Chapter 1: A Cold Day

It was a cold day in Peak Country, home to Feathers and his guardian, Slither Scale. Feathers loved living with Slither Scale, ever since Slither had found him as an egg. Slither had raised him like a son, teaching him responsibility, and even enrolled him in his 1890's schoolhouse, where he works as a schoolteacher. When Feathers turned thirteen, Slither gave him chores to do around the house, like sweeping or washing dishes.

On that particular day, Feathers was raking all the leaves on his caretaker's lawn that were blown off from the trees. He had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with Slither and his friends at the park, and had often expressed his thanks to Slither for being his fatherly caretaker. The wind blew as he flinched, and a few feathers smack his face as they flew away.

"Ooh, the wind does blow in these parts," Feathers said, just as Slither opened the window to check on him. "Oh, sir! I, I, I'm just about almost done here, sir!"

"I can see that, and look at that pile," Slither said. "You seem to be doing great."

"Oh, thank you, sir. I could use a rest, all this raking..."

"Uh-uh! You're still not done yet; there's plenty more leaves at the backyard."

"Plenty more? But sir, I..."

"Don't give me any objections. Rules are rules, Feathers, and I want you to rake every leaf on my property before you stuff 'em in garbage bags. And no slacking!"

Feathers flinched at this, knowing how strict Slither can be. "Yes, sir. Right away, sir."

Feathers went back to work, as he went to the backyard to rake the leaves in the backyard, before he went to a closet to grab some garbage bags, and he stuffed the leaves from the backyard into two garbage bags, and he dragged them to the front, as he stuffed two more garbage bags with leaves he had raked. He worked hard, and was oblivious to wetting his diaper a lot. He tied the bags closed with string and sighed. "All done, sir," he called.

Slither went outside to check the lawn for any missed leaves, as Feathers felt nervous. Slither checked his pocket watch and huffed. "Two minutes passed," he said, as Feathers flinched. "But I can see you did well to keep the lawn tidy. Well done."

Feathers blinked and sighed with relief. "Thank you, sir," he said.

Slither's tongue slithered, as he noticed. "I see you had wet your diaper a lot."

Feathers realized the moment he looked at his diaper, and he blushed. "Well, they do keep me busy with work, sir. But I guess I got more chores to do inside the house."

"No, no, you already did that this morning after breakfast. What you can worry about right now is getting your diaper changed. Come."

Slither took Feathers into the house and laid him on the mat, as Slither took Feather's wet diaper off carefully and cleaned him up, before taping a new diaper on him.

"There you go, all done," Slither said.

"Thank you, sir," Feathers said. "But I've been diaper changed for thirteen years, so I should be learning to change my own diapers."

"Someday you will, my boy," Slither said in agreement. "Learning takes time. One day you'll learn well enough to change your own diapers."

"I understand. Thank you, Slither."

Yes, Slither may have been strict towards Feathers, but he loved him like a son, and he has wisdoms that he used to support Feathers, and at school, his students, because he believed in one thing known as "well-being." There were times, however, when Feathers was often troubled wearing diapers for his incontinence from hatching on that cold snowy mountain, but Slither would do all he can to care for Feathers and help him accept his reality, and be who he is from the inside.

Slither went to wash his hands, while Feathers got up and looked out the window, admiring the town he grew up in, including the schoolhouse he studied at for eight years, back when Slither enrolled him to learn, and play.

"Enjoying the view, boy?" Slither said.

"I was just thinking how far I've come, living in this lovely town, all the people, and that school you applied me in," Feathers said. "Oh, how lucky I was to have you, sir."

"Feathers, you were always lucky, how I fed you, changed you, raised you to be responsible, and to be happy."

Feathers' ears droop as his smile faded. "But I sometimes wish my incontinence would just go away someday, but it doesn't look like it'll happen at all."

Slither gave him a pat on the back. "Feathers, there's nothing wrong with being incontinent. I've told you this about a hundred times. I just want you to be you, no matter what anyone says. I know, because I'm proud of you for who you are, Feathers the gryphon."

"R-Really, sir?"

Slither put his hand on Feathers' shoulder. "Really. I've told you everything to help you accept your reality, and how you made friends, and knowing how everyone likes you for who you are, I knew it would help you not let your incontinence define you. You're more than a gryphon trapped in diapers. You're a beautiful, innocent creature who was ever born."

Feathers blinked at this, and then his ears lift as he smiled. "I really am. Slither, I... I don't know where I'd be without you." He hugged Slither. "I love you, sir."

Slither hugged back with a chuckle. "I love you too, my boy."

Later that night, Feathers and Slither were at the dining table, having leftover turkey for dinner. Feathers had a sip of tea, as he had his turkey and wiped his beak. "Could I have more tea, please?" he asked kindly.

Slither checked the tea pot by opening the lid. "No, because the pot's empty. Sorry, Feathers," he said.

"Aw..."

"But I can make more tomorrow morning."

Feathers ate his turkey. "Okay, sir. May I be excused to wash the dishes?"

"What's the hurry, Feathers? We still have some potatoes and gravy left on our plates."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

The two had soon finished their dinner, when they heard yelping from outside.

"What was that?" Feathers asked.

Slither heard the noise and barely looked out the window, thinking something was wrong. "Stay here, Feathers," he said. "I'll go check it out."

He slithered toward the door and opened it as he got out to see what was the matter. The noise he heard sounded like barking, and on his lawn, he saw a small puppy wearing a diaper, wet and messy, and was covered in dirt, with a bruise on his leg, crying. He gasped. "Oh, my goodness, look at you!" He cried as he approached the puppy. "You poor thing! Come on, get up!" He carefully helped the puppy up as he whined. "That's it, come on. Inside." He escorted the puppy into the house.

Feathers picked up his plate to wash it, when he gasped at seeing Slither carry the pup in. "What happened?! Is he okay?!" He asked.

"Not now, Feathers, this pup needs help!" Slither said. "Help me get him to the tub!"

"Yes, sir! I'll fill the tub with water!"

They took the pup to the bathroom, as Feathers filled the tub with warm water. The pup wailed as Slither carefully removed his dirty diaper.

"Shh, it's okay," Slither said. "It's okay, you're gonna be fine. You'll need a good bath, and a new diaper. Feather, is the tub full yet?" He checked the tub. "Okay, good, turn it off!"

Feathers turned off the water, as Slither took the pup into the tub, and lathered the brush with soap, and began scrubbing his body, and carefully on his bruised leg, as he yelped.

"Sorry, but you'll need a scrub," Slither said, but the pup still cried. "Shh... it's okay. You're fine."

After a lot of scrubbing, Feathers grabbed a bucket and gently poured to rinse the pup. Slither then took the pup out and dried him with a towel.

"Sir, I don't think we have any disposable diapers his size," Feathers said. "He's a little pup."

"Ah, but I know how to make a cloth diaper, like the last ones I made when you were little," Slither said. "Wait here with the pup, I'll be right back." He then slithered off.

Feathers patted the pup's head. "It's gonna be okay. My caretaker did good cleaning you up," he said, trying to comfort the pup. "You can spend the night here, if you'd like. I'll have to ask my caretaker, though." The pup whimpered. "Hey, that reminds me. Do you have a name?"

The pup whimpered and then spoke. "Ince."

"Ince? That sounds good."

"Yeah. Who are you?"

"I'm Feathers, and I'm a gryphon."

Slither came in with a cloth, and an ice bag for his bruised leg. "Alright, pup, lay still while I work on your cloth diaper," he said.

"His name is Ince, sir," Feathers said as Ince laid on his back.

"Ince, you say? Good name." Slither worked on putting a cloth diaper on him, tying knots on the sides. "There, all set."

"But Slither, what does the name 'Ince' mean?"

"It means 'innocent'."

"Huh, innocent like this cute puppy."

Slither chuckled as Ince sat up. "Right you are, my boy. Now, where are you from, little pup? You lost or something?"

Ince tried to stand up, but yelped as he gripped his bruised leg.

"No, just sit still. Your leg hurts," Slither said, putting an ice bag on the pup's leg. "There. Now, what happened to you, pup? And where are your parents?" Ince looked down, feeling sad, as Slither noticed and began to assume something was wrong. "Did something happen?"

Ince said nothing.

"Ince, please talk," Feathers said sadly. "Tell us what's wrong."

Ince sniffled and then spoke up. "My parents and I once lived in a log cabin. We had a terrible storm a couple of days ago, and it destroyed our log cabin, and my parents were gone... I was the only one alive... and that bruise on my leg was from when the broken tree fell on me, barely..."

"What happened to them?" Slither asked.

Ince grew sadder. "I looked everywhere for my parents after the storm, but I couldn't find them. I searched the whole day and called them out... but I never found them. I... I..." he whimpered and started crying a lot. "I lost my home and my parents from the storm, and I'm all alone!" He cried more as Feathers fell very sad.

"You poor thing," Slither said sadly. "It's alright. Shh, don't cry. We're here." He patted Ince as he said to Feathers, "Feathers, see if you can find a sleeping bag to help him sleep."

"Okay, sir," Feathers said, as he got up and left. He approached the closet nearby and pulled out a sleeping bag, which he had remembered sleeping in from camping with Slither for the summer. "Got it, sir!"

"Take it to the room. He can sleep with us for the night," Slither said. He helped Ince on his feet. "Come on, get up, let's get you settled down for the night."

They went into the bedroom, with Slither holding a lit candle, as Feathers set the sleeping bag down, and Ince sniffled as crawled into it. Slither gave him a hanky, and Ince blew his nose on it. Slither took the hanky and placed it away, as Ince then laid down, falling asleep.

Feathers sat on his bed, as he felt bad for the poor pup. "That poor puppy," he said. "Losing his parents and home from the storm, it's so sad."

"I know, my boy," Slither said. "Losing his family at young age is very sad."

"What'll we do, sir? We can't leave the poor puppy all alone!"

"Shh, don't say that. Look, we'll figure something out tomorrow morning, alright? I'll call somebody, see what they'll have to say."

Feathers teared up. "But what that pup had gone through, it's not fair! He didn't deserve to lose his parents!" He covered his eyes and sobbed.

"There, there, Feathers, calm down," Slither said, petting Feathers for comfort. "Just go to sleep, and we'll work something out tomorrow."

Feathers sniffled. "Okay," he said weakly. "I just felt so bad for the poor puppy, that's all." He then fell asleep, still sniffling a bit.

Slither patted Feathers' arm. "So do I, my boy. So do I."

Slither then put the candle on the table and blew it out, darkening the room, and he coiled himself up and fell asleep.