"What story do you want to hear tonight?"
Elizabeth was snuggled up to her father in her bed, and her younger brother Josh sat on his own bed, facing them, eagerly awaiting the nightly tale. Their father owned a rare and antique bookshop, and occasionally brought home beautiful old, leather-bound books. Most were kept in the attic, where Elizabeth and John weren't allowed. But their father read the books himself, and told them stories from memory.
"Medusa!" Elizabeth said. She thought she was probably too old for bedtime stories, but she loved it too much to give it up.
"You pick that every night," Josh said irritably. "What about Odin?"
"You pick that every night," Elizabeth asserted.
"What about a new story?" their father said. His children's eyes gleamed with anticipation. "I read a new book today. It's a love story." Josh groaned as Elizabeth grinned. "Now, don't be worried. There's shape shifting. Transforming."
At that, Josh mirrored Elizabeth's smile. His favorite movie was Transformers, and he had boxes filled with robots and aliens and cars that changed shape.
Father took the smiles as a sign to begin. "There was once a faerie. It wasn't a small girl with wings, no. It was a selkie."
"What's that?" Josh interrupted.
"Shush!" Elizabeth said. She rather thought it sounded like some kind of fabric, but it wasn't right to interrupt a bedtime story. Josh did it at least once a night.
"A selkie is part seal, part human. A selkie can shed their seal skin and become human when they want to. But they can only spend so much time as a human before they must return to water." Josh nodded, showing he understood. "Now, this selkie--a female--was happily swimming along in the sea. One day she saw the most beautiful man she'd ever seen, walking along the beach. She shed her seal skin, hiding it, and approached him."
"Isn't she naked?" Elizabeth asked, too embarrassed to worry about interrupting.
Her father smiled. "She found a woman's garments discarded on the beach, and put them on."
"Isn't that stealing?" Josh asked.
"The selkie isn't too worried about that sort of thing. Now, will you let me tell the story?" His children nodded, and he resumed. "This man saw the selkie maiden, and thought she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. They fell in love, and for the next few years, had the most happiest times of their lives." Elizabeth smiled at the thought. "Soon enough, though, it was time for her to return to the sea. In all her years, she hadn't told him the truth, that she was a selkie. One night, she left silently, and returned to where she had hid her seal skin. She put it back on, and returned to the sea.
"This left the man heartbroken. He thought she had left because she didn't love him anymore. Years passed, and he couldn't stop thinking about her. He never loved another." Their father paused, and Elizabeth frowned, wondering if that was the end. She smiled when he started up again.
"On a bright summer day, the man returned to the beach where he had met the selkie maiden. Suddenly, she appeared before him again, and demanded to know why she'd left. She told him the truth, that she was a selkie, and she couldn't live without being in the ocean for a while. The man said that he would do anything to be with her, even live under the sea. She said no, that would only kill him. So he built himself a house on the beach, and every few years he lived with her for a time. It was difficult for him when she was gone, but when she came back, it was worth it.
"After a time, he realized she didn't age like he did. She lived was immortal--lived forever. She slowly stopped coming to see him, her love for the sea too strong, and her love for him lessening. When he became old and wrinkly, he was just another old man fishing by the sea, until the day he died. Even now, people say if you go to that beach, you can see the ghost of the man, pining for his love."
"How sad," Elizabeth said. "I'm glad selkies don't really exist."
"Yes they do!" Josh said, rolling his eyes at her.
Her father looked down at her and raised his eyebrows. "How are you sure that they don't?"
"Well, it's impossible," she said. "You can't just put on a seal skin and turn into a seal. And not get older."
"Faeries do exist, honey." He touched his finger to the tip of her nose. "You'd be wise to learn their ways, so you know what to do when you meet one."
As their father gave them their goodnight kisses, she wondered. The light was turned out, and her brother's robot night-light gleamed in the far corner of the room. And she wondered.
