"Hey, there," you croon, and make a little splash in the water. "I'm Leilani. What's your name?"

The creature eyes you wearily for a moment and then slowly swims closer, making you smile as you walk out to meet him, no longer caring that you're in your 'good clothes,' just wanting to see who this was.

"I'm Tantrum," he says, his voice hardly a whisper. "I'm the leader of the Jinxes."

"Hi, Tantrum. Can you show me the others? You're so cute, I'd really like to see the others."

He pauses a moment and you somehow know that this is a very guarded species. When you wait for him, Tantrum relaxes a litte bit before diving back into the sea, his splash getting your hair wet and making you giggle.

At the sound of your giggle though the shadow in the water comes up and looks at you uncertainly, just as the first one had, with Tantrum saying quiet proudly, "This is Squiggle, my mate. Sweetheart, this is Leilani. She know the serians."

Squiggle stopps looking at you like you might bite at the mention of the serians. She seems to love them as much as you do. "Did Sparkle show you the way here? He's so nice, I wish he'd visit more often." Then she grinned and added, "Guess what though? I'm gunna surprise him the next time he comes. See, Tantrum and I are trying to have a baby. So when we do, we'll all surprise him. It's gunna be alot of fun."

You laugh again, loving these shy little creatures, and then Splash at Squiggle as her mate dives back down into the waves. This time you manage to get satisfactoraly drenched.

That makes Sqiggle laugh and toss herself in the air, wriggling and showing off her pretty designs. Tantrum, however, isn't so happy.

"We got our cuteness from an oil spill. It contaminated us, changed us."

As soon as he says even that much you can tell they don't like to talk about what happened. You really don't want to upset them, you like them too much, so you say, "Well I still think you're adorable no matter how you got that way. And I still wanna see you're baby. You're all just so sweet, I could stay here forever."

You hear a giggle at that and the shadow comes up to be nudged by Squiggle, a soft dolphin click comming out in place of the giggle. "This is Daisy," she says, "She's a sweety, she just doesn't say much."

As if to prove this point Daisy offers you a smile that would stick to honey it's so sweet and sinks a little lower in the water as Tantrum says, "Maybe you couldn't stay here forever but you could stay for awhile longer," before diving back into the water, leaving you three girls to smile and giggle at how serious he could be.

"Leilani, Do you have any fish?"

"Fish? Oh, yea, I have this sandwhich my dad gave me; it's a running joke. He gives me a fish sandwhich and I give him celery."

This actually gets Tantrum to smile, and you think maybe even chuckle though you aren't sure. You smile at him anyway as you start to hand over the sandwhich, surprised when he shakes his head no.

"Just throw it in the air," he sighes, "You'll see. Toss it right out over the water, please."

You do as he says, wondering what it is that you'll see, and fall down on your rump as another Jinx jumps out of the water after the sandwhich. Laughing, you right yourself, and shake your head in amazement as Tantrum grumbles, "One of these days you're gunna land on a sand bank."

You're still trying to stiffle your giggles, having been careful this whole time not to be in the least bit loud, and then find it easy when you see shy Daisy swimming with the new male. You suppose it's no different than silly Squiggle and serious Tantrum but it still surprises you when she says in the softest, prettyest whisper you'd ever heard "This is Skipper, my mate. We're trying for a baby too."

She looks at him lovingly and you have to smile at that, chuckling as Squiggle adds, "He's always the one who swims when he's first to see a stranger. See, Skipper's a kinda extremest; first he's acting like everything's oil, then he's insisting on making a grand entrance because he knows it's safe. He's really very sweet, though he does like his attention."

Amazed, feeling lucky, you shake your head and spend a good deal of time just being with them in the water, enjoying where you are and who you're with, and looking like an old wet log.

"I'm Splash," he says, shyly looking at Tantrum and sinking slightly under agian. This seems to be a Jinx thing, one that happens whenever a new creature comes to the group.

"I'm Tantrum," Tantrum said, offering a small smile to show Splash had done well. He had to show he was cautious and would mind if the leader gave an order; like swim. The others soon form a circle around him, clicking softly and nudging him, the way you would pat a friend in greeting. They introduce themselves, then dive deep under water, testing to see if he could prove he wouldn't slow them or get in their way. He passes as the five shoot up into the air, each one in perfect formation, and fall back in to laugh.

"I'm leilani," you say as they come closer, with Squiggle sneaking in a splash. "Wow, I love your colors."

Splash blushes and then lives up to his name; he gives a splash bigger than you'd ever thought possible, an explosion of water breaking over you and starting a whole new game. You forget the hike that brought you here, and the reason you'd gone off by yourself; for now you're just Leilani, and as happy as you can ever remember being.

"My name's rainbow," she mumures. She hardly makes a ripple as she moves through the water, the oppisite of her escort who's making as many splashes as he can.

"She's my mate," Splash announces with obvious pride.

There seem to be no end to the days surprises. Grinning, you watch as the others circle around her, expecting a repeat of what happened with her mate. Instead they simply make introductions and mess around with her until the ice breaks and they feel comfortable with each other. Splash had already been made a part of thier pod. If he brought anyone new then they automatically had the trust of everyone since they already had his own trust. The whole thing strikes you as rather sweet and then you get another shock.

Both Squiggle and Daisy are expecting to have the babies they were trying for. It looks like Squiggle will be the first to deliver, though Daisy shouldn't be too far behind her. The announcment is cause for celebration and you laugh as they swim into deeper water, following so you can join in the fun. They show you new games and you manage to dunk the energetic Squiggle as your once perfectly permed hair falls down around your shoulders.