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The Lost of the Marshes - Chapter 3: Home

by Bad Manners

===

... The expansion of Kaati to the south laid waste to many settlements, all the way to the outskirts of the Hamora Marshes. At the very south of the empire's new territory, remained the conquered city of Kuir, and the satellite villages that sold food to the urban populace. [...] Logas, to the east of Kuir, was one such village, being rebuilt a few decades ago on the grounds of another village that burned down. Its main products mostly consisted of crops and cattle, but at one point it also used to house many scavengers. ...

... Artifacts pertaining to missing civilizations have long been sought after by the elites in Kaati cities, offering a constant demand for the opportunistic dealer in exchange for gold. However, said dealings happened in the black market. [...] The artifacts usually came from civilizations destroyed by Kaati, or more rarely, from scavenging in far away regions where untouched ruins remained. ...

===

The sun still shone on the sky. Its light reached the trees and ruins on this sparse part of the Hamora Marshes, and the songs of birds had returned to fill the afternoon with a lazy atmosphere. Inside a white stone-walled building, near the back wall of the long-abandoned temple, a blue- and black-scaled dragon lay quietly on his side. He couldn't see the sun from here, but the daylight still prevented him from getting any sleep. And considering the company he was keeping - and where he was keeping it -, he didn't feel inclined to move around. Still, he wasn't bored, and happily daydreamed for the last hour or so.

Inside of him, his two newly-made friends, a tall mongoose and a small cat, literally made an impression in his crop, which was visible as a discernible bulge on the outside of his blue dome belly, under his ribs. They didn't move, other than the sway in the thorax from the reptile's breathing, and they rested tightly inside of the dark damp chamber. He had earned the trust of these tiny visitors; in return, he'd provide what very little warmth and safety a giant cold-blooded reptile like him could. He was content like this, although he kind of wished that they were still awake to communicate and interact. There was so much he wanted to observe about the unpredictable, non-draconic strangers, and kept wondering how their lives were outside of the marshes... Perhaps they did stuff like this, too?

Just so, he felt some stirring in his crop now. The taller one, it seemed, was stretching his arms against the muscly walls, just waking up from his nap. Nikili let out a yawn, and rubbed his eyes, opening them to be met with darkness. "How long did I sleep...? Is it already night-?" He could still feel pressure on his back, legs and head from the chamber, and on his lap from a cat soundly sleeping in a curled position. As his senses returned to normal, he could also make out a heartbeat in the distance, and now some deep growling somewhere above. Nikili remembered the earlier events, and pushed a hand against one of the walls. "Hey, big guy. I still can't believe I agreed to this", he spoke drowsily. "But really, I can't even believe I managed to fall asleep in here."

He now also heard a meow followed by purring, and he brought his other hand to pet his companion on his lap. "Hey Quince. I hope you had a good time." Instead of replying, the wordless cat returned the affection, lightly hugging Nikili's naked belly. "I'll take that as a 'yes'", he smiled.

They quietly remained like this for a few moments, as the sleepiness wore off. Quince had now gotten up and they started rubbing their paws on the wall, returning the dragon's affection as well. The giant creature replied with his own dragon-like murrs, leaving Nikili dumbfounded that he was the only one of the three who could speak, but even if the winged drake didn't seem to understand their language, he could still communicate somehow - in fact, more easily with Quince than him, it seemed.

As the surprise of waking up in the incredibly hospitable organ wore off, Nikili decided that they would have to cut it short. He turned to where he felt Quince's weight on his skirt, and said, "I hate to say this, but we should probably get going. We don't know what time it is and we still have stuff to do for the day." Quince would have liked to spend more time inside of the dragon, but instead of resisting, they simply trilled twice, which was code for 'yes'. "Okay then", he acknowledged, now trying to pick up Quince under their arms and stand up. There wasn't enough space here, and he had to bend his back near the roof. "Hey big guy!", he shouted, "Could you let us out now?". He hugged the cat against his chest with one arm, and pressed his now free hand on the tight sphincter of the entrance; not to pry it open, but to signal his intention.

The dragon had learned his lesson from the confusion of yesterday, and understood what the mongoose wanted. As gently as he could, he clenched the muscles of the internal pouch and relaxed the ring to expel them, and both passengers began their upwards slide back to the outside world. It helped the winged drake to stay in this laid down position, and then lower his neck even closer to the ground, so that his esophagus wouldn't have to fight against gravity. Also unlike last time, he tried not to rush it, since his occupant had been left completely disoriented in the last attempt. However, with the added weight of Nikili as the two held each other tightly, this task was a bit more challenging, but not unmanageable. Everything was progressing smoothly and he felt the inside pressure from the two scavengers travel from his chest to his neck.

As the regurgitated visitors brushed against the soft flesh of rippling muscles, the creature started salivating, anticipating the arrival of the two tiny mammals back in his maw. This proved to be too much, however, as in a slight loss of focus from the dragon, he unconsciously swallowed some of the saliva in his mouth, sending the pair at his mercy a few feet back down the gullet. He panicked a little and clenched his throat muscles, which led to him choking on that same glob of spit traversing the tunnel, and he started coughing. So much for being careful, he thought; the scavengers were tossed around with the incredible amount of air being expelled from the dragon's lungs, and were sent flying turbulently straight to the back of his mouth. He managed to consciously gag there, catching them with his palate, and coughed once more just to slide them to the top of his tongue. Once the jostling was over, he tasted around, simply to make sure that he could feel two distinct masses - which he did; at least none of them had gotten lost far down in his body.

He extended his tongue near the ground, and slowly deposited the duo on a puddle of saliva on the ground. The pair were laying down on the spit, catching their breath from the fright, but they seemed unharmed. The bright yellow cat tried to stand up, but the dizziness was too much to endure, and they slipped and fell with their head on Nikili's chest. The blue beast just lowered his head on the floor near them and huffed apologetically, hoping they weren't too mad at him...

***

After they had recovered and dried themselves as best as they could, Nikili decided to get back on track after that wild ride of an intermission. After all, they still were on scavenging duties. He and Quince were now coordinating their efforts, rounding up all of the artifacts left in this forgotten temple. With his sandals back on, the mongoose walked around, inspecting what he could find lying around. He paused to look back at the giant creature in the back, whose blue eyes simply watched them both out of curiosity.

In the stories he'd heard as a child, dragons would hoard treasures and gold, and would kill anyone who dared steal them, but this one didn't seem particularly attached to anything in here - except, perhaps, for the privacy that the building itself offered midst the open marsh plains. In fact, the giant creature had only seemed interested in them this whole time, showing care and understanding, even at the face of danger. The dragon had done everything for Quince's sake, Nikili reasoned, but he wondered if the dragon also took an interest in- no, never mind.

Getting back to the task at hand, it didn't seem like anyone had looted this place before, so they managed to find quite a few items, just short of a dozen. For the large space of this temple, though, Nikili had expected to find even more stuff in here. They were composed of ceramics, such as decorated urns and plates, and a few copper idols shaped as animal-people.

"Okay... let's see what we can grab, and be on our way." He kneeled and opened the still-wet bag that he wore across his chest, used to carry around any items they managed to find. Normally they'd only bring back all they could find, which could vary between one to three artifacts, but there were too many here. Nikili would pack however many he could, then have him and Quince carry a few more on their arms, and this would probably still leave some of the less intact pottery behind. He wasn't worried about his weapon; the mongoose decided to leave the broken axe head here - it was just extra weight, and perhaps always had been when it came to the denizens of the marshes, as the dragon had demonstrated -, and Quince was already wearing back their leather belt that the giant creature had kept as a memento.

Once his bag was full, he grabbed two figurines with his hands and stood up. "Alright, we're ready to go. Quince, you'll need to carry that urn that's still intact." The feline walked over and touched its rim with their paws. "Now we can head home-", he continued, but was interrupted by a room-filling murr. They turned towards the dragon who had been silently watching the two. Quince mewled at him with a smile, but Nikili had a somber look on his face.

He approached the dragon and spoke. "I know you won't understand this, but... I'm sorry, big guy, this might be goodbye for good. I know that you have only been friendly to us, even if we-if I don't deserve it. And I know Quince would like to see you again. But there are other dragons here that would hurt us if we aren't careful, a-and we stand no chance against them. So I hope you can accept my apology... and I promise that when I find a safe way for us to come here, I'll do it, for you and Quince."

The dragon turned his head in confusion. Of course, he didn't understand Nikili, but that whole speech wasn't really directed at him. The mongoose just couldn't stare Quince in the eyes as he broke the news, knowing that the overtly-emotional cat would start crying. Finished, Nikili turned to face them, hoping there was something he could do to console them, but they were in fact just thinking.

Quince had a different plan in mind, and explaining it to their partner would be a waste of time. Putting it in motion, they walked over to one of the dragon's front paws and, trying their best to hug one of the huge black claws that was as big as themself, pulled on it as if to say 'come'. The cat's behavior was confusing for both; the winged drake let out a confused growl, but the brown mongoose verbalized his objection. "Do you want him to come with us? I don't think it would be smart to bring a huge dragon like him into Kaati, and it's not like he can sneak around at his size."

The cat looked at Nikili and shook their head. They knew this, but that was precisely their idea. Quince let go of the dragon's claw and instead, flapped their arms around, mimicking flying. "Uhhh... you want him to fly back home with us? I mean, that wouldn't help much, would it?", Nikili asked, but the blue dragon and yellow feline were staring intently at each other. "If anything, that would only cause more of a panic-", he continued, interrupting himself when he realized that, in the blink of an eye, the dragon simply disappeared. He let out a shriek in surprise, then a yelp after accidentally kicking one of the broken urns on the ground.

He sat down to rub his stubbed toe, and still wincing, yelled, "Did I hit my head too hard?! The dragon was here just a moment ago...!" Quince didn't answer. They were squatting down, watching something that Nikili couldn't see from behind. He stood up, got close to them, and shrieked again when he saw what it was.

There was an animal on the ground, and at first it looked like a bird, with 10"/26cm in body length - around a third of the cat's own size -, and a long flat tail with two rows of feathers on the sides, about as long as the rest of the body. Even though it might be mistaken for a raven at first sight - with its black plumage and two long wings extending from the arms -, it very clearly wasn't one. For it lacked a beak; instead, it had an uncanny reptile jaw. After Nikili got a good look at it, it let out a chirp and jumped with a flap of its wings, flying around the room in a few circles. Unsurprisingly, they had never seen an archaeopteryx or anything like it before, so he didn't have a better name to call it by, other than-

"A flying lizard...?!", he blurts out. The Urvogel lands back in front of them, returns their stare with its own blue eyes and lets out a trill, not unlike a high-pitched version of a familiar growl. "D-D-Dragon-?", the stunned mongoose whispered, and Quince confidently confirmed it with two trills. The cat approached their forearm to the black-feathered archaeopteryx, and he climbed on it with his non-webbed claws. At his new size and weight, even Quince could perch him. The cat trilled warmly at the tiny dinosaur, and looked up at an astonished mongoose, eyes still bulging from his face.

All that he manages to mutter is, "I must have hit my head too hard..."

***

It was well into the afternoon when the scavengers journeyed back home. Their energies recovered after the unusual nap, they walked back towards their home with the extra goods and an extra companion. Nikili had been carrying most of the items in his bag and one more on each hand, and Quince carried an urn. They'd been looking out for other dragons, wary now that there could be danger nearby, but so far they hadn't found any. Except for the black archaeopteryx-transformed one, who flew above their heads at a vantage point as they walked over the reedy plains of the marshes. Not spotting anything of interest, the transformed dragon carefully swooped towards the cat, landing on the rim of the ceramic and letting out a gleeful bird-like chirp.

"That's still incredible to me... and you already knew that he could do this?", Nikili asked Quince, and they confirmed it. "Whoa. But how? He didn't say it to you, did he?" The cat shook their head. "So you kind of deduced it, then. And what about the other way? Can you speak with him?" Quince only responded with a long contemplative trill; they didn't know the answer. "Well, but there's some way he can understand you, right? Like body language or something. You managed to tell him to turn into this bird-reptile thing by flailing with your arms, earlier." And, Nikili remembered, when the pair was inside of him, he did let them out on the mongoose's command.

Holding the urn with one hand, Quince raised a finger from the other one to scratch his chin, and he joyfully accepted the pets. "You don't think that he can read-" The cat interrupted him with a hiss. "Something wrong, Quince?" He looked around, but he was the target of the cat's complaining. "Was it something I said?" The feline nodded, pointing at the Urvogel still looking at them, and then at their own bright-yellow body with brown spots. "You and him...?" The cat hissed again more loudly. "Oh, I see... 'him', is it? You don't like it when I call the dragon a 'he', do you?"

Being genderless, Quince was very passionate about their identity and how Nikili, most of all people, referred to them. There was little they could do to correct strangers - not being able to speak any words being the major issue -, but Nikili was their companion, and he had earned a fair share of cat scratches until he started correcting himself and others. So naturally, they wanted him to not make baseless assumptions about their new friend and its gender.

"Well, it's true that he doesn't have anything 'down there', I checked it myself." The cat raised a brow at the weird comment, but the mongoose kept talking, "But I don't know, there's something about the big guy - small guy, now, I guess - that makes me think of him as a male. I don't know, I look at him and I look at you and I just feel like you two are very different, and there's something about him and other men... I don't know." That was certainly a collection of words, Quince thought, and it raised some concerns with them. Namely, they knew too well that Nikili was attracted to other men, and the way he'd said it... no, Quince decided not to read too much into the weird argument.

The archaeopteryx flew away from the urn that they were holding, and onto Nikili's shoulder. He was still amazed at how lightweight the massive dragon was, now. "Oh hey, little guy", he welcomed, and the proto-bird nuzzled his feathered head against his brown furry neck, to his surprise. "Awwww... see, Quince? I think he likes being called 'little guy'!", he chuckled, and Quince trilled a 'hmpf!' in dissatisfaction. After all they'd been through these last days, this was the first moment that felt somewhat normal to Nikili, and he was pleased with it.

They could spot the end of the marshes, where the reedy terrain around Hamora Lake ended, and the desert plains of the land between the Two Rivers stretched ahead. "I'm starting to feel a bit hungry now, how about you?", Nikili asked Quince, not really waiting for a response. "Hmmm... I wonder what the little guy would like to-", he continued before being interrupted by a flap of wings. The flying lizard had flown off his shoulder, and was now hovering behind them. Before the mongoose asked what was wrong, Quince stepped up. They placed down the urn they'd been carrying on the sandy ground and pointed at the reed as the cause.

"He's scared of leaving the marshes or something, huh? I bet he's just scared of leaving them than we and other people are of entering the marshes", he mused. "It's okay, little guy, you'll be fine. We won't be going too far away from your home. We're close, promise." Quince had also brought out their forearm for the archaeopteryx to perch himself on again, further incentivized by inviting feline trills. The small dinosaur carefully approached, and when he'd landed on their arm, Quince brought him close to their chest, holding him against their fur while gently stroking his back with the other hand to comfort him. They slowly walked over to the desert, letting the shaking Urvogel watch the ground around him so that he'd know that everything was fine. He was still overwhelmed, but the cat's caress was helping. Quince felt relieved, and set out on the path back home.

"Hey!", Nikili yelled behind, "You forgot the urn-". He interrupted himself, and groaned. Fine, he thought, he'll grab it later. The manual labor part always ended up in his paws one way or another, it seemed. He just hoped no one would steal the unattended ceramic for now; at least, he wouldn't have to walk much more to reach their destination.

At the edge of the village, they approached a building made of clay brick walls that had no windows, except for a hole on the roof. This was their home, and it looked pretty much the same as most of the other houses in Logas. The hole was in the center of the house, right above the hearth, in order to let out any smoke from the cooking fire. Logas was, in that regard, an exception; these houses were usually common in cities, not in rural Kaati territory. Instead, most people outside of urban areas lived in homes made from reed gathered on the margins of the Two Rivers and woven, and were a lot cheaper to make than clay bricks. This house was a small fortune that Nikili barely had been able to initially afford when the duo moved into Logas, but it was well worth it.

When he entered the building after the cat and the small dinosaur, Nikili placed his stuff near the doorway, and grabbed a few of their remaining gold coins from a small purse inside. "I'm gonna grab that pot you left behind, and then see if they have some fish I can buy for dinner". Quince heard him leave, and they carefully placed the feathered friend on the ground. Thankfully, he seemed to have calmed down, perhaps since he was in an enclosed space now. The cat started their nightly routine, approaching the clay oven in the center of the house and sparking a flame on the hearth by frictioning a wood stick - a simple survival skill of making fire, but with so many years of practice, Quince could do it in a matter of seconds like none other.

The archaeopteryx simply watched as they picked up the lit stick, bringing it to light the oil lamps on the walls. The house was smaller than the temple ruin that they'd found him in. As Quince went over every room, the black and blue Urvogel flew from a vantage point to the next to accompany them and to explore the space. Other than the entrance hall and the hearth, there were a few more rooms separated by brick walls: a pantry for food and drinks, a bedroom, a privacy room, and some others.

Meanwhile, with the few coins in hand, Nikili returned to grab the urn. But there he finds a woman standing next to it, a white duck. "Hey! That's mine!", he shouts to her hurriedly.

"Hi Nikili. I was just taking a look. By the way, why is your skirt wet?", she replies, examining him. He ignored her, and grabbed the urn. She was astonished. "... You're not even gonna say hi back?"

His green eyes glanced to the mallard's direction, looking at her woven cloth red dress, black eyes, and brown beak. Her name was Ruunk, and she also used to be a scavenger from the village. Unlike the pair of Quince and Nikili who worked alone, she would occasionally team up with 4 or so other former scavengers from the village, splitting their shares from expeditions. One day, she and the others stopped venturing into Zugul because of the risk and rumors. Nowadays, Nikili recalled, her work consisted of helping Nurta with the farmlands; but while others did the manual tasks, she handled the operational part of business, like keeping track of produce and finances.

"Seriously?! Are you really just gonna ignore me?", she complains.

The mongoose started walking back towards the village. Not in the mood for talking with her, he simply dismisses her. "I'm gonna buy some fish."

"Fish? Is it a special occasion?", the bird asked, but he ignores her once again and started heading towards the main farmhouse building, where Nurta could usually be found working during the day. Ruunk shouted, "You know, Nurta is indisposed tonight. So I'm in charge today! You're gonna have to buy fish with me". He stopped on his tracks and groaned loudly. Outraged at his demeanor, Ruunk blurted out, "Seriously, what is your deal, Nikili? You wanna pretend I don't exist... Fine! But tell me then. Do you hate me...? Why? Whatever have I done to you?"

He defended himself, "I don't hate you, Ruunk! I really don't, but..."

"But what?"

Nikili sighed, blushing. "But y-you've said that you were interested in me... l-like, really interested. And I-"

She simply crossed her arms. "Yeah? So?"

"Wait, you still are?!"

"Of course, silly mongoose, why not?"

He got even more flustered by the bluntness, his cheeks turning redder. "B-but I've already told you I'm not-... I'm only into men!"

Ruunk pauses, and shrugs. "And that doesn't matter to me. Maybe you don't know that you want it yet, but my heart does, so there's that."

She was incredibly stubborn, that's for sure; giving her the benefit of the doubt was a mistake, Nikili thought. "Ugh, you're impossible!" He stormed off angrily, but she shouted at him after a few steps.

"Hey! Aren't you buying your fish, at least? Liara caught them himself, I think."

He'd already forgotten about the food. He stopped and turned back around, without replying to her. He wasn't feeling like starving both him and Quince tonight just to spite her. He reached her side, waiting for her to lead the way.

Instead, she mulled for a bit, and then blurted out. "Don't give yourself too much credit. Not everything in my life is about you-"

"Let's just go, please.", he pleaded, defeated.

Ruunk scoffed, turned around, and both of them headed towards the main building in silence.

***

Quince had just finished lighting the oil lamps and threw the stick back into the fire of the hearth, and the archaeopteryx now landed on their shoulder. They brought a finger to scratch the underside of his jaw, and he happily trilled in response. At the same time, Nikili arrived back and smiled at the two getting along. Once he put down the urn he'd retrieved near the other artifacts by the doorway, he called Quince to come over. He took one of the raw fish he was now carrying in his bag and brought it closer to the archaeopteryx's face. "Hey little guy, maybe you want some fish?", the mongoose asked, remembering that the dragon had a faint breath of raw fish earlier. Maybe it was part of his diet, but he didn't seem keen on eating that one. "That's fair," he remarks, "there's no knowing if Ruunk poisoned it or something." Quince gave him an inquisitive meow, and he just dismisses his own comment. "Oh, it's just a joke, I hope. Maybe these just aren't fresh enough for him, if he catches and eats them in the wild. Or he doesn't trust us that much with food. Or maybe he's just not hungry. He did kind of already eat us today..."

There was something Quince had meant to ask Nikili, and they left for the pantry, grabbing something there. They came back with a bletting bright-yellow fruit, and once they grab Nikili's attention, pointed to it and then themself. "Why are you showing me a quince? Because it's your name?" The cat nodded and then turned their head to the feathered dinosaur still on their shoulder. "I see... so you want me to name the dragon? But I thought you were mad moments ago because I called him a guy." The cat simply furrows their brows and lets out two trills. "Also, if I give him any name, he won't understand it and agree to it like you did. It doesn't really feel right."

Quince gives another inquisitive meow, and pets the now-diminutive dragon, who cuddled back against the paw with his head. "What? Are you saying we name him like a pet? Sorry, but he's not a pet. We can't just keep him." Quince started protesting, and Nikili quickly interjected. "No, I'm not saying we should abandon him. I'm past that now." He kneeled down to match the small cat's height. "But he's just not a pet. And he's not like... us, either. You saw how scared he was when we left the marshes, I doubt he's ever been this far from his home before. What if he has a dragon family out there that he needs to go back to? What if he turns back into a dragon here, and either one of us gets hurt? Or someone from the village discovers that he exists and tries to harm him?"

Quince crossed their arms, and the archaeopteryx flew off into another room to explore. Although Nikili was exaggerating, he did have a point. They didn't know anything about the feathered visitor, or what was going in his dragon's mind. "I know you mean no harm, Quince, but we gotta figure out something that works for us and for him. Tonight he can stay with us, and we'll talk about it tomorrow, okay?" Quince felt kinda bad, but they decided to simply agree. "Alright, I'm gonna grab a beer and make us food, and you two enjoy yourselves. In the meantime, if you want me to call him something, I'll just keep it simple and call him 'Dragon'." Quince put their tongue out to demonstrate that they didn't like the suggestion. "Heh, okay. I'll think of something better while I make food", he chuckled, checking the fire under the clay oven, and moving to the pantry.

Here is where they kept their food and water, but also where they prepared some medicine and drinks. In there, Nikili was just finishing a batch of beer, which he made from especially prepared barley bread. It was a hobby of his, making beer. He'd make the malt and use it to prepare his own type of bread, and had a routine system in place, where he'd mix its crumbs in water with a bit of syrup, put it in a different clay bottle at different dates, and left it to ferment over a couple of days, so that he could make at least one cup for himself every night. He opened one of the semi-sealed bottles, set aside a clay cup, placed a thin cloth on its rim so it'd serve as a sort of strainer, and carefully poured the murky liquid of the bottle on it.

Quince didn't like the beverage, but as Nikili learned, it was a great gift to make friends. Especially those who Nikili saw as potential dates, he'd learned. Once he was done pouring the fermented drink, he put the bottle aside, removed the strainer, and brought the cup to his lips. Maybe if they weren't scavenging, he could turn this little operation of his into a job; but for now, a drink of warm, sour, and just slightly alcoholic brew every day was all the satisfaction he could need.

He could just sit back and relax at a good day's work, but instead started ruminating on the messy events of that day. Nikili looked at the artifacts, feeling some remorse imagining a forgotten civilization worshiping and desiring them, and how to him, they were merely loot to barter. He recalled the failed long-term relations he'd attempted with other men, and they always felt like failures, like something was missing. Then he remembered his encounter with Ruunk; in another universe, maybe he could date her - but he just couldn't reciprocate her love, there was no attraction -, so why did he feel guilty about it? He took another sip. Now his thoughts jumped to the dragon, who was probably flying around the house as the archaeopteryx; deep down, he was also glad that he came with them back to Logas, and he did look cute like a pet bird, but for some reason kind of missed his look as a dragon.

These thoughts felt vain to Nikili, as if this was stuff he shouldn't concern himself about. Maybe a belly full of beer and food would drown his dread and worries. He walked over to the hearth and placed the fish he'd bought on the oven, now that the fire was sufficiently warm, and drank some more from the cup.

***

Meanwhile, Quince had been looking for the transformed dragon, and found him in an empty room, that only had a woven reed mat on the floor. It served as a privacy room when Nikili or Quince needed some time alone, or very rarely as a storeroom. The small archaeopteryx was on the ground, biting on the edge of the mat out of curiosity. When Quince came into the room and sat next to him, he happily chirped and jumped on their lap. The cat slowly pet them, but they were mostly contemplating questions of their own as they observed the black and blue companion.

As much as they hated to admit it, Nikili wasn't completely wrong. Their friend wasn't a pet, and communicating with it - if you could even call it that - was not a practical ordeal. Plus, they'd only met yesterday, and Quince's world had already been turned upside-down in the short time. Granted, it was turned around in a good way... which is why they couldn't bear the thought of saying goodbye so soon. He had chosen to come home with them, sure, but how much of that could he understand? Would he really like to stay with them forever? What did he want? Was he scared of the sudden change? Had they done something wrong?

Through the cat's pensiveness, the dragon could feel that Quince was feeling tormented, and although his options for comforting the cat right now weren't the same as if he was a dragon, he still had an idea. He let out another chirp and brought his two wings above his head, indicating to the cat to move their paw away from petting him. The cat complied, and watched with curiosity. The archaeopteryx now lifted his bird-like arms and head, trying to extend to Quince's face and failing. The cat understood this and slowly shifted closer to the floor, leaning back further and further. They kept their arms behind their back for leverage, and the tiny dinosaur was now standing on their tummy, with the cat's head within reach.

He slowly advanced, and with a few more reassuring chirps, pressed his half-feathered head against Quince's lips. At this point, the cat realized what the reptile's plan was, and gasped. The mouth unsealing in surprise, he pressed his head further forward at the new opening, resting the tip of his maw inside Quince's. What the feline realized was that he, the dragon, would now try to satisfy another fantasy of them, one that the small yellow cat had thought an impossibility all of this time.

Just earlier today, Quince had been swallowed by the dragon, who normally was more than ten times their size; now that he was so small, it would be their turn to try and swallow that same dragon.

The idea excited them, but they were still unsure if it was even feasible. Even so, they'd trust the Urvogel's instincts. Quince opened their mouth a little bit more, letting him press his entire head into their jaws. While the dragon could scoop up Quince's entire body with a single lick, he could only fit up to his neck before he reached the back of their tongue. The feline was undeterred, however, and accepted the challenge, deciding to take it slowly.

First, they decided to feel around the proto-bird with their tongue, getting a taste of the willing meal as well as lubricating him with saliva. With their mouth almost fully opened to accommodate him already, it was hard to maneuver the tongue around, but it could brush the underside of the archaeopteryx's chin just fine. They moved their barbed muscle carefully to not scratch the dinosaur's skin with it, while still trying to be thorough in the tongue bath. The sensation of their spines rustling the short feathers on the head felt great, their textures tickling both the cat and the reptile. Quince tried to pry around his skin with their taste buds, remarking how similar the taste was to chicken skin.

They heard satisfied trills coming from their oral cavity, which were accompanying their own subconscious purring. The remaining space in Quince's mouth was slowly filling up with more saliva, ready to aid in the ingestion of prey. They had probably remained like this, slurping at the archaeopteryx, for a few minutes, drool now running down his neck and dripping from the cat's lower lip.

Still, the feathered reptile was intent on continuing his progress, burrowing his head and neck further until his snout reached the back of Quince's mouth. Any more progress would depend on their initiative. Quince shifted around, pushing their arms against the floor so they could sit up instead of lie down. This pushed the archaeopteryx almost entirely out of their mouth, but freed up their arms, so they could now grab the Urvogel and lift them directly into the maw. This displaced a large amount of drool in the cat's mouth, making an audible 'squelch' as the prey went further in than before, his head now pushing against the entrance to the throat. Quince's fingers firmly held the small archaeopteryx around the wings, not pressing too hard on him, and they could already feel some saliva in his feathers with the touch of their paws.

This was just the start of it, Quince thought, because the next part was going to be the most important. They relaxed their throat, their palate giving way to an opening of softer flesh. Quince had never even attempted to swallow something as big as this, but figured that as long as they took it slow, and made sure to breath throughout the process, it'd turn out fine. Once they were mentally prepared, it was go time. The hands moved further closer to their maw, and they felt the small dinosaur's head press against the entrance of the esophagus. If the prey was making any chirps or trills, Quince couldn't notice anymore; their swallowing and salivating would muffle any sounds he'd make, and their focus was now on making sure he kept going deeper into their body.

The cat kept swallowing as they fit more and more into their throat, working their way down the Urvogel's black and blue neck. They had to open their maw even more to accommodate the wider part of his body; the top part of his wings were already inside the mouth, awaiting their turn to slide down the food pipe. At least, Quince realized, pressing down the wings that they were holding a bit more would reduce the volume of the prey in their mouth, as his flight limbs now clung unto his body with more ease after being drenched in saliva. And the pressure inside of their throat was still manageable, with plenty of room for the rest of the proto-bird's neck and the cat's exchange of air with the lungs.

Even occupying the role of predator now, Quince wondered how it felt like to be squished, soaked, gripped this much. They had been prey twice now, but both times they were like an ant to the towering dragon. Overwhelming still, but there was something very instinctual, very raw and carnal about this. Like a hunter claiming their quarry, Quince imagined. But it also felt nothing like that. They both wanted to do this right now. And while someone around Nikili's size might have been able to give them a similar experience, they never could have fulfilled their current role.

In the cat's mind, this was like repaying the favor of the dragon swallowing them down the two other times; even if in truth, the dragon initiated this to comfort the cat yet again. If the sensations weren't so real - the nuances of the archaeopteryx's taste, the pressure as his body dislodged their jaws and throat, and the touch of wasted saliva pooing on their own fur, not to mention the sounds their body made from engorging this proto-bird -, Quince would have thought this all to be a dream.

With the hands that were holding the willing meal now touching their own lips, they moved away one of them to feel their own neck. Their skin clearly bulged, now that the entirety of the dragon's head and neck were enveloped in the esophagus. Now only the underside of the archaeopteryx's body and his tail were outside of their maw. A primitive instinct kicked in, and Quince lightly tossed their head up and gulped. The wider Urvogel's breast, slim though as it was, was having difficulty entering the pink tunnel, but the small dinosaur started shuffling about from side to side to plop it inside, synchronizing with the cat's swallowing. Aided by gravity, progress now continued at a slow but steady pace.

The larger mass occupying their throat made breathing a bit more arduous, but not too difficult, and Quince was relieved that there seemed to be no risk of choking. Their other hand now also letting go off the proto-bird - the maw and throat already held him in place as is -, it moved to his rump, and pushed at the same time as they swallowed again. The pressure helped getting a few extra inches inside, and now half of the prey's body (not counting his long tail) was at and beyond their pharynx. But even as the tongue pressed back against his legs, trying to scoop them down as well, Quince noticed a small problem. The back of the dinosaur was mostly dry, and their mouth didn't seem to be producing any more saliva. This would hamper any progress, as the transformed dragon would likely not slide further if he wasn't lubricated enough.

Quince had considered ending it and pulling the archaeopteryx back out, but the thought of completely eating him - especially if it might be their only chance at this - still gave them a rush. So against any further judgment, they already had formulated a plan: they'd go to the pantry and find some water to help them down him with. The cat lowered their head and closed their maw around the archaeopteryx's rump, eliciting some muffled but audible questioning chirps from him. Quince simply rubbed their throat from outside to soothe him and set out on their way across the house.

They moved through the small lamp-lit corridors, reaching the hearth in no time. The smell of slow-roasted fish filled the air, and Quince might have salivated if they didn't already have a full meal halfway down their mouth. Looking at the sky through the hole above, it seemed that the sun had just set. The pantry was the room just next to them, and in no time they-

"Quince?", the voice pierced the air, and Quince froze. Crap, they had forgotten about Nikili. He was too used to hearing their footsteps around the house, it was no surprise he could hear them walk across the room with ease. There was no telling how he'd react to the image of Quince walking around with a big clump of feathers and two clawed legs sticking out of their mouth. At first, the cat avoided turning to face him, hoping he'd just not notice their attempt at swallowing the archaeopteryx. A moment had passed without response. They couldn't keep their charade for long, Quince thought, and it was better to just confront it.

They turned around, but Nikili was facing the other way; he was simply idling, looking at the looted artifacts by the doorway. He was still deep in deliberation, and a little inebriated, thoughts running amok through his head. Quince was a bit worried, because he normally wasn't much of a self-reflection guy, but if this helped them sneak around, the cat wouldn't complain. Still, if they didn't respond in time, the mongoose would certainly turn around, and their plans would be foiled.

But before they tried to let out any muffled meow in response, their stomach loudly growled. It seemed that the bird-like taste of dinosaur skin, the smell of delicious fish, and the copious amount of saliva swallowed down and now coating the inside of the organ, prompted it to violently complain in anticipation.

Thankfully, this involuntary reaction did the trick. "Oh, you must be very hungry... Don't worry, the fish is gonna be ready in about an hour. I hope you can wait that long", Nikili said dryly, still not turning back to look at the cat. Relieved, Quince simply walked into the pantry, even more determined to go ahead with their plan. And they reasoned, they weren't hiding anything; he did tell them to enjoy themselves, hadn't he?

The mongoose turned around just to catch a glimpse of Quince's tail as it disappeared behind the pantry's wall, and commented, "Guess you can't wait that long, huh... Well, make sure to eat lightly, we have a big meal still." He approached the clay oven to check on the fish, and scratched his head. "Also, I've thought of another name... 'Bird'. Because he's not one, but he looks like one. Just how you look like quince. What do you think, huh?" There was no response. "No? Let me think of something else...". He sighed, and he returned to his introspection.

***

In the other room, Quince found what they were looking for: a plain ceramic pot, refilled every day with fresh water from the Second River for drinking. They grabbed a cup, and just then the mass halfway inside of their body squirmed to make itself known. He was held tightly in place by friction and pressure from the jaws; hopefully, both of these would be eliminated soon. And in time as well, as Quince's throat was starting to feel sore from distending around the feathered creature for a prolonged period.

They dipped the entire cup into the liquid to fill it, then faced the ceiling, opened their jaws wider, and poured the water into their mouth. Most of the fluid hit the underside of its occupier, making him jump at the sudden scare of room-temperature water splashing them. While a bit of it moistened his feathers, a good part slid over the cat's tongue, roof of the mouth, and gullet, helping re-dampen the surfaces and bringing another inch or two along the way, as well as alleviating some of the stiffness in the muscles of the esophagus and tongue. They could have done this a few more times, but Quince knew this would be too slow, and they also didn't wanna fill their own stomach with water before the archaeopteryx even got there.

Instead, they thought of a more effective Manner of lubricating the rest of their friend, even if he might not like it. They approached the pot filled with water again, staring into the contents. The rim of the ceramic was wide enough for their head to fit in, so this would probably work. Maneuvering their hands on the parts of the Urvogel currently sticking out of their mouth, they aimed them at the liquid, and slowly dipped them in it. He squirmed again at the sensation of cool water hitting his body - as opposed to the mammal's hot flesh -, but didn't offer much protest, not really knowing what the cat was doing. The cat moved the rest of their head in, and at the same time, submerged the front of their face including their snout in the water, and slowly relaxed the throat, which made the archaeopteryx slide a few inches out. This managed to soak the rest of his body in the liquid, and after a few seconds Quince pulled back, one hand pushing against the rim of the ceramic, and the other pulling the behind of the bird-like reptile back into their mouth.

The ceramic was heavy and sturdy enough to withstand the cat's counter-weight, but Quince nearly fell back if it wasn't for the wall behind, preventing them from losing their balance and dropping on the ground. With the throat muscles now relaxed, and both the esophagus and prey re-lubricated, the sudden jerk from almost falling over and the pressure from the cat's paw accomplished their goal. The archaeopteryx was pushed in, and even further than before at that, with now all of their main body lodged behind the cat's fangs. The throat had bulged considerably to take the entirety of the proto-bird's top half, and only his body from the legs down remained on the cat's tongue in their open jaw, outside of the gullet. His tail remained almost entirely outside of the cat's body, looking like they had a long feathered tongue coming out of their mouth.

This sudden success gave the cat's struggle new vigor, and quickly, not taking any risks with breathing and potentially choking, they opened their mouth as widely as they could, pushed both of their paws inside against the remaining bit of torso with more determination, and swallowed. This was it, the final stretch - and what a stretch it was. The last of the prey's body slid past the other end of the mouth, and then down, disappearing deep in the tight tunnel, only the clawed feet and long tail were outside of the esophagus now. The head's bulge disappeared under Quince's chest, inch by inch, pushing against muscles and organs as it led the way deeper, with no signs of slowing down anymore.

The cat gasped, both out of ecstasy and need for air, and sat down against the wall. One hand went for their neck, feeling the wide part of the bulge pass by; the other went for their mouth, trying to lightly hold in place the wagging tail that slipped deeper as well. They had done it. The archaeopteryx - the dragon - they had claimed them. They were now a mass of feathers and slobber, disappearing from the world behind their fur. And so caringly being drawn towards the stomach, in the cat's utmost act of intimacy. They knew that the creature would be safe inside somehow, Quince supposed, if he willed himself into this situation.

The last of the feathers brushed against the inside of Quince's cheeks, who was now closing their maw to rest it after enduring the smaller animal sitting inside for so long. The cat could feel the squirming reptile start to pass through the stomach's opening. They didn't possess a crop like the dragon, so anything they swallowed ended up in the regular food chamber, such as the water and saliva that currently occupied it. Of course, it had never taken something big and whole like a winged lizard, so the organ was distending simply to take him in, creating a bulge outwards from Quince's abdomen.

Now pushing against the bottom of the stomach, the archaeopteryx felt hefty in a good way. His head, and then his neck, brushed against the pool of harmless liquids at the bottom, making all sorts of sloshing, squelching wet sounds. As more of his body joined, he'd start taking up the empty space, pushing out the membranes in the dark environment. However, with most of his upper body inside, the rest stopped sliding in as the pressure from the walls was keeping him in place. Not intending to upset the cat with acid reflux by holding the sphincter open, he started curling up as best as he could, bringing the rest of the body. And thankfully in this form, he was flexible enough to do so, plopping inside. He kept moving still, trying to wind his tail around his body so that he could fully enter the stomach, the tightness increasing as more of him joined the clump of drenched feathers.

Outside, the cat rubbed a paw over the ever-growing bulge, with almost clear delineation of each body part of the archaeopteryx. They had noticed the head, and then the wings, pressing out against different parts of the abdomen, shuffling places and directions as he coiled around his own body to make more room. Quince could feel everything, even the wet feathers lightly tickling the walls. The irritation in their esophagus was waning, and they lightly massaged the outside of the stomach, hoping it would help with the discomfort of the expanded organ. But even with the mild pain from being pushed beyond comfort, the sensation of being bloated out like this was wonderful. Through their purring, the cat brought their head closer to their stomach, and could make out some quiet chirps - the dragon must have been enjoying himself too in there, they thought. They were still moving a little bit, getting the last of that tail in the stomach, and finally managed to seal it inside.

As it brushed past the sphincter, the tail left behind a few feathers at the bottom of the esophagus, too light to press down into the entrance of the stomach with the rest of him. This caused some discomfort in Quince, who had started to feel a reaction from their body to expel the excess deep down their food pipe. However, not wanting to puke the recently-devoured archaeopteryx, they focused on holding it down, not noticing that someone else had just entered the pantry.

"Are you alright?", Nikili asked, looking around for the cat. "You've been in here for quite a whil-". He stopped when he saw the cat sitting against the wall, both paws around a large wiggling bulge on their tummy, looking sick on the face. Quince couldn't hold it in anymore, and let out a burp, two black feathers flying out of their mouth.

***

Quince didn't need to explain what had happened to Nikili, but they filled in some gaps, such as how it was consensual on the archaeopteryx's side, and how this is something that Quince secretly wanted, too.

Nikili's initial shock was gone, but they were still quite surprised that the cat had even managed to fit that whole flying lizard down, notwithstanding that he still had a clear mental image of stomach occupant's real size as a dragon. "And you think this is safe for him too?" He asked, and the cat nodded, still massaging their own belly. They motioned with a paw for Nikili to get closer, and when he did, he could see and hear the bulge moving and making muffled noises. "Woah... I-I mean, w-we've seen what he can withstand as a dragon. If he can take a swing of my axe without hurting himself, then maybe he's also immune to stomachs?" Every proof that the archaeopteryx had been swallowed by the cat was there, but even saying it aloud didn't make it any less unbelievable.

"A-Anyway, dinner will be ready soon. You should let him out now." Quince looked up at him with pleading eyes. "Hey, I told you he can stay with us tonight, but not like this. Also, you need some actual food in your belly. I don't want you to starve just for some fun... But if you can bring him down and back up, then I guess there's no problem if you two ever wanna do it again." He smiled, feeling that somehow he could better understand what his companion desired.

The cat glowed with glee; Nikili was right. And the fact that he said they could do it 'again', meant that he was considering letting him stay with them for longer than tonight, they hoped. Today had been a truly memorable day; they'd met their dragon friend, he ate them, then they ate him, and now he'd finish it off with a great meal of roasted fish. They stood up with ease - thankfully the feathered friend didn't weight much even as food -, and begun preparing to regurgitate him.

They tried to focus on straining their stomach muscles, like the dragon had done to expel them from their crop twice. However, it didn't seem like anything was really happening. Then, pushing their two paws below the bulge of the stomach - trying to force its contents back up the way they came -, they could feel some pressure, but all Quince let out was another belch of air escaping the chamber. By the sounds the archaeopteryx was making, it seemed that the he was still fine, but being jostled around, he was concerned about what was happening on the outside. It wasn't rough on him, but it wasn't play.

"Uhhh... is everything fine, Quince? Do you need help?", Nikili offered. The cat was beginning to despair silently, but they tried not to panic still. They had long fantasized about swallowing something alive, but never even attempted it, since they weren't sure that they could bring it back unharmed. And Quince couldn't bear the thought of hurting an innocent critter, not even a rat; when one invaded their house, and Nikili shrieked at them to get rid of it, the feline would simply take it outside.

And slowly, the realization that their fears may come true - that they just weren't ready for this - was slowly creeping in.

There was another idea. The cat's hand went for one of Nikili's fermenting drinks in the pantry. "Hey!", he yelled, but the cat simply unsealed the bottle and drank its contents. Normally the cat disliked the beer, but drinking it before it had even been properly treated was nauseating even for those who enjoyed the final product. Not only was it extremely sour, but it also had solid chunks floating around, which one would normally filter out. The cat ignored the assault on their sense of taste and forcefully gulped it, dropping the bottle on the ground. The disgusting drink traveled further down their throat, and soon enough, the cat was retching.

They fell to their four paws on the ground, lurched their head down, and out came the contents of the bottle, splashing on the ground along with tears of disgust falling from Quince's eyes. The mongoose was yelling something and ran to their side, but the cat couldn't really pay attention to him right now. Their insides hurt even more from bringing down that awful mix, and deeper still, the mass in their stomach still writhed, not leaving the organ. The sphincter wasn't opening for some reason - maybe their stomach had trouble controlling its muscles with the sheer size of the archaeopteryx inside - crap! The thoughts were racing through their head, and Quince felt Nikili grab their hand and pull them, as they rushed out of the house.

"... -ake you to Nurta, sh- ... -as some medicine tha- ..."

The words were unclear; their head spun, no longer thinking straight. Quince couldn't even feel anything, except for the tears running down their eyes from pain and worry, and the archaeopteryx inside who was now moving and chirping chaotically as he sensed that something was wrong with Quince. The pair had taken not many steps away from their house, when suddenly a very strange sequence of events unfolded.

Quince's legs froze, and they collapsed to the ground. Not only their legs, but their entire body; they had abruptly paralyzed. They could still breathe, see, and hear. And the mass in their stomach stopped moving as well. And then Nikili, dropping down to grab Quince in his arms, was also immobilized by an unknown power.

And in the blink of an eye, everything around them shifted. The houses, the night sky, everything disappeared and was replaced with complete darkness. Quince and Nikili felt themselves slump onto a soft ground, which pushed them against each other. "Ow!", Nikili winced, as the cat tried to prop up their paws for balance, but had hit his snout in the confusion. Quince's muscles felt wobbly, but they managed to sit up, realizing that they and Nikili could move once more. And above them, a looming sound - a deep, concerned growl. The dragon's growl, to be exact. Immediately, Quince moved their hands onto their own tummy, and there was no bulge or no occupant anymore. They could still feel the soreness of stretching to accommodate the swallowed archaeopteryx, but he wasn't there anymore. Well, he was 'there'; not inside Quince, but rather, around them.

The dragon, standing under the night sky in Logas just outside of the scavengers' house, looked around him for any threats. He couldn't see very well at night, but there didn't seem to be anything threatening like another dragon or something else. All that he knew was that, while he was inside of Quince, he felt that they were very distressed. Maybe the cat was being attacked, he assumed. And there was this one trick he could employ to protect them: transforming himself back into a dragon. Of course, this would displace Quince, and whatever was close to them, into his crop as he wished so; their house, for instance, would probably get destroyed if he increased in size inside of it. It was a drastic measure, for sure, but they were worried that their lives were in grave danger. Thankfully, it seemed that the cat and the mongoose were close enough to each other, and away enough from the house, that this happened without any side effects, but it was not something he'd normally think of doing had he the option.

He felt more movement in his crop, this time some tapping on his sphincter so that he'd spit them out. Since there didn't seem to be any danger around anymore, he obliged. Very carefully, the dragon focused on avoiding his earlier mistake, and quickly pushed the pair up the esophagus - not trying to savor the sensations - until the muscles pulled them up to the back of his mouth, and with a flick of his tongue, out onto the ground. They made their journey out with barely any fresh saliva on their furs and almost no dizziness - except from the whole teleportation shenanigan, which made their bodies feel kinda limp for a moment after being frozen -, and gathered their bearings.

Quince approached the dragon, hugging his belly through tears and soft mewling as if to apologize for putting him in danger and not being able to spit them out on their own; but also crying of happiness, as he seemed completely unharmed. Nikili, otherwise, was the one panicking now, because there was currently a huge dragon on their yard, in the village, which was the opposite of not attracting the attention of others. "This isn't good, big guy! Can't you stop being a dragon and turn back into a small lizard? We can't really have people knowing you're here, you know!", he said in exasperation to the dragon, who looked at him in confusion, letting out a growl. This wasn't working, and Nikili tried to think back to the ruin. He remembered that Quince had mimicked flying, flapping their arms as if they were wings, and he started doing so, while also pleading, "Turn into this, please!"

In a moment, the dragon in front of him and Quince disappeared, and an archaeopteryx manifested itself on the ground. Quince grabbed the tiny friend in his arms, rubbing their cheeks on his face to comfort him. Nikili noticed that his feathers weren't covered in saliva or anything, they were dry as if he hadn't just been on an excursion inside a feline's digestive system; the mongoose, looking at his again-wet skirt, felt jealous about it, but that was the least of his worries. Now that Quince and the dragon were safe, his worry was with food; his own stomach grumbled in hunger, and he'd hoped that their fish dinner hadn't burned at this point. He saw Quince get back into the house, the tiny Urvogel in their care - he'd need a long talk with Quince after dinner about their feathered companion. Before following them through the doorway, Nikili rubbed his injured snout and looked around, hoping that nobody had seen the events that had transpired out here. It was hard to see at night with so few lights out except for the starry sky. He hadn't heard anything other than the dragon and himself, so hopefully, they managed to go by undetected. He sighed deeply and went back into the house.

***

In the distance, outside of one of the unlit houses, a duck stood under the nocturnal darkness. She scratched her head, not making sense of what she thought she'd just seen, and went into the house for the night.