Bella didn't mean to take so long about eating her dinner. It's just that this book is really interesting. Supplemental history reading, recommended by the professor, by a different author than did their textbook, one who can really write, she'll have to find the rest of his work - and now she's one of six students left in the dining hall and it's closing. Four of them are a group of dwarves who she can only assume live in the dwarf housing; individual dwarves sometimes find their way into Harlowe and there is even one in Thatcher, but not a bunch of them. The other one's a mermaid.

Bella doesn't think the mermaid lives in Thatcher, which makes it Harlowe, but Thatcher's on the way to Harlowe from here.

She knows not to go swimming with her and this will have to do.

She goes up to the mermaid.

"Excuse me. I try not to walk around outside by myself. Are you heading towards Thatcher? Harlowe's right past it," she adds.

Author: subtly_artistic	Bella didn't mean to take so long about eating her dinner. It's just that this book is really interesting. Supplemental history reading, recommended by the professor, by a different author than did their textbook, one who can really write, she'll have to find the rest of his work - and now she's one of six students left in the dining hall and it's closing. Four of them are a group of dwarves who she can only assume live in the dwarf housing; individual dwarves sometimes find their way into Harlowe and there is even one in Thatcher, but not a bunch of them. The other one's a mermaid. Bella doesn't think the mermaid lives in Thatcher, which makes it Harlowe, but Thatcher's on the way to Harlowe from here. She knows not to go swimming with her and this will have to do. She goes up to the mermaid. "Excuse me. I try not to walk around outside by myself. Are you heading towards Thatcher? Harlowe's right past it," she adds.
Author: pythbox	"Oh. Then yes!" says the mermaid, smiling. She has large bright green eyes and long black hair and a slight teal cast to her pale skin, and she's dressed in the usual mermaid ensemble of 'scaly legs and lots of heavy gold necklaces'. (The scales are also teal. So is her hair, if you look closely, but it's dark enough to pass for black at a glance.)
Author: subtly_artistic	"Thanks," says Bella. "I don't think we've met; I'm Bella."
Author: pythbox	"I'm Jala," says the mermaid. "It's nice to meet you!"
Author: subtly_artistic	Bella smiles. "You about ready to get out of here or are you going to grab something else first?"
Author: pythbox	"No, I'm good," says Jala. She smiles again. She has a very sweet smile.
Author: subtly_artistic	Out of the dining hall they go. Bella is immediately glad she asked Jala rather than risking it alone; she senses one of those elves' minds by the time they're ten steps away from the door. She's not sure how much Jala will do to interfere with elf attack compared to, say, Celo, but she's at least a witness.
Author: pythbox	"So why do you not walk around outside by yourself?" asks Jala.
Author: subtly_artistic	"There are some mad elves who've already cornered me wanting to kidnap me once," Bella says.
Author: pythbox	"Oh," says Jala, wide-eyed. "Wow. That's a pretty good reason."
Author: subtly_artistic	"Yep. They think I can break a faerie curse on their friend. I can't, and even if I could it would not be okay for them to kidnap me to try to make me."
Author: pythbox	"Well, yeah," says Jala. "I mean - I don't know - maybe if you were the only person fated to break it, or something, and it was something really horrible. Are you? Is it?"
Author: subtly_artistic	"No. It requires true love's kiss, and I'm not in love with the relevant elf - and if she's the sort to send her friends to kidnap people I don't see it happening, especially on top of my being straight. One of her friends misunderstood something I said in class."
Author: pythbox	"That bites," Jala says sympathetically.
Author: subtly_artistic	"Yeah. And the administrators won't do anything about it, either."
Author: pythbox	"Of course not," says Jala. "The administrators don't do anything about anything."
Author: subtly_artistic	"I suspect they occasionally do things, just not things like 'enforce harassment policy against elves'."
Author: pythbox	"Or against anybody," says Jala.
Author: subtly_artistic	"I bet if a - a gorgon or someone was bothering me, I could find a sympathetic staffperson if I asked around enough, even if they'd only be taking the excuse to push around the gorgon."
Author: pythbox	"Probably," Jala says glumly.
Author: subtly_artistic	"Yeah, it's pretty messed up."
Author: pythbox	"You're human, though, aren't you?"
Author: subtly_artistic	"At least mostly. I suppose I might not know it if I had a little something somewhere; lots of people do."
Author: pythbox	"A little something somewhere isn't the same," says Jala, shaking her head.
Author: subtly_artistic	Bella nods.
Author: pythbox	Apparently Jala doesn't have anything more to say about that.
Author: subtly_artistic	Walk-walk-walk. At least the weather's nice today.
Author: pythbox	After a few more seconds, Jala says abruptly, "Can I ask you a - strange question?"
Author: subtly_artistic	"...Yeah."
Author: pythbox	"Is it true humans eat dolphins and whales?"
Author: subtly_artistic	"I think some do. They're not a major part of Pax cuisine. I never have. Why?"
Author: pythbox	"I heard it was but I wasn't sure," she says. "Some of the things the shorebirds say... anyway. Just curious, I guess."
Author: subtly_artistic	"Shorebirds?"
Author: pythbox	"Shallow-water merfolk. I'm from the depths," she says. "We don't see a lot of humans there."
Author: subtly_artistic	"I guess you wouldn't, no."
Author: pythbox	Jala giggles. She has a sweet laugh, too.
Author: subtly_artistic	"Is there a reason you're curious about dolphins and whales in particular?"
Author: pythbox	"...What do you mean?" she asks, confused.
Author: subtly_artistic	"Why are you asking about dolphins and whales and not - seals, octopuses, penguins, sharks, jellyfish?"
Author: pythbox	"I don't know, do humans eat those too?"