"My birth mother was a human witch my father dallied with during a summer he spent on land. She gave me to him to raise after I was born with a tail." As far as Ulla knows, she's the only half-human to ever come of sildroher dalliances on land. And she trades shapes often enough here, but she grew up underwater.

"I never met her. My human half brother sought me out once we were both grown, and told me what I was. But there had always been rumors. I never quite fit."

She studies him a second. "Did you have a hard time of it because your mother was your father's mistress?" Because he said it like that mattered a lot.

He said it because it's been said to him. Because Han-seok put together a PowerPoint presentation on why he is the true heir of the Jang family business. It was just that easy for him to swoop in from obscurity, remind everyone who was the mistress's son and take over the company as its public face.

"...No, not exactly," he murmurs, uncomfortable. "But I guess I know what you mean, about not really fitting..."

Anywhere, ever.