I woke up curled on top of Master. I yawned and thought about trying to go back to sleep, but then I heard Master clear his throat expectantly, so I jumped down to the floor. I stretched, curled my tail, and spread my wings. “You could’ve pushed me off, or nudged me awake.”

“I didn’t really have a need to get up, but I didn’t want to spend the entire day in bed with a dragon on top of me.”

“I don’t see why not. Beds are comfy, especially when there’s a Master in them.” I giggled softly, letting my tail flick back and forth in amusement.

“Sure, comfy for you. Though, you are at least warm.” He stood up, reaching down to give my head a pat, before he headed off to start his day.

It had been two weeks since our trip to the Mage’s Guild, where Master became an official member. They even let him borrow a tome he’d been studying, and he’d continued working on it at home. Things had settled into the standard routine, where we got up, ate breakfast, Master studied, we ate dinner, and we went to bed. My belly had started to get heavier with the eggs that were fast approaching, making it harder to ignore that awkwardness coming up. And the reminder of how I got them.

This time, after breakfast, Master gathered his workbook and headed to the workshop. Usually, he set up in the study, reading the borrowed tome and writing notes in his workbook or on loose pages. I followed along, curious at what he was up to, and because I generally didn’t like to leave his side.

Master was busy drawing another circle on the floor, arranging the runes and referring to his notes. I didn’t have much of a head for magic, so I just waited for him to finish and tell me what was going on. Once he started setting up crystals around the edges, I knew it was going to be something bigger, since those acted as a sort of battery for magical energy. Finally, he took a step back and looked over everything, nodding to himself. Then he began retracing some of the lines with some powders from the workshop’s shelves, placing other materials where they were needed. He was getting fancy today.

“I thought you were studying illusion magic? What’s the setup for?”

“Something I’ve been working on that should come in handy. I’m going to need to borrow your collar, though.”

I balked at that, raising a paw to bump against the bell that hung from the pink leather band around my neck. “My collar…? I… I mean, if you have to…” I stood still as he unbuckled it, a slight shiver running down my spine at the absence. He set the collar down in the center of the circle, and the tip of my tail flicked in mild irritation. “Hm… Enchanting?”

“Yep!” He grinned at me, and I felt happy to have been able to guess before being told. I still had no idea what he was planning beyond that, though. And he seemed to want to keep it a surprise, as he knelt down and placed his hands at the edge of the circle, chanting softly.

One thing we’d found out earlier is that I have the ability to sense the “flow” of magical energy. Well, it’s a little harder to explain than that, but that’s probably the closest way to put it into words that I can think of. So, when Master works on large projects like this, I can help out by making sure things don’t get… kinda… clogged? And if they do, I can point out areas where the flow stops or acts strange. By doing so, I can save a lot of time and energy, as Master doesn’t have to try to spend all his energy on a broken spell and he has an idea of where to start looking for a mistake. Everything seemed to check out this time, though, as I “watched” the magic flow through the circle, drawing more power from the gems, and eventually flowing into the item in the center, my collar. I was a little worried it was going to burst into flames or disintegrate or melt into mush, but I knew it wouldn’t help to interrupt just to voice concerns. I Trusted him to know what he’s doing.

It took nearly an hour of work, most of which I passed by wishing there was more I could do to help. Finally, he was done, standing up and shakily moving to the closest chair to plop himself down heavily. I rushed over and laid my head in his lap.

“That was… oof. Bigger than the lantern, that’s for sure. Even with the crystals, that still takes… a lot out of me.” His hand stroked along my neck, which felt so weird when he reached the part that was normally covered. But it wasn’t worth mentioning it, my collar could wait until he recovered. I just stayed close and purred softly.

“You still haven’t told me what you did.”

“Oh, you’ll see.” He grinned down at me. After a minute or two, he stood up and stretched, the way someone would after a heavily exhausting workout. He crossed the design on the floor, avoiding stepping on any of the lines out of habit, even though the circle was spent. With my collar in hand, he came back and held it out for me.

It looked exactly the same as before, but this time I could feel a… How to describe it? It was like a sort of… spicy smell, but not one I picked up with my nose? There didn’t really exist words for it, but I could tell there was magic in the collar. “I hope you realize how much trust I’m placing in you, letting you put that on me without being told what you did…”

“I know, Princess. In a moment.” He drew the band around the base of my neck again, buckling it nice and snug in place again, and I couldn’t help but wag my tail a little. The little jingle of the bell was a welcome sound. “Now we just need a mirror.”

“Rrrf.” Being kept in the dark was wearing on me, but I didn’t mind humoring Master too much. I followed him along back to the bedroom, where we stood in front of the mirror there.

Kneeling down, he placed his fingers on the collar, closed his eyes, and I felt the magic activate. Little motes of light twinkled into place over my body as I watched in the mirror, or as I squirmed to look myself over. As they settled, they left behind… fur? They covered my wings, which seemed to disappear, and the end of my tail did the same, leaving behind a fur-covered plume, the coat a black and white color. Even my face looked so different, the horns gone and the end of my snout sporting a leathery black nose. I took a nervous step back from my reflection, trying to stretch my wings, and found that I could feel them move. Once I spread them far enough from my body, they stopped being covered by the “twinkling dust”... stuff… and were visible again, the part closest to my body fading from view shortly before it reached the “fur”.

“I… look… like a dog? I still have wings, though.” I pulled them back to where they usually rested against my body, and they disappeared from view again. “...An illusion? Is that what this is?”

“Exactly! What do you think?” Master was beaming with such pride at seeing his most ambitious project yet doing what it was supposed to. I couldn’t help but wag my tail a little, seeing the fluffy limb imitate it but still able to feel the thickly-muscled limb sway.

“I mean, it’s impressive. But… why? I mean, why go through the trouble of… disguising me as a dog, I guess? …A husky? No, the tail doesn’t curl like a husky.”

“I don’t really know the breed, it’s just one I’ve seen before. I want to say it’s called a Malamute? Or maybe it’s a type of wolf-dog. Either way, I liked how it looked, so that’s what I pictured when I activated the collar.”

I tilted my head a little. “Oh, so… you could have pictured something else? It’s not fixed on… this?” I looked closer at the mirror. Something was bugging me about my reflection, but I couldn’t put a paw on it.

“Yeah, but if it’s something too far off from what you actually look like, it’s going to look silly as well as drain energy faster. Like, if I tried to make you look human, you’d look like a naked human running around on all fours, and you’d probably still have your tail sticking out unless you wrapped it around yourself.”

I grimaced a little at the mental image. “Okay. But that still doesn’t answer why.”

“Well, you’ve seen how we… attract a lot of attention, when we’re out. Hammerfell is pretty used to seeing us, but when we’re visiting Winselton, or the Guild, or anywhere else…”

“You mean, I attract attention…” I blushed a little. It’s a little hard to not notice a dragon walking around, after all.

“Ah, yes. But now, if we’re visiting somewhere, we can use the illusion to make you look like something that blends in more! What do you think? Plus, more places will let a dog in than a dragon, since they aren’t going to worry about a dog breathing fire.”

“No, they wouldn’t…” I looked back at the mirror again. “Hm… I suppose I could get used to this, if I had to? When we have to use it? Huh, but… I just noticed, my eyes still look the same.” That’s what was bugging me, dogs don’t generally have slitted pupils.

“Oh, yeah, they do. Illusions can’t really change eyes, it seems. Something about them being ‘windows to the soul’, it says. I’ve seen that phrase in a few other books, too.” The words tugged at something deep in my thoughts, nagging at me. Had I heard that before?

“Well… It’s probably fine. Not a lot of people look dogs in the eye.”

“Yeah. If anyone says anything, I’ll just say you’re unique. I don’t know.”

I spent another minute or so just watching my reflection, not sure what to think. “I think we should dispel it, though.”

“All right. But now it’s something we can use if we want, later on.” He knelt down again, touching the collar, and the image broke into twinkling specks of light that floated up before winking out of existence, leaving behind my familiar blue scales. I was relieved to see them again, I realized.

“I appreciate it. I’m sure it’ll be handy.” I leaned in and pressed against Master’s side, purring softly.

We took the rest of the day to relax, Master needing to rest after such exertion.

About a week later, we were doing our weekly trip to Hammerfell where we picked up supplies as well as talked with people. It was nice to be out of the tower and be social, even if I mostly stayed quiet. Arlond was the only one in town that knew about me, after all. To everyone else, I was a perfectly normal dragon. Funny, less than a year ago, I would’ve thought the phrase ‘perfectly normal dragon’ was hilariously silly.

I was wearing my harness, so I could carry the bulk of our purchased supplies. Mostly ingredients for cooking, but there was paper and ink in there as well, and probably some other things that I didn’t really pay attention to. When I first got the harness, these trips would be tiring, but I must be getting stronger, as this weight didn’t bother me at all anymore. I didn’t trust that I’d be able to fly while carrying all of this, but walking wasn’t an issue. Maybe I’d have to ask Master about practicing.

With the shopping done, we stopped at the inn like we usually did, to get a nice meal from the innkeeper, Maifen. She always seemed to like seeing us, and sometimes she’d give me a bit extra in my portion. When we entered the building, we started to make our way to our usual table, only for Master to stop in his tracks.

There, sitting at the same table we usually sat, was Professor Dweli of the Mage’s Guild. She had a huge grin as she waved us over.

“Hello, Professor. I’m surprised to see you out here, I can’t imagine Hammerfell has that much of interest to you.” Master politely started as he sat down. Maifen had come by, ostensibly to check on us, but I suspect she was hoping for some juicy drama. Or to make sure Dweli wasn’t some sort of love interest.

“Are you kidding? It has you! And Princess there! In fact, that’s why I’m here! I didn’t miss her eggs, did I?” Dweli’s grin hadn’t faded in the slightest.

“No, she’s still… carrying.” I sat down next to Master’s side. I wasn’t entirely sure I liked the way Professor Dweli was staring at me.

“That is such a cute getup! Was it hard to train her to accept it? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a dragon that tolerated much more than a collar… Oh, wouldn’t it be so cute to have her in some kind of barding or armor or outfit or something?” She had moved to inspect my harness, and I liked that even less, but she was… Well, I don’t actually know the ranking system for the Guild, but I didn’t want to risk anything by snapping at her or anything, in case she was a superior officer or something.

“No trouble at all. She’s a Good Girl, after all.” Mrrrf, no fair for Master to make me blush like that. At least my scales hid minor reactions. “She really likes to be helpful, I think.”

Dweli continued to poke over the bags, and I thought about leaving, but then Maifen had come back with our meals. Either because she was satisfied, or because she didn’t want to be in the way of a dragon’s food, Dweli sat back at the table and let me nibble daintily at the bits of meat on the plate and lap at the bowl of stew.

“I’m worried about the straps, one of them passes just above her lower belly, where the eggs are. At least you had the good sense to not let them dig into wing membranes. And the missing scale seems to have grown back nicely. She seems to be in good health, I’m glad for that.” Huh, she had a more attentive eye than I gave her credit for.

“Ah, yes, I do my best to take care of her, after all. She’s… pretty good at letting me know when she needs something.” Master reached down to pet me gently while I ate.

“Yes, I’m looking forward to seeing you in action.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Master blinked, looking up at the grinning Professor.

“Oh, did you not receive my letter?”

“No, I haven’t gotten anything… wait.” Opening his satchel, Master pulled out an envelope he’d picked up from Shane today, opening it and pulling out a letter to read. “…You’ll have to forgive me, mail is a little… slow in a town such as this. You probably ended up traveling with the same group that brought this to town.”

“Hm, well, I hope it’s not going to be an issue.” I lifted my head to sniff at the letter curiously, and Master brought it down to hold at his side, under the table. It was… harder than I remembered to focus on the words themselves, like I had to actively remind myself that it wasn’t the paper that was important, but the markings on it. In it, Dweli outlined her intent to visit so she could give me a thorough examination for her notes, as well as witness me laying my eggs. Apparently, she was writing a book on dragons, but she hadn’t had a chance to study a female specimen before the one the Mage’s Guild had was sold off. Her words were polite, but I got the feeling that she was just shy of “pulling rank” on Master and demanding to be allowed, there was a lot of “reminding” Master that as a new member of the Guild, this would be a good way to “contribute” to a project of a fellow member. In addition, the Guild was possibly planning to purchase the hatchlings, and so having someone they knew as an expert on-hand “could only be seen as beneficial” to make sure everything was going smoothly… I gave Master’s hand a gentle lick to let him know I was done reading, since he was keeping his eyes forward while talking with the Professor.

I had missed most of their conversation because of my focus on the letter, though. I didn’t realize how out of practice I’ve gotten, most of the books we had were about magic and so I couldn’t follow them, and I wasn’t really equipped to read books anyway, so there wasn’t a lot of reading in my life anymore… But the meal was over, and Dweli had gone upstairs to fetch her things, to get ready to follow us home.

It was a long walk back. Normally, I’d be chatting with Master, or even just taking in the scenery, but having someone with us made it feel oppressive. Even when we got inside, and the packs were unloaded and the harness removed, there was the irritation of having to keep up the charade for our guest. Master showed her to a guest room, one of the bedrooms that we’d cleared out but never really used. A lot of the rooms still had broken furniture or just dust and dirt, but we never went in there so it wasn’t much of an issue. And then there was still the Cage Room… I think it was supposed to be some sort of dining hall, originally, but it was the room Elimaio had converted into a set of cages, and had used to imprison me. Master was in there briefly as well, and it was where we had our showdown with the mad wizard. We had gotten the bars removed and the place cleaned as best we could, but we still just never used the room because of the memories involved.

After letting her put her things down, Master showed her to the Study and the Workshop, two of the rooms where we spent most of our time. The Study was something of a library room with a table in the center, and we often took our meals there, so Master could study whatever book he was working on while eating, and because it was right next to the kitchen. The Workshop was a larger room with more space, with shelves and cabinets that held various materials and reagents and such, with a smooth floor for drawing rune circles when necessary.

With that done, the days were… supposedly the same as usual, but actually very different. It seemed like every time I turned around, Dweli was there, wanting to see how I moved, or having thought of some difference between males and females she wanted to confirm, or just wanting to check on me and my belly… As if the looming event wasn’t bad enough, now I couldn’t even talk to Master about it.

Instead of keeping Master company and lounging about while we worked, I was now dragging myself from room to room grumpily, getting poked and prodded every time I turned around. The weight of the bags was one thing, because it was distributed all over, but the eggs were all in one spot, and it was getting tiring to move around as they grew. At least I got time with Master in bed, even if I had to talk in mostly a whisper, but those conversations were short with how tired the two of us were. After all, Master had to try to keep her entertained, letting her watch his process of study when she wasn’t studying me. And I think he was trying to get her to give me some peace as much as he could.

It was the fourth day of Professor Dweli’s visit, the Study’s table split between Master’s notes with the illusion magic book and the other half with Dweli’s notes on her book. As much as I had tried to act “normal”, she was still babbling about the interesting behavior differences between males and females.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Really, I’m surprised, the male dragons would take forever to warm up to a new person in their ‘home area’. Maybe it’s because she has so much space to wander, she doesn’t feel as territorial?” The Professor scribbled more notes on a loose piece of paper.

“Well, she’s also had… a lot more socializing with humans? I mean, I don’t know the full details, but I’m… pretty sure she was raised by humans.” Technically the truth, yes.

I was laying on my side at Master’s feet, tail swishing lazily as he rubbed my side gently with a foot, most of his attention caught up in his work. It was comfortable enough that I could almost doze off.

Almost, until I felt a sudden contraction squeeze at my insides, jolting me to my feet. What the heck was–Another hit, and it was no longer up for debate. Master had looked down at the movement, and I looked up to give him what I hoped was a meaningful whine before I hurriedly galloped off to… I wasn’t sure where to go.

I ended up in the bedroom without really thinking. I looked at the bed but decided against it. There was still the pile of bedding in the corner that was now unused, we could replace that before winter came. The contractions were worse now, and I hastily did my best to arrange them. They were already still in a pile fit for sleeping, but instincts demanded I fuss at them. Master entered by then, and Dweli was hot on his heels.

I whimpered softly. I think I would’ve preferred to be alone for this. I didn’t really want to face this alone, but I was embarrassed enough as it was to think of Master being here for it. Professor Dweli, however… I’m glad Master was here, I really didn’t like the idea of being alone with the Professor for this part.

As for how it went… It hurt. A lot. The first was the worst, the second was almost as bad, the remaining three were not so bad. Claws tore sheets, I was biting down on them at one point, and I made a mess of things. It was kind of a blur, a haze of pain and pushing and intense humiliation. But it was finally over, and I had a clutch of adorable little eggs to curl up around while I caught my breath.

Dweli reached for one and I let out a loud, angry hiss. I was not in the mood to put up with her right now, I didn’t care if that meant some kind of punishment later. Master put a hand on her shoulder and gently but firmly drew her back. “Let the poor girl have some peace, Professor.” I might’ve let Master touch the eggs, but not Dweli. I wasn’t going to trust her with my eggs.

My Eggs. The thought hit hard. I guess this was it, there was no denying what I was anymore. No trying to claim I’m really a human, deep down. I had five little round reasons such claims were pointless, and… I didn’t mind it. It hurt like hell, but after it was done, I had a kind of giddy euphoric high. I was purring deeply, resting, laying curled around and protecting My Eggs. I could still barely believe it, but here they were. And they were Mine, and I’d bite off any hand that tried to take them away from me and Master. That was probably just instinct, it’d probably fade a bit, but for now I didn’t care. I was just happy they were here and safe.

I yawned, realizing I’d dozed off at some point. All five eggs were accounted for, so I stood up and stretched, muscles stiff and protesting after that workout. After the weight had gotten so much over the last month, it felt amazing to not be carrying it anymore. Nothing would get me down. Especially when I smelled cooking.

My tail swayed happily as I wandered out into the hall, even though I felt an urge to rush back to my “nest”. I ignored it, because the eggs were fine and safe and everything was going to be okay. It was tough to do, but it got easier once I got past the initial pull. I joined Master and the Professor in the study, tail wagging and I chirped to get Master’s attention.

“Well, look who’s up, sleepy head. Guess you smelled food, huh?” Master stood up and gave me a pet on his way to the kitchen, fixing up a plate of meat and bringing it out, setting it on the floor next to his seat.

“I still question the wisdom of spoiling her with proper food instead of kibble.”

“You’ve said. Again, I question the wisdom of punishing her by giving her anything I wouldn’t eat myself.”

Dweli went back to her meal, finishing up. “Well, she does look healthier and happier than other dragons I’ve seen.”

“Exactly. Besides, she’s been through a lot today, she deserves a treat.” His hand scritched behind my horns and I wagged my tail.

I went to happily tear into my meal when I realized this was fresh deer instead of the usual dried and salted pork cooked in a sauce to rehydrate it. Master must’ve gotten someone from town to hunt this special or something. I wagged my tail as I ate, using a paw to hold it in place as I tore off pieces with my fangs. I had thought the Professor would have turned away, but instead she seemed delighted to watch me eat. I wasn’t going to let that dampen my enthusiasm, though.

I did my best to curl up next to Master once I was done eating, but every movement made me want to dart back to the eggs. Eventually, I gave in, if only to not have to stay in the same room as Professor Dweli. And just in case she was somehow doing something sneaky. I spent the rest of the evening curled around them, until Master came into the room that night.

“So, how are you feeling? Relieved? Glad to have dropped that weight?”

“Lose weight fast with this one weird trick! Transmogrification wizards hate her!” Oh, what a nice world to not have to deal with articles like that anymore, as far as I could tell. “Seriously, though, I feel… good. Better than I expected. Happy. I mean, look at them! I made them! That’s… Wow. I thought I was going to feel so terrible about it, but now that they’re here, I just… don’t. I feel great. …Is that strange? Should I be worried about that?” I was still curled around the eggs, I couldn’t bring myself to leave them just yet.

“From what Dweli was saying, I was a little surprised you came out at all. She made it sound like I might have to find a different room to sleep in until they hatched.”

“Hmph. Well, maybe other dragons don’t have a Master they can trust like I trust you. I don’t want to go through this without you.” I really didn’t like the idea of trying to protect them on my own. Having to leave to get food, worrying the whole time about whether they’ll be safe or if something will happen before I get back. And that was assuming I even was good at hunting, which I suppose I’d have had to learn if I wasn’t a pet…

“Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere unless you want me to.” Master knelt down and stroked along my sides. By now, the eggs had dried, the shells were leathery and stiff. I purred at the warm touch, my muscles were still really sore, even though it was the “good” kind of sore.

I nosed at his hand, guiding it towards the eggs. “You can touch them if you want. They’re warm.” The tip of my tail flicked a little. I was still… proud, I guess? Happy? I wanted to share this happiness with Master.

“Well, if you say so.” He carefully touched one, letting his palm rest on it, feeling the warmth coming from inside.

The little hatchlings had already been developing, but now they were going to be getting bigger, too big for my body to hold. The thick walls would stretch thinner as they did, hardening as they reached their full size. Right now, they were… a little smaller than footballs? A little bigger than grapefruits? It was kind of hard to compare them to things I didn’t have on hand as reference, things I haven’t even seen since I lost my humanity. Small enough that Master could hold one easily in a hand, with his fingers spread around it, but too large for him to hold more than one. According to Dweli, they would end up the size of a smaller watermelon before they were ready to hatch. Too large to easily pick up with one hand, though one could balance it in one once they had a grip. Not that you’d want to, with them being too precious to risk dropping.

“Aren’t they just so… incredible? I was so worried about them, and now…”

“Yes, you do seem pretty happy…” His tone of voice confused me. He seemed like he was questioning something.

“You make it sound… like you’re worried? About something?”

“Well, just the… speed at which you’re happy about this. How much of this is instinct, and how much of it is genuine?”

“Mrrrf. Well… Okay, yeah, that’s a legitimate concern… I… don’t know. But it doesn’t feel… like it’s completely instinct? If that makes sense?” I looked down at my eggs, staring at them in thought.

“If you’re happy, I’m happy. If you’re being forced to be happy, I’m not as happy about that. I want you to be happy, truly.” He leaned in, kissing my forehead softly, and I purred deeply.

“Maybe the next batch can be yours, then.”

“Uh, Princess…? I mean, there’s a lot that stands in the way of that.”

I blinked a little, looking up. It took me a second, replaying in my head what I heard. “Oh, I, uh, I know that. I was joking.” I wasn’t joking, I just hadn’t meant to say that out loud. I looked away to try to hide the blush. Maybe I could spin it as looking at my eggs.

“Right. Yeah. Sorry, it just caught me a little… Never mind.” Master coughed softly.

“We should get some sleep.” I nosed an egg gently.

“Yeah. Are you… coming to bed, or…?”

“I don’t suppose I could talk you into sleeping down here?”

“I really don’t think there’s room, and I’d hate to roll over in my sleep somehow and risk them.” Master rested his hand on my side around my shoulder. The excuse felt a little forced, but I had to admit there wasn’t really a lot of room. Still, I’d gotten so used to being with Master, it felt weird to be by myself now. But I had my eggs. Maybe tomorrow night, I’d spend the night in bed, but tonight I just… had to be here, just in case. Yeah, that was probably instinct, but whatever. I don’t care right now.

My dreams were strange. I kept wanting to find Master, but I had to keep coming back to my eggs. I felt torn between the two. At some point, I saw Master, but he had a white dragon tail. It felt perfectly normal, because dreams are like that. I wanted to comment on it swaying happily, but I woke up before I could. Still curled around my eggs, I looked over at the bed where Master was. I thought about climbing into bed, but… I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if something happened, so I didn’t, for tonight. Maybe we’d figure something out tomorrow.

I laid back down, closing my eyes, but I couldn’t shake the image of Master with a tail. It made me a little worried… I’d thought I’d gotten used to being a dragon, but was I somehow… drifting further from humanity, after that experience? Would I slip in mind, until I stopped recognizing people as… well, people? Would I start thinking of them as potential prey or something, or start thinking like a beast, or… I didn’t know. I didn’t even know what kind of possibilities were there to choose from. I tried to focus on what I did have, which was this room, my Master, and my eggs. I’d make it work. Just had to take things one day at a time. Just get some sleep and deal with things tomorrow.

I woke up when Master was up and moving, lifting my head and yawning, reaching a paw out to touch his leg before he could leave the room. “Mrrrer. Morning, Master.”

“You’re up early. Usually I can be out of the room without waking you up, even when you’re in bed.” Master squatted down to pet me.

“Well, I did have a nap yesterday, maybe that helped. Still pretty sore. And hungry.” I stood up to stretch, curling my tail and spreading my wings as I always did. It just didn’t feel like a stretch without it.

“Well, you did have quite the workout yesterday. Honestly, a little surprised you made it through without a word, I thought for sure you’d let something slip with all that going on.”

“Mrrrf, it’s… I dunno, when it was happening, I wasn’t really… thinking in words? If that makes sense? I was kinda preoccupied, I was barely even aware Dweli was there.”

“Just kinda forgot about us, so focused on… the eggs?”

“I could never forget you.” I butted my head into Master’s hand softly. “You know that, you big tease.”

“Of course not. I should get breakfast made, though. Are you going to be okay coming along?” He glanced at the eggs I was still curled around.

“I’ll be okay. Just as long as I can keep an eye on our guest. I keep expecting her to be in the doorway some morning and catch us talking.”

“Ooh, yeah, that would be… We’d certainly have some explaining to do, then.”

“I think she’d mostly be upset we didn’t tell her beforehand.”

“Mmh, maybe.” Master stood up and headed out the door, and I got up and followed.

The three of us were in the study, and I was licking my plate clean while Master and Dweli were chatting and eating. “So, how’s your dragon book coming along?”

“Pretty well. I’m hoping that by learning more about them, and teaching others, we can figure out ways to make them happier, and less… prone to dangerous outbursts. I was pretty worried when I heard how… the whole mess with Elimaio turned out.” The professor stared at me as she said that. I did my best to act uninterested.

“Yes, well, Elimaio tortured her for months, it’s only natural she’d fight back when she had the chance. Any one of us would’ve been just as… forceful, I think. I don’t mean to be rude, though, but it’s not my favorite thing to talk about. You understand, I’m sure.”

“I don’t mean to be rude either, Mage Tola. It’s just… I knew him, before he… turned out the way he did. When he was a student, he wasn’t bad. We actually graduated together.” Professor Dweli poked at her plate of food.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know…”

“It’s all right. Mostly, I wonder if there was some sign I missed, some way I could have prevented him from going down that path, you know? Part of why I like dealing with animals, you generally know where you stand with them.” She picked up a piece of ham with her fork and stared at it. “At least you know Princess isn’t going to dump you and spread a rumor you’re sleeping with your test subjects.” She then popped the piece in her mouth and chewed.

“Did he…? Wow, that’s… That’s pretty… cruel of him. Maybe he always was that bad and just hid it from you at first.”

“Hmph. Maybe. All I asked him for was one transformation spell, so I could study the gryphons without them being wary of me. I don’t know why he freaked out like that.”

“Don’t know. Certainly doesn’t excuse any of that behavior. Though… What do you know about transformation magic?”

“Hm? Not a whole lot. It’s not that useful, really. I thought about trying to use it to gather more information for my books, but it doesn’t really work for that. Like, I can’t study how a dragon flies, because the subject that could talk wouldn’t be able to fly. The behavior wouldn’t be the same, the instincts wouldn’t be there, the movements wouldn’t be right… I abandoned the idea when I realized I had no idea how to hunt in the wild.”

“Have you ever heard stories of… people getting trapped, or lost, in their new form?” Master tried to sound casual, eating like nothing was unusual about the question. I was blushing a little, wondering what he was up to.

“Not really… I mean, only tavern tales of drunken fools that know nothing of the actual magics involved, but that doesn’t count.”

“Because of the soul, you mean? But could there be a magic that could alter the soul to fit? It’s difficult to decipher his notes, but Elimaio was trying to research something along those lines, I think. Sometimes it worries me. If there’s any truth to it, it might be a good idea to figure out how to prevent it, or reverse it.”

Dweli shook her head, finishing her bite and swallowing. “Magic can’t affect the soul. Only the soul can affect the soul. The soul is the source of… everything a person is, for lack of a better explanation. It’s like a waterwheel stopping the source of a river, there’s no way.”

“But the soul is shaped by our experiences, isn’t it…? If someone… experienced enough, they could, perhaps, change their soul?” I put a paw on Master’s foot glaring up at him, but I don’t think he noticed me.

“What, really? I mean… A change like that, I’m not… sure any amount of experience would do it. You’d have to have so many things line up just right, I don’t even know what they all would be. You’d need someone with experience, desire, openness, willingness… I mean, it would be such a perfect… mixture of… everything? I don’t even know where to begin. The tiniest thing would throw it off and the person would shrug off the magic. There’s no way it’s possible. And if it somehow did happen, I don’t have a clue how you’d undo something like that. Seems to me like they wouldn’t have been able to get in that kind of situation unless they wanted it.” Dweli seemed to almost laugh at the idea, finishing off the last of her breakfast.

Master reached a hand down and scritched behind my horns, but I pulled away. I don’t know what he was doing with that kind of questioning, but I was feeling more upset than ever. I padded off back to the bedroom, because I didn’t want to be in the room with them and I didn’t have a reason to go anywhere else.

I sat in the room for a while, but it wasn’t long before the door opened. I could tell it was Master by the footsteps, but I didn’t say anything right away. I just laid, curled around the eggs, staring at the round shapes that seemed to… define so much about me lately.

“Hey, look, I’m… sorry I upset you. I just… had to ask. I had to know more about what we’re dealing with, you know?”

“Mrrruf.”

“She brought it up and I couldn’t help but be curious what she knew. I didn’t think she’d be so… well, dismissive, I guess?” He sat down next to me, resting a hand on my shoulder. I flinched.

“It was… more than that. It was the way she… I mean… I don’t know exactly what word it was, it was just… I shouldn’t exist, and the fact that I do means I deserve it, I guess.”

“Oh. …I’m sure that’s not what she meant?”

“No, no, she was pretty clear on that. I wanted to lose my hands and walk around on all fours and be banned from nearly every building and have everyone look at me like I’m either gonna poop on their floor or rip peoples’ throats out. That’s me, the perfect mix of… of… being a dumb dragon that lays stupid eggs.” My voice was breaking. It was hard to talk through the emotions. Part of me wanted to lash out with a paw, and that just made me feel worse.

“Hey, come on, she doesn’t know. She’s guessing. For what it’s worth, I never think that about you? You’re my friend, my partner. I only do the whole pet thing because, well, that’s what you said you wanted? And because I’m glad to be able to help out, with the things you can’t do for yourself. There’s so much more that you can do that I can’t, and you help me out with that too. We’re in this together, aren’t we?” He kept petting at my shoulder. I wanted to curl up into a ball so tight that I disappeared.

“Nnrf… It just… doesn’t feel like it, most of the time. Everywhere we go, we run into the same things, and it just… twists the knife in my heart. It gets to me, some days more than others. And having her here, all the time, in a place where I’m usually free to talk… It’s… not easy, you know?”

“Yeah, so many times, I’ve been about to ask you something out of habit, and I have to stop myself. Like I’ve got this Sword of Damocles hanging over my head. I guess you’ve got the same sword. Probably worse, really.”

I buried my head into Master’s chest finally. I couldn’t handle doing all this alone anymore, I wanted him to hold me. “So much worse. One word, one wrong action, one reaction, one anything is enough to blow our cover. And there’s no telling what they’d do if they found out. We’ve been lucky so far, but it didn’t even occur to me until way later how much of a risk we took, letting Korrigan know. I felt like I was shaking for an entire day when that sank in.”

“Yeah, but he did take it well. Dweli probably would too, if it meant she could talk to a research subject that could actually talk back. She might try to move in with us permanently, though…”

“Rrrreh, no, not letting that happen. I think that might be even worse than being executed, having her poke her fingers in every hole she can find, every day…” Master chuckled a little, petting along my neck and back.

“Don’t worry, I won’t let her put fingers anywhere you don’t allow.” He leaned down and kissed my forehead. I blushed and purred softly.

“Mrrrh… You know, you’d look good with a tail. I had a dream last night, and you were in it, but you had a tail. I just didn’t get to say anything then.”

“Silly girl. You think everyone would look good with a tail.”

“Not everyone. Just you.” I swished mine back and forth, nuzzling into his chest. “I wouldn’t want to pair with Lance, or Arlond, or anyone else.”

“We’re talking about pairing, now?”

“No, not like… Mrrrh, I just mean, I wouldn’t want… You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?” I huffed.

“Maybe a little.”

“Whatever. I’m gonna say it, I love you. And I’m glad to have you, Master. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you, but it wouldn’t have been happy.” My head was still buried in his arms, eyes closed. I was blushing like crazy, but at least this way he couldn’t see it. I don’t think I’d have cared too much if he could. It just felt like a relief to say it, even though I didn’t know what kind of reaction he’d have.

Master just kept petting me for a bit. “I’m glad I have you too, Princess. …I love you too.”

My heart skipped a beat at the words, my tail whipping back and forth as I squirmed a little. I know we couldn’t… actually do things, with him being human and me not being one, but it still made me feel so happy just to be in his arms. For the first time in a long time, it really felt like things were going to be all right.

Just have to take things one day at a time, but with Master, I could take on anything.