Back to the peninsula
Everyone woke up to the rising sun and marched towards the shore with their seal skins in tow. Jasmine, not sure what was going on, followed suit and gathered with everyone at the beach. There they opened the jaws of their skins and stepped inside to pull it over their bodies and assume their seal forms. They made it look so normal, like putting on clothes in the morning. Jasmine did the same, feeling odd as she sat in the sand and pulled the empty husk up her legs and body. It came all the way up to her head, pitting her in darkness until she opened her seal eyes to see the land in front of her. Back to being a seal.
Most of the colony bounced their way into the water for the morning hunt, leaving a few behind to guard the peninsula. Jasmine joined what looked like an armada of hungry seals off to catch breakfast. Communication was mostly visual while underwater, utilizing what Jasmine titled flipper signs. For the most part she just followed Maria who swam in a jet-black seal body. The thought of munching on a fat mackerel fueled her forward. Never had to work for breakfast before. I hope we don’t have to travel too far.
It was a much longer trip than what Jasmine had travelled between the island and the peninsula, but eventually she and the others happened upon a school of mackerel. They dashed into the silvery school from all directions. The mackerel would flee and remain untouched almost every attempt, but Jasmine and her fellow huntresses did not quit. Jasmine caught her first fish. The crunch of bone and scale between her teeth was the most sumptuous reward which she gobbled down whole in just three chomps. Invigorated, she set upon the mackerel with even more vigor, depleting their ranks until her stomach was full and she could hardly swim anymore.
Maria and the others could tell she was full and motioned for her to return to the colony. A portly Jasmine left the scene, but not for the peninsula. She came to the island from yesterday where the sack Maria mentioned was waiting for her not far from where she’d put the suit on. It held just a few berries she’d foraged apparently, though she could find no other bushes to pluck from. Giving up on the island, she strapped the sack to her seal skin, got back inside, and headed back to base. Damn, this is starting to be really fun.
But the real excitement awaited her in the next few days. Hidden in the grasses on the peninsula was a human dress Jamie had found washed up on the beach one day, presumably from a nearby shipwreck. “This is what humans wear!” Jamie had said proudly that night while holding up the simple white dress. “At least the women do.” Jamie had been in the waters around the humans settlement looking for a way to sneak in and put the dress on. That the wharf had more fish was just an excuse. “You promise not to tell anyone, right Jasmine?”
Written by TheGreatJaceyGee on 20 October 2024