A mermaid's life is not easy. If slavers don't get you, then the hunters will. Part monster, part magic, all female. Not a good combination when all you wanted to do was live a simple life. Instead, Hali was enslaved hours after hatching and chained like chattel to the city's walls to harvest the sea's riches for the local merchant lord. If she wanted freedom, the simple life was going to have to wait.