RWBY: Remnant's Blond Bard

Chapter 8

Still, the dolphins made for good conversation. They were a lot smarter than the animals he was used to. They were chatty, but capable of full conversation, remembering things, and even asking questions back.

It was nice.

"So, first time one of you has talked back to us. I have so many questions, dry one!"

"I can imagine. We call ourselves humans, by the way."

"Human? Human. Huh. I'll have to tell the others that. What do you call us?"

"Dolphins."

"Dolphin. Dolphin. Hey, that doesn't sound half bad. We just call ourselves us, you know? There's us, then there's food – and then there are the sharp ones, the big ones, the many-armed ones." The dolphin's voice dropped ominously. "And then there are the blind behemoths."

"Behemoths—?"

Did they mean whales? But they weren't blind unless they referred to echolocation.

"The big, dark ones that swim but do not eat," explained the dolphin. "You probably know them by another word. They don't hunt, don't eat, but they kill your kind whenever they can."

Jaune's blood went cold. "Grimm. Are... Are they here!?"

"No. You're safe." The dolphin chirped in amusement. "We're escorting you through the safer areas that avoid them. Got to do our part, you know?"

Escorting—? The dolphins were swimming ahead as if they were guiding the way, and they didn't realise that the ship wasn't alive and wasn't following them. They must have thought it another animal – a "metal one" – that was domesticated by the humans. Jaune realised the dolphins were trying to corral the ship and had apparently been doing it for others.

All to try and help them get past the Grimm.

Jaune smiled. "Thank you all, then. You're heroes."

He didn't have the heart to tell them it didn't work.

"Nah. We're just looking after those we can. We used to try and kill them, and we still do if they're small and squishy, but the big ones don't feel us. Don't even react. Best we can do is try and warn others away."

"Ask his name!" chirped another dolphin, who sounded younger. "Ask his name!"

"Jaune. My name is Jaune." He waved to the smaller dolphin calf. "What's yours?"

"I'm water's-cooling-touch," said the young dolphin. Her voice was feminine. The name sounded odd, like his Semblance was translating the definition rather than the name, and the way she said it was much shorter. "My mom's the boss!"

"The boss, eh?" Jaune strummed a few more bars and watched the dolphins play happily. "Does that make you a princess?"

"What's a princess?"

He explained the concept of royalty and fantasy, and even got roped into bringing out a book and reading to the pod of dolphins. They adored it, flapping and clicking merrily and doing flips until even the sailors noticed and came to watch and take photos. He had a feeling his actions would land him online again, but he wasn't using his Bardic Music or playing any familiar song, so it'd be more like those videos of cows coming to listen to someone playing an accordion. It'd go big, but in an "aww, look at the cute animals" sort of way.