Siren's Bubbles

A customer at the seashore town.

The day was particularly slow at Magical Curiosities. Dan recently moved the shop near the sea and not many customers visited him yet.
Suddenly, the bell hanging by the door to the shop rang and someone came in.
"Hello?" a child's voice asked. "Is anyone here?"
Dan couldn't see them, sitting behind the counter, so he stood up on his stool. In front of him stood a human girl, 12 at most, with curly brown hair tied into two pigtails.
"Yes? How may I help you?"
She jumped, surprised by his voice. She looked up to him, and her eyes got wider. "Are you a new kid in town?"
Dan sighed. "No, I am the owner of this shop. Magical Curiosities! Magical items for all your magical needs!" he recited the slogan.
She looked around the shop with curiosity and then looked back at him.
"Is there anything I could buy with this?" she stood on her toes to reach to his counter and then placed few coins on it. Dan counted them quickly. An equivalent of 12 pence. He thought for a while.
"Do you like swimming?" he asked her.
The child nodded.
Dan jumped off his stool and went by her to one of the cabinets. She noticed that he was barely taller than her and had long, sharp ears. He opened the cabinet. Inside, it was full of various sweets and candies and their colorful packings. He picked the blue one with sea waves printed on it and opened it. He pulled out something from the inside.
It looked like a soap bubble stopped in time.
"This...," he showed the candy to her. "Is a Siren's Bubble. If you place one of them in your mouth, it will give you the ability to breathe underwater for 15 minutes. Additionally, this one is of the type that will protect you once it starts to run out and it will pull you back safely to the surface of the water. Would that interest you?"
He didn't really need to ask. The little girl's eyes were shining the moment he showed her the bubble. She nodded enthusiastically. Before he gave her the candy, he put another spell on it. This one would make sure that she wouldn't swim too far away from the shore and protect her from any strong currents. Standard practice when selling them.
The little girl took the Bubble and started looking through it at the surrounding. She said a short, "Thank you and goodbye, sir!", and left the shop.
Dan smiled, shook his head, and said, "Kids," to himself.
He laughed.

Siren's Bubbles are small (1cm in diameter), almost completely transparent sweets that let one breathe underwater as long as one has them in their mouth. Today, they are sold in almost any store that deals with the magical confectionery. They are especially popular near lakes and at the sea.

Appearance

Lately, Siren's Bubbles are sold in packs filled with 50 of them. The package has a sea blue color and is covered with images of waves and seafoam. The upper part of the package is incised to make it easier to tear it open and with the newest achievements of produce magic, it can be resealed. One can do it by just holding its sides for 3 seconds in marked places. It is also waterproof. Additionally, once the package is empty and thrown out, no matter if it has been properly disposed of or not, it's enchanted with a spell that automatically teleports it to the closest recycling site.
The Bubbles themself are small transparent sugar spheres, with a slight white, green or purple tint. They are often compared to soap bubbles, hence their name. And just like the real soap bubbles, they refract the light and distort anything seen through them. They have a slight lemon flavor. Bubbles have been created in such a way that they don't dissolve in water (that would be counterproductive). They start to do so only inside of a mouth, reacting to saliva.

Types of bubbles

There are three versions of Siren's Bubbles sold currently, each with their own properties.

Version for kids

Coming in light blue packages, there are Siren's Bubbles for Kids. This type doesn't last too long (up to 15 minutes) and is enchanted with a safety spell. This is a floating spell. It activates once the bubble gets close to being dissolved completely or if the user accidentally swallows the bubble. In those cases, it surrounds the user with a protective layer filled with the air and slowly floats them towards the surface of the water. This is both to ensure that they won't stay too long underwater to swim out and that they won't swim out too fast. Even eating another Siren's Bubble doesn't reset the countdown, setting a hard limit of 15 minutes.

Standard version

The version that is sold more commonly, the standard type of bubbes can last for over an hour. Unlike the previous one, after deploying the protective layer of air, standard bubbles won't float the user to the surface. This lets the user eat another Siren's Bubble to continue their underwater adventures.

Deep sea version

The last version of Siren's Bubbles, mostly sold at the sea or in areas with underwater caves, lasts for over an hour, just like the standard version. However, this type is enchanted with many additional spells. Some of these spells include the ones protecting from both the heat, cold and the pressure, ones that enhance one's sight to be able to perceive in near-complete darkness (taking a source of light is still required) and those granting the resistance to venoms of various beings living down there.

Item type

Consumable, Food / Drink

Weight

Each bubble weighs around 1g. Usually, they are sold in packs weighing 50g.

Base Price

Pack for kids usually costs 5£. Some shops sell them for 12p a piece.
The standard ones and the deep sea ones are respectively sold for 8£ and 15£, and are only sold in packages.

Production of Bubbles

The first Siren's Bubbles were a product created by a coalition of mages researching the sea and the merfolk. Both groups agreed to create easy means that would let their kinds to venture into each other's worlds. The merfolk shared their knowledge and magic to help create Siren's Bubbles, while the "land dwellers" helped in both the creation of the candies that let merfolk breathe the air and turn their tails into a form more useful on land.

How to use them?

To use the Siren Bubbles one just needs to put one of them inside their mouth and start to lick them. Bubbles are created in such a way that the saliva will activate the spells bound within them.