A Dreamer Is one Who Can Only Find His Way By Moonlight

This cheerful Umicorm gentleman is Nao Lletal (pronounced Now Yet-all). His fine, straight hair is silver, fading to black at the roots, and is worn in a handsome, exotic style that requires daily maintenance and a personal hairdresser. He has full lips and is clean-shaven, though he does have well-trimmed sideburns. His skin is a dark gray; the fur at his wrists and ankles, and on his tail, is gray, fading to an iridescent opal; his tail is very long and slender, and the fur starts about three-quarters of the way down, getting progressively longer as it nears the tip. He has narrow, smoke-gray eyes that are rather flat and non-reflective. He has a graceful build, with thin shoulders and hips, and he's very toned and muscular for his size; he is five feet, nine inches tall, and weighs about one hundred and fifty pounds. His hooves are small, and the left one has a deep crack in one side; he also has very large hands with long, graceful fingers and well-manicured nails. His horn is very long and thin, and does not spiral; the top of his horn is black, and the bottom is silver. His wardrobe is elaborate and dignified, if a little risque, and is made up of mostly pastel-coloured silks.
He is a Daymare, and he delivers daydreams to people when they are distracted; he was formerly a Nightmare, which is a thankless job, but he was forced to resign from his position when his hoof injury interfered with his swiftness and he was no longer able to make a quick getaway once the nightmare was delivered.
His position as a Daymare, and formerly as a Nightmare, gives him standing as a Umicorm Lord. He owns a large estate with a mansion and many gardens. He also has a harem, though it is considerably smaller than those of other Lords of his rank; it only contains three Haremies, two males and one female.
He is very kind and thoughtful, and very well-suited to his new job. He is excessively generous towards his Haremies and staff, and they are fiercely loyal to him.

Harley has no last name. He is a small Umicorm orphan, seemingly a Clydesdale variation, who was handed over to a slave market when he reached maturity, advertised as a pure, or a virgin.
He has sandy colored hair and skin with a star and strip marking on his forehead. He has a very feminine face with large innocent brown eyes and a clean shaven chin. His hair isn't short, but it isn't necessarily long either, being a length somewhere in between and held out of his face in a ponytail. He has small hands and large cloven hooves, common within the Clydesdale breed, with large fluffy fur fading to white around his ankles and wrists. He stands at just under five feet tall and weighs approximately a hundred pounds, having a very slight build with narrow shoulders and hips. His tail is long and slender with long fluffy fur starting from about three fourths of the way up and is just long enough to trouble him when walking. He has a single horn in the center of his forehead which is white and has a very slight spiral to it.
He is very shy and unsure of himself, having been pushed around and bullied when he was at the orphanage.

Harley fidgeted nervously on the small stool he had been ordered to sit on. He'd only been at the market for a week, most of which he'd spent in the back while they examined him and made sure he was healthy, and this was the first day he had been put out for sale with the others.
It wasn't a fancy high end slave dealer where the concubines lounged on silken furniture and gazed up at the potential buyers with lustful eyes, but it wasn't a complete dirt pile where the concubines were treated like property and showed signs of abuse. It was a simple place in between. All the Concubines wore collars, colored according to their buy status, and ranged from leaning against a wall to sitting quietly on the floor. Harley was the only one with a stool, and the only one with a white collar.
He fidgeted again and kept his gaze on his lap as he felt the eyes of the other concubines on him again. He was nervous and scared by their whispers of 'He won't be here long' and 'I almost feel sorry for him'. His ears laid down as low as they would go as he heard the door creak open and he ducked his head farther, afraid to look up at the potential customer as he was sure all the others were doing.

Nao had been browsing the markets for a few hours, as was his custom on Saturdays; it was rare that he ever bought a concubine, as evidenced by his meager harem, but he still very much enjoyed looking. He was of a kind and gentle nature, and he was drawn to things of beauty. He had just come from the market in which he'd bought all three members of his harem, and the owner of the market, Minh, had pointed him in the direction of one of the middle-class markets. "There's something there that will pique your interest, I think, Nao," he'd said.

The Daymare stepped up to the entrance to the rather plain market hesitantly. It wasn't his custom, as a Lord, to go into such common places, but he knew Minh well enough to know that he wouldn't provide false information. He just hoped he wasn't too late to see what Minh had had in mind.

As Nao entered the market every concubine in the room turned to stare at him in wonder; likely they'd never seen such a wealthy man in there before. Nearly every eye was trained directly on him, and he could see how badly they desired to be purchased by a wealthy Lord; he, however, was not interested in such concubines. The one that caught his attention was the only one who had yet to even look at him, the one with the pure white collar around his neck.

A virgin, he thought in surprise, and in such a place as this! I wonder how much they're asking for him. In a higher-class market, he would sell for millions of pounds of gold. But, then again, a higher-class market sees far more wealthy patrons; they can afford to ask such a price. But here... I wonder.

Curious, he approached the boy on the stool and gently reached to tilt the concubine's face up. He smiled kindly into the brown eyes that stared at him out of the delicate, feminine face and smoothed the boy's sand-colored hair gently. "Hello, child. I am Nao. May I ask what your name is?"

Harley's face flushed deeply when he felt his head being tilted up. He gulped loudly. "Hah-Harley" He stammered softly as he fidgeted again. He wanted desperately to look away, but when he was put out this morning the owner had told him that he wasn't to pull away or protest if a customer touched him or requested him to do something.

The owner of the market stepped over, a brown-haired Umicorm with short hair and black hooves and a small grey horn. "Can I help you your lordship? I see you have taken an interest in our newest addition, but could I direct your attention to some of my others?"

Nao glanced briefly at the owner before turning his face away. "I'm not interested in any of the others, only Harley, here. The others are only looking for someone to spoil them, and that interests me not at all," he said, dismissively. "How much are you asking for him?" As he spoke he continued to look Harley over thoroughly, checking for any signs of injury or illness that he would have to deal with upon purchase.

It didn't take him long to discern that the boy was in near-perfect condition, and that was essentially the deal-maker. He knew that, whatever price the owner might pitch him, he was going to leave there with the boy. He would haggle, of course, but he knew that he would buy Harley at the lowest price he could convince the owner to take; there was no walking away from a deal like that. He was sure that Harley would be happy in his harem.

The owner pursed his lips slightly. "Well, normally we decide price according to the collar color and weight of the concubine, but this is the first time I've ever gotten my hands on a virgin, so..." He paused, considering the lord's status.

Harley's lips began to quiver. All this talk of buying and selling had him nervous and scared. The owner had of course told him what he was being sold for, in excruciating detail, and he didn't want to be bought.

"I'll sell him for five times what we sell the blue colors." The owner finally stated. "That's fifty pounds of silver plus five times his weight in gold."

"Five times his weight, plus fifty silver..."

Nao did the math in his head, subtracting the price from what he would pay in the higher markets, and could hardly suppress a smile. It wasn't even necessary to haggle over this; he was practically robbing the man. He wasn't complaining, though. He made a face as though he were thinking very hard about his decision, then sighed heavily for effect. "...You have a deal, my good sir. Five times his weight in gold, plus fifty pounds of silver."

~~~~~
Nao purchased his new concubine on the spot, paying the fifty silver down out of what he had on him, and making arrangements for his accountant to stop by later that afternoon. As soon as the paperwork was completed Nao approached Harley again, smiling. "Alright, little one, everything has been taken care of. Now, let us go home and get you situated. Perhaps later Nanama and I will take you shopping for some new clothes."

Harley gulped, tugging the hem of his plain brown shirt self-consciously. He knew he was dressed plainly compared to his new master. That one little word alone was going to take a while to get used to. He stood slowly, keeping his eyes on the floor as the owner came back over and attached a matching leash to his collar and handed it to Nao.

"Pleasure doing business with you your lordship." he smiled.

Harley made a small, soft whimper without realising it. He had been thinking about what this was going to mean for him. He could feel the envy radiating off the other concubines.

Nao led the boy out of the market without another word.

~~~~~
As soon as they were in a more respectable-looking neighborhood, Nao stopped and turned to face Harley. "Ahh, that's better. I don't like going into the lower-class areas. Now, let's see what I can do about this..." he said, gently detaching the collar from Harley's neck. He tossed it aside carelessly, leaving it laying in the street, and took the boy's hand in his own, considerably larger, one. "We certainly don't need that, now do we?"

Harley ducked his head, his ears flattening again and his tail curling around his legs. He didn't respond, afraid to offend the lord; his master. He was now this man's property, and would be treated as such; for all Harley knew, he could beat him if he felt the need. He'd heard a few of the other concubines talk of abusive masters. It did feel good to have the collar off, however, it had been starting to chafe his neck.

Nao tilted his head to the side, some of his long, silver hair falling over his shoulder. "You needn't be afraid of me, Harley. I'm not going to hurt you; I take good care of my Haremies." He gently grabbed Harley by his arm, just above the elbow, and began to lead him away. "Lets get you home so you can meet the rest of the 'family.' "

~~~~~
It didn't take the two of them very long to reach the Lletal estate, and Nao made a point of taking the back way up to the mansion so that he could show Harley the gardens. When they reached the house, Nao took him straight to the Haremie quarters, which were large and lavishly decorated, to meet the rest of their little family.

Nanama, a light brown Umicorm of the small and fluffy variety, was napping on a couch with her curls all scrunched up around her face; Ezazi-Danxo, a black Umicorm with silver speckles and a long tail, was playing with a kitten in the middle of the room; Micajah, a cream colored Umicorm who was the oldest of the three and also Nao's first Haremie, was lounging lazily across a chair, reading and looked up when they entered the room.

"Ah! A new friend for us, Nao?" At this, Nanama woke up and Ezazi put his kitten down; both of them ran over in excitement.

"Hi there, I'm Nanama! And this is Ezazi-Danxo and Micajah!" she said, pointing to the boys as she introduced them.

Micajah got up from his chair and calmly walked over to bow to the new arrival. "Welcome home," he said, simply.

Harley shifted nervously and clutched the hem of his shirt as his large hooves clicked together. His bottom lip quivered and tears welled up in his eyes at Micajah's words. He kept his head down as he had the entire way here. He was scared to let them see his tears and he bit his lip to try and stop himself from crying, but a sniffle slipped out.
He didn't want to be part of a harem. He didn't want to be owned. He wished that he hadn't been abandoned when he was a baby. His shoulders quivered gently.

"H-hey! Hey, hey, hey!" Ezazi said, putting his arms around Harley's shoulders. "Don't cry! You'll be happy here! Nao is a very nice person!"

"What's your name, little guy?" Nanama asked, leaning down to look at him more closely.

Micajah shooed the two away from him and over to one of the couches, telling them to sit still. "You make him anxious to act like that. He need time to get used to us. He probably scared. You not tell he new to this, eh? You be still, give him time; he come around soon enough."

Nao put an arm around Micajah's waist and nuzzled his shoulder affectionately, silently praising him for being so good and observant. "Thank you, Micajah. I know Harley will be in good hands with you around." He smiled brightly. "You're so reliable, Micah." Micajah blushed and leaned down to kiss Nao's cheek.

Harley sniffled again and raised a hand to rub at his eyes, trying to wipe away his tears, but they came back just as fast as he could wipe them away. His shoulders started to actually shake as he struggled to hold back his tears. He was so scared, he was being bombarded with so many new things at once that he was just overwhelmed. First being sold from the orphanage, then being bought (and so soon after being put on the market!) and now others being so nice to him, concubines that were also owned by his new master. He let out what sounded like a strangled sob/hiccup as his tail wound tightly around his legs.

Nao was unsure of what to do; he couldn't leave the boy in such a state, but he was afraid that Harley would be frightened if he tried to comfort him. He finally decided to choose the lesser of two evils and hugged the crying boy to his chest. "Hush, little one. It's alright, you're safe here."

He had to wonder just what had happened to the boy to make him so nervous; he didn't seem to have been beaten or abused, and he seemed to be in good health. Though he didn't know the reason, Nao was determined to get Harley out of his shell; he would just have to take it slowly.

"Micajah, I'm going to take Harley shopping later. Would you accompany us?"

"Me, Nao? You are sure you do not want take Nanama?"

"Not this time. I think Nana is a little to much for him right now."

"...Very well then."

Harley cried into Nao's chest, holding the fabric of his shirt as he did so. The crying spell lasted a good ten minutes, the small Umicorm reduced to soft hiccups afterwards, but he didn't move away from Nao's embrace. He felt strangely comforted and safe in his arms, and it was a completely new feeling to him. As far back as he could remember, no one had ever held him like this, not even the nuns at the orphanage when he was little.

Nao held tightly to the boy while he cried, tenderly stroking his hair and whispering comforting things to him, assuring him he was safe; after a few minuter, he curled his tail lovingly around Harley's waist. He was already terribly fond of the sweet little thing, and wanted desperately for the boy to be happy with him. He continued to hold Harley even after he'd stopped crying, smiling at the feel of the boy's fists curled into his shirt. He's so terribly precious...

The other Haremies watched in silence, Micajah having joined the other two on the couch, admiring their master for his kindness and consideration. They knew all too well how lucky they were to have such a kind Lord; many Haremies had horrible masters who would beat them or withhold their food. Even when Nao was angry with them he treated them well; in all honesty, he treated them more like family than Haremies.

Harley peeked up at Nao shyly, his eyes still bright from crying. "S-sorry" He whispered, his face flushing. The front of Nao's shirt was soaked with Harley's tears, and he had probably ruined it. He carefully let go and ducked his head back down, thoroughly embarrassed with himself for being unable to control himself. He bit his lip, waiting to be chastised.

"My dear," Nao said, "you haven't a thing to be sorry for. And don't hide your face from me like that. I'm not going to hit you." He tilted Harley's face back up to him and smiled, touching their horns together lightly.

Harley blushed darkly at the intimate action, looking up at Nao through his lashes. "Y-You're not?" He whispered "B-but I ruined y-your shirt..." He sniffled again, fidgeting and tugging at the hem of his own shirt again.
Nao was nothing like how he expected a umicorm lord to act or treat a lowly Haremie like himself. Already he made him feel so much better about his new position, and safer than he ever had at the orphanage.

"Don't be silly, Harley; I have plenty of shirts, but only four Haremies. I would never hurt any of you over something so easily replaceable as a shirt," he chuckled, rubbing his horn against Harley's affectionately.

Micajah rolled his eyes and snorted softly. "You say that like you hurt us ever over anything. You never hurt anyone, Nao. You too good for own good, sometimes."

Harley blushed even darker and pulled his face back down to hide behind his hands. He made a small, cute noise of distress as his tail wound itself tightly around his legs. No one had ever touched Harley's horn like that and it startled him (not that is didn't feel nice). It was easy enough to tell that he had been devoid of the social contact that the other Haremies had, even most other Virgins were less skittish than the shy little Clydesdale Umicorm.

Nao chuckled softly and leaned in to nuzzle Harley's horn with his cheek, and kissed him on the top of the head. "You needn't be so shy, my dear Harley. ...would you like to go shopping now, Harley, and get some pretty new clothes? I'll buy you whatever you would like. Nothing is too good for my Haremies."

Harley peeked up at Nao from between his fingers. "B-but I have clothes" he mumbled. "W-why would you want to buy me more clothes? Th-the man that sold me said I would only need wh-what I have on..."