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After an hour driving, she arrived on site and quickly headed to the office where shemet the usual trainers and a new guy, John introduced him as Jim, a young guy with a psychology diploma and no animal background. It would be his first time as trainer and he would only stay for three months as it was a short internship he was doing for his university. They both got their badges and headed in the park spreading in groups.

Florian took the new guy to explain him the job as Delphine and Matthew started checking the sea lions water before releasing them. John was already working there with the dolphins. He was training them like every day during winter. The job in winter wasn't that different from the job during summer, except for the shows of course. They fed the sea lions and started to work on some part of the shows that theyneeded rehearsing.

Once it was over, John called them to the dolphins pool and startedexplainingthe newthings they added on theshow. They would both haveto learn it before the opening. It would takethem a few weeks tobe ready.

Jim was also taught the basics, sometimes working with her and otherswith Matthew.

He was slowly grasping on what it meant to work every day with animals: lots of repetitive tasks, long hours but a job that was worth it with the time spent with those animals. Like everyone before him, he struggled at first but eventually grew some muscles and fitted in. He was a nice recruitand it would besad to see him go, but he had already made plans for when he'd finish university.

°°°

The park had opened again and the audience was rushing in, the weather was warmer than the last year at the same period and from the first days on, the park was full. The shows were going perfectly and the audience roaredwith delight. They really enjoyed doing it that day.

Eventually the first day ended and it proved that they were ready to go for the season, despite a few mistakes here and there that the audience didn't catch.

No need to say that the trainers were rather tired from the first day and the evening meeting to discuss the day's work was rather short. Jim, Delphine, Matthew and Florian headed to their house and it didn't take long until all lights in the rooms were off.

°°°

Delphinewoke up with the sun that but she actually didn't sleep too well and she woke up with a headache. Her bedsheets were soaked with her sweating during the night. She got out of bed and she felt grumpy but it's like something had changed in her, something she couldn't tell about.

She walked down to the kitchen and had her breakfast with the others there. She felt unusually grumpy and barely nodded as greeting to them.It seems that something had changed but she couldn't tell what. No one actually minded or even noticed as the breakfast went silently and quickly. Most of them still trying to wake up after such a short night.

Once in the park, she started the usual chores of the day, the coolness inside the cages as she cleaned them wassoothing the lightheadache that started building as she walked to work. She finished cleaning the cages and walked out. As she opened the door she heard someone calling her name softly. She mindlessly replied without turningaround:

• yes?

The voice called her again after a few seconds and this time she turned around expecting to see someone but the place was empty. She searched a bit expecting another trainer to prank her but shefound herselfalone with the sea lions.

She waited expectantly but the voice didn't call her again. She tried to remember it as she walked to the kitchen, it was not a voice that she had heard before. It was both soft and soothing. The kind of voice you would expect from someone very old and sage. She shrugged andheaded back to the pool with two buckets of fishes.

Now the park was open and people started rushing in. Her headache has grown stronger but she kept the smile on her face while she fed the sea lions andposedwhen people asked hergesturing to the animalfor poses too.

The voice called her again.

Trying to hide her shock, she looked at the audience but no one would know her name.

The male sea lion nudgedher out of her reveryand she thrown hima fish. She was resuming her thoughts trail when the voice spoke again.

• Don't be afraid, we will talk again later, when time comes.

And that was all.

She finished her show with the sea lions andgot out of the cage. It wouldn't be someone from the audience, but it couldn't be a prank either.

Matthew arrived in the kitchen with her.

• Were you looking at me doing the sea lions feeding?

• Hell no, I was far too busy working with the dolphins, there are lots of people today.

• Yeah I saw that too.

• Are you OK?

• Well, I ... just have a headache that doesn't want to go away.

She didn't want to tell him about the voices and sound crazy. For now she thought it was best to keep it for herself and work it out later. She prepared the food for the next shows and cleaned a thing or two before heading for the sea lions show.

It went smoothly and the audience was more than happy, no more voice was heard that day and she went to have her lunch with the team.

She would have relaxed and forgot about it if it wasn't for her pounding headache. She had tried to ignore it as it grew throughout the day but even a mild painkiller wouldn't do the trick. Unlike other days, she was not verytalkative but managed to dismiss it claimingit was because of her headache, althoughshe couldn't stop thinking about the meaning of thewords: "when time comes."

What would they mean? And more important, Who are they?

As the meal ended, John approached her, shehad been schedule forthe dolphin show today.

• Do you think you can do it? he asked.

• Yes, yes, no problem, I'll do it.

Fifteen minutes later she was in the trainer's room getting dressed with her swimming suit before she walked to the dolphin pool. On her way, she stopped by the sea lions pool for a few seconds and looked at them.

She shook her head and walked off.

The show started and as she was about to jump into the water, another voice called her, deeper than the first one. It called her name slowly with a very unique tone.

It startled her enough that she almost missed her jump. She concentrated and managed to ignore it as it kept calling her. One of the dolphinsseemed to buzz her feet repeatedlyin conjunction with the voice.

• Who are you and why are you playing pranks on me? was all she wanted to say out loud but not here, not now.

As if the voice had heard her, it said.

• It'sss not a prrrank, we are yourrr frriends.

She stand there frozen for what seemed an eternity before she snapped out of it just in time to catch on with the show and get back onto the platform. John raised an eyebrow, both in confusion and reproach. That's all she'd get until the meeting.

She bowed to the audience before running out of view with the final music blaring through the speakers.

• Can you hear my thoughts? Who are you, what do you want? she silently asked.

The voice answered deeply and slowly

• We can. We need your help. We will talk when time comes.

Then the voice shutdown for good and she found herself alone with the buckets in her hands.

The day endedwith the last of the dolphin show without any incident and a few people went up to speak to John askinghim questions about the job and the dolphins. The kind of things Delphine despised but which he seemed to take a certain joy in doing, no matter how silly the questions were.

• Sorrrry for the headache.

She jumped with surprise, almost dropping her bucket and apologized to the visitor she bumped into.

• If we are to be friends, I'd expect you to stop startling me with people around.

No answer.

They apparently got the message.

• What happened to you today? You acted really strange.

• I'm sorry about that, I didn't sleep well and I think the headache didn't help.

John nodded.

• Well, you better be careful, we don't want people think we hired weird workers here.

She nodded too and John laughed, which she happily shared.

°°°

That night, she would leave her ferrets in theircorner longer than usual. She had told the others she didn't want to be disturbed that evening and quickly went up to her bedroom after the meal.

• You are in for a big trip, Delphine!

Her jaw dropped, it wasn't one but two voices this time and different ones too. She looked down at her ferrets and before she could mutter something, the voices replied.

• Well, what do you expect? Of course it's us. You should know, you have been with us for many years now.

She stayed there with her mouth agape.

• Close your mouth, you are going to catch flies!

That was just too much. She replied in a snap.

• Smart animals doing witty comments!

The ferret bounced around and made small noises as if laughing. She was really curious to know more about them and why she could hear them. But first :

• Who are the other voices I heard?

• Well, we expected you to be smarter than that! Don't you have a single idea?

• I ...

And it suddenly crossed her mind that if those two voices were her ferrets then the ones she heard were the sea lions and dolphins she met there. She thought she would turn crazy and wouldn't know how to explain this to others.

• You justcan't tell them...and no, you are not crazy.

• Will you always read my mind like that, can't I have a little privacy?

• We can only read your mind if we are in visual range. As for privacy, we don't read mind more than necessary.

Shethen started flooding the animals with question about the reason of her ability, why she had been chosen and plenty of other things that rushed to her mind.

• Those will need to wait for the right time to answer. For now all we can say is that you'll have to do some difficult sacrifices in order to evolve.

• What if I refuse?

• Do you really have a choice?

She thought for a bit and sighed.

• I guess not...

Theykept talking for a while about her and them until she eventually felt tired andwent to bed but before she fell asleep she asked:

• What about the headache?

• Oh that, it's just your new abilities going in place, it should not bother you anymore in a couple of days.

-AbilitIES?

• Yes, just sleep now.

°°°

Asshe woke up the next day, she wasn'tsure if shehaddreamt it allor not...

• Good morning! And don't forget to clean our cage today.

It sure was a good reminder. She greeted them too and exchanged a few words before she hurried to the trainer's kitchen for breakfast. The headache was not as strong as the previous day but it was still there.

Of course more questions filling her brain didn't help with it but for nowitwas just time for work.

She took the morning feedingopportunity to tryher new ability. She called out a few times without success and grew frustrated as she rememberedwhat the ferrets warned her about the fact they would stay silent.

• We are not stupid. Avoice said

She was caught off guard and dropped a fish, which one of the sea lions rushedto eat.

• We are not stupid. The voice repeated.

• I know you are not, it's just that I still thinking the ability to speak with other species is just kind of absurd.

• If it is so, why can you?

• Well, why am I the only one who can?

• You tell me.

She didn't know what to say and remained silent for a while. The conversation didn't go any further as it was time to go out of the cage, she gestured tothe animals to go in water and headed out of the cage.

She closed the gate,threwthe last fishes and sent her thoughts:

• See you later.

• Very soon.

Delphinefumed inside, dieing to know more but she bit her lip and walked away. There was no need to question further anyway.

"Her new abilities" the ferrets said.

• More than one, she thought, then what are the others? And what will be those sacrifices. I guess it won't be easy ones or they wouldn't have warned me like that...

She walked into the kitchen still thinking and almost fell as she missed the stair, she held herself onto Matthew.

• Well, as much as I love it when you are against me, you better watch your step, dear.

She blushed.

• I'm sorry I was lost in my thought and er.. I didn't see it.

He giggled.

• Well, you seem quite busy with your thoughts lately, next thing you will tell me is that you talk to animals!

She stayed there dumbfounded before he added:

• Just a joke, relax. What's with you lately?

• Oh er, I'm having PMS.

They both laughed and she was glad her lie went through easily.

They headed up with buckets to the sea lions show and while she tried once or twice to talk to them or to the dolphins when doing the dolphin show, she got no reply.

At the end of the last dolphin show, a voice say:

• We know they told you. We will talk to you soon.

She smiled and walked away from the pool. She went to the kitchen, cleaned all the buckets, wiped the floor and added extra cleaning here and there.

Shethen walked by the cages tosaygood night to all of them. She didn't expect any answer at all, but since she could express herself to them, she thought a few nice words here and there would do no harm.

She walked by the dolphins pool and did the same. to which a voice replied:

• And good night to you too Delphine.

In the trainer's house, they were all waiting for her. It was the fondue night and she had forgotten about it. They all complained that the cheese would be cold and everyone laughed.

The meal would last until late in the evening and at that moment they were more than just colleagues. When they eventually finished eating, she walked up to her room and cleaned the ferrets cage.

She was thinking of that new ability of hers and how she had grown to know a good part of what would make her a good trainer. In the last months John had shown her how to use the whistle, how to plan for new behaviors and cut them into separate learning phases and more things that any good trainer would need to know. She still had to work on more stuff there to be perfect but then her ability may help her to which a ferret replied:

• You must not use that ability for yourself.

Shefrowned but nodded.She wasn'treally sure what it implied but for now she was ready to accept justabout anything coming from them.She didn't care about the limitations it implied. She just loved her life now.

She lay down on her bed, turned off the lights and closed her eyes with her arms crossed behind her head.

She really loved her job.