MY KING THORIN

"Oh come on, you blasted - hiding - stupid -"

Bilbo floated head over tail in the water, bobbing slightly in the current. He'd stuck his arm into the hollow in the rock almost all the way up to his elbow, and yet, the little critter eluded him. He'd already chipped a claw, digging into the rock to pull himself closer, to get that last inch, that last push.

A smarter mer might have given up. A single oyster was not worth the challenge, the effort. There were others, certainly - Bilbo's little satchel already held three of them, wrangled from other cracks and crannies.

But that one… it was big, it was fat, it held promise of juicy meat and fine aged slime. Bilbo huffed as his arm, the one wedged deep between stone, scraped against the walls uncomfortably. He'd have a few bruises, that was for sure. But dammit, he wanted that oyster. He had never seen one so big, and his stomach was clenching in mere anticipation.

No wonder it had gotten so big, tucked away as it was.

"Hrghhhh -"

His fingers touched shell.

"Hah!"

Gently, gently, he wiggled it loose, pinching it between his fingers in the only way the narrow space allowed, and pulled.

At first, the blasted thing didn't budge. But then it came free with a lurch so powerful it knocked Bilbo's wrist into the stone from the way he'd been pulling. He hissed against the slight throbbing sting. But that was quickly forgotten when he extracted his hand, oyster secured.