I followed along behind Xania, deep in a docile stupor. Almost immediately, my eyes felt lost in the beautiful orange and white splotches in her fur. While of average size compared to her kind, she was still immense compared to me. With a soft build, rounded midsection, and full features throughout. And when she turned briefly, I saw an orange marking like a heart on her forehead.
“Xania, settle down," said a Hask Farm worker. "The company’s got a right to make sure their genetic property ain’t copied.”
“Nobody does nothin’ wrong around here, do they?” Xania replied, audibly furious. “A guggle gets lost, the law says it's yours till proven otherwise. Don’t treat their animals right, it's just policy. Guggle gets out because you got too many, it's just something that happens.”
"That's just ... the way things are now," the worker replied, sounding tired of the conversation already. "No need to get worked up over it.
"Worked up?" Xania demanded. "Like when your missing guggles get mixed into everyone else’s livestock? When you sue us for theft? The number of small farms that have been destroyed by the lot of you-"
“That's the law,” the worker replied, like the matter was settled. "There's nothing anyone can do 'bout what happened to your farm."
“What’s happening to all the farms!” Xania retorted. “Apparently, anything's legal when you have your hands in the council’s pockets.”
It sounded like the minotaur was going to reply but he was cut off.
“And don’t tell me ‘bribes ain’t illegal’,” Xania said with a cutting imitation of his voice. “Just you wait. One day, when all that’s left is big farms, Hask ain’t gonna be payin' what they do now. You're gonna be workin' for buttons, just like the crazed animals you breed. And the council won’t make nothin’ illegal ’bout that either!”
“You finished?” asked the other minotaur, still sounding unimpressed.
Xania huffed and stormed out a backdoor with my leash in tow. I noticed she had the leather bindings in hand again ... but she didn't seem inclined to use them unless she had to.
A few hallways later, we were back outside. The bar on the far edge of town was lit up again. And all else was quiet.
“You’re still followin’ … that’s a good sign,” Xania said to me, forcing a deep breath now that nobody else was around. “Not fightin’ at all. I knew you weren’t one of their animals. You were just scared after someone put all that junk on you.”
I tried to keep up with the line of rhetorical questions in order to answer them. But I quickly lost my train of thought and just kind of nodded comfortingly to myself.
Xania smiled and continued along a dirt road.
The walk along the back country was warm and quiet. It was difficult not to get lost in the beauty of the clear night sky above us. While I knew it was a melodramatic cliche, I did kind of hope that Namali, Zolreya, Aamalyn, and Daava were watching the same sky.
Eventually, we reached a small barn. When we entered, there was already a small lantern burning dimly from the ceiling–which only Xania herself was tall enough to reach. The light revealed a handful of guggles that had retreated to the far ends of the space.
Xania brought me directly under the light and began to inspect me. As she did, she said, “Welcome home … well ... what’s left of it anyways. Oh, sweety, they sure got you, didn’t they?” She was eyeing the claw-marks on my arm.
I tried to mumble that I'd used my magic to disinfect it ... but the pegs in my mouth just turned this into garbles.
Xania tied my leash to a nearby post and then walked over to a cabinet hanging on the wall. Undoing a latch, she retrieved a glass bottle of something and brought it back. “Try not to spook, sweety,” she said, reaching slowly for my arm.
Kind of lost in what was happening, I just set my arm into her hand.
Xania lifted an eyebrow and stared at me in a moment of bewilderment. “They did say they thought might’ve been an abandoned pet,” she said to herself as she coated my arm with some kind of white balm. “Which might also explain-” she reached into one of her large pockets and produced two familiar items.
Namali’s ring and Daava’s collar!
My eyes watered and I couldn’t help but smile as best I could with the open gag. Xania removed the Hask collar and replaced it with my own. As soon as they were on, I threw my arms around her in gratitude.
Xania’s body went rigid for a moment, like she'd somewhat expected me to be biting or clawing at her. But, before I could pull away apologetically, Xania began to stroke my long, curly hair. “Good girl … very good girl.”
The embrace was welcome, and I allowed myself to enjoy the tender moment.
Then, after a few minutes, I finally pulled away.
“You’re not a normal guggle,” Xania said as she again seemed to study me carefully. “Did someone magic you this way? Or ... are you some sort of ... half-breed ... between a guggle and-” She glanced at my horns and tail once more before stopping herself, seeming to nauseous at the thought to consider it.
I let out a yawn, barely widening my gag before letting my jaw go slack. I was exhausted … and high … and ready for sleep.
“We’ll figure it out later,” Xania said, letting out a yawn of her own. “Lots to do tomorrow.”
I nodded … only to receive another suspicious look from Xania. Not giving it another thought, I found a nearby pile of hay and rested on it.
-O-
I awoke the next day to the sun peeking through a high barn window at my naked body, like the pervert she is. I gave a stretch and slowly opened my eyes to look around.
The barn I had slept in was clean, if a little dusty. The large doors were wide open. But the other guggles were still inside, cowering in the far corners of the space.
Each had a small bowl in front of them with a familiar oat and berry recipe, if of visibly higher quality. I picked up the bowl and considered for a moment if I really wanted to eat more. But my stomach gave an irritable noise at my self-control. The fact that I'd been willing to forgo food at the start of my journey had caught up to me.
Maybe ... if I only had a little bit ...
By the time I wandered outside, I was already feeling the ‘oats’ as strongly as ever. I glanced down at the softness beneath me to realize that I was standing in a patch of ...
... clover.
Just like ... Aamalyn’s pet name for me. With her in mind, I picked up a few sprigs, including one with a purple flower. I put these into my hair. I hadn't been able to comb it in days ... but at least my hair would now be a pretty nest.
I then heard a nearby wooden door clapping shut. Xania was carrying a bucket from her house into the barn. So I meandered inside to meet her.
In the barn, Xania was cornering one of the guggles with the bucket in hand, trying to soothe her. The guggle, however, seemed terrified, making distressed groans and cowering on the ground.
Carefully, Xania managed to catch the guggle around the elbow, place it over her knee, and express a bit of her milk into the bucket. It couldn’t have been much, however, before the guggle wriggled free and ran into another corner.
"Oh, how I miss my old milking equipment," Xania said with a sigh before moving on to the next guggle.
I somehow doubted she was producing enough to eat ... much less sell. It seemed the only milk she was producing here was enough to reduce discomfort for the guggles themselves.
Once the others were milked, Xania turned to face me, focusing on the plants I had put into my hair. “Well look at you, making yourself all pretty. As if I have a choice but to name you Clover, now.”
I smiled ... but it wasn't the only reason for coming back to the barn. With both the increased milking on the ship, and especially on Hask Farms with whatever was in those oats, I felt full to bursting. So I approached, knelt, and settled into place on her knee.
“Are you …” Xania began to say. It was another moment before she reached around me. The white and orange fur on her hands soft on my breasts. A moment later, I heard a small trickle from my body pour into the bucket.
This went on for several minutes.
I let out a thoughtless little, “Moo,” despite it being inevitably muddled by the gag. Then I rubbed my face affectionately against her soft arm. Intoxication always made me more cuddly ... and this was no exception.
“You're all done, Clover,” Xania said with a chuckle. Reminding me that she still thought I was a guggle … an animal. Then again ... maybe it was a good thing that she did not quite understand the feelings I was experiencing at being touched.
For a moment, I tried to think of a way to communicate that I was a person. Horniness aside, I was on a mission … even if I ... couldn't remember what that was at the moment. However, this thought quickly fluttered out of my head like a bird disappearing into the distance of an open sky.
Instead, I wandered back outside, soon finding myself lying in the soft clover field. Watching the actual clouds and actual birds flying above me. For the first time in a while, I did not feel the weight of ... anything. My only mission was to lie in the soft grass and watch the sky above. And so I did so, letting myself enjoy the peace.
Unknown time passed. Unexpectedly, I found myself in the shadow of another.
It was Xania, of course, and she let out a giggle. “Well, it seems someone ain’t used to guggle calmants. The vet has me usin’ more than most farms, on account of rescues being so flighty. Still, maybe I oughta cut down for you.”
I shrugged, which rewarded me with another confused look.
“I swear sometimes that it’s almost like you really understand, Clover,” Xania said and then let out an exhausted laugh that seemed pointedly at her own expense. “Or maybe I’m just … lonely.”
I frowned as empathetically as I could and patted her ankle affectionately. However, this only earned me another confused look.
Xania tightened her emotions like the strings of a marionette, as if trying to bring herself back to sanity. “How would you like to go to town with me?”
I smiled and stood.
