Undaine-on-the-Sea

Do not go to the caves in the North. They are full of hungry things- long-fingered and sharp-boned. Their faces are nothing but mouth, wet and wanting and wretchedly ravenous. The way is long and winding, and if you go in, you will come out changed… if you come out at all. Do not go to the caves in the North. -Excerpt from Find Me At The Sea Wall; a collection of poems by Tadhg Carroll, published...

The beekeepers kept to themselves when they first arrived, but there were signs. First, it was just bees- bees, everywhere- but soon, it was the sweet scent of honey overtaking the once-pervasive smell of fish guts. Even the most wizened, nose-blind old fisherfolk tipped their noses up to catch a whiff. One frigid midwinter morning, when it was too cold even for the snow to fall, the village folk...

[Ragtime Music] Good evenin’ folks, welcome back to Scuttlebutt Radio. The time is 6:18 pm. The tide is on its way out, but a winter storm is on its way in. Residents are encouraged to bring a cat or three indoors for the duration of the storm. If ye cannae find a cat, please report to the Village Library where a cat’ll be assigned to ye. The beekeepers have kindly offered a jar o’ candle reed hon...

Two lighthouses on opposite shores. Two rival families. Two doomed lovers. You know this story. A bustling town square at dusk, alive with the sights and sounds of a vibrant festival. A band plays in front of the tiled fountain, underscored by the ever-present shush of the sea. The sun slips below the horizon as bonfires burst into life. It is across these flames that our lovers meet for the first...

“The Selkie language is the only language I know of in which silences are not only used to accentuate a point, but hold as much structure and meaning as words. This has made translation attempts difficult, but I will do my best.” -Excerpt from The Language of Selk by Cabernat Twillis, 1842 “The village of Undaine was built on shipwrecks. At its origin, Undaine was just one of many rest stops for t...

Ms. Twillis is widely regarded by the village as an oddity. She lists slightly to the left at all times, giving her a perennially inquisitive look. Her head-to-toe mismatched florals are adorned with lace and pearls that rattle. One might watch her daintily mincing her way through the bloody, damp fish market and assume she is on her way to attend some posh tea at the house on the hill, but this i...

[Ragtime Music] Yer listenin’ to Scuttlebutt Radio, the time is 4:02am and the tide is on its way in. We’ve got a strong wind from the East today, so be careful out there, fisherfolk. Keep your earplugs at the ready and don’t fall prey to that sweet singin’. I promise you it is not your dead husband, it’s a ravenous monster. Folks, keep an eye to the horizon, any horizon, the Carp Caravan will be...

There are only two ways to find Undaine-on-the-Sea, and they are perilous. The first is for either the very brave or the very foolish: become lost. Do not carry a map, do not consult a compass, do not ask for directions. The way is fluid and ever-shifting; if you set out with any of these things, you would be wise to lose them… or risk losing yourself. You might step over a root in a dense forest...

CREDITS Soundscape created using Freesound https://freesound.org/ Sounds used: Urban Herring Gulls by acclivity Ship's bell by cgeffex Ship's bell by Arnaud Coutancier Bells by Justiiiiin Dormition Cathedral Bells by vortich Ocean Waves by Lucas Chacht Get full access to Alice’s Substack at alicelefae.substack.com/subscribe