Morning rose over the small mining outpost. The light was now shining through the windows of the barracks we had spent the last couple nights, and landed in my face. I got up, stretched, curled my tail, and spread my wings. A movement and grumbled protest came from underneath me, as my Master looked up at me with bleary eyes. “Mmh. Morning, Princess.”

I sheepishly moved to climb down from the bed, sitting on the floor and pressing my head against his hand. “Sorry, Master. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“Meh. ‘Wake’ implies I was able to sleep. Feels like I was up the entire night.”

“Oh, should we try to sleep in a little more?” Not that I thought we’d actually be able to. Captain Aesis was already awake and making her bed. Lance was sitting up in his bed, his sword out, as he carefully inspected the edge of the blade and made mental notes where it would need the attentions of a whetstone.

Seeing the others already beginning their day, Master seemed to have come to the same conclusion, as he pulled the covers aside and sat up, rubbing his tired eyes with a hand. “How are you feeling, girl?”

I looked myself over. The torn wing had mended completely, there was a faintly discolored line where the tear had been. The bruising wouldn’t have been visible, but I stretched as best I could, trying to see if I could trigger the protests of muscles, but nothing happened. “I feel just fine. I told you it was nothing to worry about.” Master scowled slightly, but didn’t say anything.

Captain Aesis was already stowing her things into her backpack. “Good, the sooner we can get on the road, the better.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Master grumbled, yawning hugely before standing up and getting his things together. After a moment, he paused, then looked over at Lance, who seemed to be completely unconcerned with packing. Or perhaps he never really unpacked. “No breakfast today?”

“Eh, I prepared some dried meat and things for the road, for when we stop for lunch.” When that didn’t get a response, Lance looked up, seeing Master still looking in his direction. “I don’t like eating a meal before walking. Especially anything heavy. Slows you down. Besides, we just ate last night.” He didn’t bother to see if that ended the talk or not, his eyes were back on the edge of his blade.

Master sighed and finished packing his books into his satchel bag. Once that was finished, he tightened the straps of my harness into place, the weight of the packs evenly distributed along my body. Then he stood up and brought the strap of his satchel over his head, letting it rest on his shoulder and leave the bag to hang by his hip. “Well, I’m so sorry to keep everyone waiting.”

Captain Aesis was already by the door, and Lance simply put his sword into its sheath and stood. With that, we started our journey back towards Winselton.

The trip was mostly made in silence. It may have been a victory, but it really didn’t feel that way for most of us. Master was sore, exhausted, and in a bitter mood. I could only guess at what must be going through his mind, and none of my guesses were promising. Was he worried about the injury I sustained, thinking about how close I likely came to death? Was he thinking about his own mortality, and how even with everything he did, he only barely stopped the beast? Was he upset for some other reason, like seeing a real life gryphon for the first time and being forced to fight to the death against it? At least the others seemed easier to read.

Captain Aesis still wore the tabard, but without the armor underneath, it made her look almost deflated. The potion may have healed her wound, but it did little for either her pride or the armor that was damaged to the point it couldn’t be worn.

Lance, too, seemed upset that he was able to do little more than serve as a distraction, or at least that’s how he felt. In reality, the wounds he caused probably weakened the beast greatly, but I heard the way he cried out when the Captain was bitten. It was a sound of fear I’d never heard him make before.

I followed, padding along at Master’s side, lost in thought myself. A year ago, I walked on two legs like the rest of them, but the ground I walked on was so different than now. If someone had told me then where I’d be today, I’d have assumed they were completely insane. And yet, now that I was here, I could barely even remember what it felt like to be walking upright, with no tail to balance myself or sway with the movement of my hips. It was like a dream that had faded into nothingness. Sure, I had my memories, but the actual sensations, the day-to-day functions of my body, felt more like a story I had been told than anything I actually lived.

We stopped, and I realized that the others had been talking for a few minutes. They’d picked out a place to stop and rest for lunch. The road had been cut through the forest, mostly straight but still winding side to side to avoid particularly stubborn trees, and so the forest was dense on either side. This made it difficult to notice how the sun had slowly risen to hang high over our heads. Stopping was fine with me, I was rather hungry now that I was pulled out of my own thoughts.

While the others sat, I rested my chin on Master’s thigh. His hand automatically came down and stroked between my horns. It was nice, but I couldn’t help but think about how things could have been so different, with just tiny changes to the course of events. Maybe I would have been the mage and him the pet! …No, probably not. Master didn’t seem like the kind of person who would take to this body as well as I did… Besides, I had no desire to swap places, even if it had been an option. Maybe that’s why I ended up stuck on all fours.

Food was passed around and so were waterskins. The conversation was minimal, small talk about the nice weather, estimations on how long before we’d be back in Winselton, things like that. Master’s responses were almost single words, minimal in the context of minimal. Perhaps I could lighten the mood a little.

“At least the next group of miners will fare better. We did pretty well.” I let my tail sway a little, hoping to sell the positivity.

Captain Aesis scowled a bit. “True, but I still don’t know what attracted that gryphon. They’re solitary beasts, generally, so hopefully he wasn’t followed, but still. That was eight men whose lives were lost.”

It would be a hard sell, to say the least. “Well, I mean… It’s not like any of us could have been there beforehand. We just do what we can, and we help people where we are. We can’t be everywhere, helping everyone.” I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going for, so I just kept going. “Like, the attack would’ve had to have happened before they were to send their shipment and report, so a week or two before we were even told about it. Where were you last week, or the week before? You were still helping people, who would have been in danger if you were out fighting a gryphon. And you had no way to know when it was going to show up, so you’d have had to leave town and just… take up residence at the outpost since they started it! So every single person you helped from that day to now would’ve had to go without having you there! That’s gotta be a lot of people, right? I’m not, like, saying they… are worth more than the miners, or that you can even really weigh them against each other, but… But it’s gotta count for something at least, right?” At some point, I had walked over towards the Captain, looking up to meet her eyes, so I could see how she was reacting to my words. I was close enough now that she could reach out and pet me, if she wanted to.

She didn’t. She simply stared down at me for a moment, thinking. Finally, she let out a sigh. “It’s not the comfort you seem to think it is.” She took another drink from her waterskin.

“I’m not saying it’s a comfort, I’m just saying it’s not… as cut and dry as you’re talking. Life is full of branches. Every path has what it has, and doesn’t have what it doesn’t. Sometimes you can see what was on the path you didn’t take, sometimes you can only guess. But you can’t go back and take that different path, can you? All you can do is take the best path you can with every step. If you see another path you could have taken that you want that badly, the most you can do is watch out for such paths in the future. But if you, with every step, walk the best path you can, then you don’t have reason to regret the steps you took. You made the best choice you could with the information you had at the time. At the most, you can use this as a reminder to try to get more information before taking a step, but that’s all you really can do in life, isn’t it?” Again, I just sort of let the words tumble out. Half of them were directed at myself, anyway.

Captain Aesis just watched me for a bit, going over what I said. I think she was trying to determine if what I said was really profound, or just nonsense. To be honest, I wasn’t sure myself. After a moment, she shrugged and nodded. “I… suppose? I’m still not sure what… I’m not even sure what I’m not sure about.”

“Maybe we should see if Winselton has a therapist.” My tail swished a bit more. Still no pets, though.

“A what?” The Captain looked from me to Master, as if expecting him to make his pet make sense.

Lance chimed in, chuckling. “Is this a Dayvefrom Akownting thing?”

“A what?” This time, she looked at Lance.

“Something from my homeland, yeah. A therapist is like… a doctor, but for your mind. They help with your feelings, they’re someone you can talk to about anything, and they help you process your emotions and learn more about yourself. They study for years to be able to help people. Mental health is important.”

“Mental health? The more I hear about this homeland of yours, the stranger it gets.”

“Maybe, but isn’t there anyone people just… talk to about how they’re feeling?”

“A tavernkeep, maybe.” Lance chuckled again. “An innkeeper. A serving girl. A brothel girl, not that I’d know anything about them.” Lance grinned in a way that left no doubt that he knew quite a lot about them, through personal experience.

Captain Aesis just gave him a look of disgust and sighed. “It’s fine, if I couldn’t handle it, I wouldn’t be fit to be a Captain.”

“Well, see, that’s just the kind of thinking that can be hazardous. Everyone has doubts and fears and such, it doesn’t make you any less of a person or a Captain. You wouldn’t pretend your armor didn’t have a hole in it and wear it anyway, would you? You wouldn’t twist your ankle and run a footrace on it, would you? You have to take time to care for yourself, and be aware of your thoughts, instead of covering them up, bottling your emotions, pretending to be some gleaming flawless marble statue.” Master gestured with the hand holding his waterskin.

The Captain stared in silence for a while, and then finally stood up. “I think it’s time we got moving again.”

“I still say you should think about talking things out with someone, when you can.”

The Captain didn’t respond, shouldering her pack and standing, waiting for everyone else to do the same. As we set out, Master slipped me the last piece of salted gryphon meat, and I swayed my tail as I chewed at it.

The rest of the trip had been uneventful, and mostly silent. There was a lot of tension in the air, but if anyone had an idea on how to ease it, they didn’t say anything. When we camped for the night, it was a time spent staring at the top of our tent. Definitely not restful. And when we got to town, we could barely part ways fast enough. As soon as Master was done with the business in Captain Aesis’s office, we were already headed towards the south gate to wait on a ride back to Hammerfell.

We waited around just outside the gates, in a small clearing with mostly dirt ground where traffic often stopped. At least with nobody around, I had a bit of an opportunity to talk to Master for a bit. “Are… are you all right? I mean, it could’ve gone better, but… we didn’t do that badly, did we?”

Master went from quiet seething to an animated explosion. Pacing about and gesturing with his arms, crossing them only to spread them wide again. “No, not badly at all. Except that the town guards are allowed to drug suspects to extract information. And now Aesis knows you can talk, and who knows who she’ll tell. And we risked our lives for the sake of merchant profits and nearly all of us died because of that armored–… jerk’s pride. ‘Oh, if we send military after the deadly monster, they’ll call me weak, so I guess you guys will have to risk your lives too!’ And Lance is just so… casual about everything! Do you know he told me he wished I hadn’t crushed its skull, that an intact head would’ve been the most valuable trophy from the body? Like, excuse me for saving our lives, his included! He wanted more gold coins to clink in his pouch, more than he cared for being alive to spend them! Or maybe the rest of us being alive, since he was so confident he’d survive!” He stopped for a moment to kick a small stone, sending it flying towards the underbrush. For a split second, I had a strong urge to go chase the small moving object.

“It could just be… unhealthy ways of expressing emotions. Both of them. Maybe Lance is putting up a front of being unbothered to hide his own fears. I think he was pretty shook up by the fight, to be honest. And Captain Aesis, well, you heard how she talked. I know what it’s like to constantly feel like you… well…” My voice started to break a little, as my thoughts went down a road I wasn’t caring much for. “…you aren’t good enough…”

“Oh, I know that feeling, but at least I’m honest about it. I don’t try to claim I’m the best mage that ever lived, I don’t try to be something I’m not. Lance brags every chance he gets, he almost seems to make a game of it. Aesis thinks if she polishes that shield of hers enough, people won’t be able to see her as anything less than perfect. Me? I don’t have a sword or a shield, or the skill to use either. I’m an outsider trapped in this damn place where people die constantly, and nobody cares! I’m one step, one wrong move, one bad thing said to the wrong person from having a dagger shoved in my guts, and all anyone will say is, ‘Oh, well, sucks to be him. I call ‘not it’ on hauling the body. Anything good in his pockets?’ I’m going to die here, probably sooner than later, and… and…! I don’t even know! I’m so far beyond ‘in over my head’ that I wouldn’t know… how to… I don’t even know where I wanted to go with that metaphor!” He crossed his arms and went back to fuming, before sighing heavily.

His words cut deep, I felt a flash of anger, I wanted to retort, but… I had to stop myself, it would only make things so much worse. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I just moved in and leaned against his side, pressing my shoulder to his hip, lifting my head to lean it against his chest and look up at him. Let him know I’m here, I guess. “Yeah, it’s… it’s a lot to deal with, isn’t it?”

Perhaps he caught my hesitation at first, or maybe he’s gotten better at reading my expressions since he’s known me so long. “Speaking of ‘in over one’s head’, huh? But really, how are you not… angry? At all of this? At everything that’s happened?”

“Because… I don’t know. I know it helps a lot that you’re here. That I’m with you. That I have you for a Master.” He flinched.

“That’s… That’s been something I’ve been wanting to ask, too. Why? Why are you okay with being a pet? I mean, you specifically asked, instead of asking to be… I don’t know, free?”

My head lowered. I stared at the thick forepaws I now had. “What would being ‘free’ look like, for me? Living in the wild, hunting rabbits or something for scraps of meat? Starving to death when I fail? Trying to see if I can eat berries and finding out the hard way that they’re poisonous? Coming a little too close to a town and getting shot down by someone with a bow, or hunted by someone like Lance for a reward posted by a farmer scared I’m going to kill his livestock? I don’t have the instincts, I don’t have the learning of a real dragon.”

“You could ask to be a partner instead of a pet.”

I scoffed lightly, a half-chuckle. “Oh, sure, a partner that you have to feed every day and let outside to do her business and who walks around on all fours. Is there really a difference between that and ‘pet’? I’d be alone inside our own home. I’m dependent on you no matter what we call it, at least as a pet I can… I don’t know, give something back. …Companionship, I guess. Anything, instead of being a worthless burden. Or a bundle of hide and bones.”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“…Is… that how you really see yourself? A burden?”

I sniffled. I didn’t even want to nod. Still no tears, though. My eyes simply don’t work that way anymore. “You wouldn’t be in debt if it wasn’t for me. You might’ve found the Mage’s Guild on your own and studied, or found a nice library to work at, or found some other calling. You wouldn’t have to constantly make assurances to people for me, wouldn’t have to pay extra deposits, wouldn’t have to make extra food runs or be careful about my diet… Just… all the time, the stuff you gotta do because of me, the stuff you have to go through…”

He kneeled down beside me, putting an arm around my neck tenderly. “You mean, all the stuff I do as a pet owner? The same stuff I’d be doing as a friend, if you weren’t a pet? If it wasn’t for you, I’d have been killed by Elimaio. Or still in his cage being tortured. Or I’d be killed by bandits while I was going from place to place, trying to find somewhere to get on my feet. Or breaking some law I never knew about and arrested. Or who knows what? Weren’t you the one who said we have to walk the path we’re actually on, instead of looking at other branches, or something like that?”

I sniffled again. “Yeah, well… I admit I was kinda thinking of my own path, and all the branches I could’ve taken. But I couldn’t even manage something as simple as ‘staying human’, something literally nobody else has ever failed at before, apparently…”

“You could look at it more as ‘Nobody else has ever managed to successfully become a dragon’. I know you’ve seen the internet, you can’t think others wouldn’t try.”

I let out a laugh, a bit of a blush underneath my scales. “Yeah, I, uhh… I mean… It’s a whole lot more positive-sounding when you aren’t thinking about having to dig holes to do your business in with the same paws you use to walk around inside or do other stuff.”

“Oh, I dunno, I bet a lot of people online would be into a lot worse than that. Furries can be pretty weird folk.” He said with a chuckle to join my laugh, his other hand scritching under my chin. But I pulled away.

“We’re not… I mean…”

“Oh, you were…? I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“No, I know, it’s just… I guess on some level I did want this…? That it really is my fault?”

“Hey, hey now. Don’t think of it as ‘fault’, think of it as… um, ‘this is you now’. If this happened because of something deep down inside, then it’s hardly a bad thing, right? And if it isn’t because of that, then it’s just a thing nobody can blame you for? N-not that I’m ‘blaming’ you for anything, just… Dang it, I know what I want to say, I just have no idea how to say it. What I mean is… To me, you’ve always been Princess. And I like Princess. And it sounds like if anything changed at all, it’s just making you more true to yourself? Or maybe not, but it’s who you are now, so… so what is there to worry about? Ugh, I’m messing this up, aren’t I?”

I had squirmed a little, but he kept me held close. He knew I wouldn’t pull away too hard, and he was right. Finally I relented and leaned back into his arms, nosing at his hand to let him know I’d accept scritches now. “You’re not messing it up… At least, it’s hard to mess me up any more than I’ve already messed myself up. And… yeah. I… I like being Princess, with you. It feels good to be next to you and feel my tail sway when I’m happy. It feels good to curl up with you in bed and tuck my nose in under your chin, and hear your heartbeat and feel your warmth and smell your scent. It feels good to follow along at your side and know that nobody’s gonna mess with you because I’m there, and if anyone tries, I can scare them off. Or… well, I try not to think too much about the times they didn’t… get scared off… Like the bandits, or Elimaio.”

“Shh-shh-shh… It’s okay. I don’t like it, but it’s a land of… of life and death, I guess. Maybe I was just lucky to not think of Earth that way, but there’s a lot of that there, too.”

I pressed in close, burying my head against his chest. “Just… I… I like being Princess, a lot more than I like the idea of trying to be a human in this world. At least it has libraries. It doesn’t have computers for me to program.”

“Oh, is that something you did on Earth? You haven’t told me much about your life before all this, you know…” I don’t know how much of it was him actually feeling better, and how much of it was him trying to sound cheerful for my sake. I liked to hope he was feeling better. Now if only I could too.

“Well, kinda… I was always big on them, I got a degree, but I never actually got a job in it, yet. I’m sure with all the interest, my student loans are probably about as big as our debt here. Good luck actually collecting anything on it, jerks!” Okay, I guess I was feeling a little better.

“Hah, yes. ‘I’m sorry, we’ll have to garnish your wages. You owe us three bowls of kibble per week.’ Or maybe they’ll garnish your eggs and steal one.”

I stiffened hard the moment the words left his mouth, my whole body tensed as my claws dug into the dirt. It took a moment to be able to unclench myself, but the next breath or two came out as a low growl.

“Oops, I went too far?” Master was stroking along my neck, trying to help me calm down.

“S-sorry. It just… For a moment there, my brain was just screaming in… barely even words. Just ‘Threat to eggs!’ or something similar. …I wanna get home and make sure they’re okay.” I let out a deep sigh as I forced myself to let the tension out, my tail still flicking lightly in irritation.

“It’s all right, we’ll be there soon. The cart is supposed to be leaving within the half-hour.”

I simply nodded, resting my head on his thigh. “I know Dweli is gonna take care of them, but… I’m not really gonna be able to relax until I see them, you know?”

“Yeah, I get it. Sorry for joking about it.”

“It’s all right.” I didn’t have anything more to say, and I didn’t really want to. I just wanted to enjoy being held for a bit.

It was almost nightfall when we made it back to the tower. When we came in, we saw Professor Dweli seated in the entrance room with a thin, stern-looking man we didn’t recognize. Master raised an eyebrow and looked over at the two. “I didn’t know you had company, Professor.”

“Actually, you do, Mage Tola.” She stood up, gesturing towards him as if introducing him.

“Mmh, yes. The Professor was telling me you’d be back yesterday, but I suppose this isn’t an intolerable delay.”

“So sorry to disappoint.” Master’s tone of voice made it pretty clear he wasn’t actually sorry at all. “I don’t suppose this can wait until morning? I have had a hell of a time.” He hung his cloak on a hook by the door and went to walk past the figure.

“I really would like to get this done sooner rather than later. With less stalling.” The visitor had a sort of… aristocratic nasal whine to his voice, that’s the best way I could think of to describe it.

Master stopped, turning his shoulders to look at the visitor again. “Stalling. I’m sorry, you said ‘stalling’. You said it as if it was a perfectly okay thing to say to someone whose home you’re in unannounced. Mind explaining why?”

“I have been waiting three days to talk to you about collecting your taxes for the year. According to my paperwork, you haven’t paid taxes once the entire time you’ve lived here, and the property has a rather substantial debt attached to it. Mind explaining why?” That last part was with a tone that was somehow even more nasal and whiny, a feat I didn’t think was possible before then.

Master stared in silence, then turned to fully face him. “Does your… paperwork include how long I’ve lived here? Or, say, what response I gave last year when my taxes were to be collected?”

“Mmh, I’m afraid such trivialities aren’t recorded, no.”

“I didn’t give a response last year because I wasn’t here last year. I haven’t paid taxes before because I’m new to the area. The property has a debt because the previous occupant was an insane jerk who kidnapped and tortured people out of paranoia, and even though I put a stop to his reign of terror, I’m saddled with paying all of his fines, because in order to save the life of my companion, the dragon staring at you and trying to determine if you’re a threat or not, I had to use a ridiculous law that treats me like I’m trying to cheat the system when I’m not.” At the mention of me, the visitor turned to look at me, and I did my best to convey a look that said I was unsure but leaning towards threat. “And furthermore, I was assured I would be given an opportunity to set up a payment plan, one that would take into account my ability to pay, with generous terms, because of both my service in ridding the area of Elimaio and in my service to the Crown in the time I’ve lived here. Service which, I might add, I just got back from performing, including having to face down a raging gryphon before crushing his skull with a giant boulder. So I’m really, really sorry if I’m not intimidated by you showing up in my home and being an asshole to me from the moment you part your lips. Care to try again in the morning? I’m sure I have a guest bedroom available somewhere in here you can use, it might be a bit dusty from me not entering it the last several months, or you can stay at the inn over in Hammerfell. Maifen’s stew is delicious. Good night.” With his tirade over, Master turned on his heel and stormed out of the room. I hurried to follow him, letting the tax collector do his best impersonation of a fish, with his mouth opening and closing. Dweli had also looked pretty shocked, but I’m not sure if it was the talk of killing the gryphon, or the way Master had blown up.

He was heading to the bedroom, which was fine with me. “Sorry, Princess, I just… I don’t have patience for this guy right now. I want to lay down and be very unconscious.”

When we got into the bedroom, however, the nest was missing. The pile of old clothes that had been arranged around my eggs had been cleared off the floor, and the eggs were nowhere to be seen, either. It felt like ice water had replaced my blood. Master threw his bag onto the bed before storming out towards the front room. “DWELI! WHERE! ARE! The EGGS!?” I suspect he yelled so I wouldn’t be tempted to. I was hot on his heels, though.

“They’re fine, I moved them to the workroom so I could keep an eye on them! It felt a little strange to be in your bedroom.” Her voice had carried out before we even rounded the corner, and I scrambled on ahead.

Behind me, Master had stopped and taken a deep breath. “I’m sorry for that, and for earlier. As I said, it’s been a very, very horrible time. I shouldn’t have yelled like that, but seeing them missing was… It was scary, and Princess has been… fussing about being away from them for so long. Probably, I mean. She’s been fussier than usual, you know?”

“No, I get it. It’s all right. I would have told you when you came in, but you didn’t give me the chance.” The tax collector was still there, though he’d recovered his composure enough to simply glare until addressed. Or maybe that was just his normal expression. I hadn’t stuck around, I was already heading into the workroom past the study, my tail wagging when I saw the nesting box Dweli had made. Or probably had gotten made in town. I curled up around them and purred softly, letting my heart rate come back down to normal and the near-panic subside. I could still faintly hear the conversation, it was only a couple rooms away with no closed doors, after all. And my hearing was a lot better than it was as a human.

“Yes, again, I’m sorry for that, Professor. And sorry for my earlier outburst, Mr… I never actually asked your name, my apologies.”

“Mmh, Mr. Tahn. Anyway, as you said, you’ve had a rough time of it the last few days, I think I’ll retire to the inn you mentioned and try some of that stew. I take it you’ll be in a better mood to go over things tomorrow?”

“I should be, yes.”

With the visitor gone, the two came into the workshop. I lifted my head, but didn’t move from the eggs. Master sat down on the floor next to me and petted my head softly, while Dweli pulled up a stool and sat in it to watch with an expression of thought. “The eggs have seemed perfectly healthy, as far as I can tell. I have to ask, though, you said Elimaio tortured her? Do you know what kinds of things he did? He might have left some sort of permanent damage.”

Master didn’t look up, neither of us really wanted to stop what we were doing, being together and safe and having everything be okay for a change. “No, I don’t. I didn’t know magic before I started studying it, and I didn’t study it until after he was defeated. What little I do know of his experiments is enough to tell me it wouldn’t be humane to reproduce them, anyway.” It was almost exactly the same thing he’d said to Captain Aesis when she had asked, I think it was something he’d practiced in his mind, something with everything technically true, but leaving out the key details.

“Experiments?” Dweli was silent for a while, but Master didn’t reply. “…Do you know how much of her human mind she still has?”

Any hope we would’ve had in playing it off was out the window well before we stopped staring at her in shock, like deer caught in headlights. “I, uh, I’m sorry? Human?” Master tried to chuckle, but it came out nervous and unconvincing. “Wha– I mean, why would you… She’s not human, you saw her lay eggs!”

Dweli lowered her head, looking over the rim of her spectacles. “Yes. And she’s been in that form for quite a long time. According to your reports, she’s also breathed fire. But… I know what kind of experiments Elimaio was doing. On top of that, the whole time you’ve been gone, I’ve been going over our last conversation in my mind. When you were asking about transformations, and the possibility of one becoming permanent.”

“Oh, that? That was just–”

“Please don’t continue to insult my intelligence any further, Mage Tola.” Like any good professor, she had a perfect tone for putting a student in his place. “Princess is able to do all these things, which normally would have me consider her strange behavior just odd instead of anything to think about. But the more I thought about it, the more things added up. I mean, for instance, how did she know to come to the workshop from just me saying it?”

Oops.

Master looked at me, grimacing lightly, as if wanting to ask how I wanted to proceed, but really there was no way around it at this point. I had to speak up.

“As far as I can tell, I still have pretty much all of it, Professor.” I couldn’t help but lower my gaze a little, like a student that’d been caught cheating.

She nearly fell off the stool. “A– Amazing! You can speak? Even temporary transformations haven’t… You know, honestly, I wasn’t completely certain, until I saw your reactions, but I didn’t expect that!”

“Well, it did take me almost a month before I could form words again. I only practiced when Elimaio wasn’t around. When he thought I had lost my mind to the changes, he was… a lot less cruel, after all. Wasn’t much point in torturing someone when there was nothing to learn from it anymore, I suppose.”

With the secret out, I told her more about what happened. About how Elimaio had transformed me, about the green dragon, about the control collar. She asked a lot about how it felt in that moment, how it felt to no longer be manually controlling my new limbs. How it felt to use my new abilities. Master answered what questions he could, but there weren’t many that weren’t better asked of me.

After probably an hour of questioning, she finally moved on to the gryphon we fought instead. We did our best to talk about what we had observed, and what Lance and the Captain had told us. She confirmed that they normally wouldn’t come anywhere near this far south, but she didn’t know what could’ve driven this one so far from its home territory. She did seem a little sad that it was killed, but admitted there simply was no way we could have feasibly captured it or driven it back north. That honestly made me feel a little better. Not a whole lot, I still felt bad for the creature.

Talking about the fight, however, brought up my injury.

“How badly did it hurt when she was touched?” She pressed her fingers against my chest, until she realized she wasn’t diagnosing anything current. “Sorry, I’m not used to a patient that can talk.”

“It’s fine. It hurt pretty badly, especially when we went to put the harness on. It felt like I was being stabbed, badly.”

“Hm… How did you react? Or, I guess, how did your instincts tell you to react?”

“I wanted to shriek? Bite? Get away? I think my vision blacked out for a moment. I don’t really know, it was just sort of an ‘everything at once’ kind of feeling.”

“It definitely sounds like you cracked the ribs, probably two, maybe three. You said it was here, and here?” She poked specific spots that I’d identified earlier.

“Yeah. But cracked? I thought that took a lot longer to recover from. Like, weeks. It had to just be a bruise, right?” I shook my head, she had to be exaggerating.

“If it took you a whole day, they were definitely cracked. If it had been a bruise, a dragon like you would’ve recovered in less than an hour.”

Master chimed in. “A dragon like her?”

“Well, I mean a dragon. Which, as far as I can tell, her intelligence and speech are the only things different about her.” When that didn’t seem to get us to react in a way that indicated we understood, she continued. “Dragons recover from injury incredibly fast. The same way smaller reptiles can regenerate entire legs or tails, so too can dragons regenerate. We think it’s part of their magic, but it happens much faster than it does with lizards. Many animals that have strong magic have similar abilities to recover, though not all of them can restore limbs. As long as it doesn’t kill her, she should be able to heal from just about anything in a few days, at most.”

“Well, that’s good news. I told you it was more than a bruise though, girl.” Master chided me, and I flicked my tail in irritation.

“Maybe it was, but I told you that it wasn’t serious. And apparently, for a dragon, a cracked rib isn’t serious. So there.”

Dweli laughed softly at the exchange. “And here I was worried Tola would be upset at finding out about you, Princess. You two almost sound like you’re married!”

“No, no, nothing like that. I mean, he doesn’t even have a tail!” I grinned and pushed my head into Master’s hands, while he did his best to pet me while rolling his eyes.

“We’re… kind of partners in this, the whole magic thing, the whole tower thing. We’ve saved each other’s life multiple times now. It’s just how it is.”

“We’re a little married.” I grinned.

We had to end the conversation, I was about to fall asleep between questions, and I think Master was at about the same point. Master carried the box back to the bedroom, and I was finally able to get the harness taken off, the straps and packs left in a pile on the floor to be dealt with tomorrow. We curled up in bed for some much-needed rest. We’d probably have to deal with Dweli and her questions, but at least she’d get a lot more material for her books, I suppose. And there was the matter of the tax collector, but that would be pretty mundane stuff and more Master’s thing than mine. All I cared about was that we were home, we were safe, and everything seemed to be good right now. For the first time in several nights, I slept well.