Mitzi ended up finishing her painting with Dan sitting there beside her and just talking with her. She kept glancing at him and he just watched her with a small smile. It made her blush. Something about his attention just made her giggly.

  “Ok.” She said, putting her hands on her hips and turning to face him. “I want you to explain what you’re feeling right now. I sense it, but I don’t know what to make of it. It reminds me of family. But not.” She winced. The last thing she wanted to do was somehow equate a romantic situation with her fucking uncle.

  Dan laughed.

  “Well first,” he said, “tell me what it feels like on your end?”

  Mitzi frowned. Flowery prose sprang to mind but it sounded and felt stilted. Forced. She realized she had one personal experience that would relate. She thought it was the closest she could come. She hoped it was enough. She wanted this to be right. Dan picked up on her seriousness suddenly and leaned forward, elbows on his knees.

  “Take your time.” He said. She didn’t think she needed to.

  “Your emotions, and you, feel like seeing sunlight for the very first time. It’s like seeing beauty on the first morning of freedom. You feel like the sun to me.”

  He just watched her for a long time with his eyes wide. He finally reached a hand out and laid it on her knee.

  “You have the soul of a bard.” He said softly. She knew she was blushing, and her ears would probably glow in the dark.

  “You, uh, you still haven’t told me what you’re feeling.” She said. She had her head tilted down and looked up at him with her eyes. She was suddenly nervous. He was now taking this very seriously himself.

  “I. . . I don’t want to frighten you with anything, Mitzi. I know this all seems sudden.” He said. “I just thought I’d never have a chance at anything normal again.”

  She put a hand on his and tilted her head.

  “I thought she’d taken this from me. All of it.” Dan said.

  Mitzi squeezed his hand. He was still thinking.

  “I won’t let her have you.” Mitzi said into the silence, and Dan smiled again.

  “It would be so much easier for me to paint this.” He said, chuckling to himself. He thought again. “You make me feel whole again. It’s like you fit the hole left by whatever it was I lost.”

  She blinked.

  “Again, I don’t mean to scare you. But you’re not actually scared, are you?” He said. “I just figured that if I said anything like this to someone it’d be after weeks. Maybe months. Not a few days.”

  He looked into her eyes.

  “And especially not knowing how it made them feel after I said it.”

  She thought of something that dampened her mood and his head lifted. She motioned him to calm down.

  “I just need to ask you something.” She said, and he nodded. “Are you absolutely sure YOU want this? With a goblin? This isn’t going to make your life easy. We can still find a mage or something.”

  “I promise, after everything else? THIS I can deal with.” And he smiled at her. “Are we doing questions again? Like on our walk?”

  She smiled herself then. That was like a game.

  “Sure! I think I’m done with the painting, anyway.”

  “What do you think of your masterpiece?” Dan asked.

  Mitzi gave it a long hard look before answering.

  “I think it’s a master-piece-of-shit.” She said.

  Dan burst out laughing and she gave him a warning look.

  “No, no. I’m laughing because that means you’re officially an artist.”

  She arched an eyebrow in confusion. He continued.

  “I don’t think there is a single artist that doesn’t finish a piece and immediately see everything wrong with it.”

  “So what do I do?” She asked, looking at her flawed painting.

  “Nothing. You move on to the next one because it’s going to be a little better. And the next one will be better than that. And then one day you won’t even recognize your old work.”

  She nodded. She could see the truth in that. An idea struck her.

  “Can I see your old work?” She asked.

  “I don’t have any.” He said and there was sadness. “Bethella made me destroy all of my art so that everything I made for her would be unique. I have what I’ve got here and that’s it.”

  Mitzi swallowed. She began sharpening a claw on her right hand with one on her left. She desperately wanted to meet this elf and turn her into a purse. Her anger seemed to make Dan smile again.

  “What?” She asked.

  “I just think it’s sweet that you’re already getting angry on my behalf.” He scratched his head. “You’re very sweet in your desire for violence, Mitzi.” He couldn’t keep the laughter out of his voice and she laughed too.

  “So back to questions.” Dan said, and Mitzi perked up. “Do you have your own bed at home?”

  She shook her head.

  “No. We don’t have beds. No room. We have bedrolls. I sleep next to Bandy in the girl’s room.” Her eyes widened. “Dan. You have a bed, don’t you?”

  “Settle down there, Mitzi-Doodle.” He said.

  She rolled her eyes at him.

  “I have never even SAT on a bed, you goober. Can I see it?”

  Dan stood and he had such a feeling of sadness rise in him. He held out a hand.

  “Of course. Follow me.”

  Dan led her out through the living room and toward the second door, which had been closed the whole time.

  “I’ll sleep on the couch tonight, in fact. You can take the bed.”

  He opened the door and Mitzi gaped. It was much bigger than she thought. Big enough for two humans, at least. She looked up at Dan, who was watching her. She ran and took a flying leap, landing face down on the bed.

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  It was so soft. Mitzi just couldn’t even deal with it. She giggled as she wallowed in the thing. Then she felt Dan's embarrassment. She looked back at him and his face was red.

  “What?!” She yelp. “Never seen anyone enjoy a bed?”

  “You, uh, you’re just wearing a sweater.”

  “So? Oh gods.” She very carefully pulled the sweater back down. She had no idea what all he’d seen but it was obviously MORE than enough.

  She felt like her ears were on fire suddenly. She carefully crawled up and pulled his sheets down and climbed under them. He was looking away from her. She pulled the sheets over her head.

  “I am soooooo sorry, Dan.” She realized embarrassment wasn’t the only thing she was getting from him and she slowly lowered the sheets enough for her to see him. She bit her lip, and his eyes grew wide.

  “Oh god, this is gonna get awkward.” He said.

  “Doesn’t have to be.” Mitzi said.

  He looked at her.

  “We’re both grown adults here, Dan.”

  “I’m not sure if, I mean, how long have we known each other? MAYBE two days?”

  She thought his noble foolishness was sweet. Especially since it didn’t seem to remotely match what she felt coming from him.

  “I mean, if you don’t find me attractive. . .”

  That made him stop. Dan walked up to the bed and sat down carefully.

  “Mitzi, you are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. I thought so when you brought those pancakes out.”

  She bit her lip again and smiled.

  “Really?”

  “Yes.” He said, then reached out and cupped her cheek in his hand. Something in the touch felt electric this time and she leaned into it. She didn’t know if it was the bond or she was just that attracted to him or what, but Mitzi wanted to climb him like a mountain.

  She finally let the sheets go, and shifted onto her knees. She scooted closer to him, never breaking eye contact.

  “I’ve spent my life avoiding things like this.” She said. He just gave her a look that heated her ears. “It was because I didn’t think I’d have a choice when it came to it.”

  She leaned into him and put her hands on his shoulders. She felt his hand on her back. He seemed to study her features.

  “I gathered.” Dan said. “I’m not even sure if I’ll be able to, well, reciprocate. Not after everything.”

  Mitzi leaned closer to his face.

  “I told you. I will not let her have you.”

  She kissed him softly. He felt something like relief and then kissed her back. His tongue entered her mouth and she accepted it readily. She traced his jaw and neck lightly with a claw as they kissed. She wondered if that was a thing for her. She liked doing it a lot. She had so much to learn about both of them.

  Mitzi managed to gently roll Dan onto his back and she climbed on top of him. Her eyes rolled when his hands went under the sweater and touched her back. She adored his touch. Everywhere his hands went seemed to tingle.

  He had forced the sweater up and she was suddenly exposed. She took a shuddering breath and pulled back from the kiss. She looked at him and gave him light, gentle kisses. She wanted to ease him into this. She kept one hand cupping his face while the other traced his neck with that claw.

  After a time, Mitzi sat up on him and he watched her. The look in his eyes was. . . She shivered. Oh, she hoped she could help him. She needed more of that look. She reached down, grabbed the bottom of the sweater, and, with a theatrical slowness, removed it.

  She set the sweater aside and looked at Dan’s face. The awe there was flattering.

  “You like?” She asked. “This much green isn’t strange to you?” She knew she was blushing. Several parts of her anatomy were suddenly flushed with pink. It was like The One had taken a pink highlighter to goblins, picked out the important bits, and just said “Here. Look RIGHT here.”

  “You’re perfect.” He said quietly.

  She wanted him to never stop saying things like that. His hands touched her thighs and she found herself scooting closer. His hands didn’t shake this time. Not once. She smiled. Then she moaned as those hands gently made their way up her body. He slowly explored her and she heard herself make a noise she wasn’t sure she’d ever made in her life. She whimpered.

  She wanted to feel skin. His hands were massaging her breasts, so she placed her hands on top of his and slid them down to his arms. She trailed her hands down to his waist and grabbed the hem of his shirt, preparing to pull it up.

  His hands were suddenly around her wrists and panic flooded him. She looked up.

  “Wait.” Dan said, and he was frightened. Mitzi was going to absolutely murder this Bethella bitch one day on principle alone.

  She laid down and brushed his cheek with her thumb.

  “It’s ok, Dan. You don’t have to be frightened. Not with me.” She said. She stayed calm. She felt so much sympathy for this poor man. That seemed to calm him, and he nodded.

  “I’m sorry.” He said. “I’ll show you, just. . . You’re not going to like this.”

  “Please, let me do it then.” She said. “Let me be a part of this.”

  Dan kissed her on the forehead.

  “Ok. Just, I warned you.”

  Mitzi lifted herself up and took the bottom of his shirt again. She raised it slowly and winced as she began to expose his body. That wince became a gasp, and finally that gasp nearly became a sob.

  Dan’s body was covered in a railroad map of scars. Clean slices, ragged tears, rips, and at least two small places where skin had healed over where something had been removed. He HAD warned her. Dan had said Bethella had hurt him. He’d said she was sadistic. Those were just words though. They weren’t enough preparation for the truth.

  “Oh, Dan. What did she do to you?” Mitzi realized she had a hand over her mouth and the other was on his stomach.

  “What didn’t she do, Mitzi?”

  “Didn’t she even TRY to heal you?” His entire trunk was covered. The scars stopped short of anywhere they could be visible in normal clothing.

  “Why would she?” He asked, and the numbness when he said it stabbed at her. “If she didn’t care if I had the ability to act on my own, why would she care if I healed? As long as she could hide it.”

  She closed her eyes for a moment to steady herself. This was Dan. This was a part of him. This was permanent. She was going to come to terms with this. She was going to accept these scars the way she’d accepted the emotional ones.

  “I’ll put my shirt back on.” He said, quietly.

  “No.” She said and opened her eyes.

  “Are you sure?”

  She nodded and slowly began tracing the scars with her fingers. She was gentle. She had a few scars as well and two of them would hurt sometimes when the weather changed. He watched her as she slowly explored the map of pain that piece of shit elf had left on her Dan.

  “How does your back look?” She asked quietly. She felt his hands resume a gentle and slow exploration of her own body and she sighed with a smile.

  “Worse.” Was all he said. She winced.

  “I’ll see it later.” She said and continued.

  The more she looked and gently touched every scar, the calmer he became. She made herself familiar with every single one she could find, and tried to make him comfortable with the idea of her being aware of those scars. Occasionally she would give a spot a gentle kiss. After the first moment of surprise, he became used to it.

  After she had satisfied herself, and she was certain that they were BOTH comfortable with her being around those scars, she decided to take the next step. She undid Dan’s belt. When she looked up to his face, he looked surprised. But he smiled at her and it made her feel so good that she kissed his stomach.

  “Do you need help?” He asked.

  “No.” She said, and whipped the belt out of the rings like she was starting a lawn mower. Dan burst out laughing and she allowed herself a wicked grin. The kind with just a hint of her fangs showing.

  With Dan raising his hips she managed to get his pants off and. . .

  So goblins and humans were different, but vaguely related, species. Mitzi knew this. Aside from the obvious physiological differences like skin colors, ears, digits, teeth, etcetera, there was simply the matter of scale. She looked up at him.

  “Uh. . .” She said, and he laughed. She grinned all over again. It had to have been an ego boost.

  Then suddenly, that stupid, horrible cloud of pain fell over him again.

  She crawled back up to face him, fury at that fucking bitch and sadness for him warring within her. She grabbed his face again.

  “Dan?” She said softly. “Dan, I know that this keeps taking you back there. I understand that. It’s like battle fatigue. Sometimes it feels like you never left.”

  “It is.”

  Mitzi kissed him. There were so many things she wanted to convey with that kiss, but in the end there’s only so much you can do. When she stopped, she looked deep into his eyes and gave him a reassuring smile.

  “I’m not going to let her have this. You’re mine now.” She thought about it. “And I’m yours.”

  She felt that beautiful light from him again. Even before the smile hit his face, she knew. His arms tightened around her and he rolled her onto her back as she giggled at his sudden energy. He kissed her and was only slowed by the fact that she gripped his hips with her feet, then used them to caress his legs. He seemed very surprised. She laughed at his reaction. Goblin feet were very dexterous.

  As in everything else she had ever seen Dan do, he was gentle and caring. He’d accepted that here, with her, he was safe. She refrained from using her claws even gently for now. The scars he bore made her careful.

  She’d never done this, but there seemed to be instincts to guide her. Something in goblin genetics, maybe. All she really knew was that this felt beautiful to her. They explored each other. She kept wanting to laugh.

  And then, something inside him seemed to wake up that hadn’t been there before. He’d said that something inside him had broken when his mind had been chained. She wondered if maybe something had STILL been chained, because he suddenly took on an intensity that she delighted in. He. . . found her. He never looked back from that point. He didn’t even stop her when she raked her claws down his back carefully.

  She found herself making deep, throaty sounds that she’d never heard herself make before. She couldn’t get the images of a savanna she’d never seen out of her mind. Her legs forced him to move faster. . .

  Mitzi was going to be spending a lot of time here..