Once, she believed love was enough to bind her to the human world. She chose legs over a tail, the warmth of his arms over the embrace of the sea. For a time, it seemed she had won happiness. But salt is never far from memory. One taste, and the ocean's call returns-relentless, seductive, impossible to ignore. Torn between the man who steadied her heart and the tide that has always claimed her soul, she struggles to hold to the life she built on land. When a storm brings back the knife she once refused, the choice becomes inevitable. The sea witch's spell demands a final sacrifice. To remain, or to return. To love, or to surrender. To live divided-or to belong wholly again. "Salt" is a haunting retelling of The Little Mermaid, written in a lyrical, mythic voice. Both tender and unflinching, it explores what we gain, and what we lose, when we trade one world for another. For fans of Madeline Miller, Naomi Novik, and dark fairy-tale retellings, this stand-alone short story offers a poignant descent into longing, love, and the salt-bright depths of the sea.