>>5619722“Father speaks—spoke? When last did we speak… He speaks like you.” The Princesss sighs, seems to deflate a little “It’s why the world NEEDS a Paladin King, rather than simple a, a… I don’t know, council of scholars and elders. HE says. It’s why men must rule with strength of arms while women like me…”
She trails off, and you sit in silence for a moment, while she lowers her eyes, continuing to stroke your tail, to fiddle with the forked tip. She’s not doing so idly, not anymore, but more consciously.
“You called me beautiful,” she notes. “I… Am surprised, upon closer consideration. It’s flattery, yes? We are… Quite different. Beauty standards aren’t universal, or so I’ve read. Not even among distant HUMANS, let alone…”
You reach out and cu her face. She flinches slightly, but doesn’t take flight. She meets your eyes.
“There isss beauty all throughout thiss world,” you tell her. “Sstrength exissstss to protect that which iss beautiful to usss…”
The human female shivers a little, before reaching her smaller hand to clasp your larger, clawed one… And gently, to remove it. She places it back upon your lap. Her own hand withdraws from your tail.
“Is that all I have?” she asks then. “Is that all that the… The beautiful, the weak, the gentle ARE? Never the masters of our own destinies, never free… Always protected, treasured, KEPT?"
You feel as if you’ve fallen into another rhetorical trap of this woman, but she regards you not with fury—just a sort of sadness, and a resigned disappointment. Up immediately begin to formulate a response, a means to extricate yourself and to score another victory for your shared vision—your inevitable future…
But you are interrupted.
“Hey, lovebirds! Or, wait, should that be lounge lizardssss?”
