"Just gimme another hour. 'Nother hour's all I ask..." she mumbled, fighting the urge to wake up. She'd just been having dreams that made up for her earlier ordeal, and then some.

"Oh, that's not fair! What about poor little Franco? C'mon, get up. You can sleep on your feet, just get up. It's your turn on watch."

Adara cracked an eye open and glared up at the cadet who towered above her. "Nrgh. Fine. J's stop talking. You're gonna make me throw up if you keep on with that cheery shit."

Franco chuckled again, crossing his arms and waiting patiently as the young woman threw back her sleeping roll and heaved herself to her feet. After she was up and stretched until bones crackled, he let off a little yawn. "Perfect. It's quiet out tonight, no worries." He began to settle himself in her vacated space, looking smug amidst his suddenly burned-out expression.

"Hey," Adara looked over the other sleepers, "You seen Keren?" Her friend's place was empty.

"Nah. She's probably out for a leak or something." Franco shrugged as he slid into the light bag, and batted his black lashes. "Have fun on patrol, princess."

She snorted, contemplated giving him a boot, but decided to give him a break.

Gathering some belongings--an overcoat, her gun, some ammo--she headed out into the night.

She scanned the ground where Franco had tread--his tracks were as plain as day, which was saying a lot when it was this dark out. They headed around the camp-site, in a vaguely circular direction, but never out onto the real dunes, and only barely near the forest. "What a retard," she mumbled, breaking away from his trail. "Something could be on the beach or in the trees and he wouldn't have seen a thing. Urgh." She began towards the forest-line, but something caused her to turn away... she shivered. It was like a ghost had crossed her path or something.

Without being quite sure of why she was doing it, Adara turned out towards the beach. She paced as quietly as she could through the sand, following nothing but feeling as though she were following something.

And there were markings in the increasingly loose sand, now. She couldn't tell whether they were human or animal, though they seemed big enough to warrant a human. And was that one set, or two? It must be one set...

Adara paused at the top of the dune she was staring at so intently, interrupted by a splashing noise. Looking out across the water, she noticed a silvery creature, tubular and sleek, sliding out of the dark water onto the sand.

"What the hell?" she murmured. It was a seal... and.. wait, something was happening. The seal was changing, moving--and then it was Keren, resting on hands an knees, buck-naked except for that animal-skin she'd been carting around covering her back.

Adara dropped her jaw, confused beyond words. What the hell had just happened? She rubbed at her eyes, thinking--hoping that she were dreaming again and that Franco were about to punt her in the shoulder for real, this time. But when she found the will to stare back down at the beach, her best friend was now standing there, and was staring back at her.

She averted her gaze as Keren suddenly drew the skin over herself, realizing in the briefest way that she was being rude. She was too busy trying to find some reason for what she'd witnessed, some excuse to cover up the incident. She was succeeding about as well as Keren was at hiding her nakedness.

It was impossible, it had to be. She could handle this world being different, the creatures in it being able to do strange, unimaginable things... but her only friend, the only person who she'd been able to really confide in since.... since her brother for Christ sakes--suddenly having the same, alien abilities... it was like a betrayal. She couldn't speak. She was too upset and confused.

Adara turned away, but when she heard steps coming closer, she returned her gaze back on the girl. Keren stopped a few feet away.

"H-Hi," the still-soaking Keren managed, her voice shaky like she was going to cry. Adara wanted scream at her, or maybe just to turn her back on her and walk away, and hope that when she came back that nothing had happened, and that all of this were a figment of her imagination. But everything was too real--the chill breeze, the smell of salt washing over her, a escaped sniffle escaping her friend's attempted smile. She couldn't not say anything... so she might as well try to set things straight. "What. Was that?" Her voice revealed more of her confused emotions then she had wanted, but it was too late, now.

There was a long pause. Adara watched her friends face, half expecting her to begin sobbing wildly. The girl--Keren looked younger then even her at the moment--looked as though she were trying to search for the right words.

In any other situation, Adara'd have already put an arm around her shoulder and been asking what was wrong, but at this moment, she felt almost as stung as Keren looked. Finally, the Irish girl straightened, staring resolutely with watery green eyes. For all that she put on a strong face, her voice wobbled slightly. "I'm a selkie," she said simply, as if that were enough to explain everything.

"A what?" Adara furrowed her brow. She shifted the remenents of her longish hair over her right ear as if that would help her hear better.

"A-A selkie." Keren tried to explain, her face blushing a darker shade in the semi-moonlit night. "Seal-folk. Most e'my family is. We... we taern intae seals, when we get intae the sea with our s-skins."

Adara stared at her. 'You're joking, right?' She almost asked it, but held her tongue. She couldn't ignore what she'd seen, there was no way of denying that. And what Keren said ran with what she saw... but... those things didn't happen on Earth, only in stories and in far-away lands.

But this was a far-away land. Still. Adara shook her head, fighting with herself. "How?" was all she managed to get out.

The cadet, still standing with the skin hanging limply before her, paused again. "I... daenna really know. My gra'maether might, but she's back en Aireland. It's jaest... soomthen we do. S'why I wes soo excited aeboot thae trip here... I haev'n' heard thae ocean in... God, tae long."

Adara's thoughts ran back to the days before: Keren, asking plaintatively if they could find an ocean-going trip. Keren, leaping up and down like a little kid when they finally did sign up for the trip. Keren, packing and unpacking her bags, and (when Adara had managed to catch her), running hands over the same skin she clutched in front of her as if it were sacred...

"I knoo, et's really strange... ye werenae saeppoosed tae knoo..." She shivered, "Nae one was..."

Adara looked away again, ashamed now that she was starting to get it. She hadn't meant to be standing and watching when Keren had... done her thing. She hadn't meant to be on the beach at all... "I'm sorry," she replied, feeling guilty and not really sure what else to say. "Look," she continued, hoping to change the subject, at least until she could think some more. "You're probably getting cold..."

Keren met Adara's gaze with some surprise. "I-- maebe ae lettle..." a big drop of water fell from her hair as she spoke, "but-- but et's all right. Et's colder en Aireland..." Adara almost, almost grinned at that, but then Keren suddenly burst out, "Ye hate me na'ow, I know, I'm ae freak. I'm soo soorry I caeldnae tell ye, but I knew, I knew ye'd hate it. It aenna normal, and I'm soorry."

Now the dark-haired girl felt a stab of guilt. She wanted to say, 'it's all right, don't worry, I understand. You aren't a freak!' or something helpful, but that wasn't how she felt. She was still in shock that her friend was anything other then what she said... almost as much so by the fact that she hadn't said anything in the first place to warn her. If that had been the case, though, Adara probably wouldn't have hung around for very long. Now... it was a different case.

"Keren..." she tried, still feeling awkward, "You are who you are." Trying to work up a grin, she added, "The only reason I'd hate you is for not telling me why you kept hogging the fucking bathroom all the time! And here I was left to believe that it was just your god-damned hair. Jeez." She actually managed to smile a little.

She felt bad. She wouldn't desert her friend, just because she was a 'freak'... if she did that, she might as well say that she was a freak. And besides, wasn't she a freak of some sort just for being able to psi things? "Did you at least bring a towel?" she asked, scanning the beach and spotting the cadet's clothes by a piece of drift wood.

Wiping some tears away, Keren blinked at Adara as if she hadn't even thought of such a thing. "I... kindae forgot... thaer-- thaere's one en me backpack, but... D-do yeh relly mean tha'? Tha'yeh daenna hate me?"

Adara actually did laugh, but not unkindly. "I hate the way your dripping on my boots! What are you thinking? I couldn't hate you!" With Keren's changing fading in her mind's eye, and a sopping wet, sniffly girl left in its place, how could Adara turn her back on her? "You can't get rid of me that easily. Or, yeah, you can. Hold on. I'll go find you your towel... Just stay here."

The cadet shook her head at Keren's weepy expression, and hurried up over the dune, back towards the camp. Half way there, she paused again. Had that all really just happened? Yeah... but... it was okay. She hurried the rest of the way, returning only when she'd found what she was looking for. Everyone had been sleeping like babies when she was at the camp, which was probably a good thing.

Keren accepted the proferred towel gratefully, wiping away one last tear before smiling brilliantly, "Thank you," she said, meaning more then just for the towel.

Adara smiled back just as warmly. "No problem." and she meant it.