Vur frowned. On the floor of his cave, in the spot he claimed as his bed, there was a small silver dragon lying on its back, its wings and limbs splayed to the sides. Soft snores rang out of its mouth, and its tail curled and uncurled with every one of its breaths. Vur scratched his chin and furrowed his brow. Grimmy had taught him the dragons’ code of honor long ago, but there was nothing in it on how to deal with little dragons stealing his bed. However, there was a clause that had to do with dragons ignoring another’s dibs. Vur nodded to himself and walked over to the sleeping dragon. Although the dragon was still practically a baby, it was still larger than Vur, but that didn’t matter to him. Another pair of arms sprouted out from his armpits, and he squatted next to the dragon, placing all four of his hands on its side. With a grunt, he lifted the silver dragon and heaved it, tossing it out of his cave. There was a loud thumping sound followed by a sharp yelp.
The silver dragon, Ramon, shook his head before blinking several times, clearing away the fog in his mind. He was having such a nice dream about swimming through a river of lava, but it had suddenly turned into a nightmare when he was swept off a lavafall and couldn’t move his wings. Ramon wiped at his face with his front paws before rolling onto his belly. He stood up and examined his surroundings. It took him less than a second to realize what had happened. “Vur! You threw me again!”
Vur snorted. “What did I tell you about sleeping on my bed?”
Ramon stomped his way back into Vur’s cave. “You told me not to do it.”
Vur nodded. “That’s right, so why did you do it?”
“Because it’s the comfiest spot in the whole valley!” Ramon said, his head bobbing up and down. “And Papa told me it’s okay to do things I’m not allowed to do as long as no one finds out.”
“I found out.”
“Well, you weren’t supposed to.” Ramon pouted. “Mama said you were on a trip with Tafel. How come you’re back so soon? Where’s Tafel? Did she bring me anything good to eat?”
Vur scratched his head. “Tafel got a message from Minerva, so she went to the eastern continent.”
“Why didn’t you go with her?” Ramon asked, tilting his head to the side.
“She said I’ve been doing a lot and deserve a break,” Vur said and puffed his chest out. “She wanted me to take a nap while she dealt with her thing.”
“Ramon, are you there?” A small voice echoed through the cave, and a shadow fell over the wall behind Vur as a black dragon’s head appeared at the entrance. “Mommy says it’s time to eat.”
Ramon’s eyes lit up. “Time to eat? What are we eating?” He whirled around and dashed out of the cave, leaving Vur all alone. Vur shrugged and yawned, stretching his arms out over his head. It wasn’t often he could sleep for long periods at a time; Tafel preferred following a human sleep schedule and that involved waking up and falling asleep every day. It was tiring having to get out of bed seven days a week. Two times a week was a much more reasonable number.
***
Tafel took in a deep breath. She was standing on the edge of a cliff, and on the horizon, the forest where Minerva lived was in sight. With a simple teleportation spell, she could traverse the distance in less than a second, but she chose not to. The demon had been given a simple mission of keeping watch over two phoenixes, Susan and Emile. It was a simple mission, but it was by no means easy. When she came back from the other world that Prika had gone to in search of a mate, the two phoenix siblings were nowhere to be found. Vur’s grandpa said he’d keep a watch over them, but the green dragon was sound asleep when Tafel went to find him.
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Tafel took in a deep breath. It wasn’t like she hadn’t gone searching for Susan and Emile, but the world was so vast, and even with all of Tafel’s connections saying they’d keep an eye out, there weren’t any traces of the two birds. It was almost like they vanished off the face of the planet. Perhaps someone had asked Minerva if she knew where her children were and tipped her off to the fact they were missing. A silver light came out of Tafel’s horns, and she vanished from the cliff. Delaying would only make her anxiety worse; it was better to come clean and see if Minerva had any solutions to finding Susan and Emile.
Tafel reappeared in the middle of the forest, and almost instantly, a burning aura surged upwards above the treetops like a tsunami. Flames appeared in front of the demon, and a phoenix materialized in the space before her. Before Tafel could say anything, the phoenix’s beak moved over her head and pecked downwards, causing her eyes to widen. She knew she was in trouble, but she didn’t expect to be attacked before words were even spoken!
However, the pain she had been expecting didn’t come. The phoenix’s beak combed through her hair, straightening a few loose strands while also removing a strand of cloth. “Uh….”
“Hold still,” Minerva said through her beak full of hair. “Do you not preen yourself? Why do you look like such a mess?”
Tafel stood in place, not daring to move as she let the phoenix’s dangerously sharp beak get as close to her body as it wanted. She had traveled across an ocean and wide swaths of lands—most of which were skipped through teleportation—so it was understandable her hair was a bit messy.
A few minutes later, Minerva stopped preening Tafel and took a step back to observe her handiwork. With a nod, the phoenix settled down, ruffling her feathers and adjusting her wings into a more comfortable position. She glanced around, her head shifting to the sides ever so slightly. “Where are Susan and Emile? Did they not come with you?”
“They’re….” Tafel swallowed down the words she was about to say. After seeing the phoenix’s sharp claws and beak, she reevaluated her idea of coming clean. Maybe if Vur were here to protect her, she’d do it. As for why she had sent Vur away, Mr. Skelly had pointed out something very important. Every time she adventured with Vur, Vur always ended up with more benefits! If she wanted to become stronger than him, then she’d have to go off on her own and catch up to him as he slept. Tafel cleared her throat. “They’re with Vur.”
Minerva blinked. “And where’s Vur? You didn’t bring him with you? Don’t the two of you do everything together? I actually called you here because I thought you’d bring him….”
Tafel’s expression darkened. Was she Vur’s manager or something? If Minerva wanted to speak with Vur, she should’ve addressed the letter to him instead! “Vur’s sleeping,” Tafel said. “What did you need?”
“Well, a distant relative contacted me recently,” Minerva said. “I was hoping to make use of Vur’s polymorphing abilities.”
Tafel’s eye twitched. “Did you want him to turn into a handsome phoenix and pretend to be your mate?”
“Heavens no,” Minerva said, her head recoiling backwards. “How did you even come up with such a harebrained idea?” She spread her wings and gestured with her beak. “I was hoping Vur could polymorph me and make my feathers look more lustrous. They used to glow more back in day, but after having children….” Minerva let out a sigh and placed her wings back against her sides. “But if he’s sleeping, then I suppose I can find a fairy to do it instead.”
“Yeah, I suppose you could.” Tafel pursed her lips. Was that really all the phoenix wanted? Tafel looked around and summoned her courage. “By the way,” she said, “Emile and Susan have really gotten into playing hide and seek, and sometimes it’s really hard to find them. Do you have anything that could help me locate them when we play? As the more responsible sibling, I can’t let them beat me at games, you know?”
Minerva raised an eyebrow. “I have just the thing,” she said and ducked her head underneath her wing. When she raised her head, there was a golden feather clamped in her beak. She dropped it in front of Tafel, and the demon caught it with her hands. “If you insert some mana into the feather, you’ll see any traces they left behind in an area. If you follow those traces, you’ll be able to find them without a problem.”
“Perfect,” Tafel said and put the feather away. “Was there anything else you needed?”
“No, it’s alright,” Minerva said as the lower half of her body burst into flames. Her upper half distorted as she spoke. “You can go now.”
Tafel stared as the phoenix disappeared into a ball of fire. So, it turned out the phoenix really did just want her because of Vur. The demon wasn’t quite sure how to feel about that, but she knew she did not like it one bit. She wanted to be recognized for her own ability, not because she was Vur’s wife!