Pinni wasn’t expecting to run into such a nice human when he went onto land for the first time.

It all happened because he had forgotten where he had left his pelt after being caught up in the excitement of wandering around and testing out his newfound legs. He tried to retrace his steps, but between just figuring out how to walk and his panic, it took him an embarrassingly long amount of time to get just halfway back.

His pelt couldn’t be damaged, but what would happen to him if someone else had found it while he was away? If a human found it?

Pinni shuddered at the thought.

All selkies grew up with stories of humans. In these stories, humans were the epitome of evil. Once they had their hands on a selkie’s pelt, they would command the selkie to do horrible things. The selkies in each story all met unfortunate ends, and children were warned to not play too close to the surface.

Whatever! Pinni shook his head, trying to get rid of the thought. All he had to do was find his pelt before the humans did!

Determination renewed, he continued down the beach on wobbly legs.

A while later, Pinni spotted his pelt by an outcropping of rocks. Sighing in relief, he rushed towards it, pausing when he spotted a human next to his pelt. That wasn’t a good sight. Swallowing down his nerves, Pinni carefully made his way over to the pelt. Squaring his shoulders and hoping he came off as more confident than he actually felt, Pinni called out to you.

“...Hey, can I have that pelt back? It’s mine.” He gestured awkwardly at the pelt, hands shaking.

Please let it be returned to him. You glanced down at the large seal pelt in your hands before looking back at Pinni. You spotted a large fur blanket in the sand while strolling along the beach and was going to return it to the lost-and-found. However, if the owner of the blanket was already here, it was better to return it to them now.

Pinni’s eyes widened as the pelt was returned to him. No fuss, no pleading needed on his part, and certainly no terrible commands—nothing! Mind spinning at the incongruence of your actions and the stories he knew as a young pup, Pinni blankly went through the motions of thanking you before walking away.

To think he could get his pelt back that easily! Did the human not know what he was? That couldn’t be, although he didn’t want to admit it, he was not the best actor…

Mulling over the interaction, Pinni suddenly came to a conclusion.

You must be a special human!

Making up his mind to thank you for your generosity and to get to know you better, Pinni showed up at your doorstep the very next day.

“Hello!” He held out his pelt. “Please marry me!”

This is what humans do to get closer with each other right? They give the other something precious as a proof of their goodwill!