For several blissful moments we stood there, Lady Azalea holding my head, while years of pent up feelings washed their way out of me in thick, hot tears. I let out a soft whimper as I felt a second set of soft and firm arms on one side of me, and a third set of strong arms from the other side, and I realized I was being pile hugged by all three of my benefactors.

Azalea brushed my tears aside and stared deeply into my eyes with a gentle smile. “You’re safe now Iris, and you never have to go back to that awful Academy again.”

Assaulted by such reassuring words and surrounded on all sides by warm hugs, I melted into their embrace. “Is it okay to feel this… loved and wanted?”

Lilia’s cheerful voice chirped up from my right side. “Of course it is, silly girl!”

Alder’s baritone sounded to my left side. “You will always be welcome in this household.”

Sobbing softly, I leaned into their embrace and smiled. I decided that I would simply enjoy the comfort being provided, and leaned my head against Lady Azalea. She felt incredibly soft, and smelled like a field of wildflowers. I wanted to remain in her flowery embrace forevermore.

She stroked my head lovingly, and softly smiled. “Good girl.”

Good Girl. That’s what I am now. A good girl.

An instinctive response resounded through me, of intense happiness at being praised, and I looked up to the Lady with a big smile on my face. “Thank you!”

She giggled, and gently patted me on the head, which sent more lovely feelings through my body. Her hand lingered for a moment on my ears, gently caressing the fur covered appendages between her palm. My thoughts melted, and I leaned into Azalea’s touch even more. They felt incredibly sensitive, and I couldn’t hold back the soft whimpers that issued out of my mouth.

That only seemed to make Azalea smile even more though, and she looked up to her butler with a soft smirk. “You’ve already started to train her, Alder?”

At some point, Lilia and Alder had stepped away from the hug. Lilia was still lingering close to us, and giggling to herself at each of my little reactions. I could almost hear the smile in the old butler’s voice. “My apologies, but old habits die hard. She took to it quite well, and as you can see it’s having some results.”

Azalea smirked, then cast that look down to me, as I let out involuntary whines from her playing with my ear. “Well I suppose we have some explaining to do.” Her hand left my ear and I let out a louder whimper as those wonderful touches ceased, and I looked up to her with a scowl. “Oh don’t pout Iris, you’ll be getting plenty more of those later, should you wish.”

I crossed my arms and turned my head away. I wasn’t pouting!

Azalea giggled. “Very cute, now if you could be a good girl and take a seat. I hope all those pets didn’t melt your thoughts too much, because we have a lot to discuss.”

My dazed mind was still swimming in a sea of clouds and rainbows, and as I attempted to focus my thoughts, I found that I would only drift away again. In the end, I resorted to slapping my cheeks, which brought more giggles from Lilia. I pout-scowled towards her, then took a deep breath as my thoughts returned to me. “I’m grounded again.”

“Excellent, though I wouldn’t have minded seeing you all blushy and dazed for a bit longer.” She leaned back in her chair and took a sip out of the porcelain teacup set on her desk as my cheeks burned bright red.

I seated myself in the same chair as before, the plush red leather felt much more comfortable than the rickety old wooden chairs they provided at the academy. Not for the first time, I thought about how stingy they were with the students there, and how Competitive students would get over finding proper furnishings for their rooms.

“It’s a means of control, to keep the students at each other’s throats.” My chest tightened as those words creeped into my mind, spoken by Kendrick.

The scent of Azalea’s tea wafted over to me, and I couldn’t help but take a deeper sniff of it. The floral scent helped relax me, and I let out a soft sigh. “What kind of tea is that? I think I smell Lavender.”

Azalea’s brows went up in surprise, and she set her cup down. “I’m impressed that you recognize it. This is a special blend prepared by Lilia, she’s quite the brewmaster.”

The elf maid off to her side blushed at the praise, and smiled brightly. “I developed it during my early days of service to Lady Azalea, back when I still wore the butler uniform.”

My eyes widened at that, and I looked up to the Elf maid. “You mean that you’re also like me? There are others?”

Azalea looked up to her maid with adoration, then turned to me and smiled. “We both are.”

Looking at the two women, I couldn’t help but feel my jaw drop open. They’d both been like me once? They were both such beautiful women, it was hard to believe that they were ever men. The dots began to connect in my mind, and I held my hand up to my chin in contemplation. “Practicing Wild Magic can do that to your body over time?”

The Lady of the House gave an affectionate smile as she looked up to the butler. “Alder was the one to teach my family about it back when I was a little girl.”

Alder pushed up his glasses and cleared his throat. “It’s how I attained my own appearance as well. For most mages the changes caused by Wild Magic are minor alterations, because most people feel comfortable in their bodies.”

I froze at that statement, my eyes going wide as I processed the information. “Wait, you mean that not everyone feels uncomfortable with their bodies?”

A series of collective sighs echoed in the room, and Alder adjusted his glasses again, and I could see his mind attempting to formulate a response. “No, they don’t.”

I blinked again. How had I gone through life thinking that everyone thought about wearing girl clothes? Or wishing Very hard to wanting to be a girl? All those nights spent praying to God…

Alder placed a hand on my shoulder and gave me a sincere smile. “I can see you worrying about this, and I assure you that there is no incorrect time to start living your life the way you want to.”

Those words struck a deep chord inside of me, and I looked down to myself, wearing a beautiful red dress, and cute shoes. I could still feel the swirling mana settling into my body, the pleasant tickling sensation building up under my skin promising changes that I couldn’t wait to welcome. I smiled up to the butler and nodded my head. “Thank you Alder, sir.”

That brought a chuckle to him, and he quietly shook his head. “Just Alder is fine. Technically I’m in charge of the housekeeping, but my policy is that we are all equals here.”

“News to me, you’re always such a taskmaster!” Came Lilia’s higher pitched voice, with a hint of sarcasm to it.

Alder rolled his eyes, and Azalea looked back to Lilia with a deadpan expression before lightly spanking her on the bottom. The maid let out a little yelp, and her cheeks turned bright pink. My own cheeks were flush as well at the display.

“Brat.” Azalea stated.

“I’m your brat, Mistress~” Lilia replied with a glint of mischief in her eyes.

Azalea cleared her throat before continuing. “Anyway, using Wild Magic will cause drastic changes within a mage over time, but the changes are attuned to your own desires. In other words, you won’t experience any changes that you would be uncomfortable with.”

My hand reflexively went to touch my increasingly fuzzy ears, and nodded my head. In truth, it felt more natural and good to just touch them, and before long I found myself stroking them gently.

“If that’s the case, then why do you not have traits like my ears?”

Lilia and Alder seemed to stiffen after that question, then turned back to look at their Lady. Azalea sighed softly, then motioned with her hand, prompting Alder and Lilia to leave the room. I blinked quizzically and looked between them and Azalea.

“My apologies Iris, but I’d rather we discuss that in private.” For the first time, I saw that Azalea’s face held a hint of shyness to it. And in our private moment, I felt more connected to her, and realized that she was feeling anxious about revealing herself to me.

“I understand if it’s a… sensitive topic for you.” I was a little confused, but I was going to try my best to be as understanding towards her as she had been towards me. Even if I had a hard time with trusting others, I felt like I owed her that much.

Azalea gave me a soft smile, then rose out of her chair and stood in front of her desk, where I had a clear view of her. The tall woman was exceedingly beautiful, and I couldn’t help but drink in her lovely soft skin, her black hair, and then met her eyes. She looked back to me with anxiousness in her dark eyes, then took a deep breath, raised her hand and snapped her finger.

Beginning with her feet, a veil began to peel its way backwards, dispelling itself in rows of bright pink wisps. As the layer vanished to reveal her true appearance beneath, soft pink colored skin came into view, covering her entire body. The skin was flecked with patches of dark scales that made me think of freckles, and along her arms and legs were rows of white feathers. Her long hair retained its dark black color, but atop her head grew a pair of horns that curled inwards and outwards. The Lady’s resplendent beauty was capped off by a long, thin tail that ended in more white feathers.

My heart caught in my throat, and the only thing I could think of as I looked at her was that her true appearance was even more beautiful than the disguise she hid herself behind. I felt my heart pounding as a rush of excitement went through my body and to my nether regions, much to my own embarrassment and frustration. True to her namesake, she was like looking at a beautiful flower, and bathed in the orange sunset behind her, it made for a truly breathtaking sight.

Her cheeks were bright red, and she let out a light whimper as I continued to stare at her. Blinking, I shook my head to break myself out of my reverie as I remembered that I was rudely staring at her. “S-S-Sorry Lady Azalea, it’s just that… you’re… so Beautiful.”

Azalea’s cheeks remained flush, and she smiled softly while looking off to the side. “Th-Thank you, but if it’s off putting to you, that’s quite under-”

“No!” I surprised both of us with how firmly that statement came out of my mouth, but flooded with confidence, I continued. “I truly think you’re beautiful Lady Azalea, like a wondrous work of art.”

She stepped closer to me, and I noticed that her tail was curled around her leg, perhaps in a nervous habit. Her hand approached my chin, and she closed my mouth with a soft click of my teeth. I hadn’t even realized my mouth was hanging open, but the motion caused my own cheeks to turn bright red. This close, I got an even better look at her beautiful pink skin, her plunging cleavage held up by her black dress, and her gorgeous smile. My heart soared again.

“Thank you, little Iris.”

A rush of emotion swelled in my chest, and I felt the desire to do something I’d never done before. I leaned forward, and my lips met hers, tasting cherries and flowers. An instant later, I realized what I’d done, and hastily retreated.

My chest swirled with shame at how swiftly my feelings had taken over my senses, and I waved my hands as panic flooded me. “I-I’m sorry Lady A-Azalea, I-”

Her hand moved behind my head, and for an instant I saw a resoluteness in her expression that caused my knees to wobble. Then she pulled me forward into another kiss, her hand holding me in place as she pushed me up to meet her own lips, and I swooned. A gasp escaped past my muted lips as her tongue slipped its way into my mouth, exploring with gleeful abandon as her own lust rose to meet my own. I let out a muffled squeal as her tongue slipped down into my throat for just a moment, and I realized it must be very long.

After a blissful exchange, we broke contact, and a trail of drool passed between us. My mind overloaded with pent up desire, I stared into her eyes with a hazy expression, while she stared back with a confidence that made me want to submit to her every desire.

“Normally, I don’t share a kiss with my lovely maids until we get to know each other a little better.” My heart thumped, and she gently rubbed my fur covered ear again, which I realized was quickly becoming a calming habit for her. “But I think I can make an exception for such a cute girl.”

Cute girl! She said I’m a cute girl!

The urge to move an appendage that didn’t exist was incredibly strong, and as I opened my mouth to reply to her, a single sound escaped past my lips.

“Arf~!”

Silence fell between us for a moment as we both realized what I’d just done. My hands jumped up to my mouth, as morbid embarrassment fell onto me. Azalea’s expression curled up into a knowing and confident smirk again.

Did… Did I just bark?!

Violet_Velvet

Thank you for reading Chapter 12 of Getting Comfortable! Quite a lot of reveals in this chapter, it took me a while to figure out how to handle it all, but I hope I did all right!

I hope you enjoyed this latest chapter, and I look forward to seeing you all in the next installment.

Extra special thanks this chapter to my family for supporting me, and my test readers for helping out with the editing. <3

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