There once was a princess name Linda. She

There once was a princess name Linda. She lived in a magical kingdom in a far away land called Myropia. Lands stretched as far as the eye could see

Beyond that was nothing, blackness; no-one truly knew what lie beyond the Myropian border because those who traveled there never returned. Still, Princess Linda asked me to go and

retrieve her dry cleaners ticket that had been in the pocket of a gown her mother, the Queen, had donated to the poor. Princess Linda had traced it to a space trader named Fish. I

decided not to question how it got in the queen's gown in the first place. It seemed to be something she didn't want to dwell on. "Who names their child Fish?" I questioned.

She smoothed the front of her gown with evident relief, perhaps due to the change of subject. “Someone who loves the sea,” she answered. She lifted a shell to her ear and smiled.

She heard a small whisper, "let me down, dumbass." startled, she flung the shell back into the water, where it hit the surface with a *plop*. "Well... Maybe not..."

Bubbles churned in the water where she had thrown it, then a fountain spewed up like a geyser and atop it was a tiny mer-fairy with shells for wings. "You have released me from

my duties. You are the new mer-fairy of this fountain." She took off her shell-wings and threw them at Fiona's feet. "You must take up this post immediately, or not. But if not

you'll be banished from the fountain forever!" Fiona considered her options - becoming fountain mer-fairy or fulfilling her lifelong dream of becoming a forklift truck operator.

It was as she was waiting for the stock to reach the warehouse for the 8th day in a row that she wondered if she'd made the wrong choice. The water cooler bubbled with an evil glee