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"Where do you go, small man?" she asked

Yap squeezed his eyes shut, wanted to clap his hands over his ears, but he kneas no good, her voice held such power, for she was the sea witch, Yolandhe She had long, long ago cursed him and his crew to be held stranded on a windless sea, trapped in a bottle for all ti the spell Oddly, the Mermaid had materialized in a house nestled deep in the forest, far away from the sea Yap was the last of his creho lived

"I believe," she said, her voice the cal that is not yours when last you were upon my island"

"N-no," he croaked

"Give It Back" She did not shout, but the co waves, the shrieking winds

An upwelling in Yap’s gut caused him to vomit, first only salty fluid, but then lobules that, when deposited on the ground, was a s produced coins of silver and gold, an eold links,dagger with a gold hilt and ruby poht it would slice his insides as it caht in his throat When the hilt reached his mouth, he pulled it out and tossed it aside, and yet ushed out When it see

Yolandhe did not move She waited

Waited for what? Sweat poured down Yap’s face His belly ached, but this ti Then he hiccupped and a diamond pendant popped out of his mouth

Yolandhe nodded She walked on as if he were no more than driftwood She didn’t even pick up any of the precious objects he’d spewed at her feet Perhaps that they had been returned to the island was enough

He rose shakily to his knees, feeling hter "Wait!" he called "Have ya seen my master? We recked in the stor her hair back She spoke softly, almost delicately, but the breeze carried her words to Yap with no difficulty

"Yes," she said "I have found hian decided she was not a good patient Not a patient patient Following her conversation with the professor, she was up and down, pacing despite the pain lancing through her leg She windood arm and stretched her back Too roeak and limp Arms Master Drent would never approve

She further occupied herself by seeking out the privy Mirria at the shiny porcelain bowl supported by four bronzewhale

"Oh, an murmured She peered into the bowl and saw that it contained still water This was different than the privies she was accustomed to There’d been shacks with holes and finer closets with aqueducts of actual running water coursing beneath Selium had a fine system of piped water to deal with the un seaweeds and periwinkles, jutted froht of her hips It was not clear to her exactly what the lever was for, but its proxi There was only one way to find out She pulled on the lever

It drew back with a clack-clack-clack-clack that emanated from some hidden mechanism beneath the floor When she pulled it back as far as it would go, she released it and the roar of waterto happen, but it still surprised her when it did She watched in fascination as the water in the bohirled out of existence in a forceful vortex through a hole in the botto position, with additional , a trap door opened froed A stream of water spouted from its mouth and cascaded neatly into the bowl until it was refilled Then the fish backed into the wall, and the trap door sla when one pulled the lever, she thought, or get all wet Or, perhaps this was how the people here cleaned thean, that she pulled the lever again just to watch the fish e herself with the bowl, she discovered an adjoining roonificent tub, also supported by brass e of the tub, and higher above on the wall So, one did not have to clean oneself while sitting on the bowl! There was a coan pulled on one, and again there was thefrom beneath the floor and behind the wall, and a rush of water flowed from one of the fish To her wonder, the water was hot Perhaps they’d found hot springs to tap into, as in Seliuuessed its co or dragging in heavy buckets!

She was about to strip off her sleeping gown and fill the tub She’d not had a bath since before leaving Sacor City--her Sacor City--and heading into Blackveil Hoonderful it would be to soak in such--

"There you are!"

Karigan al roo with the water?" the housekeeper demanded "The pressure is off in the kitchen, and Cook is most displeased In quite a state, actually"