From Coldanus’ shop to Dworag’s wasn’t far. We arrived and heard no sound coming from the back. I made my way over behind the building anyway, because I wanted to talk to the dwarf in person. Velariah entered the shop and Draco followed me.

I soon found myself in front of a burning forge. If I were to guess, he’d have that burning all day.

Dworag and Velariah came walking out of the back door and the dwarf immediately started with his casual flirting.

“Ah, Miss Elania. It seems my handiwork has kept your beautiful curves safe from harm. Good to see it.”

I sighed. Velariah was going to kill this dwarf for hitting on me someday, I could see it in her eyes when I looked her way.

Scary…

“Uh, yes.” I pulled myself back to the present. “There’s something I have in mind and I am wondering if you would be able to craft it.”

“Nothing too crazy for this dwarf, missy.”

“Great. First off, I’m looking for saddlebags that will fit my… behind, so to say.”

“That’s easy, what’s next?” Dworag asked.

“A saddle and stirrups for me.”

Velariah looked at me with wide eyes.

“You serious?”

I thought she’d get why I was doing this.

“Yes. I can’t keep hold of you with my arms forever. I’d like to use them for a third request. Is that doable, Dworag?” I turned from the elf to the dwarf.

“Shouldn’t be hard to refit those for your body. Actually, let me check, could you lower yourself, missy, so that I can take a look?”

I lowered myself so I was on the floor.

“I’d have to refit them so they don't interfere with your legs. Give me a minute.” Dworag said, before he walked back into his shop.

“I mean, I can see why you’d do this. I just thought you’d find it humiliating to act as a mount…” Velariah said.

“No?” I looked at her with a frown. “I don’t look at it that way. I’ll do this because it increases our combat capabilities. Besides, I am much more than a mount, especially if Dworag can pull this last request off.”

“That makes sense… I’m sorry for bringing that up.”

“It’s alright. I’m glad you care how I feel, but I’m perfectly fine with this. Besides, now I can keep a close eye on you during the fight.” I grinned.

“You tease!” Velariah said.

“What?” I grinned again. “Let me have some fun too, once in a while.”

I’d almost forgotten about the lizardman who was still with us. It was only when he spoke that I realized he was still there.

“What would that last request be, Miss Elania? I would be lying if I said I wasn’t curious.”

“Hah, I’m going to build the suspense and let all three of you know at the same time.” I smiled.

Dworag walked back out of the building with a measuring tape.

“Hope ya don’t mind me checking out some measurements.” He said as he walked over to my side.

I shook my head. “Not at all, do what you need to.”

He started measuring the surface area of the segment where my legs connected and then the distance between the top and where the actual legs sprouted from my body.

“By the gods! Elania, what happened to your leg?” The dwarf yelled in shock.

“Uh, long story. In short, I lost it saving a party member from a troll warlord’s oversized mace, he completely shattered the rest of the leg as a result, though.”

“Does it… hurt?” He asked, with fear in his eyes,

“Not so much anymore, it’s more like a whining pain, but I did pass out from the pain shortly after it happened,” I said.

“I see…”

The dwarf continued taking some measurements before he asked me to raise my body so it was at his eye height. I did so and he crouched under me while taking more measurements.

“Who will be the rider, if I may ask?” He asked as he appeared from under me.

“That would be me.” Velariah stepped forward.

“Excellent, could you ride some on her so I can check the positioning of the stirrups and how Miss Elania’s legs operate?”

“If that’s okay with you, Elania?” She asked.

“No problem,” I answered and lowered myself so Velariah could step on.

Velariah hopped up, right behind my back.

“I think it would be better for you to sit a bit further back,” Dworag mentioned. “It will allow for a greater swing reach with your sword without fear of hitting Miss Elania.”

“Are you sure? Won’t my legs get in the way?”

“Uhm, good point. Could you unsheathe your sword and take a seat, let’s say... behind her front four legs?” The dwarf suggested. “And could you then walk around a bit?”

I nodded. “No problem.”

Velariah shoved herself backward and positioned her legs behind my front two joints on each side.

I then raised myself up and found Velariah holding on to my midsection tightly. Once she got her balance, she unsheathed her sword and held it to the side as I walked around slowly.

“Yeah, those legs do seem to be getting in the way for a proper swing,” Dworag commented. “Could you hold still for a moment, please?”

I stopped moving and the dwarf walked up to me.

“Miss, I’m going to bend your legs. Tell me if you feel uncomfortable.”

Why do I feel like I am at the doctor’s right now?

The dwarf took hold of my second leg from the front left and carefully bent the joints so that it was lower than Velariah, he then repeated the same for the leg behind that.

“Hmmm.” The dwarf thought aloud. “I guess that fixes the swing-reach issue, but I am left wondering if this is effective in combat, given the extra width of your legs in this position. You’d run into whatever you would try to swing at this way. Let me see.”

He took hold of my very front-left leg and placed it next to my human body in front of me. He then took the second and placed it behind it, with some distance in between them.

“Would you be able to run like this?” Dworag asked.

“Let me try… Velariah, hold on tight, I can’t promise I won’t misstep.”

She sheathed her sword again and took hold of my body.

I mimicked the position of my front four legs on the other side of my body and took several steps like this. It took a minute or so to get used to the new position of some joints, but I think I managed fine.

There were far too many joints with this body, it was kind of freaky I got used to it so fast.

“Seems to be going alright,” I said, after I got the hang of it.

Dworag scratched his head and then ran his hand through his beard.

“Now, I would say to repeat the same with your hind legs but there is a certain issue there.”

“I feared we’d get to this point,” I said, at the implication of my missing leg.

“Aye, afraid so, for stability reasons I guess you could try using only six legs, have the last not used at all.”

“Uhhh, I guess there is some advantage to learning how to walk and run that way,” I said. “Draco, could you help me and hold my last leg on my right? I fear I may start using it on instinct.”

“Not a problem.” He walked up to my leg that was no longer in a set of two and held it up from the ground.

Dworag then carefully moved my last two legs from their original position to further behind. I then started moving… and fell.

I fell to the ground on my midsection and Velariah stood on the ground on her feet. Draco had released my last leg as soon as I started my fall.

I had lost my balance completely. I suddenly wasn’t so sure about this anymore.

I decided to try again without Velariah on my back. I didn’t specifically need her there to practice and I’d hate to hurt her.

This time, I managed to walk in very slow and small steps. I was trying not to lose my balance and found myself able to keep it up after a while.

This would be so much easier with that last set of legs…

I couldn’t believe I’d ever miss them…

Good thing it was unlikely we could utilize this strategy in dungeons anyway. That was, if any knowledge I had about dungeons turned out to be true in this world.

“Well, this is quite messy,” I admitted. “I’m not quite sure if this is the way to go. I would delay that saddle and stirrups for now. The last thing I wanted to mention, though, is something I could use either way.” I put on a smile as I lowered myself to a more… human height. It felt weird towering over the dwarf by such a large amount.

“Aye missy, ya really got me warmed up, I’m dying to know what ya want.”

“I think I figured out what would be good for me in combat. I was thinking of having a set of steel gauntlets with shields attached to them. Soon after I thought of that idea, I thought of adding a blade that extended beyond the gauntlet, or fastening it to the shield instead - I’m not sure what would be more effective. It would offer me both offense and defense at the same time while charging. I got the idea after seeing Draco in action. In addition, I would like a normal set of gauntlets to use with the hands that I use for my spear.”

“That...“ Velariah started. “Sounds like another one of your crazy ideas that just might work.”

“Oh, you know me. I seem to have a thing for crazy ideas.”

Dworag was staring in front of him with large eyes.

“Think it’s possible?” I asked him.

He didn’t reply.

“Hello?” I asked him, as I waved a hand in front of him.

The dwarf shook his head furiously as if he was trying to recollect himself.

“Missy, your ideas are out of this world. The shield and gauntlet are no issue. Though, if you’re working on something of such… exquisiteness, I would suggest having Coldanus add the blade. I could eat his guts, but his work is damn fine.”

Out of this world, heh. It made me chuckle in my mind.

“We shouldn’t have given him all that ore…” I stated.

“My bad,” Velariah said. “I’ll make it up to you. I should be able to find a way to get some kind of discount.”

“Missy, I’ll do this for free. At least my part.” The dwarf looked at me.

“Wait, what?” I said.

“I said, I’ll do it for free. It’s my thanks to you for giving me such wonderful ideas to work with. Also, I do feel kind of bad about your leg. I’d hate for such a beautiful young lady to lose more limbs because I wanted every last coin I could get.” Dworag stated.

Woah, Velariah. Calm down, those eyes are scary...

“Thanks, I guess. I’d be in your debt…” I bowed to the dwarf, earning a chuckle.

“Heh, off with ye kids. I’m gonna get all fired up and I need to concentrate.”

The dwarf added more coal to his forge and walked back into his shop.

“Are you not afraid of others using these ideas of yours?” Velariah asked.

“Some other ideas, maybe. Not this one though. These would be highly inefficient weapons for anyone without a sword or maybe shield, inherity. I don’t know what this would be classified as. For the normal person, this would be worthless, the only reason it’s useful for me is because I’ve got an extra set of hands and this indirectly aids you with more protection as well. It’s really the best of both worlds. I will probably still use my spear. Speaking of which… where did I leave it?”

“Here.” Draco held my spear up in front of me.

“Thank you, Draco.”

I should really pay more attention to where I leave my weapons.

“Shall we go look for Seralyn and Nira?” Velariah suggested. “If they’ve finished, I would assume they are smart enough to wait outside the guild or in front of the treemender’s oak. Not that it’s hard to find others in Dawnleaf anyway.”

“Sounds good to me,” I said.

Draco simply nodded in agreement.

On our way, after I passed the tight alleyway, I tried walking some more on six legs, in the manner that Dworag suggested would help Velariah out with more powerful blows. It was likely I was going to have to spend more time practicing, especially if I wasn’t going to get that eighth leg back.

I wondered if we could visit the dungeon tomorrow or whether that would be too early…

We found the elf and harpy in front of the guild hall. It looked like they were successful, as I saw Nira with a small scepter in her hand with a green orb on top of it, held by its roots. The harpy also had a new, clean set of clothes. It made her look much better already.

“Looks like you guys got what you were looking for,” Velariah said as we approached.

“Yeap,” Seralyn stated with her arms crossed. “Four gold, poof, gone like that.”

“You say that now, but it would have been damn useful to have her with us when you got yourself in trouble the other day.” The white-haired elf fired back at the brunette.

Nice shot, Velariah.

“I guess.” Seralyn shrugged.

“So, any other plans for today?” I asked.

“Don’t think so,” Velariah said. “I think we’ve gone through all we had to go through.”

Ah, that would mean it was time for my well-deserved bath. I could practically feel the hot water on my skin already, hmmm.

“You alright there Elania?” Velariah’s voice came from beside me.

“Yeah, I’m alright, I was just wondering if we missed something,” I answered.

That was a lie. I think Seralyn knew. I could see it in her eyes. Fortunately, she kept her mouth shut.

It seemed everything was in order, so we decided to call it a day and meet again the next day at the guild hall, to see how we were doing. If things were looking alright, we could check out the dungeon. Again, it shouldn’t be hard at all, but I liked to be prepared as best as possible.

I read this was a dangerous profession after all.

I looked at my severed leg.

And felt it too…

I was hoping Dworag would be able to pull off what I had commissioned. I kept thinking about it on our way back to the mansion. Velariah seemed to be in a very good mood, too good for my liking.

It wasn’t long until I found out why.

After taking our armor off in the hallway, I walked into the bathroom and the elf followed me without a care in the world.

“Vel?” I asked as she stepped inside. “What are you planning to do here?”

“Why, I heard you were planning on taking a bath, figured I’d help you with it.” She smiled broadly.

I saw what she was getting at.

“Vel…’’ I sighed. ‘’I don’t know about this…”

I was so not prepared for this step yet.

Bathing with Velariah… I could feel my face rush red from the thought of seeing her naked.

“I feel it’s too soon for that…” I admitted.

“Awww, poor Elania. It’s okay, I understand.” She walked up to me and hugged me, before walking out of the room.

I sighed as I walked over and locked the door. I let myself fall to the floor and let my thoughts run wild for a moment.

We hadn’t even kissed yet!

Would I be able to?

I had gradually grown more attached to Velariah, to the point where I was looking forward to her sleeping in my arms tonight. Her hair smelled so wonderful too…

What was stopping me from advancing this relationship?

I guess I was still scared of the unknown. I had never been in a relationship before… At least, not that I remembered. The only thing I knew was that I had no memories of it. I would have loved to know how these things usually worked right now.

I didn’t know how to deal with any of this!

I put two of my legs in front of me, took hold of them, pulled them to my body and hugged them tightly. This was the closest I could get to hugging my knees.

Thinking about kissing Velariah did make my heart pound loudly in my chest and I could feel my face run hot.

That was love, right? I’d always read this is how it would feel. To actually experience it myself… it made me doubt myself.

Argh, it still didn’t help me. How would I go on from here?

I should stop being so insecure. I think. It was obvious Vel wanted a relationship. I was pretty sure I wanted it as well, judging from the pounding in my chest.

I walked over to the bathtub and let the faucet run. I put the stopper in the drain, which I’d probably have to take out later again. My legs were dirty as hell, after all. I prepared the towels in the sink and searched for the sponges. I tossed them in the tub and took off my clothes.

I took a quick look in the mirror.

I could see why Velariah had called me cute…

I resolved I would start a proper relationship with Velariah tonight. I imagined a kiss would go a long way.

I stepped into the tub and prepared myself for a hot bath. Hopefully, the heat would wash away my doubts.