Right now we're searching for orcas, she told Sky. While they thought-talked, she emitted her sonar signals at regular intervals.
Orcas! she sent out, a mental call. Bitfin! Boss! We have a situation here. Your help is needed again. My father and Petaybee will be very grateful if you'd show up right away.
Orcas, Sky called in a different direction. This is me, the sky otter, calling you too, reminding you that otters taste terrible but can show you where there are great shoals of herring!
Murel felt like adding, And sharks. Really yummy sharks. The kind you said you like to eat. Puna's people wouldn't like it if their aumakuas got gobbled by whales the first time they went to sea, so she supposed it was very bad of her. If Petaybee was going to mellow the sharks, as Ro had suggested, she wished that particular adaptation would happen in double-quick time.
Someone is coming who is not whales, Sky said at the same moment her sonar picked up several creatures heading toward them. Sky was right. These were not whales. Not unless they were midgets. They were about her size, maybe, or a little larger.
Hey you, solo seal! a mental call reached her. What are you doing, calling for killer whales? You get caught in somebody's net too long and damage your head? It's not healthy calling orcas. They eat seals. We ought to know.
They would, of course. These were the regular kind of seals. They swam up to her and Sky, who backpaddled until he was hiding under her flipper. Then she remembered that when she first met him, he thought seals ate otters.
What you got there, pup? one of the new seals said. Lunch? That's too much for a young one like you. You should share. Otters are delicious.
Not sky otters, she said. They taste awful. Besides, this one is a family member.
I don't know how to break this to you, pup, but otters of any kind are not related to seals of any kind.
Ah, she said, remembering the superior tone of some distant dialogue from an ancient vid. But this is not just any seal you're dealing with when you deal with me.
I am Murel Monster Slayer Maddock-Shongili, a selkie and Petaybean shepherd seal. When this didn't get an immediate reaction, she added hopefully, I don't suppose you lot have seen my brother Ronan Born for Water anywhere around here in the last few hours, have you?
A female ventured close enough to sniff at her. She does smell funny, Rork.
Then there's the business with the uneaten otter, another one said. Unsealy, that is.
No, wait, a third said. I remember. It was a long time ago-she ought to be an adult by now, but I remember when Murel Monster Slayer and her brother were born.
Their father is a selkie too and their grandfather before him.
Murel wanted to protest that her grandfather had been the scientist who made his son into a selkie, which was what Da and Aunty always said, but she didn't want to contradict this seal who believed her and seemed to be on her side and was also maybe older and wiser than the rest of the lot.
We were living closer to the coast back then and all of us felt it, the older seal continued. Somebody new and exciting had entered the world. Someone to be a leader among us, maybe, or at least a protector.
So what is she doing calling those orcas back to eat us again? Rork demanded.
I need them to help my mum and some other people stranded at the foot of the volcano, Murel explained. Even where they swam now the stench of the sulfur was sickeningly strong. Looking back, she saw the black smoke billowing into the air, a hint of red at its base.
We could help, the elder said.
I wish I could say that would work, she said, but there are sharks in these waters now and they'd eat you and maybe some of my people too. No, we need the killer whales. They say they eat sharks, so they're not afraid of them.
They'll eat you too, the elder said.
No. They tried it and almost managed. Only the aliens-deep sea otters-saved me, and then Da talked to them-the whales I mean, not the deep sea otters-and so when the aliens kidnapped my brother after I couldn't save the leader's son and my aunt Sinead almost drowned, the whales saved us both to sort of say they were sorry.
The seals seemed to be trying to untangle the threads of her story.
Then the elder spoke again. Well, if you really need orcas, you're going about it the wrong way. Follow us.
Where?
Back to the reef, of course. The whales know they're not supposed to eat you, but nobody told them they can't eat us. Only we need to be where we can escape from them while you explain your problem.
Their new reef was on the southern side of the volcano, formed by an earlier series of undersea chimneys that had gone dormant but sported new colonies of life forms on their surface. The southern lip of the volcano met up with the bottom of the reef, partially cupping a beautiful blue-green pool.
Our private tub, the female, named Sorka, told them.
Right, the elder said. Now, you keep quiet, Murel, and let us do the calling.
Pork, you get into the pool and call for help because you've, uh- Caught my flipper in a crack when the reef moved? Pork asked. She might have been large, but she wasn't slow.
That will work. The rest of us will make a big fuss over how you are too large, fat, and juicy for us to free. If the orcas are anywhere at all close they won't be able to resist trying their luck. Once they get within range, Murel can tell them what she wants while you beach yourself on the reef.
Pork assumed her position and began barking something to the effect of, Oh, dear!
Oh silly me! I've caught my flipper in this rift in the rock and I can't free myself.
Someone get me out of here!
Poor Pork, the other seals cried over and over, and, She's stuck.
Get her out, others barked.
Oh, she is too big and fat to move far enough to get at the fin! two others barked back.
No, no, be careful! You'll hurt me. My flesh is very tender, Pork complained.
They carried on that way for quite a long time, getting more and more into their act.
Bring me something to eat! Pork called. I feel weak. A seal of my size needs lots of fish to keep up her strength.
We are growing weak too, Pork, too weak to feed you. So weak that if an entire pod of orcas came to eat us, we could barely escape.
Orcas! Oh no, not orcas! Save me! Save me!
They were enjoying themselves so much, hamming it up, or maybe Porking it up was a better way to put it, that they weren't paying attention to their surroundings any longer.
Murel had never met full-time seals before and was surprised at how smart they were and how much fun they had. She and Sky sat up on the rocks, the waves washing over them often enough to keep her in seal form. The two of them watched the seals' antics, while also watching for the orcas. Sky suddenly stood on his hind feet and said, Hah! Black fins, seals. Black fins are coming.
The seals practically flew out of the water and up onto the rocks, even Pork.
Murel wiggled her way through them to the edge of the reef. She didn't want to get into the water yet, not until she was sure they recognized her and remembered that she was off-limits as a food item. Orcas, hello! she called. It's me, Murel. I need your help again.
We heard. That poor little seal is stuck in the rocks and she's too large, fat, and luscious for you and her little friends to help her?
No, she's fine now and they're all back up on the rocks.
Everyone? So fast? The game hasn't even started!
Well, there's another game my father and I need your help with.
What is it now?
Some people are stranded on the edge of the volcano and it's been rumbling. There are fishing boats coming but they're very slow. Could you carry a few people out to them?
We could do that. We'd be happy to carry some of those seals too.
Yeah, Bitfin said, carry them in our bellies!