Her hair is half pulled up in a loose ponytail, red as the sky before a storm at the beach, and her freckles seem more silver than brown at spots, like little specks of stars across her skin. Zen's never seen anyone so beautiful before.
She has a white coat draped over her shoulders and pulled tightly against her, tied around her waist to help steady it, and a cute blouse paired with jean shorts. And yet something so simple looks like a page out of a magazine with her wearing it.
And there's something about the green of her eyes that glimmers like emeralds, and the way she holds herself. And Zen is pretty sure he's already forgotten how to speak.
"Are you okay?" She steps closer, compassionate to her core, almost like a doctor's concern lighting up her face.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Zen swallows the lump in his throat, "Are you new here?"
"Oh, I just moved into town." She waves off to the side, "But I'm studying herbalism and medicine?" Her voice really is as beautiful as she is, a soft lilt to it, now that she's calmed down and almost flowy.
"Welcome." Zen smiles, and if she feels for a flicker, he might realize she's a selkie or go for her coat, he doesn't act on it. And Shirayuki relaxes.
Somehow this town has been so warm and inviting and welcoming that she feels safe here; it's nothing like the way the others back home had talked about, when she mentioned wanting to live among people and maybe cross paths with her father again. As he'd left the sea long before she ever realized one could.