By afternoon, I got dragged out to buy underwear, like a kite yanked by a sudden gust.

Confusion misted up inside me first, then words came. Back when Xuewei was ten, she and I were mirror-close. I’d looked after my little sister; I knew what a “little cami” was, like a swatch of silk on a willow twig. So why can’t I even move right now unless I wear one, like trying to run in wet sand?

Did Dreamsound talk me into this, like a river talking a stone smooth? Is bigger there really better? Sure… maybe… I might feel small inside, like a shadow under a lantern. But isn’t a flat chest easier for movement, like cutting water with a blade? Hmph, what’s so great about boobs—two tofu-soft pillows that slow you in a fight, soft clouds with no use except… being soft…

“Don’t dawdle. Xiaoshengsheng, if you won’t go in and change, Mom doesn’t mind helping you~” Her voice rang like little bells over still water.

“Mmfh! Don’t come over, I’ll change myself!” But it was so soft it felt like sinking into marshmallow clouds.

Forget it. Even if I don’t eat that weird green cookie, my chest probably won’t end up small, like bamboo shoots after rain. Most of this body’s genes came from Dreamsound anyway; the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

As for that strange green cookie—whatever. I ate it; the road behind is already washed away by tide… and it tasted pretty good, like mint on a breeze.

“I’m coming in, Xiaoshengsheng.”

“No! Get out!” My voice snapped like a twig.

Seriously, not locking the door with that old crone Dreamsound around is like leaving a window open in a storm!

Whew. Thank the waves I’d put on—uh, helped someone put on—a bra before; otherwise I’d be fumbling like a crab in a net.

Turns out my chest was bigger than I’d thought, like spring buds pushing through frost. The little cami felt tight as a drum; I had to switch to a larger bra. Dreamsound had underestimated it; this was at least a B-cup, clear as moonlight on water.

Mmph. Once it was on, comfort spread like warm tea through my bones. Third try, finally right; this little battle could end; I could almost cry, like rain clinging to lashes.

I cracked the changing-room door and edged out, half-hidden like a startled cat behind a reed.

“Mmm, this one fits like a dream~ I knew soft pastels suit Xiaoshengsheng best.” Dreamsound clasped her hands like a temple devotee and beamed. “Boss, I’ll take pale blue, pale pink, and white. B and up—two… no, three of each~”

“Why?!”

“Unless Xiaoshengsheng wants to run back here every other day, like chasing tides? I don’t mind~ That’s nice too… in fact—”

“Buy! Buy them all, okay?!” Tears pricked like salt spray.

“Hee-hee-hee~”

Across the counter, the lady boss watched this odd pair of sisters (?) and smiled like a crescent moon. “Miss Dreamsound, you and your little sister are so close.”

“…Actually…”

“Of course we are~” Dreamsound slipped my jacket over my shoulders from behind, warm as sunlight. “I watched her grow up.”

“The truest feeling isn’t some thunderbolt at first sight. It’s the sand-by-sand, day-and-night piling up of… family. Pfft—what am I even saying?” She laughed at herself, like wind scattering dandelions.

“Xiaoshengsheng, let’s head back for dinner. I’m starving…”

A tangle of feelings rose first like rising tide; I glanced at her and swallowed them back. “…Mm.”

Before we left, Dreamsound paid, then tucked the big bag of bras into her storage space, like slipping shells into a tidepool. We also grabbed a pile of clothes. I have to admit, as long as we don’t buy weird stuff, window-shopping is pretty fun, like walking a sunlit pier.

Back home, Dreamsound sorted the new clothes like folding clouds. Then she took me out to a tiny island she’d found on the sea, a dot of jade on blue silk. It’s basically our second home, set up much like the one under the sea; she said she’d just finished it, and I only now learned she’d been busy building a villa island while the world was quiet.

When there’s nothing urgent, Dreamsound brings me here to sunbathe. There’s so much more to do on the surface. Just basking in the sun, breathing sea wind, listening to waves clap the shore, or piling sand into castles beats the dim stillness of the deep. No ferocious beasts on the island, only gentle little creatures like fallen leaves on a pond. Dreamsound laid a barrier; bugs can’t get near the villa, like gnats hitting glass. We dry our laundry here too, white flags in a sea breeze.

I don’t wash clothes; I only cook, like tending a hearth. Both the underwater manor and the island have fresh water, and with Dreamsound’s power, she can make it flow like a spring from stone.

“Um, Dream… I want to go play under the sea by myself…”

“Go, go~ Don’t swim too far!” She patted the sand with her palm, lazy as a cat in sunlight.

“Mm.”

I walked into the ocean, the new clothes warded with water-repelling charms, like lacquer shedding rain. They wouldn’t get wet, and even underwater they wouldn’t cling.

Honestly, it’s an invention better than safety shorts, like an invisible umbrella for waves.

When the water closed over me, coolness slid straight into my heart like moonlight, with a faint warmth like a hearthstone. My mermaid body breathed the sea; the sensation wasn’t human at all. In the water I could feel the current’s pulse, a river’s heartbeat.

I drifted with the sea’s touch, free as a gull on thermals. It felt so good it made my eyelids droop, like dusk.

No—don’t. If I actually fall asleep, I’m kelp.

Still, swimming with the fish was addictive, like chasing fireflies. Is that a jellyfish? Poke— The wobble was cloud-soft. Huh, it floated off… Shy? Wait, I can understand her?

Right, Dreamsound told me once: after my bloodline awakened, I can understand every sea creature’s speech except the dumb beasts, like wind that never learns words.

Dumb beasts are those without soul or wit. They move by instinct alone, like tides without a moon, and you can’t reach them.

Ah, is that a dolphin?

They say if you follow a dolphin, it’ll lead you to treasure, like a star pointing north. Should I…

Forget it. If it leads me to the Blue Domain Empire’s imperial palace, that’d be awkward as dropping a shell in a temple.

“Well, isn’t this the little princess? Why are you out here alone?” A huge great white shark glided up, voice deep as a drum.

“Uh, you’re…?” Cold sweat beaded like dew.

“Aw, you don’t know me? We’ve met before, you know, hey~” Her tone bobbed like a buoy.

A shark? Met before? I barely left home… Ah, right!

“Shasha-jie?” I asked, unsure, like testing thin ice. In my memory, Sister Shasha was a long-haired ice-white beauty with teeth like Bugles, crisp little horns. Last time, she’d brought a heap of prey, said she came to visit Dreamsound—but really to mooch dinner, drawn by the smell of cooked food drifting past our home like incense. Dreamsound and Shasha knew each other as kids; for the last six years, Dreamsound kept our life undisturbed, like a cove behind rocks.

“Mhm, long time no see, little princess~”

“I’m just out to play this time. Staying home all day is dull as stale tea.”

“Is that so? Want to go for a spin? I can show you the undersea amusement park.” Her eyes gleamed like twin lanterns.

“Really? Then I’ll trouble you, Shasha-jie.” Trust settled in me like an anchor. Dreamsound told me she and Shasha are close, childhood friends. By seniority, I should call her Aunt.

“Don’t mention it~”

I climbed onto Shasha-jie’s back, using a bit of magic so I wouldn’t slip, like sticking a leaf to glass.

After that, she took me everywhere, places I’d never seen, like shells turned face-up by a wave. By the time Dreamsound found me, it was already dinner time, the sky steeped like tea. Four portions tonight, because Xuanxiao noticed we’d gone to the Far North without playing with her, and she’d even missed her favorite part—buying a bra for little Tangxue. She was furious as a summer storm and forced her way over to mooch a meal.

At dinner, Xuanxiao’s eyes on me felt off, like a chill draft behind a paper screen. It was… scary.