the matter?'
'When I've finished what I'm doing, Mother.'
'No. I think you should go now,' she insisted. 'They are very excited and they've got some other dolphins with them ... those funny ones with green snouts.'
Bryn went back to his bench and turned off the lathe. His mother might not know what green signified but he did. Green meant royal. They still had a royal family. The guardians didn't get rid of the royals when they seized power. Instead of lining them up and shooting them they forced them to serve their needs.
No one knew what happened to the king but the queen was still around. You saw her on television. She read proclamations. Some people were stupid enough to think she was in charge and they should do what she said because she was their queen. That was a load of crap. The queen and the rest of the royal family were prisoners of the guardians.
The queen was the only one you saw but there were others. There was a son called Crispin and a daughter called Liala. They were marine scientists and they had a research vessel. Bryn knew because he had seen them when he was out fishing. Crispin spent most of his time on deck working with scientific instruments. Liala spent most of her time in the water.
She was totally amazing. He had never seen anyone quite like her. Perhaps it was all the exercise she got when she was swimming with the dolphins. Her figure was fantastic. She had all the right curves in all the right places and she could swim like no one else. He had seen other girls in dolphin suits but none could match Liala for speed and stamina. Liala could leap like a dolphin and keep up with them over long stretches when they swam under water.
One of her tricks was to leap out of the water and sit on their backs. The dolphins liked that. They would carry her backwards and forwards as if they wanted tell everyone that they were carrying a princess. They always took her past his boat.
At first he had been too shy to do more than look up and give her a sideways glance. Later, he plucked up courage to wave. To his amazement she waved back. The dolphins came up close to his boat and their eyes met. That happened more than once. She had even come close when he was diving for lobsters ... very close.