“Shayla, it’ll be easier to draw when we get there,” I told the woman beside me.

  “I know, Liam, but what if I forget?” she replied, turning to look up at me with honest fear on her face. The depthless black orbs of her eyes reflected the brilliantly colored storefronts that flowed past us, while her antennae wiggled and bopped in the air above her head.

  “I’m sure you won’t forget,” I replied with a smile. “Besides, it won’t be the last time I bring you here to visit. But my truck’s suspension isn’t good enough for you to be able to draw while I’m driving and not end up with a mess on the page.”

  Shayla huffed in frustration but nodded, sending the soft white fronds of her antennae swaying again. One of those fluffy appendages swayed my way, bapping me in the cheek gently before retreating. The steady flow of warm air from my truck’s heater caught the retreating antennae and buffeted it about, making Shayla squeak in surprise.

  “I will say, I didn’t expect you to react like this to your first time in town,” I said while carefully turning off the main road and onto the side street that led toward our goal.

  “You should have,” Shayla replied, her frustration bleeding away to a happy tone instead now. “You brought me to visit Earth, and you are taking me to the shop that sells those wonderful paints you bought me! And everything is so beautiful here!”

  I glanced around at the snow-covered expanse that was the city of Boulder, then looked again, trying to see it through her eyes.

  “I guess it is pretty fascinating to look at,” I said at last as we drove past a church that hadn’t had its lot plowed of snow yet. Children were running around throwing snowballs in the grass while parents watched from the warmth of their running cars.

  “I want to see and paint as much as I can,” Shayla proclaimed. “This world is so similar to ours, but also so different. So many lights and so much color! It makes up for the smell…”

  She wrinkled her nose cutely at that statement and I agreed with a laugh.

  “Yeah, the smell of the city isn’t exactly pleasant. Exhaust is pretty nasty, but the cities back on Cortha have their own smell issues, too.”

  “That is also true,” Shayla admitted with a grin before gasping and shoving a hand out to point at something. Her hand impacted the windshield with a solid thunk and she yelped in pain.

  “Easy there, Shayla,” I laughed, reaching over to take her injured hand with my free one. “What has your attention?”

  “The sign on that building has writing that changes, how do they do that?” Shayla demanded and I glanced over to see one of the several credit unions in town. Shayla had been pointing at the electronic sign in front of the building that displayed the time and temperature.

  “Oh that’s a machine,” I explained. “Like the printing press I described yesterday. It works to illuminate a series of bulbs—think like the light stones that Kassandra makes—to make the writing. Part of the machine changes the bulbs around so different ones illuminate.”

  “That is fascinating…” Shayla whispered, scooting over on the bench seat to watch the sign flip back and forth while we waited at a light.

  “If you think that’s awesome, wait till I get a chance to take one of you girls to the movies.”

  “Moo-vee? Like those moving pictures on your cellphone?” Shayla asked, looking up at me cutely. Her antennae took the opportunity of being closer to me to bap me in the nose gently again and I had to fight back a sneeze.

  “Yeah, but a much bigger screen. You’ll see,” I promised with a grin.

  “Thank you again for agreeing to take me to Earth today, Liam,” Shayla murmured, pulling back to sit neatly once more. “I know that it should have been Rieka who came with you next, but—”

  “But her mother needed to speak to her about state matters,” I interrupted. “And there’s no reason to put off bringing one of you next because of that. Rieka was the one who recommended you take this opportunity, remember?”

  Shayla nodded shyly, her antennae furling in while she hunched her shoulders. The motion made the seatbelt slip between her large breasts, pulling the material of her dress tight to those soft mountains. This presented me with a distracting sight, but I was able to drag my eyes away from it to be able to drive on the slick streets after only a moment of staring.

  “Now, you remember your cover story, right?” I said a moment later when we came around the corner and I spotted our target.

  “I’m a kaus… coz… cosplayer? Cosplayer,” she gave a firm nod when she got the word right. “And I wanted to test out some of my outfit while we went shopping.”

  “And if anyone asks for your socials?” I prompted as we turned off the street and into the small lot next to the shop.

  “I’m still deciding if I want to go full-time or just do this for fun,” Shayla replied without hesitation now. “And if anyone presses, I let my friendboy handle it.”

  “It’s ‘boyfriend,’ love,” I corrected her gently.

  “I know,” Shayla replied quickly, biting her bottom lip and glancing up at me shyly. “Are you sure this is going to be okay? You were so worried about people judging us here and reacting badly that I worry.”

  “There is a reason we went out of our way to come to Boulder,” I replied with a grin. “While it’s not as bad here as other places, weird is far more common in Boulder. Especially this close to the college campus.”

  “If you are sure…” Shayla hedged as I pulled into a spot and put the truck into park.

  I turned to the winged woman in my passenger seat and waited until she looked my way.

  “Shayla, if you aren’t comfortable doing this, then I’m not going to force you,” I said gently.

  Shayla was quick to shake her head in denial, sending both her antennae whipping and making her curvaceous figure bounce.

  “N-no! I want to do this. I just… worry…” Shayla said, trailing off again while her antennae drooped.

  “It’ll be fine,” I reassured her, leaning over to kiss the base of one of her antennae. That fluffy frond stiffened in surprise at the gesture, and Shayla let out a happy moan, but didn’t respond. “If it was Kass with me, I’d be worried. Not because I don’t trust her, but the tail thing is far-harder to explain away. And your cloak will hide your wings, you just have to keep them under control.”

  “All right,” Shayla murmured, glancing up at me shyly once more. “I trust you, Liam.”

  “And if things get too overwhelming or dangerous, you know how to return, right?” I reminded her, squeezing the hand I still had hold of.

  Shayla nodded, a small smile curving her lips when I reminded her of that. The fact that Traveler’s Call allowed her to escape back to Cortha with a thought went a long way to reassure my nervous lover. Hell, it went a long way to reassuring me as well.

  I gave Shayla’s hand another squeeze before shutting off the truck and hopping out. The cold air hit me in the face like a punch, and I was quick to zip my coat up to block as much of it as possible while I hurried around the truck to help Shayla out of her side.

  The winged woman whimpered at the chill breeze, her antennae balling in close to her head while she pulled the ruby-red cloak tighter around herself to block out the cold.

  “Oh, I am glad you insisted on a heavy cloak,” Shayla said with a shiver. “That breeze is brutal.”

  “Yeah, the downside of Cortha having a far milder climate. Well, at least the Coldeye queendom has milder climate,” I replied, pulling her hood up before wrapping an arm around my lover to guide her across the frozen parking lot and into the art supply store.

  The chime of the bell over the door made Shayla jump, but she allowed me to guide her into the store with eyes wide in wonder.

  I’d been in a few of these art supply stores in the past, usually because I was giving a friend a ride, so it only took a quick glance around to confirm that we were basically alone in the stores except for the clerk who was slumped behind the counter scrolling on her phone.

  The store clerk was a young woman, probably one of the freshmen from the nearby college. She had on the store uniform and apron, but the thick black lipstick and eyeliner coupled with her black-dyed hair gave a goth-vibe that clashed with the bright colors of her work uniform.

  “Oh my,” Shayla breathed in wonder as her eyes darted over the myriad bits and pieces on display.

  “Get whatever you want, hon,” I told her, slipping the arm from around her shoulders down to her waist and using it to pull her hip into mine. “As long as it stays inside the weight limits, I can bring it back for you.”

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Shayla’s black eyes shimmered even more brightly as she turned to me, her antennae unfurling to cup my face as she bounced up to give me a quick kiss.

  “Thank you, Liam!” Shayla exclaimed before turning in a swirl of red fabric to dive into the nearest aisle which held pencils, charcoal, and other sketching implements.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the goth at the register flinch in surprise at Shayla’s loud exclamation and then shoot me an irritated look.

  Unable to be upset at the moment given how happy Shayla was, I just offered her a shrug and followed my winged lover into the aisle after collecting a basket.

  Shayla was marveling over the pencils, muttering about how much nicer they were than the charcoal sticks she was used to. I was able to explain to her what the different stamps meant, but that was as much as I was able to do to help. Thankfully, it was enough for the moment.

  Shayla cruised the aisles like a hunting shark, her hood having fallen back to reveal the wealth of chocolate-brown curls. All the while the fluffy fronds of her antennae swayed like a pair of fins while she searched. Every time she found something interesting or useful, she’d exclaim happily and add it to the basket.

  It was honestly adorable to watch as she shopped. Shayla added bundles of each type of drawing pencil to the basket—insisting she had to try them all to get a feel for them—as well as a complete set of colored pencils. To that, she added sketchbooks full of the expensive paper types with a comment that I should find out how the expensive papers were made and add that to my idea from the previous day to talk to Matthias and Thomas about.

  We’d made it as far as the paint brushes and Shayla was cooing while tickling her cheek with one wide brush when the sound of someone clearing their throat behind me made her stop.

  I turned to find the shop girl standing there with her arms crossed over her chest.

  “You folks need help with anything?” she asked, arching one carefully manicured eyebrow as she looked us over. The other eyebrow shot up as well when she finally caught sight of Shayla. I watched as the goth woman’s gaze bounced from the brush in Shayla’s hand, to her beautiful face, to the slowly swaying antennae poking out of her hair.

  My increased mental scores immediately kicked in and supplied me with an excuse that would help ground the clerk. I was banking heavily on the whole ‘cosplay’ thing being believable, but I was also not one to take unnecessary chances, either.

  “Yes, actually,” I said confidently, shifting the basket on my arm and making the pencils rattle against the stacks of sketchbooks. “My girlfriend here is an artist and a cosplayer. To celebrate finishing off this costume, we decided to refresh her art supplies with a bit of a shopping spree.”

  Shayla remained frozen, the brush pressed lengthwise to her cheek like she was painting her cheekbones on. So I pressed on with the shop clerk.

  “She primarily works in charcoal and oil paints, but the brand she normally uses isn’t being made anymore, so she’s going to need a bunch of that and new brushes to test them with. Can you point me to where your oil paints are? And do you have any recommendations on brands?”

  “Uh…” the clerk said intelligently, her eyes darting from Shayla’s antennae, to my face, then to Shayla’s dark eyes.

  I watched her blink several times before she clearly thought ‘fuck it’ and switched from snarky and suspicious to helpful.

  “I’d be happy to show you the oil paint section. I don’t work with oils myself, but several of our regulars stick with Windsor and Newton brand for those, since they have the student and professional levels.”

  “She’ll need the professional-grade ones,” I said without hesitation, making Shayla blush suddenly and quickly put the brush she’d been pressing to her cheek into the basket.

  “Sorry about that,” Shayla murmured. “I was taught that was the best way to test the brush quality.”

  “I have heard of stranger things, miss,” the clerk said with a shrug. “Most people think that sports fans have a monopoly on superstitions, but I’ll tell you… quite a few of the art students have some strange habits when picking out supplies.”

  She said this while leaning toward Shayla with a conspiratorial smile that put my moth-winged companion at ease. I could tell because Shayla’s antennae, which had begun to ball up at the woman’s appearance, relaxed and began to sway again. The action of the antennae caught the goth woman’s eyes and she followed their movement with wonder for a moment before giving herself a shake.

  “Did you want to keep looking at brushes?” the goth woman asked. “Oh, and my name is Corrine.”

  “Shayla,” the moth woman replied with a gentle smile, still blushing faintly. “And we can come back to the brushes in a bit. I’d love for you to show me the paints.”

  Problem solved, I thought with a grin as the two women hurried to the end of the aisle, already talking busily about colors and qualities that made for good paint.

  For most of the next hour, Corrine helped Shayla pack as much as she could into the basket. The clerk started out with conservative recommendations, but that changed when Shayla exclaimed excitedly over a rich, ultramarine-blue paint that was tagged at forty bucks a tube and I told her to just take all they had if she wanted it. After my disregard of cost, Corrine seemed intent to throw herself into ensuring Shayla got the best of everything the shop had to offer.

  The gothic woman’s attitude shifted several times during our shopping spree. Her initial wariness turned professional, then shifted into judging for a bit, before dropping back into friendly as Shayla’s enthusiasm thawed her out.

  I was sure that the judgy phase was wondering how and why I was willing to spend so much money on art supplies. However, after the first thirty minutes, she was happily discussing watercolors with Shayla while the two stood together over those sets.

  All told, I spent more than I probably should have in the shop. But with how well the Bitsy store was doing and how low my costs were right now, it felt good to splurge on one of my girls, and Shayla was always so quiet about what she needed and wanted.

  “Promise me you’ll bring some pictures of your finished pieces when you come back?” Corrine begged Shayla while I collected the bagged art supplies and fiddled with my wallet. “The way you have described them, I can’t wait to see what you produce!”

  “I promise, Corrine,” Shayla replied shyly while smiling. “You have a great day, okay?”

  “I will,” the gothic woman replied before turning her attention to me with one arched eyebrow. “I’d tell you to take good care of her, but that’d be pretty ridiculous after this shopping spree, wouldn’t it?”

  “I’d take care of her regardless,” I replied with a grin and a wink before laying a folded bill down on the counter, “for your assistance. Come on, Shayla.”

  I turned away from the counter, leaving the hundred-dollar bill behind and offered Shayla my arm.

  My curvy moth-woman immediately clung to the offered limb, smiling warmly up at me. I saw her cloak flutter, indicating her wings stirring, but she kept them under control as we headed out the door. Behind me, I heard Corrine sputter and yelp in surprise when she saw the tip, but we didn’t slow down.

  <><><>

  “You really think paper will be a market that we could get into?” I asked Shayla while we drove slowly through the mountain passes.

  After we’d finished at the art store, Shayla had asked me to take her somewhere that had a vista she could paint to remember her first trip to ‘the human world’ as she called it. So now we were winding carefully up into the mountains above Denver, heater going full blast to keep the windows from fogging up while Shayla peered through the glass.

  “I think it would be a wonderful option,” Shayla insisted. “I’ve been searching quite a bit while we’ve been in the capital. While there are merchants who provide quality paper, they charge exorbitant amounts for even small pieces of the good paper. The only people who buy it are nobles wanting to make elaborate invitations, I’m sure of it. But you’ve spoiled me with these sketchbooks.”

  Shayla ran one finger over the dense cover of the sketchbook in her lap, smiling while her chin nestled in her fluffy neck-ruff.

  “I had wondered about that,” I said quietly, leaning forward out of habit to peer through the windshield while the truck crunched through the snow and ice. “If we do end up going with the printing press idea and start producing books and the like, then we are going to need steady supplies of good-quality paper. It doesn’t have to be the same level of what you use for art, but it needs to be solid and sturdy.”

  “And parchment won’t work for that,” Shayla said confidently. “It yellows too quickly and the ink doesn’t absorb as well. At the very least, it’ll be something for you four to invest in while getting things set up.”

  “I’ll have to collect information on how paper used to be made,” I said after a bit more thought. “I don’t think that the industrial production we have on Earth would work for Cortha, and I can’t bring the quantities we’d need over. Paper is heavy.”

  The conversation drifted off for a bit as the snow crunched more under the tires. Shayla watched with a soft smile as the road we were on rose higher into the mountains and a few houses slipped by, smoke rising from chimneys.

  “Liam?” Shayla asked after a handful of minutes passed, voice tentative.

  “Yes, Shayla?” I replied without hesitation.

  “Why are you so nice?”

  I opened my mouth to brush the question off but stopped myself. Something in Shayla’s intonation told me that she wasn’t just asking as a platitude.

  “I suppose that depends on where that question comes from,” I answered after a bit of thought.

  Silence descended between us again and I stole a glance to my companion. Shayla was still watching the trees go by outside, but had turned introspective now. Her bottom lip stuck out while she nibbled on the inside of it, and the image was so cute that I almost tried to kiss her there and then.

  “The other day, you described just one way you could ruin the economy of the Coldeye queendom,” Shayla explained slowly. “Now, I know that if you wanted to, you could likely exploit that to make a great deal of money before it was ruined. You could do that and leave it all behind. But you won’t… I know you won’t. You talk constantly about your concerns of how you might negatively affect our world. Like with those… What was the name? Guns?”

  “Guns are an easy example of something that can spin out of control fast,” I replied. “But yes, I could exploit things and just leave. But that would be wrong.”

  “How do you know it’s wrong?” Shayla asked. Her voice wasn’t accusing, just thoughtful as she explained further. “I mean, beyond just you being a good person. Does this world teach lessons about how to do things so that you can avoid them? Have you seen such collapses in the past?”

  “Sort of?” I replied thoughtfully. “They teach history to everyone, and a lot of history has lessons like that. People doing something stupid and shortsighted for immediate gain, forgetting the far-reaching consequences. I wasn’t the best student, but I absorbed a fair bit of what I was taught. Improving myself with the System’s help has allowed me to remember more about it and exercise my critical thinking.”

  “And that is why your good nature is able to shine through,” Shayla said, happiness filling her words now. “You are smart enough to have learned lessons of the past to avoid mistakes, even well-intentioned ones.”

  “I’m not perfect, Shayla,” I said quietly. “But I am trying my best.”

  “That’s all we can ask of you, Liam,” Shayla said. “We love you because of that.”

  “Well, if you ask Kass…” I teased and got a smack on the shoulder from Shayla for that. “Hey, no hitting me while I’m driving.”

  “You are fine, you brute.” Shayla sighed happily before turning back to look out the window. “Oh!”

  I followed her gaze to see the hills parting, revealing a winding valley full of snow-drenched trees. On the far side of the valley was an elaborate mansion made to look like a log-cabin with a large stone chimney coming out one side.

  “Want me to stop here?” I asked, glancing around quickly and spotting a turnout that would let us keep the view.

  “Yes, please?” Shayla asked longingly.

  “As you wish,” I replied, turning the wheel to park even as Shayla started fishing in the bags for her new art tools.

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