To prepare for the festival, I made some new clothes for the Priestess and the Scribe, mostly just robes made of the fancy and impossible magical materials I had created for the armor that my direct servants wore. Though the Priestess had insisted on it, I refused to let her wear an outfit as showy and skimpy as that one.

  Instead, I gave her a crown that resembles my own horns, a cloak designed after my wings, and a simple black robe underneath, fastened with silver chains... There was a bit of redesigning of it partway through, as we figured out, the way I made it, there was no way to get out of it, and, well, nothing short of myself or Aqua could cut it so that was an issue.

  Especially when it came time to empty her bladder, so that had to be fixed pronto.

  After that, before I went to sleep to prepare for the inevitable, I made sure to use my magic to create a whole bunch of learning and teaching materials, stone tablets with the multiplication tables and whatever simple rules and mathematical formulas I could think of, especially simple stuff that was a couple levels of math more complicated than what I had shown my humans already.

  Yes, as much as I, too, despise the use of letters and weird characters in math, they are still useful, especially when it comes to equations expressing stuff more complicated than "one plus one makes two".

  I focused on this, specifically, because since they've become more active in hunting and killing monsters and in warfare, I've seen them working on developing ranged weapons, and more importantly, working on how to aim and calculate those ranged weapons. And I'm not talking about bows and arrows, but rather, their first forays into massive slingshot style catapults.

  They would need more complicated mathematics to handle those, and I really want to see if they can successfully kill magical monsters with catapults.

  Once the priestess' outfit was complete, and adjusted to fit perfectly on the dummy that was an exact copy of the Priestess, and then, I called for a member of the Draconic Guard to take it to her. A woman in regular battle gear appeared as I tapped my claw against the durable stone set up like a room service phone.

  "Anything you need, O Great Silver One, we shall-"

  "Yeah yeah," I interrupted her, "can you take this," I said, gesturing at the dummy with the Priestess' robes, which had taken up most of my day, "and these," I said, pointing at a box with the underwear that was supposed to go under it, "to the Priestess? Also make sure to tell her she is to wear it for all formal functions, unless it's too hot."

  "Yes Great Silver One!" the Draconic Guard called. She was a tall woman, not as big as the Water Clan People Tribe Whatever, but big. Actually now that I think about it, Aqua did say that the humans who bask in my magic are going to be stronger and healthier and changed by my will pervading into the environment.

  I guess that in my mind, the image of a healthy human is tall and muscular, so as they get closer to peak health with my power soaking into the environment and into what they eat as a result, they become closer to my idea of peak servants.

  Good.

  Who knows, maybe some day they won't need to build scaffolding around my body to be able to clean my scales properly.

  I was about to go to sleep, knowing that I was almost certainly going to wake up in time for the festival, when I decided on an insurance policy to make sure I didn't sleep through it, because I just know something important's gonna happen.

  I tapped my claw against the stone again, and another Draconic Guard appeared before me, running a little harried, sweating as she skid to a stop right beside my flank. I stopped her from running all the way to the platform for audiences and instead just turned to face her.

  "Send for Aqua," I demanded. "I require her presence."

  "At once!"

  Good, I prefer when they're prompt and to the point. She sped off, and I settled in to wait, closing my eyes and humming thoughtfully as I focused my thoughts inwardly, thinking and feeling like I was forgetting something. If I forgot it, it probably wasn't important. Probably. I mean surely if it was important, I would remember it, right?

  But what could I have possibly forgotten about?

  Oh, right, I remember, I was-

  "You called for me?"

  Aqua!

  "Yes!" I said, opening my eyes and taking a good look at Aqua, trying to make sure I committed her humanoid form to memory. "Did you grow?" I asked.

  She gestured at her feet. "We're developing a new kind of footwear-based weapon," she said, "they are very hard to walk with, but very effective."

  I could see what she meant. They weren't quite the high heels I was used to, rather, it was closer to replacing a proper shoe's high heel with a shiv. It also was very carefully secured and strapped to the foot, so tightly in fact, that I wondered if it was viable for any non-dragon, a human's circulation would most likely be cut by the straps that were tied so tightly.

  "I've got some ideas to improve on the design, mostly," I raised a claw and held it next to her, concentrating, then creating the closet thing I could remember to a high heeled sandal with straps around the shin, ankle and toe knuckles. "Maybe this can help?"

  "It still looks uncomfortable," she said, then raised her hand and snapped her fingers. A member of her own direct servants, her Water Dragon Tribe, jumped from the thick foliage of the trees and bushes that surrounded my lair. Aqua took off both shoes, grabbed them, and passed them to her servant. "Take this, and that one, and send it back to the leatherworkers, tell them it's too uncomfortable and difficult to walk with, and to see what insight they can glean from this design as well," she spoke imperiously, and her servant...

  Flippantly.

  "Righto, boss lady!"

  The muscular woman in tribalwear took the shoes, and then leaped into the trees.

  Aqua looked annoyed for a moment, then turned back to me. "Did you call me to-"

  "No I didn't call you to mate," I huffed. "Well, kind of. Maybe," I said, "I want to invite you out on a date to the harvest festival."

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  She furrowed her brow and crossed her arms over her not inconsiderable breasts. Those had definitely grown, they were certainly bigger than I remember them being last. Maybe she was changing her body in an attempt to appeal to the humans around her? She uncrossed her arms, though one of them remained under her breasts, while the other tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

  "A date... with possibilities for more?" she asked. "The humans of Argentum have been helping me with this dating and courtship business. Of course, how much human rituals translate to us would be... difficult to say," she said, closing her eyes and tilting her head down, before looking back up, clenching her left hand and pointing at me with her right, right foot forward, full action pose. "This time I won't allow you to run away."

  Wind blew, giant birds chirped, a gorilla beat its chest and threw poop at a passing irontusk forest boar, and Aqua remained perfectly stoic and neutral, despite her pose.

  "You... are supposed to say that passionately and with strength."

  "... let me try that again," she said, getting back into a neutral stance, feet aligned with her shoulders and taking a step back.

  "Go for it," I said, giving her an encouraging thumbs up.

  "This time, I won't allow you to run away!" she called, her voice sounding higher, with more emotion, as she struck the same pose as before, slightly slower to move but matching the timing with the act of pointing.

  "Okay, that was better," I said, leaning back enough that I could move my front claws to clap for her. "Maybe if we can have a complete date with no incidents that break it up, we might just be able to get a deep enough emotional connection going for us to tie the knot," I said. "Prepare a nice dress!"

  She frowned. "Dress?" she asked, tilting her head.

  Right. No dresses... they aren't a thing yet.

  "Nevermind, just, just wear something nice," I corrected.

  "Where are we going?" she asked. "Should I prepare a beach picnic again?"

  "No, we're going to the festival, that's a classic date!" I corrected.

  She looked up at me, one eyebrow raised. "How? You can't humanize," she said, "Argentum's pathways and walkways weren't designed with you in mind," she said, raising both arms in front of her, hands parallel to one another, moving them back and forth while leaving a narrow gap between them, then opening them up, palms up, while gesturing at my flank.

  "I've changed the plans!" I said. "We're not holding the Festival in the capital itself!" I said, "I've moved the venue outside! And made certain that there would be space for myself!"

  Had I thought of taking a date there? Not even a little, I literally just wanted to be sure there was space for me to be if I needed to be there for any reason! I set it up so that there was a large central plaza of sorts, circular in design, and the festivities would then sprawl out along it!

  While crop rotation was a concept that was foreign to my people until I told them about it, and I told them far too late because I was unaware how long I spent napping, we had plenty of space around the capital to hold this harvest festival fair, because the area immediately outside the forest wasn't great for planting crops in.

  "So with these preparations, I've made sure that there will be a place for myself in the festival!" I said, clenching my claw. "I've yet to figure out how to shrink," I added, "but with this, we can enjoy the festival together!"

  "I... suppose we could. I was not planning on attending," she said. "But if I must, then I will," she said. "However I will hold you to your promise to mate."

  I inhaled, then exhaled through my mouth, turning my head up to vent the heat without actually hitting her with it. "Aqua, listen to me, okay? I don't want to mate with you just because this is what societal rules demand!" I began. "I don't care for any of that, I'm not about to let anyone else make the decisions for me," I said, looking back down at her, "so I'm going to tell you right here, right now, that insisting on this just because-"

  She glared up at me. "You think me so shallow or stupid that I'm simply doing what is demanded of me? I already told you - the strong makes the rules. That's you. You said that this isn't a rule, so I'm not obliged to follow it," she countered. "You defeated me in combat. You have scales that gleam like precious metals. You may be foolish and obnoxious, but I find your physical form beautiful, your power overwhelmingly intoxicating, and your attitude infinitely more bearable than the arrogant buffoons that is most of our race," she spoke, gesticulating with her hands in weird, nonsensical ways.

  "Oh- Oh, you think I'm beautiful?"

  She thought I'm beautiful!

  I was waiting for an answer but she moved on instead. "The humans did say I should be honest and straightforward, I suppose they were clearly correct," she thought, putting her hands on her hips. "I want you to mate with me for multiple reasons, which are my own, and not obligated upon me by anyone else."

  "Oh - I was, uh."

  So she... actually wants to mate with me. Not because that's just what dragons do, but because she wants to. She wants to?

  I... don't really know how to deal with that. What am I supposed to do? I don't have experience with this sort of stuff. I've been a loner most of my life.

  "Did you not also want to mate with me? I'm told the purpose of courtship is mating and you did insist on it," she spoke. "Is this because I can't retake my full Dragon Form? I might be able to do it for long enough to mate," she said. "If that's the issue."

  Good to know! "Ergh- maybe!" I said. "Okay, but," I was faltering, looking for the right words, but I didn't even know what I wanted to say, let alone how to say it. It was annoying, frustrating even, to think that I just couldn't answer her and... I couldn't really say anything. I opened my mouth to speak but words didn't come out, not even an uhm, or an ahm, or any sort of prevarication or mumble.

  I'm.

  Stuck.

  What the fuck am I stuck on? I'm a Dragon! I'm Big! I'm badass! I am a living force of nature! I'm a walking disaster! My will is law! My strength is peerless! My greatness is unmatched! So- so why can't I just fucking-

  Why can't I just-

  Do I want to? Do I not want to?! I don't even know! I want to, I'm excited, but- it's scary, it's fucking scary because it's new and it's important and it's meaningful but it seems like she doesn't care and then I wonder if I care too much.

  Am I just being a fucking loser?

  I should just- All I need to do is just, just-

  Fuck's sake I can't even THINK it now! How lame can I be!? Ugh, this is beyond pathetic! I'm so disgusted in myself, I could puke! Wait, I can't puke, I don't have the ability to, I'd just shoot fire or something. Fuck I could puke fire then! And STOP DISTRACTING ME, ME!!!

  "Are you okay?"

  Aqua only sounded slightly concerned.

  "No," I said, instantly, "I'm not okay, I'm not fucking okay, okay!" I huffed.

  She didn't move, but, I could perceive her body tensing just enough.

  I had to force myself back into control. I am a dragon. I am a firebreathing, flying lizard with magical powers. I am not some innocent and idiotic teenage boy going wild because his first crush asked him to spend some alone time! Taking a deep breath, inhaling, exhaling. Another deep breath. Inhaling, exhaling.

  "Are you better now?" she asked.

  "Yes," I said, "I just needed, a moment. This is new to me," I spoke, sighing. "All new. Just- nerves," I said, "I'm cranky, I need to sleep," I finally said. "Fine. I promise. If everything goes well and we make it through this without a massive disaster... I promise we'll mate."

  Hopefully, I'll be emotionally ready for it.

  Because I can't even say I don't want to, or that I want to, I'll need some time, time to myself, time to decide what I really want to do, because I don't want to just leave this shit hanging like the sword of damocles over my head.

  "Will you respect my decision?" I asked. "No matter what it is."

  She put her hands down and shrugged her shoulders. "The humans have this concept- they call it consent. I believe you taught it to them?" she said. "It's pretty nice. No means no, right?" she asked.

  "Right," I said. "I'm glad to hear that."

  "We have time," she said. "We'll still be here for many cycles still," she spoke, turning around and starting to walk away, raising a hand over her shoulder. "The humans, yours because mine are dumb, have taught me that this love thing you speak about, this romance, it takes many seasons for them to build it. We are dragons, our scale of time is longer than their ephemeral existences... I can wait."

  She looked over her shoulder at me.

  "Not that I want to," she admitted, "but I can wait for you, as long as you need me to."

  "Okay..."

  She left, then.

  I needed to do a lot of thinking.

  I called for a Guard. The same woman who went to fetch Aqua appeared.

  "No one is to disturb me unless it's an emergency," I said. "Make sure to clean me thoroughly in preparation for the festival, I have to be at my best," I added.

  Hopefully... I won't be hesitating so much when the time comes.