Seven Tears at High Tide

by C. B. Lee

  “Yeah, yeah, you have a Request, chosen by the Council, blah blah blah.” Naida flips over onto her back and swims in lazy circles around Morgan. “I mean, I’m the one with more experience with humans. Even Micah’s spent more time with them than you. I can’t believe they picked you. I mean, not that I don’t think you’re lovable, little brother, but I really don’t think you can pull this off. You don’t know anything about being human. I’m kind of surprised, you know, with you being half and all.”

  “Well, I’m learning.” Morgan tugs his package of fish closer to himself and swims away from his sister. He’s closer to Naida than to his other siblings. She never brings up the difference in their heritage, and that she’s done that now so casually hurts him more than he wants to admit.

  Morgan’s tried his whole life to avoid shifting like the others, who change on a whim between seal and human as if it was a game, or even like Naida, who spends months at a time on land masquerading as human, even spending an entire year with them.

  He’s always been painfully aware of his status as halfling; although his mother takes care to treat him the same as all the other children she’s had over her years, there’s a very obvious gap in age that will always remind the herd where Morgan came from, and what it cost them while their leader was absent for years, trapped as a human. Naida and the older brood are all at least ten years older than he; Dorian and the younger pups are about ten years younger. His mother was reluctant to take another mate after she returned, but she had to take the diminishing herd numbers into consideration.

  Morgan’s tried all his life to prove that he has a place in the herd, proving that he is a fantastic swimmer, a good hunter and a watchful member of those who live in the Sea. He’s curious, sure, but has kept his interest in the human world well under wraps. He doesn’t want to seem less of a selkie.

  But it’s apparently worked to his disadvantage, since his lack of knowledge might keep him from doing well with Kevin’s Request.

  Naida’s expression softens, and she shifts into her human form, grabs a piece of kelp and ties it attractively around his package. “Here. This is a bow.” She pushes it back at him and pats his cheek. “You didn’t let me finish. I meant I don’t think you can pull this off without my help.”

  “Thank you for the bow.” Morgan tries to take the package back, but her hands have a better grip than his flippers, so he shifts as well, then pulls the fish toward himself. His pelt hangs loosely around his shoulders, and it seems precarious and unsafe, as though it might get swept away with an oncoming wave.

  Naida doesn’t seem to have that worry, her pelt having already fallen off in the scuffle. They laugh as they pull back and forth; her sealskin bobs casually in the water next to them.

  “Let go,” Morgan says. “This is a gift for Kevin.”

  “This is a gift for Kevin,” Naida mocks, and then she does let go, causing Morgan to fly backward, splashing as he hits the water.

  Naida laughs as Morgan flails, trying to regain his balance.

  “Your skin!” Morgan calls out in a panic as it starts to drift away on a retreating wave.

  Naida swims swiftly after it, catching up to her pelt easily and then shifts back without a blink of an eye. She head butts him playfully. “Aw, you’re so cute when you worry.”

  “Aren’t you afraid you’ll lose it?”

  “Not here.” Naida gestures at the open water around them. “On land, though, I’ve had a few close calls.” She laughs again, as if the idea of losing her sealskin is exciting, nothing more than another story to impress the other selkies.

  Morgan shifts back into a seal, feeling more comfortable in this body. He can’t imagine losing this ability.

  “Hey, so bows aren’t the only human thing I know about,” Naida says. “C’mon, let me swim with you to shore and I’ll tell you everything there is to know about humans. What have you two done so far? Have you gone on a date?”

  “What is that?” Kevin’s said that word a few times, but Morgan is pretty sure Kevin doesn’t mean it as a specific day of the year. The first time they walked down to the cove together to look for rocks, Kevin wanted to be very specific that it wasn’t a date, but then at the food place someone else thought it was. He explains all of this to Naida, who, to his surprise, listens intently without offering any teasing comments.

  “It sounds like he wants to be friends,” Naida says, humming thoughtfully. “That’s all fine. You can still fulfill the conditions of the Request—this Kevin only wanted someone to spend time with whom he could love. Besides, humans think about these things differently than we do. It’s a little complicated.”

  “Yeah.” Morgan sighs, thinking of Kevin’s face when he told him he loved him.

  “It’ll work out, Morgan. Look, a date is what humans call it when two people spend time together and they are both interested romantically in each other. People can do lots of different things, like eat food together, or watch movies.”

  Morgan blows bubbles in the water irreverently, shaking his head. “We walked together and collected rocks. He likes those. And we’ve eaten food together.” They should be doing all the things Kevin mentioned in his Request—and one of them was to watch movies with someone. Movies are something Morgan definitely has yet to do with Kevin. “So what are these movies?”

  Naida giggles. “Oh, they’re brilliant. I miss them. I totally would come ashore and see if I could sneak into a theater or something, but Mother said specifically no one but you is allowed on land. Something about us bothering you on your Request, making fun of you and stuff.” Naida does a glib little flip, flicking water at Morgan.

  “I have no idea why she made that rule,” Morgan says dryly. “It’s not like you guys ever make fun of me.”

  Naida ignores him, sighing wistfully. “It’s fine. I don’t think there’s a theater in town anyway.” She swims idly next to him, talking excitedly about some human quest to destroy a ring and it all sounds very complicated and it’s really not helping Morgan at all.

  “You still haven’t explained what a movie is. All you’ve been doing is talking about this Aragorn person,” Morgan huffs.

  “Oh! Right, right. Well, humans have recorded these stories, kind of like how we tell each other stories, but they’ve also got this magic that lets you see it happen! You’ll have to tell me if you watch any of those.”

  Morgan swims with Naida as she starts telling him how amazing it is, how the moving pictures and the stories come to life. Soon she is talking more about this lord who has many rings and then other movies she saw when she was on land. Naida segues easily into her adventures, going off on tangents about the friends she’s made, foods she’s eaten.

  Morgan is still a little worried that Kevin doesn’t want to date him, and that Kevin not loving him will result in him not fulfilling the terms of the Request. This is the first time he’s been given an assignment, and he means to see it through. Selkies are supposed to be able to bridge the world of the Sea and the world ashore, to be able to interact with humans and remind them that magic still exists in the world. To fulfill a Request is a high honor, knowing it carries this old purpose of bridging the two worlds for only this brief time. Successfully completing a number of Requests ensures a selkie herd the goodwill of the Sea—good hunting, swift currents and peaceful waters. And if they don’t, there are stories, too, of monsters in the depths leaving the dark and the deep, venturing into the shadows to prey on selkies and other sea creatures alike—the kind of beast that could eat a whale and still have room for more.

  And that’s not counting the weather or other atrocities the Sea could throw at them.

  Morgan is more than a little lost in his thoughts when Naida notices his glum mood as she swims. She bumps him. “All right, I’m boring you, what’s up?”

  Morgan glances skyward, confused. “Clouds?”

  “It’s a human t
hing.” Naida laughs at him, flicking him on the nose. “I mean, what are you thinking?”

  Morgan tells her about his fears, about whether or not Kevin will ever love him back, but Naida reassures him.

  “It doesn’t work that way. You loving him and being there for him this summer, that’s fulfilling the Request. Him loving you back? It’s not part of the story, brother.”

  Naida swims silently with him, and Morgan doesn’t mention the sorrow at the edge of her words. She’s told lots of stories about her time on land, but sometimes Morgan senses that the couldn’t-care-less attitude is an act, and something happened, something that broke her heart.

  “Good luck, Morgan,” she says as they near the shore. The sounds of people swimming and talking echo in the distance. Naida flips her tail and swims again, leaving Morgan alone with his thoughts.

  He swims to the cove, relieved no one is ashore. He shifts; the morning sun is warm on his bare skin as he walks into the cave. In the hiding spot—a better one than the first, farther into the cave—he finds the clothes that Kevin gave him. Morgan folds his pelt neatly and tucks it next to the blue sweatshirt. He considers wearing the sweatshirt again today, but it’s fairly warm and he doesn’t want to lose it, should he have to remove it to remain cool. Human bodies are so strange.

  Morgan dresses quickly in the shorts, grabs his kelp-wrapped bundle and makes his way toward Kevin’s home.

  Five.

  The next day Kevin keeps busy; he’s got chores to do. He watches jealously as his sister reads in the cool shade of the porch awning while he sweats, pushing the lawnmower across the lawn in the summer heat. The marine fog layer burned off early in the morning, and now it’s nothing but hot, blaring sunshine. Kevin wipes his brow and adjusts his hat, then grunts as he pushes the lawnmower around a tree.

  After mowing there’s weeding, and Kevin is up to his knees in the flowerbeds with sweat dripping down his face. He rubs at his eyes and makes a face at the dirt he smudges on himself. Gross. Whatever, that’s what showers are for. It’s not as if he’s going anywhere.

  Kevin is yanking furiously at a stubborn strand of goosegrass when a shadow falls over him. “Thanks, Ann, stand right there, it’s perfect,” Kevin says.

  He looks up and Morgan is smiling down at him; his sister is still on the porch, eyeing them. She flips her long braid over her shoulder and pretends to read her book.

  “Hi, Morgan,” Kevin says, standing up. He brushes the dirt off his clothes, feeling self-conscious about the dirt and sweat stains, not to mention his old Power Rangers T-shirt.

  “Kevin,” Morgan says brightly. Even though he’s wearing the same board shorts, he looks clean and put together, ready for the beach with his pale chest bare. Morgan wiggles his toes in the grass. He’s holding something. It looks like a huge tangle of seaweed with a longer strand of kelp tied clumsily around it, but Kevin can see something silver and sparkling inside the bundle. “I have brought you a food gift.”

  “Really?” Morgan holds out the bundle of seaweed, and Kevin unwraps it carefully, grinning as he undoes the first piece of kelp. “Hey, is this a bow?”

  Morgan’s smile widens and he bounces on the edge of his feet. “Yes! A bow. For the gift.”

  “Cool.” Kevin pulls the ‘wrapping’ off. The bundle is filled with shiny fish; he recognizes mackerel and snapper in the top layer. “Wow, thanks! Did you catch all these?”

  Morgan puffs out his chest. “I’m good at hunting.”

  It’s a weird way to talk about fishing, but Kevin shrugs it off. He takes the still-wet bundle into the house, careful to not drip on the carpet as he makes his way to the kitchen with Morgan following behind him, humming happily.

  “What’s all this?” Mike asks.

  “Morgan went fishing and brought this for us,” Kevin says, placing all the fish in the sink. He untangles the last of the seaweed and shakes some of it playfully at Morgan. “Nice wrapping.”

  Morgan makes a face and dodges the seaweed. Kevin realizes belatedly his dad is just watching them with an amused look. “Oh, Dad, this is Morgan. Morgan, this is my dad, Mike Luong.”

  “It’s very nice to meet you, sir.” Morgan bobs his head and smiles.

  “Oh, you’re a polite one,” Mike says, patting Morgan on the shoulder. “Just call me Mike. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for all the fish. I think we can definitely cook these later this afternoon. You’re welcome to join us, of course. I just love an excuse to use the deep fryer.”

  “I love Kevin,” Morgan says without missing a beat.

  Mike laughs and claps Morgan on the shoulder. “Great, I do too. Kevin has to finish his chores, though. But he did tell me you were interested in marine biology! I’m always happy to talk to someone who wants to go into the field.”

  Kevin groans. “Dad.”

  “All right, all right.” Mike throws up his hands. “Chores before boyfriend, remember, Kevin. Morgan, you’re welcome to hang out. I’m just working on this syllabus if you want to talk about sustainable fishing practices—”

  “Friends, Dad, didn’t I tell you…?” Kevin looks at Morgan in an embarrassed panic, but Morgan doesn’t seem to notice his father’s use of the word boyfriend.

  “I can help Kevin with the chores,” Morgan announces. “I love him.”

  Mike raises his eyebrow and makes a show of whispering to Kevin. “This one’s a keeper,” he says with a wink. “Just don’t let him do all the work. They’re your chores for a reason, you know. Builds character.”

  “Okay, Dad,” Kevin says, before he gets wrapped into a conver­sation about his dad immigrating to America and working hard his whole life. He loves and respects his dad and his history, but Kevin has a suspicion that Morgan’s curiosity and willingness to listen will lead to hours and hours of story time.

  Kevin grabs Morgan’s wrist gently and leads him back outside. “You can’t just say things like that.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like that you love me. It’s weird. We hardly know each other.”

  “But I do love you.”

  Kevin stares at him, slightly annoyed. He doesn’t feel like dis­cussing this right now, or getting into the complexities of like versus love and what’s too soon and what’s not; he doesn’t want to hurt Morgan’s feelings, not while they’re getting to know each other. It’s too hot, and he’s got tons more gardening work to do. “Look, are you sure you want to help with the weeding? It’s not that I don’t appreciate it, it’s just a lot of hard work, you know, and you don’t have to. You can always come back later. We’ll fry up some fish and hang out then.”

  “Fried?” Morgan’s eyes light up. He looks at Kevin, clapping his hands together.

  “Yes, fried,” Kevin says, laughing.

  “I would love that. And if helping you with the chores means we can do the fried fish quicker, I’d be glad of it.” Morgan beams at him, as if the prospect of getting down in the dirt with Kevin and pulling weeds for an hour is the most fun idea in the world.

  Later, at dinner, it’s clear that Kevin’s family has taken an instant liking to Morgan, especially his dad. It probably has something to do with how appreciative Morgan is of the food. He goes out of his way to compliment the chef.

  “Oh, I don’t get much chance to cook, so really, thank you,” Mike says, beaming.

  Morgan even laughs at Kevin’s kelp joke. Rachel wanted to know why there was seaweed in the sink, and Kevin explained it was Morgan’s idea of wrapping paper. “Oh wait—I have this great joke. Okay, okay—where does seaweed go to look for a job?”

  Ann rolls her eyes, paying attention to her food, and his parents look on with mild interest.

  “The kelp wanted ads!” Kevin finishes proudly.

  Morgan laughs, even though his face looks confused. “Why would the kelp need to be employed?”

  “It’s not—i
t’s a play on words, see? You know, help-wanted, kelp-wanted,” Kevin explains.

  “Oh.” Morgan nods, even though he still looks uncertain. “That is very funny.”

  “He’s a huge nerd,” Ann teases. “Don’t get him started on the rock jokes.”

  “What rock—”

  Kevin’s parents and Ann all groan in unison, and Kevin whispers to Morgan, “It’s okay, I can tell you the rock jokes later.” He’s pleasantly surprised when Morgan nods as if he actually wants to hear all of Kevin’s jokes.

  “Are you and your family visiting for the summer, Morgan?” Rachel asks.

  “Yes,” Morgan says, eating a piece of fried fish. “I’ve never been here before. I know my mother visited a long time ago, before I was born, but our family hasn’t come back since. It’s a beautiful place.”

  “Piedras Blancas is lovely,” Mike agrees. “We’ve lived here for quite some time. The tourist season can get a bit hectic, but the view and the people are worth it. The rookery’s quite pretty too; have you two been up there?”

  “Oh, that’s where all the seals are,” Kevin says. “We could check it out sometime if you like.”

  Morgan shrugs; seals probably are boring to him. “Whatever you think will be fun,” he says, giving Kevin a small smile. “Hik­ing, rock collecting, surfing, whatever you want.”

  “Morgan, where are you from?” Ann asks.

  “My family travels a lot, but we usually go back to Arcaibh.”

  Kevin doesn’t know where that is, but it sounds pretty when Morgan says it, like a chiming bell.

  “Oh, you speak Gaelic!” Rachel says. “My mother always tried to teach me, but I could never get the accent right. I’ve only been to the Orkney Islands once, but they’re quite beautiful. All of Scotland is gorgeous, really.”

  “You’ve traveled quite a long way,” Mike remarks.

  Morgan shrugs. “We move around every year. My mom is a representative of…” He trails off, looking uncomfortable.