"Mother is something," Bryn agreed, nodding. He grinned a bit. "A match for my father in every way."

"Always a good thing." Lilac couldn't help but grin. "I think the only time I've seen them has been from a fair distance at some of the more public things."

Bryn nodded. That wasn't unusual.

"They've moved into a smaller place, somewhere quieter, since they abdicated," he said. "Out of the palace." Not that he blamed them; half the time he wanted to do the same.

"I can't blame them for that," Lilac said with a little snort. "I don't think I would much like living under that kind of scrutiny."

"It's something that, unfortunately, you get used to," Bryn said. He grinned slightly. "Hence why I take every chance I get to slip out on my own."

Lilac laughed quietly. "That'll get you in trouble again someday," she said, grinning briefly.

"Perhaps," Bryn said. "Although I'll make sure to be more careful now."

"I bet." Lilac watched him for a few more moments before she looked away, watching the moon through the water.

Bryn took the opportunity to watch her while she was looking at the moon. Even without the extra fins that he was used to seeing everywhere (because of course lords paraded their daughters around him) Lilac still looked beautiful and delicate in the broken-up moonlight. And that was a dangerous train of thought to follow.

Lilac kept sneaking a few glances at him as well. He was handsome, of course, but she hadn't expected him to be nice too. She knew it wouldn't last; he had too much going on to ever be able to stick around for long, she expected. Plus it was too much to expect that he'd want to. He was a king, he had all the company he could ever want.

After a little while, Bryn reluctantly got up again.

"I should go back before I'm missed," he said He looked at her. "Might I have your permission to visit you again?"

Lilac was taken by surprise. Again. He was doing that to her a lot.

"If you have time and would like to, yes, of course," she said with a little smile.

Bryn smiled.

"Then for now, I bid you goodnight," he said. "I hope to see you again soon." With that, he turned and left, heading back towards the city.

Lilac watched him go before she headed back home so she could try and get some sleep before she had go in to work again.

A couple days later, Primrose found herself watching the crowds outside the tank, bored. She'd explored every inch of the tank a hundred times over, and she didn't feel like swimming laps just to amuse the humans. So she stayed down in the coral, flicking her tail every so often to get some water to flow across her back.

Allyn was similarly just lounging, though this time he was near the back of the tank perched around some coral, his tail waving slowly. He was sick of the humans already.

"I'm tempted to get out and go find something to do," Primrose commented. "Anything. This is just boring me to death."

"Yes well we should probably not get out of the tank in front of the tourists." Allyn sounded amused.

"I know," Primrose said. "Still. I wish we could."

"Perhaps we will this evening." Because whether or not he was allowed, he was climbing out of this tank tonight. At least for a little while.

"Maybe I can talk to the security guards," Primrose mused. "Get them to keep quiet. There's a back door that leads to the shore, maybe we can go out for a little while."

"That would be nice." Allyn speculated on that for a bit, enjoying the thought of getting back in the ocean again.

Primrose grinned a bit.

"How good are you at walking?" she asked. "I know how easy it is to get out of practice."

Allyn made a face. "I can manage," he said. "I'll readjust quickly." But it had been a while since he'd been on two legs.

Primrose couldn't help but giggle a bit at the face.

"I'll help you," she offered. "It's not hard to adjust once you get used to having to support yourself rather than the water doing it for you."