Waking up into a dream, as a dragon, wasn't exactly a new experience like it used to be. Stretching and rolling my shoulders, I ruffled my wings and looked around. It was Molly's realm, as usual, but I felt two presences nearby, and neither seemed to like the other.
One was familiar. "Mother," I said, bowing my head a little to the goddess who had, despite everything that had gone wrong for me, actually helped when I'd needed it most.
The other was new. She radiated everything Mother didn't have. She was dressed to kill in leather armor that hugged her body—giving hints at everything underneath (that Mother put plainly on display). Long red hair was braided and tied back behind her head. A sword at one hip and a long dagger at the other. I had also felt her touch once before. "Lady," I said, bowing exactly as much as I had to Mother. "Please don't fight here, I think we are all here for the same purpose."
Taking a deep breath that she probably didn't need, Mother turned her gaze from Lady to me and walked over to where I was. She swayed her hips and let her curves promise things I knew she'd happily deliver on if I swore I'd follow her. "Dusky. You're looking ravishing tonight. May I ride you to meet your master?"
"I think it's best if you both follow me," I said, and started walking toward where I could feel Molly was. I wondered if they'd attack one another, but decided that there wasn't anything I could do about it if they did.
The walk to where Molly was waiting made me appreciate the draconic awareness of things around me. Things like the two goddesses who wanted to continue their life-long feud as a bloody war of words—that I studiously shut out. It did wonders for my nerves.
Molly looked from my sour face to the two goddesses following me and raised an eyebrow. My answering shrug lowered the eyebrow and she stood up. "Visitors. Dusky always brings me the most interesting people to meet."
"I think," I said while ignoring the argument going on behind me, "the point of contention is that Mother oversees monsters and Lady oversees adventurers, or something like that. I don't know where that leaves me—being both." The two hostile goddesses snapped their mouths shut. Turning to look back at Mother, I nodded. "I am an adventurer, even when I'm a dragon." Thanks to my wide field of vision, I got to see the surprise on Lady's face too.
"Dusky's duality aside," Molly said, "you're both here for one reason. Him."
Making my way to the bench where Molly had been sitting, I curled up on the ground in front of it but stretched my neck up so I could put my head on the seat and watch what was going on with one eye.
"He is tightening his grip on my followers. The claim that only good-worshiping adventurers will find healing has already changed to only adventurers of good standing will receive healing." Lady Luck sounded even angrier than when she'd been arguing with Mother of Monsters.
"Normally I wouldn't be seen on the same plane as her." Mother dipped her head to Molly before walking past her and sitting down on the bench right beside my head. Reaching a hand out, she started rubbing a spot I didn't know was itchy. "But I have thrown my lot in with you, Molly, and I recognize the threat he represents."
"The problem is there is only one god with a penchant toward healing, and the rest of us are all set in our ways. A new goddess coming into being can choose her own domains." Glaring at Mother, Lady let out a sigh. "Much as I am loath to ask it, would you be that goddess?"
"I believe I already am. Of my followers, over half have some form of healing and two are dedicating their lives to it. Right now I only have directly worshiping followers, but I believe we will need far more." She looked between Lady and Mother. "Will both of you assist?"
"Both?!" each of the two goddesses sounded angry again.
"You can't give her beasts the ability to heal!"
"You—" Unlike Lady, Mother stopped in her tracks and then smirked. "You would be worshiped as a secondary goddess. Your name on the lips of every creature and adventurer that survives a fight and gets healed. But really, Molly, playing both sides?"
"Balance. Fairness." Molly spread her wings, closed her eyes, and paused, then turned and looked right at me. "You could always ask your followers to turn their attention to more worthy—and easier to dispose of—enemies."
"So you'll do it?" Lady Luck asked.
"Yes. I'll be the patron your Healers and Valkyrie need. All you need to do is guide them to me." As soon as she'd said it, Molly's eyes opened. "Oh."
"Too many? There have been a lot of young adventurers who have begged Lady Luck to grant them the power to save lives." Lady looked like she expected Molly to refuse. When Molly didn't, instead shining a little brighter, Lady shrugged. "I guess not. Congratulations on becoming a bigger part of the pantheon."
She disappeared, leaving only Mother and Molly here. I looked up at Mother and that got her scratching at the ridges on my head again.
"Some of my babies can already heal, though it isn't as active as your gifts." Laying down on the bench beside me, Mother rested her head on top of mine—which put other parts of her anatomy on my nose. "But it would be nice if—"
Molly laughed. "Of course. If I gave this gift only to the adventurers, it would hardly be fair. If any of your followers have room for a second goddess in their heart, they can become Valkyrie and Healers. Be aware, though. Valkyrie are the most common Paladins beside Champions. You may have yourself some holy warriors serving you—or myself."
"That would be interesting. Very well. Just know that not every beast or monster follows me. Those gnomes little Dusky here has been dealing with have their own, darker gods." Her finger traced down the edge of my eye and, if I didn't know her better, I would have thought it was a threat. The finger moved in the right way to make me look at her body.
"You're teasing her."
"No. I don't believe I am. A tease would be if I had no mind to follow through on the offers my body makes." Mother kissed me on top of my head. "I should go. Expect a few new followers soon."
When Mother stood up and vanished, I let out a sigh of relief. "I think she just likes flirting with me," I said.
"And if you're not here, she flirts with me. Feel free to stay here as often as you want, Dusky." Molly sat down beside me now, and when I lifted my head, she scooted sideways so I could lay it on her lap. "Lady had nearly two hundred followers immediately clamber for healing powers. They're not giving me as much power with their split loyalty, but it's more than I was getting. Being a god here is really strange, Dusky."
There was something odd about the way she'd said it, but I couldn't get my head around why. I mean, of course it would be weird to be a god here. It'd be weird to be a god anywhere. "So, do you think there are other people from Earth in Shining City?"
"Probably, but none worship me." She shivered under my head. "That was the first of Mother's followers to want healing magic. Somewhere out there is a Valkyrie dragon and she's… nice."
"Evil?"
"No, surprisingly. She's neutral and doesn't seem to like Mother pushing her around. Have you considered asking your dragon side what she'd like to be?" As soon as Molly asked, that other part of me started bouncing up and down in my head.
If you want to be something, she's the god to talk to. Do you want to be better with your claws and teeth, do you want to do magic spells, or do you want to heal people? I thought in my wild side's direction. The answer should have been obvious. You can't do all of them, no.
Dragon me really liked the idea of stopping things that wanted to hurt Taffy, Caprice, Yaff, and Chloe. I was up for that too, but she was all over the place. I tried to picture her being strong and tough between our friends and danger—and she responded warmly.
Next I pictured her standing back and throwing huge spells. Fire, lightning, and more rained down on her enemies—she really liked that.
A dragon, invisible, slinking around the battlefield and biting the throats out of enemies before they had a chance to even know they were there—she liked it, but it was the weakest reaction yet.
Finally, I imagined a healing dragon, spreading life and positive energy to her friends and maybe biting enemies if they came close. She liked that, but she seemed to push it back on me. Yeah, okay, I walked into that. I brought the mage one back up and felt her bouncing up and down in excitement.
"Huh," I said.
"She let you know?"
"Yeah. She wants to be a mage." The bubbly, bouncy dragon in my head let out a cute roar that echoed around my brain. "Really wants to be a mage."
Focusing on the sensation, I tried my best to give my dragon side a big hug, and got rewarded by her doing the same.
"It probably has to do with Caprice's chosen path, but I'm not going to argue with that. Dusky, can you let her out so I can give her her class?" Molly smiled down at us with her hand out.
Okay, you awesome dragon, time to get your heart's desire. Come on out.
She didn't take her time in doing so. It was only a moment and suddenly I felt my body bouncing around and then dragon me reached up and started licking Molly's face. Now I know what a goddess tastes like.
"Aww, there's my girl. How are you? Is Dusky taking good care of you?" Molly was rubbing dragon me all over my head, finding spots that had needed a good rub and getting her nails into ones that needed scratching. When my vision bounced up and down repeatedly, she laughed. "I bet she is. Okay, so you want to be a mage?" More nodding. She understands the word, at least. "Well, I can do a trick where your mage level will be the same as Dusky's healer level. That way, as each of you get experience, you'll both get better."
It was more than I could have hoped for. The worst case had been that we each get half XP and it would go toward both our levels or even we both have different levels. Wait, I wonder if that means she'll get to pick a specialist class right away?
A shiver ran through me as I realized she had just done so. What class did you—?
Rubbing dragon me's chin, Molly asked, "A Warlock, huh?"
Well, going for the highest single damage class? Wait, would I be able to add your spells into potions? Like, if I let you have control for the spell casting bit and then I finish off embedding the spell. Maybe Shaman would have been a better choice? Too late now. I wonder if you can take a trade class too?
"Dusky has her work as a barmaid, so I wonder what you could do? A dragon blacksmith? Maybe a bard? I know Dusky likes bards." The little giggle Molly made was entirely unneeded. Look, dragon me, you don't have to rush into that. Let's have a little fun for the next few days and see if you like any skill in particular.
She liked that, I could tell, but there was still something wrong about it. Hey, you know what, why don't you have an extra day or two, as well? It was only fair. I know dragon me is still part of me, but that doesn't mean she doesn't deserve to have a bigger part of our life.
Her excitement bubbled through me and wouldn't let up. I was happy to leave her to romp and bounce around with Molly while I relaxed and disconnected.
----------------------------------------
Waking up as dragon me was weird. I didn't simply wake up, I woke while doing something. Right then, Taffy was cuddled up against dragon me while dragon me was trying to sneak out of her grip. Calm down. She loves us.
Dragon me stilled, but it was too late. Strong arms clamped a little tighter, then I heard Taffy start to chuckle.
"Guess this is that time, huh?" Her strength was incredible, clamping down on dragon me, though it seemed like dragon me could take it. She yawned and reached up to rub behind dragon me's head ridges. "Caprice is probably already awake. I guess you want to go find her?"
Squirming to get out, dragon me had to wait for Taffy to let go (which cost her a big lick on Taffy's cheek) to escape.
The door proved ineffective at stopping a smarter than average dragon, dragon me using her mouth to grip the door handle and turn. Looking up at who I could now recognize as BoyMax, dragon me started to wiggle their butt and pounced while the surprised jester tried to turn and run.
Max made one big mistake with that: dragons like to chase things. Dragon me took off at a rush and banged into the wall outside my room and used it to launch around the corner and rush after Max.
Faster only because he was twisting through the hallway and down stairs, Max reached the taproom before I did but there his luck ran out. Dragon me pounced from halfway down the stairs and landed on Max.
"Ack! Hey, get off!" Max's demands went unheard, mostly because dragon me was busy licking his face. "Ugh. Dragon breath is real and it is terrible!" He twisted and tried to get away, but dragon me was pretty insistent about planting one big foreclaw on his chest to pin him while licks were applied. "Dusky," he said, "please get off."
You should probably let him go. Dragon me gave three more licks before letting Max free.
"So you can understand me, or was that luck?" Max asked, reaching out to rub my head. Dragon me, of course, leaned into the attention and started my tail wagging. "You're just like a big puppy, aren't you?"
Dragon me answered in the best way she could—she licked Max's cheek again.
"Pouncey?" Caprice's voice cut through dragon me's thoughts like a blade. Lifting my head, she bounded at Caprice and landed on top of her, repeating the licking attack on a more suitable (and giggling) target.
"She's really a dragon." Standing up, Max walked over and put his hand on my shoulder. Dragon me was more interested in Caprice than Max. "Wow." Though dragon me's attention was on Caprice, I was all ears to Max's response. His hands roved over my body, feeling my scales, legs, tail, even the ridges and spines. "I thought dragons had wings, though?"
"Pouncey is baby dragon. Just a little one. Get wings later." Caprice nodded to that. "Molly said Pouncey has a class now."
Max looked, somehow, more confused. "Why would a dragon need a class? I mean, she has claws that could rip through armor and teeth that could crush bones."
"Yeah, but who wants to get that close to bad guys?" Caprice kissed dragon me on the nose. "Definitely not Caprice and certainly not Pouncey."
I liked Max for a lot of reasons. They were a genuinely fascinating person with a good supply of smarts who didn't make a point of showing it off, but right now his best feature was that his fingers found an itch on my shoulder. Dragon me was quite obliging in twisting to the side and, eventually, flopping down so he could continue to scratch at it.
"Hey, can I come out and watch you guys work?" Max asked.
"Caprice will ask others. It will cost Max, though." She waited for Max to open his mouth before tilting her head to the side and tapping her cheek. "A kiss."
Holding one hand over his heart, Max shook his head. "No no no! I couldn't possibly steal the first kiss of such a pretty maiden!" Like a wary animal he reached and caught up one of Caprice's huge hands in his delicate fingers, brought his head down, and kissed the back of it. "Oh my. I shouldn't, but I'm overcome. How do you bewitch me so?"
Caprice was a giggly mess as Max walked his kisses up her arm. By the time he reached her neck, she was trying to fend him off with little actual effect while alternating between giggles and hyperventilating. Finally, Max reached Caprice's cheek and pressed his lips there, let them linger, and then drew back from her—only to get grabbed by her wings and then arms into a hug to end all hugs.
While Caprice kissed Max on the cheek in return—again and again—dragon me got fed up with being ignored by two people who seemed to be having so much fun. Wiggling my butt, she pounced and landed on both of them, licking one then the other until they both were laughing and trying to stop her.
"I'm sure there's a good explanation for this, but I don't want to hear it until I've had something to eat." Taffy's voice stole dragon me's attention, and she turned around and started wiggling in excitement. "Hold it right there. You know if you pounce me, I'll catch you and tickle you. Now come over here so I can hug you."
Dragon me was happy with the compromise and bounced her way over to Taffy. When she intercepted dragon me and squeezed tight, I realized how much she must be shielding me from her strength. Taffy was big and had muscles to match, I guess I hadn't realized that she didn't use all of that when we were cuddling.
She can probably out-wrestle us, but you should totally lick her face a bunch. She'll be too busy laughing to fight back. Dragon me seemed to take my suggestion to heart, because after some licking, Taffy was spluttering and soon easily pinned so yet more of a tongue bath could be applied.
"So that's what the noise is. Well, we knew this was coming, so I guess we're going in with a healer short." Yaff walked over to the table and sat down, not that dragon me noticed—still pinning Taffy to the floor with licking.
Dragon me eventually gave up licking Taffy and contented herself with laying our head on Caprice's lap while everyone ate breakfast. They gave us some stew that dragon me inhaled, or so it felt. It seemed like no time before we were ready to leave.
Chloe got between the rest of us and the door, though. "We need to get our story straight. Caprice, get on Dusky's back. She's not a dragon."
"Dusky's not?" Caprice asked, climbing up on my back.
"No. Dusky is a northern riding wyvern. They are rare, but popular among the snowy kobold tribes. Well-trained and utterly loyal." Grinning at me, Chloe looked quite happy with herself. "Okay, Caprice?"
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"Caprice didn't know she was a snowy kobold. Pouncey, did you know you're a wyvern and not a dragon?" I wish I could see Caprice's face as she said it, but seeing Chloe's was the next best thing.
"No. You—" Chloe looked like she was going to scream for a moment, but then schooled her features. "You're being silly. Come on."
Leaning down along my neck, Caprice was giggling as we left the tavern. The street was empty here, but where we had to go it wouldn't be, and that's where the big test of Chloe's plan would be.
No sooner did we leave the restricted part of the city and make our way to the streets, than people started to freak out. Some just pointed and stared at us, others actually moved to get away, and one guy in fancy clothes screamed and ran.
Chloe made an exaggerated laugh. "They never seen a riding wyvern in these parts, I guess."
"To be fair," Yaff said, one of her daggers out and dancing from hand to hand, "it's a northern wyvern. They look way different to the ones down here. Practically built for kobolds to ride."
It was all for my sake, and I would absolutely give them a hug for doing it—later, when I had control of my body. Our body. Whatever. You should be on best behavior, dragon me. When dragon me agreed, I felt a lot of relief. She probably read the room enough to realize it would be bad for both of us if she got more attention than a prancing dragon pretending to be a wyvern would already get.
Seeing a group of adventurers, though, seemed to keep people from actually calling the city's guard over long enough for us to get to the adventurers' guild and slip inside. What conversations had been going on between the nearly dozen people present halted. Several people's hands went to weapons while one kobold started giggling like a fiend. "You're riding on a dragon?!" the kobold asked.
"Pouncey is not a dragon! Pouncey is a northern wyvern." Having apparently caught on to the whole idea, Caprice gave the side of my neck a pat. "Though, if you want to complain about Pouncey, you could come and ask Pouncey directly."
It surprised me how much Caprice said outside of her normal speech pattern. I guess not knowing someone's name limits things like that.
"I'll pass. Wyvern or dragon, I am not sure I want to be anywhere near it," the unnamed kobold said.
"Her. Pouncey is a girl dr—wyvern!" Caprice said.
Bowing, the other kobold didn't quite take their eyes off me throughout the motion. "Sorry, lady dr—wyvern—I did not intend disrespect." They sounded on the verge of laughter and I couldn't blame them. "Going for a fly?"
"Pouncey doesn't have her wings yet. That's why Pouncy looks a little like a dragon."
Dragon me looked at where Taffy was, and I spotted her talking to someone behind the main counter. With our head turned that way, hearing them wasn't hard.
"… clear out most anything up to and including what we did last time. Even if our main healer is taking care of something for our goddess, there's still me here, and my friend is breaking out her mount to help," Taffy said.
"It's weird, but we've noticed a lot more healers around here in just the last day. These kinds of missions are going to be a lot more scarce soon, but for now none of them are looking at anything this hard. Good luck." The guy behind the counter slid a page across to Taffy and I noticed a flicker of corrupted text in my quest tracker appear. Well, things are kinda still working, I guess, even if I can't read it.
So, once we had everything in order, we headed back outside to create a new situation on the streets, though now there was far less shock and more people watching us. Lots of kids, which was interesting, but also a bunch of people were looking at me with curiosity evident on their faces. When dragon me tilted our head this way and that, whispered conversations became clear and everyone was trying to work out what I was.
We reached the big pair of gates that locked up the entrance to the sewers. Our paperwork got us inside and, again, we were pushing down through the sewer.
Taffy took the lead, which I wanted to shout about. Even if she was the best tank, having your healer leading isn't the best. Not being able to tell them, though, was actually annoying. Hey, why don't you practice some spells on the frogs and lizards down here?
Looking around, excitement bubbling up in her, dragon me spotted a likely target. I don't know what spell she used, but the whole tunnel around the poor little frog caught fire and started burning. It was huge, and awesome.
"Did Pouncey set all that stuff on fire?" Caprice asked. She was still riding on my back, which didn't seem to bother dragon me or Caprice. When dragon me nodded excitedly and started wiggling my rear, Caprice laughed. "Well, don't set too much stuff on fire. Remember, fire hurts us."
I am not sure if it actually hurts dragon me, but that's not something I can discuss with Caprice right now. A few minutes later, dragon me spotted a large lizard, and after I felt magic flowing like I was casting a spell, it popped in a ball of black flame.
I knew the spell by the color of the flames. Warlocks had some fierce damage DoTs, and this was a spell series that got bigger and bigger as they leveled. The AoE had been Scorch and this was Flames From Below.
It was one of the more annoying spells they had simply because even if I'd killed the warlock, it would keep ticking and possibly kill me. You'll really like both of these, you can cast the big ground one over and over, and make a larger and larger area dangerous to be on, and also put the single-target one on them too.
Dragon me got far more excited by that than I would have thought.
The first fight we got into, that was a large swarm of rats, was kinda hilarious. She dropped the area spell at the hole in the wall they were pouring out of and even as they rushed out, they died.
"Uh, Caprice, did you do that?" Taffy asked as she stomped on the few rats that had gotten past the spell.
"Nope! That was all Pouncey's work! She's such a clever totally-not-dragon-but-actually-dragon!" Caprice stroked my neck with one big hand, getting a happy dance from dragon me as a consequence.
Without any way to meaningfully interact, I felt detached from what was going on. Dragon me had things under control, and with Taffy being more experienced with her healing, our little group just tipped a little away from overhealed and more toward a balanced mix of DPS and healing.
It was kinda funny. When this had first started, I had struggled to keep myself aware when dragon me was in control. Now, I was happy enough zoning out and letting her do her thing. Unlike before, it was relaxing. I could push to the surface if I wanted, but for now I simply hung back and let my wilder self deal with life.
So relaxing, in fact, that I was surprised when I woke up and was myself—my half-elf self, that is—again. "Huh?"
The bed wasn't as much of a mess as it should have been, given a dragon was sleeping in it recently. I rolled over and was sleep-tackled by Taffy. She was still asleep, but I knew from experience that it wouldn't last long unless I— Reaching around her, I pulled myself into her arms and let her pull me into a tight embrace. Well, there was nothing else for it now. I closed my eyes and got some more rest.
----------------------------------------
When I woke up again, it was to repeated kisses. Taffy was nuzzled against my neck and not holding back with her affection. Pressing my nose to her hair, I was able to smell not just the clean state of it, but a slight musk that I knew belonged to a particular dragon.
"Huh, no more dragon?" Taffy stretched, reaching up and out of the bed to work her muscles before pulling her arms back in to hug me again. "Right. Three days. It's nice, sometimes, to get hugged by someone bigger—but I love hugging you like this."
"I was never into, well, girls bigger than me," I said, unabashedly enjoying the attention, "but this isn't something I'd trade for all the power in the world."
"Good, because I can't give you that. So, what did you get?" Rolling to her back, Taffy pulled me on top of her.
"What do you mean?" I asked, trying to adjust the blanket so we didn't lose too much warmth.
Looking up at me with a confused expression, Taffy said, "Caprice told us that Pouncey had leveled up. I thought you and her had linked levels?"
For a brief moment I considered actually leaving the warmth of the bed. "It's too early to read spellbooks, but that sounds right. So the hunting was successful?"
"Weren't you there, watching? I thought you were kinda there in the background when Pouncey is in control?"
"I zoned out. I never really liked watching other people's streams, so watching Pouncey do her thing was kinda, eh." The blank look she gave me told me I'd screwed up and used a term from before I came here. "Oh. Streams. It's when you watch someone else play a game, but can't contribute to it yourself."
"You don't even get to bet on the players? Why would anyone want that?" Taffy seemed quite content with the position we were in, which I had to agree was extra cozy.
"Running a stream was— Well, you needed to play the game. Some people played well, others not so much, but it was the personality of the person running it that was a big draw for a lot of people. I guess you were performing while playing."
"Why didn't you choose the Bard trade, then? That sounds far more like it would have suited you than Barmaid."
Her fingers on my back made me wiggle a bit. This was a ploy she used to either get me out of bed or encourage other activities. Right now, I wasn't really inclined to do either. "I didn't know if that system would even work still, and by the time I found out that just doing a thing can lock it in as a trade, it was a little late."
"I don't even know if that would work as a Bard, anyway. All the bards I've seen play music." She tightened her grip around my back, lowered her other hand to my butt, turned, and lifted me from the bed.
Struggling not to shout at her, I clung to her back and grumbled dire threats into her ear. "Why are we doing this? I was cozy and warm."
"You can't smell yourself, then. Look, Dusky, I put up with Pouncey smelling strongly of dragon, but that doesn't mean I want you to smell the same. It's bath time, and then neither of us are going anywhere near that bed until it's all washed." Grabbing a single bathrobe from the door, she pulled it over her own shoulders but managed to wrap it around both of us. "Maybe even burned. I don't mind dragon smell so much, but it is strong and musky and not you."
As she carried me down the hall, I thought about what she said. "You like how I smell?"
"After you're clean and there's nothing else except you, yeah." Reaching the bathroom, she hoisted me into the big tub and, leaving the robe behind, followed me into the warm water. Taffy didn't waste time, lifting me onto a waiting stool so I was mostly out of the water, grabbing two handfuls of soap, and attacking me with it. "Don't get too excited, you have to do me still."
I couldn't help it. Laughing, I squirmed as she lathered me up and, when she was content I had enough soap on me, she pushed me off the stool and knocked me into the water to rinse. Pulling myself fully underwater, I shimmied a little to let the water rinse me and then broached the surface again. "Alright, turn around and let me start on your back. It's time for me to do you."
It seemed to finally sink in. Taffy stared at me for a few seconds and then started laughing. Turning into a full-on struggle, I had to work to force her up onto the stool and then get her turned around before I could start, which wasn't easy given she was bigger and stronger than me.
"Okay, turn around." She'd calmed down a bit by the time I was done with her back, and then she turned and let me soap up her chest, face, and neck. I might have spent more time than was strictly required, but she wasn't complaining.
We were done and stepping out of the bathroom when Caprice spotted us. I dove behind Taffy and looked out from there. "Good morning, Caprice."
Caprice stared at us for a moment, before she started narrowing her eyes. "What is Taffy hiding?" Stepping carefully around Taffy, she tried to catch a look at me—but I edged around the other way and was still hiding myself.
"I'm not hiding anything, Caprice. I am sure I have no idea what you're talking about." Standing still, Taffy put her hands on her hips to increase her circumference. "I was taking a bath and now I'm going to go— Caprice?"
Taffy had grabbed Caprice, who'd tried to sneak between Taffy's legs. While they were wrestling, I ran for our bedroom, closed the door, and came within inches of sitting on the bed—which would have undone all the scrubbing.
That's when the smell hit me. Dragon. Musky, musky dragon. It wasn't bad, but I think I could agree with Taffy that it was a bit much. Heading to the wardrobe, I opened it and looked around. All my clothes were washed and fresh and not smelling like dragon. I got my underthings on by the time Taffy slipped into the room and managed to shove a rebellious kobold back out. "You were right. I was nose deaf and dragon isn't as appealing to me like this as it is when I'm a dragon."
"Do you think we'll have to burn the bedding?" Taffy slipped the robe off and went looking in the closet for something beside me.
That's when it hit me—the closet didn't smell. "You kept the closet things clean."
"If you're asking, did I wear the same clothes for the last three days so I wouldn't completely contaminate everything I own with dragon, the answer is yes." She started pulling on fresh underwear, which was a show interesting enough to distract me until she got to a shirt.
I looked at my things and made my choice. Underthings first, then a shirt, then I picked up my corset. Beside me, Taffy had slowed to a crawl and, eventually, stopped getting dressed. Fair was fair. It still took a little jiggling and shifting around to get things right, and I knew a pair of eyes were glued to my efforts.
"I gotta put them away now." Pulling the top of the corset and fastening the clasp closed with her help, it lifted and squeezed everything nicely. More importantly, I liked how it looked and it kept me from wobbling. Wobbling, I'd figured out, was bad when you were trying to run. "Do we have any work today?"
"Adventuring? Yes. We didn't know if you'd be back with us today, but we were doing great with Pouncey's damage. We'll just have to swap things around a little with you back to healing. Chloe will get to run around with her axe again and she won't need to tank as much." Taffy seemed to move on with dressing, though she wasn't putting her armor on yet.
"Not wearing armor?" I asked, pulling my leather pants up.
"It all smells like dragon. I'm going to wash it and see if I can at least smell better than the things we fight down there." Like me, she was getting dressed at a faster pace now, and soon enough I was decked out in my robes, and she was carrying her armor pieces in a large sack, as we headed for the taproom.
Jules was talking to one of the Maxes, tapping at some paperwork before her. When she heard us, she stopped talking to Max and gestured to the chair. "I wanted to talk with you Dusky."
Sparing Taffy an apologetic look, I walked over to where Jules and Max were and sat down. "What's up?"
"The enchantments are taking some time. I tried bribing the enchanters to get the work done sooner, but they have other clients they cannot displace that are ahead of us." Jules tapped at the papers. "We might need an extra four weeks or so over my earlier estimates."
"I'll let—" Biting back on saying too much, even though we were safe and alone in here. "We can deal with that. We have some leeway on time. Besides, this is your special tavern, remember?"
She looked relieved and slumped her shoulders. "Brewers and meat merchants I can bully with the best of them, but some of the people I've had to contact for the enchantments are nobles. They don't have to do this sort of work, but do anyway because it's their little hobby."
"And those are the ones who won't take a bribe to do something sooner," Max said. I could tell it was the girl Max I'd talked to first just by their manners. "How dare they have principles and no need for gold!"
The delivery was great. She nailed the aggravation and even thumped the table with her fist. I couldn't help it, and broke into giggles.
Max's face lit up and she leaned back in her chair. "So, what did you get for your level-up?"
"Oh! Right." Slinging my backpack off my shoulder, I set it down beside me and pulled out my spellbook. Rifling through the pages, I found my spells first. "Oh, I know this one. It's really cool! Healing Font lasts until the end of a fight and is a magic totem on the ground that heals all allies within its radius." That was it, and I was sure that the early levels gave at least two things every level. Flicking to my skills page, I found the answer. "Healing Glow I. Passive that boosts all my healing by ten percent."
"That sounds like a good deal. So, back into the tunnels today?" Max stretched and rolled her shoulders around until her arms passed over her head and then back and down until they were on the chair.
"Taffy said we were, but I kinda faded out a bit while Pouncey was doing her thing. I can stay focused, but it takes work. So I get a three-day holiday, and she gets to do every silly thing she wants to. It's a good deal." A warm sense of agreement came from that wilder side of myself. Pouncey, you're so awesome.
Looking from me to where Taffy sat in one corner of the tavern, a huge tub of water beside her. "Huh. Okay. And what's Taffy doing now?"
Leaning back a bit on my chair, I tilted the front feet off the ground a little and found balancing there easier than it would have when I was human. I wonder if elves do have better balance. "So, it turns out dragons have a unique, uh, smell. It's not so bad, but if you're hugging a dragon every other hour, it gets a bit pervasive. She's scrubbing her armor."
A devious look took over Max's face and, from her seat, she pounced at me with no warning. Leaning back as I was, I tumbled backward and was only saved from a hard fall by her reflexes. The result, though, was her leaning over me, holding my chair back an inch off the floor, her other hand braced to hold the weight. Leaning down like some kind of predator, she sniffed at my neck. "You don't smell at all! Well, I mean…" She blushed! "You don't smell bad."
"I told you, Dusky!" Taffy said from where she was working.
Max leaned back, stuck her butt out, and somehow managed to tip the chair back up and forward, putting all four legs on the floor again. Her look was now harder to figure out. Maybe she had only been so easy to read a moment ago because she was, figuratively at least, off-balance?
"If you want to know what dragon funk smells like, go and sniff our bed," I said. "I guess it's up to me to clean all that now; since I am kinda the reason it smells."
"As useful a skill as identifying dragons by smell might be, I think I'll pass." Max slumped down on her chair artfully again, looking like she didn't have a bone in her body. "So, this new healing thingy. Can you put it in a drink?"
"No I—" Her grin was enough for me to doubt myself. "I have noticed things have been a little, uh…" Jules casually shook her head. It was a reminder that not everyone knew everything. "Sorry. I'm always a little out of it after I turn back. This stuff can change depending on level, and I think I gained one in Tap Jockey before Pouncey took over, so I guess I should try."
I stood up and walked over to the bar. I had an urge to test something and, without holding back, braced both palms on the bar and vaulted over it, swinging my legs around instinctively and landed behind the bar with a little wobble. "Okay, I need to practice this more," I whispered to myself softly, then poured a small beer into a mug.
The watered down ale, I'd found, was the weakest thing that could still work with my knack. Focusing on the drink, I worked the skill and then cast, "Healing Font."
A small totem appeared on the bar for a brief moment before it winked out again. "Right. I'm not in combat." Raising my voice, I looked over to where Jules was. I didn't expect Max to be right there beside the bar. "Ahhh!"
"It didn't work?" she asked.
"No, but it was worth a shot. If I could make a drink that turns someone into a healing beacon, that'd be awesome." I prodded the mug. "Major Heal." I felt my mana go down a bit, then passed the mug over to Max.
"I don't drink before midday unless I have to." She turned the mug's handle around and pushed it back. "Don't sweat tipping it out. It's the cheapest trashwater we can find."
"Yeah, but…" I sighed and leaned under the bar to dump it in the waste barrel. "I don't like wasting stuff. Oh, that reminds me, are they getting more healers at the adventurers' guild?"
"No clue. You're the ones who go down there regularly. I'm just an honest tavern wench." Proving my earlier vault of the bar to be easy, Max did an actual somersault over the bar without touching it, landed beside me, picked up a cleaning cloth, and started wiping the wood top down.
Across the tavern I saw Taffy setting her armor before the smoldering embers in the fireplace. The way she moved always amazed me. She was so much stronger than any woman I'd ever known, and even the thought of that reminded me what it was like to be held by her. Further, though, dragon me dumped a memory of her hugging Taffy and being stronger than Taffy.
My thoughts were interrupted, though, by a hand waving in front of my face. "You really have it bad for her. What's a girl gotta do to get your attention?"
"Max, your flexibility makes me wish I was more interested in you, but there's something I didn't even know I wanted until I met Taffy—Muscles." I poked Max in the shoulders. "Sorry, but you can't compete with that."
She visibly deflated and slumped onto the bar. "Alas, my heart is broken. Now who will I pursue and shower with affection and gold?"
"Try Caprice. I hear she talks to dragons," I said, walking around the bar like a sane healer and started off toward Taffy.
I sat down beside Taffy on a seat by the fire and leaned against her. Without her armor on, she was a big cuddly mountain.
"If her flirting gets too much, you make sure to tell me, okay?" Taffy reached around my back and pulled me closer to her. "You really like me being strong, huh?"
From under her arm I tilted my head up to look her in the eyes, and raised one brow. "What do you think?"
"That I sometimes think too much about things. That I shouldn't get jealous of Max. Probably also that I need to talk to you more instead of just hugging you."
"Hmmm. You can hug and talk?" I was delighted when she kissed me, feeling like I'd won it big in Vegas.
Breaking off the kiss, she nodded. "I can hug and talk, but I can't talk and kiss."
"We'll figure something out. Did you get the stink out of your gear?"
"It isn't exactly a stink, Dusky. It's just… dragon." She shrugged a little. "I got it out. Used some lye and then rinsed it. When it's dry, which won't be long, I'll oil it up again."
It was nice to spend some quality time with Taffy. After the sleep when dragon me was in control, I could feel that time had passed and I hadn't spent it with her. At some point Caprice and Chloe came down too, the former finding herself cornered by Max.
It wasn't until Yaff came in and dumped a pile of papers on the table where Jules and Chloe were sitting. It was like raising a flag to us. We all put down what we were doing (in Caprice's case, that meant pushing Max off her lap) and made our way over to the table to sit down.
"I have six quests for the same spot. All of them have some amount of overlap. It will probably mean we have to spend a night down there, but we have enough in our group that we can post a guard while the others sleep." Spreading her papers out, Yaff used her claw to mark each requirement on the lists with a number of marks, where corresponding marks were the same creatures. "If this is the kind of payment we get for Dusky's potions, I think we need to make some more."
Looking over the quests, they were significant, and if two of the quests and the kills for them got us a whole level each, then we probably had two to three levels here. "If I'd known that, I would have spent all morning making new potions. This is great."
"There are other people learning to become healing classes now. As well as healers there are also shamans and druids around. From what I know, though, none are as high ranked as Dusky, and none have been making any potions." Yaff pulled out a slate tablet she'd been scrawling on. "You said—" She stopped and cleared her throat. "Since people have started being able to become healing types, the adventurers' guild is getting flooded by even high ranked groups trying to get their healing classes leveled fast. Something is holding them back, though, and I think it's you, Dusky."
"Me?"
"Yes. Whatever is allowing people to become these classes, it is limiting their growth to your own." Drawing a dagger out, Yaff fiddled with it for a moment before she blushed and sheathed it again.
Max sat down by turning a chair around and leaning on the back of it. "That means we need to get Dusky to the highest tier so everyone else can."
It was a lot of weight to find on my shoulders. I looked around the group and took a deep breath. "So we need to get levels fast. More quests, more levels, everyone gets stronger."
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