Lilian Nightshade wrote:Selkine sighed... so that would be one of those nights, wouldn’t it? Another long, dreadful night…
Far above stood the full moon, a shining, pure white pearl floating in the vast sea of blackness. That night, specially, it looked so big and radiant the sun itself would have been impressed, and Selkine couldn’t tear her eyes away from it as she drifted belly up on the calm waters of her favorite river.
In a way she really admired the moon. Every night it would take its place in the sky, a celestial body like no other… all alone… and yet, instead of letting this loneliness affect its mood, the moon still managed to radiate nothing but pride of its role in the universe. Like a queen of the night, it ruled over its kingdom with a powerful presence, washing the lands underneath with its blessed light. One single touch of the silvery moonlight and the dangerous, eerie shadows of the forest would scram in pure fear…
Of course, the moon did have some company. The countless stars filling that black void would blink curiously at its nocturnal kingdom every night… still, it was not the same, or at least Selkine didn’t think so. The stars were so shy and tiny, clustered in a community of their own while simply observing the world below. They weren’t big and radiant… they weren’t like the moon.
And when the company is not of another of your kind… somebody that can truly understand you and fill that emptiness... it’s meaningless. And there’s nothing more frustrating than being surrounded by so many, and yet nobody at the same time.
Selkine knew that way too well.
Another sigh, this time sounding much louder and irritated, escaped the female’s lips. She couldn’t help but envy Queen Moon. Selkine was a nature spirit, a guardian and watcher of the wildlife, although she preferred to always stay close to rivers and lakes, since her form was better suited for aquatic environments than walking on land.
Nature spirits could be found all over the world. In that forest alone lived dozens, possibly even hundreds of them, quietly lurking in the woods and invisible to the human eye as they watched over the land for the Higher One, their creator. No spirit looked the same, for they always came to existence shaped as an intriguing fusion of various earthling creatures… as true children of Mother Nature herself. In Selkine’s case, one would easily say she came to this world as a peculiar hybrid of walrus, sea lion, some kind of canine and maybe even a butterfly. A unique creature indeed.
But no matter the many other nature spirits inhabited those lands, they would never interact. They were always too focused on their jobs as watchers to develop any interest on the mere concept of conversation, like dull, gelid souls lifelessly drifting in the shadows of the foliage. Anybody would find that boring, to Selkine, however, it was beyond frustrating. For some unknown reason she wasn’t like the others, she was… different. Instead of being gelid, her soul had this strange warmth in it, a spark that filled her with an undying need for company and affection from somebody else. Maybe something had gone wrong when the Higher One breathed life into her… maybe she was an aberration among her brothers and sisters…
She was so lonely… and her heart was simply too big to be kept only to herself.
Groaning, Selkine closed her eyes and turned around, disappearing into the dark river with a loud, careless splash. The calmness of those waters was a huge contrast with her current restlessness as she swam at impressive speed towards the shore, only stopping once she had reached a considerably large rock which stood high over the river. All that took her was a powerful move of her tail and in a second she gracefully erupted from the surface, not even needing to flap her large butterfly wings before her sharp claws dug into stone.
After climbing over the rock edge with her strong arms, Selkine brought herself to the top and swiftly rolled onto her back, once more letting her eyes rest upon the beautiful image of Queen Moon. She could feel its silvery light wrap her body like the coziest of blankets, as if the moon was trying to console her distressed mind… all to no avail, however, for instead of warmth, Selkine only felt the coldness of the night breeze touching her wet fur.
Shivering, the female averted her gaze from the moon for a moment to observe the stars, and it was then she caught sight of a bright, tiny white body moving at breathtaking speed across the pitch black sky. Her ears instantly twitched with interest, she knew very well what that was. She once heard a few humans who lived near the wilderness call it a “shooting star”. Their cubs would always jump with glee and point their chubby fingers at the sky whenever one scratched its surface with a long tail of light. Selkine had always found that rather peculiar and amusing. According to what she heard, they believed those things could grant you a wish. What foolish little things.
How could something so fast and so far away even hear you, anyway??
Snorting, she rolled her eyes with disbelief and observed as more of those falling dots crossed the blackness. Humans… from all the creations of the Higher One, they surely were the weirdest and most curious. Selkine would often catch herself peeking at them, entertaining herself by observing their silly behavior. Their cubs, specially, were her favorite part, for she simply couldn’t get enough of their funny antics, let alone with how expressive and clumsy they were.
… oh well, to tell the truth, any cub was her “favorite part”, actually. Selkine absolutely adored infants. As a spirit of the woods, she had always kept a close eye on animals which bore offspring, so much you could easily say it was her focus when it came to watching over the inhabitants of the woods, like a protector of those fresh new sparks of life. Just like with Queen Moon, Selkine both admired and envied deeply those female earthling creatures…
They may have had no idea how blessed they were, but oh she did, alright?
During their creation, the Higher One seemed to have shared a little of its power with them, giving the females the gift of creating life from the tiniest, most insignificant of particles. It was something that has always awed Selkine to the point of speechlessness. Whenever a new life was born in that forest, she would make sure to be there to greet the little one. It didn’t matter that neither mother, nor newborn would be able to see her at all… all she wanted was to witness that warm flame of life filling the fragile, squirming new body for the first time, followed right after by a strong bonding between mother and child. Everything was just so touching… so beautiful. It was clear to her that such a bond would never be broken apart, that those two would never be lonely…
... surely not lonely like Selkine…
The young spirit squinted her eyes shut at the thought. She could feel her heart tighten painfully deep inside her chest as well as a strange wetness drenching her cheek fur. For a second she wondered how long she had she been crying, but that was quickly brushed aside. It didn’t really matter, why would it? She was alone, and she would always be. Could that be a curse? Something she did wrong?
Was it so hard to find a solution, something… somebody to make her heart stop aching so much?
Her eyes opened and once more took in the sight of the starry night high above, although they no longer held that bitter, frustrated glint to them. They looked rather neutral this time, as if all emotion had been drained with a snap of fingers, and it was then that, before she could even realize actual words were escaping her lips, Selkine whispered.
“I wish I wasn’t so lonely… I wish I had somebody to share my heart with.”
Her eyelids drooped a little, suddenly feeling heavy with exhaustion and dread. Selkine fought as hard as she could to stay awake, but she only managed to keep her eyes open long enough to see one last shooting star crossing the sky, the brightest of them all. It scratched its surface considerably slowly, almost as if it was just waiting for her last words to drift in the winds… right before Selkine fell into a deep, peaceful slumber.
“… I wish I had… a child.”
And everything turned black.