"Yeah. He was. He was nice. Seemed pretty normal." Elea blinked.

"No, she is interesting." Leto smiled a little. "She didn't freak out when I told her what I was."

Lotus nodded, and went quiet for a moment.

"Hey, Elea? We just spend the evening chatting with a pair of princes. How cool is that?"

"You told her?" Kato asked. "Did she really understand? I told the selkie girl and she... didn't get it. Which isn't a bad thing, really, since it kept her from spazzing, but still."

Elea giggled. "Okay, that's pretty cool." She grinned. "It would have been cooler to know but even still."

Leto grinned. "Nope, she knew exactly what it meant." Which just made her reaction all the more rare.

"I honestly didn't realize you didn't know," Lotus said apologetically. Sometimes she forgot just how much Elea was never taught.

"That's..." kind of weird, but Kato didn't say that aloud, "...unusual."

"Eh, it's okay." Elea shrugged. "I mean, it doesn't really matter. I'll probably never see him again, if he's really royalty."

Leto shrugged. "I like her. She didn't freak out, she didn't squeal, nothing bad. She just wanted to talk."

"Leto promised to come back," Lotus said softly. There was a bit of a hopeful edge to her voice.

"What did you talk about, then?" Kato asked. "It must have been interesting for you to hang around."

Elea smiled. "Well, maybe he will. I'll be interesting to see, anyway. Who knows, they might be fun to hang out with from time to time."

"Family, or lack thereof," Leto said with a shrug. "The area, living arrangements, things like that. It was an interesting conversation, moreso than I make it sound, I think."

"Yeah," Lotus agreed. She giggled a bit. "Friends with princes. Sounds like some cheesy fantasy novel."

"It had to be," Kato said. He grinned a bit. "Because it sounds boring. But I guess whatever works."

"It does," Elea agreed with a giggle. "It sounds like the start of some romance novel, too."

Leto rolled his eyes and shoved his brother again. "So what did you and the selkie talk about?"

"A cheap one," Lotus agreed, giggling.

"Mostly the same things," Kato replied with a shrug. "Where she was from, why she was in the area, that sort of thing."

Elea grinned. "Oh man. That would be great. Hey, one of us should make this into a book and make extra money off it!" She collapsed into giggles again.

"Ah. Sounds about as boring as my description did." Leto grinned. "Meaning she must have a riveting personality for you to have stuck around."

Lotus snickered.

"Oh we should."

"She was a loner," Kato commented. "No colony. I'd say she was interesting."

Elea just giggled over that for a bit. Hey, it would be a fun project.

"Much as I don't want to, I should head to bed so I can get up in the morning."

Leto just nodded, glancing up at the moon.

"Come on, let's head back. Maybe we'll get lucky and we won't be in trouble."

Lotus nodded and waved a hand.

"Go on," she said. "Sleep well."

Kato nodded and followed his brother.

"So what excuse do you have cooked up this time?" he asked, grinning and nudging his brother. "I doubt Mother and Father will accept that you were chatting up a pretty mermaid."

"See you in the morning." Elea smiled at her and headed back up to her room to sleep. Now she had a lot to think about.

"Oh, I don't know," Leto said with a grin. "If I tell them some pretty mermaid caught my attention, they might believe it."

"You think they'd like you being with a mermaid?" Kato asked, raising an eyebrow. "Instead of one of our own kind? Especially Mother." He couldn't see their mother approving.

"No, probably not, but they also haven't been shoving women at us recently." Leto shrugged. "Besides, if it's not serious, I doubt they'd be too horribly upset. Too horribly."

"I wish you luck with that, then," Kato replied. "Especially if it turns out to be serious."

Leto shrugged. "So far, it's just that she's interesting." He shot Kato a grin. "Why? You thinking of visiting your little selkie friend seriously?"

"Dunno," Kato replied. "Maybe. She was good to talk to. And she's not tripping over herself to bow and scrape like everyone else does."

"You see what I mean? It's nice to have someone to talk to who isn't treating us like royalty, who isn't bowing and scraping and trying to please us all the time."

"Ah, never know," Kato replied, "Elea might when she realizes. I told you she didn't quite equate me with royalty."

"True. Well, if she does, don't come crying to me." He grinned. "I've already got my nice mermaid friend."

Kato snorted.

"Mother will skin you alive and use your scales as curtains if that goes any further than just a friend," he warned. He grinned a bit. "Neptune forbid you ever bed the girl."

"Oh, I know," Leto said, waving a hand about. "I'm not planning on it. But it is kind of fun, having someone on the outside to talk to. Especially since it involves sneaking out." He grinned.