I quickly regret cleaning her up, her armor and the clothes beneath are fairly shredded. With the blood gone I am able to see things that she probably wouldn’t appreciate me looking at. I am enjoying the view, but I fully expect her to wake up and catch me looking.

  For once, my luck doesn’t screw me over, she stays asleep as I go looking through my pouch. I am hoping to find a blanket or something, but since getting shapeshifting clothes I don’t carry much. Finally, I manage to find a cloak that went to an outfit I had before I got my new clothes.

  The outfit is gone, but somehow I missed the cloak, I should probably go through my pouch at some point. For now, I use the cloak to cover her and once she is covered I finally notice more about her. Her hair is purple and under my light it glimmers like metal, as do the few scales on her cheeks.

  If she is lizard tribe then that certainly explains her having a lizard as a mount. Other than her slightly pointed ears, the rest of her features are completely human. The scales don’t detract from her appearance, if anything they give her an exotic look.

  Lizzy says “Is she going to live?”

  “Yep. She would be awake if she wasn’t so exhausted. She must have put up one hell of a fight.”

  Lizzy says “Can’t you fix that with a spell?”

  “No. The girls have banned me from learning a spell that restores stamina. My aura should help her though.”

  Lizzy says “Why are you banned?... Oh! Nevermind!”

  “Did the lizard seem familiar to you? It looks really close to how you did when I saved you from the stone.”

  Lizzy says “Yes. She smells like family.”

  “It is possible that her tribe has more of them. It is possible that there are some living in the wild. Do you want to see if you can find them?”

  Lizzy says “No. I have chosen my path.”

  “Alright. So, why did you respond so strongly to the woman?”

  Lizzy says “I don’t know. When I heard her scream my instincts just went crazy telling me I had to save her.”

  “Hm, maybe it is some kind of genetic memory. Maybe her tribe and your species goes way back. Although, that would be thousands of years if not more, so it would be hard to prove.”

  Lizzy says “I don’t care about that. She is going to live, I no longer care. What are we going to do with her now?”

  “Well, she should be fine after some sleep, but we can’t stay here and we can’t just leave her. I would prefer to take her to her tribe, but who knows how long it would take to find them.”

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  Lizzy says “We should just take her with us.”

  “And do what with her?”

  Lizzy says “Can’t we just keep watch over her until she recovers and then gate her back here?”

  “Yeah, I suppose that could work. Alright, you are going to need to carry her and make sure she doesn’t fall.”

  Lizzy says “Sure, I can do that.”

  Lizzy takes on her human form while I return to my dragon form, but I notice something. When Lizzy picks up the woman, I notice that she has a tail, about two feet long. It looks to be attached at the base of her spine and is covered in the same metallic purple scales.

  Lizzy has her in a princess carry and just jumps straight up into my saddle with no issues. I give her a second to get settled and then I take off, heading south towards the capital. I fly a bit slower than I did on the way out, I don’t want our new passenger to be harmed by the cold.

  Even flying slower, it doesn’t take too long to fly back to the capital and land at the palace. The guards and the few servants still awake and working freak out a little at my landing. As soon as Lizzy jumps down I shapeshift to beastman form so that everyone will relax.

  At least word has already spread among the guards and even though they freaked, no one tried to attack me. Not that I can sense any weapons among the guards that could hurt me, but it would still be awkward. Lizzy takes the sleeping woman with her into the stall of the stables she was given.

  “Going to keep her with you?”

  Lizzy says “Yeah. I figure that when she wakes up she will feel more secure next to me than in the palace.”

  “Probably true. At least until she realizes that you are not like the lizards that she is used to. You talking will also be quite a shock for her, so be ready for that.”

  Lizzy says “Alright, I will keep it in mind.”

  I leave Lizzy to watch over the woman and head up to my room where I sit to meditate. I open a soulscape and spend time with my wives and kids like usual before getting some sleep. I wake before dawn and as soon as I do I head down to the stable to check on Lizzy.

  Lizzy says “Relax, this is Ash, my rider. He is the one who healed you. Ash, this is Leylisha.”

  “Hello Leylisha, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am glad to see that you are awake now. Is there any lingering pain?”

  Leylisha says “No, no pain. Thank you for saving and healing me, even if it was pointless. I have to ask, what was a black lion clan member doing in my tribe’s hunting grounds?”

  “It’s a long story, but I am not a member of the black lion clan. This actually isn’t my natural form. Before we get into that, what do you mean by me saving you is pointless?”

  Leylisha says “A hunter can only bond with one mount in their life. Now that mine is dead, I can no longer be a hunter. Without that, I no longer have a purpose and I can’t return to my tribe.”

  “I am sorry to hear that. Unfortunately, your mount was already dead when we arrived and beyond my ability to bring back. If it’s not too personal, why can you only have one bond in your life?”

  Leylisha says “The lizards we bond to as mounts are extremely rare and we have a limited number available. Technically, I could bond another mount, but by the tribe's laws I would have to go out and find a wild one to tame and bond. I guess that is the only thing that I can try, but I will probably die doing so.”

  “Your mount looked a lot like Lizzy did when I first found her. Is that species native to your tribe's lands?”

  Leylisha says “They tend to be found deeper into the center, hence why it is so dangerous to try and find one. The ones in my tribe are those we have bred. No one has managed to tame a wild one in living memory. Why?"

  "I am curious about the origin of the species and I thought Lizzy might be interested."