I got up and walked over to within a few feet of Sasha, and her tail thumped against the couch as she looked up at me queasily.

“Sorry, Master, I didn’t mean to listen in… not that I really understood much of it… just, Master and her highness were having a conversation, and that’s more important….” I frowned a little at that reasoning.

Chapter 13: In Which I Stand In The Hallway With A Woman Whose Name I Don’t Know For A Very Awkward Five Minutes

It took me a moment to process that offer with a very hot and extremely naked Princess pressed up against my own naked body, but then:

“No.”

She blinked, tilted her head to one side, raising an eyebrow as she tapped my nose with her finger.

“I mean, no, sorry, your highness… anything that involves the death of Master is not something I’ll ever agree to.”

“Okay, I can respect that. What if your Master agreed to it?”

Chapter 11: In Which The Cards Hit The Table, Metaphorically That Is, I Mean Like, There Aren’t Any Literal Cards

I glanced around, nervous– how had she just disappeared like that? Valentine was huge. No, wait– why had she disappeared like that? That was probably the more important question.

Chapter 9: In Which I Share The Secret With Someone Else For The First Time, And Begin To Learn Something Even More Valuable

We stopped by another town on the way, at which Master said she had an errand– she did not elaborate, and no one asked her to.

Chapter 7: In Which Sparring, Which Seemed Harmless At The Time, Leads To A Great Quandary

I awoke in the morning the sound of a loud thwack, two objects impacting each other at an incredibly high speed. My eyes flickered fully open, body surging with adrenaline, and I rushed over to peek outside of the tent.

We stood over the fallen tiger lady… she seemed to still be breathing, at least.

Master stared off into the distance with a slight smile and a sort of vacant expression.

I blinked… I hadn’t seen that look on her since she switched places with me. “...you okay there, Master?”

“Shhh, quiet, trying to think, Master.” From her superior tone, I gathered she hadn’t meant to say ‘Master’… actually, maybe she had said my original name instead, whatever that was. Maybe I should try to read her lips next time… but how would I even know when or if there would be a next time?

“Okay, Sasha. Cast the spells you know, and tell me which ones you’re casting as you cast them.”

Master had released the control on my collar until sunset, and she sat in one of the chairs in our room, while I stood in front of her. Naked. I really didn’t get why I needed to be naked, and it was more than a little distracting.

“Mmm, I just know two spells: Fire,” I raised a finger and shaped my mana into the proper pattern, and a small gout of flame raised from my finger. I blinked a few times. That spell would usually just get a lighter-sized flame.

When I woke up, Master was gone. I sat up and looked around frantically— had she suddenly abandoned me? She wouldn’t, would she? What could I do in this world alone, powerless, and looked down upon?

I saw a note on the table. “Went out to get some info. Be a good girl.” I wondered if she was going to one of my informants, or had some I didn’t know about, and sighed a little as I realized my tail was wagging from the "be a good girl" part. Some part of me really liked being a girl, huh? ...but was that my own mind, or…?

Well, not much point in worrying about it.

*Before…

~Ha, you’re like Shaya you both love to circle the tree. ~

~It's amazing and the view with it and the lake and the city it’s just amazing. ~

~Yes it is!~ He launches into the sky and he does a dipping glide over the water gaining speed and them he’s climbing and we catch a thermal and we bank going with it and up and, and up and them we start to go around The Great Tree a little dragon like a bush plane in front of a literal mountain of a trunk and we’re coming around it and leveling off and I take a breath and channel the power into the memory of a perfect song for this and we’re coming around the bend of the tree to get the lake into sight and the city after that and I’m replaying.

*Bonny Portmore* in my head as I’m flying back to my love on dragon back.

Snakes and Ladders-33

Chapter 33

I take a ragged breath as I’m sniffing and I’m just honestly so surprised really that he’s acting this way towards me and everything. I was expecting stern and commanding and all sorts of things I guess really I was not expecting an elf, a Sylvan man with hazel eyes and thick long brown hair with really dark brown deeper in and the outside of it lightened by being out in the sun.

I was not expecting him to smell like red clover and the best parts of a sawmill.

I was not expecting the hug like he’s a dad.