Talori had been eagerly awaiting seeing her friends again for months. Even though she was home and had her brother back, she was lonely. He was busier now that he was the merking and she missed being called by her name since she was getting "princessed" to death.
At least Aila called her Talori. The two of them had spent a lot of time together since they started wedding planning and that only increased afterward.
Aila's upbringing wasn't quite as sheltered as Talori's but she hadn't seen much of the kingdom as a noble. She listened to all of Talori's stories about the surface with a vague degree of curiosity.
She was no Brennan or even Harmony but she was better company than her brother's mermen. They all treated her too formally. She had grown used to casualness while she was on the surface and missed it dearly.
