Judy Hopps, Knight Errant of the Triburrows Kingdom, finally had the castle in sight. It had been an exhausting, miserable journey. She just prayed she still had the strength to fight.

Her charge had been simple, something straight from the pages of fairy tales: reach the castle, rescue the captive damsel, defeat the dragon if necessary. She had trained her entire life for just such a quest. Bards would sing her praises and scribes would pass down her heroism in the annals of the kingdom! She might even get a plot of land!

I hope they leave out the muddy boot incident…

Her road had been challenging right from the start. There was rain almost the whole way, resulting in closed passes and lost bridges, not to mention several leagues of travel by foot to circumvent these hindrances. Then, there were freak hail storms that forced her to take shelter for days at a time. She'd faced down bandits and fended off a random attack by a rogue pheasant. The endless miles of mud took its toll on her morale and mind. If she didn't know any better Judy would have suspected that Gaia herself was opposing her mission.

It didn't matter, though. All her hardships were worth it! She had arrived!

As she slunk into the castle, she was initially uncomfortable with the silence and lack of any kind of defenses. Dragons usually attracted other, smaller monsters who acted as a first line of defense, or at least an alarm. In rare cases, like an ancient or elder dragon, the hangers on could include sentient demons and become a full-on army. Here, there was nothing.

The silence was increasingly distressing. Step by achingly nerve-wracking step, Judy made her way through the castle. Her goal was the top of the east bastion, where the object of this taxing rescue mission was kept. It took hours of tension to traverse the mammoth structure. By the time she made it to the bastion, she was nearing a state of nervous exhaustion. It was so bad that she almost missed the fact that the door from the parapet walkway to the bastion was new.

It puzzled her for a moment, but she put it out of her mind, as she had bigger worries than a new door in a dragon infested castle.

Maybe, it was the dragon's servants. If they're that intelligent, I need to get her and escape as quickly as possible. Maybe, we can escape and not have to fight at all!

Judy, for all her flaws, was no fool. She was very well aware that conflict was a last resort. Especially with anything like a fire breathing wyrm. With that in mind, Judy steeled herself and shoved the door with all her might. The door flew open and she pounced through the portal into the room, ready for anything. Except, that is, a door on well-oiled hinges and rebounded off the wall, before slapping back into her, knocking her sideways off her feet. She had the presence of mind to register a very feminine scream, before the air was punched from her lungs by the stone wall and floor.

Judy scrambled to her feet, searching for the noble lady who had obviously wailed, hoping desperately to defend her from what was attacking her, but all she saw was a fox. A male fox. A naked male fox.

"Who are you?", she barked, trying to keep her eyes above his waistline. As his waist was at her chest level, it was a challenge.

"Who am I? Who are you? What are you doing in my home?", came the fox's incredulous reply.

Judy could only blink as she processed the fox's words. Nothing made sense, so she went with the next priority. "Where is Lady Margaret?"

"Who?"

"Lady Margaret Dunhop! The damsel who was ta-" Judy failed to keep her eyes up once too often and couldn't take it anymore. "Oh, gods, put some pants on!", she shouted.

"Awfully demanding for a burglar, aren't you?"

"I am not a burglar! I'm Judith Hopps, a Knight Errant of the Triburrows Kingdom. I am here to rescue Lady Margaret Dunhop, the rabbit noblewoman who was taken by the dragon. Now, where is she and where are your pants?"

Judy was struggling with controlling the volume of her voice and her focus was too fractured for her to do anything but flail. Apparently, the fox found her to be humorous. He rooted around for something to wear, making no move to cover himself. Eventually, he found a kilt and belt to wear and slid them on.

"Usually, I'd demand payment for the show, but today looking is free, Fluff. Aren't you the lucky bunny?", He cooed at her, once he was dressed.

"How dare you!"

"The easiest way possible, as often as I can. Now, you said you were looking for the former resident here?"

"The prisoner. Lady-"

"Yes, yes. Lady whatever-her-name-was. I'm her replacement."

"Her what?" Obviously either she mis-heard, or he was would have been fine by her, right then.

"Her replacement." The fox repeated, enunciating each syllable with painful clarity. "She got tired of waiting and hired me to be her replacement, when I snuck in to rob the place."

"I can't rescue you!"

"Who wants to be rescued? I love it here!"

His indignant reply was one too many mental disconnects for Judy to take and she flopped against the wall, pinching the bridge of her nose. Taking pity on her, the fox said, "Look, I think we got off on the wrong foot. The name's Nick. I live here. And you are…?"

"Hopps. Judith Hopps, knight errant. Hopelessly screwed."

"I'm assuming you don't mean you're here to take me to bed."

The rabbit's glare rivaled his roommate's breath for intensity. "I was tasked with rescuing the noblewoman kept captive in this castle by the dragon. Until I rescue her, I can't return to the kingdom to claim my reward. Now, where is she?"

"She was here earlier today."

"She was?"

"Yeah. She usually visits with her husband, when he delivers the supplies, every week."

HJudy's hope whithered as quickly as it bloomed, moments ago. "Her husband?"

"Yeah. She hired me to be her stand in, so she could marry the brewmaster at the town over the ridge. That was, what, three years ago, now?"

At that moment, a booming roar echoed through the castle. Judy leapt to guard, while Nick looked nonplussed. "Great, he's up."

"Who? The dragon?"

"Oh, he's a dragon, alright." Nick groused, before turning to another door at the back of the room and shouting, "Finnick! We have a guest!"

An unintelligible response rattled the ceiling, before the door swung open. The being that walked into the room looked like a fennec fox, but had a line of spikey scales from the crown of his head to the tip of his tail and a patch of flat scales on his belly. Judy knew this because he, obviously, he was also completely naked.

"Do you two have something against wearing clothing?", Judy asked flatly, covering her eyes.

The fennec dragon eyeballed her, before booming, "Two words, toots. Bachelor. Pad." He then wobbled over to a wine rack beside Judy and grabbed a bottle. He used his forked tongue to pull the cork and started chugging the bottle as he left the room. All Judy could do was stare in horrified fascination.

"I know, right?" Nick commented with a wink. "That tongue…"

"That wasn't what I was thinking at all!"

"Whatever you say knight red-ears. Before you ask, his momma likes 'em petite."

"Is his mother here, too?"

"Nah. She lives in a swamp down south. They haven't seen each other in a couple hundred years."

At that point Nick noticed his guest wasn't doing so hot. She was stunned and staring blankly. She wasn't invited, but she hadn't stabbed him on sight, so she wasn't all bad.

"Look, fluff." The rabbit turned his way and he sighed. "How does this sound? You've obviously had a long trip and you look a little thrown. How does this sound? I'll make dinner and you can have a bath. Maybe after a hot meal and a drink or two it won't seem so bad and we can figure out what's what?"

Judy latched on to one word in everything he'd said. A word that sounded like music and angels and endless bliss to her after her journey. She turned to her now-host with doe-eyes at full blast and asked, "You have a bath?"

"We even have hot water.", Nick replied with a chuckle.

Judy couldn't help herself. "How?"

"Finnick's breath is good for two things, scaring birds and heating water."

Her armor and gear started hitting the floor. "Where is it?"