When I opened my eyes, I found myself in a new space. Panic flickered at the back of my mind, but the forefront was filled with words for the things I saw. As I looked around I knew that I was in a cottage in a forest, though I couldn't see the trees. I knew where everything was, and as I opened a cabinet, I was unsurprised to see the crude plates stacked there. I ran my fingers along the windowsill, near invisible grooves where I must have done the same thing a thousand times. The air was warm, and comforting. There was a flicker of something outside the corner of my eyes. A fire, raging hot and burning down the cottage, but when I turned... there was no fire.

As I stared at the wall confused, I heard someone come into the cottage. Again panic at the back of mind, but I knew this person. They were {redacted}. I heard their feet in the hallways coming toward the kitchen, so I turned to the arch to greet them. A foot crossed into my vision, a leg, an arm. But I turned my eyes down before I saw their face. The panic welled up inside me. They reached out for me, the echoes of words in the air, but I couldn’t hear them properly. When the hand touched me, the cottage burst into flames, and they were pulling me frantically from the house. I looked up to see their curly brown hair slicked back with sweat and ash. Their ears. Those perfect ears.

I opened my eyes into my little room. I didn’t breathe. I didn’t move. My mind whirled and ripped at the memory, parts of me wanted to forget it. Parts of me wanted to keep it. In the end, I chose to keep the ears. And the cottage. And the smell of burning flesh. Because I had no doubt that that had been a real memory.

Decision made, I began to breathe again, and I curled onto my side and wrapped my tails even tighter about myself. I thought only of those ears. Normal human ears. But the skin was pale as the moon.

Eventually I fell back into slumber. When I woke again, the sound of someone walking nearby, I felt equal parts relief and dread that the memory had stuck. But, I sat up and leaned against some vines, which wrapped around my wrist instantly. A small white flower bloomed in my eyesight and I couldn’t help a small smile. The plant was trying to offer me comfort in the only way it knew how. But then the door opened.

The vampire stood there. He watched me for a moment, and I lazily stared back at him. He grit his teeth and said. “Are you... well... now?”

“I... yes? Was I not...?”

“You were on fire.”

I sat up quickly and looked around even as I asked “What?”

“My lady came to see you, and found your whole body on fire. It’s been 3 days. No one could put the fire out, and it only harmed anyone who reached for you. If you are fine now, that means you need to come see the queen now.”

He turned without waiting and I followed behind. He led me straight to the throne room where I could see the Queen sitting, her eyes narrowed on the doorway. When we passed through, her eyes found mine, as cold and uncaring as ever, but then she looked to my feet and a smile lifted on her face dangerously. I looked down to see what she was seeing and I realized... I had walked on my two feet without thinking. My muscles still ached, but the feeling of standing and walking in that cottage stuck with me, and now it felt unnatural to be on all fours in this form.

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I paused walking and shook my head. ‘This form’. Why had I phrased it like that? Did I have another form, but before I could spend more than a moment, her voice rang out. “Come pet, let me attest to your health.” I looked at her and she lifted her hand toward me. I heard some mutterings from others in the room, but I made no note of it, so I walked to her. My instinct took over, and before I thought too much, I pressed my cheek against her palm. I froze for a moment, remembering the last time I had done this and the threat that had come after. But she just watched me, waiting and so I let my instinct take control again and climbed into her lap properly. I curled around her, my head leaving her hand and pressing against her neck, my legs bunched up over her armrest, my tails gingerly pressing in her side.

I smelled her, and finally the scent of burning flesh was chased away. She held still a moment before one arm wrapped around my back and the other rested on my legs. “Very well.” she muttered under breath. “Let us continue.” She called out, and I didn’t pay much attention to anything happening.

Instead I sat there, and after a moment I felt my throat tighten and whine left me. I didn’t know why, but she adjusted to have her claws pressed in my hair and into my scalp. She scratched it across my skin, precariously balancing on pushing too far and cutting into my skin. But she didn’t, and I felt my body relax even more fully. My eyes opened and I looked at the Queen’s ears. They were smaller than {redacted} but despite her being a vampire, they had a sort of honey sheen to them.

My instincts were so close to the front, I almost wanted to taste them. But I didn’t. I think the fact that she could very quickly kill me, was the only thing that let me stop. Eventually, she spoke and I knew she was speaking to me because again she called me. “Precious, now that immediate business is over, care to explain why you were a little bonfire for the past few days?”

“I remembered...” her fingers tightened and she tilted my head so that she could look me in the eyes.

“Remembered...” she prompted.

“Fire. That’s all I remember...” As I thought about it, light flickered from the corner of my vision and the tips of tails lit themselves on fire. The fire once again was in shades of green, not like the oranges of my memory. This fire was comforting, but unease crept up my neck and I slowly turned to the Queen. Anger was in the air around her as she stared at the fire. I dropped the magic and her eyes turned to me again.

She opened her mouth to speak but someone else’s voice rang out across the hall. “That’s a fun bit of magic!” My eyes shot to the speaker and found what smelled like a human walking into the hall, over the spot of dried blood in the middle, and without fear up to us. The human was wearing robes of white with the center being in bright reds and blues.

“Grandmother Aera. I see you have arrived.” The queen’s voice floated gently in the air, but her fingers were biting into my skin, revealing that she wasn’t as happy about this.

“Indeed I have! Green flames are a fun one.” The human removed her white hood and I saw an extremely old woman, her eyes sparkled with mischief, and with zero fear.