I woke up.

I'm alive...

I also couldn't see. Again. This time though, it was because of the bag pulled over my head.

Joke's on them, I have heat vision!

The bag itself blinded even that a little, but not enough.

If I interpreted the shapes correctly, I was being kept in a cage inside a conical tent. The tent's fabric was too thick for me to see any shapes outside, but I could hear the occasional crackling of a fire.

I tried to move and look around more but found that I had also been bound. Why whoever had saved and captured me felt the need for double restraints eluded me.

~Ngh.~ Though maybe it had been for the best if the use of even the little wiggle room I had exacerbated the pain I'd felt since waking up.

"Ven lertan nevt?" a soft voice sounded from outside. Apparently, I had drawn my captor's attention.

"Laahn. Rast guyor dhet weuthrentiv awoknan. Si'll daiy ailn vay spiz oen'sz dori." was the answer of a rumbling voice. Right after, I heard someone standing up and coming closer. The tent flap was pulled aside, and I saw the bulky shape of a human...-oid. Couldn't know for sure after all.

"Dafast lon?" he said as he looked at me.

What? Are you asking me something?

"Dafast hase oen?" came a query from outside.

Apparently, Deep-Voice didn't deign it important to answer as he stepped in front of my cage without calling back. He knelt and slowly reached toward me. I tried scooting back but soon noticed, that I needn't have bothered. His appendage made contact with something surrounding me as if it had been stopped by the air itself.

The dome!

"Hmm."

Oh! I think I understood that! My old penchant for sarcasm came through, it seemed.

The big guy kept tapping and scratching the shell for a bit, then stopped and stood up with what I think was a nod. He went to the center pole of the tent and rummaged around its base in what was probably a backpack and came back to me, once again kneeling. He put down some things in front of me and retreated to the tent's entrance, where another, slighter figure stood.

The two humanoids started whispering, but I still couldn't understand them, so whatever. I was still wondering about the big one's actions.

Ok so, he couldn't get to me because of my unconscious shielding ability, which he didn't seem too perturbed by. He was surprised, though. Now, what did he put down and why? He also seems to want to give me space...

It's food!

Now I just needed to break my barrier.

Break!

...

Yeah, of course not.

I tried to shout the glass into submission a couple more times but it would not do as I wanted.

Okay, what am I doing differently than last time? The answer came quick. I'm not touching it.

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

Well, that wasn't good. As tied up as I was, I wouldn't be touching anything for a while.

Maybe I should shout at it? Can't hurt.

~Break!~ What I heard was more of a fluting tone, but that had done it.

So, now what? I was still bound after all.

Deep-Voice seemed to notice that, too, and came over.

At least I hope that's the reason.

When he sat before me and reached out, I suppressed the urge to scoot back. I didn't really trust him, but I really wanted my bonds gone.

He seemed to take note of my apprehensiveness and slowed down his movements. He carefully freed my legs and neck and then finally removed the bag from my head.

It wasn't particularly bright inside the tent, though from what I could see through the still open flap, it was night anyway. The man in front of me, I could pretty accurately describe as human, now. He was definitely quite muscular, and I'd put him somewhere between the end of his forties and the middle of his fifties. His fairly angular face was framed by medium-length and windswept salt-and-pepper hair and a dense well-trimmed beard. He had steel-grey eyes, their intensity heightened by his angled brow.

He wore a simple beige shirt under a blue gambeson as well as brown trousers and simple but rugged ankle boots.

The other one was not only slighter in voice but also stature and probably somewhere around twenty-five years old. He had short, kempt hair of blonde color and hazel eyes. He kept his facial hair to a goatee, though a slight three o'clock shadow was currently present.

He was clothed in a velvet-like doublet, tight breeches, and knee-high laced leather boots. He kept to a maroon color scheme. He was also bundled in a woolen blanket.

Probably gets cold easily.

I focused back on the big guy and then on the stuff he'd put in front of me. There was a cookie — probably actually hardtack —, a dried fruit, and some kind of jerky. In the corner of my cage was also a metal cup with water.

Food! Finally! I could not wait to eat! I scooted towards the treats and lowered my head towards them. Then I tried to open my mouth.

And I could not.

Wait, what? It wasn't bound or anything.

But I could do it before! Back when I drank from...the... I just put my snout into the water and sucked as if on a straw.

But what about the times I made noise! ... I can't actually remember opening my mouth for those.

Panicked, I sat on my haunches and felt at my face in search of my mouth.

I found it under the beak-like tip of my snout as a whole so small that one of my claws barely fit.

Did I really come out of the egg too early? Am I deformed?

Despair set in when I focused on the food, again.

What am I supposed to do? Helpless, I laid down completely, with my head only a little ways away from what I had hoped to be my dinner.

This isn't fair. Nearly crying, I stuck out my tongue and licked the dried fruit. It was sweet with a little zest to it. Like a mix between a peach and an orange.

Wait, what was that?

I blinked and quickly sat up again. I stuck out my tongue a far as I could. Which turned out to be pretty far.

My tongue was slim and round and reached nearly to the floor in my sitting position.

Am— Am I an ant-eater?

My tongue was also very prehensile and with a bit of trial and error I ended up pointing its tip back at me.

It was hollow. I had a proboscis.

So, not an ant-eater but... a dragonfly? I had to giggle at my bad joke.

I also had to roll my eyes when I heard that my giggling sounded like jingle bells.

Anyway, this gave me an idea for a solution to my eating problem, and my belly was growling up a storm after I'd given it a taste of what I had.

I took the fruit and put it in the cup of water and then used my newfound appendage to stir. After it had reached a decent level of sweetness, I started drinking.

Sucking, more like. Also, oof, that's hitting my stomach hard. I paused before continuing to drink and finally remembered that I wasn't alone.

I stiffened, glanced to the side, and saw both men looking at me funny.

I felt like I was blushing but couldn't be sure without moving. And my tongue was still hanging out.

SLURP

Yeah, that definitely brought down the awkwardness level.

The slim one looked disgusted, and I couldn't even really fault him for that. I myself still felt exceedingly weird with this whole tongue business.

Deep-Voice, on the other hand, had a contemplative look about him and eyed me while rubbing at his chin.

A moment later he stood up and left the tent which felt kind of relieving.

I calmed down a bit and started drinking again.

A few minutes later saw Big-Guy's return with a ceramic jar in his hand. Slim-Guy noticed and gave a grumpy — and kinda sarcastic-sounding — remark. Deep-Voice just raised an eyebrow and received an eye roll and waving-off gesture as an answer.

I really need better names for them.

Morgan came over to my cage and set down the jar right outside of it, as the bars prevented him from putting it inside. Then he lifted the lid and a heavenly smell enveloped me. I stopped drinking and pulled my tongue back in. The smell disappeared, and I froze with a start.

So, a snake tongue, too. I flicked it out and smelled the air.

Shacking myself after another new revelation, I went to the jar and looked inside.

It's honey.