Snow crunched beneath Goren’s feet as he walked along the road. Something is wrong, he thought. There was enough smoke in the air that it stung his nose. It was usual for there to be a little in the air during the winter, but this was more than a little. It’s so quiet. He swallowed, feeling unsettled, looking up and then down the road. There was no one. No one had passed him on the road for a while now.

The woods nearby stood tall, imposing, dark, and silent. Snow drifted down all around him. There should be tracks on this road, people moving to and from the town. But no matter how far ahead he looked, or how far behind him, there were nothing but his own prints.

He had gone away about six months ago to be an apprentice to a painter, but the master had died, and the three apprentices were on their own. In the end, he decided to take what he had and come home and bear the shame for his failure to make it in Feridan. He continued walking, sense of dread growing in the pit of his stomach and making his palms tingle some.

When he came over the hill, it was obvious what had happened.

It was winter. Battles and attacks didn’t usually happen in the dangerous cold and snow. The high town walls and the scarcity of food had always been enough to keep Buetarn safe. Now the wood buildings were smoldering as the snow continued to fall, and the town was quiet ruins. My family, he thought with a cold feeling in the pit of his stomach. He started to make his way down the hill, but then he heard a lone barking howl. Then more howls.

His heart raced. Gnolls! They attacked, and they are still here?

He had to decide what he was going to do: go down there and try to avoid the attackers, see if his family was somewhere, or turn around and try to save himself.

Goren swallowed, adjusting his pack so that it was settled properly between his wings. There was really only one choice. He took his hood off, sliding it off his horns, letting his white and brown ears stand up so he could hear without the fabric rubbing against them. He took a slow breath in, and then he watched his breath curl out ahead of him as he breathed out again. Frost already clung to the outer edges of his whiskers. Then, he slowly made his way down the hill. The cold wind chilled the inside of his ears almost immediately, but he was too frightened of missing a single sound to fold them down or cover them again.

He only made it a little way down the hill toward the remains of the front gate. “Hey, bunny boy,” someone called up from below him, someone he couldn’t see. “Coming to be a snack?”

The voice that jeered at him was masculine. There was movement in the dark toward him. Adrenaline shot through him as he turned to run. He saw another shadow coming around a tipped-over cart on the side of the road from him.

He was a fast runner, but it almost wasn’t enough. The gnoll behind the cart dashed at him at an angle that herded him toward the other one near the town gate. In the darkened evening, the height of its shadowy form filled him with dread. It must be close to seven feet tall, and so he pivoted hard to make for the trees off the side of the road.

Turning was almost a mistake; the back of his cloak was gripped by the one that had chased him from around the cart. He felt it pull tight over his throat as he hit the end of it, but he pushed forward anyway, and the gnoll said several foul sounding things as the cloak slipped from his fingers. Goren ran, a gnoll he hadn’t even noticed by the trees pounced at him.

The wind was knocked out of him as he was slammed to the ground, but he flailed and kicked, his foot catching the gnoll under his jaw. There was a harsh clack as his mouth was roughly closed, and he yelped. Goren twisted back onto his feet and catapulted himself into the woods.

Today, being a fast runner saved him from the gnolls. He ran until his lungs burned, until he started to cough from panting in the frigid air. He slowed to a stop, his ears oscillating back and forth. I cannot hear anything.

It was decided for him; there was no way he could get safely into Buetarn to look for his family. It was a heavy weight that mingled with the frantic feeling of waning adrenaline. He put his hood back up, threading it carefully over his horns. He walked further in this direction, anywhere that was away from Buetarn.

The snowstorm was picking up. Flakes became fatter, drifting down in heavy globs, and even with his hood, the ends of his long ears were cold. The tops of his shoulders were getting wet. I am lost, he thought. _I need shelter. _

It is getting harder to see, but I remember Dill once talking about ruins in the hills. At least that would be dry, right? Maybe if I can find something, I can start a small fire? He began to walk that way. He knew there might be people already there, already doing the same thing, but at this point, this was a risk he had to take.

***

Kashira was sleeping near the back of the old castle she lived in. She enjoyed listening to the wind roaring through gaps above her, knowing the snow could not reach her. She fit comfortably because the second floor had long ago fallen in. All she had to do to make the castle feel like home was push the debris to the back wall. There was a big hole in that same wall that hinted at how the castle had come to be abandoned in the first place, but she had filled it in with debris.

At least, that was the story she told herself. It had probably been abandoned long before she was born, so she did not really know. The blue dragon shifted, shaking to better settle her fluffy silver mane down her back, and prepared to nap through the entire storm. However, between the bursts of wind singing to her through the ruins, there was… a repetitive noise? She lifted her head and tilted it; it sounded like a stone striking against stone? Her ears twitched as she heard the sound more clearly in a lull in the wind. That is definitely what it is. Someone is here.

She stuck her head out into the storm to listen better, wind-packing snow on the side of her face and between her scales. It is coming from one of the older buildings in the garden. She decided to investigate, wiggling out of the front doors. She followed her ears, but when the wind really picked up, it drove snow against her face and ears and made it difficult for her to even hear her own big paws crunching in the snow. What a storm! I guess this winter is reminding us all that it is not done being harsh.

***

His paws were frozen. He was pretty wet. At least the wind did not cut through the building except when it shifted directions far enough, which it wasn’t doing a lot right now. Goren didn’t have anything to properly light a fire because nearly everything was wet. He wasn’t planning on being stranded in a driving blizzard when he walked home. He was planning to be home, listening to his family giving him a hard time for failing to become the painter he said he wanted to be.

I might just die out here. I’m so cold I can’t really feel my fingers. It’s probably still a long time until dawn, and it’s only just getting cold. He struck the stones together again, trying to get past the wet to get the spluttering sparks of the flint to ignite the kindling he had found that was only faintly damp. The gnolls might have been a quick death at least. It felt gross to think, and he yelped as he smashed his thumb with the rock. His hands hurt, so cold it was getting harder and harder to be coordinated.

His left ear twitched up, catching a faint noise. He listened more closely; there it was again, a crunch of snow beneath what must be huge feet.

His heart absolutely tried to stop in his chest. He stopped moving. The crunching stopped. He swallowed. He could feel something looking for him; it made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He barely dared to move, looking around. It was night, and there was a blizzard obscuring the stars and moonlight. He could barely see anything at all.

I wonder if I can just sneak out of this spot. Maybe it can’t see well either, so if I can just... He tried to shift his weight onto his feet, only to hear the crunching of the snow beneath his toes. He flinched, and froze, but it was too late. The wind was loud, but he still heard what he could already feel: the huff of warm breath down his back. He held in a whimper. _I am in so much trouble. _

His heart started pounding so rapidly that he really thought he might faint; there were tingles of adrenaline in every limb.

The huffing sound again, and he crouched down to make himself smaller. _What do I do? It is big, and it is sniffing around for me. Is my best chance to run for it? If I stay here, I will be cornered. _

Goren looked at the entry, the darkness beyond. He could see a little into it, the white snow reflecting even very little light in the atmosphere. He couldn’t see anything beyond. I am cornered; if I stay, I will be caught for sure.

A ragged breath in, and then he was on his feet. Snow crunched beneath his feet as he bolted the couple of steps to his bag, pivoted, and ran for the nearest gap he could jump through in this building. He couldn’t see anything beyond the gap, shadows, and faint white of snow.

It was like he crashed into something rock-solid right at the level of the middle of his body. He would have fallen backward, but the thing curled around him. “Wait a second,” a big feminine voice said.

I am dead, he thought as his heart raced even more painfully. “No, let me go!”

The blue dragon could see clearly in the darkness as she captured the small, around four-feet-tall, little thing that squeaked painfully when he blindly crashed into her. That was a little rougher than I wanted it to be. Though she had braced for him to run for it, she had not really expected that he would actually try to do so.

She adjusted the grip of her tail on him, and then she lifted him nearer to her nose, “Oh, you’re a little jayune.” She ignored his complaint about wanting to be let go. Everything ran away from her and found her terrifying, but where was he going to go? Darting off into a blizzard and freezing to death? That was pointless. “Why are you clear out here?”

He didn’t answer her; instead, he squirmed and kicked. He tried to get his fingers between himself and where her tail was looped about his hips and belly, and as the fingers pressed down on her scales, she could just feel how very icy they really were. She inspected him more closely; he was covered in snow, and his fur was wet on most of his body. That told her why he was probably here. “Shelter?”

He flailed. “Please let me go. I don’t have to bother you. I didn’t know you were here. I’ll leave!”

“You are not bothering me,” she said calmly, sniffing over him. He was quivering in her tail, and when she touched his feet with her nose tip, his shoes made a wet squelch. I am guessing he needs to get dry. And warm. Actually, warmth might be more important. And pretty urgent; he’s probably not shivering only because he’s frightened.

She sat back and balanced on her back legs and transferred him to her left paw. “So, are you from the town near the lake?” she asked.

***

He could only dimly see the large creature that had grabbed him in the darkness of the night blizzard. He felt himself moved from one part of her body to another part... felt like a paw, claws at the ends of fingers pricking at his side a little. Her question made him think of his hometown, and he just felt a tight, overwhelmed feeling in his chest. “It’s gone.”

To his surprise, she makes a soft crooning noise. “And you’re all by yourself?” And then she took off one of his wet shoes.

The question felt ominous as his wet toes were exposed to the blowing winds of the storm. “Thirty of us escaped; they’ll be looking for me in the morning.” His heart raced as he lied, and he truly didn’t know if even thirty people were going to be a consideration for this creature, which was so big she could hold him in her paw.

She plucked off his other shoe. “Is that so?” She removed his bag.

Color came to his face as that patronizing tone said she had seen right through him. “Please just let me go,” he pleaded.

“Hmm… No,” she said, barely pretending to contemplate it as she peeled off his wet cloak and hood. She put her nose against his ears. “So cold.”

“Stop taking things off, and it might not be so bad!” He twisted and tried to kick at her chin. He could really feel his own heart racing even though pressing off her chin with his feet didn’t faze her at all.

“You are really pushy for a little bunny man,” she said in a tone that made him try to kick at her again, except this time when he did so, his bare toes slid across a wet textured surface that curled against the tops of his feet—it was so warm it felt like fire on his toes.

He recoiled, but her lips closed around his toes and pulled, sliding his pants off as he kicked and squirmed to reclaim his legs. “What are you doing?”

“Also tastier than I expected, even if you are barely warmer than the snowflakes.”

He felt color come to his cheeks. “I am not that cold! Stop, please, I don’t want to… be your dinner or whatever it is you are up to.”

“Well, little bunny, it is no longer within your ability to decide whether I stop, whether I let you go, or whether I have dinner or not. However, for now, what I have decided to do is warm you up.”

“Yeah, no thanks, I don’t need anyone deciding things for me.” He tried to kick at her face again when he felt her warm breath tickling his paws. He missed, his feet swinging through the air and leaving him feeling off-balance in her paw. When he tried to squirm further down, he felt her warm breath once more on his toes. This time when he attempted to kick out, his paws slid across the heated, pebbly surface of her tongue once again, and he felt the pressure of her lips wrap around his legs.

Her paw shifted around him, two claws resting against his shoulders, her thumb sliding under the front of his shirt and sweater. He worked to pull his legs free, but she slurped him in and dragged him easily over her palm, deeper into her heated mouth. His heart raced so much that he started to feel as though he was going to faint. Heat engulfed the lower half of his body, and a slick wetness permeated his already wet fluff. His sweater and hood slid off over the top of his head, which pulled his arms up, so he could not even push his hands down to try to brace off the scaled lips. “Stop, stop, stop,” he gasped over and over.

She ignored him. She tilted her head up, and opened her mouth, and there was nothing to grip onto as he slid in. “Let me go!”

He was a mouthful; her teeth couldn’t quite close with him resting in the center of her tongue. He felt the pressure of both her tongue on one side of his body and the firmer upper palate of her mouth on the other side.

At the same time, it wasn’t as bad as he had feared at first. She continued to breathe around him, taking in frozen air from outside and then covering him in warm air as she breathed out. Her breath had a sharp smell that was sweet, a little earthy, but not as bad as he might have expected.

But he couldn’t move. All beneath him, her tongue shifted and pressed itself to his body, and his heart pounded so hard it competed with the wet noises of her mouth as he dreaded her taking a swallow. She was going to swallow him, and he was so small there was nothing that he could do to stop her, but all he wanted to do was escape it.

Panic mounted as saliva built up around him, pooling a little in the bottom of her mouth, and he felt himself gasping for air, frozen up, unable to even think with the adrenaline racing through him.

***

He is not complaining. He’s just breathing, she thought as she gathered his bag and clothes, taking care to make certain she didn’t miss anything. Did he calm down? She waited for several heartbeats, the desire to swallow him building up as the saliva started to accumulate in her mouth. He’s still. So, calm?

His fingers and toes were still like ice against her tongue. Truthfully, no part of him felt warm, and she felt little quivers pass through him every time she breathed in. She could hardly talk to him with her mouth full, so she decided he seemed mellow enough to proceed.

Kashira tilted her head back and gulped heavily just once. He was a bit big for one swallow, and she felt a stretch in her neck. She placed her right claw at the base of her throat, feeling him barely moving as her body pressed him down. She felt the little shape of him passing beneath her claws, and she traced him until he reached her chest, keeping her focus on him. Then, she squeezed a muscle in her chest, pushing him off to one side into her hoard gullet.

The dragon focused on the sensation of him settling into this belly-like space. He did squirm a little, before settling against her. “Good,” she said. She was not bothered when he didn’t answer her, considering he had been less than enthusiastic for obvious reasons about her whole plan.

Kashira found herself moving a little differently. She was unfamiliar with the sensation of this much weight inside of her, let alone something living and breathing like this, and he shifted with each of her movements. He was still so cold she felt she had swallowed something big and icy, but he was warming steadily.

She felt very satisfied by it. She had a hard time describing why that was to herself. Maybe it was the knowledge that she was saving him from the cold that made her feel so pleased with holding him deep inside. Maybe she felt strong, able to protect him from anything. Maybe a little smug because he had assumed the worst of her, and she was about to prove him wrong.

In the morning, she would have to consider how to get him dry. But not until the sun comes out; he clearly can’t see in the dark in the slightest. She returned to the part of the castle ruins she could actually fit inside, wiggling her way back through the front doors. Without the wind, she already felt a little warmer herself, so she could only imagine how harsh it had been on such a cute and vulnerable little jayune.

Kashira shook herself off, knocking snow out of her mane, which she expected more protests about, but he only flailed about over it. She placed his stuff on the ground, and then she turned a circle before lying down, pressing her weight a little more around him. Even though the little guy is still ice-cold, she thought as she settled, this is still cozy.

She yawned, listened to the sounds of the storm for a little while, wondered if even one of the thirty advertised escapees existed. She didn’t hear anything, and she pondered if the stressed bunny hadn’t actually calmed himself so much as he had just perhaps fainted from stress. Another big yawn as she thought perhaps she would just go back to sleep for a few hours; she could let him out after things settled down and he warmed all the way up. Maybe I should keep him. I’m a dragon, after all, and I’ve hoarded him.

Chapter 3: A Night In a Dragon

Goren's heart was racing so much that his chest hurt; he willed her to not swallow him, willed himself to move, but his adrenaline was so intense that all he could do was quiver. And then, no matter what he wanted, that big tongue moved beneath him, and he slid into the tight throat beneath his feet. Horror swept over him.

Her throat contracted wetly over him, squeezing over his legs and up his waist; squishing sounds filled his ears as it smooshed down over his head. It squeezed and pulled down along his body, trapping his legs and then his arms; the now intense warmth blanketed every part of him, pressing into every painfully frozen inch.

Her body became his world, the noise of the wet muscles flexing, her pounding heart—it was all that he could hear. The only thing he could smell was the earthy-sweet smell she had. He was completely blinded, and his sense of touch could only feel her body wrapped tightly around him. There was a wet compression of muscles, and he felt himself pushed against one side; he was stuck for just a moment before he was pressed in an unceremonious heap into another damp, fleshy space.

It didn't squeeze him quite so intensely, and even though the air was thick to breathe, it was not difficult to breathe. He felt her walking, the space he was in soft enough to settle deeper into it in a way that was alarming. I cannot believe she actually swallowed me; I can't believe this is happening to me. His heart was racing so hard that he absolutely felt like he was going to faint.

He braced for it to just keep getting worse and worse somehow; she'd eaten him, there was no way he could live through that. Right?

---

Kashira was dozing off to sleep by the time she felt him start to move and wiggle. When he called out to her, it was a bit muffled, but her ears were good. "I cannot believe you ate me," he managed to complain. "Do you hear me? Let me out!"

She smiled as she felt him squirming within her and feeling along the space with his chilly little fingers. "You are cold, and you seemed calm enough; you currently seem fine."

A long pause, then, "Let me out!"

His tone was so demanding, despite how clearly frightened he was. It was rather cute. "No," she said, grinning a little more as she settled her chin on her paws.

He really squirmed and began trying to kick at her over that. "I'm not your dinner! You can't keep me here!"

"You are not dinner, but yes, I can," she said loudly, deliberately.

"That doesn't even make sense!" He was expending a lot of energy and strength trying to feel out his environment and attempting to make things uncomfortable.

She tightened her internal muscles, wrapping the demanding little jayune from all sides as she squeezed down on him. "Yes, it does. Now, be a good boy and settle down for me."

"I cannot really understand you clearly." His voice was faint enough that she almost didn't understand him either. His big back paws paddled and slipped against her as he tried to wiggle and kick. His horns pressed into her a little in a way that was almost ticklish.

She gave him a firmer squeeze. "You are staying until morning," she said louder, more slowly, trying to be certain he understood. She kept that firm pressure up all around him until he stopped kicking and fighting. Then, she relaxed.

"I cannot stay in a belly until morning," he complained.

I see the problem, she thought as she heard the need for reassurance that everything was actually safe, even though he'd been there quite a while before he had found the energy to be active or complain. Funnily enough, it was because things were already safe and painless for him.

She decided to tease him so that the reassurance later would feel a bit more genuine. "Then you should not have been such a cute and tasty frozen treat."

She enjoyed the silence and the way he pushed back against her with his limbs as if he wanted to reject the comment. She clenched her muscles again, folding his limbs to his body and compressing him until she felt him start to squirm. Then, she relaxed.

"I do not want to be here!" he tried a different tactic.

"Well, sweetie, you do not get to decide at this moment. I caught you; I get to decide."

Another extended silence greeted her. She grinned as she waited and gave him another squeeze after more than fifteen or so heartbeats had passed. He came to immediate life, squirming and bunny-kicking at her with those strong back legs of his. "I don't want you deciding I am food!"

She grinned as she relaxed. "Well, perhaps if the sweet snack has a name, I will not be able to fully treat him like food," she suggested.

---

His heart was not racing as badly as it was before. In the long time of nothing bad happening, he had started to calm himself. This space confused him; it was wet, but not that wet. There certainly were no acrid smells or extra fluids around him. It generally didn't react to him, except when she squeezed him. The most alarming aspect of it was only that it was so intensely soft he kept feeling like he was sinking more than he liked into it. The dragon's breathing whooshed somewhere near him, and her big heart pounded above him. When he started to try to talk to her and feel his surroundings, he had started to feel somewhere near the emotion of calm. However, his heartbeat climbed again as she started teasing and squeezing him.

She was difficult to hear; the sound seemed to come from within her rather than outside of her, but he could just understand her when she spoke clearly enough and guess at the rest. He would hear the last question. "You will let me out if I tell you my name?" he clarified.

She answered him by squeezing him again, that pressure pressed to every limb, and pushed them to his body, folding him up into a bit of a ball as the soft flesh gripped all around him. He was at that stage of warming up that his body ached with the heat that crept back into his frozen fingers, ears, and toes like fire. His core was relieved to have warmth wrapped around him. This made it more intense to be pressed; it was both soothing and a little painful. He squirmed; it was almost restrictive enough to take the air out of his lungs.

She relaxed again. There was silence. You are going to just force me onto your terms, he thought with a tight feeling in his chest. "I am Goren. Now let me out."

"In the morning."

"There's no way I can spend a whole night in a belly," he pushed on her with his feet. "You said you wouldn't treat me like food!"

"You are not food. You have been at no risk of being food all night."

"But you swallowed me!" He started to feel something close to annoyed alongside his fear.

"I know," she said, giving him a squeezing clench, "but you are not in a proper belly. More like a hoard gullet, or I'm pretty certain that is what I have heard it called. I am hoarding you until morning. It is too cold for little, possibly frostbitten, jayune bunbuns to be loose in the castle."

He huffed when she relaxed her grip on him after that explanation. He focused on his own breathing. He reminded himself that he could breathe; the air was thick and a bit sweet. While his toes were on fire, it was because they were warming up. The environment was only damp. "You are hoarding me," he repeated back uncertainly.

"All in one cute little unharmed piece, Goren. Try to relax. After that panic and rebellion you have been exhibiting wears off, I suspect you are going to find you are exhausted. In fact, you might be so exhausted that when morning comes, I will invite you to be done being hoarded, and you will tell me no because you are too tired."

"That's not going to happen," he said flatly. "You better let me out in the morning as promised."

She chuckled and squeezed him, "If you say so, grumpy bunbun. I will evict you then, whether you are ready or not."

That compression over him almost felt good as he was held from every angle. He squirmed against that notion; he wasn't planning to be her next meal, and she wasn't going to talk him into liking this. Color washed to his cheeks as he pressed her back. "I'll be ready," he said flatly.

She would chuckle. "Well, welcome to Hotel Kashira; check out in a few hours, so get some rest." He heard her make a big yawn.

Despite himself, he yawned also. He wanted to ask her more questions so he could try to make her keep talking to him. He wanted to figure out if she was just telling him a series of lies to make him give up fighting for his life.

But she was right. He was really tired. He lay forward, the flesh around him giving a little, brushing him from nearly every angle, and he closed his eyes.

---

Kashira waited for a short time, and slowly, she felt the bunny becoming relaxed. There we go, properly calm and asleep. She yawned and closed her eyes. It is a little nice feeling him there, a little presence that I am holding all safe within myself.

She didn't take too long to fall asleep herself after that. Unlike most nights, it didn't come with dreams. She slept deeply; the only ambiance was the little feelings of the bunny shifting in his sleep and the crying wind of a slowly dying blizzard.

She felt she needed to just keep him, even if he didn't understand at first.

Kashira woke to sunshine peering through the cracks in the stone around her. The world was bright, with all the fresh white snow everywhere; the sun reflected nicely off everything and gave it all a very white glow. No clouds were left as evidence that it had been angry and storming the night before.

The demanding little bunny she had collected was still completely limp within her. She yawned. _Well, let’s test my teases last night and see which of us is right. _

She gave him a gentle clench. He moaned at her, and she felt him turn over when she released it. She smiled. “Come now, bunny, I thought you wanted out as soon as it was morning. Up, up!”

There was another bleary moan at her, and though she couldn’t hear it, she thought she felt a huff. She didn’t chuckle, but she was all big grins as he seemed to struggle to wake up. I knew you would be tired. She felt smug. You can stay a bit longer, cutie.

She inspected his belongings; they were frosty. Nothing could dry in a blizzard. Also, even though it is sunny, it isn’t warm. Things are freezing instead of drying. She breathed out, and her breath curled out in front of her in a visible fog. I need a way to capture dry warmth for him so he can clean up, and everything can get dry. She looked around the ruins at all the gaps letting in light through the walls.

Kashira got up, carefully shifting her weight off her guest. The dragon moved to a side area where the masonry was largely still in one piece, so it was where she kept most of her actual hoard. She would nose open a large chest where a thick woolen tapestry with gems was bundled. She took it out delicately between two claws and shook it out. Compared to the jayune, it is pretty big. I think I can use this to make a warm space.

The dragon could only very faintly remember tents, but when she tried to recall what held them up, she realized she’d never paid attention. She sat back on her haunches and then itched the base of her neck a bit with her front paw. It doesn’t matter. I just need to capture the heat, so I will use this as a door and build a box with magic. That should work, right?

She closed her eyes, focusing a little to attune herself to the surroundings, feeling the earth. Rough crystalline slabs rose out of the earth, clear and white in patches, and she fit them together so that there was a slab across the top, and three walls. She focused on the disturbed earth where the slabs of crystal had pushed up and out into the air and smoothed it out, making it as smooth as she could. She draped the tapestry over the top, blocking the door with it. Might feel a little dark inside. I do not think I have any light-producing treasure, though.

After some hesitation and thinking it over, she decided that warmth was probably more important than light. So, she didn’t do anything else about that. Instead, she focused on the stones themselves and charged them with magic so that they would warm up. She put his backpack within, dumping it out. Some steam rose from it and damp belongings as they started to dry in the heat. His clothes were wet enough to be frozen stiff, so she felt she needed more heat for them.

He will need a bath anyway to clean up after his stay within me. After some consideration, she used her magic and sculpted a basin. On a whim, instead of making it out of the clear stone, she gave it a smoky look, her earth-aligned magic straining a little to help her adjust the stones she drew from.

Then, she agitated the stone, sending vibrations of her magic through it until it was hot. She laid his clothes over them, and she watched the frost melt, then steam curl off them. She would turn them a bit here and there to help get them warm and dry.

Every once in a while, she gave him a little squeeze, and she got moans and pushes against her in response as he struggled to wake up. He was just not ready to wake up. As the morning advanced, the sun was climbing out of sight from the different cracks in the wall, nearly overhead. We can go a little longer, but I will need to get you up soon or be at risk of breaking my promise.

Now to fill the tub with water. She didn’t have the same abilities with water as she did with earth. She decided to use the snow and heat the tub to melt it. The process turned out to be a little annoying; each time she filled it, the snow melted to very little water. With a bit of patience, she got it full and got the water steaming. She set it up in the castle, near the tent, with his warm and dry clothes hanging nearby. Oh, he also needs to be able to dry off.

After she found some fabric in her hoard that she felt would be absorbent, she felt that everything was ready for him.

“Bunbun, it’s checkout time,” she teased him, giving him a squeeze that he definitely couldn’t sleep through, clenching until she felt him squirm. “Up up, it’s time to get up, or I will have hoarded you past morning.”

***

Goren was aware foggily of her body being active with him, squeezing over him, but the tiredness he felt was deep and made every part of him feel heavy and sluggish in the heat her body smothered him with.

He heard her calling or dreamed it, but he went back to sleep. When he began to foggily dream of being laid upon by a big dragon and not being able to move or breathe, he began to struggle against the pressure in the dream only to wake up to her actually pressing down on him. He kicked, waking up with a bit of a start as he recognized he was still very much in a belly.

“Up, up!” the muffled voice of the dragon came to him. “It is almost noon.”

He kicked again. “You said you would let me out in the morning.”

There was a chuckle then, rumbling all around him. “I did try to wake you up, but you were a sleepy bunbun and just moaned at me all cute each time and turned over.”

He felt a flush coming to his face. Maybe, he also felt a little relief, that he had actually spent a lot of time in the belly of a dragon and somehow was safe. “Just let me out now,” he huffed.

“What? I don’t think I heard you, sweetie,” she giggled.

He huffed again. “Let me out!” he said.

“What? You just woke up, and you already complain? I suppose you can come out. Try to relax so it feels as gentle as possible.”

She didn’t give him much opportunity before her body flexed around him, this time squeezing near his head and pushing him roughly backward. After that, it was all wet flexes and compressing motions before he felt himself scooped by a tongue, pinning him to the roof of a mouth just as his feet pressed up against teeth.

“Li-the,” she said in a whisper that was still rather intense around him, but he didn’t understand what she was trying to say until her jaws parted. The light came in, bright against his total-darkness-adjusted pupils. Also, the air that came in was very cold compared to her.

He closed his eyes, and he waited for her to put him down, but she just held him. He opened his eyes. “What are you doing?” He squinted in the light.

But still, she just held him, tongue curled against his body, and soon his eyes didn’t feel quite so overwhelmed by light, but the cold was still cold.

Finally, she leaned forward and opened her mouth, drooling him past her teeth and into her paw. “Welcome back to the cold, Goren,” she said with a smile.

She was so much bigger than he ever expected, and that sent a different kind of chill through him as he stared at her. She had dark blue scales, like deep water, and a mane that went from the top of her head all the way to her tail tip that was silver, loose, long, and shaggy. Her eyes were a silver color that stood out against her dark blue scales. The thicker scales along her belly, which also accented her wings, were just a few shades deeper blue, almost black. She was easily big enough to hold him in her paw; she was probably around fifteen feet at the top of her shoulder, over triple his height.

“Aw, you have all these cute spots that I didn’t get to see.” She pressed her thumb claw to his side where a particularly large brown patch was. “And are your wings gold? Lovely!”

That shook him out of it. “I’m freezing,” he huffed and tried to avoid her inspecting him further.

“Yes, well, I am warm, and the air is cold,” she said with a grin, leaning forward and breathing out a lot of steam that curled around him. It warmed him a little but stopped the moment her breath stopped. He squirmed as she lifted him back up toward her face. “Don’t worry, I have thought about your little jayune needs and made at least the start of a plan,” she said, lowering him down to where a tub of warm water steamed.

She tilted her palm and slid him into it. It was relief on his cold skin, and he sunk into it, trying to scrub her insides off himself.

She was quiet, watching him in a way that made him feel flustered, but he did his best to ignore her. He looked around and saw what looked like a bejeweled tent. What he could see of the front of it appeared to be depicting some kind of forest scene, but the orange and gold leaves of fall were not only literal gold threads, but the leaves were inlaid with topaz and rubies. “It is a makeshift tent for you to dry off in. Your clothes are dry inside, once you are cleaned up,” she explained when she saw him looking at it. “But I would take time with the bath; help yourself adjust to the lower temperatures of everything now that you have been checked out of your hotel,” she teased him.

He huffed and sank deeper into the water. “Why are you doing this?”

“Why not? I noticed you, and so I decided to do something about it.” A pause, a small grumble. “Were there actually any other fae-rabbits loose in the woods that I should be looking for?”

He turned his face away. “I don’t know. I was walking back from Feridan, and when I got there… there was smoke and gnolls everywhere. I don’t know when they attacked or if anyone had any chance to get away.”

She hummed. “Well, I am going to have a look around. I expect to find you in the tent I built you, staying warm, eating the food you have in your bag, and recovering like a good bunbun… or I will put you in time out,” she said.

He sank as low as he could in the water. “I don’t belong to you; you can’t boss me around,” he stated as firmly as he could as he stared up at her intense eyes.

Kashira leaned down at him in a way that made his heart want to pound its way out of his chest as her lips loomed near him. “We can make it official at some time that you are now mine,” she whispered. “But you may as well get used to being mine now.” She kissed the side of his face. It was a small kiss to her, probably, but her wet tongue smooshed over his cheek, onto his ear, and over his horn.

Goren was so tense, he felt his heart racing; he felt a bit frozen up again as she turned and moved away. He couldn’t even think to ask her how she planned to go about making anything official. He heard her wings flapping as she flew away. What do I do?

Kashira left the bunny where he was in the bathtub. Would he run for it? She felt he probably would as soon as he thought she was far enough away and he was dry enough.

She didn’t worry herself about it. With all this fresh snow, it would be simple to tell exactly where he went and fly to him. Meanwhile, she wanted to check the situation with his hometown. He said he lived near the lake, and it had to be within his walking distance in the blizzard, so he must be from Buetarn.

The weather was fresh and nice after the storm as she flew south toward the large lake. She had never flown there before, at least not close. She knew most of the population were fishers and farmers, and mostly jayune with a few minotaur, Grinwild kobolds, and fae-touched dwarves and elves... all of which would be skittish around something much smaller than a dragon. She didn’t want to feel like she was terrorizing them by just existing, so she had been avoiding the whole area. It was about an hour of flight south for her. There was no smoke in the atmosphere, but as she did a broad circle around the town, she could see that several of the buildings had burned. There were definitely gnolls moving around, at least twice or more the size of the rabbit she had at home. They must have come down from Ledondale forests and taken everything for themselves, she thought.

She knew it had been a bad winter. She did sometimes fly near Ledondale, and there had been a lot of fresh graves last month, so she assumed there had been a plague. With the early onset of snow and the dry summer before, she wondered if they had been struggling with famine as well. They must have been really desperate. Gnolls don’t usually get together in packs bigger than a dozen, but there are many more of them than that here. She heard the characteristic uncanny laughter as they communicated back and forth. I wonder how rough it had been for them to move and attack in winter, she thought as she tipped a wing to turn a circle.

It left her with a dilemma, though, when it came to her little found bunny boy. If he had any family, they were presently in the possession of gnolls, if they were still alive. The town was clearly being locked down; she didn’t see even one jayune moving around. She did laps for a time until she knew she had been noticed by the number of people taking cover. The problem with gnolls and lizardfolk is that they’ll eat absolutely anything in a pinch. She would turn and head west, not wanting to fly right back home until she had left the sight of the people in the town. She didn’t need any attention from them, good or bad.

Look at that, boot tracks leaving my castle. They were heading north. I guess he already knows that he’s probably on his own, she thought as she followed them. _Poor thing. _She felt a lot of empathy all at once for him, and she breathed out a long breath that steamed around her nose to push the feeling down.

Then, she considered how she wished to handle his time-out because it gave her room not to think about her own tragedies.

---

Goren hadn’t been perfectly dry. Her scent still clung to his fur, even with his clothes back on. He shivered a little each time the breeze picked up. At first, he had run, but he was a bit tired now, and steam was coming off him as the sun moved into the late afternoon position. He had some of his trail rations, knowing there wasn’t a lot left. _If I can find a safe town, I can try to find some sort of work, even if it isn’t painting, and feed myself. _

The jayune walked along, the trees starting to thin a little as he got nearer to the mountain pass that he was angling toward. He felt like it had only been two or three hours since he escaped, but that was still a long time, so he thought he was going to get enough distance to hide somewhere. He began to wonder if she had just been bluffing after all about finding and punishing him.

Then, on the white snow, he saw the big shadow. Then he heard her wings as she started to land. “Aw, hell,” he muttered. He froze in place, not looking at her as she sent a chilly blast of air around him from her flapping wings. Snow flurried everywhere, stirred up by her. Snow crunched loudly under her feet; she was just so big.

He felt her looking down at him. “So, little brat bunbun, let’s talk this through. You were going to try to cross the mountains to reach the next nearest town. It is probably a two- or three-day walk. It might not storm, but it will be cold. You are not particularly equipped to survive that, but maybe you thought you could walk it. Do you know what lies on the other side of those mountains right now?”

He stared up at her. “It’s been a while since I’ve been to Ledondale, but I know it’s there,” he said flatly. She was so smug acting, it made him angry, even though he knew he should be a little more afraid of her.

“I suspect you will find bellies much hungrier than mine there.” She leaned forward, her breath curling around him as her lips parted near him.

He was tense. “Why all this interest in me? What does it matter to you if I don’t make it through the mountain pass or if I end up like…” but he felt a tightness in his chest as he couldn’t say the rest of the thought.

“I am not overcomplicating this, but you are,” she said, still breathing near him, her steamy breath curling around him as she spoke. “You came into my home; I claimed you as mine. I did not have to; as I have been clear about from the beginning, I am doing what I want to do.”

He put his hands on her nose and pushed it back. “So, what if what you want to do one day is have jayune for dinner?”

She smiled. “If that is the case, then how will you be better or worse off after escaping me to where someone else could decide a cute white and brown spotted bunny boy looks delicious?”

He folded his arms and scowled at her. “Because I won’t know that’s what they might be up to, but you seem to be trying to… condition me to act how you like. Also, you are not allowed to just claim people belong to you, even if you are a big scary lizard.”

She laughed. “My goodness, you are sometimes so blunt.” She hummed. “Well, there is no one here to enforce that I can’t just make you mine; there is just you and me out here,” she observed with a raised brow ridge.

“I don’t care; I don’t want to be bullied by you.” His heart started to race as she leaned in and pushed her nose against him.

He pushed it back; she was still smiling at him. “Well, you aren’t heading north by yourself, whether this makes me a bully or not. But what if I fly you somewhere else, if you want to see another town so badly?”

“And what is the trick to that? Why would you?” He felt overwhelmed by her.

“Again, why not? It is not as though I have a busy schedule of social interactions. Or work to do.”

He closed his eyes, feeling her breath mist and curl around him. “So… I’m a stranger who wandered into your life, and you’re just… going to do whatever comes into your head because of that? And what do you want from me?”

“Why should I not? I want to, so I will.”

He tapped his toe, opening his eyes and looking at her; she was grinning at him. “I might be a terrible person. I could have killed someone, or I will rob you, or might be a mean person… I dunno. You don’t know me. I don’t know you.”

She contemplated this for a couple of heartbeats. “These are good concerns to have from a point of view where you are smaller than most everyone, which you are. But, killer, thief, liar… what do I have to fear if any of those are true?”

He blinked.

“Besides, you aren’t a thief, or you would have some of my hoard on you now, but you are only trying to steal yourself from me. And I can’t imagine someone as blunt as you being particularly deceptive; the one lie you managed was pretty terrible and easy to see through.”

He huffed. “I still don’t understand you.”

“Now, I am a dragon of my word. I said I would put you in time-out if you dared to leave the tent. Here I find you in the cold. Anything you don’t want to also wash again along with your body? Take it off.”

He stared up at her. Her tone was so… frank and almost stern with him that he had a feeling that if he tried to argue it, it would somehow not go anywhere. She was stubborn, and her points were just logical enough he didn’t know what to do about them. Even so, he took a deep breath, opening his mouth to try to argue.

“Three… two…” she started counting down on him.

“Stop,” he said with some distress, sliding his backpack off and opening it to stuff in his coat and hood. “I can’t… even…”

“One,” she said, her breath curling around him as she got a hold of his bare upper half with her mouth, steam coming off her saliva and breath.

“Stop! I’m not even undressed yet!” he complained as he more or less had to shove his pants down and kick off his shoes as she slurped down on him.

The pressure was surreal over his shoulders and head as she slurped him into her mouth. He was less… frozen this time. His heart didn’t race as much. Of course, he’d been here once already today as her mouth closed over him.

Kashira smiled even with her mouth full. Leave it to a cute jayune to try to threaten me with being mean, she thought as she gathered his things. She took off, still holding him in her mouth. He wasn’t wiggling or kicking, and he wasn’t as stiff as he had been the day before, so she felt that was promising. He might not like the process of becoming more desensitized… How did he put it? Conditioned? .... to act how I would like him to act, but this is cute. She repressed a chuckle at the whole train of thought since her mouth was full of little jayune with big ears.

As she flew them toward home, she couldn’t quite help but feel that he was a sweet little thing. Yes, he was pushing back against her behavior and complaining, but he wasn’t really being aggressive about it. He was only blunt. She could easily imagine herself being a lot moodier if she had been through the same traumatic things he had experienced.

Kashira felt him shift in her mouth, and she couldn’t help but grin. She was certain that he had fully expected her to swallow him right away, which was precisely why she wasn’t doing that. She waited to see if he would say anything, but he was silent. _I suppose if you ask, you open yourself up to teases about why you would be impatient to be swallowed, so you are trying to just endure it. I could counter this by wiggling you about on my tongue, but I think for now I will let you contemplate the situation. It’s a short flight anyway. _

***

Why hadn’t she swallowed him? He was just sitting in her mouth with the saliva building up around her tongue, soaking into his fur. He had gotten a little cold, so all this heat was intense; drool dripping along his ear was itchy, but nothing happened. The tongue wasn’t still; it shifted and flexed beneath him, and its squishy texture pressed between his fingers.

The dragon wasn’t doing anything, and somehow that was causing his heart to race all over again. Goren absolutely would not give her the satisfaction of asking her why. He could clearly imagine her asking him why he was in a hurry to revisit the insides of her body again. He huffed at the imaginary dialogue.

A small eternity passed; she didn’t talk while she carried him around. He was pinned with his side on her tongue and his other side to the roof of her mouth. He felt her jolt as she perhaps landed. Then, she tilted her head up, her teeth gapping slightly. Light pierced the darkness, highlighting the wet, thick muscles framing a dark, small, roughly round-shaped entry to her throat. His heart pounded as the tongue beneath him flexed. He wanted to close his eyes, not watch it come closer to his face, but he couldn’t look away as saliva ran back and pooled. There was a loud gulping sound that made the wet pool vanish, but the front of the tongue kept him squeezed where he was, and he didn’t move at all.

Then, she tilted her head forward, his feet slid up against her front teeth, and she drooled him back into a hot bath. He huffed.

“I release you from time-out,” she said as she set his stuff down near the makeshift tent he had not used. She took the tapestry down again and rolled it, revealing the crystal slabs beneath and behind it.

“Why… are you disassembling the tent?” he said anxiously as he sat in the warm water.

She grinned. “You didn’t use it, so I have decided you do not need it.”

“But… you just brought me back here, and I have to have somewhere warm to sleep. You were just picking on me about crossing the mountain pass,” he protested, feeling a tight feeling in his chest for what he realized she was probably going to say next.

“Yes, I do need to make certain you stay warm, and you are not going over the mountain pass by yourself,” she agreed.

He blinked.

“Wash up and get dry, or you will be riding in me and not on me,” she said. She picked up what looked like a large drawstring bag and secured it like a bracelet around her right wrist.

“Riding…? To where?” he asked uncertainly as he started to scrub saliva out of his fur. “What do you mean?”

“We are going to Arieton; I think we can get there by tomorrow morning.”

He stared at her. “That’s several days’ journey.”

She moved around, picking out a big green gem from her hoard. “I was able to fly to the lake and back and find you in what… two hours? Three?”

Goren huffed. He watched as her hoard seemed to vanish into the green gem. He’d heard magical creatures with enough Earthen attunement could do that.

“Gem storage,” she explained as he watched. “You aren’t getting dry, and I’m almost done packing.”

He huffed again and scrubbed himself and then climbed out of the water and used the same velvety fabric that was plainly too valuable for being just a towel to dry out his fluff.

“Lie on the flat stone inside the box; it’s warm, and it will help,” she said, as the last of her hoard disappeared.

When he put his paw on it tentatively, he found that it was. Despite his desire to not cooperate with anything she wanted, he lay down. He was cold, and the ruined castle was full of drafts and barely warmer than outside.

“Why are we going to Arieton?”

“Why not?”

He sighed. “Don’t start with this; you have some reason for wanting to go there all of a sudden. It’s one thing to pluck me out of a snowstorm when I wandered into your ruins, but you didn’t just decide to up and move out for no reason.”

“We will probably come back eventually. I like my castle.”

She lay down on the stone near him once everything was packed, her gem going into the drawstring bag bracelet. He stared up at her as she looked down at him. He became self-conscious and crossed his legs.

“Well, I am thinking since you complain about what I am allowed to do, I should make things more official. There is an Exotic Exchange in Arieton.”

He groaned. “I didn’t mean for you to get me a collar. I meant for you to let me go.”

She kissed his cheek, leaving a saliva track on his damp fur that he had just cleaned. “Yes, well, for my plan to work, you need it.”

He pushed at her face. “No.”

“You say this a lot, but it does not change what is going to happen.”

He stared up at her, but her eyes were soft, and her tone had been gentle. “And what exactly is your plan?”

She put her head over his body, resting her chin against his torso and thighs, squishing him gently. “I was considering opening a shop or something in Arieton; I also want to learn more about the gnolls, but that will be safer if you have a collar.”

He pushed on her nose. “Safer? You mean to just put a collar on me and let me walk up to gnolls?”

“Yes.”

“Since you pointed out there was no one to stop you from bullying me, what’s going to stop them from harming me?”

“Your collar.”

He groaned. “I doubt that will work.”

“Stop fussing and trust me a little,” she said, kissing his shoulder and chest.

He sighed. I guess I do not really… have… much else to do, he thought as he remembered her saying the same thing. A breeze whispered through the gaps in the castle walls, chilling him as he thought about how lonely the place generally felt.

All the same, he had never become a proper painter; his family was unlikely to be found again… Truly, what else did he have to do?

For the first time since he’d been faced with the smoke curling above the houses in his hometown, he felt his eyes starting to burn. Then, the first bitter tear escaped the corner of his eye, followed by another and another.

The dragon made a soft, empathetic noise and scooped him up in her paw, pressing him to her chest, where he could feel her heart beating beneath him. He realized, given the size difference between them, it was about as close to an embrace as she could give him. “I am sorry; you do not have to go to your home if you do not want to. It was only a thought that if there is anyone… left, we need to talk to them. They won’t talk to me. They will only flee or fight me.”

“You could just go burn them all,” he grumbled, scrubbing at his eyes.

There was a pause. “Is that what you want to do?”

“Yes!” And then he felt a tightness in his chest. “No… a little.”

She nuzzled the space between his cheek and shoulder. “Well, we can at least terrorize them. But only after you have a collar signifying that you belong to me, and it has adequate enhancements.”

“Enhancements?”

“You will see. Why don't you get dressed now? You can’t go flying with me without clothes, I think.” There was hints of upbeat tease in her tone as she tried to cheer him up some.

He sighed. “I haven’t the least idea how to ride on you. You don’t have a harness or a saddle. What will I do? Hang on for dear life to your mane?”

She hummed, “I guess? I have not thought about it.”

He pushed on her chest, “You will catch me if I fall? Is there rope?”

She let him down, making sure he had his feet on the ground before she let go. “No rope, but I will make sure that if you fall, you are not harmed. I have more than enough magic to ensure that.”

He huffed as he got dressed. “What shop were you thinking of opening?”

“No idea, but we need something to do to make money. You trained to be something?”

“A painter, but my training was never completed, and I doubt Arieton will give us farmland for me to work.”

She grinned. “I like art. I think a painter’s studio sounds lovely.”

He stared. “I am not a painter. I am a journeyman artist at best.”

“So?”

He sighed. “You are going to make no money and have to close up shop in no time because you don’t have a real painter!”

“Don’t be a grouchy bunbun. One stop at a time; we start with going to Arieton and visiting the Exotic Exchange. Then, we deal with Buetarn; then we talk about your lack of self-esteem in painting.”

“You’re infuriating,” he said as he pulled his hooded coat on and put his boots on. “Could you have found no better way of putting it than lack of self-esteem?”

She grinned at him. “Is it not true?”

“Shut up,” he said as he laced up his boots.

She chuckled. “Just for that, if you fall off me, I’m going to eat you. You’ll do the rest of the journey from that point in my gullet.”

He resisted saying that he was surprised she was even giving him an option… mostly because he didn’t want to just have her decide to skip to that part. “Can I put my bag in your bag?”

She held out her wrist, and he put his bag in with the two big gems. She tightened the drawstring bag again, and then she offered her claw once more, this time palm up.

“Climb up. Why are you still a journeyman, or whatever you said, painter?”

“My master died before I could be properly admitted into the guild. All the apprentices had to go home with nothing because no one would take us.” He crawled between the claws.

“Maybe it will make more sense to me later.” She said softly as she lifted him to her shoulders.

He couldn’t sit astride her very securely, so he decided to try lying against her, holding onto the fluff. “Walk?”

She stood up and began moving, her shoulders shifting beneath him, the ground just far enough away to be anxiety-inducing. “You really ready if I fall?”

“Yes, I am paying close attention.” She walked to the outside, where there was a clear area for her to take off. “Hold on, this will be rough.”

Her wings beating blew him around a bit, but he was able to loop big sections of her mane around his forearms and hands and hang on anyway. Once they were actually airborne, it was better, not as bumpy or tumultuous.

But it wasn’t great. The wind blew fiercely at him. It cut through his clothes; it whipped her mane against his face. The ground beneath was a long way off and went by much faster than he was prepared for.

He felt dizzy watching it…

It was so dizzying that at first his brain didn’t comprehend that he had slipped over the side of her shoulder and the wind rushing around his body was ripping through his clothes and fur because he was falling.

Kashira was pleased that he managed to hang on as she took off. She had always heard that jayune wings were decorative, and his preoccupation with not falling from her shoulders confirmed it to her.

She was glad as he seemed to settle just fine as she started to fly. After the first minute or two passed, she felt relatively confident that he was going to do fine for the rest of the trip. She felt him shift to look down over her shoulder.

And then he just slipped right off and began to fall without a word.

She turned her body midair and began to beat her wings as he fell motionlessly through the air. What happened? He didn’t even move to ball up; he was tense with his eyes tightly shut and his face scrunched up.

I see. Fight, flight, fawn, or freeze, and you go for freeze when it becomes too much for you. Poor cutie.

Kashira opened her mouth carefully and scooped him out of the air just as they were reaching the treeline. She winced as her wings and belly broke off the tops of a couple of them as she skidded through them to correct. Her wingbeats knocked snow off many of them as she came out of her dive and back up in the air. It wasn’t her most graceful maneuver, and spots where trees had struck her smarted. She held him carefully in her mouth until she was able to level out and focus on him.

The dragon felt a slight familiarity with the sensation of his locked-up little form resting on her tongue. She contemplated landing, but then she decided he was already wet, so there was no use in stopping. She tipped her head back, and she gulped. There was another pang of familiarity as she felt his rigid form bulging its way down her throat; as he got a bit past her collarbone, she flexed her muscles to drop him back into the hoard gullet.

Goren made a soft little weight there that somehow felt heavier to her than when he was riding on her back. She put her right paw to her stomach, feeling the little slight bulge, and she rubbed the space firmly as if to reassure him. “It’s all right, I got you,” she said loudly, firmly, barely hearing herself over the wind. “I probably won’t be able to hear you for a bit, but it will be all right. I got you. You’re completely safe with me.”

Her heart raced a little when she felt him moving, as if rubbing back, instead of lying frozen where he was. You are a good bunny, she thought warmly, so pleased with him.

---

When Goren slipped off her shoulder, he was sure he was dead. The ground racing up at him made that dizzy and nauseated feeling even worse as the wind roared in his ears and tore through his clothes. All he could do was close his eyes.

But then he got a face full of wet heat as he stopped roughly, the now familiar smell of her mouth pressing over him as her mouth closed, pinning him face first right where he was. His heart pounded so hard he felt sick and faint, but she held him firmly as she tossed her head, trying to recover from her dive. The sudden movement made his stomach feel like it was jumping, but he was incredibly grateful to be here and not broken on the hard ground.

Goren didn’t have even the slightest will to resist as she tilted her head back and just gulped him. His clothes pulled tight on his body, and it felt really weird to still have his boots on as her throat gripped him.

It still felt intense. He felt like he was a bit bigger than this tight, muscular tunnel wanted him to be as it push-pulled and squeezed him hard enough that it pressed some of the air out of his lungs. Just as he had yesterday, it was a squeeze that he felt over every inch of him. Whereas last time it had felt like pressure that confined him so he could not move, here it grounded him. He wasn’t falling through the air but was instead gripped by something physical in every direction.

He heard and felt the same fleshy flex that dumped him into the somewhat more open and softer space, and he just lay there and listened to his heart rushing in his own ears. The feeling of panic-tingles left his paws a little at a time. I can’t believe that I got that disoriented and just slipped off.

Goren heard her loud but muffled reassurances that she had him, and he huffed. Snatching him out of the air mid-fall was certainly one way of expressing that she had him. Then, she rubbed over him, pressing up on him from below, squishing him into the soft surface above him. She is trying to pet me?

His heart was still racing, but he rubbed her back, reminding himself to be calm. It was easier; he had been here an extended time before, and now the sensations were not entirely new. He pressed into those rubs, trying to communicate his appreciation that she hadn’t let him fall to his doom. Her belly settled lower again as her paw left, and he had a lot more room again.

Goren huffed and stretched out. It felt warm; his heart was slowing. He could hear her heart clearly; it beat faster than before. She was still flying based on the rocking motions that carried through her, so her breathing was a bit quicker as well. I suppose I have never been up so high before. I did not realize it was going to get to me like that. He puffed air through his whiskers and turned on his side, and he willed himself to feel less embarrassed. It didn’t work, so he turned over again, burying his face in his arm.

Wet clothes over wet fur made everything feel at once tight and uncomfortable, almost sticky. He supposed there was nothing for it. He was the one that fell off her and made her have to catch him. The more he thought about it, the more embarrassed he felt.

It’s actually really hot, he thought, so warm compared to the outside. He closed his eyes, and at some point in his process of trying to think about anything apart from his embarrassment, he ended up just falling asleep in the heat.

---

Kashira flew through the day, the landscape passing beneath her wings until it began to get dark. It was further than she had flown in a long time. However, she felt that there was some urgency if they wanted to have any chance to see if anyone important to her bunbun remained in Buetarn.

She made herself fly until she saw the lights of the city, and the wind carried the mixed smells of it to her. I have not been here in at least a hundred years, I think. She reached up to scratch at a scar on her neck. I was a lot smaller back then. She was fairly confident they would let her in, even if she had not gone on to take any kind of title or claim a space near the City of Dragons.

Yet, flying up to it felt like it was just going to make a big scene. Even titled dragons were sensational wherever they went. She almost lost heart about the whole scheme. Just land outside the city and walk up to it. Overthinking this won’t help anyone; just do it.

It still startled a few people near the road, who went scurrying down it at a more rapid pace to get distance from her. She waded out of the snow and onto the road. The city glowed with light and warmth in the darkness, and she followed the road to the checkpoint.

Even if she ended up making a scene by being a dragon near the city, it didn’t change the reason she had to come here. The point of all of this was to wrap a cloak of protection around Goren by the neck, and so the more people that knew about it, the better off he would be. It is all just a little humiliating, though, and I never did look to come back here.

She approached the gatehouse. The guards were a selkie with a bearskin cloak and a minotaur big enough he probably could have reached up to her shoulder. “A dragon? What is your business here?” The minotaur tried to be gruff, to posture at her a bit.

She spoke softly, wanting to put them all at ease. “I want to visit the Exotic Exchange. I am likely to buy some things. Today is just a visit.”

The bear selkie looked her up and down, swiping through bits of information on his Seeing Slate, images of a few different dragons coming up on it. “You are Kashira?” She was surprised to see an enchanted device like that in his hands. A hundred years ago, they were only accessible at the Exotic Exchange.

“Yes.” There must not be many blue dragons in the area, or perhaps someone knew where she had gone after she escaped. She resisted the temptation to scratch at her neck. Paranoia prickled at her at the idea of the increased monitoring of everyone that this implied.

He squinted as he read some of the squiggly things that floated across the screen: writing that was too tiny for her to read. “You have a good record. You may enter. The Exotic Exchange runs at all hours these days, so you are likely to find someone there. Do you know what the building looks like and where it is?”

She had been there before, a long time ago. “Yes, thank you.”

He waved her on through. “Don’t make trouble that gives you a record.”

She just smiled.

Already, being here feels odd, thought Kashira as she watched people staring at her and getting out of her way. However, there were several that just ignored her. I wanted to believe that they would hesitate to deal with someone like me. I am a lot bigger than I was a hundred years ago. But, she knew the reality of it. Arieton was flourishing this close to the Grinwilds because of the Exotic Exchange. If she acted out, there’d be a decisive and magical answer to it.

She made her way through the wide streets, supposing that she was glad that she had come so late at night. She focused on Goren, but he was pretty limp and quiet. He is sleeping again. That’s for the best; he’s had a miserable go of it. A dead mentor, a hometown up in smoke… it was hard for her to comprehend even what that much loss might feel like.

The Exotic Exchange was easy to pick out with its big blue and gold sun illuminated with magic against the dim lights of the night. It had several branches throughout the kingdom, but this was the first one ever built. The building had seemed even bigger in the past, but somehow, she had expected it to feel smaller now that she was all grown up, but it had three levels, so it still towered over her.

For a moment, Kashira stood in the light of the owner’s seal, the Solaris sun, looking at the glow of it on herself, the snow, and the adjacent buildings. In the silence, the guard in the entryway cleared his throat. She looked down and saw an orc, and he asked, “Uh, do you have a membership?” He was projecting confidence but shifting uneasily on his feet.

She wondered what about her was making him anxious, except perhaps that she was bigger than him. “I need one. I have money to pay.”

“I see. Are you trying to do some shopping?” He glanced at the building that was not sized for her behind him.

“I need to formalize an ownership contract and get a customized collar. Since I cannot go in, can you send someone out to me?”

He stared. “Uh, yeah, that would probably work out for the best. Though, uh, I thought dragons could, ah, change themselves, and, uh, have their own recognized marking system of what is theirs?”

Now she understood the unease she was causing him. She relaxed. “Some do both. I found for the area I am in, a collar is best. Everyone can see it better, you know?” Since she was not part of Myraduil, she required a collar, really. She didn’t think she was capable of making her own magic marks or able to change her body.

He nodded. “I will fetch someone,” he said.

“Thank you. I also want good-quality clothes for a jayune man—uh, about an average-sized adult for his race? Something practical for this weather, something that will just look nice, some good boots. The Exotic Exchange used to keep an array of collars and enchanters on hand; is that still the case?”

“Yes, we have a kitsune working here right now as well as an elven priestess. I am sure both would be interested in meeting a dragon.”

“Thank you. Where should I wait?”

“We have an open area for auctions just around back. It is available right now, so why don’t you head there?”

Kashira tensed again, but she nodded. She moved around the corner and looked at the wooden platform and the snow-dusted stone cobbles that comprised the rest of the space. She remembered it being a lot bigger also, but it also looked unchanged. None of the wood looked aged; the layout was the same as it had always been. For a moment, she could almost remember the auctioneer’s voice, the way she had to be dragged over the wood, the noises of the crowd… She itched at her neck and huffed. A few more deep breaths buried the feelings well, and she lay across the whole area in defiance of it all.

Soon, three figures left the doors of the Exchange and came out toward her. All three wore warm coats, and the tallest, a kitsune with three tails, dark fur, and brown eyes, still somehow managed to put plenty of curves on display despite the second coat. The shortest one carried a clipboard, and was clearly a Grinwild kobold because she was shaggy with an almost bear-like look with her black and white patches. Her fur was clumpy, as if there was a hint of scales in the texture, and her tail was long and striped. She had horns near her ears that were short, barely sticking out of her hair. The last was an elf with what seemed like a golden flower blooming from her shoulder, with vines curling around her upper shoulder and neck.

The kobold cleared her throat. “I am Phaedra. You wanted to renew your membership?” Kashira nodded. Phaedra gestured to the other two, starting with the kitsune and then introducing the elf. “This is Ciara and Kaldia.”

“Pleasure to meet you. I want to make an official contract with a jayune.”

Phaedra looked all about the auction yard, and she hesitated. “You need to have the prospective slave with you as well as a means of identifying them.”

“He’s with me.” She looked at the kitsune. “Can you help him dry off with any magic when I produce him?”

Ciara nodded. “I can. I also brought out some clothes that might work?” She lifted her arm to show quite a lot of them draped over her arm. She had some visible flush on her cheeks.

It made Kashira smile, and she might have pushed on that reaction in a different situation, but today her focus was just on Goren. She clenched to help him wake up, squeezing over him a couple of times, getting a little firmer each time until he groaned and pushed back at her.

---

Goren groaned and pressed the greedy flesh squeezing over him away from his face. “I’m awake,” he called.

He felt her squeeze and press him upwards; once again, he was in a tight throat, crowding his way toward a mouth. He didn’t squirm too much; it was his second time experiencing it, so he felt he knew what to expect despite how surreal it all felt.

But she did not even pause at her mouth; she just brought him out.

The lights were bright against his eyes, but not that harsh; he realized it was dark out. It was also immediately freezing as she cradled him in a paw.

“I have heard dragons can safely hold someone like that, but I have never seen it before.” Goren’s eyes turned to the speaker. She had large fox ears and long black hair, her fur was a dark color, and there was enough cleavage on display that he jerked his eyes away. However, movement of her hands brought them back to her because she seemed to be holding two blue fireballs. She approached, and he leaned back but was blocked by Kashira’s chest.

“Whaaaat, waaait!” he squeaked as she leaned across Kashira’s paw, which kept him trapped no matter how he squirmed to flee, and her hands touched his cheeks. He braced for pain, but instead a whispery warming sensation rushed along his skin. His fur was quickly dried, strange by itself, but it felt clean, and now his wet clothes felt very awkward sticking to him.

“Here,” she said with a smirk that said she knew she had scared him and had no regrets about it, “I have some dry things for you to put on.” She held a warm cloak, a fancy tunic shirt, and pants that all looked to be sized about right for him.

He accepted them as Kashira’s paw curled around him. _I cannot believe you let me out in the middle of people like this, _he thought with his cheeks burning like he was actually still on fire.

Kashira put him near her side, curling a wing out just enough to make a tent. The wing curled inward, resting on the ground, and she set him on that. “There you go, get changed.”

He stripped out of his clothes, and as soon as he touched the new shirt, he could feel the weight of it. It was more quality than anything he had worn in his life, made of a material reserved for the middle class or better. It was similar with the pants and cloak. He was immediately warm, and it lay against his fluff nicely.

While he was getting changed, she was agreeing on a membership level.

“What do you wish to have done with the collar?”

“I want it enchanted so that I know where he is, so that I can hear him clearly over the maximum range possible, and also so that he can hear me. If someone makes physical contact with him, I want them to get an image of who I am.”

“Those are quite standard to the blue collars. Do you need us to look at anything to prevent him from running away or poisoning you or…”

“Please refrain from any behavior modifications. I only want the enchantments.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

He felt her belly expand as she huffed. _Guess I know what to call her if she ever annoys me, _he thought. Then he wondered if he would make it more than five minutes without using the term.

“Come back into sight, please,” Kashira said to him as she noticed he was done changing. He still had bare feet, and so he winced as stepping out into the snow packed into his paw pad and toe beans. She put out a warm paw to stand on. “New boots, please,” to the three gathered ladies.

“You don’t need to do all that for me,” he said as he perched on the back of her paw.

She lowered her nose to him. “I am taking your whole self; I am going to own you in a few minutes. It is the least I can do,” she whispered as she nuzzled his side.

“He is pretty calm,” observed the large, fluffy kobold. The elf had gone back inside to get the requested boots.

Goren huffed. “You try arguing with her sometime; calm is all I can do.”

There was an uncertain smile from the kobold and a giggle from the kitsune. “Any particular look for the collar?”

“Small, lightweight, thin, dark blue,” she answered.

The kitsune also disappeared inside as well.

“We need to know who you are,” the fluffy kobold said. “What is your name and birth city?”

“I am Goren Alfon from Buetarn.”

He watched as she looked him up on a Seeing Slate. “You were apprenticed as a painter?”

“Yes. That’s me.”

“I am updating your record now. Should I send notifications to your family or teacher?”

“Do your notifications reach the people in the Beyond?” Goren asked flatly.

There was an awkward silence as Kashira nuzzled his face and his side gently. He put his arm over her nose uncertainly, and she let him hold onto it and to her.

“I do not suppose so.” The badge that she wore read “Phaedra.” Goren sighed and felt a little embarrassed by how flat and blunt he had just been.

Phaedra finished documenting everything. “That will be about two thousand bits today,” she said.

Kashira reached into the bracelet drawstring bag, and she drew out what looked like another drawstring bag. “This will cover it.”

She dropped it with a big metallic clinking into the panda’s hands. Once Phaedra looked in, her eyes bulged. “It might be too much.”

“Give yourself a tip and then credit my account. We may shop here again. I just renewed the membership after all.”

“Er, yes. Of course. Please wait here.”

There were many unfamiliar smells to him in the air of this city, but one of them was fresh bread. His stomach growled as he recognized it.

Kashira’s ear turned toward him. “We will eat after this.”

“So… this is it. I give them my name and birthplace, you give them money, and I’m yours?”

“It’s not official yet.”

“When is it official?”

She just smiled at him and kissed his cheek.

He felt flustered. He changed the subject. “I slept through most of the day, but I am somehow still tired.”

“Well, you have had an exhausting last few days,” she said empathetically. “You don’t have to rush through things.”

He looked up at the stars above them. They were dim because of all the light from the city. “I am sorry about before. I just suddenly felt sick looking at the ground, and the next thing I knew…”

She kissed his cheek again. “I told you that I was ready in case you fell. I was only a little surprised. It’s all right.”

He huffed and put his arms around her nose. “I feel so awkward. I feel weirdly calm while you let my status be changed to your property. I should be angry, but I think I am starting to understand what you are up to.”

“Yes?” she said softly.

“You want me to be able to walk up to gnolls and dare them to keep touching me after they see who owns me,” he whispered. “So, I can go looking for my home? My family?”

“There is not much chance of finding anything good in Buetarn for you, but there is still a small chance. Also, from now on, your home is with me.”

He shook his head and puffed air through his whiskers; she was too much.

The kitsune returned with a collar in one hand and his boots dangling by the laces from her other hand. “Thank you, Ciara, could you put it here?” She extended her paw with the drawstring bag.

The kitsune held the boots out to him, and he accepted them. Then, she reached up and looped the collar around his neck; it sealed shut with her magic. “And with that, you now belong to Kashira,” she said with a soft smile, stepping back.

“You belong to me,” Kashira repeated, kissing his face again.

He felt a little flush over his nose, the top of his cheeks, and through his ears. “Yes, yes,” he pushed her nose away, his largely decorative jayune wings twitching a bit with barely contained emotion.