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Shadi was getting very sick of waking up in places she didn't remember laying down. Even if she recognised the place at once, it still was disconcerting she didn't remember where she had been before.

She groaned and sat up slowly, holding the side of her head with her paws. The room was cool, and she was naked. The light from the slowly strobing light by the ceiling was far too bright, and her entire skull felt like it had been caved in and ran over by a stampede of antelope. Her tail curled protectively around her waist like a blanket, far softer and warmer than the ones Matthew used on the bedding of the infirmary... Like the one she was laying on.

She had recognised the chemically clean smell of the place before she'd even opened her eyes, as well as the wolf's own particular scene he carried. He blinked a few times and rolled her tongue around in her mouth, scraping it against the top of her muzzle.

The foul flavour and aroma of the haze inducing drug smoke still lingered in her senses, refusing to leave her completely.

"Why do you always smell like Flint and blueberries?" She asked the gentle grey giant sitting at the end of her bed, his muzzle buried in a thick book. Mack didn't look up from his novel.

"It's the soap some of the girls below deck make. They send me up a basket from time to time for all I do for them."

Shadi cocked her head to the side. A cup of water had been left on the end table for her. She snatched it up and took a long draught of the cool, crisp liquid. It was a hundredfold better than what they had been forced to share at the castle and carried none of the heavy, coppery aftertastes with it.

"Aren't most of the lower decks the uh... Brothels? And the girls there... Well, pleasure slaves?"

Matthew didn't miss a beat.

"Aren't you as well? Do you see anyone else on board willing to treat them for all manner of ailment, no questions asked?"

Touche.

She nodded her defeat in that line of talk and took another sip of the water. Finishing the page he had been on, the dire wolf gently slipped a strip of fabric between the pages and set his book aside, the single golden iris narrowing on her.

"You fainted when Isiat was bringing you back. Hashish and dehydration aren't a good combination young lady." He scolded her playfully like a teacher trying to explain that two plus two equalled four.

"I didn't exactly have much choice in the matter..." She grumbled, neatening her fur down with her paws. If the wolf showed any awkwardness at her state of undress, he never once showed it. Heck, she thought. He was probably the one who had undressed her in the first place. He would have had to have been. If Isiat had carried her naked, she would have been in his bed after all...

Still, it spoke to the vulpine's character that his first thoughts had been of her wellbeing. He'd come to rescue her after all, and shielded her before Scion's wrath upon her captors. While she was his property, she knew in her heart that merely protecting his assets wasn't all that had driven his actions.

"Even so..." The wolf continued, unperturbed. "Drink that. You're fortunate it's a mild case. Out here that can quickly turn dangerous. I cleaned you up as best I was able. I don't know what happened, and I'm not sure I want to. If you want though, there's some robes and a towel in the locker on your way out. You can go and give yourself a proper bath. Take it easy for a few days and you should be fine physically, but..."

Shadi could read the question in the way his eyes flashed across her and then tried to retreat to his book, his face flushed just slightly as he remembered his professionalism and her decency. The concern was truly touching, and she reached out, petting the wolf's arm. Some scars couldn't be seen, and even now, the old wolf was looking out for her.

"I'll be okay Matthew... I spent years in a cave having what those lizards did to me daily... And while it wasn't pretty, I survived that as well, didn't I?" She gave him a soft smile, trying to appear braver than she felt.

In truth, it had shaken her, but oddly, not as much as she might have expected such an event to. Had she really become so jaded to it, or was she simply more resilient than she gave herself credit for?

The answer eluded her, and she doubted Mack had any better theories to suggest one for her. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek as she stood. His concern was sincere, and she was grateful that he cared so much about a mere slave. He was quite unlike any other soul aboard, especially for a wolf. The old man chuckled and waved her away, and made himself busy leaving to go and check on his other patients, but she could see the broad smile even beneath his shaggy fur.

Before she knew it, she'd dressed and climbed the nearest stairs, wandering the maze of corridors up to the top deck of the airship. She found herself once again staring out over the sea of garish and vivid sails of all shapes and sizes, her mind running with thoughts, but none that she could get ahold of long enough to organize.

"You see now why I despise it so, hmm?" Someone squawked from alongside her.

Shadi turned at the oddly familiar voice. The long-legged avian captain, Fiacre nodded out towards to vastness of the conference. If he still held any sort of disdain at speaking with a slave, he didn't show it. He must have been taking a break while they were landed. From what she had learned of him, it was rare to find any of the helm crew too far from their station.

"A larger, more foul den of opportunists and scoundrels you would be hard-pressed to find this side of the equator. But, business is business, and for our dear employer, it is very good indeed. After the tantrum he threw recovering you, I'm surprised he hasn't ordered us to leave already..."

"I wouldn't know. I haven't seen him since he brought me back to the ship." Shadi said in a curt, but not impolite response, trying not to give much away. She was still feeling slightly nauseous and found that speaking was causing bile to rise in her throat again.

Fiacre nodded, the patinaed silver of his wings spreading behind his back as his taloned hands tapped a measure of smoking weed into an ornate, long-stemmed wooden pipe. The end had been carved to resemble a hooked, avian beak.

He lit it with a few quick strokes of his tinderbox, before tucking both spark stone and pouch back into his pockets. He took a long drag and offered it out to Shadi.

"Do you smoke at all?"

Her thoughts went back to the haze in the shuttered room the lizards had raped her in, and her stomach soured as the first whips of the smoke hit her nostrils. Her face went green and she retched loudly over the side of the airship. The harpy eagle simply laughed at her misfortune.

"Hmm. Apparently not."

Okay, perhaps she wasn't as resilient as she had hoped.

---

One two-three, one two. One two-three, one two.

Isiat's fingers drummed the beat quietly on his desk as his eyes skimmed over the latest set of agreements, sales, trades and offers. It may as well have been written in the artistic, runic symbols of the Orient tribals for all the good it did him. The words scrawled across the neat pages Scion had delivered were gibberish that went in one ear and out the other with the swiftness of an arrow.

His mind simply wasn't in it today, not had it been since the canines... those motherfucking dogs had tried to snatch His prize right out from under his goddamn feet. He had ignored all of their attempts at re-opening formal communications with him. Two birds and a runner had all arrived separately, vying for his attention, carrying messages of the utmost importance for his eyes only.

Rogue agents, they had claimed! Grave misunderstandings! A horrible set of coincidences!

As if they could sincerely expect some singular mutt with that much coin to have been acting on his initiative! They had even offered to purchase more of his stock at an increased price in an attempt to appease him but put bluntly, they had gone and seriously pissed him off. He had sent their runner back with his tail between his legs and a black eye for his efforts. Though conventional wisdom warned against it, he had very much wanted to shoot the messenger.

He might consider throwing back in with them if they would merely apologize, accept that they had fucked up and been caught fucking up, and extend to him their oath to never attempt to steal his property again, but at this point, it was an outright impossibility. Word travelled quickly to those with the means, and a formal breach of contract against the canine coalition had already been signed, duplicated, and delivered to their leaders by the dragon clans.

Attempt theft of property that was lawfully even in part held by one of their kin, and by extension, the clans themselves, was not something that Scion's kin would let slide as easily as the red-scaled drake himself might have. After all, the dragon's had achieved their status by not deviating from their word, even to a single letter. They expected the same dedication from those they chose to deal with.

Though there was some good news at least, buried amidst all those sheets of paper...

"The Fox is waiting on your audience." Scion's voice interrupted his thoughts, the red dragon standing by the doorway.

Isiat looked up and seemed to acknowledge his surroundings for the first time in at least the last hour before his eyes met the Dragon's cooly.

"No, he's already here and has been for the last ten minutes. Go tell his decoy he can leave."

Sudden laughter from the back corner of the room boomed out, a shadow seeming to detach itself from the walls, quickly becoming the solid form of a tall, lithe Vulpine with fur that seemed to ripple with a dark, oily sheen.

When Isiat had first met Uxhi, he had been but a Padfoot in the shady business of information brokering. Skilled as anything, but an apprentice still. In the decade since then, well, to say the organization had to grow to meet the demands of an ever-expanding market was the least of it.

As Isiat stood and clasped the other male's hand firmly, the pure black vulpine's muzzle was broken up by the white of his flashing grin.

"You haven't changed a bit old friend." He beamed, many tails wagging happily. There were few enough friendly faces that Isiat sincerely enjoyed seeing after a long journey, but Uxhi was one of them. Scion didn't care for his sneaky ways. Supposedly the underground group he was associated with were at odds with the Dragon clans for their monopoly on valuable information.

"Hmmm, and you're still just as keen-eyed as last time. Tell me, when did you notice me?" Uxhi chuckled, sliding down into the seat before Isiat's desk without waiting for an invitation, his tail folding neatly into his lap. His clothes were made up of silk the colour of wet, dark earth, excellent for blending in the shadows, but yet on closer a closer inspection, it was in fact, a well-tailored suit. The details in the needlework were as intricate and complex as the Vulpine wearing it.

"I noticed when you tried at first to slip in through the window I left open. The shadows on the floor moved. So tell me, what have you for me today?"

The black fox grinned from ear to ear.

"Well, that all depends on what it is you want to hear, and what all you have to offer in return."

Ahhh yes, cryptic as ever. It was difficult to give the value of information when neither side knew precisely how important it was to the other. It was an intricate game of chess, where all of the pieces were assumed to be pawns until they revealed themselves otherwise.

Much to their tradition, Isiat reached under his desk and pulled a folding board from his drawers. Silently, they began setting their pieces in place.

"Very well. Let's start with the canines. How much do they know? How far are they willing to push?"

Isiat's pawn opened by moving into the centre of the chessboard.

"They're well aware you're holding more pieces than they can see. The ones who sold you Shadi have been executed... Many of those who are left are calling for you to be marked as excommunicated by the packs, or to be simply designated a hostile entity. It's been an interesting time since you acquired that particular slave." The fox said, his voice like slowly pouring wine, sweet, measured. It made you want to be his friend. Isiat had long since learned how to throw off the vulpine's particular charm when he was discussing business though. Information brokers were perhaps the most dangerous kind of spy. They had ways of making you spill secrets without you even realizing it.

They played at a slow back and forth, walls of pawns advancing with castles and knights behind. Then Uxhi did something deliberately foolish that Isiat caught right away. One of his castles was left afield, surround by pawns, but itself, defenceless.

He scrutinized the move. This was how they had always done business. Uxhi would offer him something of value, but not reveal exactly what until he had committed to purchasing. It could have been any number of things. Uxhi would leave deliberate hints, but not reveal just what. It could have been as simple as some threads of cloth from fabric that was expected to have a large value soon, or a quill with dops of ink still upon its tip, fresh from a message sent. In this case, it was the castle, but it was up to Isiat to puzzle out what the castle meant for him, and how much it was worth.

"A castle.... Let me guess, the castle where I purchased Shadi. You've left it exposed, but still guarded, yet at risk from my King's bishop, one that stands by a king... Very well, I will bite. How much will it cost me?" Isiat asked without taking his eyes off the piece.

"Hmmm... How about I bundle it with the rest of what I have to share, and we'll work out a price later... I'm sure you will hear soon enough, but the news has yet to circulate this far out." He made a soft gesture for Isiat to make his move.

The Bishop occupied the Tower's space upon the board and Isiat sat back in his chair.

"The Bishop represents Alzeer Styker." He nodded. Isiat's jaw almost hit the damn floor. He fixed the silver-tongued vulpine with a stern glare. When he spoke, it wasn't to ask.

"Tell me the rest." He demanded.

"It will cost you. That first part will become common knowledge soon enough. The razing of the castle, that is. What comes next are moves in the great game, and you should know well their value."

Isiat reached into his desk drawer and pulled out an elongated wooden box, slapping it down beside the board. He slid the lid back, revealing a hundred neatly stacked golden Draskar coins. They glinted as if freshly minted in the light from the windows.

Uxhi contemplated the coins for a few moments, before sliding the lid closed, and tucking the box away by his side. His eyes met the many tailed trader's.

"I want a night with the dancing slave. That is my price."

Isiat didn't even hesitate a second.

"Done. Get to talking."

Uxhi allowed himself a slightly smug grin and began moving his pieces once more.

"About four nights ago, Alzeer Stryker led a volunteer only raid upon the castle where Shadi had been held. At the time, he did not know for certain it was where his daughter had been taken but had acquired intelligence pointing to the conclusion that there was a strong chance she would be there."

Isiat nodded, deep in thought. A shame for him and Shadi both, but the debt was a debt, and he would still owe Isiat the reward for her return... Eventually. And despite all that had happened, Isiat was certainly not ready to give Shadi up either. He felt greedy and possessive, but she was still bound in his collar... One day, for sure, but not too soon.

"The canines were caught entirely unprepared with their pants down so to speak. About twenty or so feline's and some local prey species guides. Overall casualty estimates are still being reported, but suffice to say, half of the castle is now at the bottom of the hill. They will be significantly higher than the handful of felines who were slain. Hundredfold even."

Isiat paused mid-move, running his fingers along the edges of his muzzle in awe. This would certainly change the dynamics of the long game for one thing... Though if it would be for better or for worse was yet to be seen.

"And what of their response? Have they made any news of it?"

"None whatsoever. It is a key castle, but it is remote enough and secure enough that they can keep the news from spreading... For a time. Their lords are furious, baying at the king to commit to reprisals across the felines' conquered territories. They're a hornet's nest, and Stryker didn't just kick it, he stomped on it, set it on fire and threw it from a cliff." The black-furred spy chuckled, taking his queen and moving her to assault Isiat's A-line flank.

When Isiat didn't immediately move to counter the play, Uxhi started sweeping up his stray pawns with impunity.

"Despite the threat of reprisals in their conquered territories, so far, more rational voices have prevailed in keeping the king from rash actions. It's impossible for them to round up every feline from the cities and villages they have conquered, but now they are frothing for vengeance. I expect the conflict to turn more bloody than it has been. I would have your ship guards be prepared as well, lest they try to either take Shadi from you or-"

At once, Isiat's queen struck from the backline, sweeping in and removing its counterpart from the board in a pair of moves that were as quick as they were calculated. Finally, Isiat looked up from the board.

"I am not concerned about her protection while she is aboard, nor am I concerned for any aboard this ship. They would be fools to try it. High Fortune is a maze that would just as soon become their crypt if they ever managed to set foot upon it. I could hold the ship aloft indefinitely with a skeleton crew." He stated confidently, meeting the black fox's gaze.

"And yet, I got in." Uxhi pointed out, his tail giving a swish.

Isiat moved his knight into the fore of Uxhi's line, tantalizingly between his opponent's pieces, but entirely safe from attack. Not so, for Uxhi's king, now neatly boxed in between a queen, knight and bishop's lines of attack.

"And yet, you got in. Checkmate."

Uxhi looked down, his eyes sweeping over the board for a few moments as if surveying his demise despite his advantageous positions.

"Tyvir's bounding attack. Very well played. I should have seen it far sooner."

Isiat nodded in agreement, unable to contain the knowing smile upon his lips. He'd already determined that Uxhi wouldn't make such a rookie mistake without it being on purpose. But, such was the nature of the great game. There was a meaning behind every move that was played, and for everything you saw, five hundred simultaneous moves went by unnoticed. Most were lucky to catch even fleeting glimpses of such moves when they occurred in the larger world.

But, if one paid attention to the patterns...

"So, how long are you planning on staying this time?" Isiat changed the topic, his tails starting up in a slow, back and forth wagging motion, all perfectly psyched with the rest of the unruly looking furry appendages.

"No longer than necessary. We live in interesting times, and to stay idle would be folly. Far too much to learn and not enough time to do it all. I've already had to hire over a dozen sets of eyes just to keep tabs on those who I want to watch."

Isiat raised an eyebrow.

"And me?"

"Oh, I don't need to with you." Uxhi chuckled, rising from his seat. "You make no efforts to hide your movements. There are better things here to spend twenty Draskar on. Have Shadi be available this evening. I'll find her when it suits me."

"So what do you plan to tell her?" Isiat raised his voice, stopping the black vulpine on the threshold of his office. The question was almost very nearly threatening. The male turned slowly, looking back to Isiat.

"Well, you should already know. Exactly as much as she needs to know."

---

Shadi yawned, stretching out on the lush, soft grass. The weather above decks was beautiful, and doubly so inside the more controlled climate of the greenhouse. With its gurgling streams of irrigation and lack of external wind, she'd found it to be the perfect place to relax, take her mind off of things, and simply enjoy herself.

"Auntie Shadi! Watch me! Watch me!" Came a shrill, excited call from one of Larise's many children as the short wolf cub took a running start, before cartwheeling across the manicured grass of the artificial plain, her hair done up in pigtails. The youngster cinched the landing, beaming all too proudly.

From her spot laying sideways on the lawn, Shadi and Larise both gave enthusiastic cheers and quick applause, much to the pup's delight, before she dashed away to continue chasing her siblings. The coyote rolled over lazily, her copper collar glinting in the sunlight that streamed in from overhead. It was pleasantly warm against both of their bodies, wearing loose-fitting desert garb that covered just enough to remain decent. From what she had seen on the ground, clothing alone was more a luxury than many slaves were provided.

Thinking more on it, she realized that she had only become accustomed to being dressed at all again since Isiat had all but forced clothes onto her in the dock hold of High Fortune. It was crazy to think that it had been what felt like a short time she had been aboard, for such normalities to still seem strange to her. Her canine captors had only offered her clothes so that they could tear them off her for fun.

She caught Larise looking over at her curiously, and let out a quiet giggle, asking just what she was looking at.

"Your thoughts are doing an awful lot of brooding again." The Coyote teased, sticking her tongue out. Shadi batted one of her paws over at her, shoving her playfully back into the grass.

"They are not. I just have a lot to think about."

"Mhmm, and I have a lot to look at, but speaking of eye candy..." Larise let out a conspiratorial laugh, pointing with a jab of her chin over to the walkway at the edge of their clearing. On the far side, Isiat and Scion were marching past, escorted by a sleek, black panther. The Dragon and the Vulpine were garbed in thick, padded white over clothes of some sort that Shadi didn't recognize.

"Ohhh, now, if you really want something to get your blood racing..." She started, but Shadi shushed her at once. Larise sat up, snuggling against Shadi's side before she gave a quick whistle.

"Alright kids, Go play in the undergrowth and give the big children the field!"

There came a round of groans and complaints from the array of pups, but a handful of the slightly older ones quickly made like their mother, snuggling up against the Coyote and the lioness in the grass.

"What are they-" Shadi started, but now it was Larise's turn to hush her with a quiet hiss.

"Just watch! You'll like it."

Dragon and Vulpine stood across from each other, each taking a moment to check their equipment before the panther unfurled a thick canvas roll on the grass, an array of glistening steel blades spilling out on display.

Isiat took up a slender, flexible rapier, while Scion went straight for the largest, heaviest looking claymore he could find. The blade was easily seven feet loot.

"Are they-"

"Shhhh~!"

Standing across from each other, Shadi sized up their fight at once. She didn't doubt Isiat's skill with such a wispy, narrow blade. After all, she'd seen him work with it more than once, but not against a foe on equal footing! Scion looked like he was ready to simply swat the many tailed fox aside with the massive sword.

Around the clearing, a crowd had quickly gathered, and she swore she could see a good deal of the ship's coins trading hands as people fervently bet on the outcome of the bout that was about to take place.

Both of the males bowed to one another. Scion hefted his blade up, tightening his double-handed grip on the pommel. Isiat made a flourishing spin, twisting the blade around in his hand, before ending with it horizontally at eye level, one hand mockingly extending. His fingers curled in a challenge.

And then they engaged.

Shadi expected the bout to end quickly and one-sidedly in Scion's favour, but Isiat gave as good as he got. Scion's blows were massive, lopping swings that even if the blade were blunt, would have still been able to crush bones from the force, but Isiat nimbly danced out of the way, playing the defensive all the way and only infuriating the dragon for his efforts.

Despite having the longer reach and height advantage, Scion's blade connected with nothing but air, Isiat weaving and ducking, shifting like water over a stone, smooth and effortless in his evasion. Even as she watched though, her eyes immediately went to Isiat's tails, something that Scion clearly couldn't do lest he risked losing sight of his opponent's blade.

One two-three four five- One two. One two-three four five- One two.

She watched for his count, much in the same way that she used a tempo to help centre herself, and instantly, her eyes caught on to his play. His motions were perfectly timed to his tempo, ducking, weaving, twisting, feet landing and shifting with each count.

"Quit dancing around and attack damn you. I haven't the patience for your-" Scion growled, and was cut off the moment Isiat's blade kissed his chest, the skinny sword's blade bending from the pressure against his padded coat.

Isiat simply grinned smugly, still stretched out in a low, extended lunge beneath the Dragon's guard.

"Point, Isiat." Called the panther, who was standing on the side as if to referee the bout.

"Yes, thank you, Victor. He got it." Isiat teased, wriggling his blade for a moment in the glee of his little joke as they separated.

"Yes, yes. Very witty of you." The red dragon said with a roll of his eyes. He switched his stance, sweeping the massive sword around himself in a simple flourish.

The second round was much shorter. This time, Isiat took to the offence, and his count was entirely different. Shadi watched with rapt fascination as she observed the fight. Isiat must have switched the count and tempo of his strikes at least three separate times, each transition seamless and smooth, and completely unnoticed to the untrained eye.

And then Scion went and spoiled his dance with all the subtlety of a church bell. As Isiat made to lunge in again, Scion spun and flicked his tail out, the thick, scaled length of it catching Isiat off guard, and staggered him with the force of its strike. The dragon was quick to follow up, parrying a clumsy counter strike from the much smaller vulpine, before he gripped the blade of his claymore with his left paw, and jabbed his employer sharply in the face with the heavy iron pommel.

Isiat fell back, holding his muzzle where the blunt strike had split his skin, cursing in his native tongue, not a language she recognized. She didn't need to understand the exact meaning to get the sentiment behind his rapid swearing.

"You can say swordsmanship is a dance all you like, but at the end of the day, unlike Chess, there are no rules. The winner wins, and the loser dies. There's no middle ground. You fight to live, not to perform. They teach that young in the clans, every hatching learns the value of efficiency over aesthetics where it's important."

He looped the Claymore once more, before marching over to the assortment of weapons, trading out the blade for a more reasonably sized bastard sword and a small shield.

Isiat kept his rapier and readied himself once more.

The pair were more evenly matched than either seemed willing to admit, winning and losing in almost perfectly equal measure for about an hour until both males were panting with their exertions. Scion's ragged breaths came as low, rumbling growl, rasping like a whetstone being drawn across a steel blade.

Isiat panted like a dog, his paws on his knees. Done, for now, he tore the overshirt from his torso and sat in the grass, damp sweat matting the white fur of his chest, and the black of his shoulders and neck.

After a long moment, he simply fell back entirely, sprawling out of the manicured lawn, tails sprawled around him.

Scion lumbered over, and almost delicately, pierced the soft grass beside Isiat's head with his sword, leaving it upright in the ground.

"You're good with that toothpick of yours, I will give you that much, but against a longsword, if you don't win on your first strike, the odds will stack against you." The dragon's rumble reprimanded his employer as he turned, his long tail swishing as he walked from the clearing, unaffected by his victory. Perhaps winning hadn't been his goal, or perhaps that was just the way Scion was. Shadi couldn't rightly say.

But from Isiat's mischievous, if breathless grin he shot the tan lioness as he rolled over onto his side, gave her a single thought that only reinforced one truth she had learned of Isiat's being. Nothing he did was accidental.

---

One two three four, One two three four...

The steady tick-tock-tick-tock of the metronome in Shadi's quarters continued as she moved, her eyes closed to the world around her, shutting out the wooden walls and floors, the small porthole window that let in a scant ray of moonlight. It cast it as a round disk upon the floor by her side, the room illuminated by a gently flickering lantern in the corner. The small flame might not have been much by itself, but combined with her body heat and the thick insulation that the ship naturally had from the hull, it was enough to make the room more than comfortably warm against the chill of the desert outside.

Half turn, arch right, slowly back to the left... Move like water, slow and purposeful...

She ran quietly through the steps of the dance, though she did not know its name. The script had been an odd one in a dialect she didn't know, and the runes in the book Isiat had provided a mystery. The diagrams at least we're clear enough, and it was from her memory of those that she danced, humming quietly to herself as she moved.

A quiet rapping upon her door interrupted her routine, however, and she frowned. Who would be knocking at such an hour?

Carefully, she crept up to it, peeking through the small lens set into the doorway. The corridor outside was dim, half-light for the nighttime, but of the culprit, she saw no one. Isiat had urged her to be cautious, and quietly, she let the door creak open, peering outside.

The stretching hallway was empty. Anxious now, she closed it again, snipping the lock into place.

"Hello, Miss Stryker."

There were many colourful curses in all the tongues that Shadi knew, and of them, recoiling in shock, she was certain she must have screamed at least half of them at the mysterious, black-furred male that now sat before her on the edge of her bed.

If anything, he seemed sincerely amused by her outburst, a soft laugh escaping him as he waved his paws, open-palmed in a gesture of peace.

"Well that was an impressive and articulate outburst, but quite unnecessary. I mean you no harm. My name is John Uxhi, a, shall we say... friend? Yes, we'll go with a friend of Isiat's." When he spoke, his accent was entirely unlike any she had heard to date, a flowing mixture of many, and yet no familiar voices. The words, however, were perfectly in the tongue of her home, as flawless as a native-born down to the particular lilt of his pronunciation.

Still on edge, she at least managed to calm enough to retract her claws, her eyes fixing the vulpine with a glare.

"H-how did-"

"You needn't worry about your security here. Mine are not tricks any assassin can simply reproduce at will. The exact methods I shall keep to myself, but suffice to say I could have entered whenever I wished after you opened the door. Does that satisfy?" His head tilted at a curious angle towards her. His black fur was peppered with silver, though it was hard to notice at all if one wasn't looking for it.

It really didn't satisfy her at all, and her frown spoke volumes as she stood, apprehensive facing him with her paws folded across her chest.

"Very well, let me reiterate. I deal in information. I will make for you the same deal I do Isiat. Information, for a price. But of course, what good is a promise from a stranger without incentive? I have news of your father, Alzeer, your sister, Tyde, and your Brother, Troy. All are alive and well. I also have news of your home, and as well, a trinket, that I picked up from one of my fellows in the canine consort I suspect will interest you..." He let his arms flow wide apart from his chest, like a merchant displaying a table of goods to her, and grinned, white teeth flashing in sharp contrast to his fur.

Shadi's heart raced anxiously. Scion and Isiat had given her small tidbits of information where they could find it, but what this male seemed to be offering was an entire novel of it. But there was one small catch to his whole show thus far...

"And how exactly would I pay you? I don't have any money worth anything aside from aboard this ship."

His wry grin made his answer obvious.

"Ahhh, of course. What else would a red-blooded male want?" She mumbled sarcastically.

"For what it's worth, I traded some very valuable information to Isiat simply for an opportunity to meet with you. I will leave what you do or do not offer in exchange for what I offer, entirely up to you, as per Isiat's rules of consent. There is not another slave owner in this place who gives their property quite so many freedoms and rights. You are fortunate."

"So everyone tells me, but I still have to live with this-" She reached up, tapping a single claw against the gold band around her throat. It rang with a quiet, but pure and clear clinking. "Until he says I have made him enough money to buy my freedom."

"Tell me Shadi, did your clan in the plains have a soothsayer or shaman?" The sudden change of topic caught her off guard, and she hesitated a moment.

"We had many who followed the old ways and the new gods both, yes..." she slowly gave him her answer, her tail flicking.

"Ahh, good. I'd like to play a game of sorts with you..." John began, reaching into his silk vest. From inside, he withdrew a battered-looking deck of cards. He shuffled them between his paws, delicately making them seem as if floating and intermingling as they moved, slow enough to pick out individually, but too fast to follow all at once. The trick hurt her eyes to watch as she struggled to comprehend what appeared to be a blatant violation of the way nature was supposed to work.

Still, it wasn't yet the strangest thing she had witnessed since being aboard Isiat's ship.

She blinked and cleared her thoughts. The vulpine brought his little display to a close, by neatly tapping the cards back into order on the top of Shadi's desk, before he spread them out with an elegant sweep of his paw, forming a near-perfect arc. The backs were embossed with some sort of intricate gold leaf, like creeping, thorned vines.

"Pick any three. I will tell you something you don't yet know based on your choices." His grin reminded her all too much of Isiat in its cocksureness. Perhaps it was something of their shared vulpine ancestry showing through. Hesitantly, she reached out, before staying her paw just short of touching the cards.

"What will this cost me?" She asked, turning her head to look directly at the male. She didn't sense any kind of threat from him, at least not towards herself, but she was smart enough to recognize danger when she saw it.

"No more than you can afford, and not more than you are willing." He gave his cryptic answer, still smirking.

She mocked him by reaching into her pocket and thumping a single one of Isiat's copper coins on the tabletop.

"Ha! Well played indeed. Isiat mentioned you were as sharp as his sword. Very well. One copper of Isiat's stock it is. Make your pick." His grin was now full of delight, and his slowly wagging tail gave that much away also.

She tapped the backs of three cards in quick order, pulling them just out of alignment. He reached out and neatly flipped the first.

He inspected the flowing green sapling portrayed on its face with interest.

"Hmmm. Not a card that often comes up. Rejuvenation. New life. Maturing. It can symbolize a great many things. In your case, I suspect what fate has in store for you is far simpler, and the Card depicts a possible change from your current situation... I wish it were a less vague card to interpret. Pick another; It's on me." He smiled apologetically, and once more gestured to the fan of cards.

Her paw darted in and tugged another card from the fan in quick order, but suddenly the fox's paw shot out and gripped hers, and with a touch as delicate as turning the petals of a rosebud, he twisted her paw over, revealing the card. A castle upon a hilltop, cast upon a backdrop of storm clouds.

"Ahhh, the Castle, or keep, inverted in this case. This one represents your father, as a matter of fact. The castle represents strength, power, a symbol of force... Inverted, it can spell disaster, though not for him in this case." He paused, grinning, and recounted what he knew of the battle for the keep where she had been held, just as he had to Isiat earlier in the day.

She clung to every word, her heart racing. Not only was her father alive and well, but what Isiat had told her of his troublemaking seemed to be more true than even she expected. She had known Alzeer, her dear father, to be fierce in his own way, and had seen him sparring in the grassy fields before on several occasions. But perhaps, she imagined, he really had been even larger than life than what she had seen him as.

The news of the castle's fate made her heart happy though, happier than she could give words to. It had been a wretched and evil place, tainted and haunted with the memory of all those who hadn't survived as well as she had managed. The whole world was better off without it. She now more eagerly looked to the other two cards she had drawn. Uxhi grinned as he neatly flipped it over.

The next to be revealed was a huntress, oriented correctly. The card portrayed a sleek female jaguar stalking through tall grass. It reminded her of home at once with a pang of longing.

"Your sister, as you may have guessed. She too searches with your father, though far less... Dramatically. There is a bounty from the canines for any who bear the name of clan Stryker into battle. She worries for you. They know you are not with the canines, but records your father recovered failed to show who made the purchase, only that it was made. It has done little to reassure them of your safety."

He reached out, flipping the final card. Shadi couldn't help but give a snide, almost snarky sort of chuff of amusement, though its sincerity was questionable at best.

"Fate has a funny way of revealing to us truths we already know, no?" He flashed her a brief grin. The card was of a dancer, in chains.

"Ironically, this is not you. This is for your brother, or more accurately, the canine woman he seized recently as a war trophy. He is angered by your capture and your treatment. He was with your father on his raid. He saw the pens, the mines, the slaves, naked and chained. He took one of his own, to help vent his frustrations. She is not nearly so kindly treated like you. Your brother will be a great leader one day, but he is still young, and falls prey to his baser impulses for violence and force more often than he should."

"Hmmph... after how I was treated, I'm not surprised. He's always been like that. He cursed the canines from the moment they crossed into our lands." Shadi let the bitter words out, her tail giving a single lash or annoyance. Of course Troy would be the one acting rashly. Her brother had always preferred to talk with his fists.

Still, any pity she might have once felt for the stranger's fate was long gone, buried like the slave pens beneath the castle she had been held in, she supposed. It was hard to feel anything but anger at worst, and cold indifference at best for any canine who still considered themself part of the grand coalition.

She looked up to the black fox, her mismatched eyes flickering across him as she tried to puzzle out his motivation, but all of her attempts seemed to simply slip off his fur like oil over water. He clearly held a great many secrets and was inclined to reveal none of them without reason.

She tried a different approach.

"You mentioned you had a trinket from my home?" For just a moment, she let a flash of hope cross her features. The male grinned.

"Indeed, I do, though its value to you, that remains to be seen! Here, allow me..." he paused and pulled from one of his pockets a small, silver mirror, the kind that a noble lady might hold while preparing their face powders and makeup. The rim was simple enough, but the handle had a pommel of tiger's eye gemstone that Shadi at once seized on, her paw reaching out to snatch it from the male.

"That was my mother's-" Uxhi's paw was faster, gently pulling it away while his free hand effortlessly blocked her grab.

"Ahhh~ I had suspected as much. It had been mentioned that it came from your home during the raid..."

"And what happened to my home?? Tell me, or-" She let her words fall off as the vulpine's look alone called her hollow threat, killing the words before they left her mouth.

"Well, we have established that it is valuable to you. Now we're merely haggling on price. I let you get away with a copper once, but this information- Mmh!"

Shadi paw had struck out, instead of at the mirror as he had expected, downwards. Not forcefully, but quick enough that his words stuck as her fingers cupped the lump in his pants, squeezing his hidden maleness firmly.

"You wanted a night with me, right? Tell me what happened to my home, and give me that mirror, and you'll have it. Or else..." She had a damned determined look in her eyes that caught the Vulpine alarmingly off guard. Her words made it clear this would go one of two ways, depending on his next choice. Either very very well, or much more poorly. He hadn't expected her to be quite so transactional, though admittedly, it suited his desires just fine...

"The village itself escaped the worst of the attack that saw you captured. As it turned out, the raiding party did not count on meeting such fierce resistance as they did. Much of your home was burned or damaged, but once the other tribes saw smoke on the horizon, they rallied their forces in support. A certain leopard, Vika? He had a vested interest in finding you if I recall. Most of your home has been rebuilt though now, and-"

Shadi's heart fluttered at the mention of Vika, and the vulpine's other words drifted off into background noise. It was a name she had almost all but forgotten... so much she had been forced to bury during her captivity. If you didn't, the canines would find out and use it to torment you.

She stuffed the feeling back down into her chest, hiding it away again. She would have time to revel in the knowledge that her friends and family and home all still stood. She snapped her eyes back up to the vulpine's. How long had he been quiet for? He watched her wordlessly as if waiting for her to say something.

"Satisfactory?" He said after a few more moments. Her paws moved for his belt, undoing and tossing the leather strip aside.

"That's yet to be seen." She said coyly, sinking to her knees before the male. Roaming smoothly across his chest, her paws made short work of the buttons of his shirt, and gracefully, he let the fine material slip from him. This close, she could see many fine details beneath his fur that might have been easily missed otherwise.

He was athletic, not in the same way that a wolf was. They were built like a galloping horse, raw strength topping any other consideration. John, much like Isiat, was lithe and trim, like a statue that had been chiselled to exact specifications. Much like her owner, he seemed to give off the same sort of strength that a drawn bow did before it was released, the threat of a blindingly fast force of effort that could topple raw strength through skill and speed alone.

He was dangerous. That much was clear, but certainly no sore on the eyes. His torso had a map of small scars across his skin just under his inky fur. She pressed her nose into the fur just above his pelvis, and curiously, found absolutely no discernable scent.

Above her, the male chuckled, resting one paw between her ears, fondly rubbing the rim of her ears between his thumb and forefinger.

"There is more to hiding than just staying out of sight... Go on kitten, you promised a night with you, and I'd be lying if I said it had been recently that I got to enjoy the talents of a servant of such high regard..."

Despite herself, the praise had an odd effect on her. Perhaps once, one of her guards might have tried a similar trick, but their words had rung with nothing but mockery at her position. Unless her ears deceived her entirely, John's words were entirely sincere... It both confused and aroused her at once like a new feeling one wasn't quite sure how to interpret just yet.

She did her best to push it aside for now. She had heard stories from Larise of trauma bringing out all sorts of strange desires in some of the working girls below decks, and for now, simply reasoned that away as a reasonable explanation.

With a low chuff, she reached up and wrapped her arms around the male's waist, pushing off of her strong legs to all but shove him down on the edge of the bed, her claws dragging whatever garments he had below the belt off him in a clean sweep from waist to feet.

Shoving her nose against his sheath, she let her warmth and her tongue coax his dark maroon tip from its furry pouch, her lips sealing across his exposed flesh as it grew against her attentions. She nursed and suckled like a seasoned pleasure girl, and his quiet panting was all the affirmation she needed to hear to know she was doing good. He lay back entirely against her blankets and let the lioness work her trade, his paws praisingly continuing to rub across the sensitive rounds of her ears.

"Ahhh, that's a good girl. Isiat is right to praise you, you know? He's either a fool or a genius for not seeling you. There are-" He paused, his jaw clenching as her tongue darted out to caress the slowly swelling lobes of his vulpine knot while she purred around his shaft. "Mhhm- Stories of kings who gave up their entire kingdoms to own famous pleasure slave... He could make a fortune from you..."

She let her lips slide off his twitching prick to shoot a sly grin across his stomach up at him.

"Who says he won't? I have to earn my freedom somehow after all... As long as he keeps his word, this is the fastest way to do just that." Shadi huffed against his rigid length, the cool air sending a shiver along his fur while she knelt between his thighs. Then she bit his thigh, growling playfully.

A quiet yipe was the only sign that the fox had been caught at all off guard by the sudden nip, but her warm muzzle enveloped his maleness quickly after, a grin tugging at the corners of her lips. His claws dug into the back of her head as he forced her to kiss his knot, hips thrusting upwards into her warm lips.

If she weren't so experienced, she might have gagged then, but well... After servicing males for as long as she had been forced to, her gag reflex was nigh on non-existent. She deep throated the males cock with all the enthusiasm she could muster, determined not to let his stoic, transactional demeanour be all he showed off.

She dragged her tongue from his knot to his tip, swirling it around the tapered head. He tasted male, with a low, earthy undertone, but clean. Just like his lack of scent, his taste had nothing that instantly stood out besides his utter lack of a definable taste. It was like dragging her tongue across warm metal, a faint, coppery and bitter taste lingering only moments after she pulled back from him with a wet sounding pop.

"Ahhh... You're an interesting one, I'll give you that. How often do you bathe?" She quizzed him, sliding her dress off of her shoulders. Her breasts bounced free as the smooth fabric cascaded over her figure like a fertility goddess of bygone eras.

He simply smirked at her sitting up and pulling her into his arms, before flipping her onto her back.

"Twice a day, and as needed. After tonight, I'm certain a shower will be in order, especially with your scent over my muzzle." He snarled, claws digging into her thighs. Her legs wrapped around the dark-furred male's shoulders as her moans filled the small cabin. She gasped as his tongue wasted no time at all delving into her passage,

Well, he was certainly cleaner than her other recent 'lovers', at least. She returned his favour, her dainty paws wrapping tightly around the dark triangles of his ears, guiding his motions to and from as she pleased, but he was no freshly minted pup. He ate her out ravenously, aggressively, like a stoat trying to chase a rabbit down a hole. She squirmed and squealed quietly in delight, biting her lips when she moaned loudly to the ceiling.

He was rough, and like a good merchant, took his newly acquired prize for all he had paid to get her. He snarled into her snatch, pinning her writhing legs down to the edge of the bed. She didn't make it easy for him, but her playful struggles only seemed to make him more determined, rounded claws digging against her thick thighs for purchase.

She had plumped up much from the skinny pile of dancing bones she had been when Isiat had first purchased her and regained much of her softness and curviness that Isiat insisted would be anything but a turnoff for her clients. The vulpine between her thighs certainly seemed to agree, letting his paws trace her thighs and waist, before slipping under her to take pawfuls of her asscheeks.

She moaned and obediently lifted her hips, each lap of his tongue making her nerves quake and shudder as she drew close once more to an inevitable climax. The quiver to her thrashing tail and her sweet little moans were more than enough to give her body's lustful state away.

If all vulpines are like this in the bedroom, perhaps I should just move there when I earn my freedom! The thought shot across her mind like an arrow loosed, but even quicker still was her orgasm as it raced upon her like a sudden swelling tide, her body tensing from head to toe a bare second before-

His tongue left her, and in its place came a resounding smack as his paw struck her raised ass from below, entirely cancelling the sudden wave of bliss and replacing it with a sharp sting the drew a frustrated snarl from her throat. He had already weaselled his way out from between her thighs before she had the sense to trap him and suffocate him there.

"Aah! What in the gods was tha-" But John's answer was not forthcoming. Rather, he leapt onto the bed and pushed her down into the soft mattress, mashing his lips feverishly against her own with a responding growl in kind.

His firm grip closed on her rump where he had struck her, massaging and rubbing his leathery paw pad across the red beneath her fur. It... It-

She couldn't even formulate the words to explain it to herself as she moaned into his kiss. Her claws extended, digging into John's back with needle-sharp pinpricks as she deepened the kiss, welcoming his questing tongue into her muzzle. It has stung, but her entire body was now purring like a plucked harpstring.

She broke from the kiss long enough to fix the spy with a stern glare, her claws digging further into his back.

"Do that again." She said, tail lashing behind her.

"Only if you do as I say. All things for their price after all. Against the wall, tail raised." His voice was low, threatening almost, but only with the wicked promise of sating both of their lusts.

She did exactly that, alluringly arching her back with his tits pressed against the wall. Her paws lifted as far as the short feline could raise them. Her purring was louder now as her large, fluffy tail slithered upwards until her puffy, aroused slit was entirely exposed.

He wasted no time. The foreplay was done, and now it was time for the main event that he had been waiting for, and she had been quietly craving. Now that she had seen what he had to offer, Shadi was even more excited to see if he matched up to her expectations. John did not disappoint.

From the first thrust, she was crying out, his body pressed hard against hers while his hips made their own rhythm, impossible for her to follow and yet as unmistakable as a familiar melody. His stamina and vigour would have given even Isiat's enthusiasm for her body a run for his money.

His paws seemed to be everywhere at once, first upon her breasts, pulling her back against him, then upon her hips, steadying his thrusts. At once, they struck upon her upturned rear, once, twice, three times in quick succession with open-palmed blows that made her body jolt, and pleasure race from her spread sex, impaled upon his ruby length.

She gasped loudly as he repositioned her, lifting her body off the ground and pinning her to the wall. Shadi's legs wrapped about his waist and their erotic dance continued his muzzle wrapped around one of her breasts hungrily while his knot battered her gates.

She slid down completely onto his length as he forced her body to accept his intrusion, sharp, vulpine teeth biting into her shoulder even as her own found purchase in his with a muted growl.

When he finally did pull himself free from her. It was with fresh cuts in his back and shoulder from his claws, and with her rear glowing red from his firm spanks against her flesh. Somewhere, she found the energy to pull herself across and up onto her bed, rolling over to bask in her afterglow with a steady, content purring. Just how many hours and times they had gone at it she did not know. The sun was dimply beginning to rise in the distance through her window as the fox dressed.

"Mhmm... Quite a night if I say so. Isiat is right to be greedy with you. I wouldn't want to sell you either."

She batted a dismissive paw at him, rolling onto her side, the evidence of their tryst leaking down her thigh.

"He knows he can't get better... And if what you said last night was true, then..." She paused, perhaps realizing for the first time that maybe, maybe he did not intend to return her to her father at all. The thought made her bite her lip in trepidation, and John caught onto it at once.

"Isiat is many things, but as a man, he is only as good as his word. I have come to trust his word like the dragon's do gold. It takes a special person to stay true to a test such as that. If everyone has a price to break their word, I doubt even the dragon's and their mighty hoards could afford his. Take heart in that much. Perhaps, if fortune smiles, you will see me again... But if not, well, it was not a night I will forget soon."

Shadi purred, her tail giving a lazy flick to and fro. She propped her elbows underneath herself, raising her paw to cover her eyes from the first rays of sunlight.

"Was it really that-" She paused, looking over to the doorway. The fox was gone, vanished as if he had never been there at all. In his place on the floor stood a single gold draskar, balanced perfectly upon its side.

---

One two three four, one two three four, one two three four, one two three four...

It was a rare day that Isiat stuck to such a predictable rhythm. As long as he could remember, he'd always favoured off counts, odd numbers, mixing even and odd tempos into something most people would have difficulty following. It kept people off guard, always unsure of him, always unable to keep up. Life was a game of chess, and even losing he was still a dozen moves into the future.

His feet pounded along the wooden deck as he ran, as he did almost every morning. The air was still crisp and chill this early. Even with all the bodies gathered for the conference, condensation had formed and frozen along the High Fortune's propellers and pipes. No gryphons raced through the sky alongside today. Docked as they were, it was far too risky to let them out. While they were intelligent, that was their downfall too. They got bored and made their own mischief.

Even Scion had opted to sleep in today. In warmer climates, he rose with or before the sun. Here in the desert, almost none of the traders even started doing business before it was warm enough to be outside without your breath fogging.

He had a few engagements today, but nothing that would require him to leave the comfort of his flying home...

He stopped mid-stride, and turned, his gaze crawling upon the thick-skinned balloons that permitted his entire operation. Even now, several small figures crawled over the topside of them, checking seals and clearing sand from where it had gathered in the seams.

Home.

What a strange thought. Just how long had it been? The last he had heard, most of his den dwelling kindred had remained apart from the war, as his species in particular had. Kyruku had always been a somewhat reclusive and outcast lot. Not quite a fox, nor were they a kitsune. Just another odd species in the way of things.

But truthfully, where had home been?

Certainly, it wasn't where he had been born. He very much doubted his parents would mind that fact, all things considered. Neither was it with his kind, and the vulpine shires among the mountains. He was un-kind among his species and genetic brethren. Different. An outsider. Even if he returned, he doubted very much his odds of acceptance.

If anything, his best shot of getting that was among the dragons, of all the species. He had Scion's absolute loyalty and knew many of their race by title and deeds. His reputation as a merchant was well known, even if many of them still believed that he must have stolen the ship he now resided upon through some trickery.

So what if technically speaking, he hadn't actually had the funds to back the extravagant bet against the former drunkard of a captain! He had clearly been fated to win that hand, be it betting a single gold coin or a ship and its contents.

But alas, no. Home wasn't even among the cold-blooded reptiles in their glorious mountain keep, a refuge of the collective knowledge and talent and skill of the world as it was, and the world as it once had been. Just as he was un-kind to his own species, so too was he un-kind to the dragons. His ambitions and methods of acquiring wealth differed greatly from their own, as did his particular code of honour.

Sighing, he stepped over to the edge rail, letting his eyes lazily cast out along the sea of fabric tents, sandstone structures, airships, flags and merchants until they reached the point where the sky shifted from purple to orange with the rising sun.

Surely home was somewhere out there, perhaps beyond the far seas, where only mystery and myth resided. Perhaps like them, it was simply waiting to be found.

High Fortune was where he had established his life, and where he lived, but there was more to home than just that, wasn't there? Even with all the luxuries that a king could want, it was ever at risk, ever-moving, never tethered to a single spot long enough to appreciate the changing of the seasons, or the supposed slow joys of growing older, as Mack insisted.

Truthfully, he couldn't say he'd spent more than a few weeks in any one place for longer than he could rightly remember.

Perhaps there was more truth than he gave credit to in the saying that home was a people, not a place. He couldn't say for sure on that one either. Few people had stayed with him long enough for him to even build any sort of relationship with that wasn't all about business. Scion, Matthew, the kindly otter Amarill... Shadi.

He allowed himself a quiet chuckle. Scion was right. He was falling for her in ways he had not at all foreseen. And perhaps that had been why the news of her father so desperately trying to find her had honestly troubled him so. Hell, the lion had thoroughly obliterated what was arguably one of the canine's most defended strongholds to try and recover her!

What would such a man do to Isiat and his lone airship?

He turned quickly, and marched off towards the main mess kitchen below deck, taking as direct a path as possible. Perhaps a fresh drink and some food would help ensure that Shadi didn't hold him too accountable for what had happened to her at the hands of the lizards. He hoped, at least, winning her favour and affection would stay her father's hand when Alzeer Stryker eventually did manage to get him within throttling distance.

But it was a lie to say that was his primary motivation behind the gesture.

Scion had been on the money, as loathe as he was to admit the dragon was right once again. He hadn't seen her since then, save for fleeting glances.

It was halfway to her room that he bumped into the black fox, and for a pleasant change of pace, Uxhi seemed just as surprised to see Isiat as Isiat was to see him.

"You have... A very good taste in your picks Isiat. Indeed, she is something quite special. Tell me, do you plan to give her back to her father when he eventually finds you?"

Isiat did not answer right away, and perhaps in his silence, there was more truth than any words he might have used to try and cover his realization up. He didn't want to give her back.

Uxhi simply nodded, having learned all that he needed to.

"Perhaps you should go to her then. She's sleeping, but I am sure she would welcome waking up in your arms. It is not for me. My wife at home knows my trade, but she would have my hands were I to properly sleep with any but her. Shadi seems rather fond of you as best I can tell." That was a vote of confidence if Isiat had ever heard it. Despite the fact he knew damn well what the vulpine had likely been up to with Shadi all night, there was no jealousy between them. Merely a mutual experience and respect for one another. He nodded curtly, and let the spy be about his business.

Stealing away to her quarters, he found the door unlocked, left just a hair fraction ajar from the vulpine last night. Uhxi's scent, or lack thereof, more specifically, still lingered inside.

Shadi was asleep on her bed, the blankets loosely thrown across her torso, but leaving her breasts exposed, her body seeming to bask in the soft sunlight that came in through her window. She looked as peaceful as he had ever seen her, features unperturbed by the heavy weight of her experiences and the golden collar around her neck, his insignia stamped on its fore.

He set the tray of food and coffee on her table beside an upturned playing card of a sapling and crawled over beside her, his muzzle resting in the crook of her neck from behind as she quietly snuggled back against his warmth.

It may not have been home, but perhaps, in this case, close enough was good enough.