Chapter 8: You Belong to Me
Already, being here feels odd, thought Kashira as she watched people staring at her and getting out of her way. However, there were several that just ignored her. I wanted to believe that they would hesitate to deal with someone like me. I am a lot bigger than I was a hundred years ago. But, she knew the reality of it. Arieton was flourishing this close to the Grinwilds because of the Exotic Exchange. If she acted out, there’d be a decisive and magical answer to it.
She made her way through the wide streets, supposing that she was glad that she had come so late at night. She focused on Goren, but he was pretty limp and quiet. He is sleeping again. That’s for the best; he’s had a miserable go of it. A dead mentor, a hometown up in smoke… it was hard for her to comprehend even what that much loss might feel like.
The Exotic Exchange was easy to pick out with its big blue and gold sun illuminated with magic against the dim lights of the night. It had several branches throughout the kingdom, but this was the first one ever built. The building had seemed even bigger in the past, but somehow, she had expected it to feel smaller now that she was all grown up, but it had three levels, so it still towered over her.
For a moment, Kashira stood in the light of the owner’s seal, the Solaris sun, looking at the glow of it on herself, the snow, and the adjacent buildings. In the silence, the guard in the entryway cleared his throat. She looked down and saw an orc, and he asked, “Uh, do you have a membership?” He was projecting confidence but shifting uneasily on his feet.
She wondered what about her was making him anxious, except perhaps that she was bigger than him. “I need one. I have money to pay.”
“I see. Are you trying to do some shopping?” He glanced at the building that was not sized for her behind him.
“I need to formalize an ownership contract and get a customized collar. Since I cannot go in, can you send someone out to me?”
He stared. “Uh, yeah, that would probably work out for the best. Though, uh, I thought dragons could, ah, change themselves, and, uh, have their own recognized marking system of what is theirs?”
Now she understood the unease she was causing him. She relaxed. “Some do both. I found for the area I am in, a collar is best. Everyone can see it better, you know?” Since she was not part of Myraduil, she required a collar, really. She didn’t think she was capable of making her own magic marks or able to change her body.
He nodded. “I will fetch someone,” he said.
“Thank you. I also want good-quality clothes for a jayune man—uh, about an average-sized adult for his race? Something practical for this weather, something that will just look nice, some good boots. The Exotic Exchange used to keep an array of collars and enchanters on hand; is that still the case?”
“Yes, we have a kitsune working here right now as well as an elven priestess. I am sure both would be interested in meeting a dragon.”
“Thank you. Where should I wait?”
“We have an open area for auctions just around back. It is available right now, so why don’t you head there?”
Kashira tensed again, but she nodded. She moved around the corner and looked at the wooden platform and the snow-dusted stone cobbles that comprised the rest of the space. She remembered it being a lot bigger also, but it also looked unchanged. None of the wood looked aged; the layout was the same as it had always been. For a moment, she could almost remember the auctioneer’s voice, the way she had to be dragged over the wood, the noises of the crowd… She itched at her neck and huffed. A few more deep breaths buried the feelings well, and she lay across the whole area in defiance of it all.
Soon, three figures left the doors of the Exchange and came out toward her. All three wore warm coats, and the tallest, a kitsune with three tails, dark fur, and brown eyes, still somehow managed to put plenty of curves on display despite the second coat. The shortest one carried a clipboard, and was clearly a Grinwild kobold because she was shaggy with an almost bear-like look with her black and white patches. Her fur was clumpy, as if there was a hint of scales in the texture, and her tail was long and striped. She had horns near her ears that were short, barely sticking out of her hair. The last was an elf with what seemed like a golden flower blooming from her shoulder, with vines curling around her upper shoulder and neck.
The kobold cleared her throat. “I am Phaedra. You wanted to renew your membership?” Kashira nodded. Phaedra gestured to the other two, starting with the kitsune and then introducing the elf. “This is Ciara and Kaldia.”
“Pleasure to meet you. I want to make an official contract with a jayune.”
Phaedra looked all about the auction yard, and she hesitated. “You need to have the prospective slave with you as well as a means of identifying them.”
“He’s with me.” She looked at the kitsune. “Can you help him dry off with any magic when I produce him?”
Ciara nodded. “I can. I also brought out some clothes that might work?” She lifted her arm to show quite a lot of them draped over her arm. She had some visible flush on her cheeks.
It made Kashira smile, and she might have pushed on that reaction in a different situation, but today her focus was just on Goren. She clenched to help him wake up, squeezing over him a couple of times, getting a little firmer each time until he groaned and pushed back at her.
Goren groaned and pressed the greedy flesh squeezing over him away from his face. “I’m awake,” he called.
He felt her squeeze and press him upwards; once again, he was in a tight throat, crowding his way toward a mouth. He didn’t squirm too much; it was his second time experiencing it, so he felt he knew what to expect despite how surreal it all felt.
But she did not even pause at her mouth; she just brought him out.
The lights were bright against his eyes, but not that harsh; he realized it was dark out. It was also immediately freezing as she cradled him in a paw.
“I have heard dragons can safely hold someone like that, but I have never seen it before.” Goren’s eyes turned to the speaker. She had large fox ears and long black hair, her fur was a dark color, and there was enough cleavage on display that he jerked his eyes away. However, movement of her hands brought them back to her because she seemed to be holding two blue fireballs. She approached, and he leaned back but was blocked by Kashira’s chest.
“Whaaaat, waaait!” he squeaked as she leaned across Kashira’s paw, which kept him trapped no matter how he squirmed to flee, and her hands touched his cheeks. He braced for pain, but instead a whispery warming sensation rushed along his skin. His fur was quickly dried, strange by itself, but it felt clean, and now his wet clothes felt very awkward sticking to him.
“Here,” she said with a smirk that said she knew she had scared him and had no regrets about it, “I have some dry things for you to put on.” She held a warm cloak, a fancy tunic shirt, and pants that all looked to be sized about right for him.
He accepted them as Kashira’s paw curled around him. I cannot believe you let me out in the middle of people like this, he thought with his cheeks burning like he was actually still on fire.
Kashira put him near her side, curling a wing out just enough to make a tent. The wing curled inward, resting on the ground, and she set him on that. “There you go, get changed.”
He stripped out of his clothes, and as soon as he touched the new shirt, he could feel the weight of it. It was more quality than anything he had worn in his life, made of a material reserved for the middle class or better. It was similar with the pants and cloak. He was immediately warm, and it lay against his fluff nicely.
While he was getting changed, she was agreeing on a membership level.
“What do you wish to have done with the collar?”
“I want it enchanted so that I know where he is, so that I can hear him clearly over the maximum range possible, and also so that he can hear me. If someone makes physical contact with him, I want them to get an image of who I am.”
“Those are quite standard to the blue collars. Do you need us to look at anything to prevent him from running away or poisoning you or…”
“Please refrain from any behavior modifications. I only want the enchantments.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
He felt her belly expand as she huffed. Guess I know what to call her if she ever annoys me, he thought. Then he wondered if he would make it more than five minutes without using the term.
“Come back into sight, please,” Kashira said to him as she noticed he was done changing. He still had bare feet, and so he winced as stepping out into the snow packed into his paw pad and toe beans. She put out a warm paw to stand on. “New boots, please,” to the three gathered ladies.
“You don’t need to do all that for me,” he said as he perched on the back of her paw.
She lowered her nose to him. “I am taking your whole self; I am going to own you in a few minutes. It is the least I can do,” she whispered as she nuzzled his side.
“He is pretty calm,” observed the large, fluffy kobold. The elf had gone back inside to get the requested boots.
Goren huffed. “You try arguing with her sometime; calm is all I can do.”
There was an uncertain smile from the kobold and a giggle from the kitsune. “Any particular look for the collar?”
“Small, lightweight, thin, dark blue,” she answered.
The kitsune also disappeared inside as well.
“We need to know who you are,” the fluffy kobold said. “What is your name and birth city?”
“I am Goren Alfon from Buetarn.”
He watched as she looked him up on a Seeing Slate. “You were apprenticed as a painter?”
“Yes. That’s me.”
“I am updating your record now. Should I send notifications to your family or teacher?”
“Do your notifications reach the people in the Beyond?” Goren asked flatly.
There was an awkward silence as Kashira nuzzled his face and his side gently. He put his arm over her nose uncertainly, and she let him hold onto it and to her.
“I do not suppose so.” The badge that she wore read “Phaedra.” Goren sighed and felt a little embarrassed by how flat and blunt he had just been.
Phaedra finished documenting everything. “That will be about two thousand bits today,” she said.
Kashira reached into the bracelet drawstring bag, and she drew out what looked like another drawstring bag. “This will cover it.”
She dropped it with a big metallic clinking into the panda’s hands. Once Phaedra looked in, her eyes bulged. “It might be too much.”
“Give yourself a tip and then credit my account. We may shop here again. I just renewed the membership after all.”
“Er, yes. Of course. Please wait here.”
There were many unfamiliar smells to him in the air of this city, but one of them was fresh bread. His stomach growled as he recognized it.
Kashira’s ear turned toward him. “We will eat after this.”
“So… this is it. I give them my name and birthplace, you give them money, and I’m yours?”
“It’s not official yet.”
“When is it official?”
She just smiled at him and kissed his cheek.
He felt flustered. He changed the subject. “I slept through most of the day, but I am somehow still tired.”
“Well, you have had an exhausting last few days,” she said empathetically. “You don’t have to rush through things.”
He looked up at the stars above them. They were dim because of all the light from the city. “I am sorry about before. I just suddenly felt sick looking at the ground, and the next thing I knew…”
She kissed his cheek again. “I told you that I was ready in case you fell. I was only a little surprised. It’s all right.”
He huffed and put his arms around her nose. “I feel so awkward. I feel weirdly calm while you let my status be changed to your property. I should be angry, but I think I am starting to understand what you are up to.”
“Yes?” she said softly.
“You want me to be able to walk up to gnolls and dare them to keep touching me after they see who owns me,” he whispered. “So, I can go looking for my home? My family?”
“There is not much chance of finding anything good in Buetarn for you, but there is still a small chance. Also, from now on, your home is with me.”
He shook his head and puffed air through his whiskers; she was too much.
The kitsune returned with a collar in one hand and his boots dangling by the laces from her other hand. “Thank you, Ciara, could you put it here?” She extended her paw with the drawstring bag.
The kitsune held the boots out to him, and he accepted them. Then, she reached up and looped the collar around his neck; it sealed shut with her magic. “And with that, you now belong to Kashira,” she said with a soft smile, stepping back.
“You belong to me,” Kashira repeated, kissing his face again.
He felt a little flush over his nose, the top of his cheeks, and through his ears. “Yes, yes,” he pushed her nose away, his largely decorative jayune wings twitching a bit with barely contained emotion.