Chapter 19
Arland opened his eyes, his gaze settling on the dull grey stone ceiling of the cave. He smiled at last night's events. But something seemed... Off. He couldn't quite place it until he yawned and he realized what it was: the air was still. With Nury being as large as she was, she worked like forge bellows, breathing in and out enough air to keep a near-constant draft.
Then he realized that Nury was gone. In her place was a curvy, brown hair girl, with horns wings, and tail. She was nude, laying with her leg crossed over Arland's, a claw resting on his chest, and her head on his shoulder.
He looked around in mild confusion. He was still in the same room. 'Where's Nury?' He thought to himself.
As he looked around, he must've jostled the girl slightly. She stirred, before sitting up and looking up at him a slight grin on her face, "Morning Arland. I hope you slept well."
He nodded, "I did... But, uh..."
She tilted her head, "What's wrong? Hang on..." She trailed off as her brain came out of its sleep fog, "How'd you get so much larger?"
Arland was the first to connect the dots, "Nury?"
She went to nod when she caught sight of her arm. She shot up out of bed, looking over her body, "WHAT THE HELL?! OH, FUCK! FUCK FUCK FUCK!!"
As she freaked out, Arland sat up, "How'd you become a human? Well... Humanoid."
She turned her anger towards him, "YOU! What the fuck did you do?!"
Arland put his hands up, "I didn't do anything, I don't think! I came on your tongue, then fell asleep! When I woke up, this is the you I saw!"
She glared and turned away, walking over to a mirror in the corner - presumably dropped by some unlucky individual who had stumbled across her cave at some point in the past. She stood in front of the mirror and turned side to side, looking herself over.
After a moment, she looked over at Arland, "Well, how do I look?"
Arland swallowed hard, "Uh... Hot... Like, sexy."
She turned back to the mirror, "Sorry, I've never viewed a human as attractive, and I don't have much metric for females, since you were my first. But if you say I'm attractive, I suppose I'll accept it."
Arland cautiously moved to the edge of the bed nearest her, sitting on the edge, "You're not still angry...?"
Nury turned and walked towards him. She sighed and dropped to her knees in front of him resting her head on his lap, "No, I'm not. It's not your fault. I'm sorry I snapped at you. Dragons have legends of this happening, but a large part of why we stay away from humans is because dragons view smaller beings as weak. If the legends hold true, then I changed because I'm in love with you, Arland. So I don't care if I'm weaker. I'm happy just to be with you."
Arland softly stroked her hair, "I love you too, Nury. Regardless of what you look like."
She grinned and twisted, so she was looking up at him, "And look at the bright side: In this form, I'm a bit more compatible with you."
She stood and used her claws to spread her labia, "Look. My cloaca has these little lip-like things. Just like a human."
Arland chuckled, "We'll have to go over all that. But later. I do need to go turn in my quest." He stood and dressed while she sat on the bed watching him.
He took a step towards the door when he stopped and looked back at her in silence for a moment.
"What?" she asked, "Why're you staring? It's embarrassing..."
Arland grinned, "What was the reason you couldn't travel with me before? You were too large as a dragon? You'd frighten everyone?"
"Something like tha-" She stopped as she realized what he was getting at. She jumped up and ran over to him in excitement, "I'M NOT TOO LARGE NOW!"
Arland laughed, "Indeed."
Nury pressed against him, hugging him tightly. When she released him, he inhaled deeply as she walked by him, "Let's go!!"
Arland watched as her bare ass seemed to beckon him, while her tail swished happily behind her. He hurried after her, "Hold on! I know you're not used to this, but humans can't just go around naked!"
He stood in front of her, blocking her from the exit, "You need clothing. A robe. Something to cover you."
She sighed and looked around, "I don't think I have many clothes here. A few armor pieces, but..."
Arland thought for a moment, "Wrap up in one of those animal skins. We'll stop by the tailor when we get to town before we hit the guild hall."
She groaned, but turned and grabbed a bear skin from the bed, before returning to the cave entrance, "Satisfied? Can we go now? Don't see what the big deal is. You humans are so sensitive to nudity... We dragons walk around naked all day every day."
Arland stood aside and let her pass, before falling into step next to her, "It's more a matter of decency. Some humans are fine with it. If it were up to me, I'd never dream of you covering an inch of that soft skin."
Nury blushed and grinned over at him, "Well, I suppose I'm not the most comfortable with being covered, but I can tolerate it, I guess. Just another small sacrifice to join you in your world."
They walked the rest of the way to town. As a smaller city, Erith didn't have guards regularly stationed at the gate. So as they walked through the gatehouse, the first anyone saw of Nury was a mother with a young son. He stopped and pointed, saying something out of earshot. His mother looked up, gasped, and hurried away, pulling her son along.
"That was rude..." Nury mumbled.
Arland looked over, before he pinched the bridge of his nose, "Nury, your fur opened. You're on full display. You're lucky that kid was likely too young to remember. Close up the front, please."
Nury looked down as he spoke, then did as he said, "Oh. I see your point."
Arland sighed, "I know you're used to walking around nude, but you'll need to adapt to human society."
She nodded, "Yes, yes. Can we just get to the tailor? I'd like to not have to hold this fur closed. It's annoying..."
He led her down the road, before gesturing to a shop with a spool of thread and needle on the sign. He opened the door for her, allowing her to step in.
Inside were multiple mannequins showing off the tailor's skills. There were signs and racks with clothing - mostly premade or otherwise faulty clothes that were cheaper, usually for those who couldn't afford custom-sized clothing.
She looked over the racks, grabbed a shirt and pants, held them against herself, and turned, "What do you think?"
He shook his head, "They look good, but we'll get you something made." He waved down the tailor, who set aside what he'd been working on and walked over.
"Can I help you two?"
Arland nodded, "Yeah, we need a wardrobe for her if you would."
The tailor nodded and pulled out a rolled measure, "Drop the furs, if you would, Miss."
Nury looked between them, "Aren't I supposed to stay clothed?"
Arland shrugged at the tailor, before turning to the dragonness, "In some locations, it's okay to be nude. If it's a place people would reasonably expect to see nudity. Tailor shops, bathhouses, and so on. If you notice, the shop here doesn't have front-facing windows. The skylights provide the light without allowing people outside to see in."
The tailor smiled, "Indeed. Now, would you mind removing the furs, miss?"
Nury grumbled but complied, setting the furs aside, "Human society is so confusing..."
The tailor tossed a confused look Arland's direction, who answered, "She's a dragonkin who was raised in the mountains to the far west."
The tailor nodded before he began taking measurements for Nury. "Thirty-six... Twenty-six...Thirty-four..." His voice dropped to barely audible as he continued collecting her other measurements.
When he stood, "And would you folks like underwear as well?"
Arland thought for a moment, "Best get us a couple of each, but try to make sure most of the shirts have built-in support for her. She's not used to clothing, so I don't want to overload her too much."
The tailor nodded before taking a final measurement. He stepped back, "A C-cup. Not bad, miss."
Her face scrunched up as she looked at the tailor. Arland quickly spoke up, "He was referring to the shape, Love. He wasn't hitting on you."
The tailor grinned, "Indeed. My husband would kill me if I flirted with my customers." He turned and made his way through the racks as he picked up a few pieces of clothing. He walked back to her and dropped the pile on the ground, "I've got a few pieces that should fit, but I'm not sure what style or designs you like, so I picked up a few options."
She thought as he started holding up a few items, "Got anything with dragons on it?"
He grinned and picked through the pile, hauling up a bright white tee-shirt with a vibrant red dragon design across the front vaguely in the shape of a heart, the horns and wings touching. She took the shirt and looked over it, "Yeah, this'll work."
The tailor held up a pair of tight woven cotton pants, "These are denim. They're just elastic enough to offer mobility but tight woven enough to offer a decent life."
Nury took the pants and quickly slipped into them, before noticing that her tail got in the way before she was able to fully pull them up. The tailor quickly got to work, cutting a hole and hemming the edges, before adding a button to loop over her tail. "How's that work for you, miss?"
She slipped the shirt onto her arms and held it out to him, back towards the ceiling, "I've got wings, too." The man quickly offered a similar treatment, cutting slits for her wings. She folded them, slipped the shirt on, then carefully extended her wings out, "I think this'll work."
The tailor nodded and quickly jotted down a few notes, before looking up at Arland, "I'll have the wardrobe ready in a week. will you still be in the area?"
"We'll likely be back in Gelala by then. Just drop the order off at the guild. They'll get it to me."
"Will do sir."
Arland held out a small sack of coins before turning and leading Nury back out to the street, "Alright. Two more stops. We need to get you some footwear and some armor."
Nury grinned, "We can skip the armor. I doubt it'll be more resilient than my natural armor."
"You don't have scales anymore."
Nury quickly snatched his sword, before running it along the skin of her hand. She held the hand up for Arland to see that there wasn't a mark, "I may not have scales, but I'm still a dragon."
"Well, I guess we can just settle for footwear then."
She looped her arm around his, resting her head on his shoulder as they walked down the street.