"Selkies are wild and fierce fey creatures thought to have the body of a woman but the skin of a seal. To look upon the woman was to look upon unearthly beauty but meant she had shed her pelt and hidden it somewhere. To look upon the seal was to look upon simple animal but meant that she had donned her pelt and would return to her beginnings in the ocean. So it had always been for this race of being and it shall be always that they are the same side of a single coin. It is said that to steal the pelt earned you the right to take one as a wife but for those select few who find a selkie and think themselves lucky to take this action;

Be forewarned that a selkie is deeply attached to its beginnings and most will wait patiently to steal their pelts and return to the sea, often. The few who do not wait have left trails of blood in their wake in their attempt to regain their lost skins and return home.

Always...

It was night with a full moon but that's how they liked it. No four-finned came out at night. They could safely lay on the rock shelf and not need to worry about four-finned hunting them or sharks eating their young. A few others laid with their pelts off and she looked at them unable to see her family or friends in them. Intellectually she knew Ree was on the right, Bidt in the middle and Oher was on the left, but when she saw them all, all she saw was a four-finned. It unsettled her. So she looked away. She gazed out at the strange-glow-caves the four-finned dwelled in, the lights a source of curiosity. Some caught her stare and barked and laughed at her for it.

Don't worry. Four-fin no come at night.

She looked back at the forty-three gleaming pelts in the moonlight and replied Not worried. Curious about sun caves four-finn sleep in. Is that where sun go night? She was embarrassed when the adults barked in laughter again. What was so funny?

That no sun. Only one sun. Four-fin not own sun. Four-fin find way carry small stars.

She had never heard of this ability being possessed by the four-finned and was amazed. Four-fin able capture stars!? I want see stars! Suddenly her whole tribe had gone wild and was barking in anger and alarm. She had never seen them this upset since a whale had hunted one of their young who had strayed too far. The squeals, yips and barks peels from the young and old alike, the whole tribe shivering in the emotion of fear, anger and admonishment.

You no go!

Four-fin dangerous! Hunt but no eat!

Pelt takers!

Stay away from four-fin!

She finally managed to bark loud enough to promise not to go. This quieted them down considerably. A few yips or barks came aloud for a few more minutes. Eventually they settled down for sleep but she didn't miss the way that some of the adults hopped and waddled into a circle around her meaning she couldn't sneak off during the night to see stars. She knew four-fin were dangerous. She had been told so since she was a pup. They had strange ways with kelp-tangle-weeds that had taken her sires mother and shark-toothed-long-birds-rocks-that-flew and hunted both selkins and nonselkins with it.

Once she had seen a four-finned up close when it sat on a four-finned-made-rock. It had long fur on its head but naked everywhere else. It's pelt was loose and baggy from the neck down in a strange way she couldn't understand. But what had really fascinated her was the feet. The feet looked like a fish with no eyes, fins, or tails. Instead they had little soft-teeth that got smaller. It was the same for the other two fins had the same thing but longer. In fact the more she looked the she felt they weren't fins at all! But they weren't tentacles. They weren't jellyfish stingers. She didn't know what to make of the four-finned strange looks.

It had held a strange rock to its mouth making noises she had never heard before but really liked. It had seen her and reached out. Suddenly loud noises came from another four-finned and it was moving towards them with a kelpie-tangle-weed. The first four-finned repeated these noises to the second. She had hopped and wobbled away as fast as she could to the water knowing that they would have eaten her if they had caught her. After that she didn't really want to see them anymore. She would admit in private they made her curious but what she really wanted was to see stars up close. She shifted and curled up into a ball tucking her snout against her belly and her fins sharp against her side. She knew that maybe one day she would see the captured four-fin stars without breaking her promise.

Xxxxx One Year Later xxxxX

She angled her fins a little to the left, gaining speed needed and... Success! She bit and ground her teeth together enjoying the taste of the freshly caught fish, liking the salted scales and the fish guts. The blood clouded the waters around her and she paused, considering if she would need to eat more. The waters had warmed lately so she wouldn't need to eat to protect from the cold but then the fish might leave. On second thought, eating more would be good.

Then she saw him. One of the others coming and paused, hurriedly gulping down her food knowing they would have taken it from her. The gray seal came closer and that's when she knew there was trouble. She recognized the jagged scar running from tail to mid back. Inwardly she balked at his presence. Kuin. Not good. One of the rare males of the tribe and his large bulk made him definitely better in battle. She had two choices, fight for her hunting ground or flee and find new ones. If she fled then it set a precedence of the occurrence and he would feel free to steal her feeding area a second time and then a third.

No, she would definitely have to fight. He came closer, flattening his head and back lowering his head and angling his fins. She realized what he was going to do and knew he was gaining speed. She tilted downward immediately and dodged, spinning around and trying to move up towards his soft underside fast enough to discourage him. He saw this and angled down trying to shoot for her fins. She dodged again, her smaller size making her faster than his heavy bulk. They continued this dance for several minutes each trying to hit each other. But by the time they were done neither had succeeded in hitting the other. There was no tension as they were both happy. It had lost the aggression and turned into something fun for the both of them. It was a game that all silkies loved and they were no exception.

Finally they were both tired and needed to eat.

We both eat here and go back others? She asked warily, knowing he could loose the feel for the game and insist that the feeding area was his alone and turn back to aggression.

He looked at her out of the side of his eye and considered it for a moment. Yes.

They both ate their fill wary of the other while feeding but still enjoying the company. When they had finished they swam back to the beach in silence. She didn't hate or fear Kuin but he unsettled her and often tried to steal her food. Maybe it was because he was male. Out of the forty-three members of the tribe there were only eleven males, an unusually high amount she had been told. Which meant on average every four females gave birth to one male. She considered him. He was quiet compared to the others, yes he was aggressive but never fatally so. He was nice. She found herself admiring his pelt as they swam. It was a nice grey white, not the muddy browns others had. She paused, surprised at herself. She had never thought of a male that way before. Did it mean she was ready yet?

Before she could contemplate more she saw that water was shallow enough to be very close to the beach. They both peered out at the water, spotting the tribe a little farther left and a few young four-finned to the far right. Having judged it was safe enough they swam to the left and joined the others to dry off in the full, late afternoon, sun. She moved over closer to Oher and Oom, stretching out to dry her tan yellow pelt. It felt nice. So warm.

She was suddenly very drowsy and settled herself down. Yet here he was, that silver pelt and that quiet Kuin towering over her. She moved up, confused. Did he want her sun warming spot as well? There was plenty of space... She grew greatly embarrassed when his head bobbed forward and bumped against her cheek below her eye. Such a intimate gesture in front of everyone! It also meant that he viewed her as a female and was intent on her during whale season. She had never known... He moved away and settled down in the sun, going to sleep. Uln looked at her and she knew her friend was laughing.

Good match Kuin with Seras. Had not known this was going happen. When this happen?

She suddenly was very embarrassed because all her friends were intensely focused on her. She didn't want them all ganging up on her one by one so the best way would be all at once. And she didn't know what to do. Advice would be good.

Tonight water rock. Speak then?

They each looked at her and agreed. She laid back down and slept, with much more on her mind than ever before.

xxxxxx

... I seem to be a story starting junkie. Ask all the questions you'd like, I'll try to answer them. Oh, and I wish that I had been the first one to make a hellsing story with selkies. I'm not.

-He Will Knock Four Times