He's talking pretty softly so that Jane doesn't overhear but he drops his voice even farther at that. "It would be irregular for you to give her a bath, mostly because she is a servant and you are a princess and that makes the reversal - marked, it would signify considerably more, uh, personal interest, than the reverse, and not a kind that I would expect most people to welcome - most people are only interested in intimate contact with the opposite sex, though I cannot be sure of Jane in particular. Even if I were sure Jane would like it I am pretty sure her husband would not, and similarly I would not appreciate this activity from someone I am considering marrying. I can... see how taking baths would come to mind an example of a reason to touch, but - it's more complicated than that alone."

Why???  Can human women make children together?

"- no. I can see how that'd have been confusing, and there probably are people who'd feel differently about it for that reason actually now that you mention it, but - there are feelings involved and not just practical risks? And consulting my own feelings since I don't know for sure about anyone else's - when I get married I would prefer to have the romantic devotion of my wife even if there is no risk of extraneous children in whatever else she'd be getting up to."

Oh, he's jealous.  She understands that.

...And she can't even touch him about this.  - Hm.

Do you think you might learn more about the magic on me if you try?

"Maybe. It takes a long time to learn to do magic to relatively solid properties and I haven't had a chance to examine 'liquid' ones before, so that might also take a while."

She thinks she might love him.  (Which is convenient if she's never allowed to love anyone else.  If them marrying each other works out.)

Here is her hand?

He takes her hand in his and shuts his eyes thoughtfully.

YAY.  He has SKIN and so does SHE and it's not rough it's smooth and she's smooth and he's smooth and warm and she likes him and she gets to have this thing because he's smart and she's also smart.

He makes occasional thoughtful sounds, and then: "Huh, I think that your shark-y shape is still - there, sort of - you just aren't using it right now - do you mind if I check to make sure that you'll be able to have completely human children -"

She passes over his hand to her right.

You can do this?

"Yes - well, probably, I can check if people can have children, people sometimes want to know about that before they get married or if they've gotten married and aren't conceiving, I have not checked any transformed sea people before but I can at least see if everything looks like I'd expect it to normally."

Nod.  Handsqueeze.

"...looks normal, I think."

Oh good!!  ...Handsqueeze.

"Congratulations on your thorough transformation, I guess."

Wiggle!  - Hm.

Is that a thing, like color, which you can move around?  Or is it many things?

"Being able to have children is many things and if any of them are missing or broken that can make it impossible, but it's all there in apparent working order for you. I can move some of it around, sometimes a couple is done having children and one or the other of them will come in and give their functional trait to someone who's got a matching failed one."

That's very good.  I don't think my family does anything like that for its people.

Or, my uncle does, but not because he's royal.  Except that this means he has the magic to.

"It's basically one of my hobbies, manning the infirmary - it'd be gauche to take money for it but it does drive up rent in the lands we directly hold near the castle so it indirectly does - but it makes me more popular too and that's always handy."

I dont know what that middle part meant.

"- about it being gauche to charge money or about us collecting rent?"

Nod.

"Royals are rich in general but not the same way that rich commoners are. Instead of selling stuff - like farmers selling food or blacksmiths selling nails - we sell permission to be on land we own. But when lots of people want to be on this land instead of some other land, that means we can charge more without everyone deciding they'd rather live somewhere else. They like living near the castle in part because I do the infirmary thing."

Rich is having many things?  What is selling??

"Oh do sea people not have money -"