Azul understood completely why Nimue wasn't enthused with the holiday and with a bit of work got her excused from the excitement.

She had legitimate reasons to dislike the holiday, but was nice enough not to ruin it for everyone else. She would join the party, and would help decorate, but she abstained from wearing any costumes or joining in the revelry over the week.

Having people shove the fact your parents lived and you didn't on top of having some sort of yearly adventure start would put a damper on anyone's enthusiasm for a certain date. It was just her luck it was on a major holiday.

Which was why Azul used the chance to help Nimue with her swimming. The twins were conspicuously absent during the lessons...both sets of them.

"When you said that you had no idea how to swim, you weren't joking," said Azul dryly. Even he was a better swimmer.

"The one time I went swimming, I was hospitalized for a week because of the chemicals in the pool to keep it clean," she said crossly. "It wasn't until I went into the Black Lake that I had been near any body of water without having a bad reaction."

"Makes sense," said Azul. "Most pool chemicals used by the land folk are meant to keep the pool itself clean. Mermaids have a much, much lower tolerance to it."

There was a reason why swimming classes took place in the nearby lake, and that any bodies of water on the school grounds had to use natural additives to keep the water clean and fresh instead of chemicals.

Azul calmly showed Nimue how to maneuver her tentacles to swim properly, since she was still getting used to having ten limbs instead of four.

Unnoticed by the two, the twins were observing the two with great amusement. Azul had always struggled with his octopus form as he had been teased horribly by the other children growing up. The only real friends he had were Floyd and Jade.

Nimue had a similar issue, mostly because she had grown up as a human. She was coming to terms in her own way with her true nature, though she handled it better than most. Rather than try to rid herself of her mermaid form, she was doing her best to learn how to accept it as part of herself.

The thing that amused the twins most was the obvious signs of attraction the two had for each other. Azul was always so wary of how potential mates would react to his true nature. Very few land folk would accept his octopus form, let alone be willing to experiment with it.

He didn't have to worry about that with Nimue in the least, and seeing the way they acted around each other was adorable.

Besides, this meant that the debt between them was slowly being erased that much faster.

Flotsam snickered with delight, as it was obvious the young mistress was developing feelings for the young mer. This Azul was a good match for her...not that Luna wasn't, but someone of her caliber needed a strong male to produce children with.

Azul reminded them of their Mistress, though he was inexperienced.

"They wish to help me gather ingredients?" said Azul in surprise.

"It seems the twins like you to an extent. Something about how you remind them of their Mistress," said Nimue amused. "Since they already gather ingredients for me, I see no reason why they can't pick up a few things for you as well."

Azul didn't have to think hard on the offer.

"Do you think they'd be willing to tell us more about their Mistress?" he asked wistfully. "There's so few records about the Sea Witch that hearing first hand accounts would be worth the effort of transcribing them."

"Wait, there's actual records?"

"There's records of all the seven, but most of the ones about the Sea Witch are limited to merfolk. All the land dwellers know is the story about her changing the king's daughter into a human and getting yelled at for it," said Azul.

"Yeah, that never really made sense to me," admitted Nimue. "I mean the girl barely knew the guy at all, and obviously big magic requires an equivalent cost. Besides, if she was that desperate to join the humans then she would have done it one way or another at some point...Ursula's demand for her voice was perfectly reasonable. Especially if you think of it from a logical standpoint."

"Logical standpoint?" said Azul, pushing up his glasses with interest.

"I mean obviously the girl's voice was something she greatly treasured, so it fit the requirements of a proper payment for the magic involved. However it could also be viewed as a security measure, considering that at worst she would be considered an odd mute girl, rather than a deranged one claiming to be a mermaid," said Nimue sensibly. "Ursula honestly did her a favor with that one...how many human princes would believe some random girl claiming to be in love with them and that they were a mermaid princess without actual proof being involved?"

"I...never actually thought of it like that," admitted Azul.

And she was entirely correct of course...most humans back in those days only viewed mermaids as a myth and would have almost certainly locked up the princess in question had she come up to a prince spouting that sort of nonsense unless she actually proved she wasn't lying.

"And that's not getting into the security risks involved. If she did successfully prove she was in fact a mermaid, what's to stop the prince's family from capturing her and torturing all sort of information to use against the other mermaids, much less her father the king? Or use her as a hostage to insure that the king gave them what they wanted or used him against their enemies?"

Azul was nodding, as Nimue's argument was rather sound and made perfect sense from a logical standpoint.

"What about the part where the sea witch took on human form?" he asked, curious.

"Don't some of the stories hint that the king was the sea witch's brother? What if she was looking out for her niece and making sure that she didn't marry some twat who didn't actually love her? If he could be lured away by a pretty face, then there was no point for her niece to stay human in the first place save for the odd day trip," said Nimue. "After all, none of the stories mention the girl's mother...maybe she was trying to provide a service in a maternal way?"

"That...makes entirely too much sense and does line up with a considerable number of stories I've heard about her," said Azul.

It was so refreshing to have a conversation with someone who used logic and common sense.

"Honestly, that explanation is still more tame compared to the original story told by humans," said Nimue.

"Original story?" said Azul.

"It's called The Little Mermaid, and while much of the story is similar to the one known about the seven, there are some key details that are different. For one thing, when the girl drank the potion it supposedly felt like a sword going through her tail, whenever she walked it would feel as though her feet were stepping on knives, and the feet themselves would bleed," clarified Nimue. "It ends in two different ways, but the 'deal' is roughly the same. The mermaid's sisters show up on the eve of the prince's wedding and tell her they sold their hair for a special knife and that she might become a mermaid again...in exchange for killing the man she loves."

"So what happened?" asked Azul.

"In the original version, the mermaid refuses and disappeared into foam and basically dies," said Nimue bluntly. "In the second version, she again refuses, but this time basically turns into an angelic being who might one day gain a soul after witnessing enough children behaving."

Azul stared at her.

"And this is something the land dwellers told their children?" he said incredulous.

"Standards were different when it first came out, and most children only know the cleaned up version. Namely that the sea witch appears, brainwashes the prince only to end up defeated and the mermaid marries him and lives happily ever after," said Nimue with a shrug.

Azul was utterly fascinated. Nimue made a point to bring him several of the books she had been reading in her spare time. Dissembling old stories was an interesting hobby and it was always fun to argue with Hermione and Luna over female empowerment and the possible origin of the stories in question.

Coincidentally Azul found himself in a very odd mirror call session with said girls and would join in with his own possible take on them. It was a fun thought exercise.

Nimue was a bit confused as to why Azul suggested she bring Idia and Ortho into their next 'chat group' as he called it. She had recently seen the most ridiculous cartoon movie that was so far off actual Greek mythology that she had to rant about it in their next meeting.

"You want us to join in a group chat?" said Ortho confused. Nearby Idia's tablet floated, and she could sense the confusion coming off it as well.

"Azul suggested it, considering what the topic is this month," said Nimue. "He commented on you two having a 'personal interest' in the subject."

Seeing their interest, she explained about how she would look up a random fairy tales, folklore, or mythology and her friends would cheerfully debate about the origins and possible motives behind the characters. And that she had brought Azul in after commenting on how the Sea Witch was viewed and him taking an interest in it.

"That sounds interesting, but what does that have to do with us?" asked Ortho. He definitely looked interested in the idea.

"I happened to come across an animated movie recently at the suggestion of a friend of mine and I was so appalled at how the actual mythology it was supposed to portray was represented that I'm making it the subject of the month. Considering how extensive that particular pantheon is, as well as the stories in it, we'll have plenty to chat about."

"What was the movie?" asked Idia.

"Disney's Hercules," she replied without hesitation.

By the pained expression on Ortho's face and the feeling she was getting from the tablet, Azul wasn't joking about a 'personal interest' in the subject.

"When's this group chat supposed to happen and where?" asked Idia. Apparently she wasn't the only one appalled by the movie...which, if it hadn't been based on Greek mythology, could have been considered a good story.

The next time she had her discussion group, a very nervous Idia showed up with his brother (who Nimue found absolutely adorable) to some tea and snacks. There was a massive mirror which was as close to a projector as they were likely to get considering there weren't any cell towers or outlets for Hermione and Luna to use to charge a magically-enhanced phone.

Hermione was still peeved that was a thing, and was very glad Nimue had sent both her and Luna one so they had a chance to talk to her outside Hogwarts.

"Hermione, Luna, this is Idia and his brother Ortho Shroud. Idia, Ortho, this is my sister and my girlfriend Hermione and Luna."

"Girlfriend? I thought you were dating Azul-shi?" asked Idia in surprise.

Azul and Nimue gave him an odd look.

"Where on earth did you get that idea?" said Nimue baffled.

"No, I totally get it," said Hermione. "You occasionally look at him the same way you do Luna when arguing rather passionately about the minor details that most would overlook."

The two look at each other baffled that people thought they were dating. Luna merely smiled at them both.

"Anyway," said Nimue, firmly changing the subject. "We're breaking down the Disney version of Hercules and how badly it represented the actual mythology."

Idia settled in, and found the discussion highly enlightening. It was a good thing that they had gotten permission for Ortho to record this so he could come up with counterarguments for next week's discussion of it.

"Wait, so one of the few gods you actually respect is Hades?" said Idia in surprise.

Nimue's expression said volumes.

"Let's compare him to the rest of the Big Three of the Greek pantheon, shall we? We have Zeus, who can't keep it in his pants long enough to stop pissing off the wife he had to trick into marrying him. Then there's Poseidon who may or may not have openly raped one of Athena's priestesses in her own temple and she was later turned into the creature known as Medusa," said Nimue flatly. "Honestly the only real myth that scholars agree on when it comes to Hades was that he kidnapped Persephone to become his queen, despite the fact she was his niece twice over through Demeter and Zeus. And that he fed her a pomegranate seed to insure he kept his wife."

Idia...was slightly impressed she was that well versed in Greek mythology.

"So you like Hades...because he didn't cheat on his wife as often?"

"He has a thankless job and he did it without much complaint. I found it rather insulting that the film portrayed a serial rapist like Zeus as a 'devoted family man' when well over half of Greek mythology is about him not being able to keep it in his tunic and Hera being pissed off enough to lash out at her husband's indiscretions as her way of venting. There's also the fact that as far as we can tell, he at least honored his end of the deals he made even if they didn't benefit him in the end."

"What about the stories where he allows people to take the dead from the underworld?" asked Idia, curious.

"Last I checked, there were no records of him trying to trick them. If they failed to bring their loved ones back to life, it was because they were stupid enough not to follow very explicit rules set down by the god," said Nimue, crossing her arms.

Idia was very glad he had Ortho recording this, because a copy of their discussion would be sent to a certain someone. He knew that his 'grandfather' would find the fact someone as sensible as Nimue honestly appreciated the work he did. And showed him proper respect for once, while openly disliking Zeus and Poseidon.