Astrila is a normal girl in her Inuit tribe, but is left alone by her mother's death. She runs to the cliffs that overlook the sea and grieves, before she slips and falls off of the cliff into the icy sea. Something saves her, but what is it? Join h...
Kōri sees Astrila pop her head out the door and starts moving towards her, followed by the other two. When he ducks through the door to see her still holding the soft pelt, something like approval sparks in his eyes. As he approaches her, he seems like a weight has been lifted off of his chest. Why? Kayi ducks through the doorway next, and his gaze seems to almost be more piercing than it was before.
"Come with me."
Astrila doesn't argue, and follows him out of the iglu, still carrying the black pelt. She had tried to put it on the bed before they left, but Kōri wouldn't let her. Kayi leads her and Kōri, who hasn't been farther away from her than a few meters since she woke up for some odd reason, through their village, due to the many igluit they pass. He stops before a small iglu that is almost attached to a larger one, with only enough room to walk between them. He leads them inside and motions for Astrila to take a seat on the fur covered ground. She does so without question, and Kōri moves to stand behind her until Kayi stops him.
"Wait outside for this, Kōri." Kōri opens his mouth to interject, but Kayi won't let him. "Kōri, I won't take any arguments about this. If you wish to know what we discuss here, you may ask the girl later, and she will decide what and if she should tell you. Is that clear?"
Kōri bows his head. "Yes, King Kayi."
He almost seems to be holding his breath as he makes his way out of the iglu to stand just outside the door. Astrila looks back to Kayi to see him watching her with a guarded expression.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Astrila."
Kayi nods. "How did you get here, and why did you come?"
Astrila frowns. "Didn't Kōri and . . ."
"Tonraq."
"Didn't Kōri and Tonraq tell you what happened?"
"They did, but I wish to hear the tale from you, including why you fell."
"My . . ." It hurts her to think about her mother's death. "Someone I cared about, deeply, had just died, so I went to the cliffs to grieve. When I stood to return to the village, I slipped on the ice and went over the cliff edge and into the sea below. I was told that Kōri found me and brought me back here?"
Astrila had pulled the fishhook out and was running her fingers along it to distract her while she talked. She looks up, finished with her story, to find Kayi's eyes riveted on the hook held between her fingers.
His voice is full of urgency, shock, fear, and anger all at once. "Where did you get that?"
Astrila closes her hand around the hook. "Why? What is so important about my hook?"
He forces her hand to release its hold in order for him to examine it more closely. "Where did you get this? Tell me!"
Astrila almost flinches back from the anger she feels in his words. "It was my mother's."
At once, Kayi leans back in his seat, sagging. His face darkens in what looks like dismay, but Astrila doesn't understand why. What is the importance of the fishhook having been her mother's? Why did he react this way?
Kayi looks down at the ground and says one word. "Amka."
Astrila stifles a gasp. "How do you know my mother's name?"
"Because I gave her this fishhook eighteen years ago before I left. I know it is this hook, because each has its own unique carving."
Astrila is taken aback by this and raises her grey eyes to his, whispering. "I'm eighteen."
He looks shocked at this, but it is the shock of learning something new that you were beginning to suspect was true. "Why did your mother give you the hook?"
Astrila swallows and speaks, her voice thick with sorrow. "She died. It was the last thing she gave me."
He nods, and sorrow flits across his face. "You wish to know why I left, don't you?"
Astrila nods. "Yes."
"It can be a curse. The call of seven tears, which is likely why Kōri was able to find you, has another curse in its very nature. No matter what may happen, after a human female calls a selkie through the seven tears, the selkie must stay away for seven years. By the time the seven years were up, I believed that your mother would have moved on from me. It wouldn't have been right to return."
"I don't think she did. It was always just me and her. The village hunters let her be because she was the niece of the old shaman, and they were afraid she would call down the spirits to harm them if they pursued her without her desire to."
He looks like he is about to cry, but he forces it back. "I suppose it's time to introduce you to the world you've now entered." Astrila gives him a confused look. "You are on Nattiq island, the home of the Northern selkie settlement. There is another group of selkies across the sea, in the Old Land, known to humans as Scotland and Ireland."
"What are selkies?"
"Selkies are a type of Aos Sí, now called the sidhe, or fairies despite the inaccuracy of that name, as the sídhe are the faerie mounds, not the faeries themselves. Selkies appear to be human, but we can shapeshift into seals, as long as we have our pelts." He motions to the pelt across Astrila's lap. "Later, we can teach you how to shift the pelt into a coat that you can wear."
Astrila's eyes widen as she realizes that the coats they have all been wearing are seal pelts. "Have we reached the point that Kōri can return, now?"
He laughs. "Yes, Kōri can come into the iglu now." ________________________________________________________________________________ Who was surprised to learn that Kayi was Astrila's dad? I won't be that surprised if you figured it out already, I left a fair amount of clues. What did you guys think of this? Tell me your thoughts! Here is another picture of Astrila too. There won't be one next chapter, but you'll get the next one in a couple chapters.
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