Chapter 10
The Selkie's Warning, and a Battle with a Peryton
"So just what the hell is a Selkie?" Kanda grumbled as he and Tock made their way down to the cove the Faerie Queen had mentioned.
They would have taken Herne along but this was their quest, so he was not allowed to interfere. Kanda had grumbled something about not needing his help before Tock smacked him with her tail.
"A selkie is a seal woman, kind of like a mermaid." Tock explained. "Normally they look like seals but every now and again they come to the shore and shed their seal skins, becoming beautiful maidens. Sometimes fishermen become enraptured by their beauty and steal the skins so as to keep the selkie in her human form as their bride. But the selkies always long for the sea and pine for it if their skin has been lost to them."
"So the Faerie Queen wants us to steal a Selkie skin and ruin it's life?" Kanda said.
Tock paused for a moment.
"Well," she said, digging her claws into the mossy ground, "I'm sure she'll sell it back to her or make some other deal. Faeries can be generous, but they appreciate tributes."
Kanda grumbled and sat back as the night wind began to acquire a salty smell to it. Eventually the path they were on opened up into a rock cove. The waves slapped against the rocks and the moon illuminated the entire area. That's when they heard the singing.
"Over the waves you call to me
Shadow of dream, ancient mystery
Oh how I long for your sweet caress
Oh how I long for your gentleness
Torn between sea mists and solid land
Nights when I've ached for a human hand
I'll come to you when the moon shines bright
But I must go free with the first streak of light."(1)
They could see the selkie maiden sitting on the rocky shore, combing her hair with the bones of a fish, singing beautifully. Tock was entranced by her beauty and if Kanda hadn't bashed her over the head with Mugen she would have stood there all night long. She shook her head and glared at him but Kanda remained silent, only pointing at a far rock upon which was a shining pelt. The selkie's skin.
"Aye then, so what do we do?" Tock whispered.
"You deactivate, I'll try and sneak in and get the pelt. Be ready to reactivate and get us the hell out of here." Kanda replied.
Tock nodded and let him off before returning to normal. She noticed her joints were a little squeaky and wondered what exactly would happen to her if she were to remain activated for an extended period of time. Usually exorcists simply collapsed from exhaustion however since she had no body she had never thought that would affect her; but now she thought she was beginning to rust.
"Curiouser and curiouser." she muttered as she bounded up to Kanda.
Kanda had silently slunk through the shadows and up to the rock where the pelt lay. He had just laid his hand on it when Tock's leg squeaked. Kanda gave her a nearly deadly glare and snatched the pelt. That's when they heard a gasp.
They looked up and saw the selkie staring at them with a horrified expression on her face. Tock and Kanda instantly felt guilty.
"Oh please don't." the selkie pleaded.
Kanda shook off the feeling and stood up.
"I'm sorry but we need this to get the innocence from the Faerie Queen." he said.
The selkie's eyes went wide.
"Oh, the Faerie Queen? But the Queen has been dead for some months now." she said.
Tock and Kanda stared.
"We just saw her." Kanda deadpanned.
The selkie gasped.
"Oh no! They've put a changeling in her place!" she cried.
"A changeling? Oh tha's just brilliant! Them trickster bogies! Try'n a make us take yer pelt like that!" Tock exclaimed.
"Excuse me!" Kanda barked, "What the hell is a 'changeling'?"
Tock expressed a little steam and chuckled.
"A changeling is like a doppelganger, it's a faerie that takes the place of a person. Usually they do this with infants, like the cuckoo lays its eggs in the nest of another bird. I'm thinkin' that this must be an Akuma, taking on the form of the faerie Queen."
"We all mourned, but none so hard as the Queen's sister." The selkie said meekly, her eyes still locked on the pelt Kanda was holding.
"So the Queen's really an Akuma. Why didn't she just kill us?" he said.
"Who knows? Perhaps she thinks it's in the pelt, or some other object she would have us fetch. All's I know is that we need to get back to the forest and kill her dead!"
Kanda nodded in agreement before handing the pelt to the selkie.
"I'm sorry for the trouble I caused you." He said.
The selkie blushed.
"Tis alright. Good luck on your quest noble knight." She said before slipping on the pelt and transforming into a seal and leaping back into the ocean.
Tock snickered as Kanda climbed onto her back.
"Noble knight eh?"
"Let's just get going before sunrise." Kanda grumbled.
Tock flew fast and hard all the way back to the clearing they had seen.
"She must know we know her secret. It's the only way we'd ever find this place again." Tock said as Kanda dismounted.
He unsheathed Mugen and they readied themselves.
"Alright Akuma! Show yourself!" he shouted.
A harsh wind suddenly picked up and dirt and leaves began blowing everywhere. Suddenly, in the circle of stones the Faerie Queen appeared.
"So, the selkie told you did she?" she sneered, "well no matter, I'll just find the innocence myself!"
She let out a shriek and from the body burst a creature like a deer, but with feathered wings and bird-like talons.
"A peryton!" Tock shouted.
The peryton took to the skies and Tock quickly scooped up Kanda before racing after her.
"What the hell is a peryton?" Kanda snapped as he clambered onto Tock's shoulders.
"Legend has it that they're the souls of dead Kings and Queens! But this is an Akuma so…do 'er in the usual way?"
Kanda smirked, it was good to have a partner who thought like he did.
"Let's get the bitch."
Tock banked left and caught the peryton as it was attempting to circle back for an attack. It was very large, almost as large as Tock, and those talons looked lethal. It swiped at her and Kanda. Tock grabbed a paw-full of feathers and shot off a stream of anti-Akuma fire. The peryton shrieked and backed off, spiraling upwards into a cloud.
"Get me over her, then I can jump on and stick Mugen in her spine!" Kanda called.
"Aye, jus' hang on!" Tock called back.
With a powerful flap of her wings she began ascending almost vertically, Kanda hanging on by grabbing at one of her metal spikes. As they entered the cloud there was another shriek and the peryton came flying at them. Tock rolled to the right and pushed herself over the creature, feeling Kanda leap off and hopefully land on its back. She swung herself around and saw Kanda fighting his way up the creature's neck, the peryton spinning and bucking and trying to throw him off. She was thankful for all the time Kanda had spent riding and fighting on her back. He at last got to its neck and plunged Mugen in with all his might. The peryton let out one last shriek before going limp.
"Tock!" Kanda shouted as he pulled out Mugen, knowing he had only seconds before the Akuma exploded.
Tock swooped in and grabbed him just as the creature died in the fiery bang akumas chose as their deaths. She quickly made for the ground and they collapsed, dirty and bloody from the battle.
"Kuso!" Kanda groaned.
"Eh?" Tock slurred.
Kanda pointed with Mugen to the tree line and Tock gave a little gasp. Herne the Hunter was back.
"My goodness, what a battle. And you two say you're not hunters." He smirked.
"Hunters of a sort sir." Tock said as she got up.
Herne, still smirking, reached into the pocket of his cloak and removed a glowing white cube surrounded by gears.
"I did finally catch that deer, but this is what fell from its stomach when I butchered it. It would seem that that deer was not my deer, but yours."
Kanda got up and took the innocence.
"Thank-you." He said.
Herne nodded.
"The sun is almost up. You should return to the village."
"I hope you find your deer Herne." Tock said.
Herne nodded.
"Ah, thank-you for your blessing. Farewell Tock, Kanda, perhaps someday our paths will cross once more."
And with that he mounted his horse and rode back towards the forest, seeming to disappear right before their eyes.
"Can we go now?" Kanda grumbled, "I've had enough of this weirdness."
Tock laughed as he climbed on her back.
"Oh you think this is weird, after all we've seen?"
"Talking seal people, Herne, a whole host of creatures? How the hell did you grow up here?"
The ride back to town was short, as if the forest were close yet at the same time so far away. Finnian was ready to meet them at the bridge.
"I can't believe it! You're alive!" He cried.
"It's only been a day; you'd give up on us that easily?" Kanda said.
"Sir Kanda…It's been two weeks!" Finnian said, confused.
"Ooh boy," Tock said, "This is just like in Tír na nÓg. One day in the realm of the faeries is quite a while in the realm of humans."
Kanda gave an exasperated sigh.
"Where the hell was that pub, I need a drink." He muttered.
Tock deactivated and hopped on his shoulders.
"Make that two!" she called.
"You don't drink." Kanda pointed out.
"I know that! The other's for me pal Finnian!" Tock smirked.
Finnian chuckled.
"Quite the bird ye've got yerself there." He said to Kanda.
Kanda thought he meant Tock's wings in activated form. Little did he know that 'Bird' is slang for girlfriend.
(1) Seal Woman/Yundah- Mary McLaughlin
Phew I never thought I'd get that done. Peryton's are one of the lesser known creatures of UK mythology so I didn't really have that much folklore to work with. But there was a ton of selkie lore. Tír na nÓg is one of my favorite mythological places. I actually made a math problem out of it. +500 Internets to whoever can solve it!
For every 1 year spent in Tír na nÓg, 100 years passes in the mortal realm. How long must one spend in Tír na nÓg for 1 day to go by in the mortal realm?
I did solve it once, rather I got my dad to do it. So I sort of know the answer.
Sooooo the next arc of this story is going to be just a rewrite of an episode of the anime. The Leaf of Revival. Doing parts like that let Tock grow as a character as she's subject to new situations and interactions. So yeah, I have a lot of catching up to do!
