Lost at Sea

[Orithyia]

Closed for tcost

Romy Bohai
Still considered a younging at the age of 103
The only child of Bassha
In seal form Romy is a little under 6 ft and around 160 lbs.
In human form she's about 5'3 and 123 lbs.

Cave face at high tide, inside looking out dark, inside looking out light and the waterfall.​

The moon was full and bright and it's reflection shimmered in the glassy surface of the ocean. I knew this was a lie and it was just to calm before a powerful storm. My gazed narrowed far out on the horizon where I could see the first darkenings. I hoped there would be lots of lightning and thunder and lots of big waves to surf on. Standing on two legs I stretched and went inside of the beach cave, gathering and slipping on my skin. When I came out of the cave I wormed on the belly of my seal form. As a seal I could feel the vibrations of the tempest and knew that everything I hoped for was on it's way. I was torn between surfing the waves in my skin or dancing on quick feet as the storm clashed above me.

I was the only one out of my raft that felt comfortable as a human, the only one who enjoyed that things a human body could that my selkie one couldn't. Because of that I was made the outcast and pups were warned to stay away from me. Most of the time it didn't bother me but living like that was lonely. The only friend I had ever had was eaten three summers ago by a pod of orcas. It was a hard thing to get used to, Vessa and I grew up together much like her mother and mine did. She didn't have the bold courage that I possessed and was more times then not my voice of reason. I wanted to look back to the cave to find the chips in the walls that we called drawings but didn't. Vessa would have loved this storm and she would have swam with me until she sensed something my ego hadn't and lead us to safety.

Loneliness hit me like a rouge wave, crashing me upon the reef and leaving me broken and bleeding. I need to comfort of the raft. The water hugged me and unlike most times it didn't bring the comfort that it normally did. I didn't find the raft where I thought I would have but by then I was already over the feeling of being alone. The pull under the water was growing stronger and I was flying in the tides with glee.

I broke the surface the same time that the first strike of lighting hit. I heard the thunder roll over each other and looked to the sky. The stars and moon were gone covered by think clouds and gone was the lovely light of the moon. Waves started to swell and I barked excited that my storm was starting and the excitement drowed out everything else.

 

[tcost]

Barbara had been the real sailor. When we'd gone out to sea, I had mostly been along for the ride. But this is where she'd always take us.

The boat had belonged to her father. I guess she'd nearly grown up on it. She remembered him while she was aboard the craft, the same way that I remembered her now. It had been four years, and I came out here at this time every year, even though the superstitious old sea dogs insisted that I was crazy, that this place was haunted. I thought I knew better; as it turned out, I was right. It wasn't haunted at all.

Barbara would have known the signs much sooner, much more surely than I did, but even I could tell that there was a storm coming. I made ready to head back to shore, conscious of how far I would have to go, but something in me told me that it didn't really matter if I never made it home. My world was still empty without her, even after all this time.

I frowned at that. I had friends and co-workers and some distant kin. There was purpose to my life and maybe someday there would be love again. Having considered it, I realized that I did not want to die.

Nature must have differed from me in that. The first lightning bolt fried all of the electronics, and the waves, dozens of feet tall, tossed the boat about like it was so much jetsam. It was totally dark, the winds howling and the seas churning, when the boat flipped over and I went flying into the ocean. I did have the good sense to be wearing a life jacket by that time, and a fanny pack stuffed with a little food and a bottle of clean water belted around my midsection.

All the same, by the time that I could catch my breath and get my bearings, I could not see any hint of the boat. Everything was dark, and staying above water was something I had to struggle to do. And then a current siezed me, and pulled me below.

Having just decided that I really did want to go on living, I was about to die.

 

[Orithyia]

I had just turned the corner of a large reef formations and was blocked by- a human! I was so shocked that I didn't stop in time not to run into it. I recovered quickly and swam along side of it happy to have company. It didn't swim like I wold have if I was in my human body. In fact it was reacting to anything the way I would have in the same form. The image of a new pup caught in a sweep gave me a jolt of alarm. I quickly grabbed it's shoulder and got a mouth full of some foul tasting and rough material, it wasn't skin but nothing on the human looked like skin, fur or scales.

It was simple enough to get the human to the surface, keeping it there was another thing completely. The waves that I was so happy to get now worked against me as the added weight and strong waves kept trying to pull me under. I let go of the human hoping that it wasn't dead. It didn't look like it but it was dark and the human didn't make any noise to let me know what was going on. I figured either way the human needed help and using the force of the waves I pushed and pulled it towards my island.

Weary and full of too much water I pushed the human to the break of the shore. I was strong but fighting to keep the human's head above water, the pull of the waves trying to steer me off course and push swimming the human the right way had taken a lot out of me. I beached myself next to the human and with what little strength I had left dun in the sand to prop it's head on mind. Afraid that it would turn and drown in the sand skim. I had planned on dragging it to the cave but I didn't have that type of energy left and I just laid against the human. For now not scared because it seemed to be in the same exhausted state and I was. And even if it wasn't I was near enough to the water that I was confident that I would be able to outmatch the human in speed and take cover in the ocean.

 

[tcost]

As I slowly came to, my mind was trying to make sense of the sensations. Seawater lapping against my lower half -- I must only barely have survived; I had no memory of the time since I smacked into the water.

My head was cushioned on something warm and vaguely leathery. Slick but with a little give to it. Blinking awake, I couldn't see anything at all in the dark. The realization came to me that whatever I was lying on, as still as it was, had a heartbeat.

I could barely summon the energy to move, and it seemed that whatever I was lying on was just as exhausted if not moreso, The warmth from the creature was a tremendous blessing.

My hands moved over its flanks and its head until I realized that this was either a seal or a sea lion. I didn't really know the difference. In either case, it seemed to have neacjed itself in order to save me. So what sort of shape was it in?

I couldn't find any wounds. I guessed that there was some chance it had suffered a concussion. If so, my first aid was not enough to help me make a diagnosis.

So, I tried shaking it gently; there was not a ghost of a response from the creature. Speaking did no better, but that was when I got the bright iofea that its whiskers would be sensitive. All at once the eyes opened and I realized that I was lying here almost on top of a rather large and powerful animal.

If nothing else, this was a remarkable adventure.

 

[Orithyia]

It amazed me how quickly I fell asleep and how deeply that sleep was. I was always known to be a heavy sleeper but I had thought that with the human with me I wouldn't have been able to sleep and if I did then it would be fitful and unsatisfying. I was wrong.

The sea rocked again as I tried to cross the current as I chased a school of fish. They were being very sneaky and no matter the trick they knew the solution and managed to get away. I was hungry and didn't like that I had chosen the most elusive school to chase for my morning meal. Flipping to a spot I floated there under the water and was surrounded in kelp. It hid my fish from me and tickled my whiskers. I shook my head but the brush of kelp got more aggressive. I opened my eyes and the ocean, kelp and fish of my dreams disappeared.

Night still covered everything in darkness but but the slight chill in the air and the distance that the storm had moved I knew that at least a few hours had past. Still my eyes were decent enough to see and when I turned my head I caught sight of the human and tensed. It was awake and looking at me, looking at it. I didn't know what to do, if I startled it would it's first reaction be to attack. Or would it run away. I eyed the edge of the water and still felt confident that I could make it to safety before it tried to hurt me. Yet, after looking at it, it didn't seem to want to hurt me. In fact I was pretty sure that was the thing that was playing with my whiskers.

With slow movements I moved my head away enough that it would get the hint not to touch then but not far enough away that I would drop it's head and make it mad. Now that it was awake and saved I wasn't quite sure what to do with it. It still looked weak and I was still a bit tired but I didn't know what that would mean for the human or me. I blew out a huff of air thru my nose flaps and watched for it's reactions, body tensing again.

 

[tcost]

All right, I'd woken it up; that much was good. I blinked at the huff it made, worrying that I might have annoyed the seal. I needed to find a way to let the animal know that I meant it no harm.

It was a mammal; dogs and cats respond to being petted, and so, for that matter, do human beings. So I slowly moved my right hand and settled it down on the seal's flank, and began, even more slowly, to stoke the warmth of its flesh. Somehow, instinct told me that this was the right thing to do; and besides, apart from the seal, I was alone. This wasn't human contact, but it was the closest thing I was likely to get, and I was clearly in a very bad situation.

I couldn't know if the sea creature had saved me or not, but there was at least a good chance that I would be dead now if not for its intervention. So perhaps I was a little bit less cautious than I should have been.

I could barely see it, but I was touching it; how well could it see me? Many animals could see in the dark better than people could. To another human, I would have looked a fright, but to this seal I probably looked indistinguishable from any other grown human. I had to hope that it would like what it saw, and not like the idea of having me for supper. I was pretty sure that seals dined on flesh, or at least on fish.

 

[Orithyia]

I felt it move and then felt as it's hand rested on my flank and start moving. I didn't fully understand the action until his hand moved. As a seal I would brush and bump against another seal but I had never been touched my a human hand and the sensation at first made me weary but then I melted to the feeling. I pushed off a flipper and rolled slightly to my side, almost moving on top of the human as I gave it my tummy to touch next. I didn't know what this meant for a human but the gentle touch was a seal sign that it didn't mean any harm. Relaxing I figured I would try and make the most out of it's pats and demanded more by lifting my head, which in turned lifted the human's.

The human's hand was making my tail flipper twitch and I wasn't sure if it was a good thing or bad thing and huffed again at the human, telling him to stop making my tail twitch. I was suddenly happy that I had saved the human. I made a note to save every human I saw if this was the reward. My tail twitched again and I growled at it wanting it to stop moving. The only thing I wanted to move was the human's hand and I didn't want my uncontrollable spazzing tail to ruin this for me.

 

[tcost]

It appeared that the animal enjoyed the touch of my hand, enjoyed it to an unexpected degree. I wasn't sure what sort of social behavior seals had, but the way that this one bucked its tail and moved its head gave me the strong impression that it not only liked what I was doing but seemed to crave it.

I sat up, still tired but somehow less so now. I suspected, from the reaction, that I had managed to excite this amimal in a manner similar to the way that playing similarly with a dog might do. The seal certainly demanded more! It was a playful beast.

I put a little body English into what I was doing, using both hands. I began to push the seal this way and that, watching to see if he, or she, was still enjoying it. Somehow, I thought that the seal was a female.

I was tired and hungry, but the interaction was making me perk up. We were in the middle of the pouring rain, in total darkness, so the absence of shelter was nothing we could do anything about for the immediate moment here. I would worry about that sort of thing later; for now, I just wanted to make sure that I made friends with my new companion here.

 

[Orithyia]

The air was warming up and if you looked towards the horizon you could see the first blush of the coming sun. It made me hungry but the human was distracting as it's pets became rougher and it pushed on me when it got up. I was reminded of the way that Vessa would wake me in the mornings and was glad that the human didn't bite me. Still I perked when it's weight was off me and I took the rougher touched to mean that it wanted to play. I was happy to have someone to play with and I rolled away from the human using my flippers. When I was just out of hands reach I barked at it and scampered a few feet, stopping to see if it was going to chase me. I barked again and made a few spins nodding my head up and down as I did so.

It was still pretty dark and it didn't dawn on me that the human might not be able to see me as well as I could see it. When it didn't move as quickly as I thought it should of I grew cold to the idea of trying to play with it. Was it still dying? I knew a seal who had been bitten by a shark and lost part of it's flipper and lived for almost a month before dying to the bite. It had been moving well enough before I left it's side. Then I jumped to the conclusion that it was blind. Were real humans blind and swam on their little islands with powers that I didn't have because I was a selkie? Did I only see because my seal self had eyes and could see?

I stilled my body and watched the human trying to see if their were signs telling me if it was blind. As silently as I could I walked on ridge flippers and inched towards the human ready to bold if there was trouble.

 

[tcost]

I must have done something wrong. The seal lost its enthusiasm and moved away into the darkness. Even though it was starting to get a little lighter out now, I could not yet make it out with so little light.

I could still hear it, the seal was still close by. I could hear it coming closer again, could make out a vague shape in the darkness, and all of a sudden I was so relieved. I had been afraid that the seal was going to leave me alone here, and that would be very bad.

"Hey, there," I said aloud. It had barked at me, it was silly to think that we could hold any sort of conversation, and I knew that seals weren't as intelligent as human beings. But I found myself hoping that it would respond to the sound of my voice.

 

[Orithyia]

I paused my inching and waited. The human had made a noise. The sound that came from it sounded like singing a much different then the sounds I made in my human body. I didn't know what the sound meant and I barked in reply still not moving. The human still hadn't looked at me yet and the idea that it was blind and saw with something different then it's eyes rooted in me. A playful and kind of mean game came to me then. I was going to sneak up on it and scare it before running away. We were about a seal and a half a part from each other and I knew that the only flaw with my newly created game was going to be my patience.

So like before I moved towards it, the only difference this time I was on my belly. In my mind's eye I could see the human honking like the big sea birds then she would sneak up on them. It was funny to watch them fly away. Of course I had done most of my sneaking in human form because it was quicker and quieter. I thought about it for a moment, taking off my skin but was too scared to, the voices of Vessa and my father echoing in my head. No I would slowly slide across the damp sand and scare the human, then run off and do it again.

I could have touched the human by now and I wondered if her would move when it saw me but then remembered that it was blind. Moving up on my front flippers I stared it in the face comparing it to me tidepool reflection. It's face was wider and there were parts that looked like it could have hair. It was strange because other then size and coloring me and Vessa looked very much alike. I hadn't realized that I had stopped when I was just a foot or more away just starting at it. Look it had eyes why didn't it see? My head weaved back and forth and I could swear that it was watching me.

 

[tcost]

"There you are again," I said aloud, despite knowing that it couldn't understand me. There were things that could be communicated to a dog or a cat that came out in the way you said them, there was no reason that this same principal could not work with a seal.

I tentatively reached out with my right hand, trying to touch the side of its head if only for a moment. "Hey, there. Want to help me look for some food?" I imagined that the seal knew the island better than I did. And if it could find food out here, so could I.

It seemed to be looking back at me just as I was staring at it. That seemed nicely reciprocal.

 

[Orithyia]

The human made noise again and I got the feeling it wasn't anything of concern. There didn't seem to be any great emotions behind it so I ignored it just taking pleasure in the way the human formed it's mouth to make such pleasing sounds. Everything fine until the human reached out and tried to touch me. It wasn't blind and I braked angrily as I scampered quickly away until I touched the water. I continued to bark at him for scaring me, even tho that had been my plan to start with. When I got my fill of lecturing him and huffed.

It had made a sound again but I didn't' know what it wanted. There seemed to be a want in it's voice as it spoke but I didn't care. I was still being a poor sport that it turned my own game against me. I blew my tongue out at him and dove in the water. I was hungry and after the dream this morning I needed to even the score with the fishes.

Not long there after I came back belly full and a mouth gently holding a large fish. I worried about my human and wanted it to be alright. I was on't gone for about ten minutes but the sun's rays had reached over the horizon and gave light to the day. I saw my human and happily ran to it waving my head to show that I had a fish for it. If it could come and get it. It didn't play my other game because it could see so I was going to make it play with me. If it was hungry it would chase me and I would try to outrun it.

I dropped the fish one the ground when I was near it and barked a seal smile on my face. It say come and get me ans if and when the human would move I was going to pick up the fish and run.

 

[tcost]

Things were not going well. The seal clearly didn't like it when I tried to touch it again; had I scared it? Possibly. Possibly there was some important point of seal etiquette I just didn't understand. In any case, it was gone, and I was alone on the deserted island.

It was large enough that I couldn't really be sure that it was truly deserted. If I was really lucky there was someone with a radio on the other side. I doubted it, and began to look around for some source of food.

I wandered around the nearest part of the island for a few minutes, keeping in the clear area near the shoreline rather than venturing into the jungle. I didn't find the food I was looking for, but I did manage to find some driftwood in the time before my erstwhile companion came back again.

It had a large fish in its mouth, and it plopped the thing down on the sand in front of itself. It seemed that it was still friendly after all, so much so that it had brought me some food. And it was smart enough to understand that I might have a hard time finding food.

"Welcome back." I called happily. I wouldn't try to touch it again, which was too bad. But I was quite prepared to play by its rules.

So it was that I did exactly what it must have wanted me to do, and went over to get the fish. Silly me.

 

[Orithyia]

I noticed that the human had moved some of the wood wash up the beach and started to collect it. I didn't know why it would do that but when I was done playing my chase game maybe I would join it in the human game it had started.l

My bark was high and playful as I picked the fish up and ran down the beach a ways. When I was far enough away I turned to face the human and dropped the fish again. I stood there again waiting for the human to move as I wiggled my body excitedly. It had been so long since I last played with another creature that I didn't even care that it was human and not a selkie seal like me.

He was taking too long to come after me that I barked again and hovered my head over the fish.

 

[tcost]

This was just inexplicable. The seal had first shown me the fish and then, as I approached, picked it up and scampered away with it. Was it trying to lead me someplace in particular for some reason?

Once again, it stopped and dropped the fish, and this time it wriggled as it waited for me. I guess it was impatient. I tried to move a little faster, but I had been through hell while I was in the ocean and my body wasn't cooperating. Nonetheless I made myself hustle down the beach, while the seal barked at me and moved its head over the fish.

It seemed excited about something, and that made me smile. So I foolishly went ahead as if it was going to let me have the fish this time, as if she were Lucy Van Pelt with her football. Seals must realize that humans never learn.

 

[Orithyia]

I watched the human move and a needle prick of guilt as it moved to hurry to meet my demands. The way it moved reminded me of a sick or injured fish and when he was close enough I didn't move to pick up the fish but watched him instead with sorry expressive eyes. I ducked my head and wormed about a foot away so that it knew I wasn't going to take it's food. While it had been fun to make the human chase me I wasn't cruel to still enjoy the simple game when it cause pain to another.

Unsure of how the human would eat the fish I figured I could fill my enjoyment with following it around and hoped that maybe it would create a game that it could play while it was in such a tender state.

It was true that the sea had been difficult and that the added weight and concern for the human just built on the that but I was a seal and most of my life was spent in it's caress. My body was used to the touch of the ocean and I had recovered quickly even with the little amount of sleep. It had never dawned on my to care for the human as something unaccustomed to a life such as this.

Now truly feeling bad for making the human chase me I went over to it's wash wood grabbed a piece and brought it to it. It mush be special or important to the human or it wouldn't have collected and I hoped that it would get the message of my apology.

 

[tcost]

I guess that the seal was more perceptive than I had realized; it seemed contrite and made no move to snatch the food away from me again. I think it had been trying to play with me.

I really had never thought that a seal could be such a sociable companion. When it retrieved a piece of the driftwood for me, I collected the wood in my free hand, and shook my head. "I'll need more than one piece of wood to start a fire," I explained, and let it back over to the rest of the collection.

Lowering myself down on my haunches, I gathered all of the wood into a small stack, fashioned a spit for the fish, and made sure that it wasn't too close to the seal. I put all the twigs in one spot and took my Bic lighter out of my belt pouch, hoping it worked. It did, and the twigs caught fire, and then, in a bit, so did the driftwood. I would have a hot meal.

"Many thanks, my newfound friend,: I observed to the seal, wishing that it could understand me. Maybe after some time we could learn to communicate somehow; there was no doubt in my mind that this creature was more intelligent than any animal. There was almost something magical about it.

 

[Orithyia]

The human was making noise and I took a guess that it was talking. I liked the way it talked and moved my mouth open and closed to mimic it's movements. I knew I couldn't make the sounds it did but it didn't stop my jaw from moving. I was more then pleased when the human took my offering of the wood wash. I followed as he moved back to it's collection of wood. I made a thought to collect more of it for the human but watched instead. It moved and bent sticks in a way that I didn't grasp then took the smaller sticks and piled them.

I turned my head and continued to watch fascinated. Next the human pulled something out of it's skin and it's fingers moved over it. I moved in closer. From it's fingers jumped fire and I growled scrambling to get away from it should it harm me. There were legends of men stealing selkies in their maiden form and burning their seal skins so they could never return home. Never be welcomed by the sea as she only does when your're a seal. I stared hard at the fire watching as it ate only the wood.

I took note of the human speaking again but my focus was on the fire. Did it know what I was? Was it after my skin so that I would be bound to it forever. I didn't want to believe that because I had thought we were going to be friends but the way it called fire with it's fingers scared here. Still there was something about the human and even if everything in me screamed at me run I inched slowly back towards the human but away from the fire.

Never had I been plagued with cold. As a seal my body was made for the fridge waters and as a human I would cuddle in my skin and be warm. I never used fire and I was taught to fear it. I was also taught to fear humans but that lesson didn't seem to have taken root. I grumbled about the fire to the human and kept nodding my head at it. The flames were unnatural, almost too yellow as it burned, surely a sign that the human was magical. Of course I had never run into a human before so maybe this was normal. Then again I had also thought it was blind.

I showed my teeth at the flames and when I turned my head I smiled at the human. I repeated the motion and hoped that it got the idea that I would bite it if it trued to burn me or my seal skin.

 

[tcost]

Well, this was awkward. I needed the fire to cook the fish, but it was plain that the seal did not like the fire at all. It kept close to me, but it was trying to tell me something a little bit more complicated than just that it didn't like the fire. I couldn't puzzle out what that was, but I had to do something.

"Come on, pal." I said at last. "Even if it's chilly, let's move a little bit further away from the fire. I can see that it's making you unfomfortable."

So I moved further away down the beach. I was still cose enough that if the fish fell off of the spit and went into the fire that I might be able to get it out wiht a stick. I was pretty sure that I'd done my work well enough, though, that no such measures would be needed.

"I'm Matt," I announced, pointing my thumb at my chest. "Matthew Morton. I don't suppose that you have a name, do you, friend?"

 

[Orithyia]

I caught the soothing voice that the human spoke with and got the idea that it was trying to ease me as it moved away from the fire. I followed happy to be away from the flames. When the human stopped I looked back at the fire and felt comfortable that there was no way it could follow me. On one of the other cluster of islands lighting had stuck a dead tree and I watched from the safety of the sea as the fire leaps and travels as a free sprite over the small island. Just in case I romped a few feet towards the fire and drew a line in the sand with my nose so that if it did move I would know.

Satisfied I returned to the human and watched it with a puzzled look. I had a feeling it was trying to tell me something important but I couldn't understand. Maybe in my maiden form I would be able to understand it better. I thought it sounded like a good idea and made plans to stash my skin in my cave tonight before trying to talk to the human with the cover of the night.

It pointed to it's chest and made noise so I did the same. I lifted my left flipper and held my weight on my right and pointed at myself as I made strange noises trying to mimic the human. Back on two flippers as waited for the next part of the game. This was kind of like reflections that me and Vessa used to play when we were pups. I haven't played it since then as we got older our games before more wild and troublesome. Yet I was eager to play with the human glad that it was indeed able to make a game it was able to play while still hurt.

 

[tcost]

When this remarkable seal began to point at itself and mimic me -- I thought that that was what it was doing, at least -- I had to laugh out loud. We might have a language barrier and more between us, but we were making progress toward communicating all the same.

When it drew the line in the sand with its nose there could be no more question that this was any ordinary seal -- unless for millenia mankind has just failed to grasp that seals were intelligent too. Now, that could be. But either way, it seemed to me that I had made a significant discovery here on this deserted island. We were not the only sentient creatures on our planet.

It was getting warmer, and my clothes were wet and clammy. I pulled my shirt off over my head, and wrung it out onto the sand, away from the seal to be more polite. Then I did the same with my t-shirt, baring my chest. I laid the t-shirt out on the sand to dry more thoroughly and put the button-up cotton shirt back on, since it was still fairly chilly out. I wondered what my new friend would make of this.

 

[Orithyia]

The human barked and I barked back happily. But our games seemed to be over as it removed it's skin. My head cocked to the side. It had taken another layer of skin off and twisted the water out of it. If it could remove skin maybe it could change like I could and I stared waiting for it to change. Then waited some more. It was then that I noticed that it didn't have the lumps on it's chest like me and Vessa did. It was human, of sorts, I was sure of but it was also very different from my maiden body. Hmm. Was it a he? I couldn't tell but something in me told me that I was right. So this was a man. I turned my head even more to the side until it- he- the human was sideways.

It didn't change into anything but put on the first layer of skin. I frowned hoping that he would turn into a seal and swim the waters with me. Oh well, I huffed. I was fine with my human just being a human. As far as I knew I was the only selkie from my raft or the surrounding with a human friend.

Cautious of the skin on the ground I kept an weary eye on it as I moved closer. Did humans shed like snakes? I sniffed the thing on the ground but that didn't tell me anything about it. The smell was foreign with hints of the ocean and the human. Building my courage I took a bite out of it and it was the same foul tasting skin from before. Drawing my tongue back I shook the skin before letting it drop to the sand. I wasn't alive and it didn't taste like I would have thought humans tasted like. I had imagined that they would have tasted like squid but the skin didn't. Maybe that was why seals didn't eat humans, they tasted bad.

A breeze picked up and it brought the smell of the fire and something sweet and salty. It turned my attention. I made sure that the fire hadn't moved but more then that I wanted to know where that wonderful smell came from. I knew it came from the fire but I didn't know why it smelled so good all of a sudden. Reaching my neck out and sniffed and sniffed but didn't want to move closer. My mouth started to water. The human would have to tell me what that was.

I moved over to the human and nudged his hand with my head before turning to look at the fire. Tell me what smells so good. I was asking him as I nudged his hand again.

 

[tcost]

I guess that I should have anticipated the possibility, but it had never occurred to me that my seal friend would take a bite out of my t-shirt. I had realized that it might want to smell it, but eat it? The seal had plenty of food. I guessed that this was just one more way that it interacted with its environment.

I would have protested, but it was too late to save the garment, and the poor seal didn't know any better. I'd try to avoid that particular mistake again, though.

That was when it began to catch the scent of the roasting fish. It was time that I turned the fish on the spit in any event. I stood up once again, muscles protesting, and beckoned to the seal, not expecting it to cross the line it had drawn in the sand.

"It's the fish," I explained as I turned to face the fire as the seal was doing. It was trying to ask me about that, I was pretty sure. "It's what happens when you roast a fish."

As hungry as I was, I paused there to watch my new friend.

 

[Orithyia]

I followed the human waiting for my answer and to my surprise it was coming fro the fish. The same fish that I had given him. When we neared the line I made in the sand I stopped not yet sold on the fire yet.

My human talked and because it seemed like a natural thing to do I nodded my head and kept nodding it until it stopped talking. I didn't know why I did it but it just, was. I didn't know if the fish was done or why he was burning it over the flames but I remembered how hungry I had been before my swim in the ocean and didn't understand why he didn't eat. Was it because of me?

Just in case it was I laid flat on my belly making sure to keep on my non-fire side of the line and I turned my head, my flippers hiding my face. I know who I ate things in my maiden form but maybe eating was an intimate human action they they only did alone or with their mate. If that was the case I should leave but I didn't want to and hoped that my hiding would be good enough. There was also a voice in my head that told me this made me vulnerable but I was branching out and making a bet that I could trust my new friend.