It was a dangerous notion to come out this far. For a creature of the sea, going beyond the rocky shore was considered brave and daring. Alima considered herself neither of these traits. Perhaps one day, she would muse to herself, but not today. Instead, the terrible trait she inherited from her selkie mother before her, was undying curiosity. Selkies were thought to be a harmless creature of the Northern Territory. Beautiful, gentle, but a distant folk. Although the ancient natives once claimed they would give their heart to any selkie any day, it was legend that said a selkie would always turn down anyone and anything but the sea. The sea was their lover, a large mass that swept their seal-like forms into its embrace from birth to death. The ocean was a selkie's very heart and soul. Or so the legend says.
Alima was not an exception. She deeply loved her place under the ocean, and her feelings for could practically reflect in her chestnut brown eyes when she spoke of it to land lovers. However, the problem was she spoke to land lovers often. Alima loved the ocean, sure, but it never felt like her home. Somewhere she could be for eternity. She thought more highly of what lurked above the waters. Even as a pup, in her seal-like form, Alima would be found lazying about in the sun on some rock near the shore or playing with sand and pebbles with two legs and two arms.
When the full moon would pass, she would often shed her thick seal skin in favor of soft, shapely alabaster skin, and rich dark brown locks of wavy hair (never quite as beautiful as her pelt, though). She always found a place in the sand beneath rocks to bury her hide before wandering off into the forests(Or alternatively, taking it with her). Over the decades, it was there she would meet Otherworld kin of every kind. Travelers, stowaways, and (unfortunately?) thieves in hopes of finding gold. But the only peoples to truly understand her without explanation were the natives. Her family amongst the selkie warned Alima continuously that if continued she playing with fire, she would be burnt. But what could that mean? Alima had only witnessed what fire even did but a few decades before! Besides, the natives of the Northern territory had mysteriously drawn back into the mainland long ago. However, the people she met beyond the shore helped fill that void she held when they could no longer indulge it; the one thing the ocean could not provide her. They catered to the selkie's curiosity, taught her their languages, their crafts, their techniques, and educated her in their literature and culture. And though she came off wary and reserved with those she did not know, she was amiable and, above all, curious with those she grew close to. In a way, like few selkie in the past decade, Alima had managed to befriend Otherworlders without the involvement of her pelt.
After all, the kind and gentle selkie folk had the largest downfall of all to them. They could easily be taken from their true love--the sea--once another had taken the hide of their true form: a seal. Alima had lost family to these occurrences far too many times. The selkie people thought many words of her family: courageous, foolish, idiotic. But none mocked them so publicly. Alima of course knew since she was a younging, that her selkie community depended on the few selkie families like hers however to shed their seal skins and hunt on the land to bring back food unobtainable in the waters. For, the selkie had grown spoiled as a society here in their small corner on the Northern land's Coast, when they learned it was seals like Alima's family who traded with walking Otherworlders for generations to bring back food(and on the occasions, riches). Over the centuries though, fewer and fewer families dared go beyond the sandy beaches. They held a firm belief that the old kingdom of the Northern territory would return from their land dwelling homes deep within the forests, and snatch up the hides of kin once more. It was said, this is what happened that time, centuries ago. When the selkie were enslaved, and used as warriors during war to mistresses for lords. They were seldom able to return to their homes in the sea because the owner of their pelts never returned them.
Alima never put much heart into those tales of dark history, though. She naively believed that as long as the moon was not full in the sky(The one day her kind could not become human-like), and she hid well her hide, nothing could possibly ever go wrong.
Today was one of those days. She had shed her pelt this morning in a rage, taking with her her seal pelt to an establishment beyond the forests. Her family had once again chastised her for foolishly spending more time than appropriate on land than at sea. They felt she was obligated to remain closer to home, and to wait for the selkie called "The Season of Bearing". Insulted and hurt, Alima had quietly swam free to shore before she stripped her fur in a fit of anger. But by afternoon, she had calmed and dressed her nude form, and wandered further into the wildwood. With her insatiable curiosity, she explored further than she ever had before. Today, Alima believed there was no turning back. After all, as long as she returned to water by the next full moon, nothing could possibly go wrong.
