Weeks passed and the mermaid grew weaker in her room. Her skin grew ashen in color, and though she was allotted daily baths to keep her moisturized, the freshwater wasn't enough. Her skin wasn't cracked, but she could feel herself slowly dying.

Without her tail and gills, she couldn't breathe under the freshwater, making her throat dry, the only relief was the constant pitcher of water that Mrs. Dursely brought for her. On a daily bases, Fletcher would come in, during her meals, and ask her questions about her home. How to get in unnoticed. How to take the queen by surprise, but Tullulah always refused to answer.

She dreaded mealtimes. Fletcher always ended up anger with her, and she knew if she didn't comply he would soon end her life. The idea started becoming comforting. She was dying either way, and a quick one would be better than the slow death she was enduring

As the door creaked open, Tullulah curled up on the bed, not wanting to go through another round of interrogations.

"You poor thing," she heard the old woman gasp behind her. Tullulah craned her neck painfully to look over her shoulder at the old woman. Her itchy dry skin stretched uncomfortably, and her bones felt so brittle that she thought they would break.

The kindness and sorrow in Mrs. Dursely's eyes brought the mermaid comfort as she brought her the tray of food.

"The Captian has been called away today for a meeting with our mayor," THe since of pride laying in the woman's voice that the boy she helped raise was taking care of such an important task.

"What is a mayor?" Tallulah's voice came out dry, raspy, and as coarse as gravel.

"The person in charge of our city," Mrs. Dursely sweetly smiles. "I've brought you a surprise, and I'm trusting you, Tullah." Tullulah frowns at the odd nickname the woman has given her. "Fletcher would kill me if he found out."

Her brows crease together, unsure of what the old woman means. Mrs. Dursely sets the tray down and picks up the fresh pitcher of water, and pours it into the glass. The room is filled with the scent of the sea fills the room, causing Tullulah's eyes to go wide and fall to the cup.

Snatching the cup from the old woman, then mermaid gulps down the enriching water as fast as she can. Strength slow seeps through her, as the water moisturizes her withing, finally feeling refreshed. Wiping her mouth off Tullulah gasps and holds out the cup, "More, please."

Chuckling, Mrs. Dursely refills her glass, "It isn't exactly seawater. I just mixed sea salt with fresh water, but it seems to be doing the trick. Taste good?"

Nodding as she happily gulps it down, Tullulah repeats the begging for more, until the pitcher is empty. Her skin was still dry, but she at least felt strengthened.

Setting the cup down in the tray, Tallulah eyes the food warily. She noticed they had started feeding her pork. Fletcher was forcing it on her on hopes that the night fat content her species needed would strengthen her. It wasn't just the nutrition she needed though. The saltwater drink helped, but she needed back in the water.

"That was dangerous," Tullulah pointed to the pitcher before she picked up a piece of ham and muscled it down.

"I'd like to give you a proper bath," Mrs. Dursley admits, though Tullaluh didn't understand what she meant. "If you can behave yourself, I'll back you a salt bath."

Tullulah's eyes grew wide in surprise, "But..."

"The captain? He'll be gone for a while. I can't stand to see you wither away like this. Now," she gently pats Tullulah's arm, "you finish eating and I'll prepare your bath."

"Madame, it would be best if you plugged your ears while I'm... tailed."

"Well," Mrs. Dursley smiles, "thank you for the warning."

As Tallulah finished up her meal, Mrs. Dursely did the unthinkably by preparing a bath of saltwater.

Once it was ready, Mrs. Dursely took the advice of the young mermaid and stuffed cotton into her ears. She was fairly confidential that Tullulah Tullulah wouldn't try anything, but no reason to tempt the poor mermaid.

Fetching her from her room, Mrs. Dursely guided her down the hall to the bathing room. "I'm sorry to do this dear," Mrs. Dursely's voice rang through the bathroom a little louder than what was needed, due to the stuffed ears. "But I'm going to have to chain you up."

Tullulah nodded, ready to comply if it meant getting into a bath of ocean water or at least created ocean water.

Taking her to the tub, Mrs. Dursely already had the chains in place. One side linked to the foot of the tub, and the other she shackled around her neck.

While the old woman took a seat in a nearby chair, the mermaid quickly stripped out of the dress.

The moment Tullulah dipped into the water she could feel the satisfaction run over her. Sinking into the tub, she could feel the water seeping into her pores. Her tail started to form around her legs and add length to her body. A long real tail stretched out of the tub, covered in shimmering scales that were silver-tipped. Thin fanned fins splayed out over her tail, and feathery gills formed on her ribcage. Taking in a depth breath of water she pushes it out over her gills, enriching her body with the easier to absorb oxygen.

She tried to submerge as much of her body as she could in the clawfoot tub by curling up in it like a fetus. As Mrs. Dursely tended to her mending, she ventured a glance up and gasped. "Heaven and earth!" She never expected something that was called a monster to look so beautiful in its natural form.

Though the mermaid was shackled to the tub, Mrs. Dursely kept a safe distance from it. She let the mermaid soak for a long time but knew she would have to fix dinner soon. She couldn't bare making the magical beast pull itself from the water. She was starting to look healthy again. Its skin looked refreshed, her eyes were no longer sunken, and even the hollowness of her cheeks had filled out once again.

"Tullah," Mrs. Dursely called out. The mermaid shifted in the tub to pop her head out of the water. "I am going to leave to fix us dinner. I'm going to leave you chained."

Knowing the old woman couldn't hear her, and relieved she didn't have to leave her little pool, Tullulah gave her a small nod.

With that, the old woman left her to tend to her other duties, closing the bathroom door behind her. Hurrying down to the kitchen to fix Tullulah an array of fish she picked up from the market, Mrs. Dursely didn't even notice the Captian come home. She had expected him to stay in the city overnight. It was his normal custom when he left for town, otherwise, she wouldn't have attempted the salt bath for Tullulah out of fear of getting caught.

If Mrs. Dursely would have known Fletcher was home, she would have distracted him with a task while she got the mermaid out of the tub. unbeknownst to her, though, Fletcher moved through the house, tired, and frustrated with humankind.

The mayor caught wind that he had a mermaid in his possession. Intrigued, the mayor insisted that Fletcher bring her to the city ball. Despite Fletcher's objections, the mayor wanted to show off the beast to his high society socialites.

Fletcher did his best to refuse, but the fact of the matter was, if the mayor wanted to, he could confiscate the mermaid under the low of possessing a dangerous animal. It would be better to take her to the ball himself and make sure all precautions were taken.

Running his hands through his dark hair, he headed for the bathroom to wash away his troubles. The moment he let the door click behind him he pulled his white cotton shirt over his head while walking to the tub.

Reaching the edge of the tub just as he gets it over his head, he stills at the sight of the mermaid, in full form asleep at the bottom of the bathtub.