“Nice to meet you, Lace. So you aren't here to seduce me or my men, that's good to know.” David settled onto the bench of the dinghy. Hospitality seemed more important than calculating his bearing, considering the mermaid had likely just saved all of their lives. He didn’t doubt that she knew the ocean far better than even a lifetime sailor ever could. “Are you sure I can’t pay you back for your help in any way? Besides not crashing?”

“Really, it was the not crashing that I was going for, but if you have a bit of glass I won't say no.” Lace shrugged as much as she could without losing her grip on the side rail.

“Glass?” David had no idea why a mer-person would want glass.

“Yup! Glass, please. Broken is fine. Any color will do but clear is worth least and colors more. If you have it to spare.”

David scratched his head and sat back to lean against the side of his ship. “Your people use glass as currency? Not gold?”

The mermaid shrugged again and waved a hand dismissively. “Well, gold is for collecting. It's fancy money. But no one spends it, so if you actually want things done, you have glass. For everyday stuff. I have some gold, but it's for my dowry. It just sits there. More ceremonial, you know?”

“No, I didn't know. Well, interesting. Let me go see what I can find, if you are willing to wait?” David stood without rocking the dinghy more than an inch.

“No problem.”

“You won't have any trouble keeping up? You can hang on to the dingy if you need...”

She laughed. “Oh goodness no. Going this slow is the hard bit.”

David nodded and instead of raising the dingy, climbed up the rope ladder that hung at its side. He was back in a few moments with a lantern, two beer bottles and a fine blue glass goblet.

Lace accepted the glass items gratefully, but cooed over the blue. “Wow! This will fund us for days! Thanks! Are you sure you can spare it?”

“It's mate broke a month ago. I was keeping pens in it. You can have it,” David answered.

“Wow, thanks again.” Lace grinned. David noticed her teeth were more pointed than a human’s as they glinted in the lantern light. “Do you still have the glass from the broken one?”

He shook his head. “No, sorry. I emptied my trash at the last port. What are you trying to fund, if I may ask?”

Lace took her glassware and asked, “Can you wait a minute? I'll take these somewhere safe and come back and explain. If you really want to hear.”

“I do! I'll wait here.” He watched as she disappeared without a splash again.

She was back in just a minute, like she promised. Either her safe place was very close, or she really was supernaturally fast. Lace once again pushed herself out of the water enough to hook her arms over the sides of the dingy, and rested her chin on them. “It's all politics,” she answered.

David was taken aback at that. "Politics? Don't you have a King?”

“Oh of course we do! And he's a dear old thing, comes out for rituals and ceremonies, like the start of Pearl Harvest Festival and stuff, but we've been a representative monarchy for decades now.” She flicked her fingers distractedly. “The current ruling party is a bunch of old fuddy-duddies. They still think it's fine to sink ships and stuff, and hang on to old stupid ways that haven’t been socially acceptable for EVER. Also, they tax too high for the wrong reasons. We are trying to get them voted out.”

“And so you’re collecting glass for your... campaign?”

Lace agreed, “Yup. Well really, the whole point was to stop you wrecking on the rocks, because their people were there waiting. They blew up the storm, see, and were waiting to collect all the stuff you dropped when you sank.”

The captain scowled. “Why would they want to sink us?”

“Oh, it's nothing personal. They just want the glass and gold and other things to fund their reelection bid. We, our party, don't want them to get more resources, and we can't stop the storms, but hey, stopping the ships is fair game. They don't like humans, would never talk to them willingly, so they wouldn’t think of it themselves. But yeah, That’s why I'm here. Again, nothing personal. Sorry.”

David shrugged. “Even if it wasn't personal to you, it's very personal to me, so thank you. So your... opponents, they are anti-human?”

Lace scowled. “Oh, they are anti-just about anything! Real old fuddy-duddies all the way. No trade, no saving sailors, demanding tribute, all kinds of outdated notions. Kind of junk that will get us wiped out in the end, you can bet. So we want them out. I'm not saying, big ol' open door policy right overnight, but opening up to some new ideas here and there won't kill us, right?”

“Right. We have similar problems back home. Which is why I spend most of my time at sea,” David sighed.

The mermaid shifted to recline against the side of the dinghy and idly flapped her tail in the water. “Are you involved in politics there too?”

“A bit. A little as I can be, given that my father is the King. But I'm third son, so I can get away with it. But I agree, some people just can't stand the thought of change, even if everyone can see it needs to happen.” He shook his head. “Like I said, I mostly avoid it. I can't say I would oppose the sea being a bit more sailor-friendly, though. You know, as a sailor.” He grinned.