An octopus was trying to eat me. I couldn't breathe; it was wrapped around my head. Clawing at my face, I struggled to sit up. Tentacles clung to my chest and arms, trying to drag me down. I lunged forward, trying to escape it. The floor rushed to meet my face just as I took a gasping breath. Tentacles wrapped around my chest, pulling me backward. No, they were arms, blue arms.
Mar'kost laughed in my ear. "You're alive. I can't believe you're alive." He had more arms and tails than usual, and all of them were squeezing me against his chest.
"Gah, you scared me half to death." Panting, I rested my hands on my knees. Both were patterned like marble. On a whim, I tapped my fingers together. They clinked like rock. I fought against the panic rising in my throat. "What happened to me?" We were in a bedroom I'd never seen before. "Where are we? A-and why the hell am I naked?" I yanked the comforter off the bed, but MarkâMar'kostâdidn't seem to get the hint that I didn't want him hugging me while I was naked. Feeling uncomfortably hot, I tugged on his arms. "Let go of me."
"Sorry." He pulled away. "Are you in pain?"
"No, I'm just really uncomfortable right now." I pulled the comforter around me.
"Why?"
"What do you mean why? I'm-" Clutching my makeshift robe to my chest, I turned around to find that Mar'kost had returned to his typical five-limbed form while naked. The worst possibilities flashed through my mind, but the fact that he had the genitals of a Ken doll stopped me from shouting accusations right away. "Why are we naked, Mar'kost?"
"You can call me Mark. I prefer it." Taking my free hand, he stroked my knuckles. "As for our lack of clothingâyours burned up, and I forgot about mine while I was grieving your supposed death."
"I thought you could sense my heart and stuff."
"I can. Your vital organs stopped working. Several of them disappeared entirely or were replaced with structures whose purpose I couldn't determine."
"Why, exactly, did that happen?"
Cradling my hand against his cheek, he shrugged. "Ortai biology is a mystery to me."
"Okay, let me try againâwhat happened right before I started looking dead?"
"You don't remember?"
"Why would I ask if I-" I forced myself not to raise my voice. "Please, just tell me what happened."
"Do you remember Glacier?"
"If you're asking if I remember the part where Bloodflight turned out to be a super angry drykon named Glacier, yeah, I do. I also remember Cadmus waking us up and riding back to the ranch. I was in the stables with Sparrowfoot, and... that's it."
"Falek and my team used an arka suppressant collar on you. I arrived and removed it, but it was too late to stop whatever was happening to you. Then you died. And now you're alive." He grinned, feathers sticking straight up. "I'm so glad you're alive. You must be hungry. Are you hungry? I'm hungry." There was an unnerving fervor in his expression and tone.
"Mark, how long have I looked dead?"
He swallowed and shook his head. "It doesn't matter. You're alive. Everything's okay now."
"Is this Cadmus's house?"
He nodded. "He'll have food." He stood and stepped around me to open the bedroom door. "Cadmus?" He paused before repeating his call louder.
"He's in Holis, sweetie." A woman's voice and soft hoofbeats came closer. "Can I help you?"
"Liza's hungry."
"Is she?" Her voice rose half an octave. "How about I ask her what she'd like to eat?"
He shook his head. "I don't think she likes people seeing her naked. She'd like clothes, too. Hers burned when she died."
It occurred to me that the womanâwho sounded like Cadmus's wifeâwas under the impression that Mark wanted to feed and dress a corpse. Holding the comforter around myself, I tried to stand. My legs gave out, pitching me forward. I hit the ground with a thud.
Mark was at my side in an instant, pulling me up off the floor. "Are you okay? Does anything hurt?"
"No, I'm fine."
She screamed, making us both jump. Standing in the doorway, she clutched her chest and breathed heavily. Besides being curvier and hornless, the only differences between her and Harker were the clothes; Harker never wore anything on his deer half, but she wore a long skirt.
She caught her breath. "You're alive!"
"Apparently."
"I thought-" She stared at Mark for a second before looking back at me. "My apologies, I don't believe we've been introduced properly. I'm Kaliska Greyer, Cadmus's wife."
"I'm Liza Shiel-Smith, Mark's... friend."
"And his Ortai?"
"Y-yeah, that too. He's kinda my Knight, I guess."
Mark raised his brows. "'Kinda?'" He sounded a little hurt.
I lowered my voice. "It's weird telling people you have to protect me because of some oath our ancestors made."
Kaliska cleared her throat. "May I ask what your kind eats, Ortai Shiel?"
"I dunno. Normal food?" I didn't have a clue how my new anatomy would affect my diet. "And you can call me Liza."
She nodded. "As for clothes, I'm afraid I don't have any women's clothing for a biped, but I am a seamstress. I can make you whatever you'd like."
"Oh, thanks." That sounded like a lot of work. "But I'd be fine with men's clothes." Cadmus's would probably have too many holes for extra limbs, but only the tail hole might be problematic. I touched my rear to make sure I hadn't grown a tail. "I don't have a tail, by the way."
"In that case, I can modify some of Cadmus's clothes for you real quick. What are your measurements?"
I didn't know them off the top of my head, and even if I had, I was pretty sure she wouldn't recognize Earth units. "Can I borrow a tape measure? And a pen and paper?"
"Of course." She backed out of the room.
Mark sat next to me, tail curled in his lap.
My head was a mess of worry and trying not to think about what had happened to me or how long I'd been out and what that meant for the other Ortai, but I tried to focus on the little things I could still control. "Hey, do you have any clothes?"
"Yes. They brought my things from the hotel." He gestured at a couple of trunks by the wall.
"Could you put some on?"
"Yes." He paused for a moment as the meaning of my question seemed to dawn on him. "You don't like seeing naked people."
"Not really, no."
He started getting dressed but frowned. "Does seeing longstrider men bother you? They're always half naked."
"I noticed, and yeah, it's... different from what I'm used to." I willed my face not to blush. Was I even capable of blushing now? "It's not like they're really showing anything with the fur and all." Though, I hadn't looked closely enough to tell whether that was entirely true.
Once dressed, Mark returned to my side. "So nakedness is okay, so long as there is fur? What about feathers?"
"I guess that would be fine..."
He nodded, as if he would keep that in mind for the future.
I wasn't sure what to say. I knew any body part he chose to form was for the benefit of those around him, since he could just as easily appear to be a giant slug as a humanoid. So it wasn't like him being naked was wrong or sexual in any way, just weird. And I couldn't handle any more weirdness right now.
Kaliska came back with the measuring tape. She shooed a reluctant Mark out of the room while I measured myself and recorded the numbers. I couldn't really stand on my own, so measuring involved a lot of lying and rolling on the floor, which was strangely ashy. I really needed a bath. My stomach argued that hunger was more pressing.
When Mark returned and his rich scent made my stomach do a little flip, I had the sinking feeling that I wasn't interested in normal food.
"Could you help me to the bath?"
"Of course." He grabbed me from behind in a bear hug and hauled me to my feet.
I supported as much of my weight as I could, but it felt like trying to hold up a bowling ball with matchsticks. Mark did most of the heavy lifting to get me into the bathroom. He sat me on the floor next to the copper bathtub, which was the only fixture in the room. Pulling the comforter closer so it didn't trip him up, I watched as he opened a hatch in the side of the bathtub to reveal a hollow area underneath the basin. He held what looked like an overly large safety pin with a little bowl on one endâa device that reminded me of what we'd used to light a Bunsen burner in Chemistry class. As he twisted a knob under the bathtub, gas hissed from a dozen pipe spouts. A click of the lighter set them all ablaze. Mark closed the hatch and turned on the faucet, which didn't appear to have any temperature control. I supposed the only control would be the gas valve below.
I would've asked about the toilet, but I'd already used the ranch's outhouse when I was here before. "Why doesn't the toilet have plumbing? Is that normal around here?"
He cocked his head. "The outhouse here has a septic tank. Most neighborhoods in Darver have communal toilet houses."
That was a little worrying. "What about fresh water?"
"Typically, neighborhoods have a communal water pump as well."
I gave a pointed look at the quickly-filling bathtub. "I'm guessing Cadmus and Kaliska are pretty well off?"
He nodded.
"And Ruin's Point Hotel must be pretty expensive. For people who don't get the family discount, I mean."
Another nod.
That would suck if Cadmus kicked us out. Even really crappy apartments back home had private toilets, and I didn't think I could use a public toilet in front of other people. Maybe he meant the building was public but the toilets were in their own little stalls, like public restrooms? I hoped so.
He turned off the faucet as the bath filled. "Do you need help getting in?"
"I think I've got it." Though, I wasn't quite so sure. "I'll call for you if I need more help."
With a nod and a smile, he slipped out into the hall.
I laboriously dragged myself up and over the rim of the bath before splashing into the water. It wasn't quite hot yet, but it wasn't cold either. Less ash than I would've expectedâgiven the filthy carpet in the other roomâcame off me, which gave me the uneasy feeling that I'd been cleaned while I was "dead." I tried not to think about that, but my thoughts whirred in the silence.
How long had I looked dead? Had Mark been guarding my body the whole time? He was acting weird, which was understandable given the fact that he'd thought I died, but Kaliska's response to him asking her to feed me made me think that she wouldn't have been surprised if he really had been asking to feed a corpse. That worried me.
All of this worried me. I felt like my limbs were made of lead, I looked like a marble countertop come to life, and on a less importantâbut still worryingânote, Mark had been completely unbothered by seeing me naked. Sure, he'd been excited I was alive, but he hadn't even comprehended why I might be opposed to being naked while he hugged me. I could only assume that he wasn't remotely attracted to a body so alien to him, which only made his affection stranger. It wouldn't have been that strange if he was physically affectionate with his other friends, but in two days of living at Ruin's Point, I hadn't even seen him sit close to one of them on the couch. He'd seemed determined not to touch any of them, which made me think that being affectionate wasn't in his nature.
His affection toward me had to be my magic affecting him. I needed to let him go as my Knight as soon as I could.
Sighing, I reached up to run my fingers through my hair, but I only touched bare scalp. Maybe some of it had fallen out? My hope quickly faded as I found that my scalp was completely bare except for two short horns. Wonderful. Just wonderful. I'd better turn back to normal before I found the other Ortai, or they would freak out. Not even Grace could recognize me like this.
As if that wasn't bad enough, my chest had about as much definition as a pigeon's. Even if Mark had been attracted to me as a human, he wouldn't be now.
It was a stupid thing to be worried about, especially when I planned to end the Knight bond, which would probably drive him away, but it was easier to worry about that than whether or not Grace and the others had survived however long I'd been "dead" or whether I would ever turn back to normal.
Holding back tears, I got my bath over with and dragged myself out of the water. My already heavy body felt even heavier out of the water, and I had to rest on the floor for a moment before pulling a towel off the rack.
As soon as I'd wrapped myself in a towel, Mark opened the door.
"Hey! What did I say about not wanting to be seen naked?"
He blinked. "You aren't naked."
"Yeah, but you didn't know that when you opened the door."
"I did."
"How?"
"I sensed it."
I sat up with my back against the tub. "Can you see through doors?"
"I can't 'see' anything, but I can sense through anything that can't fully block arka."
"Let me guess, you can't turn off your senses?"
He shook his head.
"And you can see through clothes, too."
He reluctantly nodded.
Well, that explained why he was so casual about the whole naked thing. Everyone might as well be constantly naked to him. I guessed it wasn't really any worse than seeing someone's insides, and I'd already known he could do that.
"Does that upset you?"
I shrugged. "Not as much as me turning into a rock."
There was a soft knock at the doorway, and Kaliska peered in. "I hope I'm not interrupting, but I modified these-" She held out a bundle of clothes. "-and I thought you might want them. They aren't perfect; I only had time to close the extra holes and bring in the waist of the pants, but I'll get to work making you more tailored clothes as soon as we finish lunch."
"Thank you." I took the clothes, which felt like cotton and had a plain gray color that made me think they were previously pajamas. Hopefully, lunch would ease the pain in my stomach.