The night sky never reached here. It never had. Here was unlike many places she's ever been.

And she's been to too many.

Here in this forest, the trees loomed high, higher than most mountain summits, soaring through the clouds even… that rarely even in an open sky could you ever see their peak. A ceiling, a roof of thick branches and even thicker leaves, and an eternal pitch darkness right below it.

The perfect hiding place. If only she had thought of it sooner, found it sooner.

This place rarely ever receives any visitors, and there was no reason it should - to any human, to any demon, to any flightless being, it was just an awfully dark forest with gigantic trees growing much higher than they should be.

But to her, it was home. At least… for decades now. There were other places that were also home to her for much longer than that.

Hopefully, this place would stay as a home for much longer than that.

Most of her days would be spent gliding amongst the treetops, stretching her wings as much as she could… it was one of the greatest perks of living here, there was not a soul around to notice her bright glow, nobody to complain, nobody to dread.

Maybe unless you count the other birds, they were never much fond of her whenever she'd speed past their nestings. She remembered giving it a go at a nest of her own… unfortunately, she only got up until five little twigs in her beak before she completely gave up all effort.

She might be long-living, but her patience certainly wasn't.

When flight would eventually prove too taxing for her, as it usually does every other day, she'd find herself strolling along the expanse of the dark woodlands. It was a big place with lots to uncover… certainly big enough that she has yet to uncover it all even after all this time.

She was keenly aware that the life she lived now was not particularly the most interesting way of living, but she also was painfully aware that it was still living regardless…and that's more than she could say for many other times before.

It was during one of these listless days wandering that she suddenly happened upon it, sitting against the stump of a tree that has very recently fallen, something round began rolling towards her bare feet, something small.

Using wisdom accumulated through centuries, she deduced with slightly piqued interest that it was a tiny rubber ball. For days on end, she's seen skinny sticks, shriveled leaves, rotting trees, flowing streams… since when has a rubber ball been part of a forest's flora?

The obvious answer was that it never has been, it came from somewhere else, somewhere outside… someone was here from the outside.

It was a rare occurrence, but not rare enough that she didn't know what to do - she knew what to do… she readied her flames, a swirl of fire slowly amassing in her palm. Cautiously, she got to her feet… scanning the vicinity for anything amiss.

There - a rustling to the left. She spun herself towards it, bracing, staring… it was getting louder, closer - her flames swirled brighter, hotter - she raised her hands, and -!

"Oh…?"

When she first found herself here, it was evident that there were many other creatures that took residence in the forest alongside her - from the smallest of plant-eaters to the largest of prey-stalkers - she's crossed paths with them all on more than one occasion.

But a small child clumsily emerging through a row of bushes poking its nose around the place was a first for her.

Not human, was the first thought that crossed her mind and she immediately extinguished her flames. Clearly not human… not with those stubby horns jutting out from its forehead, not with that long narrow tail slithering and combined through the tall grass… and especially not with its skin color, a deep dark hue of red that could only be match by the crimson glimmer in its wide-eyed stare.

She's seen its full-grown counterpart plenty of times before, but this was the first time she was discovering just how absolutely adorable they really looked without all the allure and enticement of adulthood.

"A little girl succubus child."

A pleasant tingle somewhere inside her started twitching the corner of her lips - she couldn't help it, seeing the little demon child stumble about, wearing such raggy, tattered clothes, blinking her wide-rimmed eyes at her surroundings while clutching her tiny little arms so close to herself.

No good mother worth her salt could ever resist such a sight. She certainly couldn't.

They locked eyes, the small child craning its neck to even do so, and far from the standard reaction a being on fire should elicit - this little demon didn't shrink away, instead it did quite the opposite.

She wasn't ready when suddenly it scurried hastily towards her. This child wasn't scared, her eyes just shone bright with curiosity… gaping in breathless awe at the glowing swaying embers dancing in the darkness.

It's been so long since the last time she had her head cocked sideways… there was never much in this place to alleviate one's boredom, but just right then, her neck was beginning to strain again.

This was not boring.

"You don't seem to be lost," She spoke out just as the child attempted to reach for a lock of her hair. "What do you think you're doing being here?"

The child made a startled noise, probably never once anticipating that fire-lady capable of speech, and froze in place, still gaping at her.

She almost broke into a laugh, but restrained herself in case it might frighten the child. She slowly got down to her knees, leveling with the child's gaze, and reaching for right below her, picking up the small rubber ball by the tree stump, presenting it forth in the palm of her hand.

"I assume this is yours?" She asked, keeping her tone light.

Upon catching sight of it, the child unfroze, bouncing her silky long black hair with a vigorous nod of the head. But as soon as the child tried taking it back, she drew both the ball and her hand back.

"And I also assume you can speak, yes?" She asked again, dangling the ball in front of her. "After all, how else would you ask for something?"

The child pursed her lips at first, her fingers squirming in her hands, fidgeting her legs in place… before eventually, dropping her eyes to her feet, slowly spoke.

"Papa… Papa said I'm not supposed to talk to strange people…"

Such a soft voice… such a gentle voice. It took everything to keep her hands to herself and not crush this small child against her chest. She really needed to be careful, it seems succubi children are as much frightening as the adults were.

She passed her the rubber ball back, lifting her little chin as she did, "Don't worry, I'm not that strange, you'll come to find… in fact, I'm as normal as it gets, okay?"

The child didn't say anything, only nodded… clutching the ball tightly in both hands.

"So tell me, little one," She shifted to a more comfortable position. "What's the ball for? Were you playing just now? Is that how you got here?"

The child's hair swayed sideways as she shook her head. It was seriously too endearing of a sight, painfully so.

"Not playing," The child responded, her voice gradually growing less apprehensive with every word. "I was… I was training. I'm practicing."

"Practicing?"

"Papa told me to practice," She explained, absentmindedly flinging the ball from one hand to the other. "Every day, I throw the ball… and if I make one disappear, papa said he'll cook me lamb."

"Oh, that sounds pretty interesting! Could you show me how it's done?"

"Um… ah…" The child started squirming. "I can… I can try it… I will try...okay? Just try only..."

She smiled. "I can't wait."

Her little black tail started to swish more firmly and rapidly. The child took a few paces back, the ball tightly in one hand… a huff, a puff, a deep breath later, her timid stare turned stiff, turning into a frightening glare briefly flashing as she hurled the ball with all her might with a high-pitch squeal.

For a moment, the ball was absolutely nowhere to be seen, and the astonished look on the child's face was nothing short of adorable. Then there was a bounce, a heavy thud amidst the soft grass… and the disappointment in the child's heavy eyes was nothing short of gut-wrenching.

"Hey, it was a good try," She tried to assure her. "It's magic, magic's hard. No one can do it in just a day, you know?"

"Mmm…" the child whimpered, watching the ball come to a halt by her feet. "But I want Papa to be proud of me. I want to show how clever I am. That's why I keep practicing, but I keep practicing, I keep throwing, but… but I can never do it. He won't be proud… like this..."

"Then just keep practicing, that's all you need to do," She said, stroking her once on the head. "If… see if I saw my child just doing her best out there, I'd be a plenty proud parent already. I'm sure your papa feels the same way too."

Bright red eyes matching hers, those bright red eyes stared, "Really...?"

She nodded, smiled. "Keep going. I'll watch you, okay?"

The child, as fleeting, as subtle as it was, returned that smile. "Okay…"

"That's a good girl," She ruffled her head again. "By the way, my name's Ria."

"Ria?" The child repeated, then repeated again, thrice… a smile widening each time. "Ria… Ria! Wow, that's just like my name too!"

"Really, now?" Ria raised her brows. "So, what do they call you around these parts, if I may ask?"

"Ruria!" She piped up, eyes glimmering in wonder. "Ruria Salnor!"

Ria's smile instantly faded. "Sal... Salnor, you say?"

"Mmm-hmm!" Ruria nodded.

"He… Salnor..." She blew a heavy sigh. "Okay, what is a headache like him doing with such an adorable sweet little girl like yourself?"

This time, it was Ruria's turn to cock her head, staring so innocently. "Do you know… my papa?"

"Know him… oh boy…" Ria just kept sighing. "If you're here… is he… is he here too?"

"He's taking his nap time right now near here, so I'm practicing in secret," She explained. "We're here because papa said we're going to meet with a friend of his that lives here."

The stump of the dead tree was the perfect spot to bash away the headache that suddenly was wreaking havoc, but Ria decided against it - it was an adult act not for the eyes of the young, especially the adorable cute ones.

Instead, she sucked it up, sucked in a breath, and let it all simply drift away in the many embers swaying past her.

"Trust me, little one," She said, forcing a smile on her face. "He's no friend of mine."