[se] an eternity of other things

MELITA

Surveying from her vantage point, the youth eventually collected herself into a crouch, needling once more towards the edge of the canals, intrigued, inquiring, nosey to a fault. “I’m Melita.” She paused for a moment. “Pleased to meet you too!” And then a moment later, as if the notion might have flown straight off her tongue and without any forethought at all, she hastened another response. “Do you know Delta? I met her here before.” Presuming, probably, that all mermaids banded together. Or were they like the rest of the kindred, human spirits, capable of bending and blending along other sea formations? Away from one another? Established territories and kingdoms?

But none of the things the merman presided amidst sounded sweet to Melita – though she did well not to wrinkle her nose. “We have things like candy! And cookies! And all kinds of pastries! Um, chocolate, caramel, honey, fruity flavored things…”

This is a gift, it comes with a price
Who is the lamb and who is the knife?
Midas is king and he holds me so tight
And turns me to gold in the sunlight