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Jackson wandered around his office, studying the various objects he had collected during his time in Acarsaid. Upon hearing a knock at the door he went over to open it, yet faltered when he saw Kimberley standing there. Staring at each other contemplatively for a few moments that seemed to last for several years, he took a step back allowing Kimberley entrance into the room. 

She paced across the room to the window before turning to him. "I know you're hiding something from me," Kim said as she came striding back, standing directly in front of him, piercing him with that hypnotic stare which had originally attracted him to her.

He hadn't imagined that he'd be getting into a relationship when he came to Acarsaid. Yet one day on the beach when he was returning back to his room after tagging seals, she had appeared. There was something about her eyes that made him think that he had found love, but now, those same eyes were what he now questioned if it was ever meant to be. Kim leaned in and inhaled him— he found it odd that she always did that, as she was not selkie. She had explained to him before that he smelled good and enjoyed "sniffing him," but he knew that she wasn't smelling him because of that today. 

She curled her lip as she said, "You smell like slimy, disgusting selkies."

"Of course I do, I've been down in the bay practically all day, it's kinda what I do— and really, that's gotta be one of the most racist things that you've said about selkies. Sure they evolved differently than humans, but that doesn't make us any better than them. Why are you acting so weird?"

Eyes opened wide, she took a step back as if she had been slapped by him. "Oh, so I'm the weird one when you're the one basically surrounded by naked female selkies every day!"

"Male selkies are naked as well."

"That doesn't change how I feel! I can't help it if I don't feel like I can trust you. After all, how can I when there are all these females surrounding you? You spend all your time with your research and yesterday, the one day in your week that you set aside for me, you spend it on the phone talking to some strange female! How do you think that makes me feel?"

"That strange woman was my mom! I can't help that there's a time difference between here and Idaho! I can't help that Acarsaid and Idaho both have really bad reception and that when they both have connection I'm going to let my mom know! I can't help that I like my mom and that I enjoy talking to her! I can't help that my research is my main priority right now! If you've forgotten, that is the reason why I came here. And sure, it involves being 'surrounded by females.' Why don't you ever trust me?"

"Oh, so your research is more important to you? Is that because there's someone you like hanging out with more than me? Who is it? Dr. Reid? Or is it Prof. Webster?"

"Ugh! No, no, no, no, NO! Why can't we just focus on how you don't trust me for once? Why do you always have to change the subject and put this on me? There's nothing between me and them: they're both married for Christ's sake! You always think that I'm trying to cheat on you with every heartbeat. This is why I can't even tell you about the problems I have trying to get Eve to help me with my research!"

As soon as that slipped out of Jackson's mouth, he knew that he had said too much. Even though he had known Eve for about two months now, he never told Kimberley about her. He never knew what to tell her— how does one tell their possessive girlfriend that they're working with a gorgeous, spunky selkie whom they have to spend long hours alone with researching at the observatory? Kimberley's face scrunched up as she snarled, "Who is 'Eve'?"

Too flustered to respond, Jackson could only stare into her terrifying appearance. Her eyes flashed and her hair seemed to move threateningly around her. Things can't possibly get any worse. 

Suddenly, there was a rapping at the door. They both turned to the door to see Dr. Craig McDonald step in quickly, making eye contact with Jackson, announced, "Good afternoon Jackson. Eve is waiting for you down by the beach, says she's ready nooooow—," McDonald drawled out the last part as he realized who was the other person in the room, "Oh dear, so sorry! Wrong room, wrong colleague, so sorry to interrupt—" Kimberley had already swept past him and was already storming down the hall.

Things can get worse. "No, no, no, no, no!" Jackson rushed out the room giving chase. Every door he passed seemed to open with yet another researcher seeing the situation unfolding. At the normally sleepy observatory, this sort of excitement was like waking up to an alarm after a long night. They all hurried after him, creating an odd image that caught the attention of the townspeople as they rushed down to the beach. By the time Jackson got to the beach, he had assembled behind him about half the population of Acarsaid. On the shoreline stood Kimberley who was screaming wildly and Eibhleann, now clothed in a scuba diving wetsuit. Upon seeing him, Eve bounded over, side-stepping around him before hugging him from behind. He could tell that she was staring tauntingly at Kim as she said, "See? What else do you need to convince you?"

Kimberley shrieked and spat out "He's mine, he's my boyfriend, step away from him you whore!"

"Kim, don't listen to her, you know how flirty selkies are mmmf—!" He was stopped by Eibhleann covering his mouth with her hand. She stared Kim squarely in the eye, matter-of-factly stating, "I'll explain things in terms that you'd understand. Look at all of this, this way; this situation is like the Falkland Islands. He's the islands, you're Britain and I'm Argentina. Even though it's by title that he's yours, everyone knows who he really belongs to."

"You sea rat!" Kimberley took a step closure, using her suddenly imposing height to tower over Eibhleen. "Do you know how much time I've put into this relationship? How much effort that I've put into this? Of course, you don't, you wouldn't understand! You don't know how much this means to me!"

Eibhleen stared at her and, much to the surprise of all, cracked a smile. She threw her head back and started laughing in her bark-like way. Lightly yet firmly holding onto Jackson's shoulders she said, "Me? The one belittling you? What a joke, soon everyone will see you for who you are. But it won't be me who exposes you— Fhairge will do that."

Kimberley lost all the color in her face, "You wouldn't dare." She stumbled back almost stepping into the lapping tide, shrinking away from it before it could touch her feet. She glared at Jackson, "How could you do this to me?"

"I haven't done anything! I wanted to ask for your help but you always end up freaking out!"

"You know what? Tell me this: who are you going to choose?"

Jackson, managing to finally shake out of Eve's grip, stared back and forth between the two. Now wait a minute... "What did you say to her before I got here?"

Eve shrugged casually, "A little this and a little that."

Jackson stared at her in disbelief— this selkie was supposed to be helping him, right? Then why was she sticking her nose into his personal life and making it one huge mess? His mind was blank: what should he do? Eve looked into his eyes and he saw no malice in them, "Jackson, trust me."

Crying in an even louder voice she jumped into the crashing waves and called out to Kim, "Come, do not trouble him with such a decision; let us settle this like children of Fhairge!"

Kimberley turned to him and with a certain desperation in her voice said, "Tell her to come back: don't do this to me."

What urged him to say this, he did not know, it was almost it was being pulled out of his gut: by curiosity, by confusion, by maybe the sea itself. "Go."

With a cry of despair that sounded like a car alarm, Kimberley plunged into the water. Except, once her transformation was over, she was no longer the Kimberley that he had known before. Where pink skin once was, there were now blue scales, her hair lengthened and thickened into tentacles, her teeth and nails sharpened. She was now the size of a small car and her eyes glowed eerily in the same way that an anglerfish's lure does. Jackson and the townspeople watched on in horror, all too flabbergasted to react.

In the time it took Kimberley to become "not" Kimberley, Eve had changed a bit as well. She had her selkie skin wrapped like a cloak around her shoulders and in her hands she held a spear that glinted in the sunlight. Yet even with her heroic appearance, she looked small and pathetic in comparison to her atrocious opponent. Upon seeing the spear Kimberley roared with monstrous laughter, "Ah, little selkie, coming to fight me with a silver spear? You think that alone will defeat me? How wrong you are—"

She was cut off as the spear lodged itself in her collarbone. Letting out an ear splitting shriek she fell back into the water: her thrashing turning the water around her purple with her blood. As she flailed about holding where the spear punctured her, she screamed, "You cheater! You damn selkie! That wasn't fair: fuck you and your entire breed!"

Eve shrugged as she calmly approached her, grabbing the end of the spear and forcing Kimberley to sit still. "All's fair in love and war darling. Now I suggest that you leave. Right. Now."

Eve twisted the spear to emphasis her point, making Kim howl in agony. Kimberley then jerked the spear handle out of her grip and spat at her saying, "You will come to regret this selkie, you have no business to be treating my kind like this. You selkies are just the same as us finfolk. You are no different than me." As she said this she disappeared under the waves.

Jackson, finally remembering how to move his body, ran through the waves over to where Eve stood. Staring at the place where Kimberley had slunk off, he heard Eve murmur to herself "I am not, but I choose to be, and that's what makes the difference."

"What did you say?"

Flashing a smile at him Eve said, "Well there you have it! Proof that finfolk do indeed exist! Now did you record any of that?"

"If I had known that you were going to reveal to me and the entire island that my girlfriend was a finfolk then I might've!"

Eve barked out one of her typical selkie laughs. "Then I guess we're gonna have to keep working together! Next stop the land of the finfolk: Finfolkaheem!"

Jackson shook his head, "How about we take a break for today? I need to stare at a wall and question all my life decisions for the rest of today. But before that, can I ask a few questions?"

"Go ahead."

"How did you know that Kimberley was actually a finfolk?"

"That's easy, you smelled like a finfolk was claiming you. You smelled mighty powerful as she was real desperate to have you."

"How did you know that she would reveal herself?"

"Hmmm," Eve hummed and stroked her chin, pondering for a moment. "Well, at least for us of the northern isles, we can't turn down a challenge to battle. Plus, I just figured that if you were to reject her, she would respond by wanting to kill me. So I knew that I had to be ready to fight her."

"Did you know you could defeat her?"

"Well, no. She was a real powerful witch as you saw, just had to have faith that my aim and timing were a lot better than her powers."

Jackson shook his head. Typical Eve, relying on only her instinct. "Ok, last question and then let's call it a day. Did you actually mean all those things that you said about me?"

Sauntering over, she took his jaw into her hand and brought his head level with her's. With her face inches away from his own she said, "Now, aren't you the researcher? Why don't you discover that on your own?"

Letting go of his face she walked out of the water, through the astonished but admiring crowd, and waved at him as she went down the beach. Jackson watched her until she was out of sight, with only one thing left in his mind. Damn Selkie.