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This story was written for Britfox as their flash fiction reward for the month of November. It contains non-canon romantic goings on between one of my D&D group's player characters and an NPC. :3

The Kobold and the... Lord? Prince? Something like that!

Scurry watched as Theren laid out several ritual objects in preparation for his meditation. She saw Vex preparing a corner of the sarcophagus chamber for herself, away from the men, and smiled as she saw Theodric leaning against one of the sarcophagi and laughing, clapping as Vega set a magical ball of light floating in the centre of the room and pressed his hands directly in front of it. The more lightly armoured of the tabaxi used his hands to cast shadows on the wall, and with those shadows imitated with impressive dexterity the shape and movements of a scuttling drider like the one they had just slain. The kobold found it incredible that for the most part these adventurers were so calm, so ready to rest and laugh and carry on like today had just been any other day. She had so many questions for all of them, and yet, it was to one and only one of them whom she turned just a few moments later.

"Uh... excuse me, Sir... Lord... uh, Prince? It's something like that, I'm sure. I'm sorry, I didn't actually ask your title. How about we go with Prince North-West unless you tell me otherwise?"

At first, Barneby didn't react. It was only when Scurry repeated herself and gently tugged on the hem of one of his fine linen trouser-legs that the half elf glanced down at her, eyebrows raising and cheeks flushing slightly as he heard her speak to him in that manner.

"Sorry about that, little dude."

He chuckled, running a hand through his hair idly and smirking.

"Honestly, it's been so long since someone called me anything so... respectful, I kinda forgot that was me."

Scurry glanced at the rest of the group, then turned her thin, amber eyes towards Barneby once more.

"It must be nice, Prince North-West, to have such close friends that you allow them to be so informal with you. I would never presume, of course. To be in the presence of a noble from beyond Olympia's walls. I... I could never have dreamed of such an honour. Never mind to have fought with one. To serve such a great and powerful figure as you no doubt are in your homeland. Truly, an honour."

Barneby's cheeks continued to redden, and that didn't diminish even slightly as he saw the devoted, earnest way that the kobold was regarding him. There was no derision in her voice. Not a shred of sarcasm. And indeed there was more than just the instinctive respect of someone who understood how someone was meant to talk to nobility. This was the sort of respect that came from a deep and genuine place, as though it had been earned.

He chuckled, dropping to one knee so that he could rest level with the small, scaled creature, the two of them now hidden behind one of the sarcophagi, shielded from the gaze of the others.

"You're going to make my head swell, my dude."

Scurry bowed her head apologetically.

"Oh. I... uh... I'm sorry if I offended you. It's my way, I'm afraid. Authority, power... I just have a natural dispensation to, you know... admire it."

Barneby chuckled, and reached forward, touching the tip of the kobold's lower jaw and tilting her head back up until their eyes met again, Scurry's now widening sharply. He grinned, winking warmly.

"I didn't say it was a bad thing. And I certainly didn't tell you to stop."

Having not seen many kobolds before, aside of course from the corposes of the foul, feral creatures who had on occasion pillaged his father's lands before being slain by the guards and strung up across the walls of the Luleilan kingdom's keep, Barneby couldn't be sure of what he was seeing in the next moment. As Scurry's swampy green scales seemed to brighten to a more leafy hue though, it almost seemed as though she was blushing.

"You have been very kind to me, Prince North-West. I... I owe you and your friends, b-but... you in particular, a great deal."

Barneby's smile grew ever wider.

"Oh, it was nothing. Saving your life. Defeating foul evil creatures from beyond the civilised reaches of this world. That's just what I... what we do."

Scurry trembled before the half elf noble, though not in fear as his hand remained resting so lightly against her face.

"If there is... a-anything I can do. For your friends. But... f-for you in particular, my Prince..."

Beaming, Barneby was about to enquire as to whether the kobold's bag of holding was still off limits as something she'd be willing to part with. Then he felt something, and glanced downward to see Scurry's long, scaled tail reaching up from behind her and stroking the back of his hand where it met with her long, toothy snout.

She hissed under her breath, her rasping voice even more throaty than normal.

"Anything."

Barneby lifted his own remaining free hand, and just as the kobold's tail was stroking the back of his palm with undeniable tenderness, so too did his hand begin to stroke her tail, while his other hand gently slid across her flushed scales, round the back of her head, coaxing her snout forward now, towards his own face, his own lips.

"Scurry?"

Vex's voice called out across the room, and both Barneby and the kobold sagged, all the tension that had been building breaking and fading away in a split second.

"Scurry, would you like to come sleep over here with me, away from the... others?"

The kobold sprang up, scrambling up half onto one of the sarcophagi to peer over it with a toothy grin towards the witch.

"Sure! That sounds... uh, great? I'll be right there!"

She slipped back down, and turned to Barneby, still kneeling, red in the face and glancing nervously around as though expecting one of the others to pop their heads around the stonework and enquire what they were doing back there at any moment.

"Prince North-West?"

Scurry whispered to him, drawing his gaze, his attention back to her. Before he could respond though, before he could react with more than a slightly rosier blush and a renewed smile to that honourably given title, the kobold was up on the tips of her scaled toes, and pecking at his lips with the very tip of her snout.

"When we're back in the city, in my home, perhaps. The offer stands. I've never... thanked a Prince before."

She withdrew, licked the tip of her snout playfully, as Barneby just stared and blushed, mouth agape, and then with a clicking of her clawed feet on the stonework and a flick of her tail, she was gone.

By Jeeves

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