Schooled IV
After a pause of thinking over what you wish to do, you admit that, while you are somewhat eager now to see what else you as a selkie can do, you want to be smart about this whole ordeal. Rushing into things… that’s what got you into this predicament in the first place.
‘I think I’ll practice more, I guess,’ you say. ‘I, uh, want to get a hang on this ability and all that. I’ve always loved superpowers, so…’
The selkie snickers with thorough amusement. ‘A wise idea.’
You go back to concentrating the way the selkie has taught you - you feel the waves as an extension of your own body, and, you start to use that while in motion. You slowly move forward at a sluggish pace, but as you do, you use this newfound ability to give your body a push, as if the water is two hands behind you.
The push works!
Your speed increases, despite the fact your own body is not going all that quick at all. But, the water push aids in doubling your speed. You keep this up for about a minute, then stop, and, as you stop, you let the sensation ebb down.
‘This is so weird,’ you think to yourself’ ‘But it’s so fascinating all the same…’
You tilt your body upwards and give yourself a bigger push using only the water - it’s like having invisible hands that lift your entire body up effortlessly. You go up, up, and up even more, until your head pokes out from the surface of the waves. You hover there for a couple seconds, blinking and breathing in, then, you wonder something.
‘If I’m topside, does that mean I’ll see the water in motion?’ you think.
You decide to see for yourself if that’s the case or not. So, you begin to focus on extending out your own will into the waves surrounding your body. As you do this, you are astonished to see the water around you slowing down, and after a moment, you concentrate on raising the water directly in front of you.
The water rises up, lifting itself as if there were a hand pushing it above the surface.
You let out a gasp of shock, and the water splatters down, molding back into the wave. A ripple ricochets out from this point, and you are fascinated.
You do the same thing again. Concentrate on the water around your body until the sensation of it being ‘a part’ of you has sunk in, then begin to push it up like you’re lifting the water, but without touching it. It does the same thing, only this time, you keep your focus - you stay glued to this water lifting up before you, and you decide to add to it by trying to raise even more then just the one spot.
It takes a lot of effort on your part, but, eventually, you are able to raise up a tiny little wave, all without having to touch it directly.
You let out a breath and when your concentration ends, the tiny wave sinks back, sending out more ripples. You can’t help but float there and stare - you watch the ripples vanish into the distance and take a moment to appreciate how cool it is to be able to manipulate the water. Even if it isn’t to some superhuman degree, it’s neat to witness.
‘What else are selkies capable of?’ you wonder.
It’s so bizarre to consider that these creatures actually exist, but, you find yourself wanting to learn more and more if at all possible. For now, though, you decide not to dwell on it. You feel content knowing what you’ve learned, and, you want to keep practicing for a while longer.
You use the waves to pull your body down beneath the surface once more, and from there, you let the wave carry you down, down more, until you’re right back to the area where the selkie female is. She hasn’t really moved much, and if anything, seems content in watching you with a great deal of amusement.
‘Seeing young pups explore their capabilities is always entertaining for me,’ the selkie says, as if she knows exactly what you’re thinking. Which she may very well, given the nature of things.
You would shrug if you could. ‘It’s a lot of new things to take in.’
She nods. ‘I understand, pup. I don’t blame you. Humans live with the belief that they may not be the only sentient beings of this world, and in fact, they’re quite correct. However, it’s not often that a human will come across one such as myself, and even less common to come across a djinn. Unfortunate for your luck to have done so, though perhaps if you hadn’t been rude to it…’
There is a moment of silence.
You sigh. ‘Yes, I… I know. I don’t know what got into me.’
‘Such a thing happens,’ the selkie remarks. She floats over to you and boops your nose with hers. Her eyes shimmer with a smile on her face. ‘We can deal with that dilemma later, should you wish. For now, pup, I would continue experimenting with this new power you’ve discovered.’
You nod. Then, before you can go off and do that, you pause. Something occurs to you.
‘Before I do,’ you say, and you look at the selkie for a few heartbeats. ‘Do you mind if I ask your name? I forgot to do that when we first met.’
The selkie snickers. ‘Ah, yes, that may be of some benefit to you, wouldn’t it? I imagine being able to refer to me in your thoughts with a name would be less confusing and repetitive as repeatedly calling me ‘selkie,’ wouldn’t it?’
You nod again, and, admit that yes, it would be a bit easier. ‘Do selkie have names?’
‘We selkie have names, yes,’ she says. ‘But our true names are… difficult for human minds to understand the way you understand your fellow human names. It’s not that it can’t be pronounced by your tongue, yet it wouldn’t be an easy feat to do.’
You furrow your brow - or the closest thing to that you can do. ‘Why is that?’
‘Because there’s a… tonality to it that is hard to decipher,’ the selkie replies. She shakes her head. ‘For the sake of simplicity for you, I will give you the name in your tongue that is closest to my true name. You may call me Moirine.’
‘Moirine…’
You repeat the name a few times in your head so that you have a decent grasp of it. It’s a fancy name, for sure, but, it’s quite lovely to your ears. You have always been the sort to enjoy exotic names, provided they were names that could be pronounced (as opposed to names that were bizarre or special for the sake of being special).
‘I’ll do my best to remember it, Moirine,’ you say.
Moirine snickers once more. ‘That is fine with me, pup. Now then.’ She nudges you again. ‘You may continue to practice your water controlling gift, but perhaps we should do something else to make this more interesting, hmm?’
‘What do you have in mind?’ you ask.
‘We can return to the topside, to speak on dry land,’ Moirine says. ‘Or, we can do something else. Perhaps a race?’ Her eyes gleam. ‘Or, I can take you to the resting place of several other selkie - you can learn more from some who have been around for much, much longer than even myself.’
She nods toward the direction of the large rock formation with holes in it and such, the one that seems to be home to other selkies. This sparks your interest, but, then, so do the other options - they all sound like they could be plenty of fun for you right now. What do you wish to do?
Written by Hollowpages on 14 November 2020