Zale was still adjusting to being the merking. It had been his goal for over a century but there was much more to do than he had anticipated. His mermen were helping him a lot—especially Beck—but he was busier than he had ever been.
He felt like he spent all of his time in meetings. He barely got to see Talori anymore but he had to carve time out for her or he would lose his mind with how much he had to do.
Seeing her so happy reminded him of why he was doing all this. It helped keep him going when he had to deal with annoyances such as King Ren's advisors being difficult or nobles giving him a hard time to test his capabilities.
But he noticed after a while that the novelty of having her dream job had worn off and that she seemed to have something on her mind. Then the surface-dwellers came and her usual spark was back.
