Demon Queen Wants to Paint

Next week was an absolute mess in the Demon Castle. Faenor's disappearance put even the high-standing demons on edge. Some believed that he was killed by somebody and the whole situation was just blown out of proportion. Others believed that he had managed to escape and were worried that other slaves might follow. Rosa used the confusion to hide and avoid her lessons. 

"Princess Morrigan!" one of the guards could be heard yelling somewhere in the distance. She was so used to it by now, it became like a background noise at this point. Hidden inside Haku's dragon house, Rosa was confident that the guards wouldn't dare to search for her there. Nobody ever wanted to deal with the finicky dragon. 

Haku let out a low whine and nudged Rosa's hand gently with his snout. 

"It's alright. We can just stay here and play," she said and scratched the scales behind his ear. 

It is certainly nicer here than in the castle.

The dragon house had recently been upgraded in size and now it resembled a small stable. Except that everything was made from stone instead of wood. One corner had a large, flat boulder where Haku would usually sleep while an assortment of dragon toys laid in the opposite corner. These changed often and could consist of anything beginning from old furniture and ending with giant balls of frozen blood.

Haku whined again and pointed his head towards the entrance, making those giant cute dragon eyes of his.

"No… I don't want those guards to find us…" Rosa muttered, and grabbed a broken leg of a chair waving it in the air. Haku jumped from side to side, eager to catch it. Rosa threw it in the air slightly in front of her, and the dragon grabbed it, chewing on the wood viciously. Less than five seconds later it was completely reduced to splinters.

"Runt or no runt, you're still a mighty beast, Haku," Rosa giggled and threw another piece of wood at him which was likewise annihilated. 

"Hiding here again, Princess," Azrael's voice resounded from the entrance, and Rosa whirled around to see him leaning against the doorframe. "It's not really fun searching for you if you're always going to hide here."

Rosa leaned close to Haku, warilly observing the white-haired demon. He sighed and strode closer to her.

"What's up with you lately, little Princess? You've been hiding constantly and even skipping Asdeus's lessons," Rosa flinched when he mentioned the demoness's name, and Haku nuzzled against her gently, feeling her distress. 

"I just miss Father," Rosa said the same excuse she told everyone who asked her the same question.

"Aha, sure. Do you really think I'll keep buying that every time? That is not the face of a child who misses her father," Azrael grumbled and poked Rosa's forehead. She swatted his hand away, not hiding her annoyance.

Azrael could be working together with Asdeus. He is constantly scheming things, and I can never tell what he is actually thinking.

"Yes, it is," she persisted. It wasn't a complete lie. Part of her wished for nothing more than for Alphegor to return and for things to go back to normal. But another part of her feared his return more than anything else.

"Fine, fine. Keep being stubborn. But you cannot stay here. Come now, we're going to learn some shape-shifting."

"I don't wanna," she buried her face in Haku's neck and the dragon coiled around her like a protective wall.

Haku is my only ally. He probably doesn't care if I'm a human or elf or demon. As long as I give him scratches.

Azrael groaned, and tried to pry the dragon away from her, "Come on! It is important for you to learn the basics so you don't accidentally exhaust yourself from shifting."

This caught Rosa's attention a little bit. Every magic in this world had a limit and a dangerous drawback if used improperly. For example, she knew that her shadow form only worked in shadows (obviously) which made it a really powerful skill to have in the Underworld. But one could get stuck in their shadow form if they didn't know how to exit from it safely. 

I should learn more about shape-shifting. Maybe I'll figure out why I accidentally transformed into a human and find a way to prevent it.

"Alright, I'll go," Rosa gently ran her hand over Haku's back, and the dragon uncoiled.

"If you don't go– Wait, you will?" Azrael looked at her in shock. "I expected you to put up more of a fight."

"Should I argue some more?"

"No, no! Let's go," Azrael grinned and before she could protest, scooped her up in his arms.

"Hey, I can walk on my own!"

"Enjoy it while you're still small. I won't be carrying you around when you're older," he grinned. "Besides you're slow."

Rosa puffed out her cheeks and crossed her arms. 

Do not be caught by his smile. Just because he's being friendly, doesn't mean that he is trustworthy.

***

"Now then, let's continue our shape shifting lesson. We really should have done this a week ago, but the whole missing elf fiasco ruined all my plans," Azrael grumbled. They were both at the training grounds again. Both of Rosa's guards were standing by the entrance, following her every movement.

Rosa's expression slumped at the mention of Faenor. After a whole week of searching and investigating, nobody really found out what had happened to him. It was no surprise to her, since she and Asdeus were the only witnesses. Asdeus had no reason to give herself away as the guilty party, while Rosa kept her mouth shut for obvious reasons. 

"Hey, don't be so depressed. We'll get you a new slave."

"No!" Rosa objected with such ferocity that the demon flinched. She lowered her gaze, and said in a much quieter voice. "I don't want anymore slaves."

Having one betray me was quite enough.

"Alright, I got you. No more slaves. Let's just focus on the lesson for now," Azrael scratched the back of his head awkwardly, then took a deep breath. "Tell me what you know about shape-shifting."

Rosa pondered the question for a bit.

"It allows me to change into anything I can imagine," she repeated what he had said during their first lesson.

"Yeah, that's the very short version of it. But tell me what is actually changing? Your body or just your perception of it?" He challenged her with a smile.

Why are you asking this from a four year old? A child that small wouldn't understand the difference between the two.

So she blinked her eyes at him while cocking her head to the side.

Perhaps he's trying to gather more evidence for Asdeus that I'm really a human. Maybe she doesn't have enough yet. But I can't jump to such assumptions and instead tread carefully.

Azrael's face fell and it's like he finally remembered that she is in fact four.

"Right… Wrong question…" the demon scratched his chin, then tried again. "Do you think I really turned into that deer or if it was just an illusion?"

Alright, now this is something a four year old might understand.

Rosa began thinking about the question in earnest, remembering the moment she turned into her human self. It felt completely effortless and while it definitely required some energy from her, it wasn't a large amount. 

"Is it an illusion?" she guessed.

"Wrong! It is very much real," Azrael grinned and then took the form of the same white, ethereal deer. "Come, touch me."

She scrunched her nose at his wording, but obeyed anyway. Touching the snow-like fur, she felt its softness as well as the strong muscles in his legs. He bent down his head, and she touched his white, glowing horns. Those too felt very much real – firm with a peach-like fuzz around it.

"It feels real," Rosa conceded. 

"And it is. At least the type of shape-shifting the two of us have," Azrael turned back to his normal self. "There's also an illusionary type of shifting which is far more common, but Lord Lucius was kind enough to give you the superior kind."

Rosa opened her mouth to ask why it was so easy for her to change shape, but closed it. 

It is too advanced of a thing for me to ask. I'll have to be content with what knowledge Azrael shares on his own.

"Was there something you wanted to ask?" Azrael suddenly crouched down, peering straight into Rosa's eyes. She held his gaze firmly.

"How do I turn into deer?" she asked. A perfectly reasonable question from a curious kid.

"Very good question actually. I imagine it would be very hard for you to turn into one, and honestly, it's better that you don't do it. At least not yet."

"Why not?"

"Because it requires a lot of energy to change into something that is very different from you. The more different it is, the more energy it requires."

So the reason I changed into my human self so easily was because it is similar to my demon self. But there is a significant difference between a child and adult, is there not?

"I imagine it must have taken you some energy to transform last time, but not too much since the shape was still humanoid. Why don't you try turning into me today? That should be a little bit harder," Azrael urged.

"Turn into you?" Rosa winced.

"Hey, what's with the grimace? I would think it is a pleasant task to turn into a handsome demon like myself," Azrael tried to put up his most charismatic smile, but it looked so strained and awkward, that Rosa started laughing. He glared at her.

"Okay, okay, I'll do it," she said, collecting herself.

Good thing he's nowhere near as charismatic as Alphegor. Otherwise, I might have taken him seriously.

Rosa took a deep breath to calm herself, then closed her eyes. She imagined herself becoming Azrael. She tried to think of every single detail on his body, the clothes, the height, the shade of his skin. Once she thought she had accounted for every detail, she opened her eyes. As she did, Morrigan felt like she had lost a little bit of her energy – as if she had gone on a rather long walk.

Azrael stared at her intently, assessing every detail, "Not bad for a first time, but I think anybody who knew me would instantly be able to tell that you're not actually me."

He gestured to the same full-body mirror, still propped up against the wall where he had left it last week. Rosa walked up to it, and was surprised to see that it was indeed Azrael staring back at her. Or something similar to him at least.

I shouldn't really be surprised, but it is still odd to see somebody else in the mirror. 

Rosa leaned in closer, and noticed that a few things were definitely not right. 

"So what did you do wrong?" Azrael asked, peering into the mirror over her, um, his shoulder. Seeing two Azraels right next to each other was beyond confusing.

"The hair is too short," she pointed out, comparing herself to the real Azrael. "And the horns are too straight. I think the jaw is too small? Like a girl's."

"Yeah, what else?"

Rosa peered at the mirror, trying to find anything different, but everything else seemed to align.

"That's it?"

"Are you sure?" He narrowed his eyes, and she stared at both images carefully. 

There must be something if he's asking like that, but I can't find anything else. The eyes are right both in shape and color, so are the lips and other facial features. The height is also right as well as the clothes he is wearing. 

"Yes?" Rosa answered, but there was no confidence in her statement.

"What about this?" Azrael poked Rosa's cheek with his tail, and she realized that her version of Azrael had no tail. 

"Oh."

"Oh. It's a pretty big deal to forget about a demon's tail. But I'll give it a pass. From afar you perhaps wouldn't be able to tell the difference," Azrael reached out to ruffle her hair, but she stepped back.

"Morri, are you here?!" Deziara suddenly burst into the training room, two of her guards following closely behind her. Her face turned into that of disgust once she saw two Azraels. "Why are there two of you now?"

"Obviously, because this is my long-lost brother," Azrael threw his hand around Rosa, grinning from ear to ear. Rosa, however, had no intention of indulging him, and relaxed herself to shift back into her normal form.

"Morri!" Deziara smiled, and ran up to Rosa, burying her in a hug. "That really scared me! I wouldn't know what to do with two of those idiots."

"Sorry. I was learning shape-shifting," Rosa replied, enjoying the warm hug.

"Oh, right, you did receive that stone from Lord Lucius. Look at what I can do!" Deziara backed away a few steps and then produced a little ball of fire in her palm.

"Wow!" Rosa clapped, genuinely impressed. She hadn't expected Deziara to actually be able to do any magic. Even if she was the older sister.

"I bet you're here on behalf of your teacher," Azrael huffed in annoyance, and Rosa flinched. Deziara's fireball vanished and her lips pressed together in a thin line.

"She did ask me to find Rosa…" the girl admitted. 

No, I don't want to see that woman again. What if she sends Deziara away early again? Then I'll be stuck alone with Asdeus.

"Oh, don't make those giant piteous eyes," Azrael groaned, and ruffled his hair.

"Huh? Me?" Rosa touched her face, and noticed that it was indeed suspended in a semi-scowl. 

"You can't blame her. Lady Asdeus's lessons are so boring."

"But you have to attend her lessons," Azrael said strictly, but Deziara raised her eyebrow.

"Since when are you so prim and proper? You don't even listen to Father," the girl accused. 

"That's different. I'm the strongest demon in the Underworld. Besides, I can't cancel your lessons," he shrugged, and Rosa could feel her heartbeat slowly increase.

Would it be alright if I just slipped away into the shadows? But if I keep hiding too much, then Asdeus can just decide to reveal my secret.

"No, you can't do that, Princess," Azrael groaned, and Rosa stared at him in confusion. "Looking all sad, like you're about to cry. I can't stand it when children or women cry."

"Then do something about it!" Deziara proclaimed, and wrapped her arms around Rosa. "Morri is sad!"

Dammit! I need to get better at controlling my expressions. They can read me like an open book.

"Alright, alright, but only this time!" Azrael conceded, and threw a glance towards the vigilant guards.

"Yay!" Deziara cheered. "What are we going to do?"

"You two haven't been outside the castle yet, right?" he said in a barely audible whisper.