God-Stalking Heart

The sand crunched beneath Elistra’s boots, frozen over and frigid from the cold weather. She’d spotted Gabi as she made her way towards the beach, her art supplies in hand. Elistra hadn’t known she’d taken up human hobbies, only that she held a fondness for musicals, like Elistra did. But what she did and did not know about her former captain was hardly the first thing on her mind as she jogged up behind her, calling her full name before correcting herself and calling the name that Gabi preferred.

It had been a few weeks now since Elistra had returned to Port Vale, and nothing felt as it had when she’d left it. The ground felt unfamiliar beneath her feet, the air foreign in her lungs. When she’d returned to the water, to the ocean, to the sea that had birthed her, Elistra hadn’t known what she’d be giving up in the hope of reaching the Goddess.

And she didn’t know what she would ask Gabi once she turned around to face her, only that Elistra was desperate for guidance. The Goddess had not contacted her again after that dream, and as much as Elistra was wary about Gabi’s leadership, she was also the only one Elistra felt comfortable turning to. She sped up until the two of them were walking alongside each other on the beach. “I… I went back to the Caribbean.” Her voice was muffled beneath the scarf she’d pulled up over her mouth. “I think… I think I need help with something.” The admission was raw and fragile and Elistra couldn’t look Gabi in the eyes as she said it, though she had already prepared herself for a dismissal.

Elistra sighed and stared down at the phone in her hand, erasing the message she’d just typed out. She was leaning against the building that housed Val and Ridley’s apartment, unsure of why her body had carried her here of all places on her first day back in Port Vale. She lowered the phone and looked around, suddenly feeling unusually foreign in a place she’d called home for so many years. She recalled the words Val had said to her upon their first meeting; that she was fooling herself, that she was pretending, wearing a costume. It hadn’t felt true at the time, but having heard the Goddess whisper something similar into her ear… to accuse her of hiding.

Val would never offer her comfort, and yet here she was, with a blank screen that only displayed Val’s name in her phone. It wasn’t even that Val was particularly objective, she’d proven that countless times. So why was she here? With a sigh, she picked her phone back up and typed something quick, before she could overthink it.

[TEXT] are you home? im outside

She pressed send and then immediately wished she hadn’t. Pushing off the wall she grabbed her cellphone with both hands and frantically started typing again, only to erase and rewrite her messages several more times. Finally she sent another:

[TEXT] i dont have any money for lunch. do you have any leftover soup?

Nereida felt too awkward giving Elistra her gift in person, so she left a package addressed to her at the Beacon Chapel. Inside was a microphone very sloppily wrapped and a handwritten note that looked like it was written by a child. 

Dear Elistra,

I’ve never given someone a gift on land before, so I hope I’m doing this right. After karaoke, I thought you might like this microphone. Apparently you can connect it to your phone. Now you can sing karaoke anywhere. 

Don’t let any green goblins steal this. It was very expensive.

Merry Christmas, 

    xx

   At least he wouldn’t have to launch into a retelling of the, as Renzie put it, magical seals - she was aware of their premise, albeit seemingly vaguely so, much like himself, until recently. Like with the mermaids, there seemed a lot of human influence behind the legends, and at this point, Isidore still wasn’t certain between what was fact or fiction. Somehow, he had faith Elistra would clear the haze on this distinction; she would have the right words, and the right thing to do. Didn’t she always? 

   Isidore hadn’t realized how much he’d come to rely on her over the years; he supposed they were close, at this point, but it had never felt like something he truly needed until now. “Siobhan is a selkie,” the words came first, before his thoughts fully finished deciding to say them. Perhaps not the best thing to lead with, but hey - it got it all out there, on the table. His voice had been low as he said it, not trusting the sound of the running water alone to mask their conversation. 

   His secrets were more at risk now than ever before, and the stress of it was wearing down on Isidore like a heavy weight. His eyes were sad, older almost, as if the years stolen away for peace in Port Vale were catching up with him. In his hands, the dish stilled between the towel and his fingers as he put his full focus on the conversation. “Renzie saw her, on Halloween, in her transformation. He… he would not make this up. I trust him,” It probably hadn’t needed to be stated, but Isidore felt it important to stress he had full faith in Renzie’s account of what he had witnessed. “I did not know these seals existed. That there were others… like us, in any form.”

c[]xxx[]:::::::::::::::>

It took a moment for Isidore’s words to register and she paused over the sink, water pouring from the faucet and onto her hands and the mug she was currently scrubbing. Elistra let the mug slip beneath the shallow water and turned off the faucet, her movements mechanical as she then turned to Isidore, who had similarly put his domestic task aside. “You’re sure she’s not… something else?” Elistra asked slowly. Isidore could trust Renzie and Elistra could trust Isidore, but maybe something had gotten lost along the way. Isidore wasn’t saying he’d seen selkies, only that Renzie had, and Renzie was far from an expert on Assyrians. “What if she’s a siren or a mermaid, and Renzie just didn’t know what he was seeing? He could have been in shock.”

Regardless of what Siobhan was, this was bad. It wasn’t exactly shocking that she was something, all the sirens had practically agreed that she wasn’t human. But could she really be something new? Elistra looked away from Isidore and back towards the door that led to the chapel, her hand gripping the edge of the sink.

“If there is something new out there, then it’s one more thing we have to worry about.” Elistra frowned. Was this how the mermaids felt when the sirens had come into existence? She turned her head to look at Isidore again, her frown only deepening as she suddenly recalled what had transpired between her and Renzie. “I think… time is running out for how long we can keep Assyria a secret from the humans. I think it’s inevitable at this point. Did Renzie mention anything else to you?”

—

Thomas’s expression grew thoughtful as Elistra gave her analysis of Isidore. It was no surprise that he would be afraid of losing the life he’d built for himself, after his life in Assyria had been destroyed. But Elistra was right. Standing still would do little to protect it. And besides, Isidore was already being dragged into this mystery, regardless of whether he wanted to stay out of it. If a war broke out, he suspected it would be much the same.

Contemplation turned to shock when Elistra said he didn’t seem much of a warrior. “Well, now, that’s - I’m sure I’ve fought battles before! I-I can be quite fearsome when I want to be, you know! You can’t just assume -” He wasn’t even convincing himself. He sighed, a wry smile softening his features as he looked back to Elistra. “…I suppose I’m a bit more of a pacifist. I certainly don’t enjoy the prospect of war.”

He scratched his chin. “I do enjoy it here, yes. I adore the museum. But this is far from my first time on land. For the sirens and mermaids who are newer, and who never had any interest in being here in the first place, it may not be so easy to settle in. Perhaps trying to get them acclimated to human activities isn’t the best approach to lessening tensions. You may have to meet them where they are, so to speak, and show them that this place isn’t so different from their own homes instead of trying to introduce them to even more new things.”

c[]xxx[]:::::::::::::::>

Elistra hadn’t expected Thomas to get so worked up over her comment, so she couldn’t help but smile and try to cover a laugh with the palm of her hand as he sputtered. Her shoulders relaxed, and Elsitra could feel her guard lowering. Thomas wasn’t like the other hippocampi she’d met who were so mired in their own shadowed histories that she felt as if she were staring into an endless bog every time she looked at them. “You’re sure you’ve fought battles?” She asked, one eyebrow raised, almost teasing, though she was curious why he had phrased it like that.

Then she sighed. The very existence of other sirens in Port Vale was a weight that hadn’t left her shoulders in months. Her smile faded as quick as it had come and she crossed her arms in front of her. “But it is different here. That’s…” Elistra struggled with her words, looking down at the floor as if she might find the right words there. “That’s what makes it great. I just wish I could make them see that there could be more for them. I want them to know that their options aren’t so… limited.”

[CHANNEL 2] “Heh! Right. I’ll send an S.O.S.”

[CHANNEL 2] “Thought it was an odd time for a chat for folks who work normal hours. Stay on the line, I’ll dictate what I’m working on ‘n bore you right back to bed.” 

[CHANNEL 2] “Huh, what records was she looking for?”

[CHANNEL 2] there is the sound of a door softly shutting, then a feint echo throughout the rest of her messages “I doubt you’d bore me. I’ve been getting curious ever since I started visiting more often. The light always seems so steady, do you have to check on it every night?” 

          Aylin had never been inside a church before, but she knew what they were of course. She had learned about them. The architecture was always so interesting on the different buildings. But this one was weird because it was different than the churches she’d seen online or in books. Port Vale was unusual in general though and Aylin was pretty sure the rest of the world was not like this. She wanted to explore the rest of the world at some point, see some of the churches that she had read about in books. Although she was not sure what she was supposed to do. Aylin felt strange attempting to act like she belonged when she clearly didn’t. 

          The selkie blinked her eyes at the book. Floor was not good for books and dropping them was not great either. It looked like the book had been through worse though. They were probably old, just like the building itself. There had to be a story of some sort here. When the book was handed back to her, she placed it back where it belonged, contemplating the question that she’d been asked. “Still. The floor is not where books belong.” Aylin looked around the church before turning her gaze to the person in front of her. “Yes, this is my first time here. I’m new in town too.” Was that suspicious? 

c[]xxx[]:::::::::::::::>

As the stranger in front of her let her gaze glide around the church, Elistra stared at her. Another newcomer, another unknown piece of the puzzle. The possibility that she was just a normal tourist crossed her mind, but Elistra wasn’t so naïve that she could keep pretending that every new person she met wasn’t from the sea. Port Vale didn’t get that many tourists this time of year. And the way this stranger looked around the chapel, it was so familiar that it made Elistra’s chest ache.

When the stranger turned her eyes back on Elistra, she managed to smile reassuringly back. Whatever this stranger was, maybe she just needed some respite. The chapel had a way of drawing curious people to it, and Elistra wouldn’t be the one to turn them away. She stood up then sat down again, this time on the pew next to the stranger so that they were both facing the altar. “Books are pretty important, aren’t they? Sometimes when I hold them, all I can think about is how fragile they are, and how much they hold.”

She turned her head to smile encouragingly at the stranger. Cecil and Clara had been so kind to her when she’d first arrived, shouldn’t she try to be as welcoming? But there was still a pit of unease that festered inside her, afraid that Assyria would taint the chapel like it had tainted the rest of Port Vale. “I’m Elistra. I work here as an administrative assistant. If you’re looking for the priest, he’s out right now, sorry.”

When Elistra had woken up that morning there had been frost creeping at the edges of her window. A thin layer of snow blanketed the decaying leaves and stung her skin as it fell from the gray sky above. As she walked towards the lighthouse she looked out towards the horizon and the water below. It no longer looked inviting, like it had a few months prior. Elistra knew that once she slipped beneath the waves the water would be so frigid that all the air would be crushed from her chest in a violent gasp. She also knew that it would likely be her last gulp of air for days.

Trotting along in front of her was Excalibur. He seemed well suited to the cold, unlike her in her thick knitted scarf and hat. Excalibur didn’t know that they were nearly an hour late, that Elistra had stalled nearly all morning, eating slowly and mindlessly, her thoughts elsewhere. In the crook of her elbow was the usual basket, but the contents weren’t the same. Along with some hand cream she’d picked up at the drugstore in the next town over, there was also the stuffed toy she’d won at the halloween festival for Excalibur, his bowl, and a package of the food the vet had suggested for the elderly dog.

When she finally got to the cottage door she raised her hand to knock. Then she hesitated. Elistra looked down to Excalibur who sat at her feet, looking up at her as his tail swept away the snow in lazy wags. “You behave yourself, okay? Make sure nothing bad happens while I’m gone. Promise?” There was no reaction from Excalibur, who couldn’t possibly know what she had planned. So, having stood in the cold for long enough, Elistra sighed and through the cloud of her condensed breath, knocked on the cottage door.

®

The stricken look on Elistra’s face matched what Renzie was feeling inside.  He’d never done anything illegal in his life; well not this sort of illegal.  Impersonating a public health authority?  Kidnapping??? This was so far from Renzie’s usual purview of linen inventory and cranky guests, he felt his heart accelerate, brow breaking out into sweat.

But he tamped it back, because Elistra was already lifting her friend into the wheelchair, and Renzie was relieved to let Elistra just…do everything.  Maybe it was cowardly of him, not to want to take the lead, or at least not pull his weight (he didn’t think he was pulling his full weight in this escapade, he kept feeling like he should be doing more for Elistra and her friend) but at least the job was getting done.  For better or for worse, they were making this happen.  He could worry about his feelings later.

If anything, Renzie’s anxiety-riddled brain was firing wildly, pocketing things about this scenario that his brain wouldn’t bring up until much later.  Likely when he was lying in bed, trying to sleep.  And then his brain would think: wow, but Elistra’s ‘friend’ sure didn’t look normal, did she?  She looked unnatural, and not because she was ill.  She looked…mutated.  Un-human.  Why would she look like that?  Did she come from some Chernobyl 2.0?  Perhaps some Chernobyl….under the sea?

Fortunately, Renzie wasn’t consciously processing any of that right now.  Instead, all he saw was Elistra’s deep, sweet, abiding care of her ‘sister’, who growled and snarled and looked ready to strike Elistra for her kindness.  Renzie didn’t know what to make of it; but Elistra definitely had the patience of one of those Catholic saints, as the saying went.  Hopefully not one of the martyred ones.

He just looked hapless and confused when Elistra said she wouldn’t let anything happen to him; was his uselessness so obvious?  She sounded like a super-hero, him the mere innocent civilian.  All he could do was swallow hard and fix his glasses, and nod.

The rest happened in a blur.  They really did feel so close to escape, when one of the security guards or nurse-guards or EMT-guards or something called out to them.  The moment Renzie felt Elistra push him, he bolted.  He shucked off the coat and glasses, throwing it onto one of the thick shrubs.  

“Sorry!  Sorry!” he called out in a panic, hopping into his truck, turning to see Elistra piling her friend into the truckbed.  Maybe she thought it would be faster than putting her into the cab?  Renzie had no clue - he was just all reactionary at this point, obeying whatever Elistra told him.

“Is the wheelchair clear?!” he asked, even as he reversed.  Hoping he didn’t hear the crunch of expensive hospital equipment under his wheels.  “Sorry!!” he called out the window one more time to the hospital at large, as he drove out of the lot.  Even in his panicked state, he was still ridiculously responsible enough not to drive like a madman.  He didn’t want Elistra’s friend sliding about in the back, and he definitely didn’t want to cause any damage to anything else.

Opening the sliding back window once they were on the road, Renzie turned to look at Elistra.  “Should I stop?  You gotta bring her inside!” Renzie called out to her, glancing at the road now and again, looking for a pullover.  “It’s freezing cold, dude! Is - is anyone chasing us??” 

c[]xxx[]:::::::::::::::>

Elistra hefted the siren up into the truck bed and let her crawl deeper in, her legs threatening to give out from underneath her like one of the newborn foal’s Elistra had seen on a nature documentary once. She was about to follow after her, but just as the engine revved to life, EListra hesitated for only a second to kick the wheelchair so hard that it was sent careening fully across the parking lot. Then she vaulted into the back of the truck and closed the tailgate shut after her. As Renzie backed up the siren and Elistra both were nearly knocked off balance, but Elistra grabbed the sides of the truck for support and caught the siren as she slid across the trailer.

With her arms wrapped around the siren, Elistra threw a glance back at the hospital as Renzie sped out of the parking lot. Near the emergency exit was a small crowd of people in white coats and scrubs, but none of them seemed on the verge of following them. She watched for a long while, her chest heaving and her fingers dug into the paper gown the siren wore, until finally the hospital was out of sight.  

They needed to get out of the city quickly, before someone called the police either to report what had just happened at the hospital, or to report two people illegally riding in the back of a truck bed. “Duck down as much as you can. Don’t draw attention to yourself.” The siren said something back, but it was caught by the wind, and just then the back window slid open.

“No one’s following us,” she called back to Renzie. They were back on the road that led back to Port Vale, the buildings of the city transitioning into sporadic residential homes until they too were gone. Elistra didn’t like the idea of trying to coax the siren into Renzie’s truck, or letting the two of them get too close to one another. The siren was weak now thanks to the sickness and the sedatives, but she could still be dangerous and Elistra had already risked Renzie’s safety more than she’d ever expected to today. But what was her alternative? With a sigh, her grip on the siren loosened and she relented. “You can pull over!”

As the truck slowed to a crawl, Elistra looked out at their surroundings. The road was surrounded on either side by foliage, but on the left there was a sloping hill that dipped down until it reached a drop off and the ocean beyond. It was obscured enough that Elistra felt they wouldn’t be risking too much by stopping. She was wrong.

Before Renzie had even parked his truck, the siren pushed Elistra away with enough force to send her into the back of the cab, her head smacking against the metal, pain exploding behind her eyes momentarily. It was all the time the siren needed as she launched herself out of the truck and onto the blacktop. “Thank you, but I’ll be leaving now,” she hissed, sounding as if her throat had been scraped dry, before leaping into the foliage and quickly disappearing into it.

Elistra knew it was already too late even as she jumped out of the back of the truck and took a step off the road as if to follow after her. But then she remembered Renzie. She turned to look at him, steeling herself for questions she couldn’t give him the answers to like she’d promised. “We have to let her go,” she told him slowly, cautiously, like she was coaxing a frightened animal. “I know where she’s going and she’ll be okay for now, as long as she’s out of the hospital. I’ll check up with her later.”

@elistras

[TEXT] [A slightly blurry photo of a pot of chicken noodle soup on a stove. Val’s thumb is visible in the corner of the photo.]

[TEXT] is it supposed to look like this.

[TEXT] the noodles are very limp. they were hard before. 

[TEXT] i am unsure if the YouTube video i used contained the best instructions.

[TEXT] ...oh no what have you done...

[TEXT] i’m kidding! it looks really great! 

[TEXT] the noodles are supposed to get like that when you boil them. trust me they taste much better that way. 

location: chapel 

time: morning

status: closed for @elistras

          Aylin had been here for a while, but she had yet to visit the Chapel. She didn’t see the need to go to a place like that when she didn’t understand religion. But she’d heard about it from some of the people who had lived here longer and Aylin wanted to know the town she lived in. Even if she didn’t think she needed to go to the chapel for anything. She hadn’t yet explored this side of the town yet anyways, so it gave her an excuse to get over to the lighthouse too. Aylin wasn’t in town to make friends necessarily, but if that was a result of living in a place with humans and sea folk, then she wasn’t going to complain. Obviously, she was still trying to piece together what was going on and figure out where she belonged in town, aside from her fellow selkies, and that’s where she struggled. Making friends had never been a strong suit of hers. At least when it came to her own pod, they always seemed too eager to tell her she was wrong for taking risks. 

          The chapel was open when she arrived, but there were very few people around. Aylin was used to places that were bustling in the morning, like the coffee shop. Maybe this side of town was just quieter or something. And that was okay with her, sometimes she needed a place to come and think. She took a seat at one of the long benches, grabbing one of the books that were there, and flipping it open to read. There were a bunch of little poems inside this one and she didn’t really understand what they meant. Zoning out after a moment, Aylin didn’t realize the book had begun to slip out of her hands and it hit the ground with a loud thud. “Sorry!” 

c[]xxx[]:::::::::::::::>

The chapel was an ancient building. Elistra hadn’t known the extent of its age until recently, and found herself wondering sometimes which of the stones that made up its structure were the ones that had predated Port Vale itself. However, as mesmerizing as she found it, its age did mean it required quite a lot of upkeep so as not to fall into complete disrepair. The doors were left open so that she could sweep out the dust, and when she’d finished with that, she moved onto the windows, only to find that her bottle of cleaner was empty. Taking the door that led to the living quarters she shared with Cecil, Elistra couldn’t have been gone for more than fifteen minutes. 

When she returned however, someone was sitting in one of the pews, her head bent. Elistra paused, not wanting to disturb her. Was she praying? The chapel rarely had visitors when there wasn’t a service or when it wasn’t being used for shelter during storms, so seeing someone new appear felt oddly nostalgic. When Elistra had first found this place six years ago, maybe she had looked just like this stranger. 

The both of them were both shocked out of their thoughts however, when the stranger dropped the bible she’d been leafing through. “It’s fine, don’t worry, these bibles have survived much worse,” she reassured, moving over to where the stranger sat and kneeling down to pick up the bible for her and hand it back. “I haven’t seen you around before. Is this your first time at the chapel?”

she could feel her own footsteps echoing on the pavement as she tried to keep a quick pace, but the street stretched on endlessly and there wasn’t a single quick turn to make that might offer her escape. it seemed as though her town was conspiring to force her into to conversation, even as she struggled to find anything to say. “i am going to throw up.” she managed finally, turning and facing the conversational assailant. only from whatever questioning was going to follow. it wasn’t strictly elistra’s fault, only a growing squeamishness in having to discuss anything that had to do with her mother, or what her mother might need to know. 

“i don’t respond to my email on the weekends.” she found it hard to maintain any eye contact, a trait that would have otherwise been crucial— engrained into her from birth as the mark of a polite person. but instead she scanned her surroundings for a possible exit that she might have overlooked. “work life balance, have you heard of it?”

c[]xxx[]:::::::::::::::>

Elistra stared, confused, blinked a few times. Esme wasn’t really making much sense. Just how much had she had to drink, exactly? “You’re headed to the Mermaid Inn, right? Do you want me to walk you there?” She could understand Esme not wanting her mother to see her like this if she was drunk enough that she felt nauseous. Victoria could be an intimidating woman on a good day.

Then her eyes narrowed. “You ran because I mentioned an email?” A surprised laugh caught in her throat. “The one I was referring to was sent on Tuesday, by the way.” She shook her head, exasperated. It had been six years since she’d come to Port Vale and still some humans confounded her like little puzzle boxes she could never find the key to. “How many beers that taste like old sea ships balance out your workload exactly?”  

Ronan knew what Lissie was doing by not reacting to him. Or, at least, he assumed he knew. And he kept insisting on teasing and provoking her because he was sure that she would be very entertaining once she lost control of herself around him. She’d either prove herself a fierce warrior and a good fight or Ronan would end up learning about a whole different side of her. He was fine with either option. “Well, I think you’d be an adorable little lizard. And I’m glad you aren’t admitting to hating the nickname, because that means you like it, little Lissie lizard.”

He didn’t respond to her clear doubt on his intentions to find his missing brothers. And, okay, fine, maybe he wasn’t actually actively looking for them. He was not the one to worry and do things like this. No one expected him to, as her tone implied. Still, he would get even less information about them if he stayed stuck in one place for long, wouldn’t he? He’d not blame Sisi for deciding to do so, the other hippocampus had his own reasons, but there was always the chance Ronan could stumble into something while traveling around.

Needless to say, he didn’t like the turn this conversation had taken, which served to sour his mood. And he was having such a nice and fun day enjoying the festivities before. He almost didn’t let Lissie take him somewhere else, but curiosity over where she wanted to get to with this talk did win him over. At least, it didn’t seem like there was anything wrong with his brother, that did make things a little better.

“I know my brother very well, Lissie” Ronan said after the siren made her point. Asking for Ronan to not start trouble was like asking him to go on ahead and do so, but he knew that doing anything too terrible to Port Vale or its inhabitants would make his little brother mad. Ronan didn’t understand necessarily, but he knew. “Don’t worry, the last time a small town was set on fire because of me was during the witch-hunt. And, technically, it wasn’t even me who started it” he said, dismissively. “And I hate to break it to you, little lizard, but trouble already started without my intervention. I’m just following it.”

c[]xxx[]:::::::::::::::>

Elistra had known Ronan long enough to realize that giving him a reaction would only further incite him, so she simply rolled her eyes at the evolving nickname. He could call her whatever he liked, she’d been called worse by her sisters and likely would again while they continued to occupy Port Vale.  

It wasn’t surprising that Ronan wasn’t taking this seriously, even now. On some level, he had to know what was at stake, what was being risked. She had assumed he wouldn’t care what happened to Assyria, or what happened to Port Vale, but she had hoped that invoking his brother would have made some kind of dent in the hull of his thick skull. She scowled at him, her gaze as icy as the night wind that blew in from the sea and through the streets. “Well, try to follow at a safe distance,” she said, each word ground out on a bed of broken glass. “If not for your own sake, then for the sake of the people you claim to care about.” 

A trip? What? No. Gabi scrunched up her face for a moment before returning to a neutral expression. “No, but humans heavily rely on identification, and a driver’s license is the type that people typically produce.” Gabi had some concerns bout what would happen if she ended up getting arrested without the all-important card of identification. The Google told her that there existed other documents like a certificate of birth or a passport, but it did not seem like people carried those around.  The passport seemed like the best one, but also the most difficult to get. Perhaps if she needed to make a life on land indefinitely, she would look into a passport.

The idea of Elistra teaching her to drive sounded a lot like torture. She had already been in a car with the other siren once, and it didn’t look easy to make the car go where it was supposed to go. There were a lot of buttons that nobody had even touched during the drive, and Gabi worried that she would need to learn about what sort of emergency required each of those. Perhaps one ejected undesirable passengers from the car? Clearly, Elistra had not mustered the nerve to use that hypothetical button.

“I don’t need to learn how to drive, so the ‘ID’ itself would work.I’ll purchase anything to substantiate a human identity at this point. In addition to the standard monetary compensation for this, may I offer my services in gratitude?” She knelt down to pick up her knives. One could hardly benefit from too many precautions when it came to someone that was in moral opposition to one’s self. In this case, there were a great many disagreements that would need to be overcome. “Even in the human world, it is important for you to be able to defend yourself, and your… current company that you keep does not seem conducive to your training. I’m not asking you to return with me to the Caribbean Sea after we resolve the problem. But you had so much potential to be great, and I’d hate to see you falter if something bad were to happen. We don’t know what is coming. I’d train all the humans if it was not apparently bizarre to be able to protect one’s self.”

c[]xxx[]:::::::::::::::>

She watched Gabi bend down to pick up the knives, unwavering from her own spot at least half a dozen feet away. Her feet felt heavy, sinking into the ground and rooting her to the spot. She didn’t want Gabi to come closer, and didn't want to move forward either. A breeze swept through the trees, catching gustfulls of leaves and carrying them past the both of them to land on the chapel’s steepled roof. The building loomed behind her and at the reminder of its presence, like an ancient guardian, Elistra gathered enough courage to step forward.

“I’ll have to get some information from you to send to my friend,” she began, and then pulled her phone out again and began tapping at it. “Plus, I’ll need a picture of you for your ID. You can take it at… wherever you’re living right now. Try to take it somewhere with a clean background, my friend can edit the rest.” She didn’t tell Gabi that jobs like these could cost a lot of money to be done well, and she also didn’t mention that Clara wouldn’t charge Gabi if Elistra told her Gabi was family. Elistra didn’t really want to see how Gabi would react to that, so she kept it to herself for now. “I’m sending you everything I need to know. You can look at it and send it back whenever and then I’ll pass it along to Cla- to my friend.”

The offer of training made Elistra pause, her fingers stilling over her phone. She looked up at Gabi, a strange mix of emotions crossing over her face. Resentment weighed all the rest down like an anchor. Potential? Potential for what exactly? If Gabi had offered this before, back when Elistra had felt alone and scared, would she be standing here right now? “You want to give me a self-defense class?” she asked, slowly. Then she sighed. “I didn’t know you knew anything about combat on land. I guess it’s a good thing I declined that duel.” She thought for a moment longer, then said, “As long as it’s not in the water, we can give it a try.”

elistras​:

“I haven’t mentioned them, have I?” There was a tug on her lungs, long spectral fingers on her wrists and ankles, threatening to pull her back, pull her down and fill her mouth with saltwater. Elistra clutched the edge of the bathtub, the other hand deep in the dog’s messy, tangled fur. She wasn’t looking at Moray, but she thought she was doing a good job of keeping the edge out of her voice. “We never got along very well.” Her words were just a shallow reflection of the truth. “But the people who raise you, they always leave fingerprints behind, don’t they?”

Moray reached out his hand again beneath the spray, though this time it looked less like an offering and more like a lifeline. She took it gratefully, reaching out to run her fingers along the braided network of rope. It took her no time at all to conjure the image in her mind of him and Xander making the bracelet, a technique they had most likely learned from their father. Elistra didn’t have to wonder why Moray hesitated to cut it. The bracelet had been made before his family had dwindled down to a pair of brothers. “Would you help me make one sometime? If they’re for good luck, I could certainly use all the help I can get.”

She shut the water off then. The dog was as clean as he was going to get, and now he and Moray stood in ankle deep, murky brown water, clumps of black fur floating along the top like pond scum. She got up momentarily to grab towels, one for the dog and one for Moray, which she handed to him. Then, after thinking about it for a moment, she got another towel and laid it out in front of the tub to mitigate as much water as she could. The dog gave a low reverberating ruff, and promptly ruined any hope of keeping any part of the bathroom dry by proceeding to shake himself off, splattering everything within five feet in water.

“Cecil is going to kill me,” was all she could manage, the entire situation looking grim. Then she went over to the panting, still sopping wet dog and helped him out of the tub. “Don’t worry, I forgive you. I know you didn’t mean any harm.” Without looking at Moray, her tone all feigned casualness, she said, “You know, it might soften the blow a little if you agreed to stay for tea with Cecil. He always asks about you after I get back from the lighthouse.”

You haven’t. The words only ghost his lips, going unspoken. Even adrift up in his head as he tended to be, he could see the way her knuckles blanched on the edge of the ceramic. Could hear the way she spoke circles around the thing until the shape near came through clear.

“Oh, they do.” He agreed gently. Clammy fingerprints for both of them, though they didn’t know it. Couldn’t know just how it all led back to the water.

Her interest in the bracelet was met with a smile held only in his eyes, corners crinkling. “I suppose I could squeeze it into my busy schedule,” he teased. “Y'know, between all those three-star tours ‘n such.”

The stray dog, meanwhile, set his stance wide and ducked his head low. Moray knew the signs. “Don’t you do it, boy—” Too late. The dog shook like he hadn’t a care in the world; and Moray, soaked to the bone, let loose a laugh so fierce it only could’ve started in the belly. The dog and other dog-washer clambered out of the tub, towels taken to readily. Moray patted at what he could help, then draped it over his head for a good scrub down before dropping it down around his shoulders. Clutching the ends in pruned fingers, he glanced over at her when she mentioned the old priest.

“Yeah, alright.” He nodded. Slight at first, then firm. “I’ve got time.”

So, soaking wet reduced to damp, he stayed for tea. So, a reunion—cautious, but warm. Warm enough to banish the cold of his clothes, and all the little reasons that’d kept him away from the chapel so long. It ended with a handshake that the old man tugged into a hug—before fussing at the state of the youngest Blackmore, and insisting he take something dry from lost and found.  (And so he returned to the lighthouse that evening in a sweatshirt several sizes too small—though he swore he’d heard something once, about crop tops never going out of season.)

   There was always an odd sensation that Isidore felt in his stomach when in the chapel - with the visits so infrequent, he had forgotten how eerie the place was. Religion was never something Isidore found time for in his life; he believed in the Goddess, but he wasn’t sure what all that entailed; were there others, were the human forms of God and the various portrayals also true? He felt this was above his level of knowledge, and better off that way - besides, it wasn’t like he felt a particular loyalty to The Goddess of his original home, not ever since she’d gone missing. It had always felt she had little to do with the hippocampi anyway, other than changing their lives with the creation of Assyria. 

   Being in the chapel only brought up all the questions he’d held submerged for hundreds of years. When Elistra appeared, he took in a breath of relief. She picked up quickly on he severity of his expression, which was always pretty stoic, but had more of an intensity to his eyes now, a whirling depth of unanswered questions and creatures who emerge from the dark. He nodded, fully in agreement to keeping the conversation private. 

   Instinctively, Isidore found himself grabbing a clean hand towel to dry the dishes as Elistra finished them, not even fully realizing he’d done so. It always felt better to have your hands occupied, a true artist at heart. “I found out some new information,” He started, still unsure how to even retell Renzie’s selkie sighting. “I- I do not… I have no idea what to think. I need your help. Are you familiar with…” He hesitated. What would her reaction even be? Would it be like his? “Selkies?” 

c[]xxx[]:::::::::::::::>

Elistra let Isidore join her at the sink, wordlessly passing on the clean dishes to him. She glanced at him as he gathered his thoughts and tried to theorize  what could be bothering him in such a way. Isidore was usually resolute in his melancholy, but he seemed severely shaken now. Had he been hurt somehow? Did this have something to do with Ronan or one of his other brothers?

She couldn’t have possibly guessed what he’d say next. Her hands paused, suds running off her fingers and into the soapy sea that sloshed in the sink. “The seal creatures from human legends?” she asked slowly, and lowered the dish into the water to rinse before handing it to Isidore. “I researched them a bit a few years ago at the library. I thought their mythology could be based somewhat off our own. I thought maybe, once or twice, a mermaid or siren had given their pendant to a human, but that was just speculation on my part.” And perhaps wishful thinking.

What this had to do with what was troubling Isidore, Elistra couldn’t imagine. Isidore had no trinket from the sea to give away or lose. Elistra took a mug from the water and began scrubbing at it thoroughly. “You know I’ll help you however I can, but you’re going to have to give me more details, Dorey. Why are you asking me about selkies, of all things?”