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I take a deep breath, absorbing my new changes, trying to adjust as fast as possible with my head screaming out in protest. “Could I have a moment alone, please?”

“Of course,” Ree says softly, then pads out.

Kira stays a moment longer. “You look fucking amazing, Livie,” she growls out, voice raw. “There aren’t many people who would take on something like this on purpose. We are a special breed,” she finishes, voice rough with pride and affection.

I smile, her acceptance helping me make the disorienting transition to new changes. “Thanks, Kira. That means a lot,” I tell her, feeling every word.

She pads out, leaving me to my rumination. It takes me a while to finish working through my mental process. There is a soft murmur of multiple voices outside, but I know they won’t rush me, so I just take my time.

This would have been some seriously scary shit to wake up to alone and even Kroaicho’s presence wouldn’t have been enough to help calm me down. Zha wouldn’t know what was or wasn’t natural for a human.

It is nice having them here.

It makes me think about how things were before being snatched. I’ve gone my whole life with people around me, most of them people I didn’t want surrounding me. I never understood how much it could mean to not be alone or to be around people who aren’t looking to use me for their personal gain. Or fix me so I will stop making them look bad.

I’m used to spending time with ridiculously wealthy people. The sort that never seem to have enough, even though they have everything. They were always out to get more things… More notoriety. More fame.

But here? These people only have each other. I can already tell that they place their value in each other and it seems so… right.

The realization makes me want to go out to them, which is the opposite of my usual impulse: to be alone. To retreat. I’m ready to face the world and it feels good. I get up, tell the suit to cover me again, and make my way out of the cave.

It’s quite a process. I stumble around, new extra small limbs flailing along with my suddenly longer arms, trying to figure out my balance and overcorrecting where I’m holding the new… tentacle? Tail?

Then I extend my toe claws and it helps. I find my balance in time to get out of the cave without face planting and to start paying attention to what everyone is talking about.

“We’ve left Rannek alone long enough and we should check on Silver and see if Szhe’ka has returned, but we need to check out this facility. I mean, it shouldn’t even be here, should it?” Ree asks.

“Maybe Kroaicho was confused,” Kira responds.

“I was not. I never mistell a story,” Kroaicho says decisively, then makes an excited chitter. “Olivia! You look… well.”

“Uh, thanks? What are we planning?” I ask.

Ree gives me a wave and a smile. “Kroaicho woke up in a facility, which is odd, because technology isn’t supposed to work on this planet.”

“It was working,” Kroaicho grinds out between zha’s tusks. “There were braceaaer and screens. I regrettably… broke the braceaaer I planned to get information from and was not with zha long enough to find a story in the blood.”

Kira lets out a bray of laughter. “Not sure I understood all of that, but I can certainly approve of broken braceaaer and blood. Let’s just go take a look. We have plenty of muscle and weapons.”

“I want to fight,” I hiss out, claws twitching on my wrists.

“That is no way to protect a hoard, Olivia,” Kroaicho starts to protest.

“I’m going, and so are you it sounds like,” I retort.

Zha’s skin lights up purple and the tusk grinding starts up again, but zha offers no further argument.

***

While everyone else prepared, my body decided to make more painful changes as Kroaicho held me tight in zha’s arms to help calm me as I screamed… not that I’m complaining now. The useless arms grew longer and while I’m still trying to figure out how the fuck my mind even knows how to send signals to four different arms, I now have an identical, although somewhat smaller lower pair. Complete with wrist claws, purple hide, and black scales.

Kira was disappointed when my tail developed another hooked claw instead of a manticorid tip, which apparently has the deadliest venom in the known universe. That sounds nice and all, but as we walk through the dark tunnel toward the facility and my tentacle tail dances along behind me, it’s hard to feel like I’ve been ripped off. I practiced using it on some of the long purple grass and left behind a carnage of innocent blades.

I’m more than ready to see if there are any genali to cut with it.

“It is close,” Kroaicho chitters quietly from up ahead.

Zha is in front, Kira and Drasuk right behind, then Kuret in the middle to provide light with his green markings, then Ree and Thivoll, then me.