Uban stripped off his shirt, and Hana politely avoided staring at the way the muscles rolled underneath his weathered skin, or how deftly his fingers worked as he unearthed a tuber to place in his improvised sack. It wasn't too hard so long as she focused on foraging as they spoke.

"I have borne my shame until I simply learned to abandon it altogether. What’s left is quite nice, actually.” Hana flushed and bent her head, avoiding his kindly gaze. "That's.. I uh, That's good." There was a silence after that, as Hana tried and failed to speak again. It was only after they had left the shade of the forest did she lighten up.  "There are some wines that are as light and refreshing as water," she began, smiling as she watched Uban's reaction, "But unfortunately, the only varieties I could find were soldier wines. Those are the ones that are meant to be watered down, but taste best if you don't." She laughed and walked with him to the [i]Borealis[/i]

---

The mermaid watched the boy touch her scales, the tips of her tail twitching slightly. She didn't seem to hear his question, and absently braided a strand of her hair. The boy didn't realize that the conversation had stopped fully. The scales glimmered, moving colors in a way that took his focus, patterns that would tell him what he wanted to know most, if only he could stare longer.

"I'm going to leave now. Goodbye." The mermaid twisted elegantly, achingly, away, and swam into the darkening gloom of the ocean depths. The thought of following her never crossed his mind.