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The room was a dull grey. There seemed to be light coming from somewhere, but it was impossible to pinpoint an exact source. Everything appeared to be evenly lit. In the center was a column that stood only a meter tall, perhaps a quarter of a meter across. It was filled with countless slim crystals just larger than an average sized person's longest finger. They were big enough to be considered dangerous should someone choose to brandish one as a weapon. Fortunately, no one had any interest in such an act.

"Hand me the loupe. I'm having a hard time making sure I'm lining everything up correctly." Jace said as he sat off to one side of the column.

Carmel stood just behind him, watching quietly as he worked. She reached into a drawer built into a rolling cart full of the fennec's tools. She retrieved the item in question--a curious little eye-piece--and handed it to him.

"Maybe you need to have little marks you can use to line the stones up with correctly, maybe even have them engraved into the surface so you can do it by feel alone. What did you call that kind of thing? Registration marks? Something to keep in mind for the production model?" the jade dragoness asked.

"Yeah, definitely something to keep in mind. It's my first foray into a crystalline array this complex. I'm used to keeping it limited to no more than four. I've got over three dozen stones to orient just right." Jace replied, putting the loupe into one of his eyes, then squeezed it place between his cheek and eye ridge.

Immediately, he was able to better examine the finer details of the stone's interior. It was quite remarkable in its clarity, possessing countless facets, each one designed to reflect and refract rays of light. The complexity of the structure meant alignment was absolutely crucial. The short fox sighed and leaned back, pulling the loupe out of his eye once he was satisfied with the job.

"That should be the last of them, right?" Carmel asked, fidgeting softly as she watched.

"Yeah, that should be it. We oughta be ready for the final piece. Go ahead and give it a try. We'll power up to just five percent to see if the connection is stable, then we'll power down and get Smokey and Shayna in here for the main event." Jace answered.

"And you're sure nothing bad will happen? We're already pretty deep into uncertain territory. We don't know if the emitter will interface. It might be too damaged." the green lady sounded terribly uneasy as she dipped a paw into one of the pockets of her robes.

"Honey, if it doesn't interface because it's damaged, then we'll know there's nothing we can do. And if you're worried that we'll do more damage in the attempt, just keep in mind all we're doing it shining light through a complex series of crystal lattices. We're going to keep it low enough power that there's no chance of an overload." the fennec said with a smile.

"He's right. It may be fragile and complicated, but it's safe. I've gone over his specifications a dozen times looking for anything that might make the broach fracture." said a pale yellow dragoness.

She adjusted her glasses as she looked over the column. She was shorter than Jace, but only by the width of a palm or so. She was dressed in a t-shirt that hugged her chest and stomach more tightly than perhaps was considered polite and a pair of shorts that came down almost to her knees, similarly stretched by her thighs. She was in possession of a number of lovely curves, and if she had been Carmel's height, the term 'bombshell' might have been appropriate. As it was, her short stature made her look almost like she was a living stuffed animal. The two thin whiskers that hung down from the end of her muzzle only added to the argument that she was adorable.

"Okay, sure... I understand all that. I'm just... well... You can understand why I'm nervous, right?" Carmel asked.

Jace frowned softly and stepped in close to wrap an arm around the taller lady's waist, squeezing in against her side as he looked up at her.

"I understand. This isn't something to be taken lightly. It's more important to you than either of us. The only person it's more important to is Smokey. We'll make sure nothing bad happens. You have my word." the fennec said.

"Okay... I trust you. You know I do. Just... please be careful." Carmel pulled her paw out of her pocket and with it came a circular broach.

It was crystalline, intricately faceted, and possessed the same tree-shaped emblem that the Inn had been using for decades. There was a hairline fracture running through a portion of the crystal, suggesting something rather awful had happened to it, and why Carmel had been so nervous to hand it over. Jace held out his paws to take it with the greatest care, and his jade lover dropped it gently into his grasp.

"Alright, let's go ahead and prime the emitters, start cycling the memory core to bring it up to speed. Carmel, honey, you know what to do. Let's get this baby some power." Jace said.

"Alright, give me a moment," Carmel said as she closed her eyes, "Tapping into the network. Power flow should be coming in a few seconds. Regulator's already active and constricting the supply."

"Let's see if this does the trick." the fennec placed the broach on top of the column, letting it come to settle into the divot in the exact center.

It had been designed specifically to house the broach, settling in with a soft click. It wouldn't be coming back out again without needing a special tool to remove it. Light began to pulse up through the center of the column and out through the numerous crystals lining its exterior. The illumination shining through them was turned into a rainbow of different colors as they each grew saturated, activating their various clusters of spell work they were imbued with. The sound of a soft hum reached the ears of all three, gently rising in pitch.

As the column came to life, so too did the room around the group. The dull grey shifted to a bright, sky blue and the appearance of fluffy white clouds surrounded them. It suddenly looked like they were hovering in the sky, but with no world beneath them. They had reached the magical equivalent of a computer programmer's 'blue world'.

"I'm seeing everything coming online now," Jiaying said, still studying the column quite closely, "I can see a diagnostic running, we're into the basic operating system."

"That's good. That means everything is aligned correctly for level one activation. Let's see if we can push to level two. I want to make sure we've got a stable matrix before we do anything about connecting and downloading." Jace said.

Just as he said it, the whole column went dark. The hum dropped to a lower register, then faded completely. The 'blue world' disappeared and the grey room became just as dull and lifeless as it had been before they started. The fox frowned and swore quietly under his breath.

"What happened?" Carmel asked, trying her best to not let panic take her.

"I think we blew a circuit somewhere. The operating system is designed to shut itself off and go into a protective mode if there's an error. Once we get to level three activation, it should be able to error correct on its own," Jace said, dropping down into a seated position to begin examining the crystals once more, "Getting there is the hard part. I really wish Miss Inara was here. She'd be able to help trace down the problem. I'd ask Shayna but she's... well... occupied."

"But nothing's broken, right?" the green dragoness asked, looking to the broach on top of the column.

"Everything's fine. I just need to find where the short is and give it a twist in the right direction. We didn't get far enough to connect to the broach," the fennec said as he looked over the array, growing frustrated as he couldn't find anything, "This is impossible. It's like trying to fine one specific needle in a two story pile of needles."

"What we need is an external diagnostic platform," Jia said, crossing her arms, "Something that can monitor the system in real time and find the problems before they crop up."

"So we need a crystalline computer to monitor the crystalline computer? No thank you. I only just managed to get this thing put together, and it's only a prototype. I've been at this for almost a solid year. I don't want to go through building a second one until I know how to make this one work." Jace complained.

"No, no, no!" Jia waved a hand to dismiss such a notion before reaching out to pull the fox back, "You're looking at it from the wrong direction. Not a computer, just a spell. It would be a complex one, but it would be a heck of a lot easier than taking your approach."

"Okay, so, we need a diagnostic spell to make sure all the stones are aligned, in the right orientation, and have the correct lines of spell work energized. That shouldn't be too hard. How do we do it?" Carmel asked.

"Well don't look at me. I'm no expert on thaumaturgical analysis," Jace said, then turned to look at the wingless pale-gold dragoness, "What about you? Do you know how to do that?"

"I don't." she replied.

Jace lifted a paw and rubbed his eyes in frustration.

"Dammit. I thought we really had it. I guess we just need to power down for now, close up shop, and wait until I can convince Shayna to come help us. I'd ask Liz but she's more on the end of sorcery rather than the modern forms. And most everyone with a high enough certification to know how to do this is at some conference." the fox complained.

"Shayna's not going to be much help in her current state. She's good, but something this complex require a certain degree of concentration, which she isn't getting right now. You know how Lisa and Levi are. She's not anywhere near ready to let them out." Carmel said with a sigh.

"Then I guess we have to just wait. It sucks. We got so close, and now we have to put on the brakes." Jace said unhappily.

"Hang on now," Jia said, "I told you I don't know how to do it. But I know there's something about it some of my books. I bet you'd be able to pull it off if you had the proper instruction."

"Yeah? Cool. Let's hit the library and take a look. Maybe we can find something and have this thing online before lunch." the fennec said.

"It's not in the library." the dragoness said, stopping the fox quickly.

Now Jace was getting aggravated. He was on the cusp of completing what was the most important project he had ever worked on in his opinion, and he was being blocked at almost every turn. Just as he was about to let his anger spill over, it dawned on him what she meant. He stopped just as he opened his mouth and his expression softened.

"You--oh... oh you mean..." he dropped one of his paws, lifted to express his anger, to point towards the whiskered lady.

She grinned back at him happily, twisting back and forth on her paws with her arms tucked behind her. She was almost giddy at the idea of it all.

"Yup! My private stash!" Jia said.

"I've been wanting to see your private archive for a while. Are you sure it's okay? I know you're kind of protective of it." Jace said.

"Yeah, but... in the interest of the greater good, I think I can let you take a sneak peak. Just make sure you follow the rules. You mess up, and you're out, and if you mess up bad enough, you don't get to see it again. Got it?" Jia asked.

"Got it. Whatever it takes. If you've got the thing that can make this work, let's do it." the fennec nodded as he stepped closer.

"Honey... are you sure you know what you're asking for?" Carmel followed behind the vulpine, quietly concerned.

"Sure I do. What's so bad about it? It's not like I'm going on some epic, difficult quest." Jace said with a laugh.

As he turned back around to look at Jia, the lady was already opening her mouth. She pushed forward aggressively, taking the whole of the fox's head into her maw in one noisy gulp. A firm swallow pulled his shoulders in as his head pushed down her throat. Jace kicked his legs and flailed his arms in surprise, not having expected such a sudden assault. Carmel just sighed as she watched, having figured the shorter dragoness would be too eager.

Jia gripped Jace by the sides and pulled on him, mashing him down her throat, clearly without any sign that she was having any difficulty. She passed his chest, dragging her teeth across his form. There was no pressure behind them, no digging in or hateful gnashing. It was more just to keep him held in place as she worked him in. And she was doing it clothing and all. Thankfully, he wasn't dressed much differently from her. That meant there wouldn't be an uncomfortable number of snaps or clasps to get in the way.

Gulp after gulp pulled him further out of sight, and yet the only bulge that could be seen was in Jia's throat. It showed his form as he slid down her gullet, suggesting that he should be showing in her middle. And yet, he wasn't. There was no sign of him reaching her stomach. Even as she passed his hips, she was given no addition to her waistline. His legs passed without difficulty, and then once his paws were out of sight, she clapped her jaws shut and sighed.

Carmel drummed her fingers on one of her crossed arms, slightly un-amused by the display of gluttony. The quiet little belch that followed threatened to make her break from the serious mood.

"Mmm, your boyfriend tastes really good!" Jia commented, patting her still only slightly chubby tummy.

"I know," Carmel replied, "When can I expect to get him back? He's kind of important to me."

"Oh, it shouldn't be too long. I don't plan on adding him to the hoard if that's what you're worried about. He's cute, and I love how much trivia he knows, but he's clearly your property. Not mine." the shorter dragoness said.

"He's not property. But you're right about one thing, he's mine. Now, is there anything we can be doing while he's down below?" the taller lady asked.

"Well I suppose that depends. How caught up are you on the works of one Ally Saurez?" Jia waggled her eyebrows as she asked.

Carmel let out a somewhat disgusted exhale. She had not been interested in getting into something meant to be entertaining just yet. Not when there was still a serious matter they needed to finish. But it sounded like all they could do was wait.

"I've not finished reading 'Heart of the Jungle' if that's what you're asking. And if we're going to get involved with that, we're going to do it in my room, not yours. Come on." the green lady said, turning to leave with Jia following close behind.

---

Light filtered in through the thin, translucent curtains. The little windows were not perfectly filled with illumination but with brilliance that was broken up by something just beyond. They showed shadows that moved and swayed ever so gently, and a rustling accompanied their motion. The canopy of the trees was providing shade against what might have been too harsh sunlight. Smokey opened her eyes sleepily and gazed about the room. It was just as she thought it should be; small, cozy, and welcoming. The bed was warm and soft, beckoning her to remain right where she was, to not move from that spot.

There was another good reason to remain where she was, and he was wrapped up around her just as she was around him. A pair of green arms encircled her, holding her comfortably as Degyn lazed sleepily with her. It was the perfect morning. No demands on one's time, no reason to move, every reason to bask in the comfort of their state of being.

"Morning," the green drake said groggily, "I hope I didn't wake you."

"No, I don't think you did. How long have you been up?" the blue lady asked.

"Only a few minutes. I didn't want to go anywhere. It's too nice being right where I am." Degyn answered.

"I couldn't agree more. Did you sleep okay?" Smokey shifted in her companion's embrace as she spoke.

"Best sleep I've ever had. Any plans for the day?" the green fellow replied.

"Nothing at all. I could just lay here all day and it would be just fine by me." the azure dragoness answered and grinned.

"Well, I suppose that might be nice. But I was kind of hoping for more than just laying around all day. I was thinking maybe we could do something a little more active." Degyn said.

"If you're thinking what I'm thinking, then I don't see any reason to wait. It'd be a good way to start the day." Smokey leaned in and pressed her lips to the green drake's, lingering there for longer than only a few moments.

Degyn welcomed the affection, practically melting into the kiss with his lover. Their paws began to roam over one another, feeling the smooth texture of one another's hides. It was too perfect; this little treehouse, the bed, the bright, sunny day. They could not possibly waste it.

After the two had finished relishing their kiss, the green fellow pulled away, growling softly deep in his throat. He began sitting himself up, turning his companion to roll onto her other side, then onto her hands and knees. She moved as he directed her, having expected to see him show a little aggression. He had been so gentle and tender in the last few rounds. It was about time he let his dominant side surface again. Smokey would get a chance to return the favor, but only when it was her turn.

As soon as the blue lady was in position, the wingless drake bumped his hips against her from behind. A familiar presence began to part the dragoness' petals, making her coo and lower her chest onto the bed. Her tail quickly snaked its way around Degyn's waist, insisting that he keep close. The instant the silken walls of her tunnel had been wrapped around the green's length, his growl deepened. His paws gripped at the woman's shapely backside, fondling the lovely curve of her rump as he began to rock.

The sounds of two dragons grinding against one another began to fill the small bedroom. Claws began to splay out and sink into the sheets. Curiously enough, there was no tearing or ripping of the fabric. Smokey had been practicing not destroying the bed when she was in such a position. Perhaps it was finally paying off. She gripped the thick spire giving her reason to stretch, feeling it press against the flesh of her tunnel, dragging back and forth within her. The heat it provided added to the inferno already burning inside her. She could not stand how badly she needed this.

Degyn meanwhile took his time, flexing his legs and sinking home again and again. There was nothing he wanted more than to hear his lover's voice, to make her scream, maybe even roar if he could get her going that strongly. The soaked passage he was enjoying quivered around him, clinging desperately to him each time he withdrew, then rippled away as if trying to pull him the rest of the way in on its own. She was so eager, and he adored it.

A loud panting claimed the blue lady, her chest heaving as she half-lidded her eyes. Her tongue dangled from her open jaws. Her lips pulled into a broad, gleeful, open-mouthed smile. Her vision was starting to blur, having lost any reason to focus on anything in front of her. She was staring off into space, her eyes glazing over. She was in the thick of it now. Her tail tightened around her mate's waist each time he pushed forward, trying to coax him deeper, and deeper he went.

Every single twist of the hip, rolling of the pelvis, and raking of claws harmlessly over scales set the lady's skin on fire. Degyn felt his end approaching, working to slow himself from hitting it just yet. His sac swayed between his legs, swinging forward and slapping the generous swells his lover possessed. Were he feeling more generous and less primal, he might have laid himself down against her back, reached around, and gripped at the currently unattended spire waggling about in the open air under her. Surely she was going to make a mess of her own before he did.

Degyn resolved to do something about that after he filled her. After all, he couldn't leave her wanting.

Smokey meanwhile didn't seem to care that her own spire was lacking any attention. She was getting filled and good. That was all that mattered to her. Her moans were growing louder, turning into almost an animalistic yowl. That was a sign that Degyn was doing a fine job of keeping her well tended to. Her nethers quivered as she approached her own end, coating the green's spire in the slick, sticky moisture that came from such activity. It eased the drake's movement inside her, and each time he twisted and pressed in a new direction, it made her twitch and tense up.

Then came the burst. A sudden surge of heat flowed into the blue lady's belly. Degyn sucked in a sharp inhale and slammed home as hard as he could, sinking deep into the other drake's grasp. He groaned as he came, and hard. Smokey meanwhile felt her stomach start to swell under her. She arched her back, lifted her head, and screeched. Her tail clenched up around her lover's waist, making sure he stayed locked in place. She wanted everything he could provide. And he could provide quite a lot. That was part of why she loved letting him just mount and hump.

Gush after gush of seed flowed from one to the other. The blue lady's belly bulged more with every passing second, finally growing large enough to lift her up off her chest. Soon, she was back up on her hands and knees. Her tummy pushed down onto the mattress, her aching spire drooling heavily. Her petals were drenched, as were her lover's thighs. The two stay locked together, tense, twitching softly as they came down off the high of their shared delight. Eventually, Smokey managed to bring one of her paws to her taut, round, grey tummy. She felt over the orb and rumbled in deep, powerful satisfaction.

All was right with the world.

The dragoness woke with a gentle start. Her eyes quickly scanned the room, showing that she was in her office. On her desk in front of her was a collection of papers she had been going over, regulation forms and the like. It had all been pretty dry stuff, and she must have gotten so bored that she fell asleep. A quiet purr passed her lips as she dropped a paw onto her grand, expansive tummy. It was much larger than she had ended up in her little dream. She could feel Degyn wriggling softly under her hide. He was still asleep, but he was certainly enjoying himself.

There was a curious, but familiar sense of warmth that was spreading up through the lady's tummy from underneath. As she worked her thighs back and forth, she rolled her eyes softly and chuckled. She had done it again.

"At this rate, I'll be able to single-handedly supply all the eggs the Inn ever needs," she mused to herself, "But, this nodding off is getting worrisome. C'mon honey. Let's go see Shayna. Maybe she can tell me why I keep falling asleep."

The blue woman hoisted herself up out of her chair and grunted. With a stretch of the back, she pushed her enormous stomach outward, then straightened back out. She adjusted her vest, doing almost nothing to cover her chest. She was beginning to leak again, feeling the trickle of milk dribble slowly down her front. She was going to need to go get emptied at some point. Otherwise, Shayna might not be able to keep her hands off her. The bigger her breasts grew between milkings, the more the angelic lady wanted to fondle them.

At this point, she wasn't sure if there was much of a reason to go back to being male. Perhaps it would help slow the speed with which her lust recovered after each release. That had been an amusing little discovery, but it was kind of distracting. As Smokey thought about that, she figured she might miss that fire burning away all the time. It might be a good idea to change back. Maybe some day, just not today.

The trip to the infirmary was relatively brief. A few of the guests stopped and stared at her, making her blush and grin. Initially, the attention she had garnered while carrying Ivory had been somewhat unwanted. Now, she couldn't help but enjoy it. And with Degyn balled up in her womb, she was certain to stay curved enough to be as eye-catching as any of the ladies who worked for her. Even Carmel had to remark on how much she liked the new look. Ever since she had eaten the green drake and brought him back, the extra thickness he had given her had gone over quite well.

No doubt it would go away if she returned to a more masculine form. Hopefully it would return should she decide to be Mrs. Aquatos again, rather than Mr. Aquatos. She had become somewhat fond of being a 'MILF', even if it meant she had to procure a wider chair for her desk. Sirius and Brian had enjoyed her new figure too. As had Shayna. It was growing difficult for the two of them to separate themselves each morning, going through the same sort of act Smokey had dreamed about with Degyn just moments earlier. Once they got up and got ready for the day, they managed to keep from falling back into bed, tangled up in each other's arms.

"In for another ultrasound, boss?" asked a snowy-white rabbit in a pair of mint-green scrubs.

Her smallish feathered wings fluttered softly behind her as she moved about the nurse's station, working on paperwork. She had not even looked up and yet she had been able to identify Smokey.

"Actually no. I was hoping to talk to Shayna about something else. Everything still feels fine but I keep falling asleep, nodding off at my desk." Smokey said.

"Yeah?" Elliot asked, finally looking up from her clipboard, "Hmm, chronic fatigue. Doesn't sound serious, but if it's getting in the way of work then you did the right thing coming to see us. I'll go get the boss lady for you."

The rabbit turned and headed off, disappearing around a corner. Smokey stood where she was, feeling slightly awkward. After a couple of patients came in behind her, she decided to move off to the side to prevent from blocking the path. She was pretty wide given her condition, and given her new curves. It had taken a week or so for her to start getting used to them. Knocking things over with her hips had made her feel terribly self-conscious, but Shayna's constant affection helped to offset the sense of awkwardness.

"So, Elliot says you're nodding off at your desk," Shayna said as she arrived from deeper within the infirmary, "Has this been happening a lot?"

She was similarly swollen about the middle. The two otters, Lisa and Levi, were still hidden away inside. The were undergoing the same sort of transformation that Elliot had been through. The fact that the angelic lady could move so gracefully and easily while so heavily burdened amazed Smokey. Even after being weighed down for as long as she had with the number of passengers she had been graced with, the blue drake still had not quite gotten the hang of making it look so easy.

"Not terribly often, but it seems like it's happening more and more lately. It wasn't like this when I was carrying Ivory. I mean, sure, I'd take the odd nap from time to time, but not this much. It's starting to worry me." Smokey said, leaning in to hug the angelic lady, forced to the side by their swollen stomachs.

She marveled at how the lead healer could make even scrubs look good. It was curious that she wasn't wearing her usual robes, but then it dawned on her that she was likely expecting some professional from the medical field later in the day, and she needed to look more the part.

"Well, let's have a look at you. Come get off your paws." Shayna said, guiding her wife into a nearby examination room.

The two bloated ladies squeezed through a doorway before the blue was directed sit on the exam table. The dragoness clad in scrubs began to gently feel over her companion's stomach, taking a moment to check on the one inside it. Smokey closed her eyes and thrummed ever so quietly, enjoying the attention to her middle.

"I think you were right. I think I'm actually addicted to being like this. That's not a problem is it?" the azure lady asked.

"I don't think so. Once you let Degyn out, I'm sure I could get you work as a surrogate mother if you were so inclined. Or you could just slow down how often you lay eggs, give yourself a chance to carry them for a few days," Shayna explained, "Have you been feeling anything other than just the fatigue? Does it hit you when you're up and about? Or only while you're sitting or laying down?"

"No, just nodding off. It's only when I'm at rest. It happens mostly at my desk. In all fairness, the paperwork I've been going over since I got back from my little road trip has been especially dull. Renewal forms for doing-business-as, things like that. It's not especially exciting work." Smokey answered.

"Well, it sounds like you're wearing yourself out carrying this one around and not giving yourself enough time to recover at night. You should try going to bed earlier, give yourself more time to sleep so that when you wake up at the same time, you've gotten more rest." the angelic lady said.

"I've been trying that, actually. I started going to bed an hour earlier. I just end up waking up an hour earlier and can't get back to sleep. And I didn't have this kind of issue while I was carrying Carmel or Ivory. I'm wondering if it's got anything to do with Degyn." the innkeeper said, looking down at her stomach, running a paw over the swell.

Shayna began waving one of the medical scanners over her patient, checking to see if anything was out of the ordinary. Her initial findings didn't show anything to be concerned about it.

"Maybe the paperwork really is that boring." she offered a smirk, still running her scans.

Smokey chuckled in response, similarly amused by the notion.

"Oh I know it's enough to make you lose your mind if you're not careful. But I'm pretty sure I can't get away with not doing it." she answered.

"I can see you're already on your way to yet another clutch. How often have you been going to the Roost?" Shayna asked.

That made the gravid innkeeper blush and bite her lower lip. She had been getting a little too involved in the act of making and laying eggs ever since she discovered she could do it. She was beginning to worry that she might be overindulging.

"Every couple of days. It's been difficult keeping from... you know... doing it to myself." Smokey answered.

"Well, see if you can't cut back on it a bit. You might be wearing yourself out with how often you're going. You didn't do any of that while you were carrying Carmel or Ivory, so that's probably the connection. Just try not to indulge yourself as much. And if you're really in need of a little release, come see me. Or maybe go pay a visit to Sirius and Brian. I know for a fact they'd love to help you 'relieve some tension'." the ivory-hued lady said.

"Yeah, about that. It's gotten difficult not doing it. I keep having these recurring dreams, and I wake up feeling the aftermath if you catch my drift. I can't refrain if it's happening while I'm asleep." the blue drake said.

"Recurring dreams?" Shayna asked, "You never said anything about this before. What's happening in them?"

"They really only just started early last week, and they're usually fleeting, brief. Usually, it's me and Degyn. We're in the old treehouse, the way it looked when we finished the modifications to turn it into a bed and breakfast after we brought Carmel back. We end up having sex. Sometimes he's on top, sometimes I am. It's only just long enough for one round before I wake up, and when I do, I have that warm feeling in my stomach from when you self-fertilize." Smokey explained.

"Sounds like a pretty nice dream if you ask me. And it's always the same? The two of you taking turns, but in your bed, in the treehouse? Nothing changes?" the healer asked.

"Yeah, pretty much. The time of day is exactly the same, first thing in the morning. You remember what it was like. The sun's shining in through the curtains. It's bright in the bedroom. It makes you want to just laze there all day." the innkeeper said.

"Yeah, I remember. I also remember you weren't always so eager to do so much lazing about. As I recall, you were always hot out of bed to go take care of the guests when we had them." Shayna grinned as she nudged her wife.

"But when it was just us, during the off-season, it was nice to just lay there and do nothing. I remember Carmel coming to crawl in bed with us because she didn't want to feel left out," Smokey replied, "I kind of miss that."

"Well, I think we've figured out why you keep nodding off. You're putting more strain on yourself than you did in the past with how often you're laying eggs. Hell just making them is taking its toll on you. Lay off the caffeine for a little while, try to get some extra sleep, the proper way, in bed at night. And no more clutches, at least for a while. I'll start teaching you how to better control it tonight after we're both off work." Shayna explained.

"Okay. I'll give it a try. Thanks honey." Smokey hopped up onto her paws, leaned forward over her tummy to give Shayna a kiss on the cheek, then waddled her way to the door.

The pair squeezed back out before the healer saw her wife out of the infirmary. She shivered as the two she carried decided to get more rambunctious, making her gravid stomach bulge visibly.

"Ooo, settle down you two. Don't make me come in there and make you behave. Save it for when I'm not on duty." Shayna called down to her belly.

---

The instant Jia had shoved Jace's head into her mouth, his vision had gone dark. It wasn't anything he wasn't unfamiliar with. Carmel tended to do that from time to time. And not always with her mouth. The fennec felt himself slide downward through the pale gold dragoness, squeezed by her throat the whole way. Soon, light began to shine from somewhere. Then the tight confines opened up and the fox found himself laying flat on his back in a field of grass. That had been quite the jarring turn.

Slowly, he sat himself up and rubbed the back of his head. The world that surrounded him was very different from what he had expected. It looked as though he were laying in a large clearing surrounded by a forest. It was quite different from the preserve he had grown so used to seeing during his time at the Inn. This clearly wasn't anywhere near the costal northwest the blue dragon who employed him had grown up in.

The trees were thinner and possessed a brilliant white bark. But then the clearing was only partially surrounded by trees. Directly in front of Jace, splitting the tall greenery, was a path of carved stone steps, and on either side stood thick bamboo forests. They only stretched out from the path as much as a meter on either side, but they provided a significant canopy that cast comforting shade over the stairs. At the base of the staircase stood two stone lanterns, looking like small houses. They weren't lit, appearing to be mostly for decoration.

"Well this is certainly an odd thing to find in a dragon's stomach." Jace said aloud to himself.

"Yes, one does not expect to see the sky, the sun, the moon, or the stars after being devoured. At least, not without being released," came a voice that made Jace turn his head, spotting a mouse smiling down at him, "Welcome. I am Chuan, keeper of the archive."

"Archive?" Jace asked as he climbed up onto his paws.

The fennec was taller than the grey rodent, but not by very much at all. They both were also on somewhat equal footing when it came to ear size, though Jace barely out-measured him. The mouse was dressed in an ornate robe of gold and black. His whiskers had been groomed to look more like a mustache, and a pair of glasses rest just on the bridge of his muzzle. He peered at the vulpine over them, keeping his hand-paws hidden in the sleeves of his attire.

"Yes, the archive. The place where Jiaying keeps her most treasured possessions. I have watched over it for quite some time. Come. I believe she has sent you to me for a reason. You are seeking knowledge, yes?" Chuan turned about as he spoke, beginning to walk towards the path that served as the only means of leaving the clearing.

"Yeah... she did. I'm trying to figure out how to build an external diagnostic spell to test the validity of a type C crystalline matrix," Jace brushed his shirt and shorts off, finding he had not gotten anything on them, not even grass stains, "So she eats everything she considers precious, and you keep track of it all in here?"

"That is correct. It was her wish that she have someone guard the archive and manage it in the stretches of time when she cannot be present to do so herself." the mouse explained.

"How could she 'be present'? She's out there, and we're inside her. Are you telling me she eats herself or something?" the fennec asked.

"Oh certainly not!" Chuan answered with a laugh, "At least I should hope that is not the case! To attempt such a thing would result in an infinite recursive loop. If she is in the archive, and the archive is inside her, then the only thing that could keep such a cosmos-breaking paradox from actually breaking the cosmos is the idea that she can only exist here as an extension of her mind, not her physical self."

"So, she projects a manifestation of herself in here so she can check up on things. Smart. It's a bit like being in a lucid dream, I'm guessing." Jace said.

"That would be a fair analogy," the mouse said, guiding his guest through the bamboo forest, up the smoothed, dark grey stairs of stone, "She has had a great deal of time to perfect the entire experience and setting. Just as your Mr. Aquatos has had quite a while to perfect his Treetop Inn."

"I'm guessing Jiaying's had longer. And for the time being, it's Mrs. Aquatos. Smokey's going through a lady phase at the moment. You don't get much news from the outside world, do you?" the vulpine asked.

"Every night, Mistress Jiaying comes to me while she is asleep and we discuss matters over tea. As I am sure you have been made aware during the time you have spent with her, she does have a tendency to let certain things slip her mind. The affairs of the house of Aquatos are such a thing that normally do not earn a high place in matters of discussion. We are nearly to the archive itself. I would ask that you please do not touch anything. Everything has been painstakingly organized and displayed according to Mistress Jiaying's wishes." Chuan said.

"Okay, look but don't touch, got it." Jace said with a nod.

The two left the stairs that had led them up into a mountain pass, then down into a valley. When the bamboo finally gave way to another clearing, the pair passed through an entryway made of wood painted red and carved with intricate floral patterns across its surface. The roof was an array of black, gently curved tiles that possessed a brilliant sheen. Once they were through, there was a courtyard that spanned an area that looked to rival that of Carmel's garden. Instead of being filled with plants, it was instead an open air exhibition of relics, trinkets, and fineries made of precious metals, polished stone and wood, and gems of all sorts. It made the fox slow his gait as he drank it all in.

"As you can see, Mistress Jiaying has quite the collection. Come along. The library is further in." the mouse said.

"I'll say she does! I knew she was a bit of a hoarder, what dragon isn't? But this is beyond anything I imagined! Why does she keep it inside her?" Jace asked.

"She never explained it to you? Goodness. She must be terribly easy to distract these days. What with television, video games, and what was it she called it? Social media? She almost cannot be stopped once she gets started talking about her hoard. Especially when she gets to discuss how she has stored it," Chuan said, guiding his guest through the 'sculpture garden' for lack of a better name, "Jiaying decided a very long time ago that rather than store her belongings and prized possessions in a cave or stronghold that could be attacked, she would simply consumed them and carry them everywhere she went. She thought it a much safer notion. And time has proven her correct. Not once has anyone managed to steal from her."

"Well of course not. She would have to eat them for them to get access, then she would have to barf them back up for them to get away with anything they took." the fennec replied.

"Exactly. And since she is able to sense the state of her hoard while it is inside her, she would never let someone leave with even a single, solitary coin she did not allow them to have." the mouse said, finally reaching a large set of doors that led into a much larger structure.

It looked like an ancient palace from the outside, though certainly not old and falling apart. It appeared as though it were brand new, and far larger than any Jace had seen images of. There were no stairs leading to the main entryway. That puzzled him. When the large, heavy doors were pushed open, he immediately realized why. It wasn't a palace at all.

It was a library, just as Chuan had called it. Rows and rows of freestanding bookshelves filled a vast, open space, punctuated by ornately decorated pillars. The shelves were filled with all manner of manuscripts; scrolls, tablets, books, even magazines. It boggled the fennec's mind seeing so many pieces of writing in one place. It put every library he had ever seen to utter shame, including the Inn's repository, the one that Jia herself was in charge of.

The mouse continued on, walking in as though he had not the slightest care in the world. It had been part of his life for so long that he simply had no reaction to it when it was in the state it ought to be. And it looked like he took great pride in keeping it exactly as it ought to be. Everything was orderly, neat, and completely dust free.

"Whoa. This place is huge! How much does she have here!?" Jace asked in absolute wonder.

"By my last count, there are thirty-six million books. If we are to include items that one would not classify in such a manner, the library houses more than five hundred million different documents. Mistress Jiaying has an impressive hoard of precious jewels and metals, certainly. But this is her pride and joy. She hoards knowledge. And after the burning of the Ancient Library of Amunhoet, she could not stand to let such things be lost forever." Chuan explained.

Jace stopped in his tracks, staring hard at the mouse. The robed fellow stopped as well, turning to peer back behind him, concerned that he might have said something that upset the fox.

"The Ancient Library of Amunhoet... as in... the personal library of Queen Amunet?" the fennec asked, suddenly slightly breathless.

"Yes. The one and the same. Why do you ask? Does it anger you?" Chuan asked.

"No! God no! It's actually really exciting to hear about that! Jia needs to let you in on the affairs of the house of Aquatos more often! Smokey's got another employee who might be very interested to know Jia's past! Is there anything from that library that she managed to save!?" Jace stepped in close, resting his paws on the mouse's shoulders to ask in earnest.

It was a form of contact Chuan had not been prepared for. He stepped back, slightly disturbed. It quickly became clear that he was unaccustomed to strangers engaging in so familiar a manner with him. Jace took note of that and decided he needed to calm down, at least just a little.

"Jiaying was able to save quite a large number of the original documents, well more than half. What was burned was largely nothing but illusory copies of the originals. Those she could not save herself she had already copied and stored for her own personal interests." Chuan explained.

"No way! That's amazing! I have to tell Liz about this as soon as I get out! She'll go nuts!" Jace began jumping up and down excitedly, rushing back and forth between bookshelves.

His speed was remarkable, and his ability to race about without knocking anything over, not even bumping into anything as he tried to bleed off his excess energy, was quite a sight to behold. The mouse stepped forward into the fennec's path, frowning hard at him as soon as Jace screeched to a halt.

"If you would please. This is not a sporting arena," the mouse lifted his chin, his eyes closed, speaking flatly, "That is located in the rear of the archive."

"Well I might hafta go there at some point and just run around to get this all out of me! This is too amazing! You have no idea how many times Liz has talked about the library!" Jace cried out gleefully.

"You would be correct. I am afraid I do not know who this 'Liz' person you are speaking of happens to be." Chuan said, still not entirely thrilled.

"Liz! Elizabeth Amunet! As in Queen Amunet herself! The snake who built that library! She lives and works at the Inn with Jia and me! I'm surprised Jia hasn't made the connection herself!" the fox bounced again, trying his best to contain himself.

As he did, a few errant sparks of electricity began to arc off of him, appearing to connect his whiskers as if he were a living Jacob's Ladder. Chuan's displeasure peaked and his eyes widened at the sight. He stepped back, relieving himself of his passive stance to one that was ready to do battle.

"The mistress said nothing of you being an elemental! I must ask that you leave the library at once before you destroy anything!" the mouse cried in dismay.

That caught Jace's attention. He immediately froze, his eyes huge and worried. The electricity sparking around him began to die off, quickly fading as he forced himself to settle.

"Sorry! Sorry! That happens sometimes when I get too excited! It's nothing really, just a little static build up! It makes building custom electrical components a huge pain. The usual discharge bracelet's not enough. And I'm not an elemental. I just... have an affinity with electricity. It's not enough to cause any serious damage but if I'm not careful, I could wipe out a hard drive." Jace explained, then immediately began trying to get a handle on his heart rate.

Chuan eased down as well, suddenly terribly wary of this guest of his. Hopefully, there wouldn't be any reason for him to get so excited again. And if he could maintain control over himself, then he would not need to be removed.

"Very well. I am pleased to hear that the queen still lives. She will be delighted to know that her personal diaries are still intact," the mouse took a breath to center himself again, resuming his passive stance once more, "You were looking for something specific in regards to magic? A diagnostics spell?"

"Yeah, that's right. Sorry. I'm a little excitable. Where should I start looking?" Jace asked.

"I will direct you personally. I have read every page within these walls, with very few exceptions. I am certain I will be able to locate that which you seek." the grey-furred fellow turned and headed down one of the wider gaps in the rows of bookshelves, clearly a path meant to lead to another area.

The fennec followed closely behind, marveling over the wide array of subjects and formats that were available. It wasn't just the typical hard copies common to the ancient world. There were paperbacks, magazines, graphic novels, and even optical discs. It got the fox to wondering if there was a central digital archive that housed electronic copies of everything.

"Hey, do you have a main computer with everything indexed and copied into it? If that's the case, I'll bet you and Jia could broadcast out and connect with my database. That way I wouldn't need to come in here and worry you with my hyperactivity." Jace said.

"The notion was once discussed with Jia. We both came to agree that while it would be incredibly convenient, the risk of outside influence was too great. Mistress has said she intends to be more selective about who she permits to have access to the wealth of knowledge she holds in her archive. You should consider yourself fortunate. You are one of only a handful who have been permitted to visit." Chuan said, turning again, then scaling a staircase to the floor above.

"That's a real shame. She could put to rest a lot of old arguments. Stuff that's got people fighting wars over." the fennec said.

"And to do so would destroy the faiths of countless people. She does not wish to be burdened with that weight. We discuss it often. Occasionally, she will permit one or two simple clues be shared with the outside world, but no more, and only when she feels it is the responsible thing to do." the mouse replied, "I believe this is what you are looking for."

The caretaker reached up and pulled a thick, leather tome off the shelf he had stopped in front of, opened it, then turned to a specific page. It showed the very concept Jace had been looking for. It spelled everything out remarkably simply. Even with his somewhat limited grasp of spell work, he could quickly see exactly where he had gone wrong in previous, rudimentary attempts.

"That's it! Yes!" Jace took the book from Chuan and began reading over it carefully, turning the pages as he drank in the details, "This is perfect! It's so much simpler than I thought! I had been coming at it from completely the wrong direction! Thank you!"

"I am pleased that our library was of use to you. Now that you have the answer you sought, I can escort you back to the exit, and Mistress Jiaying will release you. If I could please have the volume back." the mouse said.

"What!? No! I can't leave yet! There's too much here for me to remember on my own! Either I need to sit and study this for a while, or I need to take this with me. Since we're kind of in a time crunch, I think the second option is the better choice. I promise, I'll give it back as soon as I'm done! Jia will be able to keep it in sight the whole time!" Jace turned, wrapping his arms around the tome defensively.

That set the mouse's fur to bristling. He didn't like the idea of someone removing something from the library. It left him terribly uneasy. He pushed his paw out towards the fox again, more insistent this time.

"I am afraid not. Nothing may be removed from the archive except under very special, extraordinary circumstances. Please return the volume. Now." Chuan said, kindly but firmly.

"Oh come on! This is a library! You're telling me you don't have a lending program?" the vulpine turned again, beginning to walk towards the stairs, "It'll be gone only an hour, maybe two! It won't even be out of Jia's reach while I've got it!"

"No!" shouted Chuan.

Instantly, Jace's vision went dark. He knew that feeling all too well. A pair of jaws had wrapped themselves around his head and they were pushing down over him. He yelped in surprise as he was devoured from behind. He lost his grip on the heavy book and it fell to the ground. There was no thud. Instead, it slowed to a halt just centimeters from the floor, then drifted the rest of the way ever so gently. There was a powerful enchantment in place, designed to prevent damage to any of the items.

A loud gulp dragged the fox's shoulders into the rodent's muzzle. He swallowed hard, grabbing at the vulpine's wriggling, squirming form. It was quite the odd sight, a mouse eating a fox, rather than the other way around. His throat bulged heavily, then his chest, then his stomach as he worked his way down Jace. The fennec kicked and wiggled as his arms were pinned at his sides. The mouse reached his hips in no time, then hoisted him overhead. Gravity dragged him deeper, stretching his host that much more.

The long, bushy tail was drawn in, along with a pair of thighs. Jace's knees passed Chuan's teeth, then his calves were taken immediately after. Soon, his paws were all that remained, along with a large portion of the fluffy limb that was waggling about. Chuan slurped up the last of his guest, swallowed one last time, then sighed in relief as his stomach surged out with a heavy bounce.

"Ahh, better." he said, then leaned down to collect the ancient book that had been dropped.

Chuan showed no sign that he was at all burdened by the weight of his vulpine guest. He turned and began walking through the library once more, this time aiming for a table with a lamp sitting atop its center.

"Come on! Twice in one day!? Not cool!" Jace complained and kicked.

"What I would consider 'not cool' is your unwillingness to abide by Jiaying's wishes. She has said that she will not permit anything to leave her archive unless it is absolutely necessary." Chuan said.

"But it is! There's a life at stake! I need that book to save someone very important! By not letting me take it, you're killing them!" the fennec continued to squirm about, making the mouse's belly churn and slosh hard and violently.

It did not upset the rodent in the slightest. He sat down at the table, opened the book after setting it down, and began reading over the very passage in question.

"You may not take the original. But I will transcribe a copy of it for you to carry with you when you leave. Until I am finished with the copy, you will remain where you are." Chuan explained, then lifted a paw.

Through his own practiced art of magic, a small notebook appeared in his palm, along with a quill and inkwell. Without ceremony, he began copying the pages Jace needed into the small, leather-backed journal. He even took care to exactly replicate the images and diagrams. The mouse had practiced calligraphy in a past life, and learning the various other languages of texts present in the library had been rather stimulating. He delighted at the prospect of duplicating the pages of one of the books.

"You're making a copy?" Jace stopped his fighting, "Really? Um... thanks. That should work. But since you're doing that, can you let me out?"

"I am afraid not. You have proven to be too excitable and disobedient. I must protect Jiaying's library. There are invaluable volumes contained within and I cannot let even a single one come to harm. Do not worry, you will not be harmed." Chuan explained.

"I'm not worried. Just a little cramped. I don't usually get eaten by people smaller than me. How the hell did you do that by the way? Most mice aren't predators." the fennec pushed out gently to see if there was in fact anything he could do to disturb the caretaker.

Chuan grinned and carried on with his work, not fazed by any of the activity in his stomach. He was a master of his craft after all. He could have a wild horse galloping away inside him and it would not render his paw unsteady.

"It is something I learned from Jiaying. When she offered me a place to live--specifically here, inside her--she taught me a great many things I could use to protect the archive. This is but one of them. After my first successful attempt to devour someone, she gave me a new name. I believe you would call it a 'nickname'." the mouse said.

"Yeah? What's that? Hungry mouse?" Jace asked slightly sarcastically.

"No," Chuan said with a snicker, "Though that is fitting. She calls me Syaoran. It means 'little wolf' in our original tongue."

"Your original tongue. And you say Jia offered you the job of caretaker. Just how old are you both?" the hidden fox asked.

"Very. It is a long story. And it is perhaps something Mistress Jiaying is more suited to telling. I will not rob her of the joy of telling it. She has a flair for the dramatic that I lack." Chuan said.

"Fine. I'll ask her when I get back out. But you and me, we're not done. I'm gonna get you back for this! You can count on it!" Jace punched outward, playfully indulging in a friendly rivalry he was interested in starting with this odd mouse.

---

The weather was quite pleasant outside the sanctuary. But then it was always pleasant. There were never any storms or high winds. Not once did rain threaten someone's casual stroll through the grounds. The sun shown from the brilliant blue sky, never to hot, never too cold. It was absolutely perfect, just as Shayna had arranged it to be. One of the benefits of doing research in her inner sanctum, it was always comfortable.

A pair of otters lounged lazily in the grass of the courtyard, staring up as the clouds drifted by overhead. They were an illusion, naturally. The whole of the world they were in was an illusion of sorts. It was a fabrication crafted by the very dragoness carrying them. They had been permitted to enter the 'predscape' as it was often referred to if only so they would have something to busy themselves with other than squirming and making their 'mother' moan at the most inappropriate times.

They looked different from how they had once appeared. Gone was the rich brown coat each had, replaced with one that was a pale, creamy hue, not quite white. They both possessed a pair of smallish wings, too small to actually be of use for flight, but certainly large enough to have to contend with when it came to clothing. Shayna had changed them physically, and their mental selves were reflecting that.

"The results should be ready in a few hours." Lisa said, sounding rather bored, referring to a test they had been running.

"Good. Then we'll have something to do. This whole not needing to eat, drink, or anything sounds great on the face of it, but it gets really dull after a while." Levi replied.

"Only because we're not fully here. Shayna says if she'd sent us here the proper way, we'd be able to make it a more realistic experience if we wanted to." the feminine otter said.

"Well in the meantime, since we don't have much reason to do anything else, why don't we go exploring? I dunno about you, but I would really like to see just how far this whole place reaches." her brother said as he sat up, eager for something to occupy his mind.

"You know, I think I'd like to see that myself. Let's go have a look around." Lisa said in agreement.

The pair of siblings leapt to their paws and began their rather relaxed walk out of the sanctuary's grounds. The others present there paid them no mind, letting them go on their merry way. It was at least two hundred meters from the perimeter of the sanctuary itself to the edge of a large, dense forest. Given that everything was designed and conjured from a single mind, the detailing was remarkable. That detailing was likely why it was of no surprise to either sibling when they found a path through the trees. Just another little feature Shayna had thought about, no doubt.

It wasn't a terribly large path, but it was certainly broad enough for the two of them to walk along side by side. What amazed Lisa and Levi further was the fact that they could hear the sounds of the forest. Shayna had gone to the trouble of replicating what life one might find there. There were bird calls, cicadas were buzzing away, and the occasional toad could be heard croaking.

As the pair marveled at the great lengths to which the angelic dragoness had gone to give the place as much realism as she could, they failed to notice how far away from the sanctuary they had roamed. When they reached a clearing, they finally stopped and looked around, finding there wasn't any sign of the world having an edge to it. That made them wonder just how powerful Shayna really was.

"Do you think maybe she made an entire planet? Or are we just going to wrap all the way around to the other side and end up walking right into the sanctuary from the back end?" Lisa asked.

"I don't know. But whatever that case is, I'm pretty damned impressed. She had to put a lot of thought into all of this. Look, you can see the mountains you'd find just across the lake from the Inn. We must be on the far side of them." Levi replied.

"Shouldn't we be seeing something more desert-like on this side?" his sister asked.

"We're not far enough north along the range. The sanctuary's south of the dry region out in the real world. Come on, let's go have a closer look. Maybe she's recreated the whole preserve in here!" the twin brother answered, then resumed his walk.

Lisa shrugged and followed, seeing no reason why they shouldn't keep exploring.

---

Outside in the waking world, Smokey was busy. The clutch of eggs she had gotten started on thanks to the little dream with Degyn had taken form and was beckoning for her to do something about them. She had grown visibly larger throughout the course of the day, making it difficult to get her work done. She almost couldn't fit behind her desk in such a state.

She thought it might be time to consider installing a standing desk. She had heard they were quite popular. For the time being, she had more pressing concerns to address. It was difficult to think about decorating while laying eggs.

"I thought I told you to take it easy. This is not that. You're just going to end up nodding off again." Shayna complained as she approached her azure companion.

Smokey was reclined in her usual spot, having gotten one that was often reserved just for her in the Roost after going so frequently. She ran her paws over her enormous belly, feeling slightly ashamed.

"I know, I know. But this clutch kind of took shape pretty quick. I figured it would be better to just lay it and be done with it. You said you were going to teach me how to control it tonight." the blue lady said.

"Maybe, but you're running the risk of accidentally making yourself go pop all over again. How many do you have this time?" Shayna asked as she eased down to kneel between her wife's legs.

"They just checked me ten minutes ago. They said it's only two dozen, but they're pretty large. Each one's about the size of an orange." Smokey answered.

"Pretty good size. Pretty decent number, too. I'm gonna have to teach you how to control all of this; batch size, egg size, turning the egg-making on and off, self-impregnation, the whole deal. Of course, it would be easier for you to not keep filling yourself up if you would just let Degyn out." the angelic lady said, dabbing lightly at her lover's groin with a towel to clean her up.

She had not even gotten started yet and she was already moistening. The anticipation alone was enough to get her riled up. Oh Shayna had indeed created a monster by exposing Smokey to pregnancy all over again with Ivory. Inara was partially to blame, but she had gone along with it.

"I probably ought to. His room's already set up. I guess I'm just a little scared. He had very specific wishes, and I kind of ignored them. He'll probably be really mad at me." Smokey explained.

"Well we'll jump off that bridge when we come to it. And we'll either fall or fly. Now let's go ahead and get you started. No time like the present. And tonight, before going to bed, I'm going to give you a gentle sedative, something to make sure you sleep longer than you have been. That ought to help a little with the random naps." Shayna said.

"Is that really necessary? You know how I feel about drugs." the blue lady frowned.

"I know, I know. You don't like taking something unless you really need to. A couple of things. One, you really need something if you're falling asleep in your office in the middle of the day. Two, it's not like I'm going to give you an injection. I've got a nice little spell that will put you to sleep almost instantly. No side effects, no dependency issues, just a nice, relaxed drifting off." Shayna said.

"Alright. I'll cooperate. And what happens if it doesn't work?" Smokey asked.

"Then I guess you're going to be in charge of every single egg-based dish in the Inn for the rest of your life. Somehow, I doubt you would be unhappy with that." the white lady said with a grin.

That made the blue drake blush anew and avert her gaze. She had to confess that it wouldn't be the most terrible thing in the world, to be the single largest source of eggs for the kitchen. But that sounded like it might keep her from being able to take care of matters involved in running the Inn. She didn't like that. So there was merit to the idea of getting her production under control. She was getting tired of needing to have her clothes laundered as often as her leaking and stickiness was requiring anyway.

Smokey hiked up her legs and groped gently at her tummy, ready to begin. Shayna adjusted her own posture slightly, leaning forward over her stomach in order to 'catch' for her wife. The process began as soon as they were both ready. The blue dragoness shivered and breathed slow and deep. With how much practice she had been getting lately, she had quickly developed an affinity for the act. The first egg slipped out of her womb and began to ease through her, making her clench up.

It was an instinctual response, an effort to keep from dropping one of her precious little creations inappropriately. But this was the right time to do it, so she managed to control that response and ease down. It permitted the egg to glide on through, emerging from her folds with little formality. Shayna cupped her paws under it as it descended, the azure woman's nethers exposed while her masculine features were neatly--if slightly uncomfortably--held aloft by a band of fabric meant to keep them out of the way. A soft gasp came from above as that first orb was released and landed in the angelic woman's palms.

"There you go, one down, twenty-three or so left to go." Shayna said.

---

The trip through the woods to the foothills of the mountains had taken quite some time, and from there the two otters had located a pass that was low enough between the peaks that they could manage without too much trouble. It was a stout hike, but they never felt tired. Not once did their muscles ache or their paws complain of the long trek. Such was the benefit of being in a non-corporeal state located within an illusory construct designed to permit individuals to interact. Shayna's 'predscape' had been a place of comfort where the inhabitants wanted for nothing.

The pair stopped once they reached the highest point in the mountain pass, looking between the two regions the mountains kept divided. Behind them, Lisa and Levi could see Shayna's sanctuary in all its glory. It sprawled out for quite a ways, a vast campus, almost church-like in its design. At least the leading buildings appeared to be holy in nature. The further back behind it their gaze fell, the more modern it appeared, taking on the shape of a rather impressive hospital. It was a perfect recreation of the facility she often slipped off to visit when work at the infirmary was slow.

"It's hard to imagine that place is real. I mean, not that version of it, but that it's really there out in the real world." Levi said.

"You'd think Shayna would make the fantasy world more... you know... fantasy-like. But if this is what she wants her inside to look like, I'd say she could have done a lot worse," Lisa replied, "And have you looked to see what's ahead?"

Her brother turned about to gaze off in the direction they were traveling, finding a sprawling forest just as they had come to know in the waking world. But there were a few differences that gave the landscape an odd feel. The Magna was absent, or at least it wasn't present in its full glory. There was a large tree that was plainly visible, but it was so very much smaller than they were used to seeing. And the surrounding trees were more normal in their height and appearance. It suggested that the garden was not present, and that the Inn itself had not been built.

It puzzled both otters as they examined it from so far away. There had to be an explanation. Why would Shayna create it all to mimic the layout of the preserve, then leave out the Inn?

"I dunno about you, but I wanna see what's there. I'm too curious now to keep away. And if we weren't meant to be there, then we'd have run into some sort of barrier or there would have been some sort of sign saying as much. Right?" Levi said.

"Right. I'm curious too. Let's go." Lisa replied.

The twins carried on, ready to begin their descent down the other side of the pass. As they stepped through what was impossible to tell as the midpoint between the two sides of the mountain range, they both felt a strange crackle pass over them, making them shudder. Immediately, they turned around and looked back through the pass. They saw Shayna's sanctuary just as it had been, finding nothing different. They looked to one another wondering if they might find an answer to what was on both their minds at that instant in the other.

Neither could explain. And since there seemed to be no ill effects from whatever it was they had crossed through, they resolved to carry on. They wanted to solve this little mystery too badly to be dissuaded. Their trek down the mountains was just as lengthy as the hike up. Soon, they were back on relatively flat ground, navigating through the trees, following the path that had guided them so far. It had not changed, and yet it felt different. There was a different sense to the air. It was subtle and almost impossible to articulate, but it was different. Any attempt they made to discuss it was stymied by any real way to put it into words.

Eventually, the pair found their way to the base of the Magna. It had the same white rope tied around its trunk they had come to expect, along with the curious zigzag patterns of cloth. It had been paper in the first year the Magna had been awake, but that had very quickly degraded and worn away by exposure. The second set of sacred decoration had been made from cloth to withstand the elements more readily. What was odd was the tree wasn't anywhere near as large around as they had remembered it being.

"This is really weird. It's almost like the Magna's not fully grown here," Levi said, "I remember hearing about the story of how Carmel grew it from a seed, but it was pretty vague. Why is it so small in Shayna's mind?"

"I don't know, but I think there's more to that story than we were told. Look." Lisa lifted a paw and pointed to an oblong circle of stones at the base of the trunk.

The siblings moved to stand over it, peering at the odd feature. Within the ring was fresh, bright, verdant grass. And from that grass grew a brilliant array of flowers. At one end was a stone that stood taller than the others, possessing a flat face on one side. Levi felt compelled to examine it, gently pushing the grass and flowers out of the way to see. What he saw made his blood run cold.

"Lisa... look at this." he said quietly.

His sister followed him, then peered at the stone as he had instructed. In its face was carved only a few simple words, 'Carmel Aquatos - age 11'. Lisa backed away a few steps and lifted her paws to cover her mouth, her eyes wide with shock.

"Levi... do you think... do you think this is some sort of secret place? Something Shayna's ashamed of?" she asked.

"I don't know, but I'm starting to think that we probably shouldn't be here. Maybe we should go back." the other otter replied.

"Maybe you're right. Come on, let's go." Lisa said, turning to put distance between herself and the alarming headstone.

As soon as she did, she spotted something in the distance, nestled away in the trees. She squinted to get a better look at whatever it was that had caught her attention this time. As soon as Levi stood back up and stepped away to follow her, he saw she had discovered something else and turned to peer at it as well. It puzzled him just as it had his sister.

"What the hell? Is that a tree house?" he asked.

"Didn't Smokey say the Inn started off as a simple little tree house bed and breakfast? It was all based on the house she grew up in as a kid?" Lisa asked, adding to her brother's wonderings.

---

The two dozen eggs Smokey had made as a result of her wet dream about Degyn came and went, each one added to a small pile in a woven basket just off to one side. Shayna had placed them there with the greatest of care throughout the whole laying process. The blue lady was panting hard, her chest heaving. A pair of thin trickles of white dribbled down her chest. Her stomach had gotten smaller, but it was still quite vast and round. Degyn stirred under her scales ever so gently, making her caress the swell.

"That's all of them I think. I'll go get a scanner to double check. You just take it easy for the time being. Okay, honey?" Shayna said.

"Y-yeah... th-that... sounds like... a g-good idea." Smokey huffed out.

"Try not to p-" Shayna cut herself off briefly before seeing her wife slip out of consciousness, "...pass out. Right. Should have figured."

The angelic lady rolled her eyes a little and began mopping up the blue lady's groin. She had made quite the mess during the whole process. Once Smokey was no longer glistening and sticky, Shayna turned her attention to the eggs, taking the time to gently polish each one of them to clean and dry them properly. With any luck, Smokey wouldn't be asleep long. And it left her with plenty of time to ponder something.

About halfway through the laying, the ivory-hued dragoness had felt something very odd. It felt like a static discharge, like someone had been rubbing their sock-covered paws on a thick, shaggy carpet, then poked her with an exposed finger. Only instead of a sudden pop or crack, it was like a quick wave washed over her. She didn't exactly know what it was, but she could not help but feel like something was missing now.

When Smokey opened her eyes again, she wasn't in the Roost. She was back in her bedroom in the old tree house. She was laying in bed, finding it difficult to pull herself away from her pillow. And she wasn't alone. There was an arm draped over her from behind. It was green and the paw attached to it was running over her stomach. She was still quite round, but nowhere near as large as she had been in her previous dream. The sensation of a muzzle pressed against her cheek, nuzzling softly into her as a thrum rumbled away in her ears.

"Mmm, morning. Can I get a turn now?" said the familiar voice of her frequent dream-world lover.

"Morning, Degyn. And sure, why not?" she grinned as she pressed into his affection.

The strangeness of the moment passed, replaced with a deep, powerful gratification. It just felt right being there. The jade fellow rolled away, giving Smokey a chance to lay flat on her back. As soon as she did, he was atop her, pressing his lips to hers as he ended up straddling her hips. The familiar warmth of his touch pressed down on her from above, making her growl happily. Her paws roamed over his form as she welcomed the intoxicating contact.

Their tails quickly coiled up together in a spiral, tightening in a curious but enticing embrace. Before either could say or do much about untangling themselves, Degyn sat himself up and pressed his rump down against the lady under him. He could feel her rigid spire pressing up against him. With a wiggle of his hips and careful adjustments from his legs, he directed the softly pulsing shaft where he wanted it to go. It sank under his tail, making him gasp softly. Smokey groaned and lowered her paws to his hips, guiding him as he moved on top of her.

"Mmm, that's my boy. How big do you want to be? Like I was earlier? Maybe bigger?" the azure lady asked.

"I'll take whatever you give me. I just want to feel it." Degyn replied.

"Can do. Then maybe we could get something to eat for breakfast?" Smokey asked with a grin, already beginning to roll her hips up under her mate.

A soft groan came from the green and he nodded, leaning forward to rest his paws on the lady's shoulders. He worked his legs in time with her, lifting himself up each time she relaxed, then lowered himself back down right as she pushed up into him. The stretch he felt under his tail left him feeling a chill race up his spine. The broad length he had come to know so well moved inside him, making him start to huff. The dark interior of his bowels was quickly painted with a thin coating of the free-flowing moisture seeping from his lady friend's member. The heat within was quite intense, making Smokey grit her teeth as she pushed into him right to the hilt.

A low, hungry growl came from the wingless drake. He was eager for the session they had begun. Slowly, one of his paws migrated from the blue dragon's shoulder to her chest, his fingers curling around her plump swell to squeeze and massage it in the same rhythm they had set with their hips. Smokey lifted one of her own paws to guide him, welcoming the appreciation of her breast. It was quite the lovely addition, making her tip her head back as she filled her boyfriend's rump.

Several long moments passed as they ground against one another, steadily picking up speed, thrusting against one another harder as they worked. Friction built between them as the green dragon's shaft wagged about against his lover's curved tummy. It was giving her scales a sticky sheen that was soon to be added to, though the 'paint job' wouldn't quite match the grey that covered her belly.

A loud groan sounded as the dragoness arched her back. She gripped her mate's hip tightly as her member bucked, emptying a stout blast into him. Degyn suddenly sat upright as well, gasping as he was made to tense. He clenched hard around the woman's spire, trying to press it just as deep into him as she could reach, which was a considerable ways. His yellow abdomen began to stretch, bulging larger and larger until he was just as swollen as his beloved. Then he surpassed her. The steady pumping continued on until he was in possession of a sloshing gut that rivaled what Smokey had possessed at the end of her last dream.

Degyn's jaws hung open as he groaned loudly, his own length twitching about, now trapped between two warm, soft tummies. It added the viscous contribution it had threatened with, satisfying them both in that each had managed to hit their climaxes. Breath was in short supply, but recovering quickly. The blue lady lifted a paw to rub over her boyfriend's stomach, feeling the weighty sea of seed she had provided him with gurgle about inside him. She giggled tiredly and gazed down at it.

"Better be careful. You might end up with a clutch of eggs." Smokey said.

"If that happens, it'll be the talk of the town." Degyn replied with a laugh.

"I'll say." the blue drake grinned.

Just as the pair was coming down from their lovely little session, no doubt only the first they intended to have now that Smokey was back in her dream, there came a knock at the door. It wasn't the door to the bedroom but further away, the front door of the whole tree house. The pinned dragoness frowned and tried to sit up a little.

"Expecting visitors?" Degyn asked.

"No, I can't say I am. Better go see who it is." Smokey answered.

"Well you're not doing it without me." the green shot back, quickly beginning to turn himself around, making sure he would stay impaled on the lady under him.

It made Smokey shudder but she didn't complain. With a degree of awkwardness, the pair managed to get out of bed and waddle their way out of the bedroom. The hall was a little challenging given that Smokey had to fan her wings out behind her to keep balance while hoisting her boyfriend up to keep him nicely stuck on her. When she reached the front door, not at all concerned about whoever might be there since it was a dream, she reached out and twisted the knob. When it swung open, she found a pair of pale-hued otters standing on the deck outside. They looked back in at the two dragons still in the middle of their fun and just blinked.

"Smokey? Is that you?" Lisa asked.

"Who's the green dude?" Levi asked.

"What the," Smokey stammered for a moment, "What are you two doing here?"

---

A pair of green eyes flew open as their owner sat up with a start. She looked as if she had just woken up from a nightmare, panting softly as she struggled to process what she had just seen. Shayna was startled lightly by the sudden reawakening but settled quickly.

"Hey, you alright?" the angelic lady asked.

"I just saw Lisa and Levi in my dream." Smokey said.

"You did?" Shayna frowned, deeply confused for a brief moment.

"Yeah. It's the same dream as usual. Me and Degyn in bed. It's the tree house the way it was when we opened as a bed and breakfast for the first time. We take turns on each other. Sometimes I'm filling him. Sometimes he's filling me. I finished filling him up, then there was a knock on the door. So we got up to go check it out, and there on the deck are Levi and Lisa. And they're confused. They didn't know what I was doing in my own dream. And they were confused about Degyn. They didn't know who he was." the blue lady explained, still disturbed by the images, but she wasn't sure why.

"Okay, so you had your dream and my two newest adopts showed up at your doorstep. That doesn't seem all that strange. What happened after? Did you introduce them to Degyn?" the similarly swollen white lady asked.

"No, I woke up almost immediately after I saw them. And they didn't look normal. They looked different, like they had already gone through whatever changes you had planned on making to them. They weren't pure white, but they were close. And they each had a pair of little, white, fluffy wings on their backs." Smokey said.

That caught Shayna's attention. More than that, it disturbed her in the way that their intrusion into Smokey's dream had disturbed the still shaken blue. Possibilities began running through her mind as she tried to piece together what was happening. A thought occurred to her and her heart seemed to stop for a moment. She needed to check something.

"Give me a second." Shayna said, then closed her eyes.

She began sifting through thoughts, sensations, and images in her mind, trying to zero in on the very thing she sought. She scowled with her eyes closed as she tried to search again, not finding what she was looking for. A third search was made, and when she still could find no trace of her target, she opened her eyes. It was her turn now to look startled and upset.

"Uh... you okay honey?" Smokey asked.

"They're gone. I can't find them," Shayna answered, then turned to look her wife in the eyes, "I need you to tell me what you can about this dream of yours. The location; how accurate is it? Think hard on it. Is it just a vague, fuzzy image that your mind is filling in the details on? Or is it clear and vivid and perfectly as you remembered it?"

The blue lady was suddenly feeling more nervous than before. Shayna's tension had given her reason to feel that swelling of anxiety. When Shayna lost her cool, it was something no one questioned or thought trivial.

"It... it's... perfect. Exactly how I remember it. It even has that rug we put in to get rid of the one that had been torn up by all the bad weather when I was... not well." Smokey explained.

"It's absolutely perfect, down to the absolute most minute detail? Nothing out of place?" the angelic dragoness reached over both their stomachs, resting her paws on her lover's shoulders to impress upon her the earnestness of the question.

"Yeah. It's exactly the same as it used to be. Every time I have the dream, it's identical." the azure drake said.

Shayna exhaled through her nose in a sort of quiet snort of determination. She lifted a paw and cupped it against the blue lady's cheek, closed her eyes, and held there for a moment. A soft, subtle, easy-to-miss tingle passed from her palm to Smokey's skin, making her tremble. What magic was the healer using on her? Was she sick? Did she actually need healing? After a moment, the snowy woman lowered her paw again and opened her eyes.

"Well, that explains quite a few things," Shayna said, "Honey, you've developed your own predscape. I'm not sure how you managed to do it, but it's there. I can feel it. And Lisa and Levi have somehow crossed over from mine to yours. There must be some sort of connection between them and they stumbled across it. We need to get them out of there and back into me as soon as possible."

---

Chuan sat quietly in front of the table he had been working at for the past two hours. The copy of the excerpt from the spell book had been completed some time ago. He had even gone to the trouble of adding in a small glossary in the back for specific terms just in case Jace was unable to understand them. He wasn't interested in letting the fennec back into the archive for a while. At least not until Jiaying could have a proper talk with him about what was considered the correct behavior while visiting.

His stomach was still quite large, housing the vulpine he had devoured so hastily. There was something gratifying about it that left him less than eager to give it up. He didn't have guests terribly often. And even less often did he get to demonstrate his prowess as a predator. He wanted to enjoy his time with a full belly.

"I haven't felt you move for a long while. Everything okay out there?" Jace asked, pushing gently out against the slick walls holding him in.

"I am well. Simply meditating now that my work is complete." Chuan replied.

"How long have you been finished?" the fennec asked.

"Approximately half an hour." the mouse replied, not bothering to open his eyes.

"Half an hour!? Come on! If it's done, let me out! I'll take it and get out of your hair!" Jace squirmed about more strongly, displeased with the fact that he was being held prisoner longer than necessary.

"Not until I have finished my meditation. Please be still. You are distracting me." Chuan said, keeping his voice even and calm.

If Jace was having an impact on him, he wasn't showing any sign of it. The elastic chamber he was balled up in gave easily, but only to an extent. Once he reached its limit, he could stretch the mouse no further. He complained loudly and fell still again, realizing he likely wasn't going to get anywhere through brute force alone.

"There's someone who needs that spell. They need it badly. We've been trying to help them for a long time. We're this close to it, and you're keeping me from finishing my job. Please, let me out. I promise I won't break anything. Hell I won't even touch anything. I'll just take my copy and go." Jace said, trying to keep himself as calm as his heart rate would allow.

"You would do well to learn to meditate. I sense a great deal of energy in you with no discipline to control it. You fidget. You refuse to sit still. You are easily excited. I could teach you focus." Chuan said.

"I've actually considered learning meditation, and that's a very generous offer of yours. I would be more than happy to take you up on it, but right now I need to get back out there. The sooner I can use that spell, the sooner I can save someone very important to the family that runs the Inn your mistress works for." the vulpine explained, slowly losing his ability to remain calm.

"This person is very important to you, and to those you care for, yes?" the mouse asked, offering a quiet sigh as he gave up on trying to meditate with such a noisy belly.

"Extremely. They are irreplaceable." Jace answered.

"Does this Inn not have a means of restoring those who are lost before they have reached the end of their path?" Chuan asked.

"The Promise, yeah. We've got something to catch people who die. It's great for situations like this. You'd be able to digest me and I'd just pop back into existence. But this person's situation is different. The Promise won't work on this one. They're unique." the fox said.

"So I gathered from the selection you requested," the mouse sighed again and looked down at his stomach, "If I release you, do you promise to behave yourself? And not just to the extent of trying to leave with something that is not yours, but to follow the code of conduct expected of all visitors to the archive?"

"I promise. Look, I'm even sitting still right now, just like you asked. Please, there's no time. The longer we wait, the less of a chance I have to save her." Jace explained.

"Very well. I will release you. But before you are permitted to return, you will speak with Mistress Jiaying about proper etiquette when visiting her archive. Now, be still. I will make the necessary efforts to return you to the world outside." Chuan said.

The mouse closed his eyes again and he began to breathe slow and deep. It looked and sounded like he was about to start meditating all over again, but then a loud gurgle came from his heavily swollen gut. It rippled and churned, beginning to work over its occupant. Jace yelped as he realized what was happening, feeling the world begin to squeeze in around him. Chuan's middle began to shrink, making quick work of the fox he had eaten. His robe was given less reason to stretch quite so far, and soon, his abdomen had flattened out completely. He sighed in satisfaction, then stood up.

The mouse turned to face away from the table, took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. A puff of pale blue smoke passed his lips, forming into a sizable cloud in front of him. The cloud quickly took the shape of the vulpine he had eaten, then solidified, taking on all the necessary details to be Jace. He drifted down out of the air and landed on his paws, blinking as he looked around as though it was the first time he was seeing the archive.

"Well, that wasn't quite what I thought you had in mind when it came to getting me out. But hey, it worked." the fox said with a smile.

Chuan bowed softly before the vulpine, just as trim and thin as he had been before swallowing his guest.

"It is far more desirable a method than simply letting you climb back up my throat. And it permits me the chance to add a small charm to you," the mouse reached out with a paw, gently tapping the vulpine in the chest, "You have a spell placed upon you. The archive will not welcome you back until Jiaying removes it. Only when she is satisfied that you have been properly educated on how to use the archive will you be permitted back in it."

"Really? Was that necessary? It's not like I go around letting everyone gobble me up. Carmel's really the only one who gets to do that with impunity." Jace said.

"No matter the circumstances, the charm is in place. Here is the copy of the excerpt you sought." Chuan turned around and collected the leather bound journal, then turned about again to offer it to the fox.

"You know, you could have just told me you could do that instead of eating me." the fennec said, a touch of indignance in his voice.

A smile spread across the mouse's muzzle as he stared back at the fox.

"I could have. But then I would not have had the chance to enjoy playing the predator. I do not get many guests come to visit, and this has been a rather stimulating experience, though slightly unsettling given your... excitability." Chuan said.

Jace took the journal, trying to show what respect he felt was owed, and in the manner he felt might be the proper way. He bowed his head towards the rodent who had proven his skill in protecting Jia's archive, reminding himself to not get on the bad side of either dragon or mouse.

"Hopefully it wasn't too unsettling. Now, how do I go about leaving the archive? Do I walk back to where I woke up?" Jace asked.

"I will send you back presently." Chuan said, returning the bow.

As soon as he stood back upright, he shot a paw out, slamming it hard into the fennec's chest. It knocked the wind out of him and he was sent flying backwards. The strange thing was there was no pain in the act. It merely surprised him. Jace felt himself being flung away from the rodent, his arms quickly wrapping around the journal to hold tight to it. The library shrank away rapidly under him, as if he were flying towards the ceiling. But he never hit it. Instead, he passed right through it and the roof above as if he were a ghost. The world fell away and was quickly shrouded in a layer of cloud. The white of the clouds then turned dark.

Moisture coated the confused fox. The sensation of being trapped in a tightly confined space forced him to ball up on himself. He felt like he was back in Chuan's stomach. Only it wasn't the mouse this time. He knew where he was, and he was still moving, being forced upward through the gullet that had claimed him.

Jia sat on a large, comfortable bed, wrapped up with Carmel as they read the curious romance novel the pale gold lady was so enamored with. The taller, green drake was similarly engaged, finding it all rather captivating. As they read, Jia nestled down in Carmel's lap, her arms wrapped around the smaller, almost teddy-bear-like eastern dragon, Jace began to make his return. Jia's belly suddenly surged outward, catching her by surprise, as well as her companion. A burp escaped the short librarian and she shivered, feeling the fox start to slide back up her throat.

She coaxed Carmel into letting her sit up properly. Her paws cupped against her belly as it squirmed about. A sizable bulge formed in her throat, pushing up higher and higher, until she could feel something emerge in her mouth. Jia opened her jaws and grunted softly as Jace's head popped out onto her tongue. He continued his wriggling, pushing with his legs to stand up inside her and climb the rest of the way out.

"Well, that was a rude interruption!" Carmel said.

"Blame Chuan! He gave me the boot! Almost literally! I don't think he likes me that much!" Jace said with a grimace, fighting to get his shoulders free.

The green lady moved around in front of the librarian to help pull her boyfriend out of the gaping maw. Jia welcomed the assistance, even though her throat was doing a fairly impressive job of evacuating the fox she had eaten just a couple of hours ago. With a few tugs, his shoulders were free, and his arms were coming along nicely with his chest.

"Chuan? I'm confused." Carmel said.

"Chuan's the little mouse guy who's in charge of taking care of Jia's library and her hoard. He lives in this little pocket dimension thing she's got inside her. Apparently, he's got this code of conduct you're supposed to follow when you visit the place. I didn't know that, and I think I kinda irritated him." Jace explained.

"Oh... honey... you didn't mess up our chance to get the spell we were looking for, did you?" the green dragoness asked.

Jia made an unhappy noise, her voice completely muffled while the fennec was still half stuck inside her. Clearly she was more interested in letting the conversation continue once he was entirely removed. Carmel understood and continued to pull while Jia pushed. After a few moments, Jace came slipping out and landed in his girlfriend's embrace on the bed. Jia worked her jaws about, then took a huge breath in relief. She had not intended his exit to be so sudden.

"You must have gotten to him bad. He's usually a pretty easy going guy. But then... you are kind of high strung." the eastern dragoness said.

"Yeah, he said essentially that. But, while I couldn't get the book out here, he did me a favor and copied down the part we were looking for!" Jace said, lifting the journal from his chest.

It was odd that it had come with him, solid and everything. Jace was certain he had heard of these 'predscapes' before, but they were illusory realms for people to visit without needing any physical form. Jia's was certainly different from anything he had heard of before.

"Great, then we can get back to work." Carmel said, climbing to her paws, pulling Jace along with her.

"Aww, but we were just about to get to one of the really good parts in the book." Jia complained.

"The book will be here when we get back. We need to handle this sooner rather than later. The matrix is already showing signs of degradation." Carmel replied as kindly as she could.

"Right. Guess we shouldn't delay. Let's go get to it." Jia said.

The trio left Carmel's room, just down the hall from her older sister's in the owner's suite, and eventually returned to the odd, featureless, grey room with the pedestal in the center. Jace sat down in front of the array of crystals, then began reading through the journal to see what he would need to do in order to get started. He was certainly punching above his weight class on this one. He would definitely need the two ladies to help, but before he could ask them, he needed to study the procedure carefully, so he knew what to ask for.

Meanwhile, Carmel and Jia had a chance to chat. And the green lady had questions aplenty.

"This archive of yours, it's in it's own little world, and you've got a mouse named Chuan looking after everything, right?" Carmel asked.

"That's right. I met him a really long time ago. We didn't exactly hit it off initially, but we grew on each other. Now, I don't know what I'd do without him. He's my best friend." Jia said.

"I'd like to meet him sometime. He sounds interesting," the taller dragoness said, then furrowed her brow, "I'm still confused on something. Usually, the whole 'predscape' thing doesn't work the way I just saw it work. When you go in, you get digested and your soul appears there. Or you're asleep inside the predator and your mind connects to it, like a dream. With you, it's almost like Jace was physically there."

"He was. I wasn't the first one to make a predscape, but I've had a really long time to work on it. Initially, I just had my hoard rattling around in my stomach the whole time. As it got bigger, so did I, and eventually I was just too fat to move. You try hauling a hundred or so metric tons of precious metals, weapons, pieces of armor, and other assorted knick knacks." Jia said, waggling her eyebrows with a grin.

"I... don't think I could fit that much in me." Carmel shook her head in disbelief.

"Well, I'm an overachiever I guess. Anyway, after a while, I got tired of that particular method of making sure no one could steal my hoard. So, I started working on the whole 'predscape' notion I had heard about. It took some doing, but I managed to connect it to the physicality of the real world without breaking reality. That was a heck of a trick, by the way. Now, people can come and go, take things in, take things out. Eating food, or people without sending them to the archive, that goes to my actual stomach, like where Jace popped up when Chuan kicked him out." the shorter dragoness explained.

"That sounds terribly convenient. I might have to look into something like that." the green lady said.

"Well, could you maybe put in a good word with your big sister on the idea? I've got plenty more room in me, and I can always expand the archive. I could house her hoard in there just fine. It'd be a heck of a lot safer than keeping in under a mountain." Jia said.

"You know how Smokey is about her hoard. You know how dragons are in general. I don't think she'll be handing it over to anyone else anytime soon. She and Shayna have been together for decades and they still haven't blended their hoards yet." Carmel replied.

"Yeah, yeah. Dragons are super protective of the stuff they covet. I get it." Jia said, turning to look back at Jace, running her tongue across her lips as she recalled how he tasted.

Carmel reached out and gently turned the shorter lady's muzzle to look back at her, hoping to hold her attention for the moment.

"Speaking of things that are coveted, next time you ask if you can eat my boyfriend. He's mine. And I would appreciate a little courtesy on the point." she said quietly but firmly.

"Sure. No snacking on the tasty lil guy without your permission. Got it." Jia echoed, showing she understood.

"I can still hear you both! I may not mind getting eaten, but I'm not a snack!" Jace called out over his shoulder, "It's bad enough your mouse friend ate me too. I feel like I'm at the absolute bottom of the food chain."

"Wait, Chuan ate you!?" Jia balked, then burst into laughter, "You must have really pissed him off! What did you do!?"

"Look, I didn't know that none of your stuff is allowed to leave. I got carried away trying to make all this work and tried to take the book he pointed me to and leave with it. He didn't like that so... he pounced and ate me." Jace explained.

"Yeah, no. None of my stuff leaves. I'm a little surprised he let you leave with that," Jia pointed at the journal, "He doesn't usually make copies of things and let them go unless I tell him to. Lemme guess, he put a hex on you so you can't go back."

"Yeah. He said you need to teach me the rules of the archive before I can enter again. Something tells me I won't be going back for a long while." the fox said as he tried to read further.

"Oh I dunno. If your girlfriend here lets me, I wouldn't mind gobbling you up again, maybe going a little slower next time." the golden dragoness waggled her eyebrows again.

Carmel slipped in behind her lover, pulling him into her lap, then wrapped her arms around him and rest her chin on the top of his head. It wasn't terribly dignified, but neither he nor Jia seemed to mind. And he found it rather soothing, feeling Carmel wrapped around him like that.

"Don't worry. I won't let the big, mean dragon lady eat you up unless you want her to." she said.

Jace wiggled softly in her embrace, pressing back against her. He had been missing that sensation, the contact with her, since he got sent to Jia's archive. He settled down, his heart rate slowing finally. The whole experience had been more troubling than he cared to admit, mainly because he felt he had stepped on someone's toes. He didn't like making a bad first impression.

"We can talk about that later. For now, I could use some help here. I don't know much about casting circles like this." Jace said.

"Carmel and I can take care of the circle. If it's what I think it is, it ought to be pretty simple," Jia said, then lowered her nose a little, feeling slightly embarrassed about Jace's experience, "Look, I'm sorry about Chuan. I'll have a talk with him when I go to bed tonight. He's just... really enthusiastic about his job."

"I'll say. Enthusiastic about eating rule-breakers too. He offered to help me learn how to meditate. I dunno if he really meant it or he was just trying to be polite." Jace said with a mutter.

"He probably meant it. But we'll have to talk first. I gotta warn you about all the rules he and I set up. That way he won't try to scarf you up again. You know... unless you both want to do that." Jia said with a grin.

Jace just grumbled quietly and continued reading, asking questions about the spell work that was going to be needed. They had to finish their task. The person trapped inside the broach was counting on them.

---

It was a lovely day in the forest. The wind was kept to but a gentle breeze. The sun was shining, but regularly disappeared behind the odd, puffy cloud floating lazily through the sky. The canopy was doing a fine job of protecting those walking amidst the trees from overheating. It felt like a perfect early summer day. Shayna was impressed.

The angelic lady looked around, recognizing everything quite easily. She knew the time period they had found themselves in as she walked with Smokey. Neither were sporting their usual gravid stomachs, though they didn't seem to mind. It was part of the effect of the place they were in.

"You say you had no idea this was anything but a dream. You've been building this and you didn't know what it was." Shayna said.

"No clue whatsoever. I didn't even know I was 'building' it. I just thought it was pulled from a memory or something." Smokey explained.

"Well you've got a natural gift for it. I didn't think you'd enjoy this sort of thing, being able to keep people's souls inside you for however long you want." the ivory-hued woman said.

"I'm still a little uneasy about it, but hey... if I've got it, I might as well use it, right?" the blue lady said with an awkward smile.

The pair continued to stroll through the woods, reaching the tree house they had both called home so long ago. The glyph that had been 'burned' into the grass was still there, and it transported them up to the deck above. There, Smokey stepped forward and pushed the front door of the picturesque little house open. Inside, they found three figures sitting together, talking.

"You're back!" Degyn cried happily as he leapt to his paws.

In but a few seconds, he was wrapped around the blue dragon, squeezing her tightly in his arms. Shayna chuckled softly as she watched, finding it an adorable display of affection. Smokey returned the hug and gave her green lover a kiss on the cheek before finally managing to pry him off her just far enough so they could look each other in the eyes.

"Yes, I'm back. I'm sorry for just poofing on you like that. I wasn't expecting to see these two here." she lifted a paw and pointed to Lisa and Levi.

The two otters, pale white rather than their original dark, lustrous brown, just looked back at the group of dragons. After a moment, they climbed to their paws and crossed the room to show Shayna a similar display of affection, though theirs was more subdued. They nestled in against the angelic woman before everyone moved to take their seats again. Shayna sat on the sofa with her two 'children' on either side of her. Smokey sat in the easy chair just adjacent to it, though not entirely in it. Degyn had plopped down into it first, pulling her into his lap where he immediately resumed his embrace, cuddling strongly with her.

"This place is pretty great!" Lisa exclaimed, "I had heard about how the Inn got started, but I didn't think I'd ever get a chance to see it first hand! It's really sweet of you to include Smokey's old house in here, Shayna."

"Yeah," Levi chimed in, "But did you have to put it so far away? It took a long while to walk all the way here. Any chance you could set up a fast-travel system like the gateways back at the Inn out in the real world?"

"Honey, this isn't my doing." Shayna said.

"It's not?" Levi asked, canting his head to the side, "But, we were at the sanctuary. We'd been looking to kill some time so we decided to go exploring, see if your little world had an edge to it. We found the mountains and made our way through the pass. That's when we ended up finding this place."

"You just... walked your way here?" the snowy-white lady asked.

"Yeah, we just walked. And it was one hell of a hike." Lisa said.

"Well, that explains how you got here from your perspective, but not how you got here from Smokey's or my point of view." Shayna said.

"This is a really cool trick, Smokey," Degyn interjected, ignoring the others and focusing entirely on the blue lady in his lap, "I've had some pretty wild dreams, but being able to make this happen is really cool. I've been chatting with those two for a while. They act almost like they're real."

"Honey," the blue drake tried to slow her lover down a little as he cuddled--almost aggressively--with her, "They are real. They're real people from the real world. This place isn't. Calling it a dream is... sort of accurate. Shayna says I've made myself a 'predscape'. I didn't know I was doing that, or that I even could. But she says that's what it is and I trust her expertise."

"What's a predscape? And who's Shayna?" Degyn asked, finally slowing his desire to squeeze and stroke the lady in his arms.

"It's a sort of pocket dimension where people who are inside you can visit and be held safely," the angelic woman explained, "I'm Shayna, Smokey's wife. It's a pleasure to finally get to meet you. I've only heard good things from her about you."

That made the green fellow's face turn slightly pale. If Smokey was telling the truth, that these were actual people and not manifestations, and this angel dragon was the blue drake's wife, then he had just gotten himself into a great deal of trouble, very likely.

"Your... Smokey's... wife?" he said very slowly.

"That's right. We've been together a little over fifty years. This is the version of the Inn I helped her build. I called this place home for a time. Then we expanded and this version of the tree house had to be dismantled. I kind of miss it. It has a certain charm that a large resort lacks." Shayna said.

Degyn immediately dropped his arms and shrank into the chair, trying to make it look as though he was attempting to reduce how much contact he was making with the blue lady. He had been interfering in a previously existing relationship, and he didn't want to be the cause of strife.

"I... I'm so sorry. I... I didn't know. Smokey and I have been-"

"Having some very enjoyable sessions together," Shayna said, cutting him off, "I've heard. And I'm a little jealous. I kind of wish I could have been here to see it. Maybe even be part of it."

The mood suddenly shifted again, making the wingless dragon shake his head in confusion. He had not anticipated such a reaction. Surely sleeping with another person's wife was something to be frowned upon. It usually brought yelling, sometimes even violence. And yet the angelic lady had been quite happy to admit that she knew of their exploits.

"You're not... mad?" Degyn asked.

"No honey," Smokey said, leaning in against the green and kissing his cheek, "She's not mad. Well, okay maybe a little that I've been hogging you all to myself this whole time. But she's not mad that we've been together. It's... an interesting relationship we have. It's hard to explain."

"Smokey and I have an open, polyamorous, long-term committed, relationship. We haven't actually been officially married by any authority of the state. We just agreed that the terms 'husband' and 'wife' suit what we are to one another. Though... 'husband' doesn't really right now for obvious reasons." Shayna explained.

"That was pretty easy." Degyn said, blinking softly at the angel lady, still looking quite rigid and uncomfortable.

Shayna saw how he had not exactly felt emboldened by the description, so she climbed to her paws, leaving Lisa and Levi where they sat. She crossed the distance between the couch and the easy chair, then leaned in close, bumping noses with the green fellow.

"Let me make it as clear as I possibly can about how I feel regarding you and my wife." she said, then mashed her lips to Degyn's in a firm, rather intense kiss.

The two remained locked together for several moments. Smokey watched, her cheeks flushing as she witnessed her wife kissing her boyfriend right there, so close to her face. When the kiss ended, the white dragoness lingered just in front of the green drake's muzzle, peering into his eyes with a soft, kindly expression.

"Welcome to the family." Shayna said, then turned and made her way back to the couch where she sat back down between her two 'kids'.

Degyn's eyes fluttered softly as he struggled to come to grips with what had just happened. He had thought the lady he had just been kissed by was rather lovely, but until just moments ago, he thought she was a figment of Smokey's imagination. Now he was being told she was real, that she was Smokey's wife, and she had just given him a rather stout smooch.

"Th-th-thanks," he stammered, "I think... that helps... explain it a bit better."

Smokey blushed again and buried her face against the green fellow's cheek.

"I'm just really bad at explaining it. Everyone wants a quick, simple, easy label most of the time." the blue lady said unhappily, embarrassed that she had not been able to put it into words nearly as well as Shayna.

"It's okay, I've had a lot longer to try and describe these kinds of relationships," the ivory-scaled lady said, "Now that the question of relationships is answered, back to the matter at hand, Smokey's predscape."

"This is Smokey's predscape? Seriously?" Levi asked, having been in shock for the last few moments.

The revelation that he and his sister had somehow managed to leave Shayna's was quite the jarring discovery. Lisa was similarly quiet, trying to take it all in.

"Seriously. She apparently didn't even know she was making it. You two somehow wandered into it through a connection neither of us knew existed." Shayna said.

"Yeah, about that," Smokey asked, "How the hell did we end up connecting them? I wasn't even aware I had made one to begin with."

"I guess we've just been around one another long enough, been inside each other often enough, and spent enough time linked in one way or another that it was only natural that our subconscious minds reached out to one another. And that manifested by linking our predscapes." the angelic dragoness said.

"I'm still fuzzy on what this whole predscape thing is," Degyn said, gently wrapping his arms around the blue lady again, "You said it's a pocket dimension of sorts. Does that mean I'm still inside Smokey?"

"Yeah," the blue lady said, biting her lip in a sheepish expression, "I know you had made me promise something back when we were in your apartment. And I told you I'd do it. But... I just... I couldn't go through with it. I didn't want to say goodbye."

"I kind of figured I wasn't dead when you just disappeared earlier. Before, you would just kind of go to sleep, and I would too. I thought I was in heaven or something. But I'm not. I'm in this... predscape of yours." the green said.

"Yeah. I thought you would just stay asleep until I decided to let you back out. I didn't know this was what was going on inside me. If I had known, I wouldn't have let you drift in and out of sleep like that the whole time." Smokey explained.

"Let me back out? You can do that? Even after you digested me?" Degyn asked, then narrowed his eyes, "Or did you not even do that?"

"Oh, I digested you. And I did what you asked, I used you to make myself into... how did you word it... a ' really hot mom'." Smokey said, gesturing down to her figure.

It had remained as shapely and full as it had been the morning she woke up in Degyn's bed. The green fellow looked down at the lady in his lap, having gotten his first real good look at her since he started waking up in that remarkably comfortable bed just down the hall. His eyes widened as he took it all in, her hips, her thighs, her chest, even her stomach had gained some mass. A rather noticeable prodding began to nudge up under Smokey as she sat there. It made her want to squirm a little and settle down on it. But that seemed inappropriate.

"So, you digested me, but you can let me back out. How's that work exactly?" Degyn asked.

"I give birth to you. While I was asleep that night, I started reforming you after you were gone, just... further down. I've been pregnant with you since that night." Smokey explained.

"You're pregnant with me!? Does that mean you're my mother now!?" the green fellow's eyes widened, his arms loosening from around his girlfriend.

The blue lady just rolled her eyes and sighed, lifting a paw to cup against his cheek.

"Only if you want to play up that angle. I didn't adopt you, I just brought you back. Like I said, I didn't want to say goodbye. I wanted to keep you in my life. You can't ask me to make you vanish on the same day I find you again." she cooed, bumping her forehead to his.

It eased the wingless drake somewhat, bringing his arms to wrap back around her more tightly again. He did like feeling that soft, somewhat pliable figure pressing against him.

"I don't know what I'll be able to do to support myself. I don't have a job or a place to live. And I don't want to spend the rest of my life here, in this place. I'd rather you had just let go." he sighed.

"You've got a place to live. You're going to live with us at the Inn. You still don't know what it's like or how big it is. There's plenty of space. We've already got a room set aside for you and everything. Your stuff's already moved in," Smokey explained, then offered a shy little smile, "Unless... you'd... prefer to share Shayna's and my room. It's big enough for all three of us."

"Hell, it's big enough for more than just three. You could have ten people on that bed and there'd still be room for more!" Shayna laughed.

It was Degyn's turn to blush, looking back at the angelic woman.

"And you're okay with this? It's not unusual to you?" he asked.

"Sweetheart, I'm over five thousand years old. You learn to let go of a lot of inhibitions keeping you from being happy in that stretch of time if you're smart. Don't be mad at her. She loves you. I see the way she looks at her belly when she's waddling around the place carrying you. I don't think I've seen her happier than when she's big and round, and especially so when it's you she's got under her scales. Say you'll stay. We'd love to have you." Shayna said.

Degyn looked back at the azure lady in his arms, sighing quietly as he let it all roll around in his head for a moment. His wish had only been partially granted. And while he had been promised, he found he couldn't be entirely mad that he wasn't dead. He felt like he had been lied to in a sense, but then he did ask for something pretty extreme. It would be an awful shame to be given a second chance at life just to throw it in Smokey's face.

"Fine... I'll... I'll give it a try. But, I don't want any special treatment. I want a job, something to do that's meaningful around your... 'inn' you called it. Not some made up title just to put me on the payroll." Degyn said.

"I think we can arrange that. There are plenty of jobs around the Inn. We'll find one that works for you. And if you don't like that one, we can move you somewhere else." Smokey said, letting hints of glee slip out into her voice.

"Now that we've got that settled, I think it's time we were going," Shayna said, looking back and forth between Lisa and Levi, "And you two need to get back over onto my side of the mountains. Head back to the sanctuary on the double."

"Do we have to? It's really cool seeing the Inn like this. We wanted to explore it a bit further." Lisa said.

"Yes, you have to. I'll arrange for you two to come and visit Smokey's predscape sometime after I let you back out. But for now, you need to get back to mine, pronto." the angelic lady insisted.

"This 'predscape' thing, pocket dimension, you said it's a place where you can put people who are inside you. Does that mean if you really wanted to, you could eat someone, digest them, then put them in here and not let them leave? Ever?" Degyn asked, looking at Smokey.

"Well, to be perfectly honest, yes. That's something you can do if you have a predscape. Shayna's done that with quite a few people she's known over the years. She keeps telling me she's going to do it to me when I get old and close to the end." Smokey chuckled.

The green fellow frowned softly, squirming a little in the easy chair. The idea made him uncomfortable, and it was clear it had such an effect on him.

"Well, in that case, how much longer do you plan on keeping me? I don't want to be in here forever. I'm not exactly interested in being a prisoner, my soul trapped in limbo or whatever." he said.

"It's not limbo," Shayna said, "Honey, there's a lot to explain about how a predscape works. And I'm more than happy to discuss the finer points with you about it after little Miss Greedy Guts here lets you out."

"Hey, I am not greedy! I just... wanted to make sure everything was set up before letting him out." Smokey said, sounding somewhat wounded.

Shayna opened her mouth to make another smart comment, amused by how Smokey had reacted. But the words didn't come. Instead, she decided to not press the issue any further. The subject was changed in that moment.

"We'll talk more later. For now, Smokey dear, I think we should wake back up. We're still in the Roost and they're going to be getting busy soon. We shouldn't take up any more space than necessary. Your usual reservation is likely going to be needed." the angelic lady said.

"You're probably right," Smokey agreed, then turned, planting a strong, loving kiss on the green's nose, "I'll see you later. I promise. In the meantime, have a look around."

"Are you going to let me out anytime soon?" Degyn asked.

"I probably should. I've been hogging you all to myself and that's not fair. How about this, I'll let you out tonight after the work day is over, sound good?" the blue drake asked.

"Okay. I'll see you then. Have a good rest of the day." the green fellow said, returning the kiss on the blue's cheek just before she faded out of existence.

"It'll be nice to finally, properly meet you," Shayna said with a smile, then turned to look at the otters, "And you two, get back to my predscape on the double. I mean it. It's important."

With that, Shayna vanished as well, leaving the emerald dragon and the twin healers-in-training sitting awkwardly in silence. The interior of the Roost returned to both Smokey and Shayna as they woke back up. They had lounged next to one another right there where the blue had been laying her eggs and connected by some means the angel dragon had not fully explained. She sat herself up and then stood, arching her spine while pushing her paws into the small of her back. The act shoved her enormous belly forward, the act appearing to be good for knocking someone over. She yawned and grunted softly as she stretched.

"I've got a predscape." Smokey said quietly, running her paws over her belly.

"You sure do. And it's an impressive one. The detailing is absolutely spot on. The fact that you didn't even know you were doing it makes it that much more interesting. I'm going to have to dig around in there, figure out what's going on. Usually you don't just spontaneously create one. It takes effort and concentration, and most of all, intent." Shayna replied.

"Well, I'm glad it's as nice a place as it is. I'm just a little worried that I've upset Degyn. He doesn't seem to like the idea that much." the blue lady said.

"Some folks just don't care for it. That's all. And once he's back out here in the waking world, he won't have to mess with it again unless he changes his mind. Now come on, let's go. I'd like to check on how Jace, Carmel, and Jia are getting on." Shayna reached out with a single paw, offering to help pull her wife up onto her paws.

As they worked to get the blue lady upright, a soft pop from deep inside caught them both by surprise. Smokey shivered and gasped, as did Shayna, as a powerful arc of magic passed between them. The angel's stomach began to shrink, flattening out rapidly. As if stealing the mass Shayna had been carrying, Smokey's belly surged outward in one, great jerk. It threw her off balance and she flopped back onto her rump, landing on the cushion where she had been laying eggs. She groaned loudly as she clutched at her belly. It had almost tripled in size and a great deal of motion could be seen under her scales. She was suddenly dizzy, fighting against the mighty sensations of stimulation running through her.

"Wha-what the hell... just happened!? More... more eggs!?" Smokey panted.

"No," Shayna said, her voice dripping with annoyance, "I told them to leave immediately. Apparently they had already stayed in your predscape long enough for this to happen."

"For what... to happen?" the blue drake asked breathlessly.

"For them to get transferred from me to you. If you've got someone inside you, physically, and you put them in your predscape so they are mentally active, and they manage to leave your predscape and enter another, connected predscape, their physical forms will move to the body of whoever it is that owns the predscape they're visiting. I didn't think it would happen so fast." Shayna explained.

"You mean... Lisa... and Levi..." Smokey panted out, then tipped her head back and cried out as she soaked her thighs, made to almost scream by orgasm.

"Congratulations, honey. You've got triplets. Now, if they do what I told them to do, they'll head back to my sanctuary, and I'll get them back before they can absorb any attributes from you. Like that greedy gut of yours." Shayna leaned in and poked at her wife's bloated stomach with a single finger.

"Okay... so... maybe it is... kinda greedy." the blue lady confessed.

As the two dragons discussed what had just happened, there came a buzzing from nearby, then a simple little chime playing a happy little melody. Both recognized it as Smokey's mobile slate and Shayna reached over to collect it. It was still hiding in the blue lady's red vest, which she had removed for the time being. The angelic dragoness, now trim of stomach and annoyed about it, lifted the slate to her face and tapped it to respond.

"This is Shayna. Smokey's a little occupied at the moment. How can I help you?" she asked.

"You may want to try and get her unoccupied. We've got something down here." Jace said, his face betraying an expression of shock and alarm.

Immediately, Shayna's mood shifted. She looked up at Smokey, still out of breath and dizzy from what was going on in her belly. The white lady reached out, pressed a palm on the great dome and closed her eyes. Immediately, all motion stopped save for a few subtle squirms. Smokey shivered and sighed in relief, groping at her exceptionally tender middle. Just rubbing it brought with it wave after wave of delight. She found it hard to stop.

"Wh-what did you do?" the blue lady asked.

"I put them to sleep." Shayna explained.

"But they were already asleep." Smokey replied.

"I put them into a deeper sleep. They're still in your predscape, but this way they won't have as strong a connection to their physical forms. They won't be able to kick or toss and turn in their sleep. Now, on your paws. We've got a situation. Jace says we need to see him." the angel dragon fired back.

That made Smokey sober almost immediately. Her eyes widened and she summoned an impressive display of strength she didn't even know she possessed. She climbed to her paws and huffed, hand-paws on the small of her back for support.

"Alright, let's go see what's going on." she said.

There was quite a bit of trouble getting such a huge belly through the doors as the walked through the Inn. Smokey had to squeeze herself out of the Roost then through a number of doorways just to get to the right section. Soon, Shayna was pushing against her from behind until she popped into the empty grey room. Her size caught the attention of the two dragons and the fennec already there, but not the fourth figure that stood facing away from them.

"Jace, Carmel, Jia," Shayna nodded to them, "I see you've made progress."

"Yes, we have," Carmel said, "It's not as much as we would like, but we're getting there. We thought you should come see before we went any further."

Smokey waddled her way over as quickly as she could, out of breath from hauling so much weight so quickly. She was taken by surprise the instant her stomach shrank back to the size it had been when it was only Degyn. The blue lady almost fell forward to land face first on the ground. Shayna yelped and squeezed her thighs together as her own stomach surged back out, her two otter 'children' returning to her womb in the same, sudden expansion Smokey had been through back in the Roost.

"Oh god... okay... good, they're back." Shayna sighed and clutched her tummy.

She had not said as much, but part of her annoyance with their sudden disappearance was that she had missed carrying them, and likely would again when she finally let them out when they were done.

"What the hell just happened?" Jace asked as he frowned.

"Long story. We'll explain later. We've got something more important at hand." Shayna answered, following the blue lady in approaching the motionless figure.

Smokey had made it around in front of that figure, staring at the face. Her heart ached and her eyes watered as emotion began to get the better of her. She lifted a paw to her mouth as she stared at the frozen image of the azure vixen she knew from her youth. The image was incomplete, fragments of it distorted and incorrect, as if the projection was trying to fill in the gaps as best it could. But the identity was unmistakable, as was the expression.

"Iris!" Smokey gasped, reaching out to cup a paw against the immaterial vulpine's cheek.

Jace shot his own paw out, grasping the blue lady's wrist and jerking her arm away.

"No! You can't!" he shouted, then took a breath to compose himself, "If you touch her as she is now, she'll destabilize. Please be patient. We're trying to download her completely from the pendent."

"How long?" Smokey asked.

"We've been downloading her for a while now. A few more minutes. We thought we had enough to activate her and she would continue to function remotely through the system, but that didn't work. And as you can see, she's... not happy." Jace said.

The vixen was indeed displaying an emotion, and it wasn't anything remotely like joy. She looked as though she was surprised, her eyes huge, her mouth hanging open. But there was more to it. It wasn't just that something unexpected had occurred. She was seeing something she had not been meant to see, and she was afraid. The look of terror was as plain as day. Smokey and Shayna both understood now why Jace had called them down in such a hurry.

"What's happened to her?" Shayna asked.

"The system is trying to restore her at the exact moment of her deactivation. Something went down, something bad." Jace explained.

"At least she doesn't get to feel actual pain," Carmel said, "I probably looked like that when the frame collapsed on me."

The fennec, not having made that connection, quickly moved to press himself in against the taller green lady's front, wrapping his arms tightly around her. It was an act of affection that Carmel welcomed. She returned the embrace and sighed, continuing to stare at Iris' frozen form. She wasn't simply standing there. Her posture suggested more than just something visible she found alarming. The blue fox had lifted an arm as if to shield herself from something.

"She looks like she's trying to block something from falling on her." Jia said.

"Or someone doing something to her." Carmel suggested in a dark tone.

"I refuse to believe anyone on my staff could ever have wanted to harm her!" Smokey shouted angrily, tears beginning to stream down her cheeks.

The very idea that someone could possibly have attacked her oldest friend, the lady who helped to raise her, was enough to make her want to scream in uncontrollable rage. She wouldn't hear it. Not unless there was no other explanation.

"We'll know in a moment. She should be coming online anytime now. The download is still in progress, so she might be a little out of sorts. That will resolve as more of her moves into the main projector." Jace said.

He looked to the device itself and studied it for a moment. It wasn't as elegant or compact as the broach, but it sufficed. The crystals were illuminated, flashing and pulsing softly to show the progress of Iris' transfer. After a few moments, the image of the vixen flickered and a distorted, garbled noise came from her. She began moving, but that movement appeared unnatural, as if her matrix was having a difficult time establishing itself. Then, as it began to correct and refine her image, she slowed herself and began to look around. Confusion filled her face.

"I... am... alive?" Iris asked, her voice terribly altered.

"Yes! You're alive! Iris! It's me, Smokey! Can you hear me!? Can you see me!?" the blue lady cried out, restraining herself from reaching out towards the fox.

"I... can see... hear you. Where... am...? Am... I... damage?" Iris asked, still having a difficult time converting thought to spoken word.

"You're being transferred from your pendant to a custom projection system inside a chamber that was designed from the ground up to sustain magic-based constructs. Your pendant was damaged when we found it. You had entered a self-protection mode when we found you. We've only just been able to re-activate you." Jace explained.

"Damaged. Protection mode," Iris said slowly, "Yes. I... remember."

"Do you remember why you entered your self-protection mode?" Carmel asked.

Iris turned and looked at the verdant lady, her expression softening from confusion to one of neutral emotion. It was almost serene compared to the confusion and terror.

"Miss... Aquatos... You're... awake. I thought... you would... be... asleep." she said.

"I'm awake, and I'm just fine. I've been very worried about you. Can you remember what happened?" Carmel asked.

"It's very important. We've been working hard to get you back since the accident. You've been offline for well over a year," Smokey said insistently, "Please, tell us anything you remember."

"A year..." Iris said in mild shock, then turned slowly to look back at the blue lady in confusion, "Accident..."

Her form was beginning to clear up, slowly looking more solid. Her voice was slowly returning to its original tone as well, suggesting whatever Jace was doing was working as intended.

"Yes, the accident that broke your pendent. Can you remember what happened?" Smokey asked urgently.

"It was not an accident," Iris said, "And I remember. All of it. I was attacked."

The room went silent. The air suddenly turned cold, though no one had changed the environment. The unthinkable had indeed happened. One of their own had been attacked, possibly for the purpose of killing. That was the only way to account for the kind of damage that had been done to the vulpine's broach.

"Do you know who it was?" Shayna asked, the first one to say anything, the only one who appeared to have the resolve necessary to press on without waiting any longer than a moment to process what had been said.

"Yes," Iris said, "It was Miss Arthrikit's assistant."

Once more, the room went dead silent. No one wanted to believe what they were hearing. It simply could not be true, but Iris had no reason to lie. She was incapable of it. And even if she could, doing so here would have served no purpose. They all had no choice but to believe exactly what they had been told.

"No. Inara's assistant?" Smokey gasped, then covered her muzzle with both paws.

"Yes. Inara's assistant," Iris said, her voice finally back to normal, "And I believe I know why."

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