"Healing Font." It was the best thing ever. It drew me a ton of aggro, but Taffy could hold them with her skills. And, with the totem parked right where she was fighting, it kept her, Chloe, Cuddles, and Yaff from any minor damage while Taffy and my own heals took care of anything bigger.
With the girls up front, Caprice and me in back, we advanced through the tunnels all day trying to reach the camp the deep gnomes were using as a rallying point. I watched them fight, renewed Bless when it seemed like it would run out, and got a feel for how much healing everyone required. Taffy, at least, would let off her Blast of Life whenever she started taking serious hits, to which I'd follow up with a heal over time.
We hadn't reached the gnomes' camp, though, when we all started to strain more and more to keep going. "Hey!" Everyone seemed to stumble, which I figured was a bad sign that we were all getting tired. "I think we should stop and set up a camp."
Taffy turned to look back at me, nodded, and then shook her head as if to clear sleepiness. "Yeah. Good plan. I didn't realize how tired I am."
Yaff stretched and rolled her shoulders. "That Healing Font you keep casting is amazing. There was a time or two when they clipped me with a shield swipe, but it took away the pain a moment later. I'll take first watch."
"Wake me after that," I said, yawning. "Who's taking third?"
"Caprice will. Cuddles will keep Caprice company."
"I'll take the watch after that. Let Taffy sleep through." Chloe yawned too. "But don't cuddle with her, Dusky, or you'll wake her up for your watch."
We ate in almost complete silence. The meal was light, but we didn't want to be hauling heavy stuff around for just one night. I leaned against Taffy and she me, while we ate and then cleaned off the bowls we'd eaten a thin stew from.
It was hard to not snuggle up with her, but Chloe was right. I lay some distance away, pressed to Cuddles' side, and soon was asleep. I barely had a moment to myself, though, than a hand rocked me awake. Looking up, I saw Yaff's arm retreating.
I rubbed at my eyes and got to my feet. It was impossible not to yawn. Yaff spared me a smile as she curled up in the spot I'd vacated. I couldn't blame her, it was already warm and there was Cuddles as an even better source of heat.
Looking around where we were, a corner in the tunnel, I found a spot that let me see both ways with minimal movement, and settled down into a crouch on the stone. From my pocket I pulled one of the little hourglasses we'd each gotten for this purpose, turned it over, and settled-in to wait.
When the glass ran empty, I turned it over. There wasn't much light to see with, but I could see the soft glow of the cave moss that seemed to grow everywhere down here, and my own eyes were sharp enough that it was enough to let me see further than I should be able to. When the glass emptied a second time, I picked it up and walked over to my friends.
Crouching beside Caprice, I had to rock her shoulder before she finally lifted her head and made the cutest little chirp sound I've ever heard. It was everything I could do not to giggle at it. She looked up at me and rubbed her eyes—then yawned.
Yawning too, I gave her a hug as I crouched and crawled to Taffy's side. Now I could snuggle, and that meant the world to me. Pressing against her, not minding her armor, I felt her arm tighten around me. When my eyes closed and sleep surrounded me, I woke up.
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… looking into the eyes of a dragon.
"Oh, dragon me?" I asked, and got a lick from my chin to my forehead. I laughed and reached out to her—and kinda me. "This is new. Are we in Molly's world, or our own head?"
Dragon me shrugged her big shoulders and then started bouncing around. I guess, seeing as we were both together, we had to be in our own head still. Standing up myself, I stretched and, for a moment, realized I was naked. Either we were in my head and it didn't matter or we were someone else and it might.
"Hey, have you figured out a trade class? I know I said you could have some extra days, but then everyone wanted to go adventuring and I noticed you let me back in con— Ack!" She'd jumped on me, knocked me to the ground, and started licking my face.
Her playfulness goaded me into playing too. It was easy to surrender all my stress and adult sensibility and jump around. We wrestled, ran, and she even lived up to Caprice's nickname for her by tackling me again and again.
At some point we stopped wrestling and lay together. After a while I asked her, "What about Bard?" When she rolled one eye at me, I laughed. "Okay, what do you want to do?"
She breathed out a snort that included a sulfurous smell to it, and then prodded me with her nose.
"That doesn't help. What about paladin? Molly would take you in a heartbeat, and you'd get some neat abilities that way." She looked thoughtful on that one, or so it seemed. Was she actually being thoughtful or was it how she wanted to appear? I don't know. "I don't think crafting would work."
She shook her head and poked me with a claw, then two claws.
"Huh?" I asked. Then one claw again. "Back one?" She nodded. "Paladin, like Taffy?"
The look in her eyes wasn't complete committal, but it wasn't outright denial.
"Okay, Paladin goes on the maybe pile." She licked my cheek, getting a laugh from me. "And I don't know as you'll fit in a dress, even a big one, so the Barmaid tree is out."
"Clerical tree might be okay. It's an add-on trade class, which means you could have it and another trade class, like Caprice does. It can be really powerful, since it's like a less aggressive version of Paladin."
She lashed out at the ground with her claws, digging a little, then pushing the dirt and clod back into the hole she'd made.
"Mining? I don't know anything about that tree. We do spend a lot of time underground at the moment, but that might change." I reached up and started rubbing her cheek, trying to ignore the feeling that I was essentially petting myself. "I wonder if there is an actual dragon trade class?"
She quirked her head at me and then shrugged her shoulders. She was right, how could she figure out what a dragon trade class would be without knowing other dragons?
"We could ask Mother." Just saying her name invited her, but she seemed to not have rushed to poke around. I kissed dragon me on the nose. "Mother, can you come help—" My head felt tiny. Something huge and overwhelming seemed to slither in and coil up to take most of the room. I knew exactly who and what it was. "… us. Hey."
"This is cozy," the giant serpent in my head said. "I am not Mother, but she has told me I am to be at your service. Word is you helped negotiate it so we got the same access to healers as the adventurers did." The presence seemed to shrink, but in doing so became far more visible as a woman with a snake's body below her midsection. Unlike mother, she wore a tight wrap around her chest. "You walk a tight-rope, along with the goddess who gave these powers. Much as I would enjoy corrupting you, we would not have this power if you were entirely our plaything."
I wasn't sure if I liked having one of Mother's minions in my head or if I'd have preferred her. She might have made me explode, though, so I guess this was a slight improvement. "Monster Trade Classes."
"Yes?"
Not bothering to try to stop dragon me from moving, I let her soft growl go on without any action. "Pouncey is interested in them. Are there any specific to dragons?"
"Several. Mana Weaver, Enchanter, Lair Lord, and Brood Queen. You would have to spend more than a handful of days to make use of the latter, of course." She flicked her tails and looked down at me like she was debating whether to cuddle me or eat me. Maybe she'd do both, if Mother hadn't told her to play nice.
"So, what do they do?" I asked.
Beside me, Pouncey nodded. Err, dragon me. Though I guess they're different names for the same aspect of myself.
"Mana Weavers are dedicated to the art of controlling the very flow of mana around them and those nearby. They could build grand constructs out of magic itself, working it into a grand spell unlike any mortal could hope to cast.
"Enchanters specialize in enhancing items and body-parts with permanent magics that aid them and their allies when it comes time to pit claw and blade against one another.
"Lair Lords stake a claim and manage it, breathing life into the stone itself as they collect minions and riches unlike any could hope to find were they merely a common fighter.
"Finally, Brood Queens are those dragonesses that dedicate their lives to producing and raising the next generation of dragons. Without them, there would be no dragons at all, for only they become fertile." The snake woman's eyes narrowed and her smile widened. "I could easily make that your destiny rig—"
Pouncey moved before I could. She lived up to her namesake and clamped her jaws around the snake's upper body, squeezing almost to the point where the snake would be crushed. I got up and walked over to her, putting one hand on her shoulder. "Maybe don't antagonize her?"
The snake seemed frozen in place and unable to move. Well, good. I cleared my throat. "Are you done being an asshole?" If looks could kill, I'd be dead on the spot. "Yes? Good. Remember, Pouncey is a dragon, and my head is where she spends a lot of her time. This is her home."
She must have squeezed a little tighter, because the snake monster seemed to panic. "I apologize for any offense! I didn't mean to—to imply that you would—or wouldn't want to—" And then Pouncey let go and spat the snake out.
"Okay, so, glad we're on the same page now. Pouncey, what do you think? Mana Weaver, Enchanter, Lair Lord?" I paused a bit between each to judge her reaction. The strongest reactions from her was the first and last. The first had her bouncing in place, the last made her pull a face like she wanted to spit something out. The middle one held no real focus from her. "Mana Weaver?"
Pouncey nodded and glared at the snake.
"I expected a human pretending at being a monster. That was my mistake." Straightening itself, the snake looked at Pouncey. "Then accept the dragon class of Mana Weaver."
Pouncey glowed for a moment, then it faded. "Is that it?" I asked.
Hissing something angrily at us, the snake was gone as quick as it had arrived. When I slumped sideways against Pouncey's shoulder, I slowly slid all the way down to the ground beside her foot.
She lowered herself behind me and curled her neck around to rest her head on my lap, while she stretched a wing down over me.
"Sometimes," I said, while petting her head, "it feels too crazy to have to deal with all these gods and their representatives. Why can't they just make a quest to get this stuff?" She wuffed out a breath in answer to that. "I guess we got that figured out, at least. Wanna sleep now?"
She only lifted her head a fraction before bringing it back down, but I got the message. I sat there for I don't know how long before asking, "How do we sleep normally?" The big wing and shoulder muscles behind me tensed for a moment—a shrug. "Well, this isn't so bad." She nodded again.
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Waking up to a kiss was pretty high on my list of awesome ways to wake up. I opened my eyes to see Caprice crouched over me, her eyes dancing.
"You're right, Caprice," Taffy said from somewhere nearby, "she didn't scream and run away."
"Ack, kobold cooties." I tried to shove her away, but that just made Caprice more insistent about trying to kiss me again. Even when I managed to stand up, panting, she was trying to grab me and climb up.
Taffy grabbed Caprice with one hand under each of her arms, and lifted my assailant away and to the side. "You'll have to excuse me, Caprice, but it is my turn." Then she kissed me, and all their silly games faded into background noise. "There. Feeling better?"
"Yeah. Hey, we got Pouncey her Trade Class. She picked Mana Weaver, which is a dragon-only one." That made me wonder. I couldn't use her spells, and she couldn't use mine, but what about Trade Classes? I'd have to work on that when we got out of this place.
"How'd Dusky and Pouncey get a dragon-only Trade Class? Wouldn't a dragon be needed?" Caprice asked.
"We, uh, asked Mother. She sent one of her people who helped us. It wasn't the best handling of it, but we got what we wanted and they didn't hurt us." When Taffy narrowed her eyes and raised an eyebrow, I knew I wouldn't get off that easy. "Okay, so they tried to get pushy, but Pouncey sorted them out."
Caprice tilted her head to the side. "Pouncey did? Not Dusky?"
"Hey, I'm not up to speed with the whole monster manifesting in my head thing, okay? They were kinda powerful, and I didn't know that in my own head I get to make up the rules. So, when they tried something, Pouncey just did her thing and knocked them down. She's kinda awesome." The sense of happiness I got from her told me what she thought of the praise. Is it weird to praise another side of myself? Back on Earth they would have called it a positive mental attitude, but they also hadn't dealt with a dragon in their heads.
Their loss. Dragons are awesome, right? Dragon me definitely agreed. "We're pushing to the location today, right?"
"And getting back out as far as possible. I don't want us spending too much time deep in their territory." Chloe had fallen into the leader role so well it continued to surprise me. She wasn't simply good at keeping track of our group, she made the right decisions on instinct. "Light breakfast. So eat and we'll move."
So breakfast was a bowl of bread with cold beef porridge poured into it. I used the bowl to funnel as much into my mouth as I could to chew and swallow, repeating until I was down to chewing on the bread. Looking around, everyone else was mostly done with theirs too, so I didn't slow down to chat.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Taffy was the first finished. She stood up from her crouch and checked over her shield. "Everyone almost done?" She looked huge, towering over me. I could have spent more time basking in Taffy's solidness, but this was meant to be business.
Standing up, munching on the last bit of bread, I nodded. Soon enough everyone else did too. We cast our long-duration buffs and let Yaff move off first. As Chloe tapped her foot to wait, Taffy moved to the front of our little group to get ready for what might be ahead. After what I could only assume was an amount of time Yaff and Chloe had agreed on, we started moving.
Taffy paused, eventually, and held a hand up. "There's something ahead. Five targets, two have short bows. When we reach them, Yaff will strike one of the archers."
"How does Taffy know?" Caprice asked.
Tapping her foot, Taffy drew our attention to a bunch of rocks that didn't look out of place. "Sign we figured out. Saves her time having to keep coming back all the way to us."
It was a pretty good idea, and a great workaround for not having group or voice chat. "That's cool. So, how are we going to handle this?"
"I'll get on their fighters. Get Cuddles on the second bowman, and Chloe can deal with any magic types." It was a weird shift from strategic planning under Chloe to tactical planning under Taffy, but it worked for us. We followed her lead and made our way along the tunnel. When the attempted ambush was sprung, and we weren't surprised by it, the tables were already turned.
As Taffy marched right up to their melee types, Yaff appeared in their back line to deal with an archer.
The fight was on, and I opened with Bless and Healing Font. It almost became serious when one of the fighters on their front line held up his hammer and called out to their god—and I could see the healing magic splash over their line.
Yaff appeared behind the healer, but their armor and their allies seemed to stymie her efforts and, when they turned some attention on her, she had to back off.
It was turning into a long fight, and would have persisted if Chloe and Cuddles didn't pick then to finish off the second archer and pile into the melee with the two fighters and healer. At first, it seemed like the small figures might be able to keep back even this charge, but Yaff came in from one side and delivered a devastating strike to one of the flanking fighters that I could see he wasn't going to recover from with a single heal spell.
"Nature's Acceleration!" Caprice was beside me, directing her magics toward buffing Cuddles while I cast one of my bigger heals to ensure everyone was having an easier time of it.
It became butchery. With one of the fighters down, everyone circled around the remaining fighter and healer, wailing on them with everything they had. The healer went down first, a swipe from Cuddles taking his throat out a moment after Chloe knocked his helmet back to create the opening. The final fighter did his best, but without the healing he went down fast.
Chloe, Yaff, and Taffy were panting. Cuddles rushed over to Caprice to demand petting from her. I couldn't blame any of them. "That was new," I said. "But I'm pretty sure that didn't have anything to do with Molly giving healing magic to monsters and adventurers."
Caprice nodded. "Caprice notice too. Not praying to Mother or Molly. They must have their own god of healing."
I walked over to the body of the cleric and checked them for holy symbols. It didn't take much, around their neck was a chain of what felt like steel, with a pickaxe inlaid over what appeared to be a coin attached to it. "Do any of you know this holy symbol?"
After everyone took a look and shook their head or said they hadn't, I shrugged. "Well, I don't think it would be a good idea to take it from the body. Any other stuff is free game."
Yaff was picking over the bodies, and revealed similar symbols on each of them. "I think you're right about not taking these. We should draw them and show that to the guild, though."
Remembering something from high school, I got out some paper and a pencil and pressed the paper firmly to a holy symbol, then ran the pencil over it to impression it on the paper. "We keep going, right?"
"Yeah. We haven't reached the point on the quest sheet yet." Chloe was looking over the equipment that Yaff had picked out as being above average. "What do these do?" she asked, holding a pair of bracers.
Yaff shrugged. "I don't know, but one of the guys had them on. Might be something to make you stronger or do more damage. Let's not wear anything new until we get home and figure out what it does."
Chloe looked a little annoyed, but she didn't say anything about it. "Alright. Get this gear packed, and let's move on. Yaff, are you ready to continue?"
Yaff full on rolled her eyes as looked back at Chloe. "With you lot to watch my tail, always." Well, now I couldn't help myself from looking at her tail.
When Yaff faded from sight, I looked to see Taffy still watching the spot the vixen had vanished. I walked over to her and bumped against her side. "I was staring too."
Taffy just nodded and hugged me against her side for a moment. "Easy on the eyes. How's your mana?"
"Full." The habit of using Focus the moment fights end was ingrained enough that it didn't even register. Hooray for (mental) muscle memory from playing the game. "I guess we should get moving then."
We headed deeper, tunnels and caves getting bigger. Two more fights against small groups of the deep gnomes, then Yaff appeared before us. "Their outpost is up ahead. Sixteen of them, only one is a healer, though." She took a slow breath and added, "It's times like these I wish I'd gone one of the higher damage specialties."
I reached a hand out to her and touched her forearm. "Their stealth is limited and you wouldn't be able to do anything but stab stuff."
"Yeah, I remember. I'd be hating myself for the choice when it came time to do anything but fight." She patted my hand. "Let me go and set up to take out the mage they have."
The fight was a new test. My healing was pushed hard, but I didn't get below half mana before we took the last of them down. It had been by the numbers. Yaff working with Cuddles and Chloe while Taffy, Caprice, and me kept their frontline busy.
The ebb and flow of combat came so naturally now that while fighting, I could spare the focus to watch the meta fight. The moments when tactics change and when decisions are made.
"Dusky, your shoulder?" Taffy asked.
It made me pay attention to it. Looking to my left, I saw the feathered shaft sticking out near where my shoulder and arm meet. "Huh. Yeah. Can you break it and pull it out?" I hadn't really noticed it. With the amount of group heals I'd used, my skin had sealed neatly around the shaft.
I heard and felt the snap of the shaft. With one hand around the rear of it, I pulled it free from my shoulder and let loose with, "Weak Heal," and then, "Channel Life." The pain barely lasted a moment, but the ache I hadn't really let myself feel was gone completely. "Thanks, Taffy. So, anyone else need some first aid?"
They all stared at me like I had just said something stupid. "Uh…"
Taffy kissed my cheek and asked, "When did you get so badass?"
"It was only an arrow." That's when it hit me. How different it was now to get hurt. Nothing short of a killing blow would stop me, since I could heal the damage away. "Is it that weird?"
Chloe shrugged and shook her head. "Nothing's weird unless we make it, I guess. Maybe it's time you get some more substantial armor on. At least something to protect your torso."
Thinking on it, it would be a good idea. Maybe a chain shirt under my robes? What do you think, Pouncey? I got an image in my head of me, covered in scales, with arrows bouncing off. Okay, that might work, but how do I grow scales? That got me a mental shrug. I guess I will wear armor and try to figure that out, then. "I'll try to get some chain."
"Good plan. Okay, with this place cleared, we get to head back. Make sure to find whatever items you can, but leave their holy symbols." Chloe moved as she spoke, picking the nearest gnome to start searching.
I made my way over to where their healer had been. Once again he'd had a tank stuck to him like glue. "Sorry, but you picked your path," I said, and started searching him. He had the usual gear, the heavy armor that made him so damn hard to bring down and his holy symbol on a chain around his neck, but I also found a small pouch at his side and opened it.
At first, I thought it was gold inside, but when I spilled the little disks into my palm, I shivered. Several different religious symbols, Father, Hunter, Lady, and one Cart. What I hated, though, was how many there were. "I take it back. I'm not—not sorry." Turning to my left, I threw up.
When a big hand patted my back, I leaned back a bit from the mess I'd made. "What's wrong?" Caprice's voice sounded worried. When I opened my palm again and showed her what I held, she asked, "Why all the—?"
The choked gasp from her told me she'd gotten to the same conclusion. I straightened and turned, pulling her into a hug.
"I felt bad for them. We barged into their place, we beat up their friends, we killed them." Closing my fist around the holy symbols, I swore that I'd take them back to the guild and hope their gods could find them. "And, after all I said about not desecrating them…"
Caprice's arms were probably her strongest limbs, given her particular ethnicity of kobold was made for digging—which made her hugs the best ever. Or, so I thought, until she got those wings. Squeezed and folded up in the soft embrace, I let my emotions go and cried while she made soft little growling purrs.
Letting it all out, I wept for all the priests who had lost their holy symbols and lives. Even the worshipers of Father—I didn't know if they were the bad kind or good, but it didn't matter now. "We should get moving," I said.
"Waaaaait…" Caprice squeezed me a little more, then said, "Perfect. Now Dusky can go."
I could only look at her, absorb the cuteness and caring, before finally sighing. "Thanks, Caprice. I needed that. Now, let's get out of here and get these to folks who might know who they belonged to." Putting the handful of symbols in my coin pouch, I shook myself to get my head back in the game.
There was only one encounter on the way back, and it went like clockwork again—only we all leveled up at the end of it. A check of my mostly useless interface showed me that two of the quests were now missing, and I figured their completion triggered it.
I got two new things. An instant-cast spell that boosted my next spell's effectiveness. From what I could remember, it was basically a doubling of one spell. Slow reuse, but that's fine. The second was a spell that made me invulnerable for ten seconds. It was instant to cast, and could only be used once a day—and it was the single best way to screw your party over since you couldn't affect things while it was in effect. All your buffs would wink out and you couldn't cast a spell on anyone but yourself.
It was weird to think that now I had the spell that I'd forced people to cast—and leave their whole party to me without healing. "Any more holy symbols?" I asked Caprice.
"Caprice didn't find any. Anyone else find normal holy symbols?" When everyone shrugged, Caprice did too. "Let's go home and hand in our quests."
Breaching the surface again, over a day since we went underground, felt like being reborn. The afternoon light combined with fresh air made me let out a happy sigh. When Taffy slipped her arm around me, I definitely didn't fight it. "It's good to be out of there," I said.
"It feels so cramped, even when there's plenty of room to move around. I want a bath, though." She leaned down and pressed her nose into my hair, then inhaled. "We both need one."
I laughed at her and tilted my face up so her sniff could become a kiss. When that little affirmation of our love was done, I said, "Since when did you start liking baths that much?"
"Since I had someone to share them with." She raised her voice and added, "Isn't that right, Caprice?"
"Caprice wasn't listening to private talk, but if she was, she would say she's the best bath buddy!" She pressed herself to my other side, earning her a hug from me as we supported each other on the way to the adventuring guild building.
Yaff stepped up to the counter with the handful of bounties. She started passing them over, one by one, and she was on the second-last one when I got another level-up notification. I wish I'd known someone as good at quest grinding as she apparently was. "Did either of you level up again?" With both Taffy and Caprice nodding, I couldn't resist adding, "Yaff is definitely handling the paperwork from now on."
She handed the last one in, but I guess even she couldn't get a quest for a whole level of XP to be added. I didn't bother looking at my skills and spells now, I wanted a bath and about two days of sleep. "We're going back now?"
"You don't want to go back out?" Yaff asked, her vulpine grin stretched to its limit. I swear, if I was dragon me right now, I'd jump on her and growl. Not being big enough, heavy enough, or energetic enough, I just slumped into the grip of Taffy. "I'll take that as a no vote from our esteemed healer."
"I need to go shopping for some armor, but that can be a job for tomorrow-Dusky. I just want to get clean and sleep." If I could have physically attached myself to Taffy so she could carry me like her shield, I would. Instead, I just yawned and let her steer the way back to the tavern we were staying in.
Not until I'd gotten into the bath and spent a good five minutes washing, then relaxing, did I finally feel like taking a look at my spells. As I brought up what remained of the interface, that was now jolting and jittering almost too much to read, I noticed everyone else in the bath doing the same.
"What did Dusky get?" Caprice leaned over and against me, her wings flopping limply behind her while she pressed her jaw onto my shoulder.
I didn't have to turn my head far to meet her eyes. "Level eight is when all healers get their signature spell, Grand Heal. Eight second cast time, and no matter how hurt you are, you're back to full."
"What?" Taffy shifted on my other side. "That's crazy."
"There's a limit, at least this low. Firstly, it's single target. Second, if you're more than five levels above me, the amount of health is actually capped. Every five levels that limit rises another two until, at thirty-three, it is removed." It was an annoyance when fighting groups, especially if you were single-target focused. Hence, why I would attack enemy healers first to get them to use their Divine Sanctuary, the invulnerability spell, then you would destroy their group while they couldn't heal them. Fun times.
"It would draw a lot of taunt, too?" Taffy asked.
I nodded to that. "Against monsters and things, yeah. Really flashy and really obvious who is casting it. When the fight is against something big and tough, though, it's the top way to keep your tank standing. In big raid groups, I heard people would get multiple healers and time it so the spell was landing every second."
"Right. Sure. Let me process that for a moment while you say what else you got." Just like Caprice, Taffy leaned her head onto my shoulder. I tilted my head her way so we could fit together a bit easier. Caprice, thankfully, didn't get jealous—or so it seemed.
I kissed her cheek and settled again. "I got a newer version of Bless. This one gives a much bigger bonus."
"That I can get onboard with. More defense and attack, right?" Taffy asked. When I nodded, she tilted her head to look up. "Then, yeah, I like that."
Closing my eyes, I smiled as I thought of one neat idea I could do now. "This means I can make drinks that heal anyone who isn't an adventurer to full health."
"That will make any tavern Dusky works in very popular," Caprice said.
"Mmhmm." Taffy sounded about as tired as I felt.
"We should get out, dry off, and go to bed." The only problem my plan ran into—well, problems—were both leaning on me. "Taffy, Caprice?"
"Does Caprice have to get out?"
"Nope," I said, then wiggled and got myself out from between the pair, "but I'll shrivel up and dissolve if I stay in here any longer." Fighting the urge to surrender and stay in the bath, I climbed out, dried off, and looked back to see they were both following suit.
Sticking with a bathrobe, I waited until they were both dry too, and we walked back to the room I shared with Taffy. Being first in, the bed wasn't as bad as I feared. With the fireplace burning, the whole room was fighting back the cold evening. Then Taffy climbed in and proved herself to be a furnace of heat that I couldn't resist clinging to like a limpet.
The real surprise had been Caprice. She climbed in on the other side of me, snuggling up against me and spreading an arm and wing over that made my tiredness overwhelming. As my eyes fluttered closed and Taffy's kiss caught my cheek, I let out an incoherent little groan of joy.
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It wasn't waking up, but I opened my eyes and saw Taffy laying beside me and could feel Caprice behind. I was, as usual now, the largest of the three of us. Yawning, I stretched my tail out and ruffled my wings a little.
Peace and tranquility reigned here, and I closed my eyes to go back to sleep. Then a hand touched my nose.
"How are you feeling?" It wasn't Molly's voice. It wasn't either of the two I'd fallen asleep with. It was, in all honesty, the strangest friend I'd ever made.
"Mother," I said and opened my eyes to confirm it was her. She looked happy.
"You don't know it, but you have made a new enemy. Not just you, but all your friends too." She didn't seem inclined to keep talking, and I didn't want to wake my friends when she was all we had to deal with. I waited, trying to accept the petting for what it was. "You took back trophies from her priests."
The holy symbols. I was right, they had been taken specifically. "She can sit and rotate for all I care," I said. "If I find more of her priests carrying them, I'll take those, too."
"If you find any of mine, please bring them to me. Her followers don't hunt the surface dwellers exclusively." Mother's hand stilled and I felt tension in the fingers. That she was letting her emotions show surprised me, but let me know how angry she was. "Do that, and I'll reward you. Bring me the heads of the ones you slay, and the rewards will be doubled."
Lifting my head up at last, I looked and saw pain and anger on her face a moment before she looked away. Without disturbing Taffy or Caprice, I brought a wing up and used the thumb-claw to make her turn back toward me. "I'd do it for nothing. Taking trophies is not—not right."
She leaned forward and kissed the top of my snout and then turned her head and pressed her cheek there. "You will get a reward, still, because I am a goddess of my word. More control, more power. It's what everyone craves—but you—and how I can tell you deserve it. If you fight her priests in deeper caves, you will find them far stronger and carrying the holy symbols of my followers. To aid you in their destruction, have a little gift free of charge."
I felt like my stomach and throat were burning up. Eyes wide, I could feel the fire coming up my throat as she stepped to the side and gave me room to exhale a gout of fire that was twice again as big as I was.
"You may be a little young for such a gift, but take it anyway. A dragoness should not be without her fire." She reached out and booped my nose, then disappeared.
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