Tauli

Her gills ignored the air currents as her eyes widened in excitement. Feeling the wind pushing down into her face and flattening her cheeks as she shot through the air fast enough that it felt like molasses.

She grabbed the air again, ending up upside down as she released Skip, sending him sideways and into her nest before she shot back down and landed as lightly as she could on the ground.

She smiled happily at the man aiming a crossbow at her heart, "You workin' fa 'im, righten? Da beggar lord?"

"Yes." The assassin hesitated, glancing around for Skip, "The pickpocket stole from him. It can't be tolerated."

"I be t'inkin' o' da same." Tauli nodded, "Ya see, da boy belongs ta ma. So... Killin' 'im... Dat be thievin'. So. Ya go 'n tell ya beggar lord... He ain't be stealin' from fookin' Tauli."

Her feelers rattled in the air as she said her name. Her mane shimmered into life, and her violet eyes got warm as they began to glow. She lowered her fangs through her gums and showed them off to the stranger.

He swallowed nervously, "What are you?"

"Tau. Li." She pronounced firmly, "Just tell 'im da fookin' name. Dis ain't a decision ya can make, kid. Fookin' wit' me... Ain't good fa ya health. Ain't good fa da colony, neither. People like livin' here, and ta do dat... There still gotsa be houses standin'. Stupid foreign imports lika ya, dey need ta learn my name, afore they try and kill in my godsdamned territory!"

With that she bellowed out the dragon's roar that had been building in her chest since she noticed the two of them were being followed. The sound was long and deep, shaking the crust of the earth beneath them hard enough that the stones of the road started popping out.

The assassin was knocked from his feet, and nearby buildings began to protest noisily, the wood groaning and cracking as she continued to shake the earth.

The colony might have a governor, but even he knew that this place lived or died by her whims. She ruled this place as she saw fit. Everything here belonged to her. Especially the pickpocket that she had decided to befriend.

She would never let harm come to him, ever.

The end of roar approached, and as it did sparks flew from her mouth. Flickering pops of magic that made the air shimmer every colour of the spectrum, including those that could not normally be seen by human eyes.

Tauli snarled, putting her hands on her hips and looming over the fallen man. Which was impressive considering she was shorter than him by more than an elbow length.

The man let go of his crossbow, and slowly held up his hands as he stood, "I will report this to -"

He flicked the crossbow up and into his hands, firing the bolt. It sank into her shoulder, through her soft flesh and burst out into the air with a spray of blood and muscle.

She screamed in pain, purple tears flying, and fell back against the ground.

The assassin stepped on the wound, as he loaded the device again and aimed it down at her, "Sorry."

The bolt ripped through her, passing through her skull before it hit the ground behind her. She screamed in pain again, staring up at him, "Why da fuck would you do that? Do ya have any idea how long it takes ma ta heal from a fookin' brain injury, ya li'l shit!?"

The assassin stared and she grabbed his leg from where it was pressing down on her and yanked. It was his turn to scream as she forgot just how delicate humans were and tore it clean off, blasting her face with his coppery fluids.

She stood up and made an awkward face, guiltily looking from the leg and back to the man again.

"Um..." Tauli hesitated, and then dropped the leg and sprinted away. She ran up the side of the belltower and dove into her nest, hiding like a child who had just been caught stealing.

She smelled Skip nearby, and quickly dove beneath her nest and into the tank of water. She rubbed the grime off herself before swimming up to the side of the glass and tapping it lightly.

The pickpocket spun around, staring in fear, and Tauli grinned at him, showing him only her normal teeth. She was hoping the fact her clothes were now practically see-through would distract him from a boring fight he had undoubtedly been watching.

He put a hand on the glass, as if trying to touch hers. She moved closer, grinning, speaking with a burst of bubbles, "I told ya I can breathe underwa'er."

His voice came back muffled, "You did... You keep... Water, here? At your home?"

"Fa swimmin'. When I don't wanna go down ta the sea." She replied, "What da ya t'ink o' ma nest? It's big, ain't it? Whole tower is mine."

Skip nodded slowly, "Tau en Lytara."

She cringed, dropping her hand from the side of the tank. She swam back to the top, shooting out of the water with a burst and flip to land in front of him. "So ya worked dat one out... Please don' be hatin' ma."

"You're royalty. The city worships you as a goddess." Skip said, looking disturbed, "How... Why... Pulling pranks on the barracks? Buying me lunch? Showing me this place... I don't get it. You're royalty."

Tauli reached behind and began undoing her sodden dress, and shrugged, "Never wanted ta be. Jus' born dat way. We all gotsa be something."

"You're the granddaughter of a goddess, and the king!" Skip said urgently, "And... And why you taking your clothes off?"

"Dey wet." She shrugged, letting the dress slip off her delicate and white shoulders to the ground. She winced and poked at the hole where the bolt had gone through her shoulder. The scar tissue had formed, but it was still a scar. It would be a couple days before it disappeared.

"The goddess is naked and in front of me."

"Call ma a goddess again, 'n I'll send ya ta meet 'em." She snapped, glaring at him, "I already be tellin' ya what I want 'n shit, Skip. A friend. A fookin' friend. But dat's too much be askin' when ya know what I am. So fuck off."

She spun away from him.

"Um... Can I take five minutes to try and... Think?"

She sniffled as her violet tears started dripping down her cheeks, and dropped into sitting cross-legged. "One."

"Huh?"

"One minute, ya moron." She snapped angrily and touched her forehead, and knew she was taking out the pain on someone who didn't deserve it. He'd probably never seen anyone killed before. Not that she'd meant to do that.

Skip took a deep and ragged breath, "Why do you go by Tauli?"

"'Cos it be cuter. 'N dat's impo'ant ma." She prodded at the scar tissue on her forehead again, unable to leave it alone. The spot was really beginning to itch. She did have to wonder what the damage would be this time. It was rare anyone managed to injure her brain, and it had never been permanent yet, but she always lost memories when it happened.

He sat down, back-to-back with her, "Way I see it... And correct me if I'm wrong... We're both running from who we are. Our reasons are probably very different. But we are. I... Am surprised. But I think I'm happy enough to just forget finding out. There's as many sides to you as a diamond, Tauli. The only one I can come close to figuring out is the street girl looking for fun. She, I can be friends with. The others either confuse or terrify me."

She swallowed nervously, trying not to cry, "What other sides?"

"The absolutely brutal physical strength scares the pants off me."

Tauli grinned lopsidedly, "Keep 'em on. I tellin' ya I wantin' a friend, nots a lover."

"Well, you're too old for me anyways." He joked back at her.

She spun around, "Oi! What I tell ya 'bout talkin' 'bout a girl's age, boy?"

"Old enough to be my mother." He laughed, still facing away from her.

She bounced to her feet, hands on both hips, "Doubt ya fookin' mother got titties like these! I ain't saggy or no shit! Tell ma I look my age. I dare ya to take a peek 'n say dat."

"Gods, you're confusing." He shook his head, not taking the bait. "Are you being my friend or trying to bed me? Because women don't show off their bodies to their platonic friends."

Tauli frowned, "Eh. I wanna go for a swim. So I be hopin' ya'd skinny dip wit' ma. Gotsa get used ta seein' ma tits."

Skip laughed, "Pass? But I'll talk to you through the glass... You're insanely rich to afford a glass thing like that, aren't you?"

"Eh? Nah. Gets fucked. I didnae pay anyone fa' it." Tauli replied, "I made it 'n shit. Glass blowin' ain't dat hard if ya put in da time ta learnin' it. Bit o' fun, really."

He scratched his head, "But it's huge. How'd you get all the ingredients?"

"All da good sand, ya mean? I breathe underwa'er." She rolled her eyes, annoyed that he still hadn't taken so much as a quick glance. Whoever had taught this man manners had given him a morality that even the street wasn't about to crack. Which was frustrating.

Tauli knelt and hugged his back, dripping all over him, and pressing her naked and incredibly soft body into him, moulding to him, "Ya sure ya don't wanna swim? What's ya fun idea, then? I wanna play wit' ma new friend."

She was willing to admit she was sending him very mixed and confusing signals. Mostly because though she didn't want to sleep with him, at least not yet, she did want to feel appreciated by him. She wanted the thrill of knowing that she was beautiful without the baggage of falling for him.

"Gods. Are you a slimegirl?" Skip shivered, "I... I kinda want to stay out of sight. If they sent one enforcer after me, they'll send others. Um... What I owe... It's substantial. Enough they'll probably try and negotiate with you."

Tauli kissed the top of his head, "I don't mind. I own ya now, Skip. I don' mean like a slave or no shit. I mean like touchin' ya is same as stealin' from ma. 'N ya don' steal from no fookin' dragon. Not if ya likin' life uncrippled."

She grinned and pulled her chest upwards, expanding the two fleshy sacks with some concentration and plopped them either side of his head, nestling him between them. She grinned as she saw his awkwardness at the position and kissed the top of his head. "Does ya mind? Bein' a dragongirl's best friend?"

"What in the fuck does a friend mean to you, Tauli!?"

She giggled, shrinking back down to her normal size, "Dat I get ta mess wit' ya 'n shit. I'll put on a dress 'n we can go out ta eat agin. Ya choose da place, dis time."

"You're still hungry?"

"Mmm." She skipped away and into her wardrobe. She grabbed a rough cloth from the ground, rubbing at the water to dry herself but smearing dirt as she did. She'd called herself a dragongirl to him. She wasn't sure she liked that moniker.

Tauli was Tauli.

She threw the cloth over her shoulder and scratched at her forehead, staring at her clothes. She had the rough garb of a miner, all the way through to palace-appropriate dresses that were a bitch to run in. Skip made her want to run and laugh, feeling light-hearted.

"So, rude question, but how much do you eat?"

"If it were livin' it just aboot goes straight through ma." She yelled back to him, "I want some fookin' ruby or jade. They all jack da prices up if I'm buyin'. So I'm goin' ta borrow ya pretty face. Ya don' mind, do ya?"

She certainly wasn't giving him the womanly vibe. So probably something from her peasant selection of clothing. Though, shocking him was as fun as it was easy.

She grabbed a particular outfit. She'd picked it up from some traders a long time back. It had supposedly been the uniform of a group of assassins, which had been hilarious to her. As if a group of hunters that relied on not being noticed would have any kind of uniform.

The boots were knee high, and mostly black laces. She had to shrink her toes to squeeze into them, which made her think whatever bitch had originally worn them couldn't possibly be an assassin. Though, Tauli had never heard of a whore roleplaying as one, she didn't doubt it might happen in some corner of the world.

If there was anything that her years in this place had taught her, it was that there was always someone willing to pay to get laid.

Always someone who would pay to fuck any kind of thing that they could imagine. And always someone willing to take that coin. Sometimes, just sometimes, you could find both of those things in the same place at the same time.

Tauli emerged from her wardrobe as she finished dragging the over-tight black set of knots that pretended to be a top down. She hid a smirk as she jiggled and his eyes followed her bouncing balls of blubbery mass. Messing with Skip was too hard to resist.

"You say that the merchants increase their prices. If you truly do eat precious stones, then I don't find that at all surprising. But... You expect that they'll accept notes from me? I look like the street." Skip recovered faster than she'd expected.

She really, really, couldn't work out if she just wanted to hang around him. Play with him and enjoy a piece of his life, carefree... Or if she wanted to find out if he could be the one she gave up her virginity to.

Tauli didn't know what to call it, exactly, but her instincts rarely led her wrong. She could usually tell the worth of a person at a glance.

Skip... Made her feel alive.

"Notes? Aw, rights." She nodded, "The Authority 'n shit. Naw. I like me precious metals. I gotsa be a fookin' dragon, 'n all. Get it from me grandaddy, s'pose. Kick open dat chest, buncha gold in der. You'll need a fistful."

Her instincts let her know he wouldn't steal from her, and take off running. Not that he would get very far if he did try that one on for size. You don't exactly run from a girl who can punch the air hard enough to break your back from the other side of the street.

"By the gods." Skip looked in confusion at the chest, hands shaking. "You're not just rich, are you?"

She sighed heavily and wrapped an arm around him, "Skip. Don't be doin' dat. I already told yas who I be. If ya stick by me, ya won't be needin' for nothin'. But don't be gettin' greedy. Ya see opportunity or wealth or fuck what in front of ya. I see a bunch of midnight snacks. I piss away gold, every mornin'. On the literal."

"I don't think I've ever heard a lady of standing use the word, piss, before." Skip laughed, looking up at her, "The moment, eh? We all just live in the moment? I... I think I'm okay with that."

Tauli grinned, "Fan-fuckin'-tastic. Lets gemme some ruby!"

---

Toofy turned tiredly to face her children as the two catgirls entered the main hall, arguing with each other and teasing about some assortment of brigands or other. As the women saw their exhausted mother, the words died in their mouths.

The empress stood in front of them, her cracked crown embedded into her forehead by the teeth of her long dead dragon friend. Blackened blood was set solid down one side of her face, welding one of her eyes shut. Her one red eye was glowing from inside, as she lifted a hand and tossed the head of a tauran to their feet.

"Mother." Artema said grimly, ears flattening as the warrior became hypervigilant.

Toofy spat on the ground, "Darkthorn came. As Ink was trying to fuck, and Artema was sleeping with her Kou. They came for their empress, their mother. They came to her, because they hate that Toofy is exotic. That she rules, but is not human. They hate her daughters more. Because they are halfbreeds."

Ink swallowed, looking guilty as her tail fell. Artema was harder to read. The halfhuman neko did not look forward to fighting, but she was always prepared for it. Always... Except when she was lying with her boyfriend. Distracted to the point of danger by his assets.

Toofy had hoped she had trained them better than this. That even if they were idling or playing, they would have some grasp of their training. She had tried to teach them as much as she had learned, and more. Yet that the two were surprised told her everything she needed to know.

They were unaware how close to death that they had come.

"Her Sai defended the Artema, as she slept peacefully in the Kou's embrace." Toofy snarled angrily, "Her father lies dying in his bed. Chest torn open by tauran axe. She didn't even notice her father's fucking thunderstep! You are an embarrassment, a failure. You dare to call yourself Toofy's daughter? I name you Kinslayer. Artema, no more."

The woman swayed for a moment before collapsing to her knees. Tears springing into her too-innocent eyes. Toofy didn't want to hurt her, but she didn't have a choice in this. Not with what was coming. Artema needed to regain her name, her honour, and for that she needed to prepare to fight an impossible war.

Lord Vanhern had thrown his influence, money and connections behind the Darkthorn. He had decided that two decades of Toofy's rule was preparation enough, and now he was coming to take her empire from her. He had chosen the right timing, and the right weapons, to make himself either emperor, or more likely, the hidden power behind the throne.

Artema was still a kitten at heart. She could fight, but she was not a killer. She could not do what was necessary, the experiment with Lawrence had proved that without a doubt.

The empress turned indignantly to her other daughter. Ink was the spitting image of her father, a bastard that had fuelled Toofy's wrath against the remnants of the Golden Empire. It had taken no small effort on Sai's part to stop Toofy from attempting an outright purge against all elves for Elatham's crimes.

Ink was innocent. She might always be horny, she might play in the lower quarters of the city, but the girl had never experienced true pain. Toofy felt regret for putting the path before her. When Ink would finally break, and blind rage take her, then the entire world would recoil before the wrath of a nekan goddess.

There was no doubt in Toofy's mind.

Both her daughters had been born to ascend. That the divines intended that the women would either prove themselves and become goddesses, or they would die in such pain that not even paradise would be able to cool their wounds.

"The Little Saia is dead." Toofy said grimly, claws from one hand locking around the marriage bracelet around her wrist. "My wife is dead, because of you. You would be bleeding out on the floor of your fucking hut, if Arina had not broken the laws of the gods to save your petulant ass. As it is, the gods have broken her scythe and imprisoned her for eternity in the Well of Sorrow."

Ink burst into tears, her bottom lip trembling, "S-saia? How?"

"Darkthorn not stupid. Any magic would attract kitten's attention. So they sent men to play with her... Whilst they positioned boulders and trees for landslide. Whilst you and the Kinslayer were arguing, my wife was dying, trying to project a ward to save the kittens." Toofy growled, "And neither fucking noticed. Too blind to world. Too stupid to protect themselves. The empress-in-waiting let her aunt die, when she could have saved her with a snap of her fingers. Not imperial any more. No daughter of mine. I name you Exilia."

"No!" Her daughter screamed in pain, "Mother!"

Toofy's voice dropped several octaves, shaking the ground like an earthquake as she summoned up all the magic that she could spare, "I name you traitors to the empire, and I banish you until the day you are worthy of your own crown! I exile you from this continent! To the seas south, and the lands unknown! This I swear, by the Golden fucking Kitsune! You will never return until you regain your names!"

The two women vanished in a sparkling of golden light, and laughter, as the goddess appeared in their place.

Toofy nearly collapsed, leaning on the edge of the throne as she panted with effort. The blonde foxgirl skipped up to her, and made a sympathetic noise, "Oh, my poor little kitty. You're having a rough time, aren't you?"

"Fuck off." She sneered angrily, standing up tall and proud, "Don't watch Toofy die. You owe her that much, at least."

"I don't owe you a thing." The kitsune sneered, and grabbed her roughly by the chin, "You rejected me at every turn. I don't need you. It's their turn to serve me, now. You would get in my way. That's why you're going to die, kitten. That's why your human has breathed his last. That is why your succubus is lost, alone, and bleeding out... Oh yes. Saia's not dead yet. But she will be."