When we reached the palace, I headed straight for the nursery wing. The beavers had finished the rough digging for the pool, and thanks to the spring-fed line, it was already filled with cool, fresh water. It wasn’t ’royal reef’ standard yet, but it was clean.

​When I got there, I didn’t just drop him in. Instead, I sat on the edge of the stone basin first, letting my legs dangle in the water. My waist was absolutely throbbing from the walk, and the cool water felt like heaven.

​"Okay, Melo," I said, gently sliding him into the basin. "This is the deal. You’re clearly bored and looking for a fight because you think being ’the second prince’ means you’re just a backup for Thalor. But in this kingdom? I don’t need backups. I need specialists."

​He floated on his back, his purple hair spreading out like seaweed. He looked less like a brat and more like a curious cub now.

"Specialists? For what? You’re a land female. You build boxes out of rocks."

​"I build empires out of rocks," I corrected, grabbing a piece of charcoal and a fresh slate that I’d left by the pool. "Look at this blueprint. This is the drainage system. Thalor gave me the ’poetic’ version of how water moves, but I need someone who actually knows how to use layman’s language to tell me if these pressure valves are going to whistle when the tide comes in."

​I held the slate out so he could see. Melo squinted at the lines. He tried to act like he didn’t care, but his fin ears perked up. He swam to the edge and grabbed the slate with his small, tanned hands.

​"This valve is too high," he muttered, his finger tracing a line. "If the water level drops during a dry spell, the air will get trapped here. It’ll gurgle. It’ll be annoying. You should put the intake lower, behind a stone baffle."

​I smiled. Gotcha.

​"See? That’s what I’m talking about. Thalor is a prince who looks at the big waves. You? You’re small enough to see the details." I patted his head, ignoring his brief flinch. "You stay here, keep an eye on these plans, and if you see anything else that looks like ’land-person’ logic, you mark it. Deal?"

​Melo pouted, but he didn’t hand the slate back. "Hmph. Fine. Only because I don’t want my nephew or niece living in a house that gurgles."

​I leaned back, finally exhaling. My lower abdomen gave a little kick—or maybe a ripple—and I paused. Gosh, the babies were growing so fast, I didn’t even have time to catch my breath.

Now this kick... it makes me feel so full.

Then, I looked at the Trident leaning against the wall. Thalor had brought it in just now and set it there quietly before leaving, its purple light casting long shadows on the stone.

I couldn’t help but think about the desert feline the Sea King had mentioned. They sounded like a nightmare to the mermen, but the more he talked, the more I felt a different kind of spark in my brain.

​"Melo," I said, leaning over the edge of the stone basin so my face was closer to his. "These desert felines... your father talked about. What exactly are they? I know about the lions and leopards, but I’ve never heard of desert felines."

​Melo stopped splashing and floated on his back, his purple tail swishing.

"They’re not like the big cats my brother told me about. They’re called Caracals. They’re lean, with long ears that have these black tufts, and they move so low to the ground when they’re in their beast form, you’d think they were just a heat shimmer on the sand. That’s why we call them crawlers."

​My ears perked up. Caracals. I remember seeing pictures of them back in my world—beautiful, agile cats with those iconic tufted ears.

So, they are enemies of the mer folks in this world, huh? I didn’t add that detail to my book either, so it’s very new.

​"And the fire?" I pressed. "I assume they have an opposite built up to the mer folks."

It’s said that Caracals like hot places. And their cats, too, so water is not exactly their best friend.

​"They do something similar to tracing the sun," Melo said, his voice dropping as if he were telling a ghost story. "They have a fire element. They store the heat of the desert sun in their bodies and can release it through their claws. If a group of them gets hold of a stone wall, they don’t just climb it—they can focus that heat until their claws glow white, melting through rock and metal like it’s nothing."

​I went dead still. My heart started thumping, and it wasn’t from the pregnancy.

That’s... a dangerous ability.

​Up until now, the only species I’d met that could actually manipulate elements were the merfolk with their water magic. Everyone else—the wolves, the tigers, the bears—they were all about physical strength and animal instincts. But cats with a fire element? Now that’s new.

What else are they going to throw at me? Foxes with illusion magic?

​"Fire-clawed desert cats," I whispered to myself.

​The creative spirit in me immediately threw out the ’danger’ warning and went straight into ’utility’ mode.

My mind was racing past what could turn into a battlefield and straight into the industrial district.

​"Melo, do you have any idea how hard it is to maintain a forge hot enough to melt ’heavy slate’ ore?" I asked, my voice rising with excitement even if he doesn’t know what ’heavy slate’ ore, I.e, metal, is. "We have to burn through tons of wood, use massive bellows, and even then, the temperature is hard to control. But if I had a team of people who are the heat source... people who can touch the metal and melt it exactly where it needs to be joined... "

​Melo blinked at me, looking completely bewildered. "You’re... you’re thinking about blacksmithing?" Ah, so he did know. How much does this kid know anyway? Who’s his teacher? I want to employ them. "Arinya, they are coming to raid your treasury!" 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

​"I’m thinking about the future! And if they work hard, I can give them a part of the Treasury, no biggie." I countered, my charcoal flying across the slate as I began to draw, write, innovate, like I was a mad genius who had just struck a solution to a ten-year problem. Eureka!

"Think about it! They wouldn’t just be soldiers; they’d be master blacksmiths. They could help me build high-heat kilns for glass-making, or even a central heating system for the limestone houses so the sheep and rabbits don’t freeze when the snow hits!"

​I stood up, or tried to, leaning heavily on the stone edge of the pool. My belly felt heavy even though it wasn’t fully rounded yet, and my waist gave a sharp twinge, but my eyes were still bright.

​"I actually really want to meet them now," I said, a little giddy. "Nereus thinks they’re coming to hunt, but I think they’re bringing the one thing this kingdom is missing: a sustainable, high-intensity power source."