A Selie Calls

**Author's Note: Half way through writing the story I decided to change my heroine's name from "Lydia" to "Lyra". I think I got all the Lydias but if I missed one please know I mean "Lyra" and not a new character.

********

Lyra watched the dark waves rolling and crashing onto the gray shore as she sat on the dock with her sketch pad. The salty spray in her face and hair as the wind combed out her tangles. Her cheeks reddened from wind burn, the only color in her ivory skin. She sketched an ocean scene in her sketch pad as she listened to the harsh song of the ocean roaring in her ears.

She popped in an ear bud and turned on her red iPod. She hit play and "The Call" by Ruu Campbell started playing. The rough sounds of the ocean and wind added ambience to the soft introspective sound of Ruu Campbell.

Lyra kept imagining what magical things must be happening beneath the dark waves. Her eyes like two pairs of spring green pools with a copper ring around her black pupil searched the foamy waves and watched them smash against the rock. Then she looked up, staring out at the horizon to a small island where her uncle told her the Kerr family used to live.

It was a jewel of green on a sea of gray. "Our cows always gave milk and our nets were always full when the Kerrs lived on Fair Muckle Rónán. Seals would make their home there," he would say.

Then she watched as two seals rested on the other seaweed covered stones. It was mid-September so it was mating season. Most liked to collect on the small seaweed covered rocks off shore and these two were the closest. They were watching her with their attentive dark eyes and Lyra could almost swear there was a human quality about the way they stared. One of them barked as if calling out to her.

"Lyra!"

No. Go away. Leave me alone. Lyra turned her green eyes back towards the stormy autumn sea trying to ignore the person calling her.

"Lyra Darrow!"

Lyra rolled her eyes. The seals that were watching her climbed off the rocks as well and jumped into the restless currents where as a girl Lyra imagined them living in huts made of kelp and sand and decorated with pretty sea shells just like her Scottish grandmother told her as she grew up in the United States.

"Lyra!"

"Jesus, Aunt Gillie," Lyra sighed heavily. "Where's the fire?"

"You just disappeared this mornin' I didn't know where you'd gone!" Aunt Gillie's Scottish accent was sometimes heavy especially when she was upset. She placed her hands on her hips as she bent at the hips looking at her errant niece with disapproval. Aunt Gillie married into the Kerr family but had the same green, brown eyes that Lyra inherited from her Scottish Darrow father but her eyes were wiser, holding more secret knowledge of the Shetland Isles that often mesmerized Lyra whenever she came to visit.

"I wanted to be alone," Lyra sighed and held up her sketch book. "Figured I'd finish some sketches for that Kids' book."

Lyra was an illustrative artist. Recently she had been contracted to sketch cartoons for a book about Scottish folktales. Since she was Scottish Lyra thought it would be perfect but she'd been hitting a stone wall trying to come up with images of Selkies. She didn't understand the problem. She was a great artist and came up with great work before but right now she was stalled.

Aunt Gillie took a look at her niece's sketch book. She raised an eyebrow to see that Lyra sketched just the ocean floor and a few fish.

"You should ha' told me where you went at least," Aunt Gillie's accent became heavy when she was peeved, her cheeks puffed up making her look like a puffer fish. "What if you were taken?"

Lyra rolled her eyes and scoffed, "Really, Aunt Gillie?" Because Aunt Gillie didn't mean taken by human strangers but about fairies and even the selkies.

"Selkies don't take humans, remember?" Lyra said remembering Grandmother's folktales. "In fact it's the other way around. Take their seal cap and they have to stay with you."

"Lyra," Aunt Gillie became softer. "You sure it's not because of Peter?"

Lyra tensed. How could she speak that bastard's name? Lyra's mouth compressed into a hard line as her brow furrowed.

"I don't want to talk about him," Lyra said as she walked brusquely past her Aunt. Peter was soon to be her ex-husband. They were in a trial separation after 5 years of marriage. Never marry a man at 23. You think you know better but then you find the "love of your life" in bed with your neighbor who's actually 12 years older than you both!

"Lyra," Aunt Gillie ran after her niece. Despite being in her early 60s and a bit stocky Aunt Gillie was pretty fit. She raised 8 children (6 boys and 2 girls) so she had practice.

"Can we just go home?" Lyra groaned.

"Oh alright," Aunt Gillie threw up her hands in surrender. "You're yer father's daughter a'right, God rest his soul. Stubborn in your dark moods."

********

The Kerr house rested on the Shetland Isles. Perfectly nested on the shoreline with a perfect view of the sea. It had a crescent shaped beach with a cove that Lyra would often play in on her family visits in the summer growing up. She and her many cousins would play hide and seek and camp out on the beach. Most of her cousins had families of their own while the youngest ones were preparing for senior year at high school and going off to college.

Megan was the youngest heading into her Junior year. Iain had just left for university on the main land of Scotland. Megan sat doing her homework while her mother held onto her cell phone to keep her focused. Uncle Daniel was out fishing, one of the cornerstones of the Shetland Islands' economy. He always came home with the best catch. He would say it was because his side of the family, the Kerrs were descended from a selkie woman.

Uncle Daniel was dark unlike most of his children. The other dark one was Thomas who had a family of his own up the coast. Lyra felt she was too old to believe in such fairytales but they were always nice to hear, especially now that she was going through a rough time.

Lyra sat by the window listening to the wind chimes hanging on the roof, watching the seals play in the water and bask in the sun that managed to break some gray clouds once in a while as she flashed back to when she was 10 and Uncle Daniel first told her the story. He would sit by the fire, illuminated by the golden glow of the hearth. Shadows dancing upon the walls as Uncle Daniel rocked in his rocking chair, the creaks it would make added to the country ambience.

Then his dark eyes would glaze over as if he were in a trance as he took a deep breath and told the cousins and grandchildren the Kerr family tale in his baritone Scottish voice that would soothe a baby to sleep even if he were speaking gibberish:

"He was my father's grandfather's grandfather's grandfather who first lived on Fair Muckle Rónán. Jamie Kerr his name was. Blond hair and eyes as blue as a clear summer sky. Jamie was the youngest of 5 brothers and wanted to strike out on his own so he made the island his home but was in need of a wife. One day when he was out fishing and pulling in his nets he felt that they were heavier than usual. He pulled and tugged with all his might until he saw what was making the nets so heavy. A big gray seal, sleek body thrashing with big dark eyes that held a deep soul.

"Jamie took pity on the creature and cut the poor thing loose. She was so happy she swam with joy around his fishing boat. But that was Jamie's only net so he had to row home empty handed. Yet the seal followed him home, watching him with her curious, soulful eyes. Later that day, a miracle happened. A pile of fish was left on the shore outside Jamie's hut. He looked out to see the same seal with a few others watching him.

"They were selkies, you see, and Fair Muckle Rónán was their home. A few weeks later, Jamie found the seal he saved resting on the shore of the island. He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw it shed its skin to become a human woman but what struck Jamie most was that she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Long dark hair, olive skin, and dark soulful eyes as deep and mysterious as the sea.

"As the selkie woman lay out on the shore bathing her human skin in the sun, Jamie crept quietly upon her and as the selkie woman slept, he took her seal skin. You see, when you take a selkie's skin they're under your power. When the selkie woman awoke she saw Jamie standing there with her seal skin in his hands. 'What is your name?' Jamie asked. The selkie woman's Gaelic was harsh and old, 'Moire.'

"Moire became Jamie's wife and bore him many children. They were quite happy together but there was always a sadness about Moire. She would always stare out at the sea for long hours watching her selkie friends and family play. They would call to her sometimes and she would sing a mournful tune that was so sad it would bring tears to even the Devil's eyes. A Selkie's heart belongs to the sea. No chains of iron or love can keep them away from the call of the sea. And when Moire finally found her seal skin she returned to the sea.

"From then on the Kerr family lived on the island and life was good. Moire returned to the sea but she was always close by watching her children and then grandchildren grow and so forth."

"Why did your family leave, Uncle Daniel?" Young Lyra had asked.

Uncle Daniel heaved a heavy sigh, his eyes filled with sadness.

"It was World War II," Uncle Daniel sighed. "Young boys were boiling for a fight. Island life isn't for everyone. Then there was an evacuation. Everyone was afraid back then that the Germans would fly over and bomb us like London. But we've kept close by to our home. The selkies probably live in our old cottages now."

Lyra smiled as she remembered that time. So simple. Things always seemed simple when you were a child. Young Lyra's green and brown eyes sparkled as she asked, "Will I ever meet a selkie?"

Uncle Daniel's laughter boomed. He would rarely laugh but when he did it was a rumbling thunder that came from his gut and warmed the room.

"You don't want to be meeting a male selkie," Uncle Daniel laughed. "They'll love you and leave you and sometimes with child. And even if you take his skin, a selkie will always find it and return to the sea leaving you with tears and heart break."

Young Lyra tilted her head at the thought. Then Uncle Daniel smiled and said, "The selkie males only come to lonely women dissatisfied with their husbands."

"How do they know to find a lonely woman?" Young Lyra chirped. Her cousins were already lolling to sleep as their mother ushered them one by one into their beds.

"A woman can summon a male selkie by crying 7 tears into the sea," Uncle Daniel rocked back and forth.

"That's enough of your stories, Daniel," Aunt Gillie said. "Time for bed, Lyra."

"Lyra?"

Lyra blinked and she was back in the present. She felt warm inside thinking about the good times but then she looked to see her Aunt Gillie looking a little distressed holding the land line.

"Lyra...," Aunt Gillie held up the phone. Her face was pensive and her forest green eyes dark with worry. "It's Peter."

Lyra's warmth deserted her, leaving a cold, icy hatred coiling in her gut. She got up and took the phone from her Aunt and went into the kitchen for some privacy.

********

Lyra lay in her bed staring at the ceiling. The silver crescent moon beams danced on her blankets as a cool salty ocean breeze blew into her room. Lyra was in the verge of tears ever since Peter's phone call. He wanted a divorce. Of course Lyra saw it coming. What else would you expect after a trial separation but the romantic in her, the idiot part of her had hoped that Peter had called to apologize and want to try again.

She wished she could talk to her father about it. He would have gotten all Scottish and threatened to thrash him. The thought made Lyra smile as it also brought tears to her eyes. Her father died when she was 17. Lyra and her mother were never quite close after that. It were as if a part of her mother died along with her father.

Lyra climbed out of bed and sat by the window. She watched the seals on the rocks. One of them was on shore watching her. Even from a long distance Lyra could feel its gaze. It made her feel strange and for a moment she thought about Uncle Daniel's stories about male selkies.

She shook her head to rid herself of the fantasies. Instead she decided to try sketching something to help spark inspiration for the kids' book. She started drawing seals playing in the sea. Lyra laid in bed sketching by moonlight until her eye lids were too heavy and she finally drifted off to sleep.

Lyra floated off into dreamland where she found herself lying naked on the beach in the glory of the sun and gentle breeze kissed her body. The foam of the waves tickled her toes as the soft sand cushioned her skin. Sand stuck to her sexy curves as she got comfortable. She felt entirely alone on this beach; on the whole island. She was the only person there.

That's when she heard a low humming sound. A masculine hum as soft as velvet. Then Lyra felt a pair of masculine hands touching her, running over her skin, exploring the contours of her body with such caress. Lyra felt her nipples harden into painful points once the mystery hands caressed her breasts.

Lyra couldn't help but let out a soft moan. A thumb traced her lips and she licked it before she could think about it. The hands ran down her sides, her stomach then her waist and then up her thighs that she let him part without protest. Her body became static with desire, pulsing with strange lust for this stranger that touched her so lovingly.

The hands ran a second slow sensual path on her body once more clouding her senses in a sexual haze. Then Lyra felt a thumb rubbing her puffy lips making her wet and hot with longing. She felt the thumb pressed her budding clitoris making her release a breathy moan. She bucked her hips wanting him to push a finger insider her slick canal.

This was only a dream after all. But it felt so real. Then Lyra opened her eyes to see a mysterious man hovering over her as he was wedged himself between her thighs. She couldn't make out his face but he had wavy black hair that reached his chin. And his skin was wet as if he had just risen from the sea. Lyra could feel his manhood throbbing against her womanly center. She moved her hips, grinding against his pulsating cock and the faceless man ground her right back.

Lyra gasped softly as waves of hot delightful sensations washed over her body like a hot shower. She ceased to be a living entity but a pulse of hot passion as she basked in the glow of their shared lust. But the dream didn't last as the sun became harsher, it's light brighter, blurring Lyra's surroundings. She then woke up to find herself in her room and to hear a knocking at her door.

"Lyra," it was Megan's soft voice. "Ma says breakfast's ready."

"I'll be out in a few minutes," Lyra called. Lyra's head had been resting on the window sill and her back ached a little from sleeping awkwardly. She was wet and achy between her legs. Quite the wet dream. But that was all it was...

********

Lyra walked to the docks to find Uncle Daniel and one of his Kerr nephews, Liam as she recalled. He was about 12 years old. They were tying knots and Liam was guessing which one Uncle Daniel tied.

"Rolling hitch," said Liam.

Uncle Daniel untied the knot then proceeded to tie another.

"Clove hitch," said Liam.

"Good lad, but can you tie it?"

Uncle Daniel gave Liam the new rope and Liam attempted his own knots. Uncle Daniel turned to see her watching them.

"Lyra knows her knots pretty well," he smiled. "Come here and show the boy how a real knot's done."

Lyra knew that Uncle Daniel knew about her divorce. Unlike Aunt Gillie who wanted to talk about everything Uncle Daniel was more of a pusher down of emotions. Lyra welcomed that. She didn't want to talk about her soon to be prick of an ex husband. She sat down beside Liam who's ears flushed pink and took out a rope.

The sun was shining and thick clouds passed lazily over head. The wind was like a whisper of a friend as they sat on the docks together tying knots.

As she was tying a Fisherman's Eye knot, Lyra heard seals barking and one was rather close. A seal swam unafraid up to her, rolling on his back to show off its belly. Then it continued playing until Liam said, "Better watch it, lass, I think this one wants to take you as his mate."

"Lucky me," Lyra chuckled as she showed young Liam the knot she made.

"How are you so good at that?" Liam mourned looking at his pitiful imitation.

"Uncle Daniel made us all practice," Lyra said.

"You and Thomas didn't need much teachin'," Uncle Daniel said as he filled his thermos cup with hot coffee. Uncle Daniel liked his coffee black. "You two are natural born sailors. Torn between earth and water."

Lyra showed Liam how to loop into a Granny Knot when the seal barked at her again.

"You stayin' long, Lyra?" Liam asked a bit hopeful.

"Probably," Lyra sighed. "I would like to finish my illustrations here and maybe stick around for a vacation."

"Is it because you're gettin' a divorce?"

Uncle Daniel smacked the young boy over the head. Liam cried out in pain and rubbed his sore head. His straw colored hair ruffled and his blue eyes showing regret as his cheeks flushed.

"That's what Aunt Gillie told Granny!" Liam defended himself.

"Yes," She gulped back the bitter sorrow her green eyes could not hide. Lyra's heart hurt as she said the word like someone was driving a thorn through it slowly. "Peter's sending the papers over."

"He's a sod," Liam said. "If I was married to you I'd never treat you badly."

Lyra wrapped her arm around Liam and hugged him as his face turned pink, grateful to have someone to profess such devotion even if it was a 12 year old boy. Liam had displayed quite the crush on her ever since she arrived. His blue eyes would light up when she was around and his cheeks would get red whenever she smiled at him. He would often say that her eyes were bonnie: green and brown like the island in summer.

"Already your new suitors are lining up, Lyra," Uncle Daniel said.

"A seal and a 12 year old," Lyra smiled. "A real step up for me." Lyra was joking but she felt a little warmer inside.

"We're gonna go out if you'd like to join us," Liam said once Lyra released him. She tucked her dark hair behind her ear as the wind blew it into her face.

"I could use a day at sea," Lyra smiled.

The playful seal barked its approval looking at Lyra with deep soulful eyes as if it understood her pain. Lyra suddenly thought about her dream. No. That was just a dream.

********

Lyra sat at the end of the fishing boat as Uncle Daniel started the motor. Once they were out on the water close to Fair Muckle Rónán Lyra leaned over the side and stared at her reflection. She didn't know why but the tears she held back for so long came. Her tears fell like rain from the depths of the pools of her green brown eyes.

Lyra didn't bother to count how many tears fell into the salty sea.

"Lyra," Uncle Daniel called. "Help me with these fishing lines."

Lyra quickly wiped her eyes though they were still red and puffy. This time if Liam noticed he didn't mention it. She helped Uncle Daniel untangle the fishing lines as the wind whispered into Lyra's long black hair.

********

That night Lyra tossed and turned in her sleep. The sliver light of the quarter moon danced through her window taunting her with dreams that escaped her. She rolled over to where her window overlooked the sea. The gentle ringing of the wind chime combined with the rumbling waves became a lullaby to her that soothed her aching heart taking her back to her childhood to when ever she was sad she would wrap herself in her father's arms and he would hum some old lullabies his mother would sing to him as a boy. It always made Lyra feel safe. Loved.