Eventually, people started to break away and get back to their lives. As the group broke up, Shadow wandered back over to Annie and Jonas, catching the tail end of what Annie was saying to the small group still gathered around her.

“—say when exactly I’ll be able to deliver more, but I’m happy to hear you all are interested!” Annie said cheerfully.

“I jus don’ get why ya did all this if ya weren’t sellin’ any.” A disgruntled man stated, giving Annie a confused look.

“Well, we mainly wanted to gauge interest with you fine people out on the frontier. As long as enough people want to buy it, it makes sense to continue with the creation of more to bring back.” Annie explained.

“Do ya really think we can buy it? It’s magic, that ain’t cheap. We don’t get much magic stuff ‘round these parts, 'specially nothin' like this,” another person piped up.

“Well, I wouldn’t be out here if I didn’t think I could keep costs low enough for your wonderful community here to afford it. I’m not going to say it will be cheap, but having a loyal, well-trained hunting companion, with all the strengths of a monster, will have it paying for itself in no time.” She glanced over at Shadow, taking a deep breath.

“Well, it was wonderful meeting everyone, but I’m afraid it’s time to find a place to stay. Make sure to tell all your friends! We’ll be around for the rest of today and tomorrow morning!”

The group broke up, a few of them glancing at Shadow, one just shaking his head.

Annie turned to Shadow with a tired smile, then crouched down in front of her and mussed with her head.

“I think that went about as well as it could have. You did good, barring that first bit. Keep it up.” She whispered, giving Shadow a small grin. After rubbing her for a few more seconds, Annie got back up.

“Shadow, heel.”

Shadow went to nod but stopped herself.

Not supposed to respond like that…

She just heeled again, sans any acknowledgment except to follow the command. She started looking around. Her heart was still beating hard, not having had a chance to settle after all the excitement (and running, she was still panting). She wasn’t sure it would settle considering how excited she still was. She really wanted to run around and explore some more, but resolved herself to just look, smell, and try to identify all the strange objects she saw. Her list of questions was growing. She would be having a long talk with her humans once they got somewhere more private.

She even saw other animals. She assumed they were pets, as they were in the village and seemed the be comfortable amongst the humans. She would make extra sure not to eat any of them. She wondered which ones were the dogs. Yet another thing to ask.

There were still people around, and more came up to them as they walked. It seemed word about the magical dog-like shadeling was spreading. Annie did her best to fend off people so they didn’t get held up for too long, just giving quick explanations and asking them to tell their friends about it.

Shadow didn’t mind the delays. She was having a grand time meeting new people, sniffing at them, and letting them pet her; seeing all their different coverings and the things they had attached to themselves. She kept having to add new things to her mental list to ask about later. There were so many things on it at this point she knew she would be asking questions for days.

Things weren’t all great, unfortunately. Some of the people had a less than pleasant reaction to her, despite Annie’s assurances. Threats from Jonas to back off had been enough to send them away, grumbling, so far. The troublemakers appeared to be in the minority, though. Most people were on a spectrum between curious and wary.

They were headed for the nearest inn (which was apparently the only inn.). She kept looking around for it while she was examining everything. She didn’t really know what she was looking for exactly, but figured it would be different from the other buildings somehow. Not that any of the wooden constructions really looked the same. They were similar but they all had their own unique differences. She couldn’t wait to go into one and see it from the inside.

The thought had her bouncing again, turning her walk into very slow prance.

I have too much energy! I really want to run around!

Playing fetch with the people earlier had been great for her nerves, but now that energy was building up again. She couldn’t even complain about it because she wasn’t allowed to communicate.

This is so frustrating!

She was extremely happy to be here, but at the same time, all the restrictions were really chafing.

Right about then they passed a corner and she spotted them. It had taken a second for her to comprehend what, exactly, it was that she was seeing. There, running all about chasing each other, was a gaggle of mini-humans. She had been hearing their giggles and shrieks for a bit and had been curious to see what had been making all the noise. She had refrained from using her ear-sight. It would have probably been fine because you couldn't see it, but Annie had said no magic. Everything was going so well at this point, it would be silly to risk it on something so trivial.

It took her a moment, but she realized they must be children. Young humans, not long hatched!

They were so small! They all differed in height, but on average she almost came up to their chests!

Me-sized humans! Well... almost!

She was about as long as they were tall if she ignored her tail. With it, she was quite a bit longer.

They were going to be past the side street shortly, but she couldn’t let this go. Shadow gave Annie’s leg a discrete nudge with her shoulder, and once she had her attention, she made a subtle motion of her head toward the kids, followed up with a pleading look.

Annie broke eye contact, fighting to keep a straight face as she changed her plans.

“Hmmm, Jonas, perhaps a demonstration of how safe she is with children wouldn’t be unreasonable.”

Jonas scrunched his face into a slightly confused expression.

“Uhh, I suppose not, but…” He noticed Shadow’s look, and sudden understanding lit up his expression. “… it’ll take a bit, so I’ll… uh… go grab some food. For us. I think I saw a fruitmonger back there.”

Jonas headed off with a grin of his own and they turned to head toward the children. Shadow was suddenly having trouble heeling again. She wanted to be there.

They’re so small and toddley!

Watching them play was fascinating. It was clear the smaller ones of the bunch weren’t all that good at walking yet. Apparently, she wasn’t alone in needing practice to learn how to walk on two legs! She’d thought the humans had been born being good at it, like she had been born good at walking on all fours. Seeing these little ones falling all over the place defeated that impression.

As they approached, she thought she’d figured out how the game they were playing worked. All the kids seemed to be running from one of them, until that one managed to touch a different kid, shouting “tag!” and then running away themselves.

The kid that got touched would then run around trying to get the others. It was pretty simple but looked fun!

Annie walked up to a few of the adults in the area and talked to them. it took a little convincing and showing Shadow off to them, but she managed to get them to OK the plan.

“Shadow, lay down. Stay. Let’s introduce you.“ Annie stepped in front of her, concealing her from view a little, then called out to the playing children.

“Everyone! Gather round! I have something amazing to show you all!” Annie shouted out, injecting a bit of energy into her voice that hadn’t really been there a moment ago. She was looking pretty tired. Shadow supposed talking to all those people earlier was hard.

The children took notice shortly, as did many of the other adults on the street. Everyone started to gather, and Annie started a similar spiel to the one she’d done earlier, only this time some of the adults were already familiar with it, having been to the previous one or heard about it from a friend.

By the time the ‘friendliness demonstration’ came about, the crowd was filled with short bodies and wide eyes, all of them staring at her.

“Shadow, Relax. Don’t be shy! She won’t bite! Come! Feel free to pet her, but please be gentle!”

There was a bit of a pause, and then one of the adults came up, giving her a rub on the head. She just nuzzled into the rub and that appeared to be enough to open the flood gates. Shortly after she was getting swarmed by giggling children.

“It’s so scary!”

“Doggie?”

“Hi, Shadow!”

“Gimm.. Gimmie yer paw!

“Me, Me!”

“Can… can… can I see yer teeth?”

The children seemed much more willing to talk directly to her, which both made her extremely happy and even more frustrated. She wasn’t supposed to understand anyone really, and she was only supposed to take orders from Annie, but was allowed a little leeway if she got the ‘Relax’ command.

The kids were a little bit rougher than the adults had been. She thought it a consequence of their enthusiasm, but having her ears yanked or tail accidentally stepped on wasn’t her favorite thing in the world. She did her best to keep acting naturally.

“P..Please?” the small boy who had wanted to see her teeth asked, his eyes getting dangerously watery.

Oh no, don’t cry small human!

She quickly glanced around. Annie was distracted talking to people again, and the adults were content to stand back and let the kids have their fun, though they were keeping an eye on things.

…. I can play this off.

She looked at the child and casually yawned, her mouth wide open and her teeth on prominent display.

Some of the kids backed up looking a little frightened, but mostly she was met with a chorus of ‘Oohs’ and ‘Wow!’s. The kid in front of her looked particularly delighted.

“Wow! Yer teeth‘re so cool!”

Thanks! They’re really good at biting things!

“Is that yer tongue!?”

Yes, probably!

She relaxed her yawn some and stuck it out, giving the boy a quick lick.

“Whoa! It’s so long!” The boy giggled. Then he grabbed it.

Shadow stiffened, unsure what to do. Having her tongue grabbed was… a very strange feeling.

For the kids’ part, they were all suddenly gathered around the appendage, making appreciative noises and poking at it.

“It’s wiggly!”

This is strange.

She thought about it a bit.

I suppose it’s ok.

She decided to just let it happen. The kids seemed to be having fun.

Before long one of the women came over and told them to let go of her, giving Shadow a look, before shaking her head.

“She’s not kiddin’ ‘bout it bein’ tame as anythin’. Ain’t never seen a pet tolerate gettin’ grabbed like that.”

She spent a second getting used to the feeling of her tongue being back in her mouth again.

And then one of them came up with the best idea.

“Lady! Lady! Can Shadow play tag with us!?” one little girl ran up and asked.

Some of the adults started chuckling and Annie looked at her.

“Pets can’t play tag!” one of the other kids yelled.

“But she’s magic!” the girl rebutted.

“Oh honey, Shadow…” Annie started, but saw Shadow’s eyes boring into hers. Her expression screaming, ‘Please! Please let me play tag with them!’

She pulled out all the stops, going for maximum cuteness. Wide eyes, ears drooped, she even added in a small tail wag, though that wasn’t something she really did normally.

“… can… definitely do that. It’s… part of the spell! As you said, she’s magical and made to get along great, even with children!”

Many of the adults were giving Annie strange looks. Shadow trusted Annie to handle it.

She jumped to her feet, ready to go.

I get to play tag!