[What have I done, he thinks, sweating a bit, mouth slackjawed as she goes on and on about the possibilities. What if she does become a mermaid? Will they have to move to the shore?? His commute to work will be hell! Would he not be allowed to eat fish? That would be semi-cannibalism, right??]

I--that's not what my Chords of Steel are for!! Just don't get too excited. . .there are other mermaids, yeah, but I don't know how well an underwater magic show would work for you.

[It'd certainly sell out if she could make it happen. He rubs at his head, trying his damnedest to imagine all this. He doesn't actually know the specifics to how mermaids function here, would he have to cart her around in a wheelbarrow full of water? Sheesh!

He sighs, and shakes his head at her assumptions about the fog.]

Right, it wouldn't work. It's. . .[He bites his lip, frowning, hating he has to admit to do this.]

It's magic. The real deal. I don't know how, but there's no logical explanation for it.