Daddy and Momma do not want Seale to leave the isle. Momma has been very strict about this. Momma worries a lot. She does not like trees, or the ocean at night. Sometimes she gets really scared or angry and Seale doesn’t understand why. Daddy doesn’t seem to either but momma is better when he is around. He has another family and so sometimes he is busy and Seale and momma have to leave him alone.
That’s why it isn’t too hard to get away, because when daddy comes Seale is usually sent to play after a while. She is so fast! She runs down to the rocky beach and leaps into the cold, cold water (she has been practicing swimming, first in the pond and then in the sea) and kicks hard for Nerine. The fuzzy girl dries off and takes a nap in a warm little cave. Nerine was momma’s old home. It is windier than the isle and not as pretty, but there are a few foals her age and Seale soon begins following a bouncy girl and her mother as they head inland.
Seale stalks them, lifting her little dark legs up high and putting them down again as quiet as a mouse. Of course they often get away from her because she is creeping so quiet and slow or gets distracted and plays along the way, so she has to run to not lose them. Finally they stop and the other girl dashes off by herself into a little thicket. Seale’s violet eyes flick toward the stranger’s momma who has settled to graze in the big meadow and then she trots into the thicket herself.
While the girl from Nerine runs and jumps and plays, Seale inspects the boundaries of this strange safe place that smells of youngsters and something else that she doesn’t have a name for yet. At one point she glimpses a creature the color of forest who watches her with wings that glitter in the cool shadows but it just gives her a smile and fades away behind a tree. Seale walks around that tree twice sniffing for the fairy before realizing it has disappeared.
A big splash draws her attention and Seale bounds through the trees toward the sound to find the Nerine-girl splashing herself through in a shallow pond. Sneaking has gotten boring, so Sealy trots up to the edge of the pond to intercept the drenched grulla girl. “Hi, I’m sea-lee” She says her own name in a sing-song way. “I followed you here! Did you know?” She wears a delighted smile either way, her amethyst eyes warm and friendly.
she told me she was shallow; her rivers run so deep
if I could only be the boat that leads her to the sea
@[Alcinia]