Shining 8

 After dinner Hizashi was to leave for town. When he arrived he set up a stall right away, with his customers coming to him at all hours of the night as well as day. Elly walked him to the door and then a little ways further out, gesturing to him urgently.

"What do you need, little sea foundling?"

"Please." She pulled him aside. "I'm sorry, but I need to be blunt. I know what you are and I'm not scared. Aizawa doesn't, does he?"

"No." Hizashi set his jaw and shook his head. "No, he doesn't know." His hypnotic eyes stared hard into hers. "How did you find out?"

She pointed at his hair, three times as long as any she had seen on any human. "Your hair is long, like a woman's, and there is something special about your voice. I heard you repeat things a couple of times, and Aizawa listened to you and changed his mind without an argument."

"Ahhh. The long hair bit is usually such a <i>good deception</i>, you know? Human folk believe only women are banshee because of our grooming habits."

"You tied it up, but I can see how extraordinarily long it is."

He frowned then, stepping closer to her with a low, serious tone. "The only ones not affected by my Voice are those who are deaf, but you hear quite well. How is that?"

"I don't know." She shrugged. "But, listen, I'm not trying to blackmail you or anything! I need help. When you go into town, someone might try to trade you a white seal skin."

Hizashi's hazel eyes shone in the light of the moon as he stared at her. "I thought so," he muttered. "Are you going to leave him the minute you get your coat back, then?"

Elly looked out over the ocean at the ripples playing on the water with longing. But what she said next astounded him. "No, I'm - I'm going to give it to him."

"You realize he'll know, then."

"Yes." She sighed and rubbed a hand over her eyes. "But if he holds it, I won't leave. I'll be free to change back and forth if I want without the terrible compulsion that plagues my kind."

"And if he doesn't accept you?"

"I think you know what will happen." She gestured over the water. "I want to stay, I really do. But if he doesn't accept the burden of my love, I can't be with him."

"Burden, ha." He scoffed and grasped her by the shoulders. "You listen to me! Fae love is not a burden to humans. And, well..." He swore faintly, then sighed. "I'll keep an eye out for your coat. I'll buy it if I have to - no, no need to give me anything for it. That's why I do what I do, to buy our stolen items back from humans who think it's theirs to take."

She nodded and glanced back in worry over her shoulder.

"Go to him," he told her quietly. "And I'll return with your coat in the morn if it's to be found."