5

As the two gazed upon the sobbing naga from the other side of the alley, Kaz whispers to Saphana. “Would you just stay back and let me talk to her? I think it’ll just be easier if I do it alone.” Saphana turns around and sits against the building adjacent to the dimly lit alleyway, as she plops down to wait she tells Kaz, “I suppose I was a tad harsh on her, go see what you can do.” Kaz slowly walks up to the weeping purple coil, “Hey Tasi, you got a second?” he asks, sounding as comforting as he can. The sullen serpent looks up at Kaz, “I’m sorry Kaz, I shouldn’t have taken advantage just because you passed out.” She mutters while still crying. Kaz steps closer, “Well, where I’m from what you did would be frowned upon. We're not there, so I guess I can look past that.” He gently wraps his arms around the lamenting naga and wraps her in a hug, “You don’t have to feel so bad; I forgive you Tasi.” Kaz puts his head near Tasi’s and whispers, “Besides, it’s not every day you get to see such a beautiful serpent like yourself. Just don’t tell Saphana I told you this.” Hearing this, Tasi quits her crying and dries her tears.

She looks at Kaz with an awkward smile, “Really? You don't find me intimidating or repulsive?” she says, then wraps her arms around him in return and buries him in a hug once again, just before his face is covered by her warm embrace, “But!” he shouts. Tasi holds him out, ready to listen, “You have to cut down the intensity of your hugs, you’re going to suffocate me!'' There is a moment of silence between the two before they both begin bellowing out in laughter. Tasi pulls Kaz’s head towards hers and kisses him on the cheek, she lets him go a brief second later and notices Saphana peeping her head around the corner, spying on the two.

Tasi shoots Saphana a nasty glare. Realizing she’s been caught she rapidly pulls her head back around the corner. Tasi asks Kaz, “What is the relationship between you two anyway, I want to know.” Kaz gets up and explains their situation so far in its entirety. “Hoho.” Tasi chuckles, “You speak with dragons, and you’re not from this world? Now I’m even more interested in you Kaz.” Kaz blushes a bit before he replies, “So, would you come with us to get my carriage and things? I think you could definitely help us out Tasi.” Tasi uncoils herself and slithers upright, Kaz notices that upright she is just a few inches taller than him, however her total length would put her at about the length of Saphana. She looks at Kaz, then at Saphana, who is peeking around the corner again. “I’ll come with you, but only if she apologizes sincerely.” Kaz waves Saphana over, the two scaly ladies make up and apologize to one another.

The group of three decide to stay at the Inn that night, Kaz is dumbfounded at the sheer size of the rooms there. “Well, when it is an inn located in a place populated by dragons, it should be this giant I guess.” he thinks to himself as he takes his armor off and lies on the cold stone floor. Tasi slinks in behind Kaz and takes her armor off as well, when Kaz sees this, he can’t help but stare. Saphana then waltzes in and sees him ogling Tasi, she then whips her tail across his face, knocking him back onto the floor. Tasi sprints over and scoops him up out of concern and sets him in her lap, “I deserved that.” Kaz raises his hand and shouts. He then takes off his t-shirt, revealing a white undershirt beneath it. Kaz then shoves the t-shirt over Tasi’s head. Confused, Tasi struggles to figure out how the stretchy sleeves work. So Kaz stands up and helps Tasi navigate her arms through the holes, and finally she pops her head through the top. Kaz grunts, “It’s about the best I can do Saph.” As he looks at Tasi in the shirt, her chest takes up more room than he’d expected, still leaving her belly exposed. “At least those things are covered.” Saphana snarks back at the two as she begins to lie down as well.

Kaz crawls into the same spot at the side of Saphana, he lies down under her wing and drifts off to sleep. Unbeknownst to Kaz, Tasi was waiting for the two of them to fall asleep. Tasi sneakily pries Kaz out from under Saphana, being extra careful as to not wake the slumbering dragon. She then hefts him over to the opposite end of the room, and coils up around him. Tasi slowly lies down onto her side with the sleeping man in her arms, she kisses him on the cheek and slides his head up into her shirt between her chest and proceeds to fall asleep. Although she is awoken a few minutes later, Kaz has woken up in a dazed state to reach up to adjust his “pillows'' with his hands, causing Tasi to squeak a bit as he grabs her. Tasi struggles to stifle herself as she waits for Kaz to fall back to sleep in her bosom.