Inheritance

Part 2. Chapter 67: Fish on Land

Maruka scratched his cheek. "You see, I'm a selkie."

Eory's forehead furrowed in confusion. "A selkie? I thought they only existed in fairy tales... Are you fooling?"

Maruka shook his head. "No. I-I'm truly a selkie. I used to live in the sea with my friends and family. T-t-the water was... Unbelievably clear and h-h... Happy." Maruka leaned his cheek upon his hand despondently.

Eory looked at the other man searchingly, trying to gauge whether he was telling him a lie or not.

But what reason does he have to lie? Eory thought to himself. Not only that, but...

The Selkie looked forlorn and exhausted. Eory knew that he must be telling the truth.

"You used to be a seal, then?" Eory went on. "Who tore your skin off?"

Maruka didn't move a muscle. He didn't even blink. He looked like a statue. "It doesn't m-m... Matter. All I k-k-know is that I don't like being a selkie. I don't like the people on the surface, and I feel like every moment I spend walking on the surface instead of swimming in the ocean is another moment that my soul becomes blacker."

Eory went back to painting. He found it easier to speak while he worked. "You can go back, can't you? I'd miss you if you did, though." Eory murmured with a frown.

Maruka lowered himself onto his belly and folded his arms under his chin. His face was wrinkled with sadness. "T-t-there's no way to go back. I-I-I'll never feel the warmth of the ocean—of my one and only home—on my skin again. I don't feel at ease on the surface. N-never have, n-never will. I-I am a fish drowning on land."

The selkie's voice shook with sadness. Eory was moved by Maruka's face, which was overcome with wrinkles of pain. Tears that the fairy felt were unwarranted glimmered in his own eyes. He felt the pain the selkie was feeling—he had experienced it for himself.

Eory lowered his eyes and gazed at the foamy ocean that he and Maruka had made together. He brushed it with his fingertips, and, being as imaginative as he was, felt like he could hear and feel what an ocean might be like.

"I feel like I'm a fish on drowning on land, too..." Eory related quietly.

Maruka dipped his brush into a barrel of grey paint and added shading to the cloud he was working on. His voice echoed as he said, "I really s-s-shouldn't be complaining... H-h-h-h..."

Maruka paused and thought about his next words so he could say them properly. "Here I am complaining about never being able to return to the sea when you've undeservingly been a prisoner your whole life."

Eory moved an inch to the left, painting more foam on the ocean. "You have a right to be upset, the same as me. Someone took you from your home, didn't they? And you said you can't go back, can you? At least I could lock myself away in my quarters if I wanted to recreate the conditions of my tower. You don't have the ability to do that, do you?"

Maruka shook his head. "I-I-I've read so many books, asked so many people... Traveled to every scuzzy corner of Yharos. There's no way to turn myself back into a seal, none that I have f-found."

Eory brought one leg up to his chest and stretched the other one out, laying his brush by his side. "You've searched every corner of Yharos...? How old are you...?"

A brief smile twitched at the corner of the selkie's mouth. He didn't answer for a time.

"How old?" Eory repeated.

Maruka moved to his left and began painting another cloud. "Hundreds."

Eory's mouth was agape. After a moment he said, "You're as old as Pollyanna! You should know dozens of languages then, right?"