NEXUS CHRONICLES

NEKRATS

Licinia tread water with human legs, wishing for a finned fish tail. She wouldn't be mistaken for an actual human even now, with her deep blue skin and shining silvery hair that whirled around her like tumultuous seaweed. She frowned. Still not the right level of inhuman, as odd as she looked. She let out a burbling sigh, rolled her shoulders, and began the shift back. Magic coalesced around her, stretching and pulling at her limbs, sprouting webbed fins down her spine and limbs. The skin between her fingers grew long and loose until they were webbed.

Inspiration cascaded through her in a tidal wave.

Licinia clenched her fists taut and willed her transformation to stop. She held her breath, eyes squeezed shut, every muscle vibrating as she fought her magic. It writhed against her, angry at the intrusion, fighting back with prickling scales and fins and mass pounding at Licinia's will. She wrestled with it, two slick eels entwined in battle, teeth sank into one another, until it ebbed away like a vicious tide. Licinia's heart hammered so loud and furious she thought it would ripple the water.

She cracked one eye open and glanced at her hands.

They were blue, of course, but more than that they were humanoid still, with silver webbing crawling across the expanse between her clawed fingers. She glanced down. Her legs remained bisected, bipedal, not the fin she'd open to obtain, but her feet elongated into webbed flippers, treading water with ease. And she had her tail. Minuscule, compared to its natural length in dragon form, but functional. This was the closest she'd ever come to achieving her goal, stuck half-shifted between forms.

She needed to show Oromo immediately.

--

Several weeks back, a pair of eel-like dragons Licinia was unfamiliar with had laid a nest of two corkscrew eggs and were viciously protective over their tiny brood. They'd determined Oromo and only Oromo was worthy of watching the nest while the parents attended to hunting and other important activities. A luxury the Refugium could afford them. Licinia was accustomed to Oromo's odd schedule and had found her, more often than not, singing sweetly to the giant eggs in the inky blackness of their nest. Licinia headed there now, fast as quicksilver through the chill waters of the oceanic Biodome, stopping for nothing and no one as she dodged between reefs and jungles of thick, brown kelp.

The melodic tones of Oromo's laughter flitted through the water as a school of angelfish. Licinia's pulse quickened and her cheeks heated purple. She pushed through the last swaying fronds of kelp and into the open recess before the lines of clutching dens.

Oromo was not inside the den, as Licinia expected her to be. She floated at the entrance, her dark skin and gleaming black scales elegant as amethyst in the dim light of the depths. Her eyes, dark and deadly as a predator's, crinkled in glee as she stared up at the hulking mass of Rawori, resident aquatic security officer.

Licinia froze.

Not that Licinia disliked Rawori, although the man was a curmudgeon of the worst sort, but watching Oromo, love of her life, staring googly eyed up at that bulky, biceped beef man made Licinia's hackles arch and her heart throb with pangs of jealousy. She sucked in a gulp of oxygen rich water and forced herself to dive out of the fronds with a toothy smile on her heated face.

Oromo noticed her immediately. "Licinia!"

The sound of her name in Oromo's dulcet tones made every part of Licinia's being melt. She stuttered, floating awkwardly as her limbs refused to move in tandem.

Oromo closed the distance between them with a wide smile, looping circles around Licinia. "You look amazing! I didn't know you should shift between forms like this."

"I uhh,"said Licinia, her ability to make words suddenly obliterated. She'd say her mouth had gone dry if she wasn't completely submerged in water. "I did. I can. I didn't know."

She wanted to tell Oromo it was all for her. All this awkward practice and fiddling with her magic in order to one day take on the form of a siren, a mermaid, like Oromo herself. But how could she explain that without also revealing her feelings for the woman? She couldn't.

"You look lovely like this."Oromo squeezes one of Licinia's webbed hands, then danced away in a whirl of glittering ebony scales. "I've just been chatting with Rawori and- oh, where has he gone? Koper!"

Licinia should have noticed the shadow looming over her, darkening the already dim cavern entrances, but confusion consumed her and addled her with admiration at Oromo's words, petrifying her. She tread water only on reflex. It was hardly her fault she was taken by surprised as a massive form dove toward her, clipped her shoulder, and send them both tumbling in the quake of a mighty fin flip.

Licinia attempted to right herself, but confusion and startlement had her floundering until a gigantic head swam into view, gently nudging her upright. // Licinia gripped the whiskered face on instinct until reflexes kicked in and she righted herself properly. A pair of luminous, slitted eyes stared cheerily into her own.

:: You look wonderful! :: said Koper.

The nekrat rivaled Licinia's natural dragon form in size, and mid-shift and mostly humanoid, he absolutely dwarfed her, but he was gentle as a kitten as long as no one was causing a ruckus in the nests. Licinia patted his brow in thanks and the two drifted a little way apart, Koper rising above his bond.

"Doesn't she look amazing like this?"Oromo concluded, staring up at Rawori's impassive face.

The mernotaur regarded Licinia with a knowing look. Licinia knew her jealousy was unfounded, Rawori wasn't interested in Oromo or anyone else. He barely spent time with any company outside of Koper, but the man had a knack for sussing out intentions, and Licinia wore her crush like a beacon.

"Needs work,"Rawori grunted.

Oromo prodded him hard in the arm. "Rawori!"

"No, no, it's fine."Licinia grinned sheepishly, wading closer. "It's a work in progress. How are the eggs?"

"Coming along well! They've reached out to me with their little mind voices. It sounds like the pair of them are going to be trouble."

"Just what I need,"Rawori grumbled, at the same moment Koper projected :: Excellent!::

Oromo laughed again, that bright tinkling sound that made Licinia's blood quicken. Oromo turned to Licinia. "We were just saying how lonely it must be for Koper,far away from Syl'Neriss and other nekrats."

"Couldn't you visit?"Licinia asked.

Rawori grumbled something inaudible.

:: It's difficult for aquatic people to travel when they don't have a land bound form. Besides, I don't particularly wish to leave the Refugium, this is my home, my territory. :: Koper's whiskers twitched in a frown. :: I would like to see more nekrats, though. ::

"I'm so sorry, Koper."Oromo reached a hand up to him, and Koper dipped his nose until she could stroke it. "I'd offer to stand for a clutch, but I had so many young ones to take care of as it is."

An idea popped unbidden in Licinia's mind and exited her mouth before she'd given it proper thought. "I'll go!"

All three companions turned to her with surprised expressions.

Oromo was the first to speak. "To Syl'Neriss? To Lantessama?"

"Yeah, why not?"Licinia was in it now, and she wasn't about to dash the hope shining in Oromo's eyes. "I like Koper too... and imagine a nekrat playing hydroball! They'd be a natural at it."

Oromo dashed forward and slung her arms around Licinia's neck. "Oh, you're such a doll! Thank-you!"

---

Later that evening she regaled her promise to Bujoca during a half-hearted hydroball practice, returned to human form. Licinia played in her natural form for the massive size division, but Bujoca, being much smaller, would get no good practice from trying to dip and dodge a dragon.

"What's the issue, then?"Bujoca chirped, rushing up to catch the ball as Licinia slammed it toward her bubble ring. "You said you were thinking about bonding."

"Not to impress anybody."She didn't miss the irony of her word choice. "I want to, yeah, but what if Oromo thinks I'm only doing it because of her? Maybe I should stand here."

"There aren't many aquatic clutches at the Refugium,"Bujoca replied, slapping the ball back at Licinia. "Maybe getting your own nekrat might change that. And do you really think Oromo would figure it's for her?"

Licinia dove and caught it, but fumbled her grip. "Are there even clutches right now?"

Bujoca's whiskers fluttered in a toothy grin. "There sure is! I know because I've been thinking about heading over there to bond, too. Me with a nekrat! Match made in heaven."

Licinia laughed.

"And what's the Refugium if not a place for all dragons,"Bujoca continued. "There aren't many bonded nekrats, right? Seems perfect thing for us. We should go together."

"But Oromo..."

Bujoca dropped the game for a moment, swimming up to Licinia and gripping her cheeks between webbed forepaws. "You're both idiots. There's no way she thinks anything you do is purposefully for her."

Licinia struggled away, spluttering. "Hey!"

Bujoca swerved and ducked away before Licinia could retaliate. "It's true and you know it! Let's go pack our bags and hire a shuttle."