Abigail woke up the next day smiling. Her bed was extremely comfortable. She had not been awakened in the middle of the night with ranting, threats, nor actual punishment. She hopped out of bed then skipped over to the second bathing spring. She had truly forgotten how relaxing and freeing a simple thing like bathing could be. She made herself a small breakfast of fruit and ate it a bit too quickly as she went over everything she needed to get done today. Then she began to cook for Michele. She made a protein forward breakfast consisting of quite a few portions of meat. She had observed how quickly he devoured the fish and meat that she had cooked the night before and she hoped he would be okay with this for his first breakfast. She was already working on making him yogurts and she found some very interesting grains and nuts in the garden that would make good cereals, granola, and porridges.
'Yes because I will need to incorporate fruits, veggies, and grains in his diet as well'
Michele listened as her thoughts randomly rolled through. He had thoroughly enjoyed the food last night and was shocked that humans could do such things to meats. He generally ate things raw and only ate something "cooked" because his magical flames cooked it.
At that moment he decided he would no longer eat anything raw ever again, most likely.
His breakfast consisted of three types of meat, eggs cooked three ways, to see which he liked, fresh juice, and potatoes with things he did not know the names of. It was all delicious.
He looked up to thank Abigail and his smile dropped. For a moment he had forgotten that she was his servant. He forgot that she was a plaything and experiment. He felt odd for a second and then he returned to his delicious food.
After breakfast he went to his study and thought about what he wanted to do about Abigail. He wanted to know how to make this experience as beneficial to him as possible. When he sensed that she had finished cleaning and prepping he called her to his office. She knocked, even though the door was open, waited for him to tell her to enter and then entered. He nodded his head in satisfaction.
Due to her past damage he would not need to train her in how to behave properly. She came in with her eyes to the floor and then stopped at his desk.
She bowed, her eyes never leaving the floor.
"I called you here because we need to talk about the house rules. " He saw her stiffen. "Are you ready?"
'Yes sir.'
"Number one: You must bathe at least three times a day for now. You have an odd smell that makes my senses itch.
"Number two: You will need to look at me when we are speaking, no mater what form I take.
"Number three: You need to cook for me a minimum of six times a day.
"Number four: You can no longer go near the cave with the well that leads back to your village,
"Number five: You will need to share my bed with me at least once a week and I retain the option to increase the amount as I choose.
"Do you understand all of that?"
'Yes sir.'
"Good. There will be a six month probationary period. At the end of six months I will decide if I will eat you or if you will remain my servant. There are two things that I foresee being a problem for you. One is if I do not enjoy sex with you and two is that I need to hear you speaking to me. If you are not speaking with your mouth in six months you will be my snack. I can not have a defective servant."
He heard her swallow and nodded in satisfaction. She understood the importance of the matter.
"You will be sleeping with me tonight so that you can learn what you need to work on early."
'Yes sir, Great Serpent sir.'
He blinked several times while staring at her. Had he not told the girl his name? Was it excitement that caused him to forget a common courtesy or was he just an old rude bastard. He shook his head in disappointment in himself. He knew her name but he was now realizing that he only did so because he saw it in her mind. It was not because they exchanged pleasantries.
But wait. She was a servant, not a friend, nor a companion. He was not required to be friendly towards her. Did one need to be nice to property? Fine. For her he was "Great Serpent". He had been called worse.
"You can return to your duties. If I need you I will call you."
She did a polite curtsy, replied: 'Yes sir Great Serpent sir', and then quickly left the room.
Abigail left his main study a bit nervous. First she was a virgin and the idea of sex with anyone was a bit startling. Second she didn't know if she could bring herself to speak. She sighed and headed to the kitchen. It had been two hours and her master wanted at least six meals. He was a shape shifting creature so she had assumed he ate a lot so this rule was not surprising to her.
She had meat marinating for first lunch so she took more out for second lunch and both first and second dinner. For his second breakfast she would make him some and grain dishes so he wouldn't be bored.
She created breads stuffed with fruit, grains, cheeses, or eggs to give him variety. She noted how shocked he seemed when she asked if he would have second breakfast in his study or in a dining hall. He chose his study. She became nervous when she began explaining the breads and he frowned a bit. She actually sighed in relief when he bit into one stuffed with egg and cheese and he actually smiled and shoved the remainder into his mouth.
She had cleaned the kitchen and went to the library. She had gone just with the intention of cleaning but as she did so she found books on cooking techniques, food preparations, how to make yogurts, skin care, and the like. She was truly intrigued by a book on taking care of serpent and other reptile scales. But what truly gave her hope was finding tons of books on sex.
There were books about sexual position, techniques, the process itself, the part the male had to play and the part the female had to play. Her face was hurting from her perpetual blush.
Suddenly she wondered what form he would prefer sex in. She became nervous again as she realized that she could not ask him. She found a book, in the same section, with a snake and a woman in twined on the cover and wondered if it was a book explaining what serpents liked sexually. But when she opened it she only saw crazy squiggles and nothing coherent.
She stacked her chosen books on a table to the back of the library and began cleaning-searching for language books. She did not find what she was looking for before she needed to return to the kitchen but she had gotten a good part of the library clean.
After serving her master's second lunch she found the language section and after first dinner she found books matching the language in the sex education book she found earlier.
It was a dialect of Dragonese and was mostly spoken by various reptiles. Her eyes lit up as she understood she would understand a bit of Dragonese once she understood this serpent language called Vipperian.
Michele had been amused all day by Abigail's projected thoughts but when she suddenly began learning Vipperian and she had a natural affinity for it he was taken aback. She was truly an interesting entity.
That day Abigail had focused most of her studies in sex. Food, nutrition, crafting, skin care and things of the like she naturally understood. But sex was too far beyond her. She had already taken three baths for the day but she took another before she went to his chamber.
Earlier in the day he had informed her that she would need to enter naked. So as the door opened for her she took the robe that she was using off and left it in the antechamber.
His chambers were even larger than hers. Half of it was simple fur lined rock but then she saw that there were bars, cables, and other odd constructions suspended from the ceiling, a section of the space seemed to be dedicated to a lab, and there was a large area with a bed.
But Michele was not in the bed. He was in his dark serpent form and coiled inside a large fur lined black and gold wooden basket. She froze when she realized that his slotted red eye was focused on her.
'Come to me Abigail. Tonight we will merely sleep together. Flesh to scale.' She took an initial shaky step forward and the more she took the more confident her steps became.
When she reached the outer edge of the basket she felt something slide around her body and suddenly she was in the air.
It wasn't startling. On the contrary it was rather exhilarating to her.
She came to rest on his inner coils and she was surprised how soft his scales were. She could not help but run her hand over them. She felt his body tremble and she snatched her hand away.
'I apologize. I guess I am a little ticklish.'
Abigail looked down. 'I apologize for touching you without asking.'
'Don't apologize for that. Sleep. Get up when you need to but you sleep here with me until you need to go cook. I want my first meal here.'
'Yes Great Serpent.'
'And you are still looking down as you speak. Look at me when you speak to me.'
Her head snapped up. It was such a habit now it would be something hard to break.
She felt his breathing and allowed it to lull her to sleep. She had a lot to do tomorrow.