[A]She didn't know how to take the new creature that Moose had dragged in.

  When Moose had taken her to the long hallway, even she had felt closed in. The roof seemed to be very close to Moose’s head. Far too low to be a pce that monsters could live and she didn’t think that they could cause much trouble with the size. It wasn’t until they got to the other end and found a door that was so small it seemed like she was the monster that she realized there probably weren’t any. It was almost as small to her as the long tunnel was to Moose.

  She didn’t know what danger Moose was afraid of coming from somewhere so small but she would keep her eyes on the lookout. It seemed like she had been brought because of the size though. Moose couldn’t fit at all.

  “Stay. Ask, need help. Find danger.”

  Ah, Moose didn’t think there was danger to them, Moose thought others were in danger. That made much more sense. She had seen the small creatures in the garden. They had to come from somewhere, right?

  If this was how Moose found other creatures, he would need to find some that wanted protection. As Moose tapped on the small door, she tried to figure out the best way to convey the rumbly words to these new creatures.

  After Moose had tapped a second time and nothing changed, she decided that maybe they were afraid of Moose just like she had been. As she reached out to tap a different pce to Moose, she told him to stand behind the separation near the end of the long tunnel.

  “Moose, find. Darkness. Quiet.”

  It seemed she was right as well.

  As soon as she tapped, there was a beep and the small door opened. The noise made her nearly jump behind Moose. There was a brief moment where she was looking over the small creatures, though they weren’t nearly as small as those in the garden, before the small creatures started making a great deal of it. They also started running around strangely. The suddenness had spooked her, but as they all seemed to be going away from her, she held her ground.

  How could she know the minds of creatures like them?

  There were some left after all, the loud ones probably had things to do. She could understand not wanting to stand around looking at each other.

  Though she really didn’t understand the noise.

  “You. Send help. Many things. Speak slow.”

  She pointed to one of the creatures as she spoke. The loud ones seemed to not use the rumbly words of Moose, so she had needed to find words in the lighter nguage from the Pages. She felt she had done a good job. She had told them she was helping with anything! So much said with so few words. She would feel much prouder if she didn’t need them to speak slowly, she hadn’t used this nguage for a while.

  When the creature she had pointed to spoke too fast for her to catch everything, she started to lose confidence that she had been understood. She had asked them to speak slowly, why talk that fast? Sure, they didn’t seem to be talking to her, since a couple of others quickly waddled away, but if the creatures didn’t listen, then how would they help?

  At least they seemed to be fetching something. Something about young? Were the baby creatures in danger? She was impressed that Moose had sensed that from so far away. She hadn’t even heard the noises that Moose had been talking about.

  She still had a long way to go it seemed.

  By the time the ones that had waddled away to fetch returned, her eyes had adjusted to the lights that were much brighter than she had gotten used to. Now that she could see more clearly, it seemed there was something on the ground around the creatures. If they had been injured, why didn’t these ones ask for help first?

  When the small creature that had been brought, the young one?, stood before her, she started to think there was something more serious going on. The new creature stumbled and started shaking. It clearly had something wrong with it. She told Moose as much.

  “Moose, find. Danger. This.”

  Moose didn’t seem to agree, as he rumbled deep in his chest, he seemed to be thinking things over. He didn’t have much time though, as the creature before her seemed to tip over backwards and nded on the floor. And stopped moving.

  Yes, clearly something wrong.

  Moose rumbled a new word she didn’t recognize. With what he said next, it seemed she had used the wrong word.

  “This. Not Danger.”

  Hmm, she would need to learn that new word. She watched as Moose reached down and lifted the new creature. It seemed to have some wetness on its tail and midsection, the injury most likely. Moose seemed to have no issue with taking the small creature back along the tunnel, so she turned once more and looked at the other small creatures. She gave them a questioning look, as they all seemed strange for one reason or another, but they didn’t seem to have anyone else that needed help.

  Or at least they weren’t in a hurry.

  She turned around and hurried after Moose, the small creatures could follow if they had anyone else that needed something.

  It seemed that Moose was taking the small creature to a strange room with nests that had stuff attached to them. She never managed to figure out what the room was for, but if it was for damaged creatures she understood why. There was no reason for Moose to come here and she was too careful. Moose seemed to check the small creature over and got a confused look on his face.

  ‘Hmm, it had to be serious if Moose didn’t know what magic to use.’

  “Kitty. Stay. Watch. Get water.”

  It seemed Moose would need strong magic then.

  She didn’t know why the small creature needed watching though. She couldn’t stop a monster.

  Ah, she could carry the creature she guessed. She had changed enough to be that strong, especially with a small creature like this.

  If only the creature didn’t start shaking as soon as it opened its eyes.

  Moose better hurry, this one desperately needed help.

  [C]She was terrified.

  When she opened her eyes again, she realized she was no longer on the floor. Quietly looking around, she saw the monster facing the other direction. She curled in on herself. She didn't know what was happening, but she was terrified.

  Where was she?

  Had she been sold?

  It didn’t make any sense for a new owner to have protection for themselves when she still had a colr on. A single button would make her unable to move. She must be near the remote, or the colr would have been punishing her and putting out a location signal. Had that been what the ship shaking was, a buyer docking? It must have been. She didn’t recognize anything around her.

  She seemed to be in some kind of medical bay. It was massive for a ship. No, it was massive for anywhere, it was unheard of for a ship. Even the giant that was now looking at her didn’t need this much room.

  She shivered.

  She didn’t know what species the giant was, but the eyes seemed to bore into her, as if her thoughts were id bare. She could tell the giant was female, as she had the same characteristics as herself, just scaled up. Minus the fur and tail of course. She had no idea why the giant wasn’t wearing anything though. Or why these beds seemed to be so rge. Or the doors. Or anything at all really.

  She was so lost that the panic was starting to hurt. What was going to happen to her?

  She could see the darkness start to edge into her vision again when something even bigger ducked through the door the giant had been looking at. Could there be small giants?

  Because the new being would need another word otherwise.

  It was so tall she could see why the room was that big now. Even with the room’s size the newcomer filled it, not having much space above its head.

  His head.

  Why was everything naked?

  His eyes though. They stole her attention.

  She found it impossible to look away. Whatever quality the smaller one had that made her gaze feel like it could see every intimate thing, the big one put it to shame. His eyes seemed to look into her very being. As if no matter how she tried, nothing was hidden from him. She could feel her instincts taking over. Feel her body rolling onto her back, with her tail curled and submissive.

  She had heard the whispers before. How the sve races had instincts they couldn’t overcome. How they would fall back to animal acts if they weren’t colred and taken into strict hand. She had dismissed them. She had never felt these so-called instincts. Never experienced the desire for these animal acts.

  She couldn’t deny them anymore.

  As the male giant came closer, every fiber of her being told her to freeze and expose her neck. Her mind couldn’t really figure out how to do both, but fortunately her body was already on it. It was a good thing there was nothing left in her bdder. Not only would she have gotten it all over herself in a bid to not move, she would likely have been the one to clean it up afterwards. She hoped whoever her new owner was came soon. She was very much on the verge of whimpering and she didn’t want to draw the real giants attention.

  Seemed she failed though.

  She really did whimper as the giant put down something nearby and lifted her into a sitting position like she weighed nothing. She was too afraid to look at what was happening, but she could feel giant hands pushing and touching all over her. The giant seemed to start near her tail and worked its way up.

  Right up to her colr.

  The colr seemed to get in the way, though she wasn’t sure what the giant was looking for on her neck. She wasn’t even sure she was feeling everything correctly.

  “Uh…”

  Had…. had that been her colr?

  She had felt it more than anything, not much noise beyond a soft crack. When she felt the colr fall from her neck, her head was pulled down by the weight of sheer incredulity. She didn’t see anything, so she looked up and saw the giant looking strangely at her colr, the back portion crushed too almost nothing.

  That wasn’t possible.

  If someone messed with the colr without it being turned off, it gave a powerful shock to everyone involved. So much so, she should be writhing on the floor. When the giant handed her the colr and she felt, more than heard, a rumble, it returned to putting its hands all over her.

  She was only barely conscious of it.

  The colr was in her hands.

  The colr that had dominated her entire life.

  Had given others so much power over her.

  Had given her so much pain.

  Had it always been so easy?

  Such a minor movement and she could have been free of it?

  She felt something drop onto her fingers. When she looked, she was shocked to see water there. She was even more shocked when another drop joined it. When she reached up to see where they were coming from, she found her cheeks wet.

  Were they tears? She was crying?

  “Safe. Not danger.”

  She startled when she heard the female giant speak. They could talk? Was she allowed to talk? Should she ask?

  She opened her mouth to ask and promptly forgot what she was doing. Her tail wanted to move a little. What was happening right now?

  When the moment passed, she looked back at her surroundings only to realize the male giant had undone the fastener for her suit. When he pulled the top down exposing her back, her tail was still curled between her legs, he rumbled a bit more.

  She only realized it was speech when the female giant rumbled back.

  The male giant seemed to need something and left the room, while the female giant moved towards her.

  ‘I guess the naked thing applies to me as well then.’