Eilidh sat, cross-legged, in her favorite chair, watching the selkie across from her, sitting and staring back at her, the two staring in some odd sort of perpetual stand-off of curiosity. Sizing one another up, though she got the feeling that even the selkie understood that such a term was too antagonistic; it was as though they were two dogs tilting their heads back and forth, trying to figure out what exactly the person in front of them even was.

“Okay,” Eilidh muttered, “So- I’m crazy, right? You’re-” She looked the woman over once more, shaking her head. “Gods… You can’t be that seal. That’s not possible.”

The woman’s eyes wore wide as she attempted to understand Eilidh’s words, though little came from her that led the human woman to believe she was being understood. She groaned, dropping her head forward in defeat, accepting reality to be a farce as she attempting to rationalize, criticize, and then start al over again the events of what had just happened.

“You-” Eilidh pointed to the floor where the woman had been lying down, “-were a seal?”

The woman watched her, blankly.

“Oh gods, this is stupid,” Eilidh stood up, exhaling a heavy breath, “Regardless, you’re still injured, right? So, really, this just makes my job easier. Humans are easier to take care of than seals, so-” She eyed the bandage wrapped around the woman’s leg. “You are still injured, right? Never mind, you can’t understand.”

She took a step toward the woman, causing her to lean back in her seat. Eilidh paused, raising her hands in surrender, “It’s okay! I just-” She pointed to the woman’s leg, causing the selkie’s eyes to follow toward the bandage. With that, Eilidh stepped forward, slowly, dropping to a knee and carefully pressing a palm atop the bandage where the wound would have been.

“Still tender and warm,” she muttered, “I’m not gonna check it just to redress the thing, but you certainly seem to be wounded still.” Eilidh stood once more, now over the guest, as she crossed her arms. “I suppose, regardless of anything else – my mental state notwithstanding – I took you in to care for your wound, and that won’t change, just-”

She shrugged, “I don’t know, just- Behave yourself. Don’t touch anything.” Slowing waving her hand across her home décor, Eilidh gave a wide berth to her directive. “Off limits, alright?” With her other hand, she flatly pulled it across her neck.

The selkie watched with an equally flat expression.

“You’re going to make a mess of everything, aren’t you?” Eilidh sighed. She stepped toward Elunore, making sure to particularly single her out. “No touching, okay? Especially my plant!”

Again, the selkie watched her hands without expression before returning to Eilidh’s face, her glimmering eyes full of questioning.

Frowning, Eilidh thought for a moment before supposing, “You know what, I have an idea.” She approached the woman once again. “Let’s see if you’re able to speak at all.”

Pressing her hands against her own chest, Eilidh spoke her name aloud, “Eilidh.” Then she threw her hands out toward the woman, who remained silent- though, as she sat there, rather than her questioning stares, her face nearly took on a begging poignancy, as though she wanted to say something but couldn’t. Such a difference evoked something of a motivation within Eilidh, compelling her to repeat the process.

“Eilidh,” she spoke before returning her hands toward the selkie, but again, nothing, “Do you not have a name? Do they not do that where you’re from?” She groaned. “You probably have a name in those clicks and squeals that dolphins make- which I’m not about to replicate!”

Thinking for a moment, Eilidh incorrectly recalled, “There’s some coral thing named Córustrea; I guess that’s as good a name as any.” Once again, she pressed her hands to her own chest. “Eilidh.”

Then, toward the selkie. “Córustrea.”

The woman’s eyes softened at the designation. She watched Eilidh’s hands before glancing down at herself, as though visibly putting the pieces together, reaching up a hand to rub along her opposite arm. Eilidh’s face grew painfully curious as the selkie appeared almost pensive in her study of her skin, nearly reacquainting herself with- herself. Granted, for a being with two bodies, perhaps it wasn’t too outlandish for her to need a moment to find herself in one body from the next, but as the woman gently ran hands over skin, all in tandem with a name being given to her, it all appeared a bit- odd.

“Are you- okay?” Eilidh inquired as the woman’s head slowly fell forward. Her shoulders gently began to shake before Eilidh realized she had begun to cry, forcing her to retort, “Whoa! Gods, I-! Uh-!”

She whipped her head around, finding a nearby rag and approaching the woman, kneeling in front of her, “It’s okay, you don’t have to-”

Eilidh reached up to her cheek, raising Córustrea’s head just enough to find a faint smile there as tears fell. Her eyes met Eilidh’s, flooded with pearlescence that fell as tears, though they didn’t diminish the light that was the soul Eilidh had already known to be this selkie’s eyes.

“Come on, now,” she sighed, reaching up to pat the woman’s face with the rag, “Don’t make me go back to thinking the seal was the easier option of the two.” Eilidh grinned at her own joke, causing Córustrea’s smile to widen as well. “See? You’re coming out of it alright.”

Gently removing the last of her tears, Eilidh stood up, sighing, “You know, you’re lucky you’re not a human. I doubt I’d have the heart to do this, otherwise.”

Her melancholy tone seemed to translate well enough for Córustrea’s smile to fade as she watched Eilidh step away to store away the rag to be washed.

“I guess so long as you’re respectful of the place, you’ve got free-reign here,” Eilidh stood, resting her hands atop her hips, “I have students every other day, just about, so I might have to hide you for that, just to avoid the explanations. Dietary considerations, I guess you eat a lot of fish?”

Córustrea’s eyes met her blankly.

“Fish, alright,” she nodded, “and how do you like your coffee?”

Again, a stare with little behind it.

“Black, perfect. I have sugar, but I like that; a strong brew for a strong woman- I can appreciate that,” Eilidh dipped her head respectfully, “I’ll try my best to pinch my coins while you’re here, so we’ll see how we make do.”

She turned away, stuffing the rag into a canvas sack of other soiled laundry, “So- go and- be free or whatever.”

Rummaging through the bag and tying it back up, Eilidh tidied up the nearby cubbyhole storage area she had before pivoting, returning to-

“Fuck!” she recoiled, Córustrea having suddenly appeared there behind as if to examine what it was she was doing, “Okay, no sneaking!”