When Alptraum wakes, it's not really of his own accord. Lucy kicked in her sleep and rolled onto her side, spilling the Eeee onto the floor of his room. After lying on a warm Fnerf, the floor is shockingly cold.

"Glargh, no, Vorgulremik I won't be your," Alptraum blurts out as he bolts upright and wraps his wings around himself! He sits there for the next few minutes, blinking and looking around. "Oh, whew, that was just a nightmare," he mutters, then reaches over and pokes Lucy, "You should warm me if you're going to turn."

"Mrrrff?" Lucy murphles, and then yawns expansively and wakes up. Rolling onto her feet, the foxtaur then pulls her torso upright. She shakes, floofing out already floofy fur. "What?" she asks.

"You dumped me on the floor," Alptraum answers as he finally pushes himself to his feet. "But I forgive you. Were you dreaming?"

"Mmm, dream, yes," Lucy admits, and then gives Alptraum a semi-crushing hug before releasing him again. "You sleep good?" she asks.

"Dreams not so good, but otherwise I slept fine," Alptraum comments after he almost has to push his joints back into their sockets. "What sort of dreams did you have? Mine involved dealing with someone really evil and I had to bite his tongue."

The Fnerf looks blankly at Alptraum's explanation of his dream, and just replies with, "Mito dream."

Alptraum scratches his left ear. "Er, what does that mean?" he asks.

Lucy mirrors Alptraum, and scratches at her left ear also – the difference being that she's able to do it with her hind leg. "Oh. My son! Mito! Phlagaea not tell you about me?" she replies.

"No, she hasn't," Alptraum says as he looks for a place to sit. "You have a son? Where is he? With his father?" he asks.

"With father, yes," Lucy says, nodding and smiling. "Dead though!"

Alptraum blinks and pulls his ears down. "Guh, I'm sorry," he says with a wince. "If you uhm, don't mind telling me … what happened?"

"Oh, I'm from small village," Lucy says, causing a breeze by swishing her tail. "Mostly Fnerfs. Well went bad, lots of us got sick. Husband and baby too. Was tough, not many ever get better, while some never get sick. Then Blessed One came to us."

Alptraum ends up sitting on the floor and crossing his legs. He's not quite sure where this story is going and runs his hands through his hair. He tries to fight the sinking feeling he gets anytime he deals with the Sisters as he asks, "What did she do?"

"She explain about Gorphat," Lucy says, and nods in agreement with herself, or at something. "How the Kindly One not want us to die, but to overcome. Then she bless well, and bless the weak, like my Mito. She very helpful. But… not all see it that way. Some were sick for long long time, and even though not sick anymore, they are… uh… broken? Inside. From being sick so long. They seem to recover, then… die. People blame Blessed One."

Alptraum winces as that went close to how his fears were leading. "And you defended her?" the bat asks, "Were you … exiled?"

"Ah, you not see," Lucy says, shaking her head. "Husband not see either. My Mito died after Blessed One take away his burden, but he die happy. Not sick! Not miserable or helpless! Got to play again, tell me he love me. Was great gift, to not die sick. Husband angry, though, want to hurt Blessed One. Many chase her, throw stones. Was great strain, though. Husband collapse, not get up. Some say it Blessed One's curse, and run. But I not run. I find her, help her. She was hurt. Really, just a young girl left all alone. I loose one child, but gain another. Gorphat is kind to me."

"Well, a lot of people fear her. When I first met her was when we were both invited to a party; a 'gathering' of influential people in Babel. In reality I wasn't influential, just more a curiosity," Alptraum says as he looks at the floor. "A lot of people there whispered about her; the 'sick' Eeee in bandages and such. I didn't pay much attention to it. Accidentally ended up in her balcony while I was following someone I thought I knew. She first tried to scare me, I think … and was surprised I wasn't scared. When I looked into her eyes, I didn't see a monster but just a lonely girl. A girl who was never shown much kindness in her life. I ended up spending most of that party with her just talking. I didn't mean anything by it, I wasn't wanting anything from her. I just thought she could use a friend."

"She is very Blessed," Lucy agrees, and gives Alptraum another smothering-hug. "You are good to her, give her baby. Thank you."

Alptraum shrugs a bit at that after Lucy releases him. "Did she ever tell you much about me?" he asks.

"She talk about her friend, like she only have one, from Babel," Lucy says. "You save her there, and she try to be better. Other Yodhgorphat she find shun her, so she alone. Try to help people, get them to not fear Gorphat. It good thing I protect her."

"Well, she may have only had one once, but she has many now," Alptraum says as he draws up one of his legs and wraps his arms around it. After resting his chin on his knee, he says, "I'm glad my time in Babel made a difference to someone. For a long time it didn't seem like it did. I came really close to finding a way to end my own life a few times, truth be told." He shrugs a bit, adding, "Came close to becoming truly evil a few times too. But like her what made the difference was having one person who still believed in me. I think that gets over looked so much. One act of kindness, even a simple one, can have effects that were never expected. Heh, I even told Nekara that once, not that she believed me at the time. And here, well … I guess I finally see the proof of what I had said. My simple act of just talking to her, being a friend to someone that others claimed could not have friends, changed many lives. Gave hope. Made a difference." He smiles, ending with, "I should be thanking you."

"Okay, you're welcome?" Lucy says, with her ears perked up. "You Lucy's friend too now, yes? Is good. I never really like the other Yodh we meet."

At that, Alptraum laughs a bit. "Sometimes I'm not sure how much you understand me, but I guess it doesn't matter. Of course I'm your friend; I promised to look after Phlagaea and I'll look after you as much as I can too," he says. "Is there anything I could do for you?"

"You know any nice Fnerfs?" Lucy says. "Like this?" She then holds her hands some distance apart.

"You're the only fnerf I know," Alptraum admits as he pulls down his ears again. Even though he has black skin, well … he's not sure he doesn't show some signs of embarrassment. If that means what he suspects, well…

"Keep eye out, okay?" Lucy asks, and… sort of bounces her chest a bit at the bat. "I still can has more kits."

Alptraum nods at that. "Oh, of course!" he agrees, smiling. "I'll also see what I can do to keep you, ah, satisfied, until someone fitting shows up."

"Oh, you can do that?" Lucy asks, tilting her head and looking Alptraum up and down appraisingly.

"Oh, you mean me?" Alptraum says, blinking a few times. "I, er, well, I honestly have no idea. I don't know much about fnerf women." He grins nervously.

"We're just bigger!" Lucy says. "How about dragons? You seem to know lots of those."

"Oh, yes, I know plenty about keeping … well, one dragoness happy," Alptraum answers, "Of course it requires using my shadow cloak to augment myself a bit. I don't know of any dragons outside of the one I safeguard, though."

"No man-dragons?" Lucy asks, sounding disappointed. "Rhians are okay, but the big ones seem so… you know… stupid."

"The only male dragon I know is evil and you wouldn't want," Alptraum explains and shivers, "Blegh." He taps his chin for a moment, then says, "No, not sure that would work."

"Maybe you learn to shrink me down?" Lucy suggests. Alptraum isn't exactly sure what the Fnerf has heard about his abilities, frankly.

Alptraum laughs and shakes his head. "No, that would be even harder than me trying to manifest the dragon cloak I designed for myself just to torment Kaira with," the Eeee comments as he pushes himself to his feet so he can walk around Lucy and gauge how large she is.

The Fnerf is easily in the 'furniture' class of large, having a body the size of a young Dromodon and a torso that's nearly appropriate for a Rhian or Vartan woman. Even for a Fnerf (which weren't uncommon in Babel) Lucy is pretty big. The rustic life has its effects, apparently.

"Outside of being creative with my shadow shadow … which would be very strange, I'm at a loss," Alptraum admits and pats the fnerf's backside. "I'll keep a look out for someone for you to warm and cuddle with, if nothing else comes to mind."

"Phlagaea say you going back to Babel soon," Lucy says. "You bring me back nice boy?"

"I don't know if I'll bring anyone back,"Alptraum admits, then whispers to himself, "Or if I'll even survive." Shaking himself out of those thoughts, he says, "I'll see what I can do there, though." He pauses for a moment, then has to ask, "Say, did you and Arkold ever, well… "

"Arkold? He… kinda old," Lucy notes, and shivers. "I worry about breaking him."

"Oh, well, hmm," Alptraum says, then grins fangily. "I'm so tempted to try now, just so I can claim to have done something something Arkold hasn't!"

"That wrong reason," Lucy points out, crossing her arms over her ample chest.

"How about just trying to keep you happy, then?" Alptraum asks, "I bet I could borrow some of Mave's books and see if they have suggestions on how to handle size differences."

"Oh… yeah, White Witch know a lot about that sort of thing," Lucy says. "Gave me a special… uh… " here the Fnerf trails off.

"I guess I should ask do you want me to try to help keep you, ah, satisfied, or just want me to keep an eye out for a potential companion and leave it at that?" Alptraum asks as he lets the topic of a special something drop to save her from the embarrassment.

"I okay," Lucy says, standing up now. "I like cuddles sometimes, and felt left out of bath fun is all," she claims. And then… rubs Alptraum's scalp, like he were a little boy.

Alptraum laughs at that. "Right," he says and nods. Clasping his hands together, he asks, "So … what is left to move?"

"You not need bed," Lucy points out, then gestures to the bathroom. "Anything in there you want? Oh… might want clothes… "

"What, I shouldn't strut around the castle naked and make everyone jealous? Alptraum asks as he puffs out his chest and grins. He waggles his fingers, winks, and heads into the bathroom to fetch his clothing.

While Alptraum gets dressed, Lucy slips out to retrieve her own shirt (which is as much as she ever wears, and given the lushness of her fur it's certainly not for warmth). There are already servants picking up the boxes when Alptraum emerges.

Alptraum pulls his hair back and loosely ties it, completing his act of dressing. "Anything I can help with?" he asks the servants.

"You can tell us where to stack the boxes, sir," the supervising Khatta suggests.

"Right. I'll head up there now and see where I would like things," Alptraum says with a firm nod. "Carry on," he says as he slips out the door. Wow, being called 'sir' feels really strange. If his head hair wasn't white already, well, he might check to see if he was going white from age!

It takes some getting used to, but even Draco County is still essentially a feudal society, where people have their places and while 'moving up' is acceptable, 'reaching down' isn't. So Alptraum just isn't going to be allowed to do menial tasks anymore. At least, until he gets to the Countess' suite, where Phlagaea immediately tells him, "You have to help me move the furniture!"

"Oh … sure," Alptraum says distractedly as he enters the suite and immediately heads towards the first random piece of furniture he sees. Of course if she had asked him to go slay the great slug of the eastern swamps he might have agreed to that too. "This is just … weird. Please tell me they're going to at least let us bathe ourselves… " he babbles.

"Don't worry," Phlagaea says. "I sent the bath girls away first thing… "