Taehyung helped Thal sit the right way up on the dirt floor of the pool. She gasped as she looked down at her body.

"Is this.. really me?"

Her legs had morphed into a beautiful tail, long and powerful yet slender with wispy, delicate looking fins at the end that she knew would be strong enough to propel her forward.

The iridescent scales faded into her skin at her hip bones, just above her belly button, then started again at her chest, gracefully covering each breast.

The colour of her tail was so bright that it seemed to be glowing and it matched her dark hair and tanned complexion perfectly.

The beautiful golden colour of the scales shined, with red and white iridescence in the light with every subtle movement.

With a huge smile she looked up at Taehyung, surprised to see him frowning.

"W- what is it?" She asked, looking down at herself, "Am I... ugly to you?"

Taehyung's brown eyes snapped to meet hers, "No, never ugly. You and your tail are beautiful, Princess. I'm just shocked at the colour,"

"Why?"

"Your tail is supposed to be more... Silver... than gold," He said, "Because your parents both have strong royal blood, your tail should be the colour of theirs combined. That's how royalty works; there shouldn't be any other-"

He cut himself off, his eyes widening, "You can't be the Poseidon's daughter," He said, "That's why he only-"

Once again, Taehyung cut himself off and turned his intense gaze to Thal's tail.

"He only what?" Thal prompted.

He shook his head, "It doesn't matter. Anyway, I have heard tales of the beauty of your mother," He quickly changed the subject, "It is said that our Queen has an extremely rare coloured tail, which is what attracted the Poseidon to her to begin with,"

"What colour?" Thal held her hands out, indicating that she wanted to get up. Taehyung pulled her gently and helped her balance as she floated in the one spot.

"Pearl," Taehyung answered, "Queen Vasilissa has a tail the colour of pearls. The Poseidon has a dark silver tail. Can you see why I am surprised? Your father can't be the Poseidon, because your tail is gold and not silver,"

—-

Bee could feel eyes on her all morning. She knew that some of the older, ruder men sometimes stared or jeered at some of the women in the office, but today it felt different.

On top of that, her legs felt itchy and restless and she was ridiculously thirsty. Her head was beginning to hurt and her muscles were aching.

She was starting to get withdrawals.

With a sigh, she ran her fingers through her hair and decided to take her break.

Recently, the withdrawals were coming faster with a shorter gap in between. She used to be able to take a salt bath once a week but now twice a day wasn't enough.

She had been away from home for too long.

As she went out the back of the building, Bee's thoughts drifted to her family. She hadn't seen her parents in a long time and although she still had resentment towards them, she did miss them.

She also missed Jimin. She missed him so badly her heart ached.

She missed the freedom of the water and the food and the calmness. She missed swimming and diving deep and hitching a ride with dolphins.

But there was no way to go back. She had even thought of trying to move to the other side of the country, closer to another coast, but it would be impossible - her body just wouldn't let her. She was stuck but at least her daughter; her pride and joy, her heart and soul, was safe.

Bee whirled around as she heard someone approach her from behind, only to be slammed into the building by a hand on her throat.

"Hello, Mother,"

—-

AN: A short one today #sorrynotsorry

Baby Grump has been a FUCKING NIGHTMARE OKAY?!

I JUST NEED TEN MINUTES OF GODDAMN PEACE

Soooooooooo

Kthnxbye