Quoted By:
You’d seen a lot of nasty things. Stuff some people never saw if they lived good lives, or even normal lives in plenty of places. Things you couldn’t even talk about with most people.
This was gross in a way you weren’t prepared for, though. You grit your teeth, stared Van Halm spitefully in his crystal, icy blue eyes, and tried to muster up your best look of spiteful contempt. If he thought this would defeat you, he was dead wrong, and you swallowed thickly, the…<span class="mu-i">fish nuts</span> leaving a slimy feeling in your mouth and your throat. It was over soon enough though. You’d <span class="mu-i">won</span>.
Then you put the newly loaded spoon into your mouth again. Damn your hunger thinking for you.
“Donf juth starr,” you talked through that new spoonful, “You god your owhn sfpherm thack t’ chow.”
Karel had been resolute, amused even, until that, where he recoiled. “Judge Above, Anya, don’t talk with your mouth full of <span class="mu-i">that</span>.” Heh. Served him right, you thought as a smirk replaced your revulsion and you choked down the second portion, making sure to stash your spoon away in the bowl in case it got any more ideas. “Don’t wipe that on your sleeves, either!”
You paused in bringing up your arm, and put it down. “Didn’t y’ hear what I said? Eat your <span class="mu-i">milt</span>, seagull. I’ll start callin’ down artillery if y’ take too long.” You turned the spoon’s handle towards Van Halm and placed a threatening hand down, testing the weight that might find itself flying out with enough sudden application of force.
Van Halm put a hand up in surrender, “Fine, alright, goodness,” He brushed a bang of hair behind his ear with a finger and closed his eyes, “If I didn’t know better I’d say you were fond of it.” He ate a spoonful, and cringed as he chewed. “It’s an…acquired taste. I’m surprised you didn’t spit it out. Maybe you’re more ladylike than you care to admit.”
“The hell’s that supposed to mean?” You squinted at him, “Guess you’re knocked up with a mermaid now, huh? Weird story.”
“It’s a more innocent tale than another old myth for a different sort of fish’s milt,” Van Halm said as he set down the spoon. He thumped his chest with a fist, clearing his throat. “Khh-hrrm. Ah. If you eat both kinds of roe, that tale says, then a great fish grows within you and you are eventually split down the middle, the fish carrying you away as your body becomes one with its head. A much nastier sort of way of becoming a mermaid, isn’t it.”
