"About five hundred years, give or take a century," he told her. "And it's not likely to be battle that would cut my life short."

He looked out towards the sea as they kept walking.

"In the old days, the shore-dwellers believed it was bad luck to kill a seal since it might be a selkie whose colony would take revenge for the killing. However, shore-dwellers have dismissed it as superstitious nonsense and have started hunting seals for food and for their skins. I got lucky that I only suffered a deep gash from my last run-in with such shore-dwellers, but next time I might not be so fortunate."