It was the first day of the mermaid mating cycle. That meant lots and lots of yummy eggs being dropped onto the seabed everywhere. Most of them were being dropped pairs or triplets of females, and so they would never be fertilized.
The purple-scaled gulper eel was a stupid creature that couldn't comprehend the nuances of such things. It only knew to stay away from the nests with mermen nearby, because those were fiercely protected. So it avoided the scent of male pheromones and went about its business, happily munching up the little piles of unfertilized mermaid eggs wherever it could find them. Many other such creatures were doing the same. The mermaids had little reason to care.
One nest smelled particularly scrumptious. It was just like all the others, really, but the eel wasn't an intelligent creature. It barely remembered the last one that it had eaten, mere minutes ago. It simply smelled more food, located it with its sharp eyes, and then darted out—
SNATCH—CRACK.
Eric's hand whipped out, grabbed the eel, and snapped its neck. "Here," he said, passing the dead creature to Anna. "Try gulper eel. You'll love it."
To his amazement, Anna bit the creature's head off, chewed, swallowed, and then sucked the body down like a long noodle. "Not bad. I had unagi once before, but it wasn't raw." She burped, covered her mouth, and blushed.
Eric ignored it and said, "Creatures like this are all over the kelp beds. They're the main reason we don't have to worry about overpopulation."
Anna was aghast. "You mean they eat the eggs!?"
Eric nodded.
"But—the poor little babies! Our babies! We have to go back and guard the nest!" Anna clasped her hands together in front of herself, which squished her lately-augmented boobs together.
"Yeah," said Eric, understanding what she was saying. "Yeah, you're right. How about this: since you're tired, why don't you go back and guard the eggs, and I'll head back to the village and bring back some food?"
"Okay," said Anna. "I'm gonna feel like a momma hen if I have to watch 'em all the time, but I'll look after 'em first."
"All right," said Eric. "Then in that—oh crap."
"What?" yelped Anna. "What is it!?"
"It's—it's—HIM," growled Eric. He pointed his trident, and Anna whipped around to see a fairly good-looking but more slightly-built merman, swimming away from a little copse of kelp-sheets.
"Him? You mean—the guy? Clia's guy?"
Eric nodded, still glaring after the other merman.
"You know, you haven't even told me his name," said Anna. "It's weird to just be calling him 'him' all the time."
"I don't want to speak his name aloud," said Eric. "I don't want to think it. But if it makes it easier on you," he turned a soft and loving gaze on Anna and brushed her cheek with a tender hand, "that dry-born bastard is called