Seacliff

Chapter thirty-one: Selkies don't forget

Seacliff Lodge

June 1910

Sometimes, it frightens me to think that selkies exist. That they are neither myth nor fairy tale. That they possess a power unattainable to humans. Selkies themselves do not know why they exist. Or who has created them – in that regard, at least, we are alike, and I find comfort in reminding myself that the afterlife is as much a mystery to selkies, as it is to us, humans.

They may live long, far longer than us, but they are not immortal. They bleed, they cry, they love, they die...

Eachann used to tell me a lovely legend of how selkies came to be. Once upon a time, a man slaughtered a seal without appeasing the sea gods. Their wrath unleashed a storm, which carried the man adrift, at the mercy of the ocean. He floated within the folds of the sealskin, yearning for his lover while awaiting his death... Until the gods took pity on him and let him live as a seal, so he could return to his lover.

However, as gods' gifts go, his renewed existence was both a blessing and a curse – he fathered children by the woman he loved, but he lived to see them all grow old and die, leaving him alone and adrift again.

I have always thought this was something Eachann had made up to woo me... To reassure me of his love when I would question his devotion. Why, oh, why would he chain himself to a barren landswoman, when he could have his pick of selkies at sea who would bear him beautiful children? Because selkies had been born out of love, he would say... Love for a landswoman.

This reminds me of a curious exchange from some weeks ago, which I shall attempt to record as accurately as I can recall it:

"What is it, Auntie?" Somhairle asked. "Why are you so sad?"

Another sorrowful letter from my niece and it must have shown on my face. I sighed, folding the missive.

"Oh, it's Saoirse," I said.

"What happened to Saoirse?"

"Misfortune has struck once more."

Understanding dawned on him before I could provide a more elaborate explanation.

"Has she lost another bairn? Must mean her mate is unworthy of her womb."

My summer wanderer stood up and went to look at the pictures on the mantelpiece.

"That is a novel perspective," I said. "Usually, 'tis the women that are blamed for these things."

"But Saoirse is so strong, Auntie." He picked up the photograph of her in the Parisian gown. "I'm certain I could give her the child she so longs for."

"Oh, my boy... you can't have fallen in love with a picture!"

"No... No, not with the picture. With the woman."

"But you don't even know her!"

"I do know her. You talk about her all the time."

"You have never met her and moreover, she's – "

"She is married, yes, you keep saying." He kissed the picture and replaced it on its marble perch. "When we have our daughter, we will name her after you."

I chuckled, shaking my head. "Keep dreaming, lad. Keep dreaming."

"'Tis not a dream. 'Tis fate. I can feel it. How do you think Father found you in the sea just when you needed it most? The time will come when Saoirse will need me and I will be there for her. I know it in my bones."

"You are very dear to me, Somhairle," I told him with utmost sincerity, "and so is Saoirse. I want you both to be happy and I would love nothing more than if you were happy together. My Saoirse is an extraordinary woman. But she has found her happiness with another man."

"Has she? You keep getting sad news."

"'Tis merely a stroke of bad luck. She's Irish. Her luck will recover."

He sat down again and took my hand, such an intense look in his eyes...

"The world is changing, Auntie. I can taste it in the sea. My brethren are restless. None of the Elders have ever felt anything like it. It will be big. Only the strong will survive. And if I meet Saoirse on the other side... We will have a daughter. And her name will be Aoife."

I believed him. Deep in my bones, like he had said, I believed him.

After all, selkies live on the cusp of two worlds, feeding off the magical border they guard. Some of them have lived for centuries. Perhaps at some point, the future becomes entirely predictable to them. Foolish humans making the same mistakes over and over again because they do not live long enough to learn from them. They die and their mistakes are forgotten.

But the selkies don't forget. They keep count...

And one day, their reckoning will be upon us.