Side story Tarakona

Tarakona stared at her Master for a long while. He was both stupid and infuriatingly nice rolled together and she couldn't tell if that made her like him more because of that fact.

[Fine. I will see what she has to say for herself. But if I don't agree then I expect you to keep your side of this.]

She waited only long enough to see him start to nod before she mentally selected Voras's room and teleported.

"Finally. I was about to come back and grab you." Zeldi immediately said apon Tarakona's arrival.

Instead of replying Tarakona sniffed the air. The unmistakable smell of Voras clung to the room and it didn't take long for the Draconess to zero in on the face/nest on the ceiling.

[Voras. Master has given you a nice reference because of what you've said to him. But your future here is only going to happen if we want it to.]

She projected her mind out and felt the mind of the spider woman recoil at the intrusion. Luckily she didn't run and instead started to make her way over to the pair.

Or was in unlucky? For Tarakona it would have been simple if the spider woman had have run. It would have made her decision easier.

While they waited for her to make her way over Tarakona thought about what she actually wanted.

Did she hate Voras? No.

Did she want her to be gone? She couldn't decide.

What she did want was Clovek's safety. That was easy enough for her to figure out. And the Arachnid provided a problem to that.

So if her Master was correct and she would bring him back in the likely chance he died again, would she actually have a problem with her? No.

She would have a problem if she tried to mate with him however. That right belonged to herself and Zeldi. At least until Zeldi accepted her. Centaur rules and everything.

Then there was her silk.

This time Tarakona had to silence her own growl. She knew her eggs were of low quality and that she couldn't lay as fast as Zeldi produced milk or Voras could weave her silk, but it still vexed her that she couldn't help. Not even her buff affected Clovek as he had no natural magic.

Even if she was well fed she knew her eggs just weren't that valuable. Sure she was working on her quest and it would increase the quality of her eggs but Zeldi was at D- already and Voras seemed to be much higher in terms of their own quality.

And Tarakona also knew she was a drain on her Masters resources.

If she wasn't here Zeldi would probably already have a farm set up with the sales from her milk. With whatever the homunculus things that Clovek had mentioned previously.

He wouldn't need the automatic butcher or to spend points letting her roam free for an hour. He could focus entirely on Zeldi.

And all she could do in return was lay a single egg maybe every two days right now. She had yet to pay for what she had already been given and even sex just didn't seem like a good enough reward she could give him for all that he had done.

Her saving grace was the Drow. Hopefully they brought some items Clovek couldn't buy from his store. Then her eggs would have some external valve and she could complete her quest. That being a big if... What happens if the Drow items are of no value to the farm?

All this led Tarakona to thinking... No. She knew they needed to keep the spider. Her silk would be critical for their growth but not at the expense of her Masters safety.

The Dragon would gladly starve if it ment she knew he was safe. Or as safe as someone who could endlessly respawn was.

Voras was an unknown variant in Tarakona's calculation. Something to remove if needed.

"Sister?" Zeldi prompted bringing Tarakona out of her own mind. "Do you think we jumped the proverbial fence by not setting clearer boundaries for Voras when she first arrived?"

Yes.

The thought instantly crossed her mind but Tarakona held back on actually saying it.

Master was right.

Zeldi had been in a similar situation only because of the difference in species, led to there had being a different outcome.

Not that Tarakona could ever see Masters little mare being violent. A little adventurous with her tongue but not violent. Thank the Draconic ancestors that she didn't have a tail like her own.

[I think we let our need to help cloud our judgement in letting her join. We should have made it clear she was welcome on the farm but had to work on actually earning a place within our family. I think we combined the two together and it has forced an avoidable outcome.]

That seemed to settle Zeldi down.

Tarakona had to suppress her tail from moving as the blade on the end would not have been as comforting as she wanted it to.

Voras made her appearance shortly afterwards and Tarakona immediately noticed the difference in how she held herself. There was no guarded posture of someone ready to fight that the spider woman usually had and instead an almost meek woman.

"I believe I have a lot to say to you guys." She mumbled once all of her feet were on the ground.

Tarakona could smell the sweet tang of self pleasure coming off her but made no comment. Apparently after Clovek left she had thought she was going to be alone for a while. Or maybe it was while he was there. They hadn't mated but that didn't mean something else could have happened.

"Yes." Zeldi spoke up before Tarakona could. "We believe a few things weren't set up correctly when you first arrived and we would like to rectify that."

Voras nodded. "I agree. Would it be possible to have this conversation up in my nest?"

Both Tarakona and Zeldi followed Voras as she pointed up to the ceiling and the face that she had made.

Zeldi flinched and had to cover her mouth to stop herself yelling out. Tarakona on the other hand gave it a nod. Install fear in anyone trying to enter her nest before the even got close. She would have loved to do something similar back when she was nesting alone.

[Is it big enough for my true form?]

"Unfortunately not." Voras winced.

[No matter. Help Zeldi get up there if you can. I will make my own way up.]

Tarakona jumped not waiting for a response and flapped her wings before making a be-lined for the entrance. It was not hard to find as even though Voras had camouflaged it well her scent leaked out, strong enough the Dragon could follow.

The inside was nothing special though Tarakona ran into many strands of silk that had been expertly weaved in the open area. Each strand invisible but capable of being used to ensnare a victim who wandered in, unaware they were already in the process of being bound. Another thing the Dragon could appreciate. Making her nest as hostile as possible for those that she didn't want to be there.

Instead of breaking all of it, Tarakona went to a corner that smelt like her Master. It was obvious this is where he had been and she exhaled a controlled breath. The frost that followed encased the corner and revealed the invisible strands to the Dragon.

Tarakona didn't want to be completely mean but she didn't want to be at Voras's mercy should something happen, even though she could teleport out with a thought. So she cleared the single corner by cutting every loose strand that looked to be made for containment, while leaving everything that was structural.

This gave the Dragon another chance to think about what she watched out of this. What would it take for her to say yes to Voras staying?

An apology for a start. That was easy.

Then?

A promise that she would bring her Master back of something happened? Would Tarakona even believe her?

Zeldi and Vorus joined her much later. The Arachnid struggling to get Zeldi's bulk up into the nest but she managed.

Zeldi took one step on the silk before collapsing onto the ground. Her hoof sunk in deep like she was on a trampoline when her weight was pushed down and the Centaur did not like it.

Tarakona bit back a laugh and made her way over to her sister, freezing and then cutting any strands she found. To her surprise Voras just watched her with curiosity. The Dragon had expected her to be angry about what she had done. Not that Zeldi noticed.

"Okay we're in your nest. Why did we need to come up here? And why couldn't you just have said something before?" Zeldi tried to demand while she rose only to not trust the wobble of he silk under her hooves and return to the ground.

Voras did well to hide her smile. Instead she let her eyes drop to the ground. "I want to properly apologize for how I've treated everyone here..."

[Just Master. You have been nice to us, well to a point. Master is the one you need to apologize to and from the sound of it you already have.]

Tarakona didn't miss the way she flinched at the mention of Clovek, or the way her body released a potent cocktail of pheromones. How could she be afraid but also desperately wanting to mate with him?

"My apology to him went extremely well, but he has still made it clear that I will need to make sure you two both are happy with me." Voras replied raising her head and making sure she looked into each of their eyes. "For a simple explanation as to why I have been a bitch it's because of my past with Deed."

"We know that." Zeldi let out an exasperated sigh. "I would have thought us being okay with you killing Clovek the first time was enough for you to understand that we understood."

[What sister Zeldi is trying to say is. Why are you still trying to find the bad in him no matter how much we tell you there isn't?]

Voras's hand went to her eye. "Because what my last Deed owner did left scars. Some so deep I didn't know I still had them."

The room fell silent. Zeldi seemed to realize the scar was still there while Tarakona merely waited.

"My last Deed owner liked to think of herself as a hunter. She would bring trophies into town with her latest kills or would be if she was any good at actually hunting."

Tarakona had to bite her cheek. Memories of hunters coming to try and harvest her body spilled through her mind. But the worst part, she knew what Voras was about to say before she said it.

"Instead of actually hunting she would remove parts of her own livestock to use as trophies as we would just heal anyway. A few fangs of an Arachnid here and the snakes off a Gorgons head there. All things that she normally would have had to kill the owner to get, and if anyone questioned her she just said it was too hard to transport the whole body."

Zeldi blanched. Her whole body crying out.

Voras just continued. Tarakona could tell through the tears starting to form that this hurt to say but Voras needed to say it out loud.

"My nest was the only place that was safe. She couldn't enter without getting caught in my silk and I couldn't leave without getting a few limbs removed. So I... I don't quite act the same outside of it."

"That's horrible!" Zeldi cried out. "Why would she do that?"

"Because we stopped producing for her." Voras answered with a shrug. "She won the Deed in a game of dice and thought it would just passively generate her money. When it didn't she found alternative ways as 'getting down and dirty with the pheasants' was beneath her."

[Butchering Livestock wasn't beneath her?]

"Drow ways." Voras answered. "Looking after animals and Livestock was poor peoples jobs while hunting and slaying were jobs for the rich and powerful."

[Ah.]

"So I killed her when I had the chance. She got drunk and fell asleep in the Deed after a rather lucrative day of abusing us. After that I became the new Deed owner and started killing others. With more Deeds instead of absorbing them like Clovek had I sent the other Livestock to own and look after them."

"May I ask why you didn't leave? Or help them on your own Deed?" Zeldi asked.

It wasn't hard to tell Zeldi had fallen for the story and would be accepting Voras. Tarakona only hoped the Arachnid was prepared for the type of love Zeldi was going to throw her way.

"Because I was broken... I knew I was jaded and I knew I couldn't give them the life they deserved." Voras let out a breath. "Instead of looking after them I just wanted to punish all other Deed owners, so when the opportunity came we all agreed it was for the best."

[Why didn't they break like you have?]

"Because I was the first. I had it for the longest and when it came to it... It was more believable that she had killed many Arachnids than a lot of Basilisks and Gorgons."

There was another round of silence as they all digested that.

Eventually Voras piped up. "To make amends I will be telling Clovek about one of the other Deeds and where it's located. Doing so will notify the thing giving him quests and will most likely result in him getting a quest reward that will send us there."

"And treating him better?" Zeldi pushed.

Voras hesitated but relented. "I will try. I promise I will start providing my silk to him but I cannot promise that I will be able to look at him differently."

[But stripping down naked in front of him is completely fair?]

"It's my nest." Voras said as an answer. "It's like everything that revolves around the Deed owners suddenly doesn't matter inside of it."

"That's okay." Zeldi butted in. "We understand. Don't we Tarakona?"

Zeldi turned to the Dragon and almost looked like she was begging. Tarakona just rolled her eyes.

[I have no care for creating needless drama. My only concern is my mate and those that share his bed.]

Tarakona moved up close to Voras even though she didn't need to for her voice to be heard.

[My mate is fragile and tends to get himself in trouble easily. If that were the case I would be locking him up in my lair to make sure he can't be harmed. But he is stronger than I am with his invincibility and resurrections, thus he is allowed to be free. So I will make this clear to you again.]

Tarakona let a steady breath out that left a layer of frost over the floor.

[Act however you want I don't care, but if he dies and you don't bring him back? You best hope I am already dead because I will make everything your previous Deed owner did seem like a hatchling trying to kill the sun by throwing stones at it.]

"I will. Unless he suddenly became a monster but if he stays the way he is now then in will." Voras nodded furiously. Tarakona's message definitely delivered.

[Good. Then in the interest of helping I believe you have some things to make for us.]