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  “We need a secret base!”

Herold and Birim looked at Tia confused. She had just arrived and without any other words, she dropped this bomb, proudly grinning.

  “Erm, is everything alright with you?”, asked Herold concerned. “Hu? Why, of course.”, answered Tia tilting her head a little.

  “Well, I mean because of yesterday. And your eyes are… “, trailed Herold off. He glanced at Tia's face with a worried expression.

  “I don’t get what you mean. Doesn’t matter anyway. This is more important.”, waved Tia.

  “No, I mean you were quite downhearted yesterday and your eyes a red. Did you cry that much?”, asked Herold cautious.

Tia’s tail started to swing around in a hectic uncontrolled manner and a dark smile spread on her face. She hadn’t cried because of something stupid like being downhearted.

Being remembered the reason, she pressed her hands against her butt. Her mother had only clapped her once and it didn’t even hurt but it was enough for her to start crying. Her mother lectured her for hours, claiming that she did something horrendously dangerous. She couldn’t understand. She only showed a small flame. True it could hurt and she had intended to use it against the fake heroes, but her mother didn’t know that. At least she thought that. Her mother went on and on. That even a cigarette could burn down whole city's. That burns would never really heal and would hurt for the rest of the life. That no matter what anyone said, a fire couldn’t be controlled and so on.

But Tia knew that she could control it, so she couldn’t understand. She did not want to understand. She was the demon lord after all. She had full control of her magic.

She had told her mother that. And that was when she had received the clap on her butt. The look on her mother's face was more terrifying than anything she had ever seen. And then the lecture went on. Her father and brother had fled outside so there was nobody that could have taken her side. But Tia doubted that even if they were there that they would have. After all, nobody went against her mother. Nobody wanted to receive her wrath. That was only natural for a being on the same level as a god.

Tia reached out to Herold with her grimace and put her hand on his shoulder. Slowly she increased the pressure and put her thumb between the shoulder plate and the ribcage. Birim made a strange sound and escaped behind a small commode.

  “I don’t know what you are talking about.”, said Tia lighthearted. Her smile went wider and wider. Herold gasped. “You sure that you didn’t have a weird dream?”

Panic flickered in Herold's eyes. He tried to free himself from Tia's grip but he couldn’t put any strength in his body. “Yes yes, I dreamed it.”, he cried hastily, nodding his head with his tail between his legs.

Tia let go from Herold, her face turning into a genuine smile. “I thought so.”

She cleared her throat, before putting on an excited face.

  “We need a secret base.” Herold who had rubbed his shoulder with a pained face froze, his face showing only disbelief. After a few seconds of silence, he sighed.

  “Well, that much is obvious, isn’t it? Every hero needs a hidden base!” Tia narrowed her eyes, ears twitching. “We are no heroes!” “Oh yeah, right. So, do you have an idea where?”, waved Herold not caring for her statement. “Not yet. I thought we should look for one this afternoon.” “Sounds great. Let's do that!” Herold raised his fist gleefully.

  “I, I, don’t thi, think we should do tha, that.”, said a voice behind the commode. Brown hair and worried green eyes were everything that reached out from behind it.

Tia was not surprised by Birim’s answerer and decided to ignore him. But Herold gazed at Birim’s head in wonder.

  “Why not?”

  “We won’t be a, allowed to a, anyway. A, also I gu, guess T, T, T, Tia wa, wants t, to u, use m, m, magic the, there. W, We pomised to s, stop he, her.” With each word Birim was saying, he got quieter and quieter until only a small, barely audible whisper escaped his mouth. Annoyed Tia raised a brow. “Hu, is that so?” But Herold shrugged his shoulders.

  “I did not promise anything.” Birim’s eyes widened and his head popped out of his hiding place. Confused Tia tilted her head. This didn’t fit in Tia's image of Herold and Birim didn’t seem to lie either. She never had thought that Herold would contradict Birim.

  “I just moved my head. It had nothing to do with anything Tia's mom said. But don’t you want to learn magic too?” Tia's impression on Herold skyrocketed. This was how a general should act. She was deeply impressed that he didn’t try to push his goody-two-shoes ideal and rather put his desire to learn magic first. “You are completely right Herold. That was the perfect answer for one of the great heavenly generals. Keep it up and you will become a true one in the near future.” She glared at Birim. “You have to keep those puny thoughts out of your head. How can you be more than a goon if you let yourself overwhelmed by such idiocy?” said Tia with a snide voice. Birim jerked and vanished behind the commode again.

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  “Well, it is okay. No harm was done, right? Let's just ask our parents to play outside later and that's that.”, interjected Herold with a wry smile.

For the rest of kindergarten, they sat together and discussed what an ideal hideout should have while building it with building bricks. Herold pitched ideas like an underground base with elevators and hydraulic ramps for their cars and jets.

  “That's genius”, exclaimed Tia with sparkling eyes. She was again impressed by Herold. He knew what a good secret base needed. “And we need a weapon system to fend of intruders.”, said Tia. “Of course. The first level should be nothing but traps.” Herold laid some bricks at random into the building. “B, But how do we get I, in then?”, asked Birim. He didn’t say much and had not put a single brick into the model for their base. “We know where they are. Obviously!”, sneered Tia. “Well, it is a good question. We have to make it clear, not that we get caught in it.”, defended Herold him. “Is that so?”, said Tia with detached eyes. Herold had earned himself a few good points today but his bad tendencies were long from gone. She sighed mentally. She could not understand why Herold always protected Birim. He should know that it had no merit whatsoever. On the contrary, this would only hurt Birim in the long run if he didn’t learn to fend for himself.

  “We should also include a big meeting hall where we can discuss our strategies. Of course, since you are the demon lord you get the seat at the top.”, said Herald smiling. “Well of course”, grinned Tia, forgetting her thoughts.

They played around until Herold's mother came. “I’m sorry to interrupt you playing but we have to go now.”, she said with a gentle tone. “Already?” Herold gazed dejected at his mother. “Well, it is time. You can play tomorrow again.” Tia stubbed Herold with her elbow. “Oh right. Mom can we play later outside?” Herold's eyes were sparkling. His mother made a thoughtful face. “Alone? You are just four, you know.” “We are already four.”, threw Tia in. “Please, mom.”, begged Herold. His mother thought again for a few seconds. “Let me first ask what Cirit and Goram say. I can’t decide for all of you.”, she finally answered. Tia and Herold glanced at each other with big smiles. One parent gave already kind of an agreement.

Tia thought that her mother would also probably allow it. True she had made her angry a few times in the last few days, but her mother wasn’t so shallow to hold a grudge. She gave a verdict and that was that. At least she hoped so. Trotting behind Herold's mother, they reached the group of parents. Herold's mother called out to Tia's mother and Birim’s father. “Those kids asked if they can play outside today. I am not so sure but what do you think?” “Why not?”, answered Cirit without hesitation. “Not that they could wander too far off anyway.” “Yeah, I’m with Cirit.”, said Birim’s father. “Should do them good to play outside. There are a lot of eyes in the sector, so I doubt they could do much mayhem.” He winked at his son. Tia had never played outside. But she had often seen in the Television how old Lady's would just stare out of their windows for the whole day, so an image of thousands of grandmas formed in her head who would constantly surveillance the streets. But they did nothing bad so she didn’t care. At least not until they found a base away from everyone's gazes.

  “Yes thank you.” Tia jumped happily and hugged her mother. She knew she could count on her. She was harsh but fair. “Then where do we want to meet?”, asked Herold grinning from ear to ear. Tia had to take a step away from Herold because his tail swung wildly around. It was hitting her and earning him a displeased look from her. She knew from her brother, who had a similar tail, that it meant that he was happy. But this didn’t change the fact that he didn’t have to worry about personal space. She sighed mentally at how much she had to teach him. “How about the park? It is in the center and the playground is in it.”, suggested Tia's mother. “Ah, I know where that is.”, said Herold. But Tia tilted her head. “I don’t know where that is.” Now Tia's mother looked confused. “Didn’t we go there a few times? You should know right?” “We never went there. I only played in the house or the garden.” A startled expression overwhelmed her mothers face. “Right. That was with Tacat. I never went with you because of work. But I thought your father or brother had brought you there at least.” “But papa was working, too, and Tacat was in school or away with his friends.” “Ah don’t worry Cirit. I was also just a few times with Herold there. It is hard to get out much when everyone is working.”, said Herold's mother with a warm voice.

  “That's right. We are lucky enough to get a vacation for the orientation. It is a real blessing that the Kindergarten exists. Would of course be better if they could take the children earlier but I guess this is the earliest that's possible.”, grumbled Birim’s father. “You are right. But still, as soon as they are out of their diapers it gets back to work. You can’t believe how often I came home to see the whole house torn apart.”, laughed Cirit. “Tell me about it. Herold transformed the living room into the ocean just last week. We had to dry all the furnishing with the help of a company specialized in fire magic over several days.”, giggled his mother. “Haha. Birim would often build a castle with everything that was not nailed to the wall.”, chuckled his father. Tia got bright purple. Herold too and Birim took the color of yellowish-green. “M, mama don’t tell them!” “That was an accident. The bucket fell over on its own.” Both Tia and Herold shouted in embarrassment pulling on their mother's clothes to make them stop. Birim got really small starring at the ground.