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Winter, it should be impossible for a season to sneak up on a person. It comes every year at the same time; it's so regular you can set your calendar by it. However, there is always someone who is unprepared. Simon would argue he was one of the most careful and prepared people you would ever meet. A young human cleric, his entire life was scrolls and parchments. For ten years he had been an accountant for the local lord of the small town he was born and raised in.

He started at sixteen, straight out of school, thanks to his merchant father's intervention. For ten years he had worked carefully. Not a single penny in error, taxes paid perfectly despite some of the more insane tax laws the king was want to issue. Then he'd been told of a job, head accountant to the human ambassador in the city of Krasta. The job was his, or that was certainly what the letter had said. Simon had been sure of that.

It had been a lie. Or an exaggeration, or maybe a tense error. The job had been his, right up until the ambassador's second cousin's youngest child needed a job. Then suddenly it wasn't his, never had been his and how presumptuous of him to think so. There was nothing Simon could do. Anger would have been useless. His skinny form wasn't going to intimidate anyone, let alone someone who could afford a whole regiment as a personal bodyguard.

He'd been kicked out of the embassy onto the frozen streets. That was when he realised just how much trouble he was in. He'd spent most of his money on the ship to the port and he didn't have enough for the return journey. Even if he did the ship wasn't scheduled to weigh anchor for another two weeks.

Two weeks in the most vibrant and diverse city on the planet. Which was currently masquerading as a slightly dirty snowball. With very little money, no job and no accommodation. To make matters worse the Winter Solstice was only a few days away. It was the biggest celebration of the year; drink, dancing, performers of all kinds could be found in every square inch of the city streets. The entire city was flooded with visitors looking to enjoy the festivities. Which meant all the hotels and inns were fully booked out.

Simon's jaw was quivering as he stumbled through the snow and ice filled streets. His bag seemed to have picked up a few boulders over the last ten streets or it certainly felt like it had to his tired arms. So far he had been to every inn or hotel in the human section of the city. Where he had heard every variation of the phrase 'we are fully booked this week'. 'No room, No vacancies, bugger off we're full'.

It didn't matter what words were actually used because the body language, tone and expression, on the face of the person speaking always said 'how fucking stupid do you have to be to arrive this week with no place to stay?'.

Next, he'd wandered out of the human sector. Yet still, every inn tavern or hotel he tried was all full. The worst part wasn't the looks on their faces. It was going from the frozen streets into the warm, only to have to head back into the frozen streets a few seconds later. It was a constant reminder of just how fucking cold and screwed he was. The sun was getting low and he was trudging towards his one last hope.

The human behind the bar at the last inn he had tried had suggested he try a Minos Working Bull's House. “It's not exactly lavish accommodation. However, it's better than the streets… at least better than the streets tonight."

He'd trudged down to the outskirts of town. Simon could tell he was no longer in the best part of the city. The snow was grey thanks to the dust and smoke from all the forges and kilns from the craftsmen places. Eventually, he reached his destination and the young man took a deep breath of frozen air. He whispered a silent prayer to the gods that this place would have a bed to spare.

Inside it was warm, his frozen ears and fingers stung as they started to defrost. Unlike the other inns, there was no bar or tavern just a small desk manned by a female minos. A middle-aged cow, brown fur, large breasts and a sympathetic, yet curious, look on her face. “Can I help you, sir?" She enquired. Her accent was mild, a sign she had probably been born in the city.

“I hope so, Miss. Do you have a room for rent?" He asked and then winced at the expression on her face. “You're all booked out, aren't you?"

“No… we have one last bed. However… we don't usually get human customers. This is a Working Bull's House. We mostly serve the miners. Our rooms are probably not up to your expectations."

Simon let out a deep breath and looked the female in the eyes, “I have walked to every single inn in the city and nobody has a room. I don't care how small the room is or how much it costs. As long as it has a bed or even a fairly close approximation of a bed. I just want a place to get warm and sleep."

Still looking doubtful the female picked up the register, “we rent by the week only, no refunds. Tops to tails shared rooms."

The human frowned, the first part he'd grasped. A week wasn't bad, he would actually like two. Although he planned to just book for the first week and try and find someplace a little bit more... human for the second week. Whilst, he would also spend the week trying to get some freelance work to shore up his almost exhausted finances to pay for a trip home. “Tops to tails, shared rooms? I will have to share with another customer? "

“Yeah, all pretty standard for us Minos. Two to a bed, sleeping tops to tails." The cow replied and Simon was sure she was enjoying watching the human cleric squirm.

“So… I would not only have to share a room but a bed with…"

“One of the miners from the local coal mine, yes." She confirmed her smile broadening. “Breakfast is included in the room rate, served from five to six every morning. There's a bathhouse out back, each guest must use it once a day. No clothes in bed, bed linen cleaning costs extra."

“No clothes in the bed?" Maybe that shouldn't have been the first question he asked, but it was foremost on his mind. After all, if he had to sleep in bed with a total stranger, he had expected to be able to remain pretty well clothed. In fact, he'd certainly planned to, he might even have put extra clothing on, just to be safe.

“Yes. I told you our clientele are mostly miners. Can you imagine how dirty their clothes are and their fur? That's why bathing each day is mandatory, as is sleeping nude. You get clean, you get in bed and you sleep." Replied the cow with a shrug of her shoulders. “You could always try someplace else."

Simon paused and glanced out the window. The streets were getting pretty grey as the dusk settled in. In his mind he weighed up the risks, sharing a bed with a stranger was unpalatable, yet freezing to death on the streets was hardly worth his pride. “I'll take it." He replied with a sigh reaching into his small purse to pull out a couple of coins. He took the quill from the desk clerk and signed the guestbook.

“Food is served in the hall down the room, we'll send a boy around to knock you up for breakfast. There's a tavern across the street which does food cheap for your luncheon." Muttered the female as she took the coins and then handed him a key. It was a huge key by human standards, though for minos it was probably small and fiddly. “Room twelve, top floor." Muttered the cow pointing to some stairs.

Grabbing his bags Simon thanked her and then started to walk. His legs were glad to know that their long day was almost over. A warm bed awaited, after what he hoped would be a warm bath. He stopped with his foot on the first step and looked back, “my roommate, is he...?"

The female cow shrugged and gave him a look that said far more succinctly than words 'do you expect me to know where every guest is all the time? Crazy little human.' “Probably in the tavern. They all tend to get a hot meal and a pint before they hit the bathhouse, then bed."

His question answered Simon lugged his bag to the top of the stairs and walked along a short corridor to a room with twelve burned into the door. The place had a definite rustic feel, which is to say rough, barely sanded wooden walls and floors, no decoration. Simon was sure walking barefoot down the hall would have been excruciating for the human. He would have had a thousand splinters.

The room was reasonably sized. At least to the human. It was also fairly simple. A bed and a window. Two small chests one in each corner. A quick peek inside them showed one was filled with clothing. Mostly simple, cheap flax shirts and pants, very scruffy. Simon felt a little guilty looking through a stranger's belongings. Moreover, he worried his roommate might walk in any moment and catch him rifling through his chest. So he closed the lid quickly.

Dumping his belongings in the other chest, which had been left empty, Simon noticed a sign on the wall. It read:

No clothes in bed

No bed before bath

No fights

No drunkenness (beyond acceptable levels)

Milking optional.

It was the last line that really caught his eye. He knew what milking was, on feral animals at least. Simon just wasn't sure why it would be something a working minotaur was likely to do. For one thing, they were on the third floor, and the stairs had been very narrow. The idea of anyone being able to sneak an animal up to their room to milk it seemed absurd in the extreme. Besides, milk wasn't that expensive a drink.

Shrugging his shoulders he glanced around the room once more. The bed was plain, cheap brown sheets on a cheap straw-filled mattress. There were two pillows, one at each end of the bed. The bed frame was made with crude wooden posts. It was huge though, by human standards at least. Simon wasn't small, he was just a little shy of six foot. Although he had the muscle definition of a person who sits at his desk all day and who has spent the last three weeks sea sick throwing up almost everything he ate.

One good thing about his day trudging the streets had been the bloody ground had stayed firm under him. He didn't look forward to the return voyage, even less so to getting home. His father had told him not to go, not to quit his job. Simon had not listened, he'd told his father he was sick of living in his shadow, working a job he only got because someone owed his father a favour. It was time for him to set out into the world and become a man, to forge his own path.

That path had turned out to be as short as a garden path. Returning home would mean looking his father in the eye and admitting he had been wrong, and that he couldn't make it on his own. Walking the streets his mind had been focussed on one thing, finding a place to sleep where he wouldn't freeze to death. Now that he had found that, he began to think and tremble. Silent tears slipped down his cheeks as he forced himself to stand. Outside the snow fell endlessly. A beautiful winters scene, the dirty streets hidden beneath a deep blanket of white snow. Yet all Simon saw in the window was the reflection of a failure. Of a man who was not a man. Someone no man nor beast would respect.

It was the sound of voices outside that roused him from his pit of self-pity. Glancing down he saw dozens of Minos, all horns and shaggy fur, walking into the tavern. The clerk had said that's where his roommate would be. They would eat, then bathe and then retire to their rooms. Bathing was mandatory, and Simon had no idea what the facilities actually were going to be. For all he knew, it was a bucket of water and a place to get wet.

Then he realised if he waited then those minos would finish their meal and hit the bathhouse and he would be expected to bathe with them! His dignity and pride had taken enough hits that day than to have to bathe with such hulking beasts. Grabbing his room key, he dashed down the stairs giving a nod to the female clerk still womanning the desk. Then outside following the sign marked bath. A small courtyard was crossed at a run, to keep the frozen weather from biting at his now thawed muscles.

He entered a large wooden door and was hit in the face by a waft of warm, and musk-scented steam. It was most welcome and he stepped inside quickly, pulling the door shut behind him just as quickly. There was a young minos serving there, he glanced at the human doubtfully, “I just booked in today." Simon said defensively.

The young bull nodded and then grabbed a towel from a pile and offered it to him, “undress here." The accent on the youth was much stronger than the clerk's had been. The entrance room had a long bench along one wall and a series of hooks. Clearly, it was meant for many people to undress together. Simon felt strange as he pulled his clothes off while the young bull watched. It may have been in his mind but he was sure he heard a soft snort of derision behind him as he pulled his pants off. He wrapped the huge brown towel around his waist quickly. Once more the material was cheap and scratchy against his skin. Simon did not look forward to trying to dry his body with such coarse material.

Naked, but for his towel, he turned back to the young blonde bull. A huge paw gestured at a door behind him, “go bathe, dry in room to the left." He explained simply and Simon was too tired and embarrassed to do anything but what he was told. So he walked into the next room. If he had thought the first room had been steamy it was like a crisp clear spring morning compared to the second room. It was huge and half of it was filled with bathtubs, the other half was fires with a series of pots boiling on it. Each one was big enough that Simon knew it would take his entire family working together to even stand a chance at lifting it.

Fortunately, the tubs were already filled with steaming water. He scooted quickly to the nearest tub and dropped his towel. Thankfully he was the first person there, he couldn't imagine what the room would be like full. Dozens of naked minos, some bathing, others waiting, stoking the fires and using those huge caldrons of water to refill tubs. The tub was a clear foot taller than human ones, Simon had to grab the side and jump at little to get his legs over the side.

Unfortunately, he misjudged the distance and the depth on the other side and he plunged ass first into hot water. Resurfacing with a gasp Simon moaned softly. After the day he'd had he felt the hot water just soaking and melting away his aches and pains. The tub was so deep he couldn't sit, so he floated on the surface and sighed with content. Closing his eyes he just lay there, the hot soapy water easing his cares away.

Simon was floating in bliss right up until he heard the sound of hooves vibrating through the water and a second later he opened his eyes to stare up into two brown curious eyes on a black bovine face. His hands moved quickly to cup over his privates and he heard the minos say something loudly in his own tongue and the room echoed with the raucous laughter of dozens of hulking beasts.

I hope you enjoyed the teaser, if you want to read the rest I'm afraid you will have to buy the book.

The novella is available in both ebook and hardcopy (after a vote on twitter showed an overwhelming desire for a hardcopy to be available) Amazon UK Ebook

Amazon UK Hard Copy

Amazon USA Ebook

Amazon USA hard copy

Smashwords version

Please share and if you read and enjoy please leave feedback. Self-published works take a lot of time to make and my advertising is limited to my FA, So Furry and Twitter so if you could help spread the word that would really mean a great deal to me.

Thank you to my patrons who have already had access to the early draft version of this and will be getting an ebook version (or signed paper copy for top tier patrons). Cover image by the talented http://www.furaffinity.net/user/royz/

My other novels and ebooks can also be found on Amazon and Smashwords

My UK Amazon Author's Page

My USA Amazon Author's page

My Smashwords Author's Page