Gifted Pelt

Chapter 25

The tendril reaches its end right beside a small enclosed body of water, and Astrila hears Kōri groan in dismay when he discovers that.

"What is it?"

"We are at the lagoon. I wanted you to be able to shift when you see it."

Astrila leans up to give him a swift peck on the cheek. "You can bring me back later and I'll pretend I never saw it, alright?"

Kōri smiles warmly, but she sees a speck of pure joy in his eyes. "I can work with that. Let's find your father, shall we?"

The little nugget of fear and apprehension returns, but Astrila pushes it away. She won't look at it, won't acknowledge it. She won't let her fear stop her from talking to her father. She can't let it. Astrila looks up at Kōri and gives him a small smile.

"Alright."

Kōri leads Astrila up a snowbank, where she can look around for any sign of her father. She scans the snowy tundra for any sign of his brown fur clothing or his black pelt, but it's all just an endless expanse of white. She spins around, her eyes wide and searching, keen as the eyes of a snowy owl. Nothing, nothing, nothing. Astrila frowns to herself and murmurs.

"Where is he?"

"Are you sure the tendril ended here?"

Astrila nods. "I'm positive."

She stops for a moment and stares down at the lagoon below, covered in ice. She tracks the ice all the way to cliffs in the distance, where an inlet leads back out to the sea. There is a dark speck on the ice, but it isn't her father. Astrila points.

"Kōri, what is that?"

He squints, trying to see it. "Your eyes are good. What does it look like?"

Astrila shrugs. "It's just a dark speck on the ice. Should we get closer?"

Kōri shrugs. "Why not? It won't hurt."

Astrila makes her way down towards the ice, her feet skipping over the snow with barely a footprint. Behind her, Kōri struggles to make his way down the snowbank, his feet slipping down through the snow every so often and getting stuck. He wobbles as he walks across the snow, but at least he isn't falling. Astrila thought that too soon, he's fallen. She steps back over to peer down at him. His feet had broken through a deceptively solid layer to crash through the soft snow below. Astrila grins and reaches her hand down to help him back up. He moves to grab her hand but thinks better of it, reminding her that she is injured.

He grabs her wrist instead and she yanks, pulling him out of the hole and up to the top of the snow layer. She pulls too hard and he comes farther than she planned, falling on top of her. Astrila starts to giggle at both the situation and his stunned expression. He releases her wrist to plant his hands on either side of her, trying to push himself back up. His hands just crunch through the layer again, causing her to laugh even harder. He looks down at her, darkest brown eyes staring into shining gray ones. Her eyes sparkle with unshed tears of laughter and Kōri starts to laugh as well.

"How do we even get out of this situation? You're pinned and I can't push myself up because I'll just break through the snow."

Astrila smiles and rolls to the side, forcing Kōri to roll with her. His back hits the snow and sinks down, giving her space to push herself up. Her palms sink into the snow slightly, but only about a centimeter. Astrila hisses slightly in pain, but it's gone an instant later when her hands stop touching the snow. She pulls Kōri up once more, careful this time not to pull back to hard.

They start off again once he is stable on his feet, and quickly reach the icy shore of the lagoon. Kōri steps onto the ice first, Astrila still uncomfortable with the idea of going onto the ice without an ice stick. But she can't use one anyway, not with her injured hands. So she sighs and breathes in through her nose. The sharpness of the cold air pulls her back to herself and she takes another deep breath before stepping onto the ice. Kōri smiles encouragingly at her.

"You did it!"

Her smile trembles, but she forces it to hold steady. "I did."

She shuffles across the ice towards where that speck awaits, and almost groans when they reach it. She went on the ice only to find a hole in it? Really? Astrila sighs and looks up to Kōri, only to see him frowning slightly and chewing on his lip, deep in thought.

"Why would he be in the water right now?"

"What do you mean?"

"This is a seal breathing hole, Astrila."

"Yes, and?"

"He's using it right now. It's the only explanation for why your tendril led us here only for him to be nowhere in sight."

Kōri has barely finished his sentence when a dark, sleek form emerges from the breathing hole, releasing a puff of air into the sky. When it clears, Astrila sees a dark seal staring up at them, its dark eyes watching them closely. It huffs, and Astrila's brow wrinkles when she almost hears words from that puff. Can they understand other selkies in seal form if they aren't in seal form at the moment?

"What is it?"

Kōri smiles. "Sorry to disturb you, but Astrila wanted to talk."

Kayi's eyes shift to Astrila and he heaves himself out of the water, his form rippling as he shifts. "Let me guess, it's because you're able to run over snow so easily."
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How did Kayi know?! What do you think he's going to say about it? Tell me your thoughts!

Happy reading and I'll see you next chapter!

~Goddess of Fate, signing out.