Sybil’s easy agreement quickly led to the two of us luxuriating and languishing in the hot sands. Just as I’d imagined in my vision/visit with the [Administrator], the heated sands elevated the bath beyond anything I’d experienced before. The warm grains scrubbing through my scales along my shoulders and arms under my sonic magic’s assistance were amazing, but even better than that, once I was done scrubbing and cleaning myself, I dug a little pit and laid in it.

My body bent and laid differently now as a khatif than as a keelish. As a keelish, laying wasn’t much more than just bending my legs and settling onto the ground. Then, if I wanted, I could move the way my legs were positioned, but I was already laying comfortably with my legs that way. As a keelish, I’d been a belly sleeper. As a khatif, however, with how my hips had changed, if I simply bent my legs and went to the ground, my tail would get in the way pretty quickly, and even then, once my legs could bend no longer, my torso was still above the ground. The way I could lay down now, I needed to use my arms to keep myself from falling and hitting my face on something, and I preferred to lay on my side now since my legs didn’t feel comfortable directly below me.

Beside me, Sybil had finished cleaning herself and as she saw me hollow out a hole, she dug one out herself, just to my side where we could almost touch. I watched her dig, the contours of her body shifting with her flexing muscles. Something about her body had changed with the evolution to khatif, and I could tell that her hands were no longer quite so innately adept at digging, similar to my own. Her fingers and claws, though different to mine and those of a normal keelish, were long and delicate, almost to the level of a human’s. Her arms and hands displayed a greater possibility of working with tools than a keelish’s, progressing more towards civilization and building than the mere approximation of it.

Before Sybil settled into her little hollow, she lightly pulled a couple armfuls of sand over my sides and legs. Then, she laid down in her own little burrow and as she shifted, a small pile of strategically placed sand was knocked over and onto her own sides, halfway burying her just like as she had done to me.

“Clever as you’ve ever been, Sybil.”

“That is why you accepted me in the first place, is it not, Alpha?”

I fought not to flick my tail and dislodge it from the sand it was so pleasantly buried in as I craned my neck a little to be able to look into Sybil’s face. “Sure, that’s why you’re one of my Betas, but I would have let a keelish as slow as Brutus and as small as Foire into my pack then. And even now.”

“True enough. You have the ability to shape the weak into something more, Alpha.” Sybil maintained eye contact with me, and I could see that she had prepared a little sandy pillow to lay her head on.

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“Come on, Sybil. We’re alone. Call me by my name.”

“Of course, Ashlani.” With the relaxation of her tone, she initiated a question. “Why did you invite me here for this?”

“Do I need a reason?” I maintained as level an expression and tone as I could manage, though I didn’t for a moment think that I was able to hide anything from Sybil. Our faces as keelish and khatif were far from so expressive as a human’s, but Sybil didn’t try to hide her own disbelief from me. The obvious and deliberate emotion on her usual stoic face quickly had me chuckling. After taking a moment, I let the mirth fall from my face as I decided to be open.

“You’re the closest thing to a friend that I have. Oncli once was, and since then, I have remained the Alpha in the eyes of the rest of the pack. I prefer that for most, but I do sometimes find myself… regretting my inability to relax with and confide in others.” I paused for a moment, before deciding to be more truthful. “And I wish to spend more time with you. Not just as Alpha and Beta, but as companions. You are the only one I feel I can consider as such.”

Sybil maintained eye contact with me, not showing any particular emotion, and I began to feel foolish. I tamped down the anger that surged within me, that I’d deigned to listen to Shemira’s advice. Was she trying to embarass me? She would regret that–

“I am glad that you would think of me that way. I… am not a warm or loveable creature, I do not think. Most members of the pack go quiet when I am nearby, and try to look busy. They appreciate what I do, but they fear me as something… different from they are. They look up to you, worship you, fear you as a superior being, but with me, they do not consider me as one of them. It is comforting to hear that you appreciate my presence and self.”

The sands were beginning to cool around me. The brief flames that had heated them were insufficient to heat them for long, and I began to stand and shake the sand loose from me. As I did, Sybil beside me did the same and began to shake her scales in the way that only keelish could. They flared up and the sand began to tumble from the small spaces between her scales and skin. Without thinking about it, I scooped up a handful of sand and began to scrub her back with it.

Sybil froze as my hand ran over her spine, and I sent a steady vibration through my hand to help with the light scrub. I could feel a certain excitement begin to surge within me as I looked down at Sybil. Though she was far from Shemira’s flawless beauty, I felt a certain thrill while looking at her, and slowly Sybil relaxed enough to look up at me. Our eyes met, and I began to lean down and laid my head across the base of the left side of her neck. She began to lean back into me, and curled her own head around my left shoulder.

I couldn’t say what I was expecting to feel but I simply felt… comfortable. I enjoyed the feeling of simple affection and care, and I stood there, enjoying it and Sybil’s presence. I began to pull back to look at her once again, and as I opened my mouth to begin to speak, Vefir’s voice carried through into the den, announcing the eggs’ hatching.

Without thinking any further about it, I pulled myself back from Sybil and began to jog towards the den, Sybil following behind me.