Dragon Goddess’s chosen

I woke up to the feeling of someone touching my face right before my eye was held open. I barely had time to process a wand in front of me before a stinging light suddenly shined into it. A yelp escaped me as I swatted it away and sat up. I found myself in a torchlit infirmary filled with other cots occupied by other adventurers injured in the brawl. Worryingly, I could only manage to open one eye, the other stung, a lot, and felt like it swelled further than what I remembered.

“Calm down, lass, fight's over,” an older dwarf in priest's vestments and with an amulet in the shape of a sun next to my cot said in a gentle tone.

“Where am I?” I asked, glancing around more until I spotted Saerrei getting her arm treated by a different cleric further into the room. As soon as I found her, I could feel myself settle down a bit.

“Coliseum infirmary. Carried in by a minotaur guard. Ya remember him at all?”

“Yep… think his name was… Akadios?” I sighed.

“Ya knew his name even, good. Any headaches? Nausea? Double vision?”

“Um… none of those… my eye hurts though” I thought for a moment, “Ribs on my right side kind of do too, but not as bad.”

“I'll take care o’ that in a moment. Just needed ta make sure ya don't need a stronger spell. That git used Sleep on ya when ya had that goin on up there,” he motioned to my face. "Took a beatin, didn't ya?”

“I turned it around, I think, the damn gnoll ran off…” I sighed.

“Ya fought a gnoll? Brave lass. Now if ya let me, I'll make ya pretty again.” He chuckled.

“Sure, please do, my boyfriend would make a  fuss over me if he saw me like this.” He smiled a bit and raised his hand into my blindspot.

“Remedium.” Immediately, soothing numbness spread out across that half of my face and soon afterwards the swelling started going down. After my face was fixed, he gave me a cloth to  clean the blood off with and ran through a few more quick tests . “Alright, ya seem right in the head, ya should be good ta go, Jus' visit a doctor or temple if ya have trouble later on.”

“Thanks… So… how do I get out of here?”

“Out into the hall an’ ta the right, follow the curve and you'll eventually get ta where ya entered. If ya follow the smell o’ mutton, you'll find the galley where ya can get the meal ya were promised.” The mention of food made my stomach growl almost on cue. 

“Thanks…” I repeated and hopped up from the cot. I glanced towards where I saw Saerrei but quickly found that she was waiting at the exit, shyly watching.

“No problem, lass, Gods be with ya, and A'll give that guard an earful for ya,” the dwarf replied as I made my way over to the other dragoness. She adorably perked up for a moment when she noticed then quickly looked away. 

“That priest was taking his time with you,” she huffed softly as I got closer. “There's nothing wrong, is there?”

“That's what he was trying to make sure of.” I laughed softly. “How did you get caught?”

“Web,” she grumbled, following me out into the hall “Almost had the wizard too…” 

“I'd bet, you really caught her off guard with that wind.” She smiled a little.

“If I was in my true form I could of done something more impressive,” she continued quietly but definitely with a bit of pride in her voice.

“I would love to see what you're talking about when we can finally get around to those lessons you promised," I laughed but then my stomach growled again. “Come on, let's find where that food is… and find Eris and Nicolas, if they're here already.”

“It's impossible that they stayed out longer than us. They're probably here.” Saerrei shrugged, happily picking up the pace with me.

 

---

 

“They had to use magic to take you both out?” Eris snickered as we walked towards the exit after picking up our gear and payment. She spent most of the meal bragging about her and Nicolas's bouts during the event when the four of us finally met up, with the cleric correcting her exaggerations every now and then. Only when her curiosity seemed to get the better of her did she ask about how we fared.

“You’re surprised about that?” Nicolas asked.

“Not really. It's just funny that they cheated and used magic to bring them down. Missed out on some time to ‘vent’, huh, Alex?”

“Got plenty of my anger out during that. More fun than I thought I'd have,” I replied. ‘Heat still feels about the same though… maybe even warmer… ugh I hoped that would've been helped too…’

“Don't feel like hitting anything anymore~?” The noble pestered as we exited the tunnel.

“You really enjoy testing our patience,” Saerrei sighed.

“It's fun~”

“I let her get away with it for too long already….” I chuckled softly then smiled a bit when I spotted my partners up ahead. Max had his back to us, facing Kat with his ears adorably folded back. ‘Kat probably said something to get him all flustered again… I can probably sneak up behind him though, surprise him, get his mind off of whatever it is.’

“Hey! Where are you going?” Eris called after me as I broke away from the three of them. I ignored her to playfully stalk up behind my boyfriend.

“It's going to be fine, Maxie, trust me,” Kat giggled, locking eyes with me for a split moment.

“You've been wrong before!” Max whined softly.

“About timing mostly.”

“Something up, pup?” I asked, playfully wrapping him up in a hug.

“Alex!” He yelped and squirmed as I nuzzled into the side of his neck. His scent certainly didn't help with my issue but it wasn't impossible to push those desires out of mind. “N-no, it's nothing…”

“Hey, cutie. Have fun with all that?” my girlfriend asked before I felt her kiss the top of my head.

“After that gnoll ran off, I did,” I replied and peeked up at her. “Punching things is surprisingly fun.”

“You took down a few of those guys really easy…” Max mumbled softly.

“Oh you were able to see that, I wasn't sure if you could spot me the whole time…”

“There was a big display above everything.” Kat answered.

“What?” I lifted my head off of Max's shoulder.

“I think it was illusion and scrying magic together…” Max speculated softly and shyly pulled away to face me.

“You were ‘on screen’ a few times~” our girlfriend added with a slight smirk as I felt my cheeks grow warm at the thought of all that attention on me again. “Some people were cheering for you. You might even make a good gladiator.”

“You've got to be fucking kidding me…“ I groaned, instinctively covering my face.

“What's wrong with her now?” Eris's voice asked suddenly.

“I told her about the fame she got,” Kat giggled.

“Let's… just get out of here… I really, really don't want to run into any ‘fans’…” I sighed.

“In a bit.” 

“What?”

“We're still waiting on someone, right, Maxie?” She playfully kissed Max's cheek and his ears folded back once again, confirming what she was saying.

“We can just go on ahead then, meet back up later?” Nicolas suggested.

“Hold on, I want to see who the pup knows~” Eris laughed.

“H-hey! Only Alex and Kat get to call me that!” I smiled a little at this slight outburst.

‘Hehe, good, standing up for yourself, pup’ “I guess it's someone from Rookville? Or somebody that came through before?”

“U-um the first one,” Max mumbled.

“So a friend from before we met?”

“More like your father-in-law,” Kat grinned.

“What are you talking about I'm not mar-”

“Maximillian!” A familiar voice bellowed behind me. I glanced back at the noise and confirmed the voice belonged to the Skald ‘bartender‘, who was approaching with his arms outstretched.

“Oh! H-hi, Dad,” Max replied, also surprised by him, before going up to the man and hugging him briefly.

‘Oh shit…’

“It's great to see that you finally were able to start adventuring! Is this your par-” the viking looked up at the rest of us, pausing when he focused on me. “We meet again, girl,” he chuckled. “Funny coincidence that you knew my son before we talked!”

“Y-yep, real funny, Mr. Wells…” I laughed nervously.

“Oh? Not ‘old man’ this time?”

“This is fucking great,” Eris giggled and I instinctively cast a glare her way.

“So… um, Dad, this is my girlfriend, Alex,” Max said, shyly motioning to me.

“So she's the cute redhead you wrote to me about,” Mr. Wells laughed, clapping him on the shoulder.

“Dad!”

“What? You're together, so I'm not messing anything up for ya.” He paused and glanced at me, “Hold on, in there you said that your necklace was from a boyfriend and girlfriend.”

“It was~” Kat happily cut in and playfully hugged my arm. “Hi, I'm Max's other girlfriend, Katrina or Kat, whichever you like,” 

“By Nyarae, son, two?!” He clapped Max on the shoulder again, seeming more proud than anything. “Does your mother know?” he laughed.

“She knows about Alex…” Max mumbled.

“So only half your little harem~” Eris teased, earning a glare from both him and myself. Nicolas looked between us and her before hesitantly grabbing her wrist.

“U-um… we'll just let you get caught up, I-I still have some practice to do for the job, right, Eris?” He said quickly before starting to drag her away. 

“Huh? You want to practice more? Sure!” The noble quickly got distracted and it turned into her dragging him along instead.

‘Thank you Nicolas…’

“She tries testing everyone's patience, doesn't she?” Saerrei sighed under her breath, also watching the two leave. “You want me to go too?”

“You can actually behave, you're fine,” I answered just as quietly.

“You should really send your mother this news too, and give her an update on how you're doing. You know how she is,” Mr. Wells continued to Max.

“I know,  I know… so, um… there's more I want to tell you about… that mom doesn't know yet either…" my boyfriend responded, glancing at Kat and me shyly, “b-but not here…”

“Alright, let's head to a tavern then and see if Alex can back up the claims she made in the area while we talk.”

“Claims huh? What would those be, babe?” Kat teased softly, prodding me playfully.

“Um… that I could probably drink more than him…” I sighed, “but, um, Max, we're going to tell him already?” He shyly nodded a bit. “Ok then… I think he means something more private than that…” I looked back to Mr. Wells and he frowned a bit then looked pointedly at Max.

“... You didn't get one of them pregnant already did you? I'm not mad about being a grandpa but it's hard for you to be an adventurer like you wanted with a baby.” My face grew very warm and a quick glance to my partners’ blushing faces confirmed they felt the same way. I swore I heard a short snort of laughter from the other dragoness.

“N-no, no we've been careful!” Max blurted out, making more embarrassment well up in me as he essentially confirmed that we've been active like that to his dad. “It's just… something important… but I don't want to talk about it in a tavern… a-and it might be better to show you?” He gave a pleading look towards me.

“I'd have to go get changed… but yeah, it would be hard to believe otherwise. Um…”

“Hey, Saerrei, you know any good places we can talk at? Maybe along the way back to your home?” Kat asked and the ‘monk’ gave her a confused look.

“I know of one…” she answered after a moment of thought, “You want me to take you there…?” 

“If you please,” my girlfriend smiled at her but she only looked away from her.

“Fine but I'm getting changed too when I get a chance if you trust him this much…” she sighed, motioning at Mr. Wells.

“I'm not going to even try to make guesses what this is about, you ladies can go get changed, just tell me where we should meet back up at,” the Skald said with a shrug.

“The South gate. The place is outside the city.”

“Alright I'll meet you four there, then, I have somewhere to make a stop along the way first.”

“O-ok… s-sorry, I wish I could just tell you now but… things are weird…”  my boyfriend sighed.

“I'm more curious of what this is than anything, Max.” the Skald chuckled, patting his shoulder. “See you all in…?”

“Probably like half an hour,” Kat answered and playfully grabbed my hand then Max's, starting to pull us away “We’ll be quick, walking over there might take longer than Alex changing.”

“Alright, see you then. Don't get distracted with your girlfriends, son.”

“Dad!” Max whined but the skald only laughed more as he went his separate way.

 

---

 

“In a dress… again,” I groaned as we walked away from our inn, adjusting the top part of Rissaeth's gift. I glanced at my amused-looking girlfriend. “How did I end up wearing one more times than I've ever seen you in one?”

“Bad luck on your part?” she giggled. 

“I don't see the problem here,” Saerrei murmured, looking away. “It suits you…”

“You should see her in the maid outfit, she's adorable in it. There's probably more things she'd look great in but we'd have to get them made and convince her to wear them”

“Such as…?”

“Something called a bunny suit, it's-"

“N-no, no, I-I'm definitely not wearing something like that!” I interrupted, getting warm with embarrassment again as I knew she didn't mean an Easter bunny. 

“Come on, it would be cute! What about 2B's outfit?” 

“I d-don't even know how you'd get that one made without a reference…” I groaned “I-it's not a ton better…”

“Doesn't sound like a no to me~”

“Dammit, Kat. Fine, if you somehow figure out how to make it, I might consider wearing it… And if you wear something similar!”

“You're going to regret that~ Max and I are going to love it though~” the half-inugami's ear flicked at the mention of his name and he broke out of his thoughts.

“Huh, W-what about me…?”

“Nothing, Kat is just gushing over the thought of dressing me up more,” I answered, earning giggles from our girlfriend. “You ok? You're normally listening closer than this…”

“Just… just nervous… this feels like a lot to tell him…”

“It is a lot to take in,” Saerrei murmured and his ears folded back shyly at this.

“Everything is going to be ok, Maxie, trust me.” Kat assured him, hugging one of his arms.

“So… how much are we telling him?” I asked.

“W-what you are at least… um the mate thing can wait I think…” he sighed.

“Probably for the best.” I shrugged and gently grabbed his free hand to cheer him up. 

“At least it's not Mom too… S-she's not going to be happy about what happened, a-after those talks…”

“I'll take the blame for the mate thing when that time eventually comes… It was my fault for not thinking…”

“More like listening to instincts more than what I was telling you, both of you,” Our girlfriend corrected with a slight smile.

“...you didn't completely intend on making him your mate?” Saerrei asked.

“It… was a heat of the moment thing… um…” I shyly looked ahead and thankfully spotted the city gates and Mr. Wells nearby… with a pair of wooden kegs at his feet. “There he is… I guess he wanted more to drink…”

“Or to test you,” Kat laughed. “You did challenge another barbarian to a drinking competition basically.”

“You didn't have to dress up to talk to me!” The Skald called over jovially as we got closer. 

“It's the only thing that would work for this” I replied.

“What are those for…?” Max asked shyly.

“I figured after whatever you have to tell me, we could get caught up over drinks, better ones than what we got in the coliseum,” he chuckled.

“O-oh… ok… I can't really drink that much…”

“It's ok, pup, I'll carry you back if I have to,” I gently teased, squeezing his hand before letting go to go over and grab one of the kegs. “Let's get going so we can get to that.”

“Don't bother yourself with that, Alex, I got both of them.” he quickly hefted both onto his shoulders before I could reach the one I was after.

‘Right… I'm a girl so it's ‘chivalrous’ to take the burden,’ I shrugged but smiled a little. “Ok then,” I glanced back to Saerrei. “Your turn to take the lead. Where's this spot you know about?”

“Not far… it's this way…” She responded, walking on ahead and starting to lead us through the gatehouse.

“I take it that you're part of their party?” The Skald asked after a couple quiet minutes, seemingly addressing the dragoness.

“Um…”

“Not officially, yet,” Kat answered happily for her. She glanced back at my girlfriend with a curious look. 

“She's welcome to join if she wants to stick around with us.” I added and she quickly looked ahead again.

“I-I'll think about it…” she huffed softly, very obviously trying not to seem too interested. She fell quiet as she continued leading us to the stretch of forest between the city and the Xolotl's beach.

“I see, and the other two are?” Mr. Wells asked.

“O-oh… I forgot to introduce them…” Max mumbled before answering him. “Y-yeah, they are… Eris and Nicolas… our fighter and cleric…”

“Good, you have a cleric. Honestly I'm glad to see that you found a party, Max. It's much safer than trying to follow this dream alone, especially for a mage like you. Even I had a hard time solo before I found your mother's party.”

“I-I remember that story… You fought a group of ghouls by yourself.”

“I know, I probably told you plenty of times” he laughed  “It's pretty similar to how you told me you met Alex in that letter you sent.”

“Dad…” I smiled a little and playfully nudged my boyfriend.

“The same letter that you called me a cute redhead in?” I giggled, kissing his cheek.

“Yeah…” he whined softly. 

“How else is he supposed to describe you?” Kat teased and I stuck my tongue out at her.

 

The small talk continued for the next few minutes until Saerrei led us off the path and to a clearing. There, Mr. Wells and I moved a large log and some rocks together for seating. The dragoness excused herself to go change as he sat down on one of the rocks, the kegs set down next to him and his pack in front of him.

“So… let's get this important stuff out of the way so we can get to the fun stuff… What did you need to tell me?”

“Um…” Max squirmed a bit as he spoke. “S-so it's about Alex…”

“...what about her?”

“Don't freak out but… um… she's a dragon-”

“Dragonspawn, yes, I saw the fire dripping from her mouth earlier, that's the important thing you couldn't say back there?” He laughed, starting to search through his bag.

“No, not just dragonspawn, she's a dragon” Kat corrected, nonchalantly sitting down on the log. 

“Don't let actual dragons catch you claiming that-” he chuckled incredulously. 

“Look, we're telling the truth,” I interrupted and glanced at Max. 

“P-please… show him,” he half-pleaded. I nodded and kicked off my boots before giving Inspect the command ‘Set default form to half dragon.’

 

Denied

Reason: Mate forbade user to destroy gifted equipment 

Override Mate’s request?

‘You've got to be kidding me…’ I thought as I reached up and undid my necklace, handing it to Max, and re-issuing the command. This time it worked and the Skald nearly fell off the rock as I shifted into the larger form.

“Easier to believe now?” I sighed, my tail nervously flicking behind me. He seemed stunned more than anything. 

“A dragon… my son has two girls and one is a dragon…” he mulled it over then sighed and stood up, pacing slightly.

‘Shit…’ 

“If it helps, she was human before…” Kat added and he glanced over at her for a moment then broke out in a grin.

“Gods, lead with that!” He laughed, practically doubling over on himself. “Here I was, wondering how my shy boy managed the bardic feat of impressing a dragon so much that she decided to get with him!” Max and I let out relieved sighs at the same time. “Your mother knows about this, right? About her curse?”

“I would say blessing more than anything,” Kat shrugged. 

“Yeah… not a lot of downsides to be honest…” I agreed.

“But does she know?” He pressed.

“U-um no…” Max shyly answered.

“Maximillian Tytus!” He pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“To be fair… I didn't tell him until after we left Rookville…” I quickly added.

“He can still write back home.”

“Could… um, could you bring the news back to Mom…?” My boyfriend hesitantly asked.

“You know that won't go over well either. You need to tell her yourself, especially about being with both of them,”  his dad sighed. “So, was this what you had, or do you have more surprises for me…?” He trailed off just as I heard a twig snap behind me. Then a shift in the wind brought a familiar scent that caused a surge of warmth in my abdomen and between my legs.

‘Fucking heat… should've just did quarter-dragon.’ I followed the Skald's gaze back to find Saerrei in her true form at the edge of the clearing, holding her bag in her mouth. I couldn't help but notice that the sunlight definitely brought out more of the iridescence of her scales and feathers. ‘Dammit, it doesn't help that she's somehow pretty like that too…’

‘You good there? You brought your legs together when she came in~’ Kat’s voice invaded my mind suddenly.

‘I'm fine… It's just… she…’ I responded as I watched the dragoness walk around behind her to an open spot between the log and one of the rocks.

‘Makes you horny?’

‘I-it's just this fucking heat…’

‘I know~ Max and I are gonna help you tonight if you can hold out that long, Ok?’ 

“... what?” dragoness asked after dropping her bag “I told you I was going to go change. I already heard you tell him that she's one too, I thought this wouldn't be an issue… ”

“...  Well that's definitely a surprise.” Mr. Wells said and looked back at me. “Well, you might as well show that form too.”

“Um… I can't… this is as much as I can do without using rage…” I admitted, nervously scratching at the back of my head.

“Interesting… I see why you wanted to do this out here” Mr. Wells murmured in thought then shrugged. “Anymore surprises for me?”

“N-nope…” Max answered shyly, still looking at Saerrei as she went about preening her feathers. 

“Then we can get to getting caught up with each other!” His father chuckled and returned to where he was sitting. I followed his lead, grabbing Max's hand and leading him to sit with me next to Kat. “Though this mead won't last as long as I thought it would with two dragons…”

“Don’t worry about that, I don't need any,”  Saerrei said as she started to fiddle with something that looked like a quill on one of her front wings with the talon on the opposite wing.

“You sure?” I asked “I'd hate to leave you out…?” 

“I'm sure,” her talon pried open the quill and she slid it off to reveal a shiny new feather. “Rather just listen, I'm still curious about your quests too.”

“If you say so…”

“I'm not helping carry you back if you drink too much either. I'm not changing back to my other form” she grumbled, continuing to preen. I smiled a little at this and readied myself for more story time but at least this time I could hear tales I wasn't also there for.