The stairs to the second floor creaked as Ginny wandered her way up. The walls felt too narrow, and her tail kept bumping against the walls whenever she wasn’t paying attention. The house overall was cramped compared to the ones in Astunes. A more vertical approach, where outside the large city of Balet would have been more horizontal.

Four steps after the stairs, she reached her owner’s door. Ginny gathered her resolve and, while balancing the tray with one hand, she knocked twice. “Miss Catherine?”

With the lack of a response, she frowned and focused. There were no sounds from inside the room. The mild panic was pushed down. All rooms in the city had basic sound-proofing enchantments weaved into them. With so many maidens going around, it would be impossible to truly keep any sense of privacy otherwise.

She knocked again.

“Miss Kat?”

Again, no answer. She reached for the handle. It was unlocked. The moment she twisted the handle, the sound finally reached her ears.

“Harder!”

The moan was shrill, loud, passionate. Ginny very quietly closed the door again. Blessed silence replacing the lurid cacophony that had drowned her senses a moment prior. But she could still catch a whiff of sex. Tomas and Miss Kat.

Ginny’s face was flush, cheeks burning as she left the tray at the foot of the door and turned to hastily retreat. Her claws battered their way down, and she very nearly jumped half the stairs.

“Someone’s in a hurry.”

“Miss Hyung!” Ginny had nearly jumped out of her scales. “I am so sorry.”

Miss Hyung stared at her with the same cold, detached look she’d been sporting since their arrival. “Is there a ferocious feral up in our guest’s room?” The lilac eyes twinkled with a hint of amusement.

Ginny sighed. “It would be easier to handle.” She bowed a little. “Sorry for the startle.”

“I’m more sorry about the stairs.”

Dread ran through the young Draco as she turned to look at the wooden stairs. The rich, dark brown wood had been scratched by her claws. The color started to drain from her face at the consideration of just how careless she’d been. “I will-.”

“It was a minor thing.” The lady spoke, reaching into the furls of her dress to pull out a small leather bag. “I’d suggest you get yourself some proper household footwear.”

Clenching the bag of coins, Ginny nodded, keeping her head bowed. “Thank you for your generosity, ma’am.” She said. “I… will head out to the market.”

“Perhaps you should look for your sister. I haven’t seen her, and she’s likely not with your owner considering…” Her gaze flickered upwards. “… things.”

“… yes, ma’am.”

Ginny held back the grimace and bit her tongue. The lady of the house was a matron, age and power oozed from her, much like her own aunts back at home. She knew better than to disrespect the matron of the house, especially if they were the only wife. Doing so while your owner was a guest would be worse still.

With Kat not interested in having her around, and the lady of the house clearly not finding her presence welcoming, Ginny didn’t really have many options left. She moved towards the kitchen and picked up some boar jerky, the kind she knew Lizzy liked. The lexis had probably figured out another way to break out of the house and was sunbathing on the rooftop again.

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Ginny approached the door and paused. Claws went to her shoulders, hips, then knees. Confirming her clothes are the ones she should be wearing, she stepped outside. The midday sun was comfortable, welcoming even. A perfect time for training, maybe do some light patrol. The Draco craned her neck upwards to the roof.

No Lizzy.

The trickle of concern was pushed aside. Ginny had taught her owner how to set up the black collar so Lizzy wouldn’t be able to get further away than a couple dozen meters. Kat wouldn’t have changed that setting… right? Ginny could only hope now, circling around Mister Victor’s house while trying to look for the slippery reptile girl. The distressed sound of grunts and whimpers drew her towards one of the alleyways.

Lizzy was curled into a ball, clutching her neck and whimpering.

“Figures.”

Ginny approached her sister, picking her up from the ground and carrying her closer to the house, until the maiden grunted and went limp. In all likelihood, the maiden had been drawn by something and jumped at it. Landing squarely outside the allowed zone. The collar’s paralysis had kicked in along with the punishment.

And her owner hadn’t noticed the tugging in the bond because she was in the middle of having her senses otherwise thoroughly occupied.

“Was it food?”

“Bird.” Lizzy mumbled weakly.

“Of course it was a bird.”

Shoulders slumped, a quick glance towards Mister Victor’s house left her unsure whether to come back inside and drop Lizzy or not. The matron wasn’t exactly welcoming of either her or her sister. Ginny had no doubts the Sorceress saw them as obstructions or dead weight to the potential future her own daughter had in Kat’s service.

“Let’s go shopping.”

Allowing Lizzy to regain her footing, she reached out to her collar and caressed it. Carefully, she chanted the small spell her mother had taught her. She could feel the tether placed on Lizzy shifting to tie around her own blue collar. A little tug and she felt the mental strain that came with it.

Another aspect of the collar. By running Lizzy’s black-collar tether through her own blue-collar tether meant that, so long as they remained close to one another, they could both move up to five hundred meters away from their owner. It restricted Ginny, but she didn’t mind, since she estimated the market was within range.

Hopefully, she’d get to teach Lizzy some manners.

“Food?”

“If you behave.” She pulled the leash out of her satchel and clicked it onto Lizzy’s collar. The feralborn maiden shot her a dirty look, but Ginny ignored it. “I’m not going to choke you unless you run off.”

She got an angry hiss for her efforts. But Lizzy didn’t try to immediately run off… this time.

“I know it’s really hard. I don’t do this because it’s fun.”

Not that what she said was understood by the reptile maiden. Ginny’s claws clicked against the cobblestone while walking. The city was sleepy during the midday, but even at its most peaceful the place was comparable to Seledo at its most bustling. The cacophony of smells and sounds was something that Lizzy seemed far less concerned about than Ginny. The feralborn maiden kept sniffing this way and that, needing her sister to rein her in before she got too close to a stall or another maiden.

The crowd gave them a healthy berth. For good reason, one of them wasn’t trustworthy.

It still brought up bad memories Ginny didn’t want to think about.

The market street required her to keep Lizzy closer and for them to move more slowly. Her gaze sought for any store or stall that would sell claw-tip padding. She found what she was looking for. Small leather triangles with a leather strap connecting each to a circlet. The stall owner was more than happy to let Ginny try it on to check the size. It was a rather simple endeavor, merely attach the circlet to her ankle and adjust the straps so that the leather triangles would fit on her claws and stay there.

A simple purchase. Far quicker than she’d thought it would take them.

Lizzy perked up as she saw the trade of coin. “Food?”

“Sure.”

As she turned around to look for a food-stand, a hooded figure stumbled against her. Ginny realized she had not heard the figure approach, she’d not sensed anything. Her mind reeled, trying to catch up with the sudden realization something was out of place. Her instincts blared an alarm.

Before she had the chance to act on it, she saw what was under the hood.

Framed between deep blue hair were a pair of golden, shimmering eyes that pierced through her very soul. And the most beautiful face she’d ever seen.

“You look so cute I just might eat you up.”