Helene Balfour

When Lena was a teenager, English fur traders arrived in the territory she called home. They were paid by exotic fur collectors to trap leopard seals and retrieve their pelts for luxury coats. Lena, curious as always, strayed too far from the ice sheet and fell into a baited trap alongside two other seals.

Taken alive to the ship, Lena watched in horror as the hunters mercilessly gunned down her kin. With her life hanging on by a thread, Lena desperately shed her skin for the first time. To the hunters’ astonishment, they were suddenly confronted by a girl wrapped in a seal’s pelt rather than the wild animal they’d captured. Unfortunately, Lena was not quick enough to escape harm completely. A bullet penetrated her selkie skin, damaging it but not harming Lena’s human form.

Confused and frightened by the sight before them, the hunters abandoned their mission early and set a course back to England. They tried to take care of Lena, but she refused to accept their provisions and couldn’t understand a word that they spoke. She acted completely feral as well, lashing out and biting whenever one of the hunters came too close.

Over the span of the next three months, the fur traders slowly made their way back to England. Though Lena was terribly frightened and frustrated that she couldn’t put her skin on, she began to slowly acclimate to her surroundings. The warmer weather felt nice on her human skin and the hunters were kind to her, though Lena never forgot what they had done to the other leopard seals. She even began to pick up bits of English. After stopping at several ports along the way, Lena took her first steps on land at the Port of Southampton.

Helene’s time in England was brief. Though naturally curious of this new world, Lena knew it was not where she belonged. The second the hunters looked away to try and find help, she fled to the nearest ship and stowed away, bringing nothing with her but her damaged skin. Hidden aboard, she was only discovered by a young boy named Owen, who, enchanted by selkie stories from his sister, kept her secret and brought her raw fish.

Believing the ship would return her to the Southern Ocean, Lena was disappointed when it docked in Portsmouth Harbor, New Hampshire. Lost and far from home, she hid on the city's outskirts, spending as much time in the water as possible, though swimming didn’t feel the same without her selkie skin. Eventually, locals spotted her, and she captured police attention after several complaints. Lena was arrested and taken to the inner city following a difficult struggle.

The next day, she was bailed out by a stranger who claimed she was their relative. Though skittish at first, Lena began to recognize the stranger as the sister of the young boy from the ship, realizing they had come to rescue her. Lena realized that the stranger, called Wilma Balfour, knew she was not human. Wilma then took Lena to her city shop, where Lena was terrified to discover that Wilma spent her days stuffing deceased animals. Though it took a few days, Lena came to understand that Wilma genuinely meant no harm and devoted considerable care into her work as a taxidermist.

As time passed, Lena began to grow more comfortable around Wilma and Owen. She started to pick up on human mannerisms and quickly caught onto English, though she loathed the feeling of clothing on her body that the Balfours insisted she wear in public. Lena learned Wilma was a Scottish immigrant who had been raised on stories of selkies and had always believed them to be real. She had felt drawn to Helene, knowing her brother would not lie about what he'd seen. One day, Lena finally felt comfortable enough to show Wilma her damaged skin, which Wilma promised she would fix. It was a difficult task to mend something so delicate, but at last, Lena’s skin was repaired and she could return to the ocean.

Helene had long contemplated returning to the Antarctic, but something had shifted. Despite being solitary like all leopard seals, Wilma's kindness had stirred strange emotions in her. Lena bonded deeply with Wilma, and though she missed her home, chose to stay in the harbor instead. After learning about the human concept of marriage, she ended up taking the surname Balfour in order to connect with Wilma romantically, though it was also so less suspicion would arise regarding her arrival in the city.

Over the next few years, Lena and Wilma became enamored with one another. Still, it was never forgotten that Lena was feral at heart. She began to disappear for weeks at a time, which alarmed the Balfours. Sometimes she’d end up all the way across the city, getting to know other women, which strained Wilma and Lena’s relationship. Ultimately, the pair opted for an open relationship, granting Lena more freedom as she struggled to maintain a bond with just one individual.

Lena never quite understood the concept of a career, preferring to spend her days relaxing idly. After being rejected from several job interviews at Wilma’s suggestion, Lena picked up beachcombing, which reminded her of when she would collect human trinkets as a child.

Lena now leads a simple life. She spends much of her time in the waters around Portsmouth Harbor, reconnecting with winter seal visitors in the colder seasons. Her summers are spent on land, sunbathing, beachcombing, and getting to know the intricacies of humanity. While memories of her home in the Southern Ocean linger, her bonds to the Balfours and other humans have fulfilled her longing for understanding and nurtured her capacity for love, something which she will never give up.