So Close, And So They Begin...

There weren't always dragons in the valley. When they were were there, they were territorial in the space. It wasn't so much that they didn't like Tinka being there, she wasn't their kind, lowly, not part of the pride. Tinka bowed before the pride leader, only a bit taller than herself and excused herself from the two dozen dragons resting in the valley. Some elder dragons giving her sneers and the young whelps played - pounce on each other, not noticing the lone deer walk back into the forest.

Tinka walked for a long time. It was spring. The forest floor was wet with mushy foliage after the melt and the greens were springing to life. Things that should have been obvious to her weren't. New whelps, of course they started migrating already. Tinka walked passed fresh sprouts, one of her favorite snacks; sniffing back a wheeze and a tear obstructing the smell. How am I unworthy of their company? She crossed over the main walking path and kept going. I know I'm not like them, but am I so different? They don't even eat deer. She climbed up and over some fallen logs and tried to cheer herself up a little with some playful hops and a childhood rhyme: Four legs and scales, those dragons make you bail. Dragons in the water, better swim farther. Feathers on their wings, those dragons know things. Two wings two feet, a wyvern you will meet. Tinka hopped from spot to spot until she heard a click. She took a deep gasp as the pain shot through her body. She looked down to see the bear trap she stepped her front left leg into. She let out a pained, blood-curdling scream. Her other legs buckled as she collapsed to the forest floor. Tinka started to breathe fast as the pain seared up her leg, through her. Gritting her teeth, closing her eyes, she strained and groaned ans she tried to move into a position to try and maneuver herself. Keeping her trapped leg stiff, she propped herself against a tree. She tried to pull a little and twist her leg out of it, but there was no use. The screaming spasm of the iron teeth in her, tearing her muscles, her bones broken for sure, she was broken in body and heart. This is how I die. She took a deep sniff, looking around; she saw some of the fresh sprouts within her reach and took some bites of the sprouts. As long as she didn't move too much the torment of the bear trap's teeth could be tolerated. This is how I die. Tinka wasn't sure how much time had passed, the haze of the clouds and the iron in her flesh made everything unclear - dizzying.

It could have been minutes or hours later, she couldn't tell anymore; there he was. She knew he didn't see her; she wasn't sure if it was because he was a mirage or he didn't notice her from where she lay. She eyed him carefully: no weapons or pelts, he carried a book, wearing a grey tabbard and matching hat covered in symbols. This was no hunter. This is how I live. Tinka made a calculated choice, she groaned loudly.

The man's head turned to the sound she made. He stopped scraping the tree bark he was collecting. "Hello?" He called. "S-someone there?" Tinka let out another soft groan. He started walking in her direction. As he got closer, she became nervous and scared again, her heart raced and the pain grew again. They came into clear view of each other. He tucked his book into his pocket, and crouched down, meeting Tinka's eye level. "Looks like you got yourself into a bit of a pickle." He scooted himself a little closer. Tinka didn't move. "That looks like it hurts pretty badly." She let out a little whimper. "I can help you with that." He inched a little closer, reaching into his other pocket, pulling out a vial. He broke the wax around the cork. Tinka remained still. He crept closer and closer. She finally got a good look at him: he was older than her, in his forties, maybe, peppery hair, trimmed beard, quite tall when standing, even crouching he was broad - but not intimidating. She had seen how hunters, men and women, had behaved while hunting, this man didn't behave like them. He popped the cork off the vial with his thumb and let a couple drops fall onto her leg where the trap broke her skin. Her flesh closed itself around the teeth, but the iron teeth were still in her flesh and bone and tore her skin again. She cried out and kicked as her flesh seared all over again. The man jumped back, looking as scared as her. "Shh, shh, shh. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." He took a deep breath as she kept her eyes fixed on him, re-corking the vial. "Let's try something different." He began to approach her again; he reached a hand out towards her face, low and slow. He spoke, "Easy girl. Easy. You want to keep your hoof? I am going to help. Easy." He placed his hand palm down in front of her nose. Why do humans do this? She humored him, sniffed him, and reluctantly gave the back of his hand a lick. Does he think I'm a dog? Weirdo. She kept her eyes on his hand as he moved closer to her, kneeling. "When I hoped to be up to my knees in 'doe,' this was not what I had in mind." He smiled at his own joke and gave her pelt a stroke with the back of his fingers.

"You're going to be alright. Unless you're a lefty, then you may need to relearn how to use a quill." Tinka let out a sound that was less like a groan and more like a pleased hum. His smile grew a little more. "Um, yes! This is working." Tinka wasn't sure if he was telling himself or her. "My name is Nestor. As in I could sleep in a nest or no other option." She kept her eyes on his face, feeling his hand pet the side of her neck and the top of her back. He might not be so bad. Tinka extended her neck and took another bite of the wild greens she liked so much. "How does that taste? Pretty good?" He took his hand off her, picked a few bits of the greens and chewed them. The bitter look on his face was clear and she let out a sound that was almost a laugh. "Oh, you think that's funny?" She took the rest of the sprouts out of his hand and ate them. I still may die, I might as well live first. She chewed and let out an intentional snort onto his pants. "Oh, that was polite. Really nice. I don't know how to conjure out deer snot stains, do you?" Tinka breathed a calm hum; he was still smiling. "You didn't mean to do that, I think. But this - this I meant to do." The bear trap clicked. Nestor had disabled the trap using a small tool with his free hand while he spoke and distracted her. The clamp of the trap fell open, he swiftly poured much of the vial over her wound, healing and closing it. She felt her bones and muscles fuses together the healing liquid caused her leg to convulse and she pushed herself away from him, skittering into a standing position. She couldn't believe she could stand and maneuver so quickly. Nestor looked just as startled as she did. He began to stand again and she saw the tool he used to disable the trap - a knife. It was all she needed to see: a man with a knife is not to be trusted. Tinka turned and began to run. "So long deer!" He called. "I wish you could tell me how that happened to you!"

Tinka was mid-leap and she felt something in her, a tug she couldn't explain or understand. She still wanted to run, but she felt herself turning around and walking back in his direction. She padded quietly across the forest floor. When she saw him again, he was dusting off his knees with his hands then picking up the trap. "I was walking, then hopping. The bear trap was under some leaves, I didn't see it."

Nestor looked around in disbelief that Tinka, a deer, was talking to him. "I wish for all the platinum I could carry?" He said to her optimistically.

Tinka shook her head. "That's not what happened. I am not some ivory stag that grants wishes."

He still looked confused, "Then why did you come back and tell me?"

There was another tug in her throat, "I-I don't know. I physically couldn't help it. Why did you help me?"

The pair kept their distance between each other as they spoke. "Because it was the right thing to do. This trap wasn't meant for you. By the looks of it, whoever placed it should have picked it up months ago. It's rusted a bit. I'm amazed nothing tripped it sooner." He placed the trap into his bag. "But It still doesn't explain why you can talk to me now."

"Oh, that." She shyly looked around. "I understood you and could talk this whole time."

Nestor stared shocked at her, "What? Why didn't you tell me you wanted help?"

Suddenly the compelling pull from inside her came out again, harder, "Because being a selkie is dangerous. Human men aren't to be trusted."

Nestor rubbed his eyes under his glasses momentarily. "You're a selkie?"

"Yes."

"Prove it."

Against all her instincts, the compelling pull of his request took over. She flipped her head back and began to shed her living deer pelt from her body to reveal her human woman form underneath: pale skin and curly reddish hair the same shade as her pelt. She held her pelt in her hand. "See? Happy? You asked me to prove it. Why are you covering your eyes?"

As she had transformed, Nestor covered his face and turned around. "Nope. I'm not looking. I'm a gentleman. I'm not looking at you naked."

"You humans are such prudes." She put her pelt back on and transformed back into her deer-self. "I'm decent, by your standards." He turned and peaked through his fingers. Seeing she was a deer again; he took a deep breath and relaxed. "I don't see any difference, I'm just as naked like this, you know." Her ears twitched.

"There's a difference."

"I didn't want to do that, you know, show you my human form. The last thing I need is to make my pelt accessible to a man."

"If it makes you feel any better, I don't want you or your pelt. But if you didn't want to do it, why did you?"

"I told you, I don't know. It's like something in me, from the depths of my gut made me."

Nestor took a couple of steps back, "Oh no, no, no. I don't need this. Nope. No way! Not happening. I release you."

"Release me from what?"

He sighed and rubbed his eyes under his glasses again. "Take two steps forward." Tinka stepped forward twice. "What's your name?"

"Tinka."

Nestor laughed. "Seriously? What kind of name is that?"

"Buck off. One my Momma chose," she said sternly.

"Did you want to tell me your name?"

"Not really."

"But you did anyways." He stepped a little closer towards her. "Because you are now life-debted to me."

"No bucking way."

"You thought you were going to die in that trap. You were absolutely sure of it, weren't you?"

"I was."

"Then that did it. You thought you were going to die, and I helped you. We made a life debt contract whether we like it or not."

Tinka had a little panic in her voice, "Is there away to get out of it? Because I don't want to be bound to you. It sounds like you don't want to be bound to me either."

"It's not personal. We just met. And clearly the binding it did, was more intimate than either one of us realized."

"So what do we do?"

He paced back and forth a few times stroking his bearded chin. "I'm an alchemist, at least I'm trying to be. If I can find the right book in my studies, I might be able to figure out how to release the life debt. Until then, I'll try not to ask you for anything. I truly don't believe you owe me anything."

"Life debts really are a curse, aren't they?"

"They're certainly not rainbows, unicorns, and dragons."

Tinka laughed at him. "You must be joking. Unicorns and dragons are total snobs! Unicorns know their reputations with people and exploit it. And dragons have their generations of wisdom inherited by birth, they think everyone who isn't them is stupid."

Nestor approached Tinka. "Are you serious? You've met them?"

"Yeah. I saw dragons today. They were quite rude. They're presumptuous and territorial. I was in that field before their pride landed. Just because there were more of them, they are bigger and stronger, they thought they could make me leave. I hate that they were right."

He hesitated, "I'm trying to think of how to phrase this so it's your choice...Would you consider showing me?"

Tinka didn't feel anything in her, not the way the cursed-pull did when he requested answers from her before. She looked into the sky to the mid-afternoon sun, "If you have nowhere else to be, I can show you."

He closed his eyes, bent his knees, and danced a little, "Yes!"

The pair walked through the forest to a part Nestor had never been before. Tinka warned him not to go there without someone like her, humans weren't often welcome there - the bear trap was a prime example as to why humans and hunters weren't appreciated.

"What were you doing so close to the main path? That trap must have only been only 25 feet away from it."

"I wasn't paying attention. I was upset from the-- stop. We're here. Shh." The pair were still several yards from the opening of the valley in the thick of the trees, behind a small mound. She whispered in his ear under the brim of his hat, "They shouldn't be able to smell us from here. Can you see them?"

He stared at the creatures through the trees. His face twisted to what he saw, "I can't believe it. They always avoid the cities, larger populations. They're amazing." Nestor was in awe.

Tinka shook her head. "Ugh. Don't let them hear you say that. You'll inflate their egos so hard they'll never land again."

"How can you not be amazed by them? Look at them: some are bigger than cottages, feathers and scales, the wisdom, the power--"

"And they choose to share none of it outside of their own kind. They're selfish. If they asked me to treat with people on their behalf, I would, I know a bunch of selks who'd consider it. We are a generous people and we know people, dragons, anybody, tend to take advantage of it. But dragons, they remain a closed society. The one elder who made me leave has more knowledge in her than all the books you've ever read, and yet she shares none of it." Tinka turned and began to walk away from the valley and Nestor.

He caught up to her and saw the sad frustration on her face. "I had no idea. There haven't been any new teachings on dragons in centuries, now I know why." He looked back over his shoulder and caught a final glimpse before catching up with Tinka again. He said to himself, "A dragon feather quill would be a nice thing though."

Tinka still heard him and thought to herself: he's either brilliant or a fool, but either way, I'm stuck with him.

.

.

.

Continue to...