Talya swam through the corridors or her palace with Sehun at her side as well as some of their consultants. The woman talked with a group of them about the coming plans to restore some of the ruined buildings in their city and to also help Haemon in building more homes for the mermaid refugees in Venilia. Sehun paid no attention to their conversation.

            “Send word to Haemon of the plans,” Talya thanked the other sirens and bid them goodbye before turning to Sehun, “ Now, as for you…”

            Talya trailed off seeing Sehun’s distant expression. She took in a breath and placed a hand on his shoulder, “What’s wrong?”

            Sehun brushed her off and swam away from her. His worries were petty, not something he wanted to bother his mother with. Taura hadn’t contacted him in almost three months and it bothered him immensely. He knew she’d been in contact with Haemon, his mother, even his friends, but she never made the effort to check in with him. Sehun was hurt and wanted answers from her but never voiced that out to anyone.

            From what he found out from his friends, Taura and prince Kai were constantly in talks with each other about matters concerning the two species. Of course Talya was always there too, representing their kind but Sehun felt left out and suspicious.

            “Have you spoken to Taura recently?” Sehun’s mother offered, finally catching up to her son only to turn a slight grunt. Talya wanted to say more to him but Sehun didn’t allow her too when he said, “I’m going to circle around the city for awhile…maybe go find Kris or something. I’ll be back later.”

            “Sehun—“ Talya tried to catch his hand, but he hid it behind him before swimming up to her to kiss her cheek.

            “I’ll be back.” He assured her softly and swam off, leaving her to herself.

            Sehun’s relationship with his mother was getting better. It wasn’t great but it wasn’t bad either. They shared a few meaningful conversations when Talya caught her son on a good day but for the most part they only talked about petty things. Sehun still unwilling to share anything personal about his past, he’d only give brief summaries about the things Talya asked. Though, she never complained. Talya knew their relationship would take time and she was willing to wait.

            “Now, what was I doing earlier?” The siren muttered, tapping her lip, “Oh, right. Taura.”

            Since Taura was spending more time with the prince, the need for the potion to maintain her human form was higher than ever. Talya had to make her a new batch of the concoction almost every other week, which had the woman worrying. She didn’t know the effects of the potion if consumed frequently and she made sure to warn Taura about that. Though the mermaid took the warning lightly, saying she needed it and would accept her fate whether it be good or bad.

            “That girl.” Talya collected the small bottles in her arms and swam out of the palace towards the surface.

*~*~*

            “What are you doing back there? Hurry up.” The older man looked over his shoulder to see the girl lagging behind with the nets and buckets. He smiled back at Taura who only huffed as she picked up the bucket again.

            “This is heavy, harabeoji!” Taura complained, tugging the bucket with her as she stumbled after the old man. Of course, though, for Taura it was only a joke. Holding the bucket was like holding a sea shell, light and easy. Even, Kyungsoo’s grandfather knew that, it was merely an inside joke between the two every time they went out together to fish.

            Once the mermaid caught up with her older counterpart the latter nudged her with a chuckle, “Heavy? Hmph, yeah right.”

            The girl nudged him back, “It is…for a human.”

            She flicked her long hair over her sh