Gifted Pelt

Chapter 5

Astrila pops out of the iglu to bring Kōri inside. His face opens up in a beam when he sees her. "What did you learn?"

Astrila lets out a smile of her own at his happy expression. "Many things. I can tell you later, when you teach me how to make this pelt into a coat like yours."

Kōri nods. "Of course. Do you need me for something right now?"

"Well, you can come inside now if you don't want to wait outside for the rest of it."

Astrila has barely finished her sentence before Kōri is rushing toward her and the iglu doorway. Astrila steps back into the room, letting him through the door. Astrila giggles at Kōri's eagerness and turns toward Kayi, only to see him raising an eyebrow at Kōri's antics.

"Why are you acting like this, Kōri? This isn't like you."

Kōri frowns. "We can speak of it afterwards."

Kayi shakes his head. "Astrila can be present for anything you wish to say. She is my daughter. So speak, Kōri."

Kōri gulps. "She's my Siqiniq. The call of seven tears drew me to her, and it confused the bond when her pelt appeared. So until the call is completed, I cannot go far from her."
Astrila is entirely confused by what Kōri is saying, and her confusion is clear on her face.

Kayi notices it before he speaks, a hint of suppressed anger in his eyes. "You shall have to explain to Astrila what that means. But for now, help me teach her about the world she has just entered."

Kōri nods and moves to take a seat beside Astrila.

Kayi begins to speak once more. "Our people started, as all the Aos Sí did, in the Old Lands, now known as Scotland and Ireland. The humans have dismissed the stories they once knew to be true, but the Aos Sí still remains, doing as they have always done.The hierarchy of the Aos Sí goes like this; at the top, we have the two courts. The Unseelie and the Seelie. They remain the most in human stories, but are warped. Humans know them as dark and light fae, kind versus cruel. They are elvish in nature, but they are the size of humans. Neither court can lie. The humans know Seelie as the light fae, the good fae. But they are wrong. The Seelie may not lie, but they twist the truth. The Unseelie do not, leading them to be known as the cruel, dark fae. Don't fall prey to the twisted stories you may hear."

Astrila frowns at that and interrupts to ask a question. "How should I know which stories are true?"

"Your own inherent magic will guide you to the truth, but you must listen to it."

"What is after the courts in the hierarchy?"

Kayi's smile turns dark and feral as he continues his tale. "After the Courts, we have a barrage of new and strange creatures. Nokks and Redcaps, Kelpies and Brownies, Finfolk and Banshees. There are cruel creatures, kind ones, and creatures in between. There are some groups of Aos Sí that have splintered off from the main group in the Old Land, like this Selkie   community and the Western Merrow Kingdom."

Kayi frowns, prompting Astrila to ask, "What is it?"

"I heard from the Queen of the Western Merrows recently, but I can't recall what she said in her message." He shakes his head. "No matter. Let me go more in depth about the Selkies. As I said before, we are a people who can shapeshift into seals. Each selkie has their own pelt, from the beginning of their existence. They are born with their pelts wrapped around them.when each selkie child, each pup, is old enough to not lose it or hurt themself with it, they receive their own fishhook, and only one is ever given. The fishhook is given to them bare, and as they grow and learn, their magic imparts their trials onto their fishhook as a carving. This, you can know who a selkie is by the hook they wear."

Astrila frowns, looking down at the hook given to her by her mother. "But if this is your fishhook . . ."

Kayi smiles. "I knew what it would mean for me when I gave it to Amka.  I chose to do so, to give her something to remember me by." Astrila moves to return it to him, despite wanting to keep this last piece of her mother, but Kayi waves her hand away. "Keep it. I will not take this piece of her away."

Astrila nods. "How am I a selkie then, if you are born a selkie?"

"There are different rules for human-born selkies. It is true, they are born selkies, but the sea has to choose to accept them, in order for a human-born selkie to receive their pelt. Before then, that selkie is between human and selkie, and considered by the magic to be human." There is an awed expression on Astrila's face from all the fascinating new information and Kayi lets out a laugh before his face sobers. "Never let your pelt out of your sight, and never let someone else take hold of it unless you are absolutely certain that they will not control you with it, and even if you do trust them, still be wary. Without your pelt you are stuck on land, forever drawn to the sea. That is the curse of a selkie. Now that you are one of us, the ocean will always call you."

His face turns reminiscent, telling Astrila that he has felt this very thing. Kayi moves to the iglu door to look outside. "You should go now, and return to Kōri's iglu before it gets dark. The winter nights are still unforgiving. And Kōri," Kōri's head snaps up to look at him. "Make sure to get her a hook of her own."
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Did you like Kayi's explanation of the Aos Sí and the selkies? What do you think Astrila's hook will look like? Tell me your thoughts!

Happy reading, and I'll see you next chapter!

~Goddess of Fate, signing out.