The Maid and The Selkie

Part 8

Elspeth decided she quite liked Cloakless food. She especially liked the brown "bread". Unlike everything she had grown up with, it was dry and warm. She probably ate more than her fair share, but the Cloakless called Macrae did not seem to care.

Elspeth had the clay mind of a child. Despite the years of conditioned fear and hate, she already felt like she was safe with the Cloakless girl. She started answering the questions Macrae was asking.

"Where are you from?" She asked. "I've never seen you around the village."

"We have a village," Elspeth responded. "I live in the water."

"We?" Macrae's head was sideways on her shoulder. Elspeth looked at her, equally confused. Did this Cloakless not know?

"MACRAE!" called a voice from the woods behind the beach. "YOU FORGOT YOUR CHORES!" The redhead jumped to her feet and snatched her "basket". She waved then ran toward the voice. Elspeth watched her go for a second, then realized the girl had left her cloak behind.

"Wait!" She tried. "You forgot-!", but Macrae was already gone.

... ... ...

Elspeth retrieved her own cloak after nightfall, too cold to wait on the sand any longer. She did not go back to the village; she could not without Mother. She slept, sealed and warm, just off the coast. She dreamt of Mother, and how angry she would be when she came back.

In the morning, Elspeth managed to hunt a few fish for herself. She stayed under for a while, content to be in her more comfortable form. Eventually, the thought that Mother, or maybe Macrae, were waiting on the shoreline forced her to the shore. Elspeth stepped out of her cloak, folded it, and hid it again under a large boulder, just inside the forest.

On the shore, Elspeth found that Macrae's cloak was yet just sitting there on the ground. She collected the cloth, with a mind to hide it for her. It was thick and heavy, though not nearly as heavy a Elspeth's own. She could already feel her hands warming up under the cloak.

Feeling slightly guilty, Elspeth threw the cloak over her shoulders. The air started to feel like fire around her. Elspeth stayed there all day, wrapped in warmth, but Macrae never showed up. Once the sun had set, Elspeth hid Macrae's cloak in a bush, got her own, and retreated back into the water.

She repeated this every day.