Short Story ~ "An Rogha" ~ LbtS ~ 5

An Rogha 

By: LadybytheSea

      There once was a desperate young woman. Stranded on an island after her fishing boat was caught in a terrible storm, Sivney spent her days walking the storm torn beach and across the heathered hilltops hoping to find another soul.  It was on the other side of the island she found traces of people. It gave her hope, but, alas, it was dashed as she found abandoned rotting boats, decaying stone huts full of strange clothing, and dust covered bottles of drinks. It was on that day she knew she was truly alone. The days passed slowly, even with all her busy work of restoring one of the stone huts, walking the isle, and gathering food from the sea. Nothing took away the ache in her.

     Though Sivney began to see the beauty of the island, the isolation was killing her. She tried talking to herself, praying, and even tried talking to the birds and the seals. But, without another human to connect with, she felt it was a pointless endeavor. 

    On the stormy days when she sat idle, her hut became such a horrid prison that even sleep couldn't bring peace. After several days of being held captive indoors, Sivney ran to the beach hoping she could find salvageable wood to make a boat. However, all the things she found were useless. She broke down weeping on the shore letting the tide soak her borrowed clothes. It was when her weeping calmed she heard a strange sound: silence. The island had never been silent before. There was normally the constant sounds of the wind and the waves and the calls of birds and distant seals, but the silence was overwhelming. She looked toward the sea and saw a single seal making its way toward the far end of the beach near the large rocks.When it reached the rocks, she began to wonder. 

      When she was a young girl the elders in her village shared stories of strange creatures called selkies. These selkies were half seal and half human. When the times were right, a selkie would shed its seal skin to be human for a time. The elders claimed there were legends of men who came across female selkies and if they were able to steal their seal skin without its knowledge, they would be able to control it and make it their wife. As long as the seal skin was kept locked away the selkie would stay and love the one who held their skin, but if the selkie were to ever find it, nothing could stop them from taking it and returning to the sea. Not the love of their lover nor the love of their human children could hold them back from their true love and home. Though the elders never said anything about what would happen if a woman stole a female selkie skin, Sivney had to hope it could save her from her fate. With all this in mind she made her way for the seal. As she crept along the dry sand toward the beast her eyes grew as she saw it shed it's skin. The woman who came from the seal hide was beautifully fearsome with a warriors frame, and old scars covering nearly every inch of her brown skin. She moved swiftly, never letting her hide leave her grasp, and took off stark naked in the directions of the huts.  

       Sivney took in a large breath, held it, and let it out in one large huff. She would be completely daft to steal anything from that selkie. She rolled onto her back to look at the blinding blue sky, drinking in the salty air in deep gulps. "I'm completely daft," she said aloud, and then made her way towards the running creature. 

       Luckily for Sivney, she was able to catch up to it, though it had a large lead.