“Oh, hey, Tafel,” Alora said and waved at the approaching demon. “Had a nice nap?”

“What are you doing?” Tafel asked, biting her lower lip while raising her eyebrow.

“I’m drawing doodles on Vur’s face. It’s not some weird summoning ritual, don’t worry,” Alora said, blinking twice. She stared at Tafel before leaning over, placing the piece of charcoal in her hand next to Vur’s cheek. Without breaking eye contact with the demon, Alora drew a picture of a dog in one fluid motion. After seeing Tafel’s expression, Alora furrowed her brow. “Does it bother you? Human faces are so unexpressive, it’s hard to tell.”

Tafel pointed at her eyes. “This is an expression that says, ‘Wow, that was a very impressive dog you just drew.’ I kind of wish I took art lessons when I was little after seeing that.”

“Lessons?” Alora asked, tilting her head. “I inherited this talent naturally from my grandpa—or so Grandma says. Maybe I can give you some lessons.”

Tafel’s expression darkened. “Right, I forgot. You’re Vur’s family,” she said and sighed. “And if your teaching is anything like Vur’s, I have a feeling I won’t get anywhere, so I’ll have to pass. I appreciate the offer though.”

“What do you mean? You’re Vur’s family too,” Alora said. She paused. “Are you not? Mary seems more related to Vur than you, honestly. She’s as simple and strong and—oh! I know what that expression means. That’s the one where you want to kill someone, right?”

“As a loving wife, I don’t make expressions like that,” Tafel said while smiling.

“Really? I was sure you were radiating bloodlust just now,” Alora said and rubbed her chin. “Hmm, reading expressions is harder than I thought. Dragons are so much easier to understand. When Mom’s mad, she glares at me. When Mom’s sad, she glares at me. When Mom’s confused, she glares at me. When Mom’s sleepy, she glares at me. When Mom’s excited, her tail wags. See how much easier that is?”

“No.”

Alora clicked her tongue. “That’s because you’re not a dragon. You’re a phoenix, right?” She snorted. “Those dumb birds can’t even smile because of their beak.”

“You’d think that’d be the case,” Tafel said, furrowing her brow as she recalled Minerva’s odd ability to manipulate her beaks as if they were lips. “And phoenixes aren’t dumb birds. We’re very smart.”

“It’s a term of endearment,” Alora said as she picked up another piece of charcoal. She leaned over Vur’s chest and doodled on a scene of a dragon eating a phoenix. “Phoenixes call us stupid lizards, and we call them dumb birds. Then we kill each other when a territory dispute breaks out, but that hasn’t happened in a very long time. There aren’t many of us left—there’s no point in killing each other.”

“You’re talking as if you were around back then,” Tafel said. “Didn’t you say you were only fifty years old or so? Have you ever met a phoenix?”

“I don’t have to meet a phoenix to know they’re dumb,” Alora said, rolling her eyes. “Just knowing their concept is enough: Feathers are flammable. Phoenixes produce flames. Phoenixes are their own worst enemy, are they not?”

“They’re not!” Tafel said. “It’s similar to how dragons are still able to fly despite being so heavy. It makes no sense to have such a dense body given how much time you spend in the air.”

“Are you calling me fat?”

Tafel bit her lower lip. “Were you the one who was sensitive about your weight back then?”

“What? You couldn’t tell? Are you saying all dragons look alike now too?”

“That’s not what I’m saying!” Tafel said and stamped her foot. “Stop twisting my words around. You’re the one who called me a dumb bird first.” She slammed the butt of her staff into the ground. “I’m going to start practicing now. Were you watching over Vur last night? Was he actually training?”

“No,” Alora said, causing Tafel’s expression to relax. “I was asleep all of last night and most of the evening and afternoon too. But I’m sure Vur was training a dog, but he accidently burnt it to ashes while punishing it with lightning, and he blinded me to get rid of the evidence or something like that.”

“…Are you sure you’re not misunderstanding something?”

“Mom says I misunderstand things a lot when it comes to taking care of the annoying trio like when she says to babysit them, I sit on top of them and don’t let them move, but she doesn’t know I’m doing it on purpose to make her stop delegating duties to me,” Alora said. “So, on the outside, it looks like I misunderstand a lot of things, but I’m actually pretty smart, you know?”

Tafel scratched her head. Did Vur actually train or not? She crouched next to her husband and frowned before placing her hands on his shoulder and shaking him awake. “Vur,” she said. “If you sleep outside, you’ll catch a cold.”

Vur blinked his bleary eyes. “Dragons don’t catch colds,” he said before brushing off Tafel’s hands as he yawned. He rolled over to the side and resumed snoring.

Tafel rolled him back onto his back and shook him awake again. “Vur, what were you doing last night?”

“Trying to shoot down a star with lightning,” Vur said through yawns.

Tafel blinked. In the time it took her to regain her sense, Vur had fallen back to sleep. She shook him awake again. “Why?”

“Because I can,” Vur said. “I want to sleep.”

“Wait, one last question,” Tafel said. “Did you succeed?”

“Not yet,” Vur said, a tiny wrinkle appearing on his forehead. “Soon.”

A wry smile appeared on Tafel’s lips as she shook her head. “Alora said you were training a dog, were you? And Alice said you were training your spells. Was she right?”

“You said one last question,” Vur said with a frown.

“This is really the last one,” Tafel said, nodding.

“But there were two,” Vur said.

Tafel sighed. “Just answer them both, please.”

“I forgot what you asked,” Vur said, rolling over and breaking free from Tafel’s grip. “No more.”

“You’re not going to wake him up again?” Alora asked as Tafel stood up.

Tafel shook her head. “I woke him up repeatedly at night once for … reasons, and he hugged me in such a way that I couldn’t move an inch to even try to wake him up or break free. I couldn’t escape for two days.”