Blinking in the morning light, I woke up as the day dawned, giving Master’s cheek a gentle lick. I carefully climbed down off the bed, stretched, curled my tail, and spread my wings. Master was still sleeping like a log after the exhaustion of yesterday’s magic, and I was still disguised as a dog thanks to my new collar. I paced around the room to get used to it, the guest bedroom having a small desk and chair in one corner, the bed, a dresser, and not much else. It was only a few minutes before a musical alarm broke the silence.

Master seemed to be ready to sleep through it, so I started to nudge him, pushing my nose against his cheek until he began to stir. Sleepily, he waved in my direction with a hand. “Nnnh. Okay, okay, I’m up. I’ll get you breakfast.”

“I’d let you sleep in, but you set the alarm, so I figured it’s important.” The music from his phone was still playing, finally registering in his tired mind.

“Ugh, right, I forgot I’m supposed to open the store today. I’d be so tempted to call in, but with no notice, and then she’d ask why…” He looked down at his bandaged hand, where he had cut himself and used a large portion of his own life force to power the magic to imbue my new collar with the illusion spell… I felt a twinge of guilt at the gesture, even though I know that wasn’t his intention. And when I thought of why he had to enchant the new collar, I felt a crushing weight of guilt.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” My tail curled lightly, too long to really tuck between my legs, but it did press against the floor.

“You helped a ton just making sure I woke up. Keep me company so I don’t fall asleep at the store?” He chuckled softly and rubbed between my horns.

“You got it.” I pushed my head into his hand, giving a gentle purr. Once he was up and dressed, it was time to leave the bedroom, and that meant pretending I was a “normal” dog. As normal as a reptilian-eyed dog that moved like a cougar could be, but most people wouldn’t notice those kinds of little details, I hoped.

We had to skip breakfast, walking down the roads of the small town of Ida Grove, the early morning air nice and cool. We got a few looks, since Tola was again wearing his Terra clothes. He’d decided that he may be on Earth, but he was a man of Terra now. I briefly wondered if any of the people we passed recognized me from my walks around the town when I was still searching for him.

It was such a pleasant walk that I was almost sad when we arrived, Master unlocking the door and heading inside. He settled in at the counter, and I curled up at his feet. “What’cha reading?” The store was empty so until someone came in, I was free to talk.

“Oh, just some science fiction thing I started earlier. Fantasy just hit a little too close to home at the time, when I thought I’d never see you again. It’s all right, your standard fare with spaceships and technobabble.” He flipped a few pages back, scanning the paragraphs. “Here we are. ‘We have to cycle the intake manifolds, they’ve gotten choked with ionized nebula gasses! Initiate a proton burst and reverse the polarity, and I’ll shunt the auxiliary generator!’ I mean, who talks like that, really?”

“I dunno, sometimes when you’re talking magic with Dweli or one of the other mages, you guys sound like that. Energy flows through rune configurations.” I rolled onto my back and looked up at him, sprawled out on the floor.

“I’m not that bad, am I? The stuff I say makes sense.”

“Sure, to you. I can’t follow anything past the runes named after elements. Once you get into ones named after mages that created them, or nicknames for common groups, or names of techniques? I’m just nodding and waiting for a part where I can help.”

“Huh.” He was lost in thought for a moment. “I guess I never really thought about how it sounds to someone who hasn’t followed the same path I did.” Flipping back to where he was in the book, he simply stared at it without reading, still thinking. “Science fiction and fantasy really aren’t all that different after all, are they?”

“Not until you actually learn one of them. You should try watching any movie with a hacker character when you have a degree in programming.” I resisted the urge to bat at his foot as he sat on the stool.

“Do you have one? I think you mentioned something about having an education once, but you really never talk about it for some reason.”

I was silent for a bit, until finally I gave a sigh. “No, I don’t have one. There used to be a human who had one, but no college is going to recognize Princess as an alumni. That human has been gone a long time, and any degrees it had disappeared with it, as far as I’m concerned.”

“You really don’t like talking about it, huh? Your past, your old life? There’s still just so much about you that I don’t know.”

“Nothing worth knowing. That life is over. This life, I have my Owner, I have happiness, I have far more than I could ever have dreamed of. …I don’t like talking about it, because I don’t like thinking about it.” Reaching out with a forepaw, I lightly smacked his shoe playfully.

“Still… But I guess if that’s the way it is, all I can do is respect that.” He dangled his foot out in the air, smiling as I amused myself.

The bell above the door jangled as the door opened, and I rolled to sit up so I could watch. It was the older woman who ran the store, Miss Brown. I didn’t know her well, though Master did. She came in and sat down, though she did so on the other side of Master as me, giving me a wide berth. I guess she wasn’t willing to test that ‘hypoallergenic dog breed’ claim any more than she had to.

Once she was settled in, she got a better look at Master. “Oof, you look pretty rough, James. Are you all right?”

“Ah, yeah, I just had a bit of an accident last night.” He smiled sheepishly and showed his bandaged hand. The cut had stopped bleeding, but using the hand would risk opening the wound again. “Slipped and fell in the kitchen while I was doing dishes, landed on a knife. It looks a lot worse than it really is.”

Miss Brown looked like she nearly fell off her stool, swooning just from the description and the picture it painted in her imagination. “Oh, geez, don’t scare me like that! You gotta be more careful, don’tcha know.”

“Oh, trust me, I will be from now on.” He chuckled to himself. “I’m just sore all over today, is all. I’ll be fine.”

“Well, glad you’re fine. You’re a nice young man, it’d be a shame to see something serious happen to you. You wanna step out for lunch? I’ll be here to keep the doors open.”

“I would, but I’m waiting for a friend. Cheryl and I were going to get something and look at a place to rent. I don’t want to impose on her friend Sierra any longer than I have to.”

“Okie dokie.” She smiled warmly and cracked open a book of her own, though when she thought Master wasn’t looking, she peeked at what he was reading, seeming to be a little disappointed. I’m not sure why.

It was only a few minutes when Master’s phone chimed with a text message, and a few more until Cheryl arrived. I stayed behind while they left, not many places would welcome a dog indoors and I didn’t want to sit on the sidewalk. It would scuff up my scales. Miss Brown looked fairly displeased at being alone with me, and I did my best to look indifferent to her displeasure.

“Well, at least he’s done a good job cleaning up after you. I haven’t seen a single dog hair. Not that it matters much to you, I guess.” She was ostensibly talking to me, but really it was to entertain herself. After all, a dog wouldn’t understand her or carry on much of a conversation.

Time continued to pass, the occasional customer breaking up the monotony, with the store owner being all smiles and sweetness while recommending books and authors. I was beginning to wonder what was taking so long, hoping Master would be back soon with some food since I didn’t get breakfast.

With nobody in the store, Miss Brown mused to herself. “I’m gonna have to ask what the name of your breed is, though. I couldn’t find anything online about hypoallergenic fox-dogs.”

Huh, that could be an issue. Well, not a lot I could do about it right now.

I was half-dozed when I felt something odd. It felt like magic, just briefly. Maybe I imagined it, like hearing a sound when you’re falling asleep because you dreamed it. I was just settling back in to doze again when a frantic Cheryl burst into the store, breathing heavily, her hair frizzed wildly. I was immediately on all fours, while Miss Brown gave a questioning look. “Goodness gracious, dear! You look like a wreck, what happened?”

Cheryl fought to get words out. “Princess! It’s… It’s awful! Tola’s been abducted!” I let out a yelp as it felt like ice water poured down my spine, like the floor dropped out from under me.

“Who’s Tola?” The older woman’s face was concerned, but confused.

“Oh, uh, the guy that works here? James? S-sorry, Tola’s his nickname.” Cheryl tried to get the explanation out, still catching her breath. She must have been running some distance to get here.

I let out a short bark, or at least a sound pretty close to a bark, recovering enough to move in front of her and butt my shoulder against her leg. Running or not, I needed details, I needed to go!

Miss Brown raised an eyebrow. “I guess she understands his name. That makes sense, I think. Or maybe she just has to go outside.”

It took all I had to not shoot her a withering glare right now, so instead I nudged Cheryl again.

“Right, sorry. Um, I need to take Princess with me, we gotta go right away.” She didn’t bother to stay long enough to get permission. She wasn’t asking so much as telling, and we were already heading out the door.

“Shouldn’t you call the police?” Miss Brown tried to call after us, but we ignored her.

Once we were outside, Cheryl stopped to catch her breath again. “It was horrible, some creepy guy in a hoodie stopped us and seemed really mad with Tola. Something about ‘holding him back’ and ‘refusing to sell him the real stuff’? Then he pulled out a thing, it didn’t look like a taser but it hurt like one! It shot lightning at both of us, we couldn’t move. He grabbed Tola and took off, just threw him over his shoulder… I couldn’t see where he went, but I thought maybe you can track him? Are you… Can you do that? Like a dog?” I think she only just now realized that she didn’t actually know how good a dragon’s sense of smell was.

I huffed, nudging her again. “Better than a dog. Let’s go! We gotta find them, before Master’s hurt!”

She nodded and started jogging off again, leading me to a spot a few blocks from the store. It was faint, but that feel of recent magic still clung in the air, and I really didn’t like the way that felt. Master either couldn’t use magic right now, or really, really shouldn’t, so magic being used felt like a bad sign. I put my nose to the ground and started to sniff, tongue flicking out and back in instinctively. I was finding a mental picture forming, Cheryl was the strongest since she was right here with me. Master was there, and so was someone else, I got the impression of a guy with a bit of a musty smell, like there was a lot of dust on his clothes.

It took a fair bit of concentration, circling the area. Scents really didn’t cling well to the pavement, especially with the acrid tang of car exhaust and rubber on the road, but they soon led into the woods bordering the town. That was much better for me, scents clung so much better to plants, especially when our assailant had been pushing through them and letting them brush against his skin. “Jackpot, let’s go!”

I dove in without hesitation, but I did stop a couple steps in to make sure Cheryl was following. She had a much harder time picking her way through the bushes and trees, my scales meant they couldn’t find much to grab on with me. I followed the trail, our mystery man had apparently decided carrying a helpless body down the road would attract attention, and had cut through the undeveloped land as a shortcut and to move unnoticed.

We burst out of the brush in another section of town, this one full of old houses that didn’t look like they were in the best of condition. Several had plywood boarding up the windows, with broken porch railings and other signs of decay. It also meant we were back to the problem of tracking on pavement. I let out a soft whine as Cheryl picked herself out of the plant life and joined me.

She looked around, seeing me stopped and searching. “What do we do now? Do you think he’s in one of these?”

“Maybe… He had to come out of the woods here for a reason, it’s gotta be close to his destination. Aurrrh, we gotta find him soon…!” I flicked my tongue into the air desperately, but I was assaulted with the taste and smell of “old”, just old everything, so much that I couldn’t pick it apart without much more attention than I could muster right now.

“It is incredibly weird seeing you do that, by the way. I guess the illusion doesn’t include your tongue? It’s all forked and everything.”

“I guess not, never thought about it.” I started pacing, looking at the houses, hoping I could spot some clue visually. Really, though, I was starting to panic.

We started inspecting each porch, hoping we were in the right neighborhood, when I felt another brief flash of magic. But it was faint, too weak to really pinpoint. It still helped us narrow down our search, and soon we noticed a boarded house with a fresh doormat that looked out of place with the rest of the houses. Flicking my tongue out, I nodded. This was the one, I could taste him and Master on the air here. Mystery Guy’s sweaty hand had touched that doorknob.

Cheryl looked it over, and then a determined look crossed her face. She waved for me to stand aside, before she braced herself and delivered her strongest kick into the door near the knob. A loud crack rewarded her efforts, cutting through the bang of impact, and she kicked again. This time, the door flew open, the decayed wood of the doorframe splitting apart and sending the strike plate clattering to the hardwood floor. I heard a shout from inside, and charged in with Cheryl behind me. The air was thick with Mystery Guy’s scent, he spent a lot of time in here, and I could smell powdered herbs and stones used in magic. I guess now I knew what Mystery Guy was after.

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“That’s him! That’s the guy!” Cheryl shouted and pointed at the man in the hoodie that came out of another room, who was already in an angry posture. Tall and lanky, he might’ve been gaunt under the black hoodie, but I couldn’t tell for sure.

“You made a mistake coming here, lady. I told you, you don’t have anything I want. And if you think a dog is going to save you, you’re wrong. Maybe even DEAD wrong!” Holding his hands together, he muttered under his breath, and after a few seconds, a small flame appeared in the air between them, and he moved to hold it in front of him in a cupped hand. “I bet you didn’t know, but I have REAL power!”

I let out a low growl and stepped forward slowly. I was so angry that I didn’t even want to talk right now. Even with the illusion wrapped around me, I could tell that he was using barely a candle flame compared to Master. At least, compared to how Master usually was…

“You better knock this off, you already made a huge mistake attacking Tola like that. You’ve made Princess mad, she doesn’t like people who harm her Master, you know.” Cheryl tried to sound confident, but her eyes were locked on that fire. She didn’t have a frame of reference, she didn’t know how that ranked against the ice blade she saw before.

“This dog? Hah… This is what I think of your dumb dog!” With that, he “gripped” his flame with both hands, the skin never touching it, but they directed the flame nonetheless. Slamming it down onto me, he poured all the power he could muster, making it erupt into a tower of flame with me in the center.

“Princess!” Cheryl’s voice cried out in fear and shock, though it was hard to hear over the roaring flames. I thought I had told her, but flame can’t hurt me. Maybe she forgot, or maybe she didn’t believe me, or thought I might have been exaggerating.

The Hoodie Guy’s voice cackled, until his body sagged slightly, the flames dying down and disappearing as he caught his breath. He looked so smug, until he saw me, simply sitting in the blackened circle of wood, letting out a huge yawn of boredom. “Wh… what…? How?”

I looked up, moving to stand, and gave a soft laugh. “Oh, is that the best you can do? I barely had a chance to feel warm.” I took a slow step towards him, staring him in the eyes, and he finally noticed their appearance. “See, you actually thought that would work. You tried to murder me.”

“What are you…? H-Hellhound? That’s real?” He took a step backwards, his voice rising in fear, breaking my gaze for a moment to look at Cheryl before realizing he shouldn’t take his eyes off me.

I growled, a deep, low sound, the rumble more akin to an alligator than a dog. “No. What I am, is a Real. Life. Dragon.” I mentally cancelled the illusion, letting the motes rise up and wink out as they revealed my blue scales and spreading wings. “And what else I am, is REALLY pissed off!”

Hoodie Guy backed up against the wall, his voice cracking. “D-D-DRAGON!? D-don’t kill me, p-please!” He squirmed, as if he could wiggle his way through the solid matter.

I took another step forward, my growling getting louder. “You like to play with fire? Want to see mine? See how hot I can burn you?” I let flames flicker in my throat, licking at my lips briefly and sending shadows dancing as I spoke. My long tail lashed back and forth. I took another step.

I was so focused that I didn’t feel the magic flowing in the air, barely felt the rumble before a large wall of compacted dirt burst out of the ground and up through the floorboards of the condemned house. “That’s enough, Princess. You don’t need his death on your conscience.”

My fire went out as I heard Master’s voice. It was hoarse, strained, but still confident. Looking over, I saw him standing in the doorway, one hand outstretched towards the dirt wall, the other holding his ribs. His face betrayed the severe pain it was causing him to channel magic with his soul so burned by the blood magic yesterday.

Cheryl’s eyes were wide at the display, but if she had anything to say, she wasn’t able to put it into words.

“But he hurt you! Abducted you! And he tried to kill me!” I lashed my tail again to punctuate my points, snarling in anger. “I won’t feel guilty over anyone that harms my Master!”

Master’s expression darkened deeply, his gaze glaring at Hoodie Guy. “You WHAT. You tried to kill my Princess?”

Hoodie Guy, still pressed against the wall, stammered out. “I-I-I didn’t know! I swear!”

With a wave of his hand, the dirt wall slammed into Hoodie Guy, embedding him from the neck down in a slab of dirt. It knocked the wind out of him for a moment, making him cough and gasp.

“He tried to burn me, he thought I was a dog. He didn’t know I would be immune.” I circled around as Master approached, both of us in view.

Master’s eyes narrowed. I could tell it was hurting to keep using magic, but he was far too angry to care now. “You. Your kind makes me sick. ‘Might Makes Right’, you have ‘Real Power’ and that gives you the RIGHT to pull garbage like this!” Master was standing right in front of Hoodie Guy, but the dirt was packed all around him, keeping him trapped in place.

To his credit, he managed to keep from blubbering as he tried to talk his way out of this situation. “I was wrong, please! I thought… I thought I was strong, but you’re… H-how are you so powerful?”

“I practiced. I studied. I developed myself. You found a single set of runes and managed to develop enough power to start some fires. That book you were asking me about? That’s my personal spellbook, written by my own hand. Every spell in there is one I either learned completely, or created myself through my knowledge.” He was shaking slightly, and I was worried about how long he’d be able to maintain this spell.

“Y-you’re…? What, you’re like, a grand master or something? You’re incredible, I-I’m nothing, beneath your notice! I’m not worthy, please show mercy…!” Ah, flattery, a desperate attempt.

“Oh, you might have been beneath my notice, before you hit me with a lightning wand. AND my friend! And carried me through the woods to this place. And interrogated me. And went through my belongings. And, OH YEAH, tried to kill my pet dragon! So, since you think Might Makes Right, and you can tell I have the Might… Do I have the RIGHT to kill you?”

“Tola…!” Cheryl’s voice wavered, but seemed to go unnoticed. There was building fear in that single word, and even I was starting to worry.

“Yes! Yes you do! You’re mighty! You can do anything!” Hoodie Guy seemed to be on the verge of tears.

A loud crack tore through the air, as Master slapped his captive across the cheek. “IDIOT! Are you listening at all? NO! I do NOT have the right, as tempting as it is! I’ve seen kids like you, so many times. So many Initiates who learned how to make a spark and thought it meant they were gods!”

“B-but… With magic…? Don’t we stand above…?” Hoodie Guy seemed completely confused, not ready to give up the idea of his superiority.

Master’s hand closed into a fist, and Hoodie Guy let out a bloodcurdling scream. I actually jumped back, scared for a moment, but then Master opened his hand. The dirt fell into a sandy pile all around the figure that sank to his knees, then laid on the floor, whimpering and cradling his left arm. Already it was starting to turn purple in places, and it was clear the bones were broken in multiple spots. Master stumbled, leaning against the wall, looking like he was about to fall to the floor himself from the strain of using so much magic in his state.

“Magic… Magic is a tool. A skill, an ability, like any other. Like a car mechanic, like a boxer, like a juggler, like any athlete or trade. You can use it to get ahead by helping people, or you can use it to get ahead by hurting people. You should… think long and hard about what kind of person you want to be… while your arm heals.” Straightening himself up, he stepped onto the pile of dirt and knelt down, putting his face inches away from Hoodie Guy’s. “Know this, though. If you choose the latter option, if I have to put a stop to you again… I will not be as weakened as I am right now. And I will NOT be as merciful. Understood?”

Sobbing, Hoodie Guy nodded, his breathing ragged as the pulverized arm throbbed with agony.

“Oh, one last thing.” Master reached down, searching the squirming body, before reaching into a pocket of the hoodie and drawing out a cylindrical rod. “I’m keeping this lightning wand you used on me. Any objection?”

Hoodie Guy whimpered, shaking his head out of fear of angering the powerful mage that is sparing his life. The pain in his arm kept him from really forming words, though, opting instead for groaning.

“We’re leaving.” Master stood up and headed towards the door, waving for us to follow. I fell in behind him, a bit scared of what I witnessed, but mostly just not sure how I felt and still trying to process it.

Perhaps Cheryl was in the same boat, but she looked back at Hoodie Guy. “What about him…? Do we just… leave him?”

“He has a good arm, he can call an ambulance. I crushed his left arm because I’m pretty sure he’s right-handed. That’s about all the good will I can muster for him right now.” With that, Master walked out the door, his movements stiff. I barely remembered to channel energy into my collar to reform the illusion before we went outside.

It was just after the normal lunch time for most people, so the streets were still empty as we walked. My claws clicked on the pavement as I pressed my head into Master’s hand. “New rule, I don’t let you out of my sight. That was scary, you disappearing… And you hurt yourself pretty bad just now, you pushed yourself harder than you should, didn’t you?”

Master scowled, continuing to stare forward, though he did pet between my horns, the motion automatic enough that he didn’t have to look. To others, it would look like he was petting between my ears, but if they really paid attention, they might notice his hands passing through them. “Don’t care. He tried to kill you. He’s lucky I wanted to prove a point that just because you can do something, it doesn’t mean you should be allowed to.”

Cheryl looked pretty uneasy. “Would you really have killed him? You pretty heavily implied you would if you fought him again, after all.”

Master looked at her, but couldn’t look her in the eyes for long. “I almost did. All I could think was if he’d happened to know anything other than fire, Princess might actually be dead. And it would’ve been my fault for not doing something earlier. I let the pain stop me from defending myself, from breaking free sooner when he left the room…” He looked down at me and smiled. “I heard your voice and knew I had to act no matter how much it hurt. Besides, if nothing else, I’d have killed him just to spare you that.”

I looked away. “We’ve both had to kill. We can’t really spare each other that anymore, not really. I’m… I’m glad we didn’t kill that guy. I didn’t think I’d feel guilty, when he was in front of me, but now that it’s over… Yeah, I would. And I’d feel worse if you did it.”

Master started to laugh, slowly at first, but having to actually stop and lean against a wall once he got going more. “Look at us! Both of us, so desperate to spare the other… I save you, you save me, and no matter what, we both look at the other and think, ‘I’m not doing enough, I need to do more.’ If there was a bullet coming at us, we’d be fighting over who gets to take it, trying to… push each other out of the way!”

I blushed deeply, my tail flicking a bit. “What…? I… Of course I want to do more! You do everything for me, how can I possibly match that unless I’m doing everything I possibly can in return?”

Master sank down to sit against the wall, pulling me in for a tight hug, his arms around the base of my neck as he buried his face against my scales. “You are already so incredible… You silly girl, do you think I keep you because I hope to ‘get something out of my investment’? I said it before, you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Every day, you surprise me with how… genuine you are, caring for me, about me… You drop everything and jump into the worst danger without a thought the moment anything happens to me. How could I ever live without you? Live with myself knowing I let you down? You push me… I push myself to be the best I can be because I want to give you the best I can! You give me a reason to fight, to work, to struggle…”

My eyes were wide, hearing that. I didn’t know what to say, so I buried my head into his chest. Cheryl sat down next to us, though I think she was keeping a lookout for anyone wandering by.

I sniffled softly, a forepaw on Master’s leg. “I just… All I can think about, every day, is… is ‘How can I help?’ I never know, and anything I do never feels like enough… You’re such a wonderful owner, partner, friend, whatever you want to call it. I’m always in such awe, it feels like you could do anything and I’m just… along for the ride, at best. Holding you back at worst. I can’t stand that feeling, it’s the worst thing in the world. Th-that’s why I… I ran away, when I heard you in the bookstore…” I was trembling, everything was gushing out before I could even think of what I was saying. “When you said you loved being back on Earth, wh-when you got so angry at hearing Cheryl call you ‘Tola’…”

Master’s hands stroked along my neck and side. “Shh-shh-shh, girl… Princess, it’s okay. It’s okay. I understand, you heard me say stuff, it was out of context a little, but… yeah, I see why you took it that way. I mean, I never would’ve said that if I thought you were listening. Not because I want to hide it, but because I only said it to make up for the thought of never seeing you again. Never seeing Terra again. I thought I’d be here forever, so I was trying to get myself to make the best of it.”

I sniffled, raising my head a little, just enough to look up at his face with one eye. “What do you mean?”

“You know what I was thinking, right before I said that? I was beating myself up for not appreciating what I had on Terra with you. Sometimes you just can’t see what you have until it’s gone, and I was telling myself I wouldn’t make that mistake a third time. I didn’t appreciate Earth until I ended up on Terra, then I got so wrapped up in what I’d lost that I didn’t appreciate Terra until I was back on Earth. Even when I was on Terra, grumbling about everything, I was never, ever upset with you, though.”

I pressed in against him, giving a soft, whimpering mewl. “Promise…?”

“I promise.” He smiled so warmly at me, it made me want to whimper louder for ever having doubted him. “I should’ve talked to you better. I just… You were so cheerful, so positive, in spite of everything you’d lost that I worried you wouldn’t possibly understand. And that even if you did, I would just be… I don’t know, weighing you down with stupid worries, that you couldn’t do anything about. I thought if I just didn’t say anything, it wouldn’t be an issue, but instead I made it worse. I promise, I’ll not make that mistake again.”

I wiggled in, licking at his cheek, my long tongue able to reach even though my head was just below his shoulders, against his chest. “And… and I’ll talk to you, wh-when I’m feeling… scared, and worried, and… and stuff. I don’t even know how to put it into words, I just feel this giant… ball… of every bad thing all at once. My head just throws every word it can at me. ‘Useless’, ‘Burden’, ‘Failure’… It picks that last one a lot. I mean, I failed at everything. I threw myself into a storm and failed at disappearing, I failed at remaining human, I failed at… at… I dunno, just everything. I even failed at just asking what you meant instead of running away. Like I ran away from Earth.” I started sniffling again, I was circling that dark spiral again.

Master squeezed me softly, pulling me in close again. “Hey, hey. Hey. The way I see it, you succeeded at the impossible. You crossed the storms alive, you managed to become a dragon, and you sacrificed yourself for my sake the moment you thought it was the solution to my problem. Though, that last one, never do that again, understood? You are ALWAYS a source of light for me.”

“Mrrrrhh… It doesn’t feel like success… All I can think of is how, if you never met me, what would’ve happened. Or if I didn’t make it through the storms. Maybe Elimaio would’ve mellowed out without me to fuel his paranoia. Or maybe you’d have found the Mage’s Guild by yourself. Or at least you wouldn’t have the debt from the Right of Conquest…”

“You know, a very wise friend once said that we have to keep our eyes on the path that we’re on, not look to all the paths we missed. We can’t go back and walk those paths, and if we keep looking at them, we’re bound to miss things we have now, things we can do now.” His hands kept petting me, as he smiled down at me.

I couldn’t meet his gaze, looking away. “Hmph. Sounds like that idiot, Lance. That’s dumb, I have to learn from my mistakes, so I can stop making them… I have to be better, and not be such a dumpster fire all the time.”

One hand pulled away from my neck to push a finger onto my nose. “Oh? So that advice doesn’t apply to you?”

I huffed a little at the boop, bristling a little. “Yeah, it doesn’t! Maybe if I didn’t mess things up all the time, I wouldn’t have to keep analyzing all my failures, and figuring out how to stop messing things up!”

“You know you’re the wise friend, right? That was what you said, cheering up Aesis, after the fight with the gryphon. You are so used to beating yourself up that you’re literally considering ‘not dying’ to be ‘messing things up’. And ignoring your own advice because it means not beating yourself up.” Leaning his head down, he planted a soft kiss at the end of my nose, hugging me tight again.

I blushed deeply, squirming, but I didn’t have words to refute him. Finally, I just blurted out, “See? Another mistake.” My tail was wagging lightly, though, and I pressed in to lick at his chin, my tone of voice hopefully making it clear that I was joking.

Master laughed again, leaning back with me in his arms, and even Cheryl chuckled a little. “Princess, Tola, I think we need to get you both into therapy. Mostly Princess, but I don’t know who would accept a dragon as a patient.”

Even though I was sniffling, I couldn’t help but giggle at the mental image. Tola fished his phone out of his pocket, though. “I better give Elsie a call and let her know I’m all right, and that I’m gonna need a longer lunch break than I thought.” We sat like that for at least half an hour, just hugging, laughing, and resting.