Chapter 2: Show and Tell

The wizard ushered his little entourage into a modest but comfortably appointed third floor corner room, and closed the door behind him. The heavily-laden shopping packs, along with the paddle and belt, were deposited on top of the wooden, circular meeting table in the center of the room, and Frelic's wizard robe was hung on the cloak and hat rack near the door leading back out to the hallway. Hansen's eyes quickly scanned the area; his tail twitched incessantly as if it was a separate being that had attached itself to the Furling Squirrel's backside.

In addition to the cloak rack and the meeting table with its accompanying half dozen straight-back padded chairs, this outer lounge also featured a pair of writing and drawing desks; several bookcases were well-stocked with various books and tomes. From where he stood, Hansen was unable to make out any of the titles, but he assumed that they were all merely the typical fare commonly provided to guests at establishments such as this inn. At the far end of the room, a fireplace was built up and out from the wall, its stone hearth surrounded by a thick soft couch and four equally soft tall-backed chairs.

On one side of the fireplace, a weapons rack sat against the wall, hosting a six foot long, modestly decored fighting staff made of polished cypress wood; a short bow; two swords, one a straight-bladed long sword, and the other a short cutlass; and a full quiver of arrows hung from each end of the rack. On the other side of the fireplace, a double door took up a generous portion of the wall. Hansen guessed that those doors opened up onto the wide balcony he had noticed overlooking the streets the Hightail graced. In the far corner, opposite the balcony exit, single doors were set in the south and east walls; he guessed that these most likely led to the bed and bathing chambers.

"Not a bad burrow you managed to score, Master," the Furling said, nodding his approval.

Thissle cocked her head to one side and her copper eyes blinked a couple flashes. Hansen's deferential behavior since she and Karma had returned had not escaped her notice, "Excuse me, furball, what did you say?"

"I said, not a bad burrow you managed to score," he repeated.

"After that," she corrected herself, "I think my hearing may be playing games with me. What did you call Frelic?"

"Master."

"M-hmm. That's what I thought. Both you and Shaasta have been carrying yourselves like brand spanking new apprentices. That is so unlike you."

"Yeah," Karma interjected, "This is so out of character for either of you. What happened during your captivity?"

"Well," Hansen was beaming excitedly and his eyes twinkled, "a month in a pet shop gives one plenty of quiet time to ponder life and other matters."

Shaasta was standing demurely with her hands clasped behind her back; a soft blush warmed the Elf girl's cheeks, and a coy smile touched her lips, "It is a bit of a long story, long and, well..."

She trailed off and Frelic stepped in to field the question. He picked the paddle up off the table and led the group over to the hearth, "Yes, it is indeed a bit of a story. Sit down and I will explain." He sat down on the couch. Thissle and Karma sat to either side of him, and his pets took their Master's lap, facing each other.

Nestled against Frelic's bare thighs, the feel of those two soft naked bottoms, one warm and smooth, and the other hot and clad with plush fur, he felt as if he had died and gone to Nirvana. His hands slid down their backs and caressed his pets' rumps, squeezing where their brands, his brand, lay hidden once more. His violet feline eyes met theirs; their gazes reflected the pure adoration, submission, and unquestioning devotion pledged wordlessly to their Master, and the wizard's heart melted while a passion burned between his legs, not quite projecting from under his short black tunic. At this moment, the full reality of this morning's events hit him with the force of a Storm Giant's fist, and Frelic Willowpaw of WraithHold and Pinevale was the happiest and most fortunate Elf alive on Niath.

"Okay, what happened to you three today?" Karma again demanded, "You, Boss, are acting every bit as strange and flighty as Shaasta and Hansen. So, wot the 'ell is the story?"

Frelic lifted his gaze from his pets and beamed with pride at the two lovely ladies sitting on either side of him. His tale started with a brief prologue, "Karma, you and Thissle have joined me on many adventures.

Correct?" Both girls nodded.

"So as you should both know, all adventures are embarked upon with a specific goal in mind."

"Like recovering a valuable artifact, unmasking ancient secrets, or defeating a great evil that plagues a peaceful village," Karma said.

Thissle giggled, "Like when Master went Dragon hunting and subdued me at WraithHold, which gained him a second apprentice." She gave Frelic her most innocent smile and combed her fingers through her long, copper-red mane.

"You, Thissle; are not, nor were you ever evil," Frelic corrected his student. "You were merely an annoying little nuisance to the good Halflings of Pinevale, naught more than mischievous brat who was simply long overdue for the kiss of a paddle under her tail."

Thissle blushed and rubbed her butt as she remembered that fateful day, such a tremendous indignity for one such as herself while Frelic continued the little lesson in questing.

"Now then, in addition to meeting an important objective, what else to we commonly experience during an adventure, particularly at the quest's end?"

"Hot nights of passionate boinking?" Karma guessed, her long ears laid back behind her.

"Aside from that, what else?"

"Treasure," Thissle said, "usually a buttload of valuable booty."

"Exactly!" Frelic slapped Shaasta's and Hansen's bottoms for emphasis. "We always return home with a nice little treasure or two; my most recent quest was no exception. The objective was met and valuable booty was recovered. But the ending to this story has a unique twist in that the both the objective and the treasures recovered were one and the same, or in this instance, two and the same."

Before the girls could question him further, he relayed for the second time that day, the tale of his sister and Hansen's purchase from the Southern Rose and how they are now legally his personal pets. Instead of the edited version he had told Ashton earlier, Frelic gave Karma and Thissle the full unabridged epic. He revealed every last steamy detail of their adventure in Master Varo's shop.

The girls were speechless, their wide eyes registering total disbelief. Their gazes shifted from Frelic; to Shaasta, who was blushing yet again; to Hansen, his happiness at his situation once more protruding from the furry sheath between his thighs; and back again to Frelic.

"No way!" Thissle declared, shaking her head in denial, "You can't be serious. You aren't really going to own them like you own Delilah, are you? I mean, your own twin sister and her Furling lover, serving as your very own pleasure pets?"

"That's the whole naked truth," Shaasta replied. She pressed her sweet lips to her brother's and rested her head on his shoulder, giving a soft sigh of contentment. "Hansen and I are now Frelic's property, forever under his protection."

"Yes yes," the Squirrel chittered, also planting a deep kiss on his Master's lips as Shaasta had done,

"Master has signed certificates of ownership for us, and our asses bear his brand. We will never fall to slavers ever again."

"Ooh! Branded?" Karma asked, her ears fully erect and attentive, "as in a mark burned deep into your bottoms?" She winced at the thought and rubbed her own furry south end, trying to imagine how the searing kiss of a red hot iron on her flesh must feel.

Frelic moved Shaasta out of the way, bent Hansen over his lap, and yanked up his bushy tail. Karma traced her fingers over the crimson petals of the rose blossom nestled against the Furling's nether cheeks. She placed her nose between his legs and deeply took in the bloom's fragrant scent, which was mingled with his own light muskiness.

"Er, is that flower just pasted to his bottom, or is it..."

"It's planted deep up his ass," Frelic answered. He pulled the rose out a few inches to illustrate, then pushed it back in. "All pets Master Varo sells receive a long-stem thornless rose; it's his shop's hallmark. Now, here is my hallmark. Watch this."

The Elf took up the paddle and delivered two dozen extra hard swats to Hansen's upturned furry bottom, alternating between the left and right cheeks. The Furling yelped and struggled under the fierce assault his Master inflicted on his butt, each swat sending a flameless burn coursing through his behind until it felt like his rear was in flames.

"Master!" he cried, sniffling and blinking back tears, "why such punishment just to invoke your mark?"

"Two birds with one stroke, my naughty little pet," Frelic replied. He set the paddle down and traced his fingers over the ghostly silver outline of the paw print inlaid with a willow tree that now shimmered against the hot red background of paddle blush on the right mound of the Squirrel's bottom. "Remember your line of questioning concerning Makae down in the dining commons?"

Hansen whimpered at the touch of his Master's fingers on his hot, sore bottom, and gave a weak nod, "Aye, Master. I remember. Did I take it too far?"

"You did," Frelic replied. His hands caressed and squeezed his pet's glowing rump, "You embarrassed your Master with your intimate questions there in the presence of those two bards. I am certain they heard everything."

"Oh, I am so sorry for that, Master. I will learn to practice better discretion from now on."

"I know you will," Frelic landed a firm, openhanded swat on his pet's already sore butt, then invited Karma and Thissle to view his handiwork.

"Ooh! Pretty," the Rabbit gasped. She reached out and touched the fine silver lines, which crackled and sent a pleasant electrical tingle through her as her fingers traced the circumference of the five rings which formed the paw print. "Never have I seen such a brand so finely rendered, especially one seared into a fur-clad ass."

"I presume the burner was not crafted by a mere silversmith," Thissle said, "Magick must have been involved, otherwise Hansen would be missing a paw print-shaped patch of fur on his butt."

Frelic nodded, "Yes, the mark was not applied by mundane means. I used a device called a Wand of the Masters. Lilieblume first drew the pattern on their behinds using kraken ink, and then I simply traced over the lines with the wand." He brought Hansen to his feet and pulled Shaasta over his lap, revealing the rose planted up her aft passage, then gave her two dozen swats with the paddle until her plush, jiggly bottom glowed red and a mark identical to the one Hansen sported shimmered on the right side of her bottom. Shaasta also squirmed and cried at the punishment inflicted on her rump, but did not protest or question her Master's reasons, as the stiffness of his cock beneath her provided the answer; just because he could, and it pleased him when his sister submissively presented her butt for his pleasure despite it being punishment to her.

"A brand applied with the Wand of the Masters is not easily lifted, unlike one applied with a mundane branding iron," he explained. "So, even if Shaasta and Hansen should fall afoul of slavers again, they will be protected and kept safe by their captors until they can be returned to their rightful owner."

"Huh, I never realized slavers had such a complex culture," Karma said, "It never ceases to amaze me what I can learn about your world, even two years after my arrival here on Niath."

"Don't you have slavers on Lockke?" Hansen asked, commandeering Karma's hot lap.

"Yeah, we have slavers aplenty," she smiled down at the Squirrel, gave him a scritch between the ears with one hand and a squeeze and petting on his sore rump with the other, "but they are a pretty brutal and cut throat lot, a bunch of lowlife thieves they are. If they want to take you, they don't give a rat's ass whether you are marked or not."

"I like the way the mark stays invisible until the pet gets paddled," Thissle said, "It's always a shame to see such a lovely bottom scarred with a brand or any other permanent mark."

"Yes," Frelic agreed, "that is another nice little benefit of a Wand of the Masters branding. The mark remains hidden until sufficient heat is applied to the branded area. These brands also possess enchantments that protect the pets from the elements, so even in the coldest winter or most scorching summer, they can safely remain skyclad." He gave Shaasta's reddened bottom a two-handed pony swat and then helped her to her feet.

"Master?" Shaasta asked, "Will we ever be permitted to wear clothing again? I would feel so embarrassed walking into the Pinevale Inn and mingling naked among the Halflings there. What will the locals think?"

"Most of the time," Frelic said, "you two will wear nothing except your collars, boots, and possibly a pet harness so you can carry equipment and pouches. Don't worry about what the Haflings of Pinevale will think. Those matters are not the pet's concerns; they are for me to contend with."

"Well, I have no problem being paraded about naked," Hansen assured his Master, "I actually like it when other people can admire my furry bottom and the other intimate bits." He giggled and gave Karma a lick on her cute little bunny nose as she gave his hard shaft a teasing squeeze with one paw. "However, what about when we are in adventure conditions? The brands we bear won't protect us from a foe's blades or arrows, you know."

"I can make an exception there," Frelic assured them, "When we find ourselves in hostile surroundings, you can don your leather armor as needed. However, I will eventually see about getting you equipped with protective gear suitable to your status."