Chapter 11- Hiding in Plain Sight
When Crystalia awakens later that day, she finds herself in bed once again, she dismisses this, assuming Adinia had brought her back here; getting herself out of bed, she stretches, groaning happily as her back pops in multiple places. Getting dressed, Crystalia pulls out a tight-fitting flight fabric, and puts it on, enjoying the feeling of it's softness on her scales. She opens the door to the bathroom, and walks over to the toilet, which consists of a trough of flowing water, before she uses a forepaw to push the fabric that covers her entrance to the side, allowing her to release the pent-up flow of urine from within.
"Ahhhh, much better." she sighs, pushing the fabric back into place.
Crystalia looks at herself in the mirror, smiling at her sleek, curving from. She unlocks the door, opens it, and exits quietly closing it behind her before heading to her dresser once more. She grabs the jewelry box from within and fishes out a diamond necklace, putting it on before grabbing a series of bronze bands, connected by small, silver chains, and pulls them up her tail, securing them around its thick base. Out of the corner of her eye, she spots a thin, metal plate, and picks it up, inspecting it thoroughly. It takes a few minutes before the inexperienced dragoness blushes slightly, having realized what the oddly shaped plate is for.
"Well, I guess Adinia really values personal protection." Crystalia chuckles, putting the plate back.
A yawn is audible throughout the room as Adinia stretches, quietly hopping out of bed. She digs through her dresser, grabbing a fabric the same as Crystalia's, and puts it on.
"Hey, Crystalia, want to go visit your friends?" Adinia hollers in the general direction of the young dragoness.
"Sure! Why not?", Crystalia replies, unaware as Adinia steps behind her.
"Well, if we're going to leave the castle, I do want you to do one thing for me. Okay?" Adinia says, startling Crystalia slightly.
"What would that be?" The younger female replies.
Adinia opens the drawer with the small jewelry box, picks it up, and pulls out a familiar plate from it. Crystalia blushes as she sees what Adinia pulls out, causing the older female to smile slightly.
"I see you're familiar with these?"
"No, I just found that earlier."
"Well it appears you've figured out what it does..."
"Yeah."
"I guess, I want you to, well, wear it..." Adinia says, blushing slightly herself.
Crystalia sighs, pushing the fabric aside once again, placing the curved, I-shaped handle of the plate over her slit, carefully easing it in, as if she expected it to hurt. She allows it to ease into place before replacing the fabric. Taking a few minutes to get used to the feeling of the metal inside of her, Crystalia walks around, tentatively loosening her clamping grip on the invading accessory.
"Why do I have to wear this anyway? It's not like I'm even old enough to get pregnant..." Crystalia asks earnestly, looking the Queen in her eyes.
"I'm not forcing you to wear it at all sweetie, you're in charge of your own dressing. I'm only saying that it's a good habit to start before you get... well..." Adinia sighs and gives up on explaining the sensitive topic to the young dragoness as she senses embarrassment begin to take hold in Crystalia's mind; adding a few words of encouragement instead, "And you won't be the only one, I'll be wearing mine as well."
Crystalia smiles at Adinia, knowing that she wouldn't be the only one wearing the, well... exotic accessory was something that eased her anxiety greatly.
"Will there be guards?" Crystalia asks as they head to the door.
"No, no guards, that just scares off the locals" Adinia replies knowingly, holding the door open for Crystalia, who smiles and nods respectfully as she walks by.
The two dragons head to the large portal right outside the Queen's room where Crystalia balks, looking fearfully at Adinia.
"No, I can't... No portals, they don't agree with my stomach."
"Cmon', sweetie." Adinia coos, looking Crystalia in the eyes, "It's not so bad your second time, trust me."
"O...Okay, I guess I'll try."
"Hey, that's all I ask." Adinia replies, kissing Crystalia's forehead lovingly.
Adinia jumps gracefully through the portal, soon followed by her student.
As Crystalia hops through the portal, her stomach jerks, not as much as she expected, but still enough to make her vomit. She barely manages to choke down what had worked its way up as she stumbles beside the Queen, soon recognizing the location as the capital city, Thyna.
"Are you okay?" Adinia inquires upon seeing Crystalia's peculiar countinance.
"Yeah, I should be, so long as we stay on the ground for a few minutes."
"I think that can be arranged, let's see how you feel at the main gate." Adinia chuckles.
They work their way to the entrance, dodging encounters with diplomats and the like, barely escaping a few long conversations.
Upon reaching the entrance, the Queen sighs as the guards bow. "Please, don't draw attention, this is a leisure trip." Adinia says plaintively.
"Sorry Ma'am." A guard replies, before signaling for the gates to be opened.
They exit into a large, open field; exchanging one look before taking to the sky, flying together.
"Please let me know if you're having trouble keeping up, okay?" Adinia shouts over her shoulder to Crystalia.
"I will." Crystalia replies mentally to Adinia, startling her slightly.
The duo flies for a few hours before a large town begins to crest over the horizon. They look for a suitable place to land before diving, side by side, and flaring their wings seconds before impact, slowing themselves just barely enough as they send plumes of dust into the air as they land. They cough as they laugh together, enjoying the adrenaline rush.
"So, where do you want to go?" Adinia asks, deliberately drawing Crystalia's attention to the ten platinum coins held in her paw.
"Oh, are you sure you really want to put that much money into a trip?"
"Oh, I could spend a thousand more and it'd be nothing." Adinia replies, smiling cheekily.
"Wow... I guess I didn't realize just how much money you have."
"Being Queen sure has its perks." Adinia chuckles, starting off in the direction of a large commercial neighborhood.
Crystalia looks around, wide-eyed at the different wares for sale. Adinia takes notice of this as they continue to explore. After about ten or fifteen minutes, Adinia notices that she is beginning to draw attention; it seems that word of the Queen's presence has spread.
"C'mon, let's find a place where we can hide, quickly." Adinia growls toward Crystalia.
Crystalia mutters under her breath, flicking her left forepaw deliberately, stopping suddenly as she feels a shiver run down her spine. She sees Adinia do the same as she becomes completely invisible to the naked eye.
"Crystalia, lock onto my aura," Adinia whispers, "get ready to teleport."
"Yes ma'am."
Crystalia focuses on Adinia's aura, locking on easily, thanks to having become intimately familiar with it in recent months. She senses a surge of magic in Adinia's aura, likely the invisibility spell being deactivated, before she suddenly warps to the Queen's location. She dispels her invisibility immediately after.
"Okay, take this." Says a strange dragon beside Crystalia, handing her a wristband.
"Who are you?" Crystalia demands, jumping away from the strange dragon.
"Crystalia, It's me, Adinia." The dragoness says, her facial scales rapidly shifting from their faded teal color to an almost iridescent white. Crystalia suddenly recognizes the face as the eyes shift from a light grey to a bright yellow.
"I don't want to risk anyone giving us any free items just because I am the queen."
"What? How'd you?" Crystalia starts, Adinia quickly cutting her off.
"Chameleon Band; you visualize a disguise, it creates an illusion of it around you."
Crystalia takes the second band from Adinia, putting it on quickly. She visualizes herself with deep purple scales and sky blue eyes, suddenly feeling a jolt of arcane energy flow through her. As she looks back at herself, Crystalia sees a purple tail, blue wings, and a purple body. She shivers slightly as she realizes that she doesn't look like herself, something she had expected but that she didn't expect to be this surreal.
"Ummm, it didn't work quite right..."
"Oh, don't worry about it, it takes a lot of practice, I've not even mastered it", Adinia explains, "I really actually wanted to add a jet black tip to the tail and color the feet bronze."
"How long have you been using these Chameleon Bands?"
"For as long as I can remember being Queen." Adinia replies.
"Oh..." Crystalia sighs.
"Okay, let's try this again, shall we?" Adinia asks rhetorically, chuckling quietly to herself.
"Yeah, let's." Crystalia says, smiling brightly.
The two take flight, Adinia leads her student back to the small city, the two once again landing side by side. As they wander, Crystalia spots a small shop with an interesting name; 'Nim's Collectibles'.
"Hey Adinia, let's go there." Crystalia suggests, pointing at the storefront.
"Sure, why not?" Adinia replies, "but don't use my name please, it's too well known. When we're out for leisure trips, call me 'Mist', okay?"
"Sure, Mist." Crystalia says, grinning cheekily.
The two walk quickly to the door of the shop, stopping briefly before entering to look at the sign on the door. As they enter, they are greeted by a middle age, black, furred dragon.
"Hello, welcome to Nim's Collectibles!" He says enthusiastically.
"Hello yourself." Crystalia chirps, "Nim, I presume?"
"Your presume correct then, my friend." He replies, gently smoothing the fur on his chest.
Crystalia peruses the merchandise, eventually being drawn to a small, wooden bowl, intricately carved with unique figures.
"Ah, I see you've found something." Nim says from across the shop.
Crystalia picks up the bowl, locking onto it mentally, and lifting it off the table, carrying it over to the shopkeeper.
"Ah, that is a good choice, that bowl was uniquely carved by a mysterious arcanist thousands of years ago." He says cryptically, "that'll be 75 gold pieces."
"Well, don't count your costs yet." Adinia says, walking up beside Crystalia and placing a crystalline ball, a small cushion, and a small wooden box on the counter.
"Oh, with that added, it'll be... hmmm... An additional 55 gold pieces."
"Do you have change for a platinum?" Adinia asks, placing two platinum coins on the counter.
"I do have change, yes." Nim says, opening a drawer in the wooden counter, picking out thirty gold coins and placing them on the counter, taking the two platinum coins and placing them in the drawer. "Pleasure doing business with you." The shopkeep says, as Adinia places the pillow into the wooden box and sets the crystal ball on it, closing the lid of the box.
"That wasn't nearly as fun as I expected it to be..." Adinia sighs as they exit the shop, turning the corner and heading down a different, smaller side road.
"Why so?" Crystalia asks.
"Well, I find it quite funny when they go all wide-eyed and say they don't have change when they see the platinum. I do like being charitable and giving out a little money from time to time." Adinia explains, chuckling as she speaks.
They search for a while, both eventually getting hungry. They find a food vendor and order some smoked salmon.
"Watch this." Adinia whispers to her companion after the bronze dragon-born humanoid turns around to grab their order.
"So, that'll be 50 silver pieces." He says, turning back towards them.
Adinia smirks as she places her left forepaw on the counter, carefully sliding a platinum coin out of her grasp.
"Oh, well, I only have this platinum, it seems." She says cheekily, looking on as the vendor's eyes widen.
"Well, I'll see what I can do for change then." He says suddenly, digging around through a small drawer.
"Or, how about you just keep the change?" Adinia suggests nonchalantly.
"No, I could never, why would you offer me something of this value?" The vendor says, frantically attempting to get his thoughts back in order.
"Because, I can, and you seem to be a little short on money at the moment." Adinia replies assertively, smirking slightly.
"Well, thank you for your generosity ma'am." The vendor says thankfully,
Adinia nods, heading off with Crystalia, eating their salmon as they walk.
"You're right, Adi-" Crystalia says, stopping to correct herself, "I mean Mist, that was fun."
"See, I told you. Now, let's see about going to visit your friends, then your parents."
"I'd enjoy that." Crystalia responds joyfully.
The two females start running as they hit the edge of the town, jumping before flaring their wings and taking flight once more. Crystalia begins to pull up in front of Adinia, having locked onto Nol's aura.
"Follow me!" Crystalia hollers over her shoulder, putting on a sudden burst of speed.
Adinia silently follows Crystalia as she turns sharply multiple times, eventually finding a straight course to her mate. After about an hour, Crystalia begins to descend as a small residential settlement begins to come into view. As they reach the gravel road, both teacher and student land, taking a few steps to balance out their momentum, continuing to walk together with Crystalia still leading Adinia.
"It should be just up here." Crystalia says, running up to a relatively large burrow.
Crystalia knocks on the wooden door that blocks view of the inside, stepping back as she waits. After only about 30 seconds, a small, young dragoness, whom Crystalia recognizes as Lasia, opens the door, looking on confusedly as Crystalia asks how things had been.
"Umm... Your band, dear." Adinia says from beside Crystalia.
"Oh, right, how could I be so stupid." Crystalia replies, removing the band from her left foreleg.
Lasia's eyes widen as the dragon standing in front of her quickly shifts from blue to a deep, forest green with shimmering silver markings on her tail, muzzle, and wings.
"Crystalia, how'd you?" Lasia starts, speaking loudly without realizing it.
A couple small thunks can be heard inside as Nol runs up to the door, standing beside his sister and holding his head above her body.
"Lasia, who's there?" A voice calls from inside the house.
"It's a friend of ours from school!" She hollers back, her voice going slightly shrill.
"Well, let our guest in then." The voice replies.
"Come in, please." Lasia says invitingly, stepping aside to let Crystalia in.
"Who's that?" Nol asks, gesturing towards the other dragon in the doorway.
"Oh, how forgetful of me." She says, removing her band as well, "Adinia, Queen of this realm."
Before anyone has a chance to process, Adinia bows, her tail wrapping around to her head. "And it's a pleasure to meet you too, Lasia."
Lasia's jaw drops open and she begins to stammer, eventually losing control of herself as her body drops to the floor, convulsing violently as her eyes roll back into her head and liquid begins to trickle from somewhere around her crotch, thoroughly wetting her clothes
Crystalia's stomach lurches as conflicting feelings rush through her mind.
Nol and his parents run into the room as Crystalia steps toward Lasia.
"No, let us deal with this, you don't need to worry about it." Nol's mother hollers from across the room, leaping towards her daughter, readying a spell with a few flicks of a forepaw and a few draconic words muttered under her breath. She then extends her paw towards Lasia's convulsing body, a pink aura radiating from it as Lasia's convulsions begin to slow. When she looks over toward where Crystalia had been sitting, Nol's mom gasps as a pure, white aura surrounds the young dragon's form, slowly reaching out with shimmering, white, ribbon-like tendrils. A tendril lands on Lasia's head, then one on her chest, another by her thigh, each causing a white aura to illuminate Lasia's form. As one finally touches her tail, a blinding flash causes everyone to cover their eyes.
Once the flash dies down, everyone opens their eyes. As they gather their wits, attention falls upon the still bodies of both Crystalia and Lasia. Nobody speaks, as though they are holding their collective breath in fear of speaking.
Their fears quickly wane as both young dragons begin to stir, Crystalia waking first, having time to walk over to Lasia, softly caressing her side as she tries to recollect the happenings of the last few minutes.
"What happened?" Lasia asks, locking eyes with Crystalia.
"You had a seizure again, sweetie." her mother replies.
"How long was I out?"
"Not more than thirty seconds. Why?"
"I feel fully rested." Lasia states, getting to her feet.
"Well, why don't you go wash up sweetie."
"Okay. Do you mind if I talk to Crystalia about this? In private."
"No, just be careful with what you share."
"I know you can trust my student to keep any secrets you tell her, Lasia." Adinia interjects.
"Thank you, your majesty."
"Oh, please, call me 'Adinia', or at least 'friend', or something", Adinia sighs.
"Crystalia, please, come with me." Lasia says, slinking off towards a small hallway on the far side of the common room.
Crystalia nods visibly and follows, looking worriedly at her friend. Lasia leads her to a large bathroom that sits adjacent to the common room, and holds the door open, ushering Crystalia in, heading in after her friend.
"So, I do hope you are fine with... intimate situations." Lasia says, removing her soiled clothing.
"Well, I'm not one for watching anyone clean themselves, but I don't mind casual nudity." Crystalia replies.
"That's good." Lasia sighs, stepping into a large tub, suddenly tucking her tail under her belly as she realizes she has it held aloft, accidentally exposing herself.
Crystalia chuckles, not having even had second thoughts when she saw Lasia's tail held up.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." Lasia starts, before Crystalia opens her mouth, speaking over her friend.
"It's fine, I don't really care, I look the same as you down there." Crystalia says, still chuckling slightly, "What I meant earlier is I don't feel any attraction towards you... in that way."
"Oh, okay..." Lasia murmurs, letting her tail down from her belly as she bows her head, leaving her rear up, and using her tail to turn on the shower head above her. She blushes brightly as she begins to use a forepaw to clean herself. "Crystalia, please, can you look the other way?" She requests shyly.
Crystalia doesn't speak, she just nods and turns away, inspecting her claws to entertain herself.
"So, what all happened, you know, besides my clothes getting soiled?" Lasia asks, lightly rubbing a paw on her upper thigh, trying to get rid of the smelly residue from her urine.
"Well, Adinia had just introduced herself when you started shaking slightly, just before you dropped onto your belly. After you laid there shivering for about thirty seconds, your whole body started shaking violently. Your mom ran into the room and began casting what I think was a lesser sleeping spell on you, then my mind goes blank, I can't remember what happened after that until I got up and walked over to you." Crystalia explains slowly, thinking back, trying to fill in the blanks her mind left.
"Well, I don't remember any of that, I just remember another dragon joining you in our house before I blacked out." Lasia replies, cleaning around her crotch.
"So, I guess we'll have to ask someone what actually happened after my mind went blank." Crystalia says bluntly.
"So, I bet you're wondering about my seizures anyway." Lasia says a minute later, as she rubs a paw down the length of her slit, causing her to shiver slightly as a jolt runs down her spine.
"Yeah, I'm kind of curious but if you don't want to share, I won't hold it against you." Crystalia replies soothingly.
"Well, I can't tell you exactly when it first happened, but I do know it was a few years ago, sometime around the time I turned nine." Lasia begins, standing up as she turns off the water. She grabs a towel and dries herself off before heading into a room across the hall.
"My mom always tells me that, during my birthday party, I fell down while playing with some friends of mine, but instead of getting up immediately like normal, I laid there for a minute or two." She continues, not stopping her story for even a second, "She says that after I started convulsing uncontrollably, I... well, soiled my clothes, and that she had to put me to sleep with a spell to end it."
Crystalia smiles, nudging Lasia with her wing, then quickly pulling her in and kissing her lightly on the forehead, causing the smaller female to blush brightly.
"What was that for?" Lasia asks, trying to pull away from Crystalia.
"You're cute, that's what." Crystalia replies, grinning, "You tell me all of this but you never realized that I knew your story this whole time."
"Wha- How?" Lasia stutters, her mind racing.
"I didn't want to scare you, so I didn't tell you, but when your seizure started, I took advantage of your mental break to hook into your thoughts. I needed to know what caused it, something I managed to figure out when memories flooded into your head as you woke up."
"So, wait, you were digging through my memories?" Lasia inquires defensively, offended by the thought of her friend reading her mind without her consent.
"No, I didn't see anything you didn't..."
"Gods above... You saw everything I saw?" Lasia asks worriedly.
"Well, yes, and I have to say, even though we're both female, you're one hot dragoness~" Crystalia murrs suggestively.
Lasia blushes as the sensuality of Crystalia's admission hits her, "Wow... You really think so?"
"Oh, don't sell yourself short sweetheart, you're really well-shaped, sleek but still muscular, not too thin. You've got a lot of things going for you." Crystalia says, smiling brightly at the smaller girl.
"Wow, that's a great confidence booster, thanks!" Lasia replies pridefully, returning Crystalia's affections by planting a soft kiss on her cheek.
Lasia puts on an ornate white shirt and a pair of deep blue jeans, smiling as she follows Crystalia out to the large common room.
"So Adinia, what happened to me?" Crystalia asks as she walks into the room.
"Well, to put things simply, you cast a spell not even I could've cast." Adinia replies, "But to put things as they are, you panicked, causing your true power to activate; with it under your control, you were able to call upon a spell that is normally referred to as 'Life's Gift Ungiven'. It's a miracle that you didn't die, let alone not ending up with severe mental issues."
"Well then, I guess that clears things up slightly, but I do believe we were here to visit, weren't we?" Crystalia says excitedly.
"Well, it's nearly time we get the kids to bed." Lasia's mom responds, "But you're welcome to stay for the night, if you're fine with sleeping on the floor, as we don't have any extra rooms."
"Thank you for your hospitality, and, not to worry, I'm not picky with my sleeping arrangements." Adinia says, laying down on the floor and falling asleep almost immediately.
"Thank you." Crystalia echos, as she looks for a suitable place to sleep.
"Oh, can Crystalia sleep with one of us mom?" Nol asks excitedly.
"Of course, but you'll have to fight to see who gets to sleep on the bed." Their father replies, laughing at the looks his comment draws from the three young dragons.
Nol leads Crystalia to the room directly beside Lasia's, turning on the lights as he enters. The room is decently large, with a double bed on the opposing wall, and as Crystalia walks in, she notices a dresser against the wall, beside the door.
"Be careful, he snores..." Lasia says jokingly as she walks past the door.
"Oh, shut it. We both know you're the one who snores." Nol replies, laughing as he shuts the door, locking it behind them.
"The walls are sound-proofed, she can't hear us. More importantly though, my parents can't hear us..."Nol whispers to Cryststalia.