Gifted Pelt

Chapter 11

Astrila and Kōri turn away from Ainsley and her group of selkie children as she starts to sing again, instantly quieting the children down. As they walk away from Ainsley and her lovely music, Astrila continues to listen to it, even when she has to strain for it. When it is growing faint even to her ears, Astrila glances over at Kōri to see him staring at her.

"What?"

"You made a friend already."

Astrila beams. "I did!"

Kōri looks up at the sky. "We only have about two hours of sunlight left, but at least we have sunlight now. Last month . . ." He trails off, not needing to say the rest of it.

Astrila nods. "Yes, I love the periods of day and night. It isn't as nice when there is only day or only night. Summer is better though, we at least have access to plants and better food in general. It's nice to have variety."

Kōri is smirking at her. "You're rambling."

"Sorry."

"It's alright. You know, you can still get some variety right now."

Astrila frowns. "How?"

"I'll take you swimming tomorrow. You'll see."

Astrila stops and raises an eyebrow at him, suddenly skeptical. Her voice is flat. "Swimming. Swimming."

He laughs. "Astrila, you've got your own fur coat now. You can turn into a seal. The cold water won't hurt you now."

She sighs and shakes her head before she looks down at the ground. "Sorry, I forgot."

Astrila feels a hand on her chin tilt her head up to look at Kōri, calm reassurement in his eyes. "There isn't anything wrong with forgetting that, Astrila. You were just introduced to this world, and you have to rework your whole way of thinking. It's ok to forget things."

She shrugs. "It doesn't mean I won't feel bad about forgetting something."

Astrila drops to her knees and slips off her gloves to clench snow between her fingers, wanting to feel the wet iciness of melting snow. She crushes a couple handfuls of snow between her fingers before she finally speaks again, invisible tears freezing to her cheeks as her unbound hair is whipped around her face by the northern winds.

"I feel so unbalanced here. From what I have already seen, I love this island and the people here, but my whole life has been pushed out from under me since the moment I fell. In my village, I knew my path, I was going to be the next shaman, I knew how to take care of myself there, my place in the community. But now, I know nothing. I don't know my place here."

Kōri kneels down beside her and pulls Astrila into a hug. "You'll find your place here, give it time. Besides, I don't think Tonraq has any apprentices, and I don't think he would mind if you wanted the role. In fact, he would likely be ecstatic. So that's a start, Star."

She grimaces at him. "Don't call me that."

Kōri laughs. "Why not? It's part of your name's meaning."

Astrila shudders. "Spirits above, that sounds so weird. My name is Astrila, not Star."

"All right, all right. Do you blame me for wanting to give you a nickname?"

Her voice turns teasing. "Yes, I do." He gives her an expression of mock hurt, and she laughs. "Where are we going?"

He frowns thoughtfully. "Well, since you've been in the main part of the village, I thought we could go to the bay. Tomorrow we can go to the lagoon, seal rock, or the cove."

Astrila's eyes light up. "What's seal rock?"

"It's a giant boulder in the water shaped like a seal. It doesn't hurt that it's a good hangout spot either."

Astrila grins. "What's at the bay?"

"Essentially the other half of our village. Half is in the center of the island and the other half is by the bay."

"Interesting. How many people live on the island?"

"We have about forty-three families in total, with the majority living in the main village."

Astrila's mouth drops open. "Forty-three? My village only had twelve!"

Kōri nods. "Yes, we are bigger than you would be used to. Inuit villages spread out when they get too big and a new village forms. The selkie community doesn't do that, and we don't actually grow by much anymore. We've hit a balance in the community."

"That's good. How close are we to the bay?"

Kōri points ahead to the shallow hills that have been flattened by several feet of snow. "It's just past the hills, then you'll see the village."

Astrila bounds forward a step or two with excitement but stops, not wanting to hurt Kōri. Siqiniq or not, he's already become her friend, and she doesn't want to hurt him. Besides, he isn't comfortable with running through the snow. Kōri laughs at her antics.

"Excited, aren't you?"

Astrila nods, beaming. "Ecstatic."

He grins and takes a step past her, onto the top of the hill, and dramatically sweeps his arm out before him. "Well, we have arrived."
________________________________________________________________________________
Aww, poor Astrila. She doesn't know her place anymore. What do you think she'll find at the bay? I was going to give you guys the map today, but it wouldn't load, so I'll try to do it on tomorrow's chapter.

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

~Goddess of Fate, signing out.