The Chimeras In The Library (NaNoWriMo)

Day 1 - Meeting Runa and Travelling

Kyrtle gazed out at the ocean, running her fingers over the worn planks of the jetty, the wood worn into grooves where the grain had been beaten by the wind and the sea. She sat cross legged, the wind blowing a stray strand of her crinkly black hair back against her light brown skin, almost seeming to fade into the damp timber and grey stones, just a teenage girl in a grey t-shirt, faded blue jeans and worn black converse, the black, grey, white and purple striped laces neatly butterfly knotted to keep them from coming undone. A big grey hoodie was neatly folded on the pier beside her, almost the same stone-grey as the waves.

She took a breath, then pulled a silver coin from her pocket, ran her thumb over the pattern on the face, and then threw it into the water in front of her. It vanished with a soft 'plop', and for a moment, the silence was only broken by the washing of the waves... then... A little dog-like face appeared from under the waves, blinking huge black eyes, it's skin a very distinct patter of pale grey and black blotches. The seal turned towards the jetty, giving her a very wise look over it's moustache-like whiskers, and flopped itself down on the lower section of the jetty, currently covered by the water. Kyrtle kept carefully watching the horizon as the seal clambered painstakingly up onto the jetty alongside her. It wasn't polite to watch anyone get undressed after all, let alone a selkie.

A silver coin appeared her peripheral vision.

"Drop something?" Rúna asked with a grin.

Kyrtle turned to look at the girl that had appeared beside her, wrapped the hoodie tightly around her slender form. Rúna was breathtakingly beautiful, the kind of girl the old masters would have fought to paint, ivory pale, with a heart shaped face framed with locks of wavy blonde hair, arching blonde eyebrows, a long straight nose and a cupid's bow of a mouth. Her eyes were big and almond-shaped with long curving lashes tipped with gold... but incredibly dark eyes, her irises and pupils almost merging together. Kyrtle took the coin with a grin and frowned.

"Okay, how come this is damp, but you're perfectly dry?" She demanded.

Rúna shrugged with a grin and bumped Kyrtle's shoulder with her own.

"Selkie physics," Rúna assured her cheerfully.

"Oh no, you've told me that seals are 90% blorp and therefore don't obey the laws of physics."

"Selkie physics is a very different thing to normal human physics," Rúna remarked. "Because we..."

"Have magic in the DNA," Kyrtle finished, rolling her eyes. "You may have mentioned it."

Rúna looked at Kyrtle, eyes narrowing slightly, her head cocking slightly to one side.

"Wassup?" She asked suspiciously.

"Who said anything was up?"

"There wasn't enough smile in your voice."

Kyrtle looked at Rúna.

"It's today, remember?" Kyrtle reminded her.

"Today?" Rúna stared blankly at her. "No, don't tell me... it's... Tuesday!"

"Thursday."

"I never could get the hang of Thursdays," Rúna shrugged. "It's only you humans that need calendars anyway."
 
She thought about it, twisting a strand of hair around her finger, then froze.

"Today, today? As in today?" Rúna asked suddenly. "As in, you're leaving today?"

"Yeah," Kyrtle said.

Rúna looked at Kyrtle then gave a delighted squeal and put an arm around her shoulders.

"But that's a good thing right?" Rúna demanded. "You're going off to the city and starting your new job and can meet all the new people and dance in new oceans... Azarite City is right on the harbour, my cousins live out there, that gives me an excuse to come visit you!" She paused, looking at Kyrtle. "Oi, I'm trying to be happy for you here."