Imagine how much more pretentious this tale’d seem if I added epigraphs!

-Taava, Bard of Great Renown and Grace

Renna and Sey were gone, Shyll was cowed into being a merely gigantic bitch, and Taava was picking up the slack. Sure, wandering the world playing in taverns and stabbing bandits (mostly, usually) in the neck had its appeal, but honest, hard work?

It sucked, hard.

Felt great after, but during. Yeah, no.

Unfortunately, Nelys was mopey and homesick and also very busy helping to shore up the town defenses and break ground on the jangly-horned Church girl’s naïve fantasy. Joisse had come back to an apologetic note from her two moms and was somewhere around the castle or city, enjoying freedom from parental oversight.

Which, of course, left Taava to do the work Renna and Sey had left her. It wasn’t much—Razz was competent and a busybody—but it was something. Mostly paperwork, a little housekeeping.

Just enough to slam the door on a quiet day off.

The paperwork was just sorting what should be a priority and what could wait. And what could get thrown out entirely. Unfortunately, today’s stack was larger than usual—probably because the big blue demon with the ego problem had drawn a lot of attention. Most of it was hopefully anti-demon bullshit, and she could just toss that at Razz to deal with.

And so Taava sat at the unused desk in a drafty office staring at a stack of papers tall as her leg was thick, shivering in the early morning cold and dreading the task ahead of her. Flicking her tail in annoyance, she got up, walked over to the fireplace, and…

No logs.

More than that, no flint.

“Bet she did that on purpose,” Taava cursed. The logs were her fault, but the fire-starter should’ve been Shyll.

Which meant going to find her and therefore where she’d hidden it. Logs were second, and when the fire’d made the room nice and not so cold she could see her breath, Taava could get to work.

Twirling on her heel, she stalked out and down the hallway towards Shyll’s room. When she got there, she banged twice, hard.

“Where’s the damn fire-starter? Ya want me ta freeze my tits and tail off?” Inside the room, Taava heard the rustle of bedsheets, cursing, and footsteps.

A moment later, Shyll yanked the door open. “What fire-starter? And you can’t freeze off tits you don’t have.”

“Aw right, sorry, lemme just magic ‘em bigger.” Taava looked pointedly down at Shylll’s bust. “Office fire starter. Flint, ‘bout this big?” The kazzel indicated with her hands in a mockingly exaggerated gesture.

Shyll blinked. “Oh. Shit, forgot that one. Not like those two lovebirds ever use that place.”

Taava rolled her eyes. “Yeah, well if ya could fly to your office, would ya or would ya walk through a freezin’ ass castle.” Then it hit her. “Wait, ya actually didn’t mean it as a prank?”

Shyll snorted. “Please. I’ve got more creativity than pulling the same stunt twice.”

Taava thought back to last week and shrugged. “Coulda fooled me.”

Instead of a barb, Shyll just sighed. “Not up to this right now.”

The kazzel tilted her head. “Not up for gettin’ a verbal beatdown?”

“As if. No, just thinking.”

“Doesn’t suit you.”

“Cut. It. Out.” Shyll took a half-step out the door, short height and night shift undermining the intimidation factor.

Taava wound up a “make me” but at the glow in Shyll’s eyes she shut up and changed tack. “What’s up then?”

Shyll sighed. “Nothin’ that concerns you.”

“Renna left me in charge of administration in the castle, if it’s important—”

Shyll blinked. “You’re fucking joking.”

“Nope.”

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“But—you’re an ass!”

“Her ass.”

“No way. Hers is nice.”

“Thought you weren’t up for—”

“Fuck off.”

“Gladly.” Taava turned.

“Wait!” Shyll half stumbled out of the doorway.

She paused. “Fuckin’—what?”

“Truce?”

Taava blinked. “What’s the catch?”

“No catch.”

“No way.”

Shyll sighed. “You gonna take it, or you gonna make me spill?”

Spill, Taava thought. Then she thought back to Renna’s trust in her without needing to know Taava’s past. Shyll was a colossal bitch, but she’d helped out more than she’d hurt—barely. But she’d fought like a demon during the last attack…

“Fine. Truce. Until when?”

Shyll shrugged. “’Till Renna and Sey get back?”

“Deal.”

Taava turned back and started to walk away. It’d be a long cold walk to the storage room, so Shyll’d better not’ve been lying. When she looked over her shoulder, she saw Shyll looking at her with a confused, surprised expression, and she smirked. That got the demon in lupael guise to snap out of it and duck back inside her room.

Wonder how long this’ll really last?

On the way, when she was crossing above the main foyer, Taava saw Joisse. The young demon was standing near the door, fiddling with the buttons on her coat. It’d been made specially for her—and it didn’t look half bad despite being cobbled together from loose ends.

Unlike when Joisse usually went out, she wasn’t in her human guise. Almost forgot how tall she is.

“Hey kiddo, what’s up?”

Joisse startled, and Taava flinched at how fast she moved. Demons… “Oh! Hi, Taava. Just… going to meet some friends.”

Taava nodded. “Stay safe then! Renna’ll blow up a mountain if ya get hurt—maybe two.”

Joisse blinked, then snorted, and when she looked up Taava noticed her eyes were wet. “She’d better not. I’ll be fine anyway, it’s not like…”

Grabbing the railing, Taava kicked up and over, dropping to the lower floor and landing in a roll. When Joisse gave her an incredulous look, the kazzel said in a low voice, “Beats shoutin’, yeah?”

“Uh, yeah, I guess.”

“Look, you’re nervous ‘cause they’re fragile humans, lupaels, whatever, right?”

Slowly, Joisse nodded.

“Do ya break handles when ya use doors? Tear your clothes puttin’ ‘em on? Accidentally blow holes in the castle’s walls?”

“I don’t, but I’m nervous about if I get carried away and forget, or I get startled… or if they’re scared of me.” She said the last part so low that Taava could barely hear it.

“Chin up, kiddo. If they can’t handle it, you wouldn’t want ‘em as friends anyway.”

“That’s not really fair.”

Taava huffed. “Look, I ain’t your moms, okay? I’m not so good at this sappy bullshit. Just go there, don’t break ‘em and show ‘em you’re sweet as sugar and a damn good cheat at cards. You’re basically an adult anyway—it’s not like you and your friends are kids or anything, right?”

Joisse nodded. “Right. We were, uh, going to go hunting.”

“So ya wanted ta try your magic, and that meant showin’ off yer horns and what not?”

She nodded again.

“Don’t ya think they’ll just think it’s a good thing? It’s not like you’re gonna give ‘em friendly fire.”

The young wrath demon heaved a sigh, all four shoulders slumping. “I don’t know.”

“Tell them this, not me.”

“Taava?”

The kazzel shrugged and pointed right between her own ears. “Seems like somethin’ Renna’d say. Gettin’ stuck in your head and all that, right? They’re your friends—just tell ‘em all this.”

Joisse gulped. “Yeah… yeah, I think I can do that.”

“Great!”

Joisse straightened up to her full height and took two steps before turning around.

“Ya gonna thank me?”

She giggled. “Thanks, Taava.”

“No problem, kiddo.” Taava smiled, ear-to-ear. “First one’s free.” She watched Joisse go, and then headed for the stairs.

Alright. Negotiated a truce, calmed down a wrath demon—what can’t I do?

Spring in her step, Taava made it to the storeroom, only to bump into Brynna on the way out.

“Need somethin’?”

The demonic lupael paused as if caught doing something she shouldn’t be—a pose Taava was intimately familiar with. It endeared her to the normally serious young woman.

“Do… do you know where Zarenna keeps her horn polish?”

Taava cocked her head. “Thought you wanted ta get rid a those?”

“They’ve grown on me.”

Taava snickered.

“What? Do they look that bad?”

“No it’s just—” She looked into innocent eyes free of bad pun humor and shook her head “—nothin’. It’s nothin’. Anyway, Renna keeps all that stuff in her and Sey’s room.”

“Oh.” Brynna stood frozen.

“I can go get it for ya, if ya want.”

“…Yes please.”

Taava looked at Brynna’s horns. They were like not quite a hand length long, smooth, and a lot more vertically-oriented than Renna or her daughter’s. Didn’t look bad, but what’d she know? “Could ya do me a favor though?”

“Sure!”

“Grab four logs—split chunks—and bring ‘em back here. I’ve got a fire ta make.”

Brynna nodded, and Taava told her where the closest wood pile was. As the lupael ran off, she couldn’t hold in a laughing fit. Renna’s got some special kinda “corruption” all right.

Taava snuck up to Renna and Sey’s room, opened it with the key she’d been given after the fifth time she’d picked the lock, and stepped three times on the off-color tile. The echoes of a lingering spell flared, then dimmed.

With deft hands, she snatched a small pot from Renna’s vanity and got out before the spell rearmed. Sey didn’t quite have the city-ending power of Zarenna, but she could make one nasty intruder-shredding spell.

Polish in hand, Taava dipped through side halls to avoid any wandering people who could accost her. Sure, she was putting off paperwork, but doing that wouldn’t make it less work later. When she got back, Brynna was standing outside the storeroom with an armful of firewood. Her tail started wagging when she saw Taava returning.

Wordlessly, she took the horn polish in one hand and dumped the logs into Taava’s arms with the other, causing the kazzel to let out an “oof.”

“Sorry, Taava.”

“S’fine. I got muscles—just don’t cheat ‘em.”

Brynna nodded. “I’ve been keeping up with my workouts—so I know what you mean.”

The silence stretched awkwardly as Brynna stood in the direction Taava wanted to go, staring at the pot. “Ya know what to do with that?”

Brynna’s ears twitched. “I’ll figure it out.”

“Great!” Taava sidestepped around her and took off down the hallway.

Behind her, she heard Brynna whisper, “It can’t be that hard to figure out, right?”

For once, Taava made it to her destination without being accosted. She dumped the logs into the fireplace, cut some bark off with one claw for tinder, and flicked the fire-starter. The spark came out pink, and the fire caught quickly. Along with the flames came an overpowering stench of wet cat.

“Shyll!”