Demon Queen Wants to Paint

Rosa looked from one pile of treasure to the next hoping to recognize a purple glint somewhere among them. Occasionally she would notice a purplish kind of gem, and her heart would start beating like crazy each time. However, they didn't really look like diamonds. At least, she didn't think they were diamonds.

I don't even know what a purple diamond is supposed to look like. That book on gems didn't have a drawing of it. Could it be mistaken for a different purple gem like amethyst? Aren't there other gems that could be purple?

The thought made Rosa sick to her stomach. She was so close to her ticket home. It was somewhere within this room, and yet she had no idea what it even looked like. She kept scanning the room frantically, her eyes darting from pile to pile, from one gem to the next. But they were so similar to each other – she couldn't tell whether the gem was a diamond or a piece of quartz.

"What's wrong, Princess? Is this a bit much for you?" Azrael bent down to look at her, and she snapped out of her panic.

"Oh… I… Yes. I just never expected there would be so much treasure," she forced a childish smile on her face.

Stay composed, otherwise Azrael will start suspecting you too.

"It is the Royal Treasury. There is no other place in the world that contains so much gold and jewels," Azrael noted and then nonchalantly grabbed a pile of coins, letting them slip through his fingers and fall back down with a loud clatter. "Currently we're the richest people in this whole world."

"This is not ours! Didn't you say not to take anything?" She glared at him, and the demon chuckled in response.

"I have no intention of taking anything. I just wanted the bragging right of having broken into the Royal Treasury."

Aren't you supposed to be in a high government position? How is this guy even allowed to make any even remotely important decisions?

"Of course," she deadpanned, and resumed her search for the diamond.

"Is there anything in particular you want to see?" Azrael asked, and she froze for a moment. 

I can't just ask him to show me the diamond. That would be way too obvious.

"Are there any magical gems in here?" she asked, trying to appear innocent.

"They are everywhere. There's four by your feet, another eight in this pile that I can see, another five over there," he pointed from one pile to the next.

Why couldn't they have organized the treasury? Laid down all gems in one place, arranged by their rarity preferably.

"But they all look the same. How would one know if a gem has a strong ability or not?" She tried to steer the conversation towards the rarer kinds of gems, hoping to get a clue from Azrael.

"One has to study to recognize them, I'm afraid. No quick way of telling gems apart," Azrael said and scooped a few gems into his hand. "For example, among these gems – two have a really rare and strong ability, two are mediocre and four are quite common."

Rosa stared at the gems intensely, but none of them appeared purple. Or like diamonds.

Who knew that telling some fancy rocks apart was so hard?

"What about this one?" Rosa grabbed the closest purple gem and showed it to Azrael.

"That's a common one. It lets you speed up the growth of surface plants. Mostly useless in the Underworld."

"And this one?" 

"That one allows you to manipulate metal."

"This?"

"With that one you could find a person using an object they've touched before."

Rosa kept asking again and again, making sure to grab the most promising purple gems that she could find, but none of them had an ability even remotely related to dimensional travel.

"I think that's enough, Princess. We need to get back before your nanny notices your disappearance," Azrael yawned and stretched out his arms. Rosa was surprised that he was willing to indulge her this long, but she still didn't want to leave. 

If only there was a way to find that gem.

Rosa looked deeper into the treasury but seeing the many gems flickering in the light, she knew that it could take her several weeks of digging through all the treasures before finding the gem. If she could even find it at all. Maybe she had already dismissed it or walked past it.

"Okay, let's go back," she said with a resigned smile and made her way towards the exit. Azrael followed closely after her, occasionally supporting her when she slipped on a rogue coin or two.

As they exited the treasury, the ball that emanated light into the chamber shut off and rolled to the bottom. It began spinning faster and faster and started expanding outwards adding one layer of metal on top of another. After a few mesmerizing minutes of observing the oddly satisfying process, the door was sealed once more.

"Ready to go?" Azrael asked and crouched down to pick Rosa up.

"Yes," she said solemnly and looked at the treasury door last time. 

I couldn't find it… What am I going to do now?

***

At some point during their journey back, Rosa had fallen asleep in Azrael's arms. She only woke when he was already putting her underneath the sheets.

"Huh?" she said, half-asleep and not fully understanding what was going on around her.

"Sleep, Princess. We're back in your room," Azrael said sweetly, and she allowed herself to be lulled back to dreamland.

Next time Rosa woke, she did so with a sharp jolt, almost instantly jumping up to her feet.

"Wow, you scared me there, Lady Morrigan! Good morning," Gunna said in her usual cheery voice, and fixed a few strands hanging in front of Rosa's face. "You were sleeping so softly in the morning that I decided not to bother you. Are you feeling rested now?"

"I… Yes, Gunna. I feel good," Rosa almost asked her the time, but caught herself before then.

Four year olds can't tell time. Get a grip, Rosa.

"I am happy to hear that. Did you have a hard time falling asleep yesterday?" the nanny asked and began preparing Rosa for the day.

"A little bit," Rosa replied, avoiding direct eye contact.

I went through all that trouble but still couldn't find the purple diamond. What can I do now? Should I try getting into the Treasury again? But there's no way I could convince Azrael to do it without arousing suspicion. And I don't think I could get past those traps on my own, especially if I can't use my shadow form.

"Then I could prepare some calming tea for you in the evening," Gunna offered, and Rosa nodded absentmindedly. Tea certainly wouldn't be enough to solve this. After forcing herself to eat some sandwich-like dish with fluffy bread and mild-tasting fish, Rosa was intercepted by Deziara.

"Morri, let's go play," the girl cheered, her ponytail bouncing from side to side as she ran towards Rosa. While she wasn't in the mood for any playing, Rosa didn't have the heart to deny Deziara and allowed the girl to drag her along.

As she predicted, Deziara took her straight to Haku's enclosure, where the dragon greeted them with great enthusiasm. 

It's actually been a while since I properly played with Haku. I've been so worried about Asdeus and her revealing my secret that I've completely neglected him. 

Haku, however, the ever cheerful dragon, jumped up and down in joy and puffed out smoke, his tail slapping into walls and toys with incredible strength, sending them flying in every direction.

"You've grown quite a bit, Haku," Rosa said and patted the dragon on its red, scaly snout. The dragon was actually growing at amazing speed – he was already at almost the same height as Deziara, and his previously stunted wings could easily fill up the whole dragon stable. 

"Yes, maybe he'll be able to fly soon," Deziara affectionately patted Haku's wings, and the dragon shivered, the touch tickling his sensitive membranes.

"Why don't we go out for some practice?" Rosa suggested, hoping that by concentrating on Haku she'll be able to forget her woes, if only for a short while.

Haku jumped up and down impatiently, occasionally scratching at the stone floor beneath him. Rosa was surprised to see that his nails left visible scratch marks in the stone.

He's becoming stronger by the day. I wonder if it'll even be safe for me to come to Haku if he keeps growing at this rate. I know he wouldn't hurt me on purpose, but he's still young and gets excited too easily.

"I think he'd like that," Deziara agreed and opened the stable doors, allowing the dragon passage outside. He zoomed out like an arrow, forcing Rosa and Deziara to run after him. 

Once outside Haku instantly spread out his wings and began flapping them, creating strong gusts that nearly knocked Rosa off her feet. 

"Oh, maybe today is finally the day. I feel it in my gut," Deziara claimed and began waving her hands up and down, imitating the motion of wings in flight. "Do it with me, Haku!"

Rosa began waving her hands along with Deziara, and Haku redoubled his efforts. The residual wind was so strong that both girls were forced to back away or risk being knocked over. 

"One last push, Haku! Take a big leap and then flap your wings with all your might," she instructed, and the dragon focused his green eyes on her. Rosa was surprised to see understanding in them. 

The dragon stopped the intensive flapping, lowered his body and then leapt high into the air. He spread his wings and methodically pushed them down with enough force to propel him upwards. And then he did it again. And again. Until he was steadily rising above the backyard.

"He did it!" Deziara squealed in a high-pitched voice and Rosa cheered alongside her. Haku produced a low growl and spewed out a ball of fire high above the castle. It went up like fireworks and then slowly dissipated into the darkness.

The dragon then made a clumsy turn and began descending towards the girls. They scrambled aside as he landed clumsily and rolled straight into a hedge. The guards watching the girls nervously ran forward when the dragon descended but relaxed once they saw that they were safely out of his way.

"I can't believe you did it, Haku! You can fly," Deziara ran up to the dragon who was now covered in residual bush, and gave him a hearty scratch under his chin. Rosa followed right after Deziara, and began pulling the loose branches off the dragon, while inspecting him for injuries.

It would be a shame if he injured his wing right after his first flight.

She lifted up his wings, inspecting the membranes for tears, but everything looked intact.

"Well done," Rosa praised and patted the scales on his back.

"Do you know what this means, Morri?" Deziara asked with a starry-eyed expression. Her enthusiasm was so strong, Rosa had to take a step back.

"No?"

"It means we can fly on his back!" the girl announced. Rosa blinked and looked at Haku. While Rosa has read plenty of stories about dragon riders or dragon tamers that conquer their enemies through the bond with their dragon, she never expected to ride on Haku one day.

How would I even stay seated on him? I would no doubt fall off and slip to the ground at the first turn. No, thank you!

"S-Sure," Rosa chuckled nervously. She didn't want to sour Deziara's mood with reality at that moment, so she decided to have the conversation when the time came.

"But I think I might be too heavy for Haku to carry in flight. He needs to grow a bit more."

"Yes."

"Hmm…" Deziara suddenly went close to Rosa and looked her over with a scrutinizing eye.

I have a bad feeling about this…

"But you might be just the right size," Deziara announced with a wide grin on her face.

"W-What? Me?" Rosa fumbled and took several steps away from the dragon. 

"Yes! Don't you want to fly?" 

"No!" Rosa shook her head vigorously. She had always been fearful of heights and thought of those who jumped out of airplanes and climbed mountain to be absolute madmen.

There is no way in hell that I am flying on a juvenile dragon who cannot even land properly yet. Or any dragon for that matter.

"Why not? I bet it'll be fun," Deziara whined, and Haku's tail and wings dropped to the ground, his eyes large and pleading.

"Why are you sad, Haku? Don't tell me you wanted me to fly on your back?"

The dragon perked up instantly, wagging his tail and scuttling close to her.

"No, no, no! I am going to fall," Rosa backed away but Deziara grabbed her hand.

"It's alright. I'll catch you if you do. Besides, Haku can't fly very high yet. Even if you did fall, I doubt you'd get hurt," the girl said nonchalantly and began pulling Rosa towards the dragon. Haku positioned himself low to the ground and Deziara pulled Rosa on his back.

"No, I am pretty sure it would hurt a lot!" Rosa squeaked and put her hands around Haku's neck in an iron grip. Of course, he was unbothered by it and instead stood up on its feet and unfurled his wings.

"Haku, please! This could end really badly."

"Do it, Haku!"

Ignoring Rosa's pleas the dragon jumped into the air and began flapping his wings. She screamed as the ground grew further and further away from her. It was nothing like that time she had to get down the castle wall in her shadow form. Being a shadow gave a sense of safety and weightlessness.

But this was completely different. Her hands felt clammy and slippery as she held onto Haku's neck. Her short legs clutched tight onto his back as she held her body as close to the dragon as possible. And the gravity was definitely eager to pull her down to the ground.

"You're flying! It's amazing, Morri!" Deziara cheered from the ground, and Rosa dared to glance her way. It was actually funny looking down on her sister as Haku glided sideways in a gentle arc, making sure to keep his body upright. 

"This… isn't so bad…" Rosa admitted as the dragon circled around the yard a few more times. The soft breeze felt pleasant as it brushed through her hair. It was the closest approximation of wind in the underground. "But how about we end this for today?"

The dragon obliged her and this time, circled down slowly, making sure to loop around the yard several times before finally landing like an airplane that slowly descended on the runway.

"That looked fun!" Deziara cheered.

"It was scary," Rosa said, as she got off the dragon, her legs wobbling like jello as she walked.

"Princesses! Princesses!" a guard ran towards them at full speed, huffing and puffing in the meanwhile. "The King has returned!"