Mermaid 14

"Take all the time you like to decide."
Dallas and his friends dove through then, distracting both father and daughter.
"I'm going to Meri's," she shouted, fleeing the exuberant boys.
It took a long time and a good bit of courage to tell Meri what she had learned. They'd swum a long way, following a pod of whales and spinning in the debris stirred up by their passing. The tiny brush of plankton and other microscopic creatures tickled, making the girls giggle from time to time. It was after one ticklish pass that Cordelia told her friend about her mother. Cordelia was afraid Meri would be frightened of her, or worse, angry.
Neither was the case.