The Slumbering Merfolk

"Dad, absorb all of these. I'm heading in to eat." Thalia crossed to the little table, picked up one of the warm buns, and took a bite.

She worked through a few of them, washed up, and retreated to her room, burrowing under the blankets with the bone-deep relief of someone who'd long since earned it.

She was right on the edge of sleep when it hit her. The small fish crystal. She hadn't harvested i