Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Secret of the Seal skin ❯ Chapter eight: The Arrival of a Queen ( Chapter 8 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Kakaro 
Miscellaneous: Original Stories Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Fantasy | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 09.10.2006 | Pages: 1 | Words: 2.5K | Visits: 144 | Status: Work In Progress
Miscellaneous: Original Stories Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Fantasy | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 09.10.2006 | Pages: 1 | Words: 2.5K | Visits: 144 | Status: Work In Progress
The Secret of the Seal Skin
What would happen if an old myth, a fairytale often told by the fire, came true? After times full of misery Rowan returns to the Orkney Islands after the death
of her father, in hope to find peace for something she thinks she could not be forgiven for. In the end however, she finds quite something else in a mysterious man,
passionate by the sea, and by her?
DISCLAIMER: All the characters in this story are mine, and mine completely, meaning that I was the one who created them.
They are my property and cannot be used in other stories with my consent. If you recognize a real person in these character, forget about it, I did not mean it intentionally.
---
The selkie stories/myths all revolve around the selkie removing its seal-skin which makes them take human form. Once their seal-skins were discarded, selkies became extremely attractive to humans and it was not uncommon for relationships to form. Either the selkie decides to stay on land with her love or her love hides her seal-skin. It is said that without their skins, the selkies were trapped on land and must obey whoever holds their skin.
---
Chapter eight: The Arrival of a Queen
“This story is about tragedy, and about things that could not be, about wishes unfulfilled, and about destiny. The story that I’m about to tell you, is not that old yet, and it tells about two men, a beautiful woman, and a little girl with fiery red hair…”
Mari sat up a little, a light returning to her eyes as she looking down upon the youngsters sitting before her on the ground. They were both staring at her, expectation shining in their eyes as they waited for her to start her tale. She remembered the young woman, the daughter of the old man Leod. She had not been surprised to hear from Cian that he had left Eday, choosing the sea above the lonesome life he had led since the day his daughter had chosen to go to the big city. The child was not to blame, if Mari had had the chance to leave the island when she had been younger, she would have done the same. That she did not know what it had done to her father, was not something tragic, but unimportant. Leod had always wished that his daughter would have a life of her own, and if it meant that her life was far away from him Mari knew for sure that he had accepted his daughter departure, but she doubted the fact whether Rowan had ever really knew how much her father had loved her.
“The tale I am about to tell, tells of an island not far from the island of Eday. An island that cannot be seen by mere mortal’s eyes, an Island which only shows itself to those with a pure heart, or with the right intentions.”
“The Selkie Island,” Rowan said immediately, and Mari nodded with satisfaction. The young woman had not forgotten about the stories she had told her when she had been a little girl. Cian looked surprised for a moment, but quickly regained his composure. Mari turned to him and smiled. “Don’t look surprised Cian, Rowan spend hours before my hearth, listening to the stories most have already forgotten. I think Rowan knows more about the Orkney Islands than anyone living on the islands.”
Cian just looked at her strangely, Rowan had a proud look in her eyes, Mari could understand Cian’s confusing, but she said nothing anymore, continuing the tale she wanted to tell.
“The story starts with a chance meeting between a man and a woman, on a lonely beach on an lonely island during a lonely summer..."
---
The trip to the Orkney Islands seemed to take forever. First they had ridden in a bus for ages, from the airport of Heathrow, all the way to Edinburgh where they had taken a plane which hopefully would take them to the Orkney Islands. If they would ever reach the islands.
Sybel watched the dull grey clouds from the tiny little window of the old airplane, annoyed and frustrated by the little room she had to move. The grey clouds were blocking her view on the sea, or land, she hoped the latter. It had been her father’s great idea that she should see more of the country they had originally come from before they had moved to the United States. Her family had never lived on Orkney, nor had ever come close to it, but her father had insisted that she should visit it.
She already knew that compared the London the islands would be dull and boring. The raves, the stores, the excitement the city of London seemed to breath would be nothing compared to where they were going too.
A youth hostel on some island called Eday, known for it’s heather and seals.
She was already jumping with joy, seals and plants, definitely her favorite journey up till now. Why had they not flown back to the USA after their days in Edinburgh had ended. She would never know, her teachers had probably chosen Eday to spend their last week on because it would be educational.
With a sigh Sybel glanced besides her, where her best friend, or perhaps the only friend who had been willing to come with her on this unbelievable dumb journey, was sleeping. Sarah was probably to dumb to understand but they were on a plane which made ore noise than a whale in heat, and she was sleeping right through the noise.
Sybel did not know whether to be disgusted, or jealous. She hadn’t had some sleep since they had left Edinburgh, but there was simply no way that she was going to sleep on the plane. She simply couldn’t.
She sighed and glanced out of the window again, deciding that she would only think of happy thoughts. Thinking about the boy she had met in London certainly helped, the young man she had met at a rave where she and Sarah had gone off too while the teachers thought that they had gotten out to get some food.
She had told Sarah that she would get to the hotel later, that she shouldn’t tell the teachers where they had gone too, and that she shouldn’t worry. Sybel smiled against her reflection, of course Sarah hadn’t held her tongue, but the night had been worth it. Definitely.
The airplane shook violently again, and Sybel sighed heavily. One might have thought that they could have at least hired a proper plane to get them to Eday, seeing the amount of money their parents had paid for their trip to the United Kingdom, but no. They had gotten this wreck.
She glanced through the airplane, noticing two of the teachers vast asleep, most of her other classmates too. She wondered what they had drank the last night they had been in Edinburgh, for once she had drunk nothing with alcohol in it, and she couldn’t get any sleep while everyone else seemed far away.
Well, one more week and she would be home again. Back in her own warm bed, where she could at least ride around in her own car in stead of that old bus her teachers had hired, with a real bath and shower, and of course; real food. She didn’t know how the people in the UK had ever survived throughout the centuries, but obviously they had bargained their goods for food from the continent.
A teacher stirred, and Sybel watched him for a moment, curious whether he would wake or not. Sir Abigail as he wished to call himself originally came from the United Kingdom too, from England to be precise, just like her father. The two had instantly liked each other the moment they had met and much to the disgust of Sybel her father had invited her teacher to have dinner countless times. Both their interest lay in old cars and of course, cricket. She had no words to describe how much she hated cricket.
She hated Sir Abigail too, with a passion. Ever since she had set foot on the ground of the United Kingdom sir Abigail had made a holy mission of seeing that she was all right, saying that he could not let the daughter of his best friend just wander around.
Of course, he wasn’t much of a guardian since he was drunk most of the time, but it was still annoying in a way.
Asking all the time whether she had enough toilet paper or not was becoming quite annoying.
The intercom cracked and growled, a rough voice calling through the speakers, talking with such a dialect, accent, that she had no idea what he was saying.
But he had woken sir Abigail up, who was now looking around with those big frog eyes of his, catching her gaze almost instantly. She rolled her eyes and looked away again. If he woke up because the pilot shouted something in the intercom it surely meant that the damned island of Eday was coming nearer.
At least she would be able to stretch her legs again and perhaps pull on a new sweater, this one smelled like gasoline thanks to the old bus they had used to get to the airport.
It didn’t take long until Sarah, and some of her other classmates slowly began to stir. Musing Sybel imagined sir Abigail casting a spell on her fellow classmates, causing them to wake and sleep all at the same time.
“Are we there yet?” Came the groggy voice of her friend, who tried to sit upright again without much success.
“No, sadly enough we are not.” Sybel muttered, folding her arms before her chest. “The pilot shouted something through the intercom, but I didn’t understand a word of it.”
Sarah mumbled something about a stiff neck before she tried to look out of the window. “They say Eday has great beaches.”
“Well, don’t expect to go swimming.” Sarah sneered, glancing at the grey clouds. “Soon we’ll be able to swim in the air if the clouds grow any darker.”
She had had enough of the rain, the cold grey splash of water which chilled her bones and froze her limbs. Florida never had rain like they had here. In Florida there was sun, there was a warm swimming pool where she could have parties and all. She was almost absolutely sure that there wouldn’t be any kind of swimming pool at all. She would consider herself lucky if they knew the word bath or shower in that youth hostel.
Youth hostel, her teachers didn’t even bother to look for a proper hotel.
Sir Abigail had finally awakened completely, and had gotten out of his seat, wakening every student, telling them they would reach Eday soon. Sir Abigail had been on this kind of trip before, so he would probably know. Sybel watched him come closer without much interest, feeling disgusted at the fat puffy face bent over to look if Sarah had awakened already, who had hid her face underneath her arm.
“We will reach Eday in no time, so stay awake girls. We don’t want to loose anyone, and I won’t be going after you if they plane takes you back to Edinburgh.” He had such a thick, fake British accent that it almost made Sybel sick, but the wink he gave her almost made her puke. She absolutely hated it whenever he did that, as if she was a little girl and he was telling a little secret.
Luckily Sarah hadn’t seen it, otherwise she would have probably asked what was going on. Sybel had no idea, but she was sure it had something to do with her father and his absurd friendship with sir Abigail.
Soon the little seatbelt light began to shine again, and without much enthusiasm she looked for her seatbelt. She hadn’t actually worn it while the plane had begun their flight; the seatbelt was broken, but perhaps she would find a way to fix it.
Of course, she couldn’t. Either she had to have the waist of a six year old child, or cut herself in two.
Sighing about the miserable quality of the airplane she sat back again, looking around for things to hold onto while they would land. The seat in front of her seemed sturdy enough, hopefully.
The airplane already started to descent, and Sarah gave her an odd look as she did not fasten her seatbelt.
“The damn thing is broken.” She muttered, the corner of her mouth twitching in irritation. Her friend nodded, seemingly glad that her seatbelt was still intact. Sybel groaned inwardly, holding onto the seat in front of her as the plane slowly descended.
Somehow she had the idea that her stay on Eday would not be a pleasant one. If it started like this, it would only end even worse.
She glanced out of the window, seeing an island coming through the clouds, a thick carpet of green covering the face of the island. She guessed it was the heather with hints of purple flowers. It looked barren, completely treeless, or almost. Perhaps it was because of the weather, but it looked utterly.. depressing, and she sighed. Sitting back. She had absolutely no idea why she of all people had to spend the last days of such an expensive vacation on a rotten island somewhere in Scotland. She would have a serious talk with her father when she got back.
She glanced at sir Abigail, who was seemingly staring at her. He winked at her again, and she let out an audible groan. Yes, this was going to be, with no doubt at all, the worst place she had ever visited in her entire life.
---
Hang on boys and girls! So this little story has started, however, it will continue in the next chapters which I will write soon enough, this is only the beginning folks!
It's a bit short, but there's no need in making it any longer. I promise the next will be longer!
Reviews as always very welcome.
Tbc.
What would happen if an old myth, a fairytale often told by the fire, came true? After times full of misery Rowan returns to the Orkney Islands after the death
of her father, in hope to find peace for something she thinks she could not be forgiven for. In the end however, she finds quite something else in a mysterious man,
passionate by the sea, and by her?
DISCLAIMER: All the characters in this story are mine, and mine completely, meaning that I was the one who created them.
They are my property and cannot be used in other stories with my consent. If you recognize a real person in these character, forget about it, I did not mean it intentionally.
---
The selkie stories/myths all revolve around the selkie removing its seal-skin which makes them take human form. Once their seal-skins were discarded, selkies became extremely attractive to humans and it was not uncommon for relationships to form. Either the selkie decides to stay on land with her love or her love hides her seal-skin. It is said that without their skins, the selkies were trapped on land and must obey whoever holds their skin.
---
Chapter eight: The Arrival of a Queen
“This story is about tragedy, and about things that could not be, about wishes unfulfilled, and about destiny. The story that I’m about to tell you, is not that old yet, and it tells about two men, a beautiful woman, and a little girl with fiery red hair…”
Mari sat up a little, a light returning to her eyes as she looking down upon the youngsters sitting before her on the ground. They were both staring at her, expectation shining in their eyes as they waited for her to start her tale. She remembered the young woman, the daughter of the old man Leod. She had not been surprised to hear from Cian that he had left Eday, choosing the sea above the lonesome life he had led since the day his daughter had chosen to go to the big city. The child was not to blame, if Mari had had the chance to leave the island when she had been younger, she would have done the same. That she did not know what it had done to her father, was not something tragic, but unimportant. Leod had always wished that his daughter would have a life of her own, and if it meant that her life was far away from him Mari knew for sure that he had accepted his daughter departure, but she doubted the fact whether Rowan had ever really knew how much her father had loved her.
“The tale I am about to tell, tells of an island not far from the island of Eday. An island that cannot be seen by mere mortal’s eyes, an Island which only shows itself to those with a pure heart, or with the right intentions.”
“The Selkie Island,” Rowan said immediately, and Mari nodded with satisfaction. The young woman had not forgotten about the stories she had told her when she had been a little girl. Cian looked surprised for a moment, but quickly regained his composure. Mari turned to him and smiled. “Don’t look surprised Cian, Rowan spend hours before my hearth, listening to the stories most have already forgotten. I think Rowan knows more about the Orkney Islands than anyone living on the islands.”
Cian just looked at her strangely, Rowan had a proud look in her eyes, Mari could understand Cian’s confusing, but she said nothing anymore, continuing the tale she wanted to tell.
“The story starts with a chance meeting between a man and a woman, on a lonely beach on an lonely island during a lonely summer..."
---
The trip to the Orkney Islands seemed to take forever. First they had ridden in a bus for ages, from the airport of Heathrow, all the way to Edinburgh where they had taken a plane which hopefully would take them to the Orkney Islands. If they would ever reach the islands.
Sybel watched the dull grey clouds from the tiny little window of the old airplane, annoyed and frustrated by the little room she had to move. The grey clouds were blocking her view on the sea, or land, she hoped the latter. It had been her father’s great idea that she should see more of the country they had originally come from before they had moved to the United States. Her family had never lived on Orkney, nor had ever come close to it, but her father had insisted that she should visit it.
She already knew that compared the London the islands would be dull and boring. The raves, the stores, the excitement the city of London seemed to breath would be nothing compared to where they were going too.
A youth hostel on some island called Eday, known for it’s heather and seals.
She was already jumping with joy, seals and plants, definitely her favorite journey up till now. Why had they not flown back to the USA after their days in Edinburgh had ended. She would never know, her teachers had probably chosen Eday to spend their last week on because it would be educational.
With a sigh Sybel glanced besides her, where her best friend, or perhaps the only friend who had been willing to come with her on this unbelievable dumb journey, was sleeping. Sarah was probably to dumb to understand but they were on a plane which made ore noise than a whale in heat, and she was sleeping right through the noise.
Sybel did not know whether to be disgusted, or jealous. She hadn’t had some sleep since they had left Edinburgh, but there was simply no way that she was going to sleep on the plane. She simply couldn’t.
She sighed and glanced out of the window again, deciding that she would only think of happy thoughts. Thinking about the boy she had met in London certainly helped, the young man she had met at a rave where she and Sarah had gone off too while the teachers thought that they had gotten out to get some food.
She had told Sarah that she would get to the hotel later, that she shouldn’t tell the teachers where they had gone too, and that she shouldn’t worry. Sybel smiled against her reflection, of course Sarah hadn’t held her tongue, but the night had been worth it. Definitely.
The airplane shook violently again, and Sybel sighed heavily. One might have thought that they could have at least hired a proper plane to get them to Eday, seeing the amount of money their parents had paid for their trip to the United Kingdom, but no. They had gotten this wreck.
She glanced through the airplane, noticing two of the teachers vast asleep, most of her other classmates too. She wondered what they had drank the last night they had been in Edinburgh, for once she had drunk nothing with alcohol in it, and she couldn’t get any sleep while everyone else seemed far away.
Well, one more week and she would be home again. Back in her own warm bed, where she could at least ride around in her own car in stead of that old bus her teachers had hired, with a real bath and shower, and of course; real food. She didn’t know how the people in the UK had ever survived throughout the centuries, but obviously they had bargained their goods for food from the continent.
A teacher stirred, and Sybel watched him for a moment, curious whether he would wake or not. Sir Abigail as he wished to call himself originally came from the United Kingdom too, from England to be precise, just like her father. The two had instantly liked each other the moment they had met and much to the disgust of Sybel her father had invited her teacher to have dinner countless times. Both their interest lay in old cars and of course, cricket. She had no words to describe how much she hated cricket.
She hated Sir Abigail too, with a passion. Ever since she had set foot on the ground of the United Kingdom sir Abigail had made a holy mission of seeing that she was all right, saying that he could not let the daughter of his best friend just wander around.
Of course, he wasn’t much of a guardian since he was drunk most of the time, but it was still annoying in a way.
Asking all the time whether she had enough toilet paper or not was becoming quite annoying.
The intercom cracked and growled, a rough voice calling through the speakers, talking with such a dialect, accent, that she had no idea what he was saying.
But he had woken sir Abigail up, who was now looking around with those big frog eyes of his, catching her gaze almost instantly. She rolled her eyes and looked away again. If he woke up because the pilot shouted something in the intercom it surely meant that the damned island of Eday was coming nearer.
At least she would be able to stretch her legs again and perhaps pull on a new sweater, this one smelled like gasoline thanks to the old bus they had used to get to the airport.
It didn’t take long until Sarah, and some of her other classmates slowly began to stir. Musing Sybel imagined sir Abigail casting a spell on her fellow classmates, causing them to wake and sleep all at the same time.
“Are we there yet?” Came the groggy voice of her friend, who tried to sit upright again without much success.
“No, sadly enough we are not.” Sybel muttered, folding her arms before her chest. “The pilot shouted something through the intercom, but I didn’t understand a word of it.”
Sarah mumbled something about a stiff neck before she tried to look out of the window. “They say Eday has great beaches.”
“Well, don’t expect to go swimming.” Sarah sneered, glancing at the grey clouds. “Soon we’ll be able to swim in the air if the clouds grow any darker.”
She had had enough of the rain, the cold grey splash of water which chilled her bones and froze her limbs. Florida never had rain like they had here. In Florida there was sun, there was a warm swimming pool where she could have parties and all. She was almost absolutely sure that there wouldn’t be any kind of swimming pool at all. She would consider herself lucky if they knew the word bath or shower in that youth hostel.
Youth hostel, her teachers didn’t even bother to look for a proper hotel.
Sir Abigail had finally awakened completely, and had gotten out of his seat, wakening every student, telling them they would reach Eday soon. Sir Abigail had been on this kind of trip before, so he would probably know. Sybel watched him come closer without much interest, feeling disgusted at the fat puffy face bent over to look if Sarah had awakened already, who had hid her face underneath her arm.
“We will reach Eday in no time, so stay awake girls. We don’t want to loose anyone, and I won’t be going after you if they plane takes you back to Edinburgh.” He had such a thick, fake British accent that it almost made Sybel sick, but the wink he gave her almost made her puke. She absolutely hated it whenever he did that, as if she was a little girl and he was telling a little secret.
Luckily Sarah hadn’t seen it, otherwise she would have probably asked what was going on. Sybel had no idea, but she was sure it had something to do with her father and his absurd friendship with sir Abigail.
Soon the little seatbelt light began to shine again, and without much enthusiasm she looked for her seatbelt. She hadn’t actually worn it while the plane had begun their flight; the seatbelt was broken, but perhaps she would find a way to fix it.
Of course, she couldn’t. Either she had to have the waist of a six year old child, or cut herself in two.
Sighing about the miserable quality of the airplane she sat back again, looking around for things to hold onto while they would land. The seat in front of her seemed sturdy enough, hopefully.
The airplane already started to descent, and Sarah gave her an odd look as she did not fasten her seatbelt.
“The damn thing is broken.” She muttered, the corner of her mouth twitching in irritation. Her friend nodded, seemingly glad that her seatbelt was still intact. Sybel groaned inwardly, holding onto the seat in front of her as the plane slowly descended.
Somehow she had the idea that her stay on Eday would not be a pleasant one. If it started like this, it would only end even worse.
She glanced out of the window, seeing an island coming through the clouds, a thick carpet of green covering the face of the island. She guessed it was the heather with hints of purple flowers. It looked barren, completely treeless, or almost. Perhaps it was because of the weather, but it looked utterly.. depressing, and she sighed. Sitting back. She had absolutely no idea why she of all people had to spend the last days of such an expensive vacation on a rotten island somewhere in Scotland. She would have a serious talk with her father when she got back.
She glanced at sir Abigail, who was seemingly staring at her. He winked at her again, and she let out an audible groan. Yes, this was going to be, with no doubt at all, the worst place she had ever visited in her entire life.
---
Hang on boys and girls! So this little story has started, however, it will continue in the next chapters which I will write soon enough, this is only the beginning folks!
It's a bit short, but there's no need in making it any longer. I promise the next will be longer!
Reviews as always very welcome.
Tbc.