Dumhach Harbour, Oileánra-Archipelago.
Free Lands of the Selkie.
Faye Donn of the Tribe of Wexford, a.k.a. Faye of the Archipelago, was excited - she awaited a guest, an acquaintance of hers, who she knew from Sets as Xanthé Mallett, and not only was it always fun to have guests, she loved cooking for them as well. And this one was here because of that, because of her famous double-finned perch, a fish living in the Great Seas around the Free Lands and regularly caught and cooked by her.
She was, after all, both a fishergirl and a merchant.
Back to the topic, she awaited Xanthé at the busy Dumhach Harbour, where a ship carrying her would make a stop before it travelled further to her home country. Dumhach, that was the pearl of the Archipelago, a small town with around a thousand citizens, mostly occupied with fishing and farming and tourism business, which flourished around this time of the year, mainly due to the warm, but not hot climate, the sunshine, the people and, of course, the azure blue sea.
Faye had yet to meet a foreigner, who could resist the temptation of having a dip in the wide, azure blue.
Dumhach Harbour's busyness was mostly due to one freighter landing and taking aboard the results of the local mining efforts, the iron ore being transported to the steelmills in Ironcastle, another freighter unloading various goods and products, a few yachts and fisherboats either coming in or leaving, and one of the Constabulary's vessels, SDFS Faye, preparing to move out on a patrol.
It was an awe-inspiring sight, especially as Faye knew, what would happen later that day: Once the freighters were both back on their trips to the Mainland, the local fishermen and boatmen all over the far over one thousand islands of the Archipelago, would come to buy the various products brought by the second freighter and would do so with their boats while also selling their own catches of the day. The piers and quays would be filled with people, a spectacle and crowd, that was so typical for Dumhach, that Faye knew it to be scary to a freshly arrived tourist, yet despite it being chaotic, it was friendly and welcoming, orderly despite the chaos - so very much like the Selkie.
And so, she waited, the cruise ferry with her newfound friend aboard already visible on the horizon, sitting on a bench at the beginning of the pier, and waited - a sun-kissed woman, 23 years of age, very well developed, her long, black hair combed, but not styled, flowing over her back in a cascade of locks.
As a Wexford, she would be able to welcome her friend in the Geansai of her Tribe, the fishleather ensemble made by local craftsmen, but as she wore a swimsuit under it, she had preferred to welcome her in a white shirt and a pair of hot pants, jeans, which might not be the most traditional, but very practical for all purposes. She wore no shoes.
Her boat, a repurposed and demiliterized torpedo boat of around thirty metres in length, was moored a few dozen metres away, not betraying its original purpose, mainly due to the bright paint adorning it. A masterpiece, Faye thought, and an art project of a friend of hers.
Faye loved her boat and the one watching it, a Dreapadóir named Gleoite, her pet, and she hoped, that Xanthé would love her perch as well.
This, she decided with a smile, would be a fishy dinner.
