Kelpie

Kelpie is a Fae, often manifesting as a large, wet-coated horse at the edge of lochs and rivers; in field notes it appears muscular and animal — not vaporous — its coat slick with water and its mane threaded with reeds. Smell: a cold, mineral tang of river silt and crushed algae with a faint metallic note, as if iron was nearby. Sound: intermittent splashes and the slap of hooves on shallow water, a low resonant whinny, and on rare nights a mimicry of a human crying or laughing carried across the bank. Temperature: always colder than the surrounding air — damp, bone-deep chill that clings to clothing and skin. Visible cues include a shining wet coat that does not dry, a back broad enough to bear a rider, and disturbances in still water shaped like a horseshoe rather than concentric rings; birds and small mammals often fall silent in its presence.