Sarah has slept for a few hours, yet she did not feel awake at all. Aunt Caitlyn has told her that it might be because of low atmospheric pressure lingering after the wind the previous day. She then gave Sarah some wake up potion. So Sarah was drinking it on her way to Mole Street. And she had to admit she felt it working. By the time she reached the Mole Street bridge she was completely awake. She saw Angelo, Giovanna and Ursula already waiting for her at the riverbank.

“Hi there!” Angelo shouted.

“Hi, everybody!” said Sarah. “How’s the situation?”

“We are ready to go underwater,” said Ursula. “Do you have the potions?”

“Of course,” said Sarah.

“Wonderful,” said Giovanna. “May the case get closed as soon as possible.”

Sarah took out four vials of the potion from her backpack. She couldn’t wait to dive into the river. She found the case way too interesting to back out.

“So… Bottoms up!” said Sarah, giving the vials to her friends.

 

On the bottom of the river there was a creature hiding. The creature was thinking about something heard the previous day. That day the creature was being chased by a group of people. The creature escaped, but the group said they did not want to give up. That saddened the creature. The creature simply wanted to live in the river and have some peace. The creature really wanted to be left alone. Nothing more and nothing less. But then a revelation struck the creature. Those people also meant no harm. They simply wanted to know what was going on in the river. And so the creature was thinking about what to do in that situation. Should the creature run or confront them and tell them what is going on? Yes, revealing the whole situation seemed like a good idea. Maybe after that the creature could stop running. That actually sounded delightful.

 

Sarah jumped into the river. The gills grew on her before she could notice. It was her second time swimming with gills and she had to admit she was starting to like it. Maybe she could try doing this more often? That sounded somewhat nice. She almost forgot to form the OK sign. She only did this when she saw her friends doing it. Suddenly Giovanna felt something swimming behind her. She trained her intuition regularly so feeling something like that was a piece of cake to her. Giovanna turned around to see it better. The other divers looked closely expecting something to happen. Indeed something showed up. From far away it looked like a sack. Just like the thing they found the previous day. Giovanna pointed at it but her friends were already focused on it. That thing was coming closer and closer and closer. And soon it revealed what it really was. A beige creature with deep eyes, long tail, slick pelage and a pair of fins. In other words - a seal. The divers could not believe their eyes. A seal in a river was truly an unusual sight. It had to come from the sea. But how did it cause the waves? Giovanna looked intensely at the seal. She felt very confused. The seal nodded her head. As if it was telling the divers to swim to the surface, which it also did. Giovanna swam behind it and her friends followed her. When they reached the surface they looked around but the seal was nowhere to be seen. The only living thing they could see was a woman in a beige dress. She was sitting at the riverbank and dipping her feet in the water. Angelo looked at her and remembered something. It was the same woman he saw the previous day.

“Have we met before?” Angelo asked her.

“I think so,” said the woman. “I think we met yesterday.”

“There is no time for small talk,” said Ursula. “Let us focus on the seal.”

“Right,” said Angelo. “Excuse me, have you seen a seal emerging from that river?”

“Yes, I did,” said the woman.

“You did? Then where is it?” asked Sarah.

“Still right here,” the woman said.

“Right here?” said Ursula.

She swam to the riverbank and came out of the water. She looked around trying to find the seal. But she couldn’t find it.

“It looks to me like it is not here anymore,” she said.

The woman sighed.

“It would be better if I showed you,” she said.

The woman walked into the river and submerged herself to the forearms. Sarah dived to see if anything was happening in the water. What she saw was extraordinary. The woman’s dress grew to cover her legs. It then wrapped itself tightly around them. And it turned into something resembling a tailfin. Sarah swam to the surface and looked at the woman in the transforming dress. Her arms were already transformed into fins. Soon the dress covered her head and transformed into that of a seal. The transformed woman fell to the swimming position. Ursula was the first one to understand what was going on.

“You are a selkie?” she asked her.

The seal-looking creature nodded her head as a sign of a positive answer. Ursula and Giovanna quickly remembered that selkies knew magic they could use to control storms.

“Are you the one who has been causing the waves?” asked Ursula.

The selkie answered with nodding her head once again. The mystery of the waves was solved. But there was more to uncover in that story.

“Why?” said Giovanna. “Why are you disturbing the construction workers? And what are you doing in a river?”

The selkie swam to the land and turned back into a human. She had a lot to explain and she felt they wouldn’t understand if she wasn’t speaking English.

“I needed to get away from my shoal,” said the selkie. “I couldn’t stand it anymore. That’s how I got here.”

“I see… But why the waves?” asked Sarah.

“I don’t know,” said the selkie. “I think my fight or flight instinct kicked in wrongly. I really wanted to be alone.”

“That’s understandable for me,” said Giovanna. “But why did you leave your shoal in the first place?”

“I wasn’t suited for them and they weren’t suited for me,” said the selkie. “They always plan your whole life for you and hide behind so called tradition.”

Giovanna seemed to understand that on some level.

“So you decided to flee, huh?” she said. “And would you like to stay here?”

“If that’s fine, yes.” said the selkie.

“Then how about we find you a nice place to live then?” said Ursula.

 

That evening the four friends alongside the newly met selkie met at Quiet Spring Lake. It was already late and the weather was not that good so there was no one else. It was cold and windy. But for the selkie the water was not too cold and nobody else came there to swim.

“This is the Quiet Spring Lake,” said Ursula. “It is not that lively there. Most people come here in Spring and Summer mornings to fish. There are some that visit to swim in the Summer, that is true. But Celtic Lake is more popular.”

“And you really think I could live there?” asked the selkie.

“Yes, that would be the perfect option,” said Giovanna.

Sarah looked around and looked in awe at the lake. It wasn’t as spectacular as a giant lake could be. It was more like a pond. But in her previous hometown she never had a chance to visit one. She wasn’t even sure if there was one.

“It looks so cosy… I think I would like it if I were you,” said Sarah.

The selkie seemed content about her new home and couldn’t wait to explore it. She jumped into the water and turned into a seal. The underwater was a nice surprise. There were multiple tasty fish and the bottom was planted with cute algae. The water had the perfect temperature for that season. Overall, she liked it there. She thought it would be a nice place to live. She went back to the surface to say some words of gratitude.

“I love it here,” she said as she changed into a human. “At least at first sight. I have to thank you.”

“You can count on us,” said Angelo.

The selkie stepped back in water wanting to dive again.

“I shall go back,” she said. “Goodbye.”

“Wait!” Ursula stopped her.

“What is it?”

“Before you go… Do you have a human name?” Ursula asked.

The selkie had to admit she hadn't thought of that. Selkies usually use two names. One they use as seals and one they use as humans. It was strange for a selkie who decides to live in inland waters to not have a human name. So the selkie thought about what kind of name she would like. She once heard there was a flower called lily that grows in lakes and streams. She really wanted to see it. And she heard that some humans do use its name themselves.

“How does Lily sound?” she asked.

“I think it’s brilliant,” said Sarah.

“Then I’ll use it,” said Lily. “It was a pleasure to meet you. Goodbye.”

With these words Lily went back into the Quiet Spring Lake. Sarah, Ursula, Giovanna and Angelo were happy that they could ensure peace for both the city and the newly met selkie. Maybe they would meet her again. Only time would tell.