Gifted Pelt

Chapter 48

Tarkik grins at Astrila. "It's time for me to take you to one of the human cities."

"But . . . I have to go on my rounds with Tonraq."

The healer's iglu is behind her, Tarkik had intercepted her path before she could make her way inside. Astrila hears the crunch of footsteps from behind her, followed by Tonraq's voice.

"Go on, I can do without you for a day. Besides, you're healed enough to swim that far, so go on, Astrila."

Tonraq turns to go back inside his iglu as Astrila glances back to Tarkik. She finds his face full of unbridled, mischievous glee. "You can't argue now."

Astrila tries anyways. "Kōri?"

Tarkik shakes his head. "He's not coming. Besides, I already told him. So come on."

He tugs on her arm and Astrila sighs before she follows him out to the bay. He chatters to her on the way there.

"We would normally use the lagoon to leave, but no one is allowed to use it right now. Do you know why?"

She opens her mouth to answer, "It's be-"

He cuts her off, still chattering away. "What do you think you're going to see? I could take you to museums, to stores, to restaurants," he laughs at her confused expression. "Oh, you don't know what those are yet, you'll find out."

He laughs giddily and darts forward as they reach the hills surrounding the bay, clearly excited.

Astrila shouts after him before he can get out of earshot. "Tarkik, I'm not allowed to run yet! Slow down!"

He does slow, but his whole body remains jittery with excitement. His face is flushed with it, the red showing up even through his dark skin, turning it an odd, purple hue. His steps quicken once more when they reach the ice, only for Astrila's own steps to slow. Despite the weeks she's been on the island, the knowledge that she will instinctually shift if she falls through the ice, she can't seem to break the habit of using the ice stick. It still feels wrong to be without it, the habit is still ingrained deep within her. Tarkik shifts to look at her, understanding lighting his eyes from within.

"It won't always be this way. The feeling of it being wrong will fade, with time. Less time than it feels like it will, or at least how it was with me."

Astrila just nods and focuses on moving across the ice, her feet shuffle-sliding smoothly across the surface. Tarkik stops before a hole on the ice and shifts into a harp seal, not with a pup's coloring like Kōri but an adult seal. He barks at her.

"Come on, time to shift!"

Astrila laughs and does so, letting her form ripple down to the smaller seal shape. Tarkik nods to her before he smoothly slips through the hole and into the frozen sea. Once the water in the hole has stilled, Astrila follows. The water here is full of life, tiny creatures like shrimp and even a great deal of larger ones. There are more fish than she would expect, and she playfully darts after one. The fish disappears in a flash, becoming invisible as it darts away from her. There is a ripple in the water behind her and she twists to see Tarkik shooting for her. He nudges her in the side, his eyes still full of mischief.

"Let's go, let's go!"

Astrila lets out a bark of laughter and follows him through the water. As they swim, she twists around to look at the ice above them. Its surface is littered with tiny bubbles and spikes of ice that descends towards the seafloor. They have to dodge some of the spikes, the ones that are so long that they almost touch the bottom. It is thrilling, to be immersed in this watery world, but it's also saddening. She wishes Kōri had been the one to show her this world, and he tried, at the lagoon. This must have been what it looked like before the Ludeag arrived. The water around them changes, growing colder. Tarkik slows and stops before Astrila. She frowns at him, or tries to at least. Can you frown as a seal?

"What is it?"

"I need to warn you of something."

"Alright . . ."

"We're about to enter deeper water. We have to pass it a little to get to the city. But you have to be careful here. The deep water is where predators lurk."

Astrila lets out a short bark. "Nanuq and Arluq?"

"Yes. Before we enter the deeper water, we should take a breath."

He darts up to the surface and slips through the ice to a breathing hole. Astrila follows, but she waits for him to emerge before she uses the breathing hole herself. When her snout pokes through the water and into the air, the cold bites her skin. She restrains the urge to take a quick breath and slide beneath the surface again. A small breath won't help her, she needs to take a good, long, deep one. She huffs and breathes before she slides back beneath the surface, making sure to scrape away some of the ice encroaching on the hole as she does so. When she meets Tarkik once again, he gives her a final warning before they enter the deeper waters.

"Make sure to keep an eye out for everything."

"I will."
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Do you think they'll run into anything? What do you think of Tarkik's excitement? What do you think of the beginning to their underwater journey? Tell me your thoughts!

Happy reading and I'll see you next chapter!

~Goddess of Fate, signing out