Publisher's Synopsis
Selkies are Scottish seal people, and are considered magical shapeshifting creatures, able to interbreed with humans. Spoken of in many old stories, the females are said to make caring wives, and the men to be charming and good lovers. If their skin is captured, they will remain on land, though more is heard about women being captured than the men. If they find their stolen skin, they will return to the sea and any mate or family therein, though remaining nearby to watch over their land-children.Some selkies though are different, their lines created for specific purposes. Marsali came from one of those lines before having her skin stolen and becoming ancestress to a line of half witch and half selkie progeny, complicating and facilitating the Grand Design of the deities, and further so when she is never able to reclaim it.We come then to modern times. First a fishing family, favored then by fortune and Marsali's magic, the Makay clan grew to a merchant family that went on grand voyages for the good of the Magical Community. Few now remain, and those are now waterwitches, primarily interested in tending duties set by deities that few believe actually exist, hiding in plain sight, dealing with ancient rivalries, and the health of the waters both locally and planet wide.Kirsty has little choice in her fate, only how it will manifest. There are tests to pass in order to prove her worth and determine which of the many deities can lay claims on her, a place that she may have to occupy prematurely if her visions prove true, and a need to earn her sealskin to be complete. Will Etain return safe to port, and will Kirsty survive her training and test? There are complications along the way regarding deities themselves, will she be able to stay on the course she's trying to set? In this first book of what is intended to be a trilogy Kirsty must ultimately go down the Lady's well for the first of her tests of fitness, while also having to balance lessons at her family's traditional school, family, and a certain young lad. Perhaps, ultimately, the future Selkie Priestess and one of the Hounds of Herne can be the ones to finally untie the knot trapping Marsali and heal the Water Deities.Half witch and half selkie, Kirstin Makay grew up always knowing that she never fit fully into any world, whether among the selkies, the Cowans, or those of the Magical World. Like her parents it would be her duty to walk between the worlds at the bidding of her family's deities despite her wishes to focus on the art of potions. Now she begins the path to earn her own sealskin as has been done by many - but not all - of her forebears. There is more complicating her path though, and with her mother gone nightmares threaten her grip on sanity during training for the first of her tests.Kirsty's ultimate goal is to gain her own sealskin, become whole, and still be able to follow the path of potion making. First she has to get through school and internalize the lessons of Castle Carrick and the Lady's Well.For additional side stories, please look for the Selkies' Skins Wavelets stories.You may also like the "Dragon Shaman" series of stories set within the same version of Earth.
