Day 32 of Summer, 513
Nyael couldn’t decide whether this was an improvement. On the one hand, she didn’t have to work with foul smelling chum or stuff vitamins into slimy, dead fish. Or lift heavy buckets of feed on to scales and them carry them into tanks where fish and crustacean would greedily swarmed to feed. Or clear out the horrid filters that reeked of ammonia.
On the other hand, her current task was equally strenuous.
The summer heat had become the perfect incubator for algae, which in the wild would be welcome food for various sea creatures, but at the Menagerie Aquarium, it formed an unwanted slimy green film on the maze-like tubes that allowed visitors to tour the underwater holding tanks. And Nyael had unwittingly volunteered to scrape it all off.
Earlier, Nyael asked Seafoam if there were any projects that she could help with and Nyael admitted to wanting to work more in the water with the animals.
“Oh,” Seafoam said, “well, unfortunately, most of the work involving the animals is reserved for the trainers. We’d need to give you some more, intensive training before you can do more anything other than feed and observe the animals. But I’m sure I can find you another project to work on today. Come by my office after you’re done with the morning feed, and I should have some work for you.”
Sure enough, after Nyael finished her round of morning feedings, she came by Seafoam’s office to receive her new assignment. Seafoam handed Nyael a scraper and a stiff bristled brush before explaining the new assignment.
“I think you’ll enjoy this one. You’ll be out in the water and you’ll probably encounter some fish, too.”
Nyael smiled weakly. “Uhm, thank you. I’ll do my best.”
Her arm was getting tired, but she was barely half done scrubbing off the algae. She saw visitors walking through the tunnels. Sometimes they would stop and watch her scrape the algae. I hope they don’t think I’m part of the exhibit.
By mid-afternoon, Nyael had finished cleaning her assigned section of the tube. Her arms were so completely exhausted that she could barely maintain her grip on the brush and scraper as she made her way back to the utility closet. Never had she felt so tired, even after practicing coral manipulation. Her arms ached, her shoulders ached, her neck ached, and even her lower back ached. Hobbling to the lobby, all Nyael could think of was getting some sweet and well-deserved sleep.
As she was leaving for home, Nyael ran into Seafoam who was chatting with someone about a new starfish exhibit. “Oh!" Seafoam exclaimed, “Nyael! Just the Charoda I wanted to talk to!”
“Hi, Seafoam,” Nyael said while trying to think of an excuse to not stick around. “I was actually on my way—”
“There’s been a bit of an emergency,” Seafoam explained, “if it can even be called that. Our new Blue Sea Star exhibit is coming in earlier than expected and I was wondering if you would like to set up the tank? You could decide where to place the rocks and the plants and even use practice some coral manipulation while you’re at it. Would you mind staying a bit later to help set up this tank?”
Nyael’s eyes lit up. Finally, an interesting project. One that didn’t involve heavy physical labor or wading through ground fish guts.
“Of course! I can start on that right now!” Nyael crooned in Char.
Seafoam led Nyael to the small, sparsely decorated square tank. “You have free reign, Nyael.”
Nyael set to work. First she lay down the coral rubble substrate. Then she placed large rocks in the center and two medium sized rocks just in front of the larger rocks. She planted some bright Sun Coral on the rocks. She had decided on a citrusy palette and felt the yellow and orange polyp was a perfect fit. Even though her arms were still sore, she managed to coax the polyps to spread and cover up most of the rocks with her coral manipulation. Behind the large rocks, she added a Sea Whip, a brown coral with thin, flat branches.
Nyael stepped back to get a better look at her work and decided that she wasn’t pleased. The placement didn’t feel natural and it needed more color. She shifted the large rocks so that they were off center, more towards the left. She moved the medium sized rocks slightly to the right and added a rusty red Finger Leather Coral. Taking one deep breath, Nyael pushed herself to manipulate the coral one last time. She made the Sea Whip and Finger Leather fan out, creating a denser, fuller background.
She took another step back. It was better. She tried to imagine the blue starfish in the tank. The bright yellows of the Sun Coral’s polyps and oranges of its tubular base would contrast nicely with electric Blue Sea Stars. The tall Finger Leather and Sea Whip in the background would create the illusion of a larger tank. There were enough nooks and crannies in the rocks for the Blue Sea Stars to hide when they’re feeling a little shy.
By the end, her hands were shaking from excitement and exhaustion. But she was ecstatic. She had created a colorful home to welcome new sea creatures and she would have scoured the entire Aquarium of pesky algae for just one more chance to do it again. |
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by Nyael Atuin on August 30th, 2013, 2:28 am 
