Chapter Nineteen

Return

Buffer gamboled about in the waves. It was a bright afternoon, and occasionally he would stop to sun himself in the warm rays that beamed down to the sea. Months earlier, such frivolous behavior in him would have been deemed odd, but now it was just another hint of changes that had come over him—changes that perturbed Commodore RamStrong. Piper, the old dolphin would muse sourly. Buffer reminded him so much of her, of late. Even in Exile she was a nuisance. The Commodore recalled how, at the end, Piper had managed to make him appear so cold and harsh when she had voiced her love for the Pod. And not long after she’d been banished, it had come back to haunt the entire Clan.

Piper, in truth, had never really been disliked by any of the Pod Whistlers, not even RamStrong. It was difficult for any of them to see her as an actual traitor. Once everyone’s anger had subsided in the wake of her exile, talk had begun that Piper’s violation of the Code may have been due more to a brief spell of madness: “We all knew how eccentric and frail she was; she wasn’t as strong of heart as her brother; the death of her parents surely affected her more severely than any of us realized. Perhaps a less harsh punishment may have been in order.”

RamStrong had listened uneasily to all of it. At Clan Gatherings he would remind the Pod that he, Thane SilverFlukes, and the Elders had to enforce the Code lest their very survival be at stake. “Yes, it is tragic that some should suffer greatly for their deviant behavior, but it is far better than becoming an undisciplined lot who might then fall easy prey to the Snag-Tooth!”

That had always assured everyone that the High Clan had acted rightly and knew what was best. After a while the grumbling had died down and eventually faded away.

All but one was satisfied.

Buffer had never accepted it. Often, great spans of time would pass when none saw him. Some mornings the rest of the Pod would waken only to find that Buffer had gone off again on a private hunt. Other times, no one knew where he had gone. But still he was always on time for the Drills and practiced with a greater diligence than ever, though he now appeared less interested in old RamStrong’s praise than in the past. A silent passion seemed to drive him instead. And at times he even displayed what appeared to some as a restrained contempt harbored quietly toward the old Commodore.

RamStrong had found it all disconcerting but chose not to act on it just yet. Buffer was still a valuable Squad member and nearly as worthy a battler as QuickFin. Together the two were as superb and efficient a fighting duo as any of the veteran pairs. As long as Buffer still knew his place, he would be tolerated. Tolerated in spite of those troubling times when the young bull would return from his solitary outings looking ragged and bruised. The Commodore had no idea where he had gone, or why he usually returned in such condition. But a day would come when he would secretly follow and scan Buffer’s covert excursions. Then he would know precisely what to do about his brash young charge.

****

Buffer poked his head out through the shining surf. He was watching for Floaters when he heard the call—first a familiar piping…then the very distinct flutter of a small pair of flukes, perhaps out near the rocky caverns of the Slithering Ones. A familiar whistle sang out over the waterways.

Buffer was alert instantly. He watched eagerly as—out from the haze of the early morning sea—came a familiar sight: the sloping leaps of a sleek gray-and-white Whistler, spinning and twirling through the green swells. There was a moment of bewilderment as Buffer blinked and looked again, unsure of his own senses.

The careening beauty was—Piper!

For the first time in his life, Buffer failed to restrain the youngling in himself as the morning sun beamed down bright upon the coastal sea…and two joyous dolphins came together in the surf and gently touched beaks.