Rowan
The child was missing. Et’el had brought him onto the boat, and he’d definitely been with us when we’d left the base, but he wasn’t anymore.
No one had seen him in quite some time, and we couldn’t figure out when he’d escaped or how.
We were hours from the base now, and though we’d tried to search for him, it wasn’t possible to know how long ago he might have jumped off the boat.
Milo wasn’t happy about it, but Et’el said if the boy was meant to be with us, the goddess would have alerted them before he slipped away.
“There has to be something else we can do,” he said, stomping his foot.
“There isn’t, Milo, unless you want us all to go back into Aarlinuk territory to search for a boy who may not even be there any longer,” Et’el said firmly, crossing her arms over her chest. “Listen to your guidance, child. Does the goddess want you to go back?”
Milo stomped his foot again.
“Does she?” Et’el pushed. “Answer me, brat. Which direction does she want us to go?”
His bottom lip pushed out in a pout.
“With words, Milo.”
Milo mumbled under his breath.
“What was that?”
“The colony,” he huffed.
“Then trust her, won’t you?”
Milo crossed his arms, stomping away from his grandmother and coming to me instead. I opened my arms for him, and he settled into them with a sigh.
It had been a very very long night. I knew Milo was tired, just as we all were, but I didn’t get us moving again until Milo sighed and nodded his approval as he admitted defeat.
It was only a couple of hours back to the colony, but it took us a little longer to get there with the stop we made along the way, at a rocky shore of the mainland, far from any human population so the foxes and bear shifter could get off.
The shifter’s name was Siku, and he honestly seemed like a pretty chill guy despite his huge stature.
The selkies were a little cautious of him and kept their distance, but he didn’t seem to mind.
Then we were back in selkie waters, and I caught sight of another boat ahead of us. Two figures waved as we approached.
It was Miki and Panak, along with baby Sila.
Milo had still been sulking, but he perked up immediately when he noticed them, and quickly scrambled to fetch the rescued coats.
This was what it all had been for. He dived in the water before I could stop him, though now we were far enough from that awful place that I trusted he would be safe.
A few moments later, he was splashing up out of the water and onto Panak’s boat. Everyone watched with rapt attention as Miki reached into the pile of coats Milo held. Then she sobbed, raspy and broken, but audible. She had her voice back.
She dropped to her knees and cried, and Panak fell along with her, holding Sila in one arm and Miki in the other as she clung to her coat with shaking fingers.
My tired eyes heated. We’d saved many people today from an unknown and likely terrible fate, but this was what we had set out to do.
Miki had the stolen piece of her returned, and now she had a future with her husband and child. She had her voice and her life back.
I wanted that for her, but without Milo, I didn’t think I would have been brave enough to even attempt getting it for her.
He was so brave. So fearless and selfless.
So good. It shouldn’t have surprised me that he was a prince.
He was a natural leader, and he’d do whatever he had to for his people. I was so very proud of him.
Miki pulled her coat over her shoulders, letting it swallow her as her seal took her place, and together with Milo, she dived into the water.
A moment later, another selkie shifted and followed, then another, and another, until all of them were diving off the boat to swim together.
Until it was just me left on this boat, and Panak and Sila on his.
The selkies swam, and they played, as if they hadn’t been up the entire night fighting a war.
I wished I could be with them, but I was grateful just to be able to experience this.
Miki and Milo returned to Panak’s boat, though they stared at him expectantly rather than climbing back up. I could see the caution in the fisherman’s face as he held his son closer, then he pulled Sila’s coat around him until a fluffy baby harp seal pup was in his arms.
So slowly, he lowered Sila into the water. The tiny seal splashed frantically, but Miki nudged him softly, and he soon started to swim properly, then they joined the others once more.
Panak watched them go, then turned his attention back to me, motioning for me to come closer. I wasn’t used to operating a boat as large as this, but I managed to get close enough for us to speak to each other without shouting.
“Nice boat.” He smiled.
“It’s stolen, I’m afraid. I’ll have to let her loose. Never know if they put trackers in them or anything.”
Panak nodded. “Miki had a feeling you’d be needing a way home.”
So that’s why they were out here. I huffed. Their goddess really seemed to take care of everything.
Miki returned to the boat with Sila a short time later, and Milo returned to me.
He was suddenly quiet and wouldn’t meet my gaze.
“Everything okay?” I asked. They’d seemed to be enjoying themselves swimming until now.
“The selkies are going to go back to the colony,” he told me, still not looking at me.
“Okay. That’s good, isn’t it?”
He nodded and rushed at me suddenly, his arms locking around me, and he squeezed me tight. I held him back the same way.
The selkies slowly started to return to the boat, but only, it seemed, to approach Milo.
Each one would lean forward, until the tip of their nose touched his then their foreheads bumped together, then they nodded and stepped away so the next selkie could do the same.
It seemed maybe like some form of goodbye, except they lingered, all shifting around like they weren’t quite sure what to do next.
“I’ll go first, then, you cowards,” Et’el huffed. “Can fight a bunch of poachers, but can’t show your respects to one big human.”
Before I could question that, Et’el was snapping her fingers at me, gesturing for me to duck down to her level.
The moment I did, her cold damp nose pressed against mine, then her forehead touched mine.
Then she stepped back and nodded. Unsure exactly what I was supposed to do, I nodded back.
It seemed to be the right thing to do, and the next thing I knew every selkie was stepping forward to press their nose against mine, then their forehead, then they nodded.
This time, when they’d done it, they happily pulled on their coats and dived back into the water to return home.
One by one, they all said their farewells, and with every nose touched to mine, my chest filled with warmth and gratitude that they’d included me in this selkie custom.
Then it was only me, Milo, Et’el, and Raq on this boat, and Panak, Miki, and Sila on the other. Everyone else had returned home.
Milo was still quiet and stiff beside me.
My hand smoothed down his back. “What’s wrong, my love?”
It was the wrong thing to say, apparently, because his eyes welled with tears. He jumped, and I caught him. His legs and arms wrapped around me tighter than they ever had and he sniffed into my neck.
Everything had gone so well, hadn’t it? We’d done what we set out to do and so much more. So why was he crying now?
Et’el looked at us with sympathy in her eyes. So did Raq and Miki. They all seemed to know something I didn’t.
“Please talk to me, little hurricane. Tell me what’s wrong?”
He cried harder, and I held him until he stopped, then wiped his tears away.
My heart had been so full of warmth, my soul experiencing a peace unlike any I’d ever known just moments ago. Then Milo spoke, and it all vanished. “I was wrong,” he sniffed. “We aren’t mates.”