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The Lost of the Marshes - Chapter 1: Found

by Bad Manners

===

... The Hamora Marshes, covering the entirety of the area around Hamora Lake, might not seem much compared to the great forests or jungles in far-off places of the world, but in the dry lands that surround it, it is certainly a symbol of life. The terrain is plain and flooded with water, the vegetation is sparse and small, and the fauna mostly consists of fishing birds like gulls and herons and their prey. ...

... In the past, a civilization built its shrines and temples at the edge of the Hamora Marshes, considering it a religious site for nature and life, which we now call the Zugul Ruins. However, as the marshes grew and overtook the region, it has long been abandoned, and no wary travelers dare enter the depths of the marshes by foot, in that region away from the lake and the desert. Legend has it that terrible beasts now make their home there, but very few who claim to have spotted one have returned to tell the tales. ...

===

A pair of adventurers made their way into the northern part of the marshes. Of course, they had heard the stories of people who never returned, but they were prepared to face almost any danger, were they a person or a beast. And besides, they had more pressing matters in their hands: money. Or lack thereof. It had been a while since they received any requests for jobs that they specialized in back in their home village, and since working on the farmlands wasn't their ideal line of work, they had resorted to scavenging the Zugul Ruins for artifacts once again.

They weren't deterred by any fears of being cursed by stealing aged possessions from ghosts, and there were plenty of buyers in the city who would pay a pretty gold for these dilapidated ceramics and oxidized metals. The two scavengers didn't understand why, but it might have to do with the symbol of status from owning and displaying such items. Well, whatever it may be, they now had the more practical concern of finding new artifacts, and later they would think of selling them. The parts of the ruins that were on the outskirts of the marshes had been all but ransacked by scavengers in the past - these two included. So now they needed to venture deeper into Hamora to find new ones. No big deal, they reckoned.

The two had worked together, and alone, for many years. The taller one, a mongoose at 5'8"/172cm, watched his step over the waist-high reeds as he tried to move around without sinking into a water hole. Just because they were far north from the giant Hamora Lake, it didn't mean that these flood lands had no smaller lakes or sinkholes of their own. He carried an empty bag across his chest, and wore only sandals and a skirt down to his knees, the latter sporting a beige color that contrasted with the short brown fur of his slender body. His head had a lighter-toned fur, except on his small pointed dark ears, the pink snoot at the tip of his pointed snout, and his green eyes. Behind him, he was followed by his long slim tail, which had an almost black hue from the middle point out, and a war axe with a bronze head being carried on his right hand that kept getting stuck on the wetland foliage. He regrets his choice of weapon for this occasion, but there's none other he can handle so well, and hopefully it would see no use.

Ahead of him, a much smaller, 2'9"/84cm cat ran with much more ease and nimbleness through the vegetation. During these expeditions, they only carried a belt with full pockets around the waist, exposing the rest of their thin, bright-yellow furred body, with big and round brown spots occasionally spread across the body. You could count one on the head, in the area near the right ear, and some five or so more throughout their torso and limbs. They looked much like a small cat person, except that they were completely smooth on the crotch area. It was a rare but not unusual anatomy shared by some people around the nation, and they happened to be one of them. And in their case, they opted not only to be called by no gender, but to also not wear clothes, which is not frowned upon for people with no external genitals.

The cat had tremendous agility crossing the vegetation, and their reduced weight helped them not sink to any water if they quickly jump on the top half of the plants. This meant that they were usually running ahead of their partner in this terrain, and especially so when they lost focus, such as when they got into a rhythm with this complicated dance... "Quince!", they heard as they snapped back into reality, and mewled to reply to their friend's call as they turned around.

The pair had met years ago, and they had a weird communication problem to deal with. The cat, Quince, couldn't speak any language, outside of body expressions, meows, hisses, purrs, trills, and so on. Hence, when they first met, the mongoose, whose name was Nikili, decided to name them after the fruit with the same bright-yellow color of their fur, and the cat happily adopted the name. Despite their muteness, Quince could perfectly understand Nikili's and other's speech in the common language. And their energetic, friendly expressiveness more than made up for their complete lack of words, so there was little that Nikili couldn't understand back with a little bit of patience. Since they met each other, they had gotten along really well quickly, and soon decided to move together and live in a village close to Hamora Marshes. They were now great friends and roommates, doubling as business partners for these kinds of forays.

Quince made their way back to the small cluster of trees under which Nikili was standing, as he looked around. "It doesn't seem like we'll have much cover if we keep going south", he remarked, looking to the marshy plains that only had short vegetation and feral herons stretching to the horizon. He was worried that someone else - or something else - might run into them if they go too far and expose themselves. "We can go east or west here, I see more trees there that could be hiding some shrines." The cat trilled approvingly, and before Nikili could continue, they quickly motioned with exaggeration, putting their two hands together and then splitting their arms until each pointed to one of the two sides.

"Wait, are you saying we should split off here?", questioned the mongoose, prompting a nod from Quince. He brought his free hand to his chin. "I don't know... We may cover more ground, but we haven't been this far in before. If something happens to either one of us...", he thought out loud, and looked at the cat bearing a confident expression. He gave in, trusting Quince's instincts even as he had to call the shots. "Alright, we can do that. I'll head west and you'll head east. But in about an hour, we should meet back here."

His partner agreed, not taking a second thought before setting off to the direction that Nikili said. The mongoose chuckled and turned to his right, immediately plunging his right leg in a spot where there was no ground and partially falling. "Ugh", he groaned to himself as he lifted his leg from the water hole while sitting, and noticed his now-soaking skirt. "Off to a great start, Nikili."

***

Quince had quickly traversed the open field and reached their side of the area, looking back to see Nikili standing back up. The cat was once again under the cover of the larger trees, which meant that the soil should be firm enough to support their roots. They could now walk freely on their back legs while watching the surroundings instead of the floor, and look for what they've been after all along. The feline could have walked on their fours, but they preferred the bipedal way unless they had to sprint. As they kept moving forward, their gaze shifted in search of any abandoned buildings, since there was a good chance that they could find some loot in them. Due to the stories about people disappearing, the marshes weren't really inhabited by anyone, and the only sensible way to go through them was with a boat that sailed through the Hamora Lake, all the way down to the Last River where it met the sea. This meant that everything out here on land was either a shrine or temple, ripe for the taking if you were lucky.

They figured that they should keep going about half an hour in this direction, and then head back to meet Nikili at the midpoint if they don't find anything. They had explored the marshes for far longer time at previous raids, either together or split off like they were doing now. However, they probably never went this far into the marshes. It wasn't like they had much choice, anyway; they already knew the northern side of this area of the marshes, and all of the now empty ruins spread around there, like the palm of their hands. If they were lucky, they could still find a necklace or other trinket randomly lying about, usually from another ransacker that had dropped it on the run. And anything too close to the Hamora Lake would have been compromised by stubborn traders on their boats. So far, they must have been walking for some ten minutes now, without anything catching Quince's eye, still-

Except that something else did, instead. Looking across to the top of a tree to their right, they saw a weird, black blur of a small bird, immediately taking flight from one of the branches there. A raven, maybe? They were a rare sight here in the marshes. But something else was off about it, and it troubled Quince that they couldn't exactly pinpoint it. That's when they heard a rustling of leaves to their left now; and turning to face it, the same bird, once again, flew from the branch. Was... was it purposefully avoiding being seen? A part of them thought that this was absurd, and that they really should pay attention to the task at hand. But seeing the bird fly off further to the distance piqued Quince's interest. Maybe it was their explorer's intuition, or their hunter cat side, that was speaking.

Before they realized, their legs were already moving on their own after the small critter. It still kept its distance, hopping from one branch and flying to the next, going in a single direction. Thankfully, it was the same direction that Quince was following, so if anything, this little chase was just helping them explore further the way that they initially wanted to. Quince noticed now that it had some black and dark-blue feathers on the wings. A bit unusual, sure, but it also wasn't the reason why they were so fixated on that single bird.

Quince was trying to see the small bird's features better, and avoid colliding with any tree trunks on the way. In fact, they almost failed to notice the dilapidated structure - probably a temple, from its size - where they ended up just outside of, which had the usual white stone walls of Zugulian ruins, and the far away wall seemed to have partially collapsed. It wasn't long until the raven flew down from the branches of the trees, flying into the temple through said hole. But by sheer luck, the strange corvid must have nested exactly where Quince wanted to be. Now, they would get a closer look at that weird bird, and inspect the ruins in hope of finding something, they thought, going around the building to reach the entrance.

What Quince first found inside, however, was neither.

At least, there wasn't much to see at first glance, because the back of the temple was too dark. As they walked in and their eyes adjusted, Quince noticed the presence at the very back of the place, which made their heart sink. It definitely wasn't the bird. It wasn't moving or making sounds save for breathing, and it was dominated by a blue hue in the center, that crept up into dark blue scales and black spikes. On the ground lay four limbs with black claws, and a long serpentine tail that neatly traced the side wall. On the other wall rested a thick neck, propping up a reptilian maw, on which stood a blue set of two dilated slit eyes, and a short pair of black horns above. Although its back was facing the opposite wall, a distinct membrane from a wing could be seen folded on its side. And the body it belonged to occupied an enormous volume, stretching itself over almost half of the ruined hall.

There was no doubt; this was definitely a dragon.

Quince had been frozen as soon as they entered the building, simply observing the massive creature as thoughts raced through their head. Surely they didn't confuse this of all things for a small bird, right? This dragon was not only orders of magnitude larger, it had no feathers. It was an odd thought, why would they even think about that in this moment? There was a monster standing just a few dozen steps away from them, ready to strike them. But for however long that Quince had stood there - maybe it's been seconds, maybe it's been hours -, nothing happened. It seemed that the winged drake simply stared back at them this whole time, not moving except for blinking and breathing. It wasn't dead, for sure, but maybe it was ill? Or it had some weird condition, where it couldn't see things that weren't moving. Quince would soon figure out that this wasn't it either, as without realizing, they were slowly shuffling backwards until they tripped on a stone brick on the ground. Falling on their butt, they closed their eyes on impact, but looking back up at the dragon, it did not seem to react at all, other than follow them with its gaze.

Maybe it was just curious about Quince? No... Or maybe it was thinking if they would even be a worthy meal for them, sizing them up, like snakes did. The dragon looked like it was around 50'/15m in length from head to tail, easily more than ten times Quince's size. There's no way they would be a meal... Maybe a snack, then? Again, with these weird thoughts... why were they the ones on their mind right now out of all times?

Breaking the silence and Quince's line of thought, a deep and rumbly growl came from the dragon's head. It weirdly didn't feel threatening at all, but more like some sort of twisted trill of greeting? Quince definitely found it weird how the sound seemed to come not just across the room but from above, as the dragon had craned its neck near the wall so its head neared the ceiling, making very evident how much it towered over them. After a moment, not knowing what to do, Quince spoke back, making their own muted meow to the majoritarian occupier of this hall.

A sharper growl came from the dragon almost immediately, as it now lowered its neck and head to the floor in a slow continuous movement, pointing its snout at the mammal so that it was even closer to Quince than before. This initially made the already antsy cat even more nervous, but they weren't even concerned about running away, as it laid almost on its side, it would be nigh-impossible for the winged drake to even get up to chase after it. Instead, minding which pocket of their belt Quince kept their knife in, they decided to be more assertive, taking a few cautious steps closer to the mythical reptile.

They approached its center, intentionally avoiding the scarier bits like the head and those black claws. As they kept going, closely watching its neck, they saw how it turned its head in order to follow them with its eyes. It looked like it was moving with very sluggish, almost exhausted motions. It was nothing like any beast Quince had ever seen, but they knew better than to keep their eyes away from the peculiar animal. Still, if dragons were anything like the terrible creatures capable of wanton destruction that one would expect, the slow-pace certainly felt very deliberate on its part...

***

And to him, it certainly was deliberate. He, the dragon, had lived his whole life inside of the marshes, and he had only observed these rare visitors from afar. It was the first time he ever got this close to one of them, just like it was for the bright-yellow cat. And as similar as their situation, he knew that there was an asymmetry, what with the small person potentially terrified by his shape and size. Still, there was something about Quince, something that he empathized with... Some innate curiosity, perhaps, mixed with predisposed friendliness?

And he hoped that by being calm and leisurely-paced, he could show those friendly intentions. He let out another satisfied short rumble, hoping it would help to soothe the little one. He couldn't speak - just like the cat, unbeknownst to him -, and he also couldn't understand their languages for that matter. What he could understand, though, is their emotions, and to him, it was as if the cat's fear was being washed away as they slowly continued to approach him.

Much closer now, Quince could notice the dragon's features more clearly. Though their eyes first darted to his pointy features - the black horns, the black claws, the black spikes following his spine, and a white pair of fangs slightly peeking from his maw -, they now noticed the rest of the body. His paws, arms, legs, and neck were somewhat short in length and a bit plump with pretty ultramarine-hued scales, and his belly did not only look soft and chubby, but also a faded ocean blue color. Relative to his size, the dragon didn't look fat per se, although he was definitely not slim either. However Quince may attempt to describe the reptile, he certainly looked less terrifying up close.

Quince was now examining one of his front paws, seeing that the back had smaller and grayish scales instead of the dark-bluish ones elsewhere on his body, that were almost as big as their palms. They realized how even one of his fingers was already bigger than their own body, and how easily the dragon could have subdued them or even crushed them with it if he wanted to. And right on cue, he raised the paw that Quince was watching, spreading his digits so that the cat could see them better. Quince was surprised, and noted to themself how the dragon did it as a reaction to their intense staring. They weren't sure how much the creature understood, but he must definitely have some sort of intelligence as they suspected. His giant index finger now approached Quince, stopping just short of their tummy, as if to let them examine it if they wanted. After a moment of anticipation, the yellow cat mewled towards the head halfway across the room, and raised their own two paws to touch the appendage.

In their first contact, the blue giant could feel the small, furry hands moving across his finger, which were feeling back the scales covering it. The touch felt warm and fuzzy, and Quince seemed more at east with him now that they didn't expect anything rash or bad from the dragon. He let out a short growl and closed his eyes, focusing on the sensation of being felt by the smaller being. At one point, the touch stopped, and to his surprise resumed, but now it was on his exposed belly. The cat had touched their tummy to his, stretching their arms over the huge dome in front of them as they caressed it. The dragon opened his eyes to witness the feline's boldness, and then followed them with his finger, now slowly scratching their back without any force as to carefully not push them.

It felt great for Quince, hugging that giant and sturdy, but soft belly while being pet, and they couldn't help but close their own eyes and purr against that stretchy skin, mimicking the deeper growls coming from that belly's owner. They felt completely at the mercy of the dragon, and yet it was so comfortable and safe. It didn't take long until Quince's thoughts went back to their earlier thoughts of becoming a snack, but for different reasons now. Although they didn't have any genitals or libido, they still had some fantasies of being swallowed or swallowing something alive. But these desires never were indulged, as it was a fairly uncommon fetish, and their lack of communication meant that they simply couldn't seek others who were interested as well. At best, they could have tried swallowing a mouse or a bird, but the fear of not being able to bring it back safely put them off for good. And their partner, Nikili, had figured out Quince's interest at some point in the past, but he didn't share it, nor did he want to partake in it whatsoever. Though even if they wanted to, anything would be too impractical due to size.

But now, maybe the dragon would indulge them, considering how caring he was being, and how big it was. Quince still felt a little ashamed to try and ask this watchful drake - if he could even understand them, that is - to attempt such a thing. Even if it was feasible, they were content enough simply imagining themself on the other side of that belly. Once again as if on cue, though, the dragon retracted his finger from Quince's back, and brought his head closer instead, now sniffing them. They felt the warm wind of every exhale push back on their fur, each air blast from those wide nostrils almost strong enough to make them lose their balance.

Without even realizing, the cat's hands felt compelled to move from his belly to his face, right under his lips. They were purring again, imagining if somehow, did he understand what they wanted? And then he felt the lower jaw push against him as it moved down, opening just enough for the tip of his tongue to slip out. Quince jumped back in surprise, prompting the dragon to close his mouth. But then the cat brought their paws back to the scales on his jaw, thrilling back at him with insistence. So he once again - slower this time - opened his maw to let his tongue escape a little further out.

It didn't look like what Quince expected. The pink organ wasn't long and pointy like a lizard's or a snake's, but rather flat and smooth-looking, perhaps like that of a dog. Almost touching the ground, it was already as long as their length without even getting pushed all the way out of that maw, which was still closed enough to conceal most of the insides of the mouth. But the simple sight of the saliva-coated muscle was as irresistible of an invitation as it could be for them. Taking off their belt, their only piece of equipment or clothing, they proceeded to touch that fleshy wall with one paw, feeling how the dragon's taste buds in that spot flinched as they deposited some of its saliva on their lower arm. It wasn't long before they made another bold move, closing their eyes and pressing their entire body against the tongue, and Quince rubbed themself across the warm wet surface, not taking long before their fur was already drenched in the transparent fluid. From the sheer difference in size between Quince and the dragon, and all the saliva that his tongue was secreting, simply hugging the tongue already had encased them in a full-body hug of fluids. And hearing more peaceful growls that felt like soft murrs, they wondered how the dragon must be feeling from all of this.

Clearly, he was also enjoying himself. He was focused on their taste, and he could feel the fur tickle his tongue before it was completely soaked and stuck to Quince's body, and there was definitely some earthy flavor to them. No sourness as one would expect from their fruit namesake, but other than that, he could catch a glimpse of the marsh's plants that they had run through to get here, and some saltiness from the sweat in their front paws. There was also a very faint, sharp, planty smell that they couldn't quite distinguish. Once the cat had sufficiently coated themself in his saliva for a while, the dragon's head started moving forward slowly, now opening his maw further and scooping Quince off the ground with a flick of his tongue. He was now carrying the cat on the muscle, tilting his head just so he can keep his tongue horizontal and bring it back into his mouth as he kept it fully opened.

Quince had been sitting quietly as they were rolled around. The movement was delicate in the giant creature's perspective, but he had moved the cat over 5 feet off the ground and a few forward until they were inside of his skull. Now, both of them were avoiding any sudden movements. Quince's heart had raced quite a bit; partly from anxiety and partly from excitement, they figured. When the movement around them stopped, they stood on the shaky soft ground, wiped the saliva from their eyelids, and looked around. Behind, they could see the interior of the ruins, partially obscured by two rows of fangs. Above and below them, the pink flesh dripped with saliva, making some gooey strands that stretched over the full height of the chamber in anticipation of the current occupant of the maw. And finally ahead, furthest away from any light source, was a dark steamy tunnel of insides, blowing more hot air on Quince as the dragon now breathed through its mouth, bringing a very faint smell of river fish into the chamber. It was amazing that Quince could even fully stand in here, and never could they have imagined that such a thing would be a reality. And they felt no fear at all, only contentment.

And there was no turning back now. Quince could hear another rumble from the dragon's vocalization, with a more questioning tone. Perhaps he was giving them the option to turn around and leave unscathed, in a final act of concern for the tiny cat. But Quince had enough proof that the dragon wouldn't harm them, and their excitement was pushing them to go through with it. They mewled loudly so that the creature might hear them, and took a single step forward.

The dragon understood immediately, and he closed his jaw before the cat moved any further. This made Quince slip and fall on their back, lying as their body was now pressed against the roof of that mouth. A powerful suction noise came as most of that saliva was swallowed down while they were held in place tightly, and once it all had gone down the esophagus, the pressure below from the tongue subsidized. It was now tilting into a ramp, but there was very little to see since the dragon kept his jaws shut, and there weren't any more light sources, so the cat imagined that he was simply lifting his head. They were very lubricated by now, so only gravity had to do its job and take them to the awaiting hole.

They slid feet-first into the dark pipe ahead, feeling the unconscious ingestion muscles now pulling them. The squelching from mucus-covered flesh, and a rhythmic beat from the dragon's heart further in, made their way to the helpless feline's ears. The journey was mostly a gentle slide, with the dragon aligning its jaw with its throat, so as to not scare the cat with a drop into his insides. As they descended more and more through the esophagus, where the muscles dragged them inside at a faster pace, they felt powerless in a Manner that they could not ever imagine or describe. It was definitely overwhelming, but Quince, who couldn't stop purring, wouldn't want to be elsewhere - except, of course, deeper.

And eventually they felt themself get pushed through a sphincter of flesh, falling into an empty chamber where the stretchy floor welcomingly cushioned them. Even though they couldn't see the walls or anything else, they stood up and moved their hands around to feel as much as they could, and it was definitely more roomy than the previous compartments. 'Even if Nikili would never offer himself for such a thing, these could definitely stretch for him to fit in here', Quince mused to themself. This place felt soft like his tongue, but enclosing them from all around and mostly dry, except for the fluids already on their fur. Quince concluded that they must have ended up inside of some sort of crop, while the saliva must have been swallowed to his stomach. They couldn't tell where his heart was, because its rhythmic beat seemed to come from every direction. It seemed that the only way out was through the entrance, the ring above them, and if there was still any doubt about where Quince had ended up, there came some jostling from one of the walls, followed by more pleased growling sounds that came from above.

The dragon was tracing its clawed finger on the spot below his chest that had very slightly swelled to take in his passenger, trying to feel them. The response came in a weak pressure being applied back through layers of flesh, more than likely from Quince's paws kneading on the chamber's wall. He brought his head closer to see if he could hear anything, and sure enough, his growls were answered by a hardly distinguishable purring. It made the dragon so happy that he could fulfill his newly-made friend's desire like this, that he couldn't help but watch the bulge that they made in his crop while he fondled it with the utmost care.

Quince was still amazed at the entire experience, feeling the dragon caressing him through several layers on one side, and the rest of his body holding him preciously on every other. It felt like the perfect moment in a dream, which they hoped not to wake from. The dragon was now the whole of their world and their attention, and they couldn't care about anything else. They sat down against the wall of the crop, slowly closing their eyes and drifting into an overdue nap, completely forgetting about their scheduled encounter with their partner...

***

Nikili had been sitting under these trees for quite a while now. There was no dial to keep track of time, but he was accustomed to the sun's movement, and it must have been well over an hour already since he and Quince had parted ways at this very spot. And yet, the agile cat's absence in the rendezvous was cause for concern. Still, in Nikili's mind, there was very little doubt that anything bad had happened to them. He had witnessed their escape from the hairiest of situations before, and more often than not, it was him who was bound to get in trouble and him who'd rely on Quince's expertise on scavenging to save him. If anything, there was some purpose for Quince's disappearance.

Yes... that must have been it! It's possible that Quince had found a ruin containing a cache of artifacts, and they were awaiting Nikili so he could grab them with the bag he was carrying. That sounded like the most plausible justification to him. So all he had to do was retrace their steps eastward and find a ruin. Sounds easy enough, even if his expedition to the other side in this part of the marshes had been completely fruitless.

He stood up and started walking that way, extremely careful not to step in any more water holes - he had done it three times today, and it was three too many. And when he got to the trees, he brought his unarmed hand to his lips and started calling Quince with whistling. This signal was, of course, louder and more inconspicuous than shouting names in open territory, even if he couldn't whistle as loudly as the cat who had taught him the technique. He felt so useless when he was on his own, and gods forbid if he tried to scavenge without Quince's instructions, what with how he had a keen way to attract trouble. People only thought that he was the leader of the two because he could speak, but that was just sheer luck of being born with vocal chords. At least, he thought, he made up with his courage, though Quince and others might consider him a hardheaded fellow sometimes.

Right now, he had found solid ground under his sandals, and he would cover the distance faster than his partner would have with their shorter back legs. The brown mongoose clutched the wooden handle of his axe on his right hand as he shaded his light-brown face with the other, and it wasn't long until he happened on a dilapidated white building just up ahead. If Quince kept going this way, then they must've ended up here. He noticed that the only entrance to what looked like a small temple was a collapsed wall on the opposite side, and some deep, grumbly sound now echoed from the inside. It wasn't anything like Nikili had heard before; hopefully it wasn't the sound of the old structure giving out, he thought. Once more, he whistled as loudly as he could, expecting any response from Quince. Silence. Many thoughts raced through his mind, and there was no choice but to walk in.

Still, the sharp high-pitched wave reached the sensitive ears of the half-asleep cat through the walls of the internal pouch. Quince ran his hands over their slightly wet fur as they woke up. They were still a bit groggy, so it took them some time to realize both that they were still inside of a massive dragon, and that Nikili was close by. It took them even more brainpower to process that an impromptu meeting of these two without some explanation might lead to confusion between their partner and their current host. Getting their bearings, it seemed that the latter was still awake and slowly massaging his own crop from outside with his massive finger. They hoped that the dragon could still hear their wordless speech and would let them out before any of them decided to do something rash - mostly Nikili, though.

The dragon didn't pick up on Nikili's whistling - just as intended -, but he had noticed that his occupant was moving around a bit. He wasn't surprised, but was still thankful that they had been safe in there this whole time. He murred once more as a sort of acknowledgment, but bringing his head closer to his belly again, there were some sounds coming from the small person inside. They sounded like demanding meows, and he couldn't quite figure out what they were trying to say. As gently as he ever had been since he met the cat, he started fondling the crop's bulge faster, hoping the massage would calm them down. This small added movement stirred the chamber intensely, and Quince had lost their footing as they mewled more desperately now while pressing against the back wall of muscle to keep their balance, so this was probably not what the cat wanted, the dragon thought. He stopped moving his claw and brought his head a little closer, trying to pay attention to Quince, all the while failing to notice the mongoose now standing at the opposite edge of the hall.

Nikili was awestruck. There was no way he could miss the massive creature that was lying on its side, around 8 or 9 times Nikili's height in length, and he didn't doubt the danger that it posed. He was standing across a dragon from the stories he'd heard as a child; one covered with handsome black to blue scales, which was currently facing away from him. It definitely wasn't asleep, since the tip of his tail wagged up and down, and he had his head craned above the ground facing his own body, making growling sounds like the one he had heard from the outside. But that dragon didn't seem to have noticed Nikili, giving him some time to formulate a plan.

First off, he needed to know if Quince had even been here. Looking around, he did notice some silver vases near the wall and a statue lying near the middle of the room - the type of artifacts that they have been looking for, and in apparently pristine condition, too. He wondered how they had even endured, not getting crushed or knocked over by the beast if it had entered this ruin. He did notice, however, a familiar brown utility belt lying on the ground next to the animal's belly, directly under his huge maw. It was definitely the one he had bought for Quince, but it was no longer attached to anyone. His friend must have been here. He saw that the dragon was still looking away from his direction - at the selfsame belt, perhaps -, and Nikili sneaked on it as stealthily as he could.

The large reptile was still tuned out, trying to understand what was afflicting the energetic cat right now. He hoped that he hadn't hurt or bothered them in some way or another, careful as though he had been all this time. Suddenly, he heard the sound of metal hitting the stone floor across the room, and he sharply turned his head towards the source. There, he saw Nikili crouching to the ground near the entrance, grabbing the weapon that he had clumsily let slip from his hand. The mongoose stared intently back at him, as he raised his axe and stood back up.

To the dragon, he looked like another adventurer visiting the marshes, but he was taller and more scared than the cat who had stood in the same spot a while ago. Once again being deliberately slow in his movements, he noticed that he wore some vestment covering part of his shaky legs, and an axe held by his two hands partially covered his exposed midsection. He must have been sweating from the astonishment, but the dragon couldn't make it out from this far. Still, he felt no need to fear Nikili, and in an attempt to ease the small mammal's fright, he gave him the same greeting he had given to Quince with a soft growl. In response, he got some swallowed words from the mongoose, in a spoken language that the dragon could not understand.

At the same time, he felt something lurch inside of him. Apparently, the cat had launched themself up and pressed their hand to the sphincter at the top of his crop, unsuccessfully getting it to open. Now it was clear to him that Quince had decided to end their stay, and the dragon wouldn't wish to keep them longer than they wanted to. Before either Quince or Nikili could react, the dragon abruptly jerked his neck forward, as the muscles in his crop and neck contracted to push the cat out of his internal pouch and back up his esophagus even more quickly than they had gone down. Normally he would have gone slower, but since they have been complaining for the past several minutes, he was worried that the visitor was in a hurry to be freed.

Quince was being overwhelmed in an entirely different way. They got disoriented from all of the movement of flesh pressing them around, not helped by the fact that they still were hazy from having just woken up. Worse, their brain was now experiencing a sensory overload, as they still tried to focus their eyes on anything but were only met with darkness, feeling the quick soft touch of flesh at every point of their body, and hearing a bubbling up of air from below. Or was it above? They had no sense of gravity at this point, being tossed around so much in such a short span of time, that they might even having been turned upside-down at some point.

This only lasted for a few seconds. Quince had finally arrived back inside of the dragon's maw, landing on that familiar tongue, that once again dripped with saliva as it had awaited the cat's eventual release from the crop. The winged drake pointed his massive snout down, and held out his tongue as he released the cat onto the floor in a puddle with copious amounts of spit that now covered every inch of their body again.

Nikili had just watched the whole thing in front of him, not much happening on the outside until the final moment, when a yellow mass in the middle of transparent fluid suddenly appeared lying under the dragon's mouth. There was no mistaking that hue, and clumsily dropping his axe to the floor once again, he ran towards it, grabbing the giant hairball that was Quince into his arms, unconcerned about getting wet for the fourth time today. He clutched the cat and quickly wiped the saliva off of their face as he repeatedly called the cat's name with comforting whispers. Quince, sprawled on Nikili's arms next to his chest, completely dizzy from their sudden trip to make much sense of anything, just gave a soft meow as reassurance.

"I'll take you home", Nikili said in a choked voice, as his mind could only think of getting Quince to safety. He ran back to where he had dropped his axe, picked it up, and sped out from the building back to the route he came from. His mind had completely ignored the dragon as he raced back to the village, with fears that his companion looked hurt and needed help. And he blamed himself for it. Leaving Quince alone had been a mistake.

***

The dragon was dumbfounded from the mongoose's reaction, having only moved his head back up after he let Quince go and simply watching the rest unfold. He didn't want to pursue them, but he just hoped that he didn't upset the cat or the other one, who he assumed was their friend. Still, even if it ended in such a dramatic fashion, he felt glad that he got to help the little cat's desires. They might never come back here, if the fright of the taller one was any indication. In fact, as he stared in the drying puddle of saliva he had made, he but wondered if this would be the last time he would see any other of these non-feral visitors of the marshes that piqued his curiosity.

He laid his head down, ready to call it a day, when the underside of his chin brushed on some leathery object instead of stone brick floor. The dragon looked down, and found the belt that Quince was wearing when they entered his abode and later took off. It was still dry and intact, and he sniffed at it. It definitely smelled like the cat, as well as that sharp, minty aroma that he had tasted on the cat's fur earlier. Could this be something that was important to the cat? If so, he grabbed it with his claws, and vowed to keep it safe, in case the visitor ever returned to reclaim it. And if not... well, it could be a reminder of this day. Either way, there was some hope that he would do this again somehow. Only time would tell.