From Wordwielder: Elves
I am SO so sorry for the delay—December was a crazy month, and January has been busy, as well. And, also, I got stuck in a rut while writing this. But now it's done and I'm going to do my best to finish the challenge!
Another AU. I am so, so sorry—seems to be what I'm running on on this challenge. *sigh* I have probably almost a dozen Sherlockian AUs going in my head if nowhere else or with Ria—and this one is mine and Ria's brainchild that may not see the light of day yet for a long time...
==Day 14: Belief==
"Doctor, if you don't mind, I should like to have my curiosity satisfied on one point. You accepted my story straight away—and yet humans in this day and age do not often believe in fairytales, which leads me to believe that you have had an encounter before now. Am I correct?"
David Hamish Murray, M.D., regarded the odd, almost-human creature before him. Almost human, for the man could pass as such with a hat on or his hair combed down—down to cover the pointed ears that belied his true heritage. A heritage that had allowed him to spirit David out of a battlefield and into hiding to perform surgery on the army doctor's shoulder wound. That wasn't to say, however, that surgery had been easy: fairies and iron did not mix well.
"I've always believed in fairies," David said softly. "My mother encouraged me and my brother to believe in the Fair Folk, told us many tales. And when I came of an age to decide whether or not to put away such childish rubbish—as it was beginning to seem to me at the time—I saw something that changed my mind forever."
At the fairy's encouraging nod, David continued. "I was on the beach below my family's country estate; the water was at low tide. Further ahead, along the beach, a slender woman appeared, too far away to call to her. Of course it was strange that anyone aside from my family or the servants should be there at all, so I watched her. She drew something that appeared to be a cloak from the rocks, cast off her own clothes, and wrapped the cloak around her. Then, she ran to the water and dove in, but as she did so, her human form shifted into that of a sea lion."
"Ah! Selkies do not come to southern Scottish shores so much anymore; you were lucky."
"Perhaps. At any rate, after that first sighting, I checked those rocks every day for a week before finding my proof—the coat of a Selkie."
"Did you take it?"
David shook his head. "I was tempted—just to meet the Selkie, you understand—but I decided against it. I couldn't trap a lass like that; it wouldn't have been right."
There was an approving gleam in the fairy's grey eyes. "Quite so. Did you ever see her again?"
"Once, when I was older. Never spoke to her. I should have liked to, but she was too fast."
"Selkies are rather more vulnerable than most fairy folk, and they have learned caution because of it. Well, that explains it, then. I fully expected you to think I was a raving lunatic when I told you my tale."
David chuckled. "You may be a raving lunatic among your own kind, for all I know."
"Well, really, Doctor!"
"But you did save my life, so I'm beholden to you. I don't think you told me your name, though."
"Ah, yes! My name is Ciaran Sulairgid. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Doctor."
"The pleasure is all mine."
A/N: Different names, different circumstances—Celtic fairytales and folklore bleeding into nineteenth-century events—still Holmes and Watson. :)