Sushi (gxg)

Chapter 1

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A/N - Okay, so let's just get this out there. These works are mine. My poor little brain came up with the plots and characters, and I'd really prefer you to not steal them. If you're reading this on a site that is NOT Wattpad then it is most certainly stolen. No, I really don't want them converted into fanfics or into other languages as well. 

Thanks!

Loiosh

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The cold Pacific water invigorated my body as I sliced through it, stroke after stroke, along the shoreline. Most people thought that swimming in water this cold was crazy, but that just left more of it for me to enjoy on my own. True, the temperature was up almost to 60 degrees now that it was almost July, but then the water never gets too warm this close to Canada.

Every time I took a breath I turned my head to the rocky shoreline, taking in the tiny outline of my mother who was perched on a rock just watching me swim. I'd like to think there was a proud expression on her face, but it was hard to tell at this distance. Still, I knew she was proud of what I was doing. When I was growing up, she had gone to every single one of my swimming meets and cheered me on as loudly as anyone else there. Even after she left my father, she still kept watching, and after he died trying to find her when she left, she was my sole supporter.

This was my last day here, and I was savoring it. Tonight, I'd be flying to New York, where the US Olympic Swimming Team would be prepping for the last couple of weeks before the Olympic games in Paris. This year should have been my second Olympics, but it wasn't. In 2021 I'd made the team as the last member, and the team had met in Hawaii before we went to Tokyo, but I never made it. Four days after I arrived at the training facility on Oahu, my father's body was found very close to where I was currently swimming. I left that day and was replaced with an alternate on the team. I protested the move but was overruled.

My mom had come to meet me before I left, you see, but not him. Not after what he'd done to her. And so, he went to try and find her.

This Olympics was going to be better. This time I was fully healthy, both mentally and physically, and instead of being a minor member, I was the favorite in both the 800 and 1500 meter freestyle swims, as well as the 10k open water swim. To the best of my knowledge, nobody had done all three of those events before, but I was sure going to. Even worse for my competitors, I hadn't really been pushing myself yet, and yet I'd come close to the world records for all of them in the Olympic qualifiers. But I was planning on breaking some world records in Paris.

I finished my last lap that was marked by a pair of pine trees back on the shoreline, and then headed in. My mother's eyes gleamed excitedly as she waited for me. When I reached the rock, I hauled myself up onto it, finding it just big enough for my 6'1" frame. I took the edge of my hand and slid it along my skin and scalp, sluicing off the water. My mom was tiny, and she moved her body next to mine, snuffling gently as her whiskers tickled my shoulder.

I know what you're thinking. Whiskers?

Yeah, most seals have those.

And since the natural form of a Selkie is that of a seal, my mom has whiskers. What, you didn't know Selkies were real? That isn't exactly surprising, as they tend to keep themselves hidden in the water among the true seals. But they are, and the lovely mottled grey and white one that I was sitting with was my mother.

I just realized that you may not know what a Selkie is. Okay, that is fair too. I'm not doing a good job telling this story if I'm leaving you to guess things now, am I? A Selkie is a creature from myth and folklore that most think is just a tale to be told around a fire. In fact, there are pods of them living around the world. Pretty much anywhere you find seals, you'll find them. Which is how my family wound up in Washington in fact.