Chapter 22: Lukka

Kashira walked through the night. Goren had slept a lot, so he stayed awake with her until she smelled the smoke coming on the breeze from Feridan. She was tired, even though it was mid-afternoon. Lukka was still asleep.

"You've been awake a long time, Kashira," Goren said. "What if you rest there?" He pointed to some trees not too far from the town. "Let me go into town to get what we basically need and come back? I know my way around." 

She was grateful for him. She thrummed. "Perfect. Then, we can figure out what the best way is to move everyone to Arieton."

The last stretch of walking felt like the hardest. She followed Goren's directions, skirting around the edge of town until they reached a clearing in the trees. She lay down, and she didn't even remember falling asleep.

As he got down from Kashira, it jostled Ereza and Tomyra enough that he heard both of them wake up. He rested his fingertips near the top of his pocket, acknowledging them but letting them know he couldn't answer for a moment. He wanted Kashira to have a chance to fall more deeply asleep.

Goren got some of the money from the bag on her wrist and then put it in his other pocket, knowing she would have asked him to do so because they needed supplies.

It's a bit of an odd feeling, though, to feel invited to take someone else's money. He shook the feeling off and then began to walk away, pausing when Kashira groaned in her sleep and then curled more in on herself in the snow. She began to snore. He smiled. That's surprisingly cute for a giant beastie.

He walked for a minute or so. "How are you two feeling? Are you warm?"

"This coat is really high quality," Ereza answered, "and the fabric you put in here is helping, so it's been surprisingly warm. What's going on?"

"Lukka is still with Kashira, and we are in Feridan, or about to be." He hummed. "I am uncertain what to do about the fact you are still small. I know that we all need to eat, so since the gnoll is still with Kashira and not able to tell me what to get for an antidote, I guess I will focus on food for us all and clothes for her." Despite some of the annoyance he felt with his sisters being small and not being able to fix it, he still felt warmth. These are my sisters. I got them back. They are small, but they are here.

Though, if you asked my past self if I would be bringing them to Feridan in my coat pocket, concealed in a winter cloak... Goren shook his head. Even the person he was a week ago would have thought anyone suggesting a scenario like this one must have eaten the wrong mushrooms in the forest to say something so ridiculous.

Ereza hummed. "Well, as long as we can keep warm, that will be good enough for me. I'm just... I'm so ... glad." Her voice cracked.

Goren felt the weight of empathy settle painfully on him. His own eyes started to water, so he stopped walking. Even as much as he had fought with their mother and his older brother, the idea that they were both gone...

His chest felt tight. Slowly, he slipped his hand into his pocket, and he felt Ez grab onto his fingers. He swallowed several times, but it didn't help. Big tears came as he stood there by the trees at the edge of town. I thought I would be humiliated when I came back to Buetarn, but somehow, coming here to Feridan is worse. My master is dead. My dreams of a painting studio died with him, but while I was here, half my family was killed by gnolls. And... in Arieton... The image of the collars on Merza and Joyra's necks came back vividly to him... I don't really want to be in Arieton any more than I want to be here.

He took a deep breath in, slowly letting it out. Then, another deep breath in, regulating his own breathing so he could calm himself. But Arieton is at least a good starting point. Besides, Kashira will want to go there no matter what because she's taking Lukka from the gnolls. There was still an uncomfortable tightness in his chest when he thought about Kashira potentially liking Lukka as much as she liked him. He had no right to feel like that, he knew. Kashira had only known him for a couple of days. But...

He used his other hand to scrub at his eyes.

"Your fingers are trembling, Goren. Are you all right?" He felt Ereza squeeze him.

"Yes," he made himself say as he started walking again. He cleared his throat a few times. "Stuff hit me all at once. Now! What do we want for food?"

Tomyra was anxious. "Sweet rolls?"

"You got it, my sweetest sister," he said. "We'll get enough to have a feast. What else? Kashira's pretty rich, and we need to get enough to feed a dragon!" He passed through the trees. He wiped his eyes clean of tears as he crossed the first of many bridges in the riverbottom that was Feridan.

This valley was sheltered, and there were several enchantments on the buildings that meant that karibits made their home here year-round, along with some elves and a few lizardfolk. Elves were moving around and still reinforcing spells after the big storm just a couple of days ago, the same storm Kashira had found Goren in. Maybe after they got food and clothes, he'd try talking to one of the elves about ingredients needed for a cure.

"I think let's just get whatever smells good! Maybe, also, Goren, just pick up clothes for all of us. I'm sure if we have money, it won't be a bad idea," Ereza, ever practical, suggested.

"You got it, sister dearest." He smiled. I just need to keep moving forward and protect my sisters. Even if she likes Lukka just as much as me, I am still incredibly lucky to be friends with a dragon.

Kashira opened her eyes and yawned heavily. She felt stiff. I guess this is a lot more physical activity than I am used to. I have been to three different towns, one of them twice in two days.

She yawned again and noted that Goren wasn't back. She could hear him talking about clothes and describing sizes. Then, she noticed a fluttering sensation in her middle. That is probably what woke me up. I'm exhausted still, but wolfy gnoll is awake. "Well, hello, puppy, rest well?"

"Did you?" retorted the gnoll, who gave a slight kick because she had obviously been awake awhile now.

"I suppose. I feel like I could sleep more though." She grinned as that got her another kick. "Listen, it's been an unexpectedly frantic last couple of days. Even a dragon gets tired going all over the place like I've been doing." There was some silence, and Kashira felt like she was detecting a sulk. She smiled. "Shall I let you out? I can improvise a bath for you. I think I have something we can try to make sure you can dry yourself enough with."

Lukka huffed. "One of the potions can keep me warm if not... but... yes, please. I feel like I have grown a year older in here."

Kashira chuckled. I am also trying to use my magic more than I used to. She shaped a tub out of raised earth similar to the one she had made for Goren back in her castle. She levitated it to scoop snow from some of the deeper patches that were shaded by the trees, and then she heated it by agitating the stone. "The light will be bright, I think. Keep your eyes closed. Try to relax your body, or there's a chance you'll get squeezed into an uncomfortable pose."

Lukka sighed. "I will do my best."

To be fair, I feel like Lukka is doing quite well for her first time. She slowly brought her out, holding her mouth over the tub and shading it on both sides with her wings to block wind and light and try to trap some of the heat. The tub was squarely between her front legs, and she carefully slid Lukka out of her mouth and into it. Lukka flopped in and made disgruntled, sharp noises as she struggled to adjust to all the light, more ability to move, and the cold air.

There was some silence as the gnoll scrubbed at her fur and hair. Kashira tilted her head as she heard Goren ask what Lukka might need for an antidote for his sisters.

Kashira relayed the question. Lukka sat forward. "Where is my stuff?"

Kashira raised her wrist, where the bag was still secured. "What are you after?"

"First, I need to know what to tell you I need. Also, I cut my foot, and I'd like real soap to wash my hair. Even if I was up to some kind of trick, I don't have anything that would bother you for long, remember?"

Kashira laughed and held the bag up to her. Am I a magnet for these feisty types?

The gnoll shivered as she dug through the bag, leaning far enough over the side of the tub that her breasts hung out over the edge. Once Lukka had the different soaps that she was looking for, she sank back into the warm water with a shudder. "I need mallow root, holly, and purified water."

Kashira repeated that. "Do you think you can get those things, Goren?"

"I will talk to some elves. We will be back with food and clothes soon!"

Kashira smiled. There was some silence again. Then, Lukka asked, "You are really going to try and keep me, dragon?"

"I am called Kashira," she said with a half-smirk, surprised by Lukka's tone. She was gratified to see the correction flatten out those rounded ears. She does have coloring a bit like a wolf. She's gray with only a few spots compared to some of the brighter-colored gnolls. Lukka made up for that by having colored blue hair that went green toward the bottom half. She also had heterochromia, one blue eye and one brown eye. She had a soft figure, but slender. Kashira hummed. "Yes, I plan to. You were... engaged? Is that why the no wedding ring tirade was included with no collars earlier?"

Lukka sank into the water until most of her was submerged; the only thing out of it was her head and just enough of her nose to breathe. She tilted her chin up. "It was an arranged marriage. And I am serious that I don't want either thing."

"Well, you are getting a collar," Kashira said with a raised brow. "You do not have to like it, but it is the most sensible thing for me to do with you."

Lukka visibly sulked. "No, you got the jayune you were after; you don't need me. I'm just going to be a reminder to them of what happened to their family."

Interesting. Is this not really about me and her but about her and them? Kashira studied her, head to one side. It felt selfless to her in a way she didn't expect at all. "I do not think so. You saved them from that. If I let you loose, you will be on the run for the better part of your life, and then, because you are so sheltered, you do not realize your own value, you will get collared by someone else, I suspect."

"If I am so damn powerful, no, I will not," Lukka said, splashing water at her.

Kashira smiled and shook her nose off. "You will because you are gentle. Besides, you claimed Ereza and Tomyra, you are responsible for them."

Lukka stared at her. "What?"

Kashira looked back and waited, not answering that because she knew Lukka would speak more if she didn't.

"You... can... have them. I ... didn't want slaves in the first place. I just..." She trailed off and was silent. Kashira let the silence expand between them again. Finally, once it was awkward, the gnoll spoke, "I couldn't stand it. I looked around, and people like me were looking at other people like they were just objects that happened to make noises. I felt... like my uncle was retaliating because I made him feel guilty asking about it. I know... we're... bigger, and... we need food to live, but... that building was suffocating. She was just there, and her little sister was clinging to her, so... I just... couldn't bear it. Especially when my fiancé was all just, 'Great! We can eat one if we want.' I thought I was going to be actually sick."

Kashira cocked her head in the other direction. "So... you throw your life away for a jayune woman that you found... empathetic? Pretty enough to save? And then...? Just wander off? That's what you actually want?"

Lukka looked away. "I don't know. Why do you care? Or are you just into what you think are my amazing potion-making skills? I'm not even that trained to make that many."

Kashira smiled. "Well, I like to think it is both possible for me to care about you and to like your potion-making skills."

Lukka huffed. "You're impossible to argue with. So, then what? You collar me in some big city? Arieton?"

"Yes. And Ereza and Tomyra likely also, for the same reason as you and Goren. It will make all of you safer if people see plainly that you belong to a dragon. It is not a pleasant system, but it is the one we currently live with, and if we wish to make a large potion shop and painting studio there... it's safer to go with the flow in the cities and not against it."

Lukka sighed. "All right. But if I escape between here and Arieton, then..."

Kashira leaned in and licked her. "Then, I will find you and put you in time out because I will still have all your things, you ridiculously independent little gnolly."

Lukka shoved at her nose after spluttering. "Well, now you just sound like my mother. And I kinda hate that."

Kashira laughed. "Then, don't act like a child, maybe."

Lukka made a frustrated noise and submerged herself and focused on getting washed up.

Even so, her demeanor was more relaxed, and that was enough to please Kashira.