I woke up in a bed. I didn’t go to sleep in a bed, I went to sleep on my pile of blankets and cushions in the corner of Master’s bedroom. I stretched, curled my right leg, and worked my shoulderblades. Oh, right: I’m a human. I looked around, and saw Master asleep in a chair in the room. It had some padding, but it still wasn’t the most comfortable place to sleep. He must have moved me after I fell asleep last night. I was pretty tired, so that must be why I didn’t wake up. Yesterday was pretty wild. Partially just to remind myself that this was real, my mind wandered over it. Tola discovered books left behind by his predecessor, the mad wizard Elimaio, which discussed the magic involved in transforming a subject from one species to another. He offered me the chance to try out life as a human for a few days, instead of my usual dragon body. What he didn’t know is that I’ve been human before. I was actually born one, and it was Elimaio who turned me into the dragon Tola met me as.
In what should be an impossible development, however, that transformation ended up becoming permanent. According to all the books, a soul in a different body eventually breaks down the magic that keeps it in that body. Instead, somehow, my soul seems to have “adapted”, becoming draconic, so when the spell expired, there was no other “true form” to revert to. As for how that happened, well… That was a very stressful conversation, involving dredging up very stressful memories of a very stressful time. My best guess is that I was somehow so accepting of my new body that I managed to change down to my very soul. Which is something else the books claim isn’t possible. Either way, being in a human body this time is quite different than being in a human body before. This time, I have a whole load of instincts tugging constantly at me, demanding I stop this “not having a tail” silliness at once. When I was first turned into a dragon, it was like wearing a baggy, heavy suit that didn’t fit well. That feeling went away after my, well, I don’t know what to call it. Breakthrough? Breakdown? When I assume my soul changed, if that’s even what happened. Now, though, it feels like I’m wearing a tight, restrictive, almost painful set of bindings. Nearly every action sets off alarm bells in my head that everything is “wrong”. But it’s only for a few days, I’m sure I’ll manage.
The biggest reason I accepted the offer was because I thought that once I was human again, I’d stay this way. It quickly became apparent that I can’t, and after some thought, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t want to. My life as a human wasn’t anything to particularly celebrate, and my life as Princess the dragon has been pretty great, the last couple months. I met Tola and we got free of Elimaio, even if it was pretty violent. Tola was able to assume ownership of Elimaio’s tower and possessions, but also assumed all of his debts as well. “Possessions” included the animal locked in a cage, me. And after some time where we pretended I was his pet, I decided I liked it enough to make it a real thing. So now I have a Master to love and protect, and he has a Pet to love and take care of. And with a library full of books, Tola’s been studying them to learn magic. This has allowed him to start solving problems for the townsfolk, which has been earning income that we can use to make payments on the tax debt, so the Crown doesn’t have to start repossessing things. One of the things the guards wanted to start with was the dragon hide and other butcherable bits of yours truly, so I am all for any efforts to keep that from happening.
I slipped out of bed, and it only took a moment this time to remember to walk on two feet. I was still walking on the balls of my feet, heels staying in the air, but there wasn’t enough reason not to for me to spend the extra effort of walking like a human. Master was still asleep in that chair, snoring loudly in what had to be an uncomfortable position. I thought about trying to cook breakfast for him, that it would be a nice change of pace, but then I had a mental image of me burning down the kitchen. I wasn’t good at cooking before, and after nearly half a year of not having thumbs, maybe I shouldn’t be trying it on my own… So instead, I poked him gently, my face close to his. He woke up with a start, and I backed up to let him stand up and stretch, watching with a tilted head. “You shouldn’t have given up your bed like that. I’d have been fine in my nest.”
“Normally, yes, but you’re not built the same way as usual right now. I’m fine with the chair for a day or two.” Master was always so self-sacrificing… But I couldn’t really harass him about it without doing the same thing.
“Mrrrh. Fine. But if you start having problems, you tell me, okay? Promise?”
“I will. Promise.” This was the usual dance. He’s never actually complained, so I don’t know if that’s because they haven’t actually been problems, or if he’s not holding to his promise. But he’s not the type to break promises, and I Trust my Master, so I won’t say anything about it.
“Okay, then. So, what shall we work on today?”
As if on cue, there was a loud knocking at the door. It was such a loud banging that both of us jumped at the sound, making our way to the front room of the tower. Upon opening the door, we were met with the gruff face of the town’s blacksmith. “Ah, good, was worried maybe y’ didn’t hear me knock.”
Master was surprised to see him outside his forge, let alone at his door. “No, that wasn’t an issue. Would you like to come in?” He swept a hand towards the chairs set up, the front room set up for meetings and discussions.
The large man moved in, looking around a little, but his eyes quickly fell on me. I felt pretty self-conscious, looking away. I hadn’t thought about being seen like this, and I was kicking myself for not hiding before. He didn’t say anything, though.
“Oh, that’s, um, a friend of mine. She’s… visiting for a couple of days. We’re doing… magic related things, nothing to worry about.” Not the smoothest cover, but it was probably enough, right?
“Didn’t ask, not my business.” He sat down in one of the chairs. He didn’t mean to be rude, he just couldn’t help but be as rough as unworked ore.
“Right, so, what business are you here for?” Master sat down opposite him, a low table in between them which could be used for papers if necessary. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I sat in the chair next to Master.
“Ah, well, I had someone send a message askin’ about a special order. Since he’d heard we have a mage now, he was askin’ about gettin’ a sword with an enchantment on it. That somethin’ you can do? I don’t know how any of that stuff works, so I fig’red I’d ask.”
“Oh, enchantments…? There’s probably some books I could reference, but I must confess that I haven’t gotten to that part in my studies. What sort of enchantment is this order calling for?” Master was pretty new to the whole magic thing, after all, so having a request direct his research wasn’t anything new. He’s actually been taking really well to it, I’m really proud of him. But if I tell him that, he gets all flustered. So I just smiled to myself instead.
“‘E wants something fancy to show off, probably. Maybe the blade lights on fire, maybe it sparkles, I ‘unno. He didn’t really say in his message, pro’lly wants me to tell him what I c’n do. But since it’ll depend on you, I fig’re you tell me what’s what and I’ll have Shane write back.”
“I’d need… probably a week or so to check with my library. Then I could tell you whether I could do something or not.”
“Sounds fair.” He nodded in my direction. “She gonna help you with that?”
I blinked, so used to being an overlooked pet at Master’s side that I didn’t know how to respond. I just looked at Master and let him say something instead.
“Well, if she’s able. She’ll be, uh, leaving soon, and I’m not sure this is truly in her strengths, you see.”
“Leaving? Izzat why she’s wearing Princess’s collar?”
I let out a soft “eep” that time, raising my hand up to try to cover the leather band around my neck, my cheeks burning brightly as I tried to look away.
“I made th’ thing, ‘course I recognize it when I see it. Y’got the hair, and the eyes, but the collar really sealed it. But, like I said, not my business what you two wanna do. Jus’ didn’t think you were the type, mage. However lonely th’ tower gets.”
“The type…?” Master blushed as well, looking back at me.
“I-I’m not…! We’re not! Master wouldn’t do that kind of thing!” I blurted out without thinking. “I mean, if… if that’s the… kind of type you were talking about…”
The blacksmith let out a hearty laugh at that. “So you talk now! That’s gotta be somethin’ to an animal. Look, I won’t say nothin’ to anyone. Ain’t my business to pry, ain’t my business to even guess. I don’ know what’s going on with you two, and that’s the end of it.”
Master’s cheeks were bright red now. “Look, I swear, it’s just an experiment to allow her to experience a human form for a couple of days. It’s revealed a fascinating amount of information about the differences, a perspective you and I can’t have about it, but everything’s been completely above board, I promise you. It would be… beyond unethical for the two of us to… do anything even close to what you insinuate.”
“Ah, settle down. Look, I’m jus’ saying it looks kinda bad, you know? But you say you ain’t doing nothin’, you ain’t doing nothin’.” It was hard to tell just how convinced he actually was, he had a face that just looked permanently grumpy, outside the rare moments he laughed.
Master sighed heavily. “Anyway, is there anything else I can do for you?”
“Eh? Oh, I dunno, I jus’ came here about the enchantment thing, is all. Didn’t expect you to be up to stuff. I c’n get outta yer hair. You know where t’ find me.” He stood up from the chair, prompting Master and me to stand up too.
“Our door is always open for you. I’ll try to have an answer for you within the week, as well.” Master opened the door as the blacksmith moved towards it, our guest nodding on his way out. Once it was closed, the two of us let out a sigh.
“I can’t believe he thought you… I mean, I’m not human!”
“Maybe he has leanings of his own, in that direction.” He smirked.
My cheeks reddened, my words sputtering more. “Wh–! Him? But he’s… I mean, he’s not my type!”
“Of course not. Your type has fangs and scales, doesn’t it?”
“Nnh… W-well… …it feels so much worse to admit that, when you know about… my past.” I looked away, eyes cast down.
“Ah, right, I didn’t mean that, just that… Well, as a dragon, it makes sense you’d be attracted to other dragons.”
“Maybe. But when I’m human, like this, I don’t really… feel attracted to humans? Like, any time I try to even remember what kind of humans I used to be attracted to, I just draw a blank, and start picturing dragons instead.”
“Maybe we could turn the blacksmith into a dragon. That works for everyone.”
My mind instantly pictured the big, rough man as a beast of a dragon, and it sent a shiver down my spine that I wasn’t ready to unpack. “Ah, n-no, let’s… let’s not talk about that idea.” Even worse was when my mind turned to Master as a dragon instead, looking wonderfully regal and sleek…
Master chuckled softly, grinning wider. “Very well. Perhaps we’ll focus on studying enchanting. After all, it could come in handy in a lot of ways. Come, Princess.”
With that, I followed along behind him towards the library.
By the next day, we had discovered two things: The process seemed to be a pretty straight-forward one of imprinting a crafted spell into an object, and that we had books that only talked about the most basic idea of it without going into any practical details. We would need more if we were going to actually do anything, and that meant travel. Travel meant travel preparations, as well. So the two of us began a trip to town.
“Hm. Should I… take off the collar? I don’t… feel right doing so, but I don’t want a repeat of yesterday.”
“It’s up to you. I don’t mind them thinking whatever they want to think, we both know the truth of the matter. But if you do take it off, it’s not like it means you’re not my Princess. It’s just a band of leather, a symbol of our, well, relationship. A word that feels awkward to use, given everything, but I can’t think of a better one.”
I blushed a little, but finally reached up and carefully undid the buckle, pulling the band off and curling it up, placing it in a pocket of the pants I was wearing. It felt almost unbearable to have my neck so naked, and I had to bite my lip lightly to keep from just instantly putting it back on. “Okay, I think I’m ready.”
“I’ll be with you, don’t worry.” Master put a hand on my shoulder and smiled, the same way he always did, but this time he didn’t have to kneel to do it.
We started our walk, the morning air nice and crisp, but I did have to stop and rest a couple of times. Walking around the tower was one thing, but a trip this long on two legs was more than I was used to. We still made it there before midday, so we could stop at Shane’s before taking lunch.
The merchant seemed surprised to see Master enter, but was even more surprised when I stepped in after him. I suppose I should be used to getting strange looks, blue hair wasn’t exactly common among humans, as far as I could remember. “Ah, Mage Tola! You have a… friend, with you today?”
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“Yes, my good man. This is, ah…” Master faltered. We hadn’t agreed on a name, and introducing me as Princess would clearly make things awkward. “Vanna. Vanna White.”
“My, that’s an exotic-sounding name. A pleasure to meet you, Vanna. To what does my humble store owe the pleasure of a visit from a lady such as yourself?” He was laying it on thick. I almost preferred the dry dog treats.
“I’m here assisting my friend.” It felt so awkward talking in front of someone I’m so used to being silent around. I tried to put the focus on Master, and my hand slipped into my pocket to rest on the collar within.
“Yes, that’s right. I’ll need to arrange for travel to Winselton, to visit their library.”
“Ah, I can do that, not a problem. Will both of you be going? Or will the lady be staying local, perhaps coming by the shop later?” Was he… flirting with me? The idea made me feel gross. Not because he’s a human, but because he’s Shane.
“Hm. Possibly both? Possibly just me and Princess. I’m not sure yet.”
“Ugh, Princess.” I really didn’t like the way Shane said my name, dripping with distaste. “Well, if you must bring that beast along, be aware that any goods it damages will be your responsibility. I suppose I won’t need a deposit from you, but I will be insistent on payment on arrival.”
“My friend, do you really have so little faith in my Princess? After all, if you do, then that means you also must think of me the same way, I feel. I might even have to rethink my business arrangements.” Looks like I wasn’t the only one who was bristling at the insult.
“No, no! It’s not… a lack of faith, it’s just… Well, it IS a dragon, after all. Accidents are bound to happen, aren’t they? And if not, you can’t fault me for not being familiar with exotic animals.” Yep, threaten his purse and watch him backpedal. It was almost amusing.
“Perhaps I’ll have to bring her by some time, so you two can get properly acquainted. If you learn, maybe you’ll stop insulting her. By accident, of course.”
“I don’t know if that will… be necessary, Mage Tola. Ah, I’ll make sure transportation will be arranged. I could have a wagon outside your tower, say, an hour after sunrise tomorrow?”
“I think that will be acceptable, yes. We’ll see you then, Shane.”
I did my best to politely wave as I followed Master out of the store.
We sat down at the inn, at what had become our favorite table ever since Master repaired it, the day he realized he could use the magic he’s learned to help townsfolk and also make an income at the same time. “The nerve of that guy. All smiles to your face, all venom to your back. Makes me wonder what he says when he thinks you aren’t there, Master.”
“Nothing worth worrying about. After all, everyone knows he’s full of garbage, so anything he says isn’t worth thinking about.”
“Maybe they do, maybe they don’t. Either way, I don’t like the thought of it. I should bite him next time I see him.” My right foot tapped on the floor, occasionally lifting up and stomping lightly when tapping wasn’t enough of a venting.
“I really doubt that will make things better. For either of us.” The fact that he was right only made it more frustrating.
“I can’t help it if my options are limited… And besides, maybe it’d teach him a lesson, and that would make things better.”
“For it to teach him a lesson, he’d have to understand why he’s been bit. And I don’t think he’d be able to fathom the idea that his behavior is the problem.”
“Mrrf.” I stomped again. The fact that it was my leg doing it instead of my tail made me feel like a toddler throwing a fit, but I couldn’t really help it. I would’ve said something more, but that was when the innkeeper showed up.
“Oh, Sir Mage, nice to see you again. And you brought… a friend?”
“Vanna White. A friend, lending assistance for today. This is probably my… last day in town, I’m afraid.” I replied while not quite making eye contact.
“Oh, a pleasure, Miss White. Or is it Mage…?” Fishing for information? She seemed relieved when I said friend, and that I was leaving.
“Just… Vanna is fine.” I was going to have to talk to Master about this name he picked.
“We’d like two servings of the roast and stew, please?” Master interjected.
“Oh, of course! I’ll bring that right out, Sir Mage!” She certainly had a spring in her step today.
“Hm, ‘Sir Mage’. What is that all about?” He muttered to himself.
“Dunno. I’m just happy to actually get a whole serving, instead of you sneaking me a piece of the roast when she’s not looking.” My right leg bounced a little, the tail wagging making it do a twisting sort of motion.
The plates came out and were set down, and it was clear Master had been given a bigger helping than me.
“This looks delicious, madame. Your food has always been the highlight of my trips to town.” The innkeeper looked like she was going to pop from the praise.
“Yeah, I love your stew.” I added, trying to be polite.
“Miss– Vanna, I mean? But this is the first time you’ve ever been in here.”
“I mean, I love the way it smells. I can tell it’s going to be wonderful.” To be honest, the smell was so distant with a human nose, I was worried about whether it would taste the same or be different. But I figured it was a good enough line to cover my mistake.
“Oh, yes, it’s a secret family recipe, after all!” She said with a smile before leaving us to the meal.
I didn’t hesitate at all to pick up the utensils and start to eat. The meat definitely didn’t have the same flavor, but it wasn’t worse. It was more… unfocused? Like, before, it was a sharp, direct taste of meat. Now that singular taste wasn’t as strong, but there were other flavors that I never noticed before. Some kind of herbal rub, perhaps. It was interesting. When I first became a dragon, I wasn’t fed anything but meat scraps for so long, I guess I never had the chance to make a direct comparison. The stew was pretty similar. Before I tasted the meat and the oils from the fat, but the potatoes and other vegetables tasted like bland sponges that had soaked up some of the meat flavor. This time they had a sweetness to them that was almost confusing, like trying to hear a room full of conversations at once. I had finished my meal before Master had even gotten through half of his, I must have been hungrier than I thought. I almost went to beg for a piece of his roast, but I stopped myself. Not just because being seen doing that would be strange, but because I did already have my own meal. I just did my best to look like I was pleasantly satisfied and patiently waiting. A slice of the meat being placed onto my plate informed me that I had not been doing a good job of it. But at least the treat helped me not feel so bad about my failure.
Once we were both done, I noticed Master looking at me strangely. Before I could ask, though, he got up and met the innkeeper at the counter, giving her the coins for our meal, and waved to me to follow him out.
Now that we were out in the street, he leaned in. “Your claws are showing.”
“My claws?” Looking down, I saw that my hands indeed weren’t the same as before. My nails had lengthened, curling into the claws I was familiar with, and my fingers were feeling more stiff. “Oh, crap. It’s… The spell must be breaking apart. How much time do we have?”
“Probably not a lot. Let’s get as far out as we can before it fails more.” We picked up the pace a little, not quite running, but definitely hurrying. Each step started feeling more awkward, and once the road bent to put some trees between us and the town, we stopped.
“Mrrrh, here. We gotta… do something.” I tried tugging at the clothes that were getting increasingly uncomfortable, but my fingers had shrunk further, and by now I was simply pawing at them.
“Shh-shh-shh, let me help you with that, Princess.” I blushed at the attempt to calm me, but I surrendered to his hands, as they undid buttons and pulled the cloth away. Patches of scales were already visible, and tiny wings were already growing in, looking underdeveloped. The muscles stretched and strained as the wings grew bit by bit, as if I could reach relief if I just tried harder. My arms were wrapped around my midsection, all the tensing muscles firing like crazy made it feel like I’d been punched in the gut. Everything was hitting all at once, I remember letting out a groan, feeling my face pulling forward inch by inch as I panted heavily. I was dimly aware of my pants ripping before Master could pull them away, the tail whipping back and forth wildly as I squirmed, falling to my knees. It was somewhere between a “pull” and a “release of pressure” as my horns grew back in, not that I really had the focus to spare to say so. It was like trying to keep track of seventeen different things at once. At some point, a hand was on the ground, and I watched it thicken more, fully returning to a proper forepaw, my shoulder back to the way it should be. My snout was back to being in the bottom of my vision. I felt the torn pants sliding across scales as my hips were freed from them, hearing Master mutter something about the shape of my legs as they changed. Claws dug lines through the dirt as I squirmed and stretched, and I couldn’t help but pull away from a touch to my lower abdomen, letting out a hiss.
Things finally started to calm down, my breath ragged and heavy, eyes starting to refocus as I could finally just breathe. Looking myself over, I was glad to see the blue scales again, lifting up a hindpaw to step out of the pants, lifting the other and shaking it free. My tail swayed slowly, and I gave it a curl before stretching my wings. Once that was done, I realized Master had been watching me, a look of worry on his face, so I rushed in to press myself against him happily, nuzzling at his chest with a purr.
“Someone’s a happy girl. Didn’t even go the whole three days, your soul must really have hated that body, huh?” His arms hugged me, hands stroking along my long neck.
Master pulled the collar out of the pocket of the ruined pants, pulling it around my neck again and buckling it. Oh, it felt so good to have that back where it belongs! My tail wagged like crazy, sweeping back and forth, while I purred deeply.
“I guess. I dunno. I mean, it’s not like it’s bad, it’s just… not for me, I guess. Not anymore. It feels weird to admit that, and even weirder to feel so… okay about it?”
“It’s all right. This is just who you are. Lots of people go through life wishing they could have something that would tell them who they are.” He was still petting, so I gave his cheek a happy lick. I could do that without it being nearly as awkward now!
“I suppose. We should get home, though. Hopefully nobody tries to catch Vanna, if they want to buy a vowel or something.”
“Hah, yeah, let me just gather up these clothes.” He stopped as he reached for the shirt. “Wait, how do you know about that?”
“I… Wait, how do YOU?” I looked at Master with wide eyes. Things just got even more interesting, it seems.
We were back home, in the front room, while Master paced back and forth. “So you’re telling me you’re from Earth as well? What else is going to come up that you aren’t telling me?”
“Hey, you kept it a secret from me just as long as I kept it from you!” My tail thumped against the ground. “Well, maybe not quite as long. I wondered how you knew about ‘wavelengths’.”
“Yeah, well, how do I tell someone, ‘By the way, I’m from a world where magic doesn’t exist?’ Who would understand that? I mean, other than you, I guess, now that I know.”
“You see? Imagine telling someone that and following it up with ‘Also I used to be a completely different species and gender’. I just thought you meant you were from some kind of rural town when you said you didn’t know of magic growing up.”
Master stopped his pacing and sighed. “Okay, look. This is… It’s huge. And it’s not either of our faults that we didn’t tell, okay? I’m sorry I snapped, it’s just… been a weird day. Weird couple of days. If the two of us are from Earth, though, I wonder if anyone else is. Or if there’s a way back.”
“Maybe that’s something else to research on our trip tomorrow. Maybe there’s an easier way to tell people of Earth apart from people of… Huh, what do people call this world, anyway? Do they just call it ‘Earth’ as well?”
“I think I’ve heard someone call it ‘Terra’, which, well, means the same thing.”
“Yeah. I guess it’s different enough that it’s easy for us to use, too.”
“How is it that every day brings more questions, and so rarely brings answers?” Master plopped heavily down into a chair with a sigh.
“I dunno, it feels to me like I’ve had lots of answers since I met you.” I padded over, placing my head in his lap, looking up at him. “It just feels right to be here. Maybe we could sense it somehow, that we’re from Earth. Maybe it’s just because we both got thrown in such an impossible situation together. I dunno, but it feels even more important than ever that we stick together, you know?”
“Stick together? More than we already do, as Owner and Pet?” He put a hand on my head and rubbed it lightly, curling his fingers to scritch behind the base of a horn.
I stuck my tongue out before putting a paw on his leg. “I dunno, just… We’re in this together. Nothing could make me leave you, as long as you want me around, Master.”
“Nothing could make me leave you either, Princess.”
At that, we both needed a breather, and it felt nice to just relax like this for some time.
“All right, I’ve got a blank book here. I’ll have to pick up some more when we get to the city. I wonder if anyone else has been able to research this before… Wouldn’t it be funny if this discovery made me some kind of master magician? A big name in the… whatever social thing they’ve got going on, someone who didn’t even know it was real a few months ago?”
“Well, I’d say it wouldn’t be the strangest thing that’s happened to us over the last year, but it’s close?” I gave a happy swish of the tip of my tail.
“True, true. Okay, so what do we know about how we got here?” He sat down with his quill, ready to start taking notes.
“Well, I remember walking along a road, and that it was night… A massive storm came through out of nowhere, raining so hard that I couldn’t see anything at all through the wall of rain. I tried running for where I thought shelter was, but I thought I’d just gotten lost. I found a tree and tried to wait it out, and it finally cleared, but I didn’t recognize anything. I figured I must’ve gotten turned around in the woods, but I couldn’t find the road anywhere. I did find one eventually and started following it, and that brought me to Hammerfell. I’ve more or less told you the rest that happened.”
“Hm, that’s not too far off from my story, too. I was walking, when a storm hit. I tried to find some kind of building or awning or anything, and just… nothing. When it cleared, I was here. I actually found Winselton first, and was trying to retrace my steps when I came across Hammerfell and the tower.”
“Is that why we’re going there? Because you’ve been there before?” I tilted my head.
“You’ve been there too. Don’t you remember?”
“What, me? When?”
“It’s the closest city, with the Crown Guard. That’s where they took you when they were clearing out the tower, after Elimaio’s death.”
“Oh, THAT place… Hnnh, do we have to go there…?” My head drooped at the memory.
“Don’t worry, you’ll be with me. You’ll have a collar on, so they’ll know you’re not a wild beast. It’s no different than coming with me to Hammerfell.”
“Rrf. I guess. I don’t like the guard, though. Especially the one that was so rude to you.”
“I’m sure it’ll be fine. I promise.” He gave me another pat on the head before he went back to writing what notes he could. It wasn’t more than a few pages, but it was the start of a research journal. Maybe we’d be able to fill more out, maybe we wouldn’t.
Once he was done with that, he started packing up a few of his books, as well as stacks of papers. Notes on the items from the contraband package, the research journal about the travel between worlds, notes about the process of enchanting items, and various other questions he wanted to look into while we were there. Now that we were prepared, it was time to settle in for the night, since it would be an early start for tomorrow. This time, I pulled my pile of bedding closer to Master’s bed, making my nest right next to him. I drifted off to sleep with a deep purr in my chest, as I thought about how new adventures might be able to bring us even closer.