A rainbow of emotions

That evening you return to your tower with Linne in tow. She's so shy you actually had to locate a small horse blanket to cover her lower half. It's funny walking next to her - she's already so comfortable moving that she's quieter than you. If you didn't have a hand on her elbow you'd have to keep looking to your right to check that she was still there.

You did remember to set aside a great deal of extra food for tonight, both because Linne will eat a lot and as a celebration of your success. It's been slowly cooking down in a special oven all day, so when you return it will be little work to get the stew served up.

Before that you lead Linne to Doe's room to introduce them. You catch Doe reading a book. She's feigned indifference but clearly the boredom is getting the better of her. You believe she's also much more appreciative of the small shelves of books than she lets on. Probably afraid that you might notice and take them away as punishment if she misbehaves.

But the book is forgotten once she gets a look at Linne. "Not satisfied with twisting us into horses any more?" she asks venomously.

Linne's ears flatten and she takes a step back.

You hold Linne's arm gently as you reply to Doe. "I had to transform her at some point, no matter what, so I thought it might be better for Linne if she became something less useful to the army. That way I could excuse keeping her more easily."

"Oh? You're keeping her?" Doe's words are probing. You can tell she's already assuming you're plan is to sleep with Linne.

"I need the help," you say, looking over to Linne and pretending that you're so tired you don't even realize what Doe is insinuating. "With all that's going on I need someone around the tower, so when I found out Linne used to be a maid..."

"A maid?" Now Doe looks furious again. "Wait, you worked in the castle. You aren't a soldier!"

"No," Linne says, trying to make herself smaller.

"What the hell!" Doe rages, "You're doing this to everyone!?!"

"Well... the king decided that the soldiers would make good centaurs for the cavalry, but the rest would do just fine as draft horses and such to pull the supplies."

Her jaw hangs open and she looks at Linne with sadness. "I thought they would at least leave civilians out of it."

"I thought coming up with some other options might be a good idea. Some of the castle staff probably won't be cut out for life as draft horse based centaurs or life in the field." You wait for a second, but no outburst is forthcoming. "I also thought this would give you someone to talk to during the day," you say to Doe.

You know involving Doe in your reasoning like this will make her more angry at you for a little bit. But in the long term the effects of a very shy cataur maid will make it worthwhile. It will give her a second source of information, one that's going to back up much of what you've said. Such as the fact that the centaurs are quite popular among the lower classes. They don't know all the details, but they think of them as prestigious symbols for your whole nation. Or the fact that quite a few seem to be enjoying themselves. Mostly the ones who've ended up with riders of the opposite sex.

"Come on out of there," you say, motioning for Doe to leave her now unlocked room. "Linne is my first cataur." Telling her Linne is currently one of a kind is something else aimed at getting Doe to warm up to Linne. You had hoped picking a deeply shy girl would trigger protective instincts in Doe and you're not disappointed. She comes closer and starts gently touching Linne. First her hands and wrists. Then she touches Linne's shoulder, then one of her ears. She looks into Linne's sparkling eyes.

At this point Linne seems to snap. Suddenly she's moved from standing still to giving Doe a big hug as she cries. That's a big surprise to both you and Doe, but it makes for a funny sight - the big strong former captain pushed back against the wall by a small, teary eyed girl who's a head shorter than her.

But it breaks the ice. Once Linne apologizes and draws back a little Doe starts checking over all of Linne's new body deliberately. She checks Linne's new paws, her new tail and her fine gray fur. All the while she's complaining about every detail to you, as if each thing she finds is exclusively your fault, done to sexualize poor Linne, who never asked for any of this. Which, admittedly, is mostly true. Linne actually says that the whole thing was painless more than once when Doe pokes at the line where cat fur ends and bare human flesh begins. The only thing Doe approves of is the fact you didn't take away Linne's claws.

"Of course I didn't take her claws," you tell her, rolling your eyes. "Now come on downstairs, there's food."

Doe looks set to object, but Linne is eager to eat and that is enough excuse to get her to come down to the dining room. Probably a good thing for Doe, since as soon as you bring out the stew her stomach lets out a rumble.

Linne packs away a considerable amount of stew, which is hardly surprising. All through dinner Doe is at her most annoying, pestering you about all sorts of details. You have to hide a smile the whole time. You know the real reason is that she doesn't want to admit just how much she appreciates having a new person to talk to.

After dinner Linne is almost asleep on her feet. Like a cat that's had her fill she now wants to cuddle and she plops herself down next to Doe, pressing her body against her new friend.

You stretch and say, "You two are getting on nicely. I was planning to set Linne up in the room next to yours, but the nights can get cold around here. If you want you two could share a room."

"Well... maybe just for tonight. She's been through a lot," Doe says, looking away from you. It's a big fat lie and you both know it.