Tafel glanced around. The forest Minerva lived in hadn’t changed at all. Her eyes made contact with an elf with short, red hair. The elf froze in place, and a moment later, she turned around and dashed into the woods. Emile burst out into laughter upon seeing the sight, and Susan rolled her eyes at her brother. “Stop laughing,” Susan said. “It’s understandable Percy’s afraid. Her hair just started growing back.”

Tafel scratched her cheek. Had she really traumatized the elf so badly? All she did was take some—read all—of the elf’s hair to upgrade her sword. The process of cutting hair wasn’t even painful. Tafel shook her head before looking around some more. If Percy was here, then the baby phoenixes were being babysat. “Is your mom not home?”

Emile rolled his eyes. “She’s your mom too,” he said before jumping up into the air. He flapped his wings and flew to the highest treetop. He took in a deep breath, his chest puffing up from the action. Then, he shouted as loud as he could, “Hello! I’m home!”

Chirps filled the forest, and around a dozen red blurs flew onto the treetop where Emile was. “Emile’s back! Did you bring back any presents?”

“Tafel and Susan are here too!”

A few red blurs flew down to Tafel, perching on the branches above her head. “Hello!”

Tafel nodded at the baby phoenixes. They had all been born at the same time, yet Emile and Susan acted more mature than the rest of them. Tafel glanced at Emile, who was chattering away at his siblings. Then again, when Tafel had first met him, he was pretty naïve too. A sigh escaped from Tafel’s mouth. It was true that only after experiencing the world would one grow up. “Hello,” she said to the phoenixes sitting on the branches. “Is Mom home?”

“She’s home,” one of the baby phoenixes said.

“But she’s sleeping,” another said, bobbing its head up and down.

“That’s fine,” Tafel said. “Can you take me to her?”

“Of course, follow me,” the baby phoenix said and hopped off the branch, flapping its wings. It flew from tree to tree, giving Tafel a chance to follow it on foot. After walking for a bit, Tafel arrived at the phoenix nest, where Minerva was resting. The phoenix matriarch was sitting down with her head curled behind herself, resting on her back.

“Are you going to wake her up?” the baby phoenix asked. “She’ll get upset at you.”

“Don’t worry,” Tafel said, her horns glowing silver. “I know a method of waking up grumpy sleepers.” She reached into the portal and pulled out a frozen bear leg. Then, she took out a few logs and stacked them on the ground. The portal closed as Tafel’s horns glowed red. A fire sprang into existence, setting the logs ablaze. Tafel looked at the bear leg and frowned before opening her portal again. She retrieved two rocks and placed them on the sides of the fire. Then, she laid the bear leg on top of them, letting it rest over the fire.

Tafel took a chair out of her portal and placed it down in front of the fire, positioning herself across from Minerva. She closed the portal and leaned back in her seat, waiting for meat to thaw. When the outer layer of ice disappeared, Tafel opened another portal and retrieved a few spices that she liberally tossed onto the bear leg. The portal closed again, causing the baby phoenix by Tafel’s side to tilt its head. “Why don’t you take out everything you need at once instead of opening the portals again and again?”

“My mana regenerates fast enough that I don’t have to plan ahead,” Tafel said and dusted the spices off of her fingers. “I used to be careful with my portal usage before I was imprinted, but now, it doesn’t really matter. This way, I get to think less and stress less.”

After a few minutes, Minerva’s body twitched. Her eyes creaked open, and she turned her head back around to the front. She blinked a few times before shaking herself, her feathers puffing up and settling into place. “Tafel?” she asked before glancing at the roasting bear leg in front of her. “What is this?”

“Good morning,” Tafel said and straightened her back. “Would you like some bear meat?”

“No,” Minerva said and shook her head. She stood up and yawned while pointed her head at the sky. She stretched her wings out to the side and arched her back. Her beak snapped shut, and she lowered her gaze to stare at Tafel while fixing her posture. “How can I help you? I assume you didn’t come here for no reason.”

Tafel scratched her head. “Well, Emile was worried about me, so he told me to visit you,” she said. “He said you could check to see if I’m being possessed by something.”

Minerva’s eyes flashed with a layer of reddish-gold. “You’re fine,” she said. “At least, if something’s possessing you, it’s not spiritual in nature. As for your obsession with defeating your mate, that’s not something I can help you with.”

Tafel ignored Minerva’s comment about Vur and retrieved a book from her robes. She got up and walked around the fire before holding the book in front of Minerva. “Is there something wrong with this?” she asked. “According to the cursed dragons, there used to be a powerful soul inside of this thing, but Vur ate it.”

Minerva glanced at the book, her eyes flashing once more. “There’s nothing wrong with is,” she said before lifting one talon to flip the book open. She raised an eyebrow. “You can read this?”

“Not yet,” Tafel said and sighed. “But I’m learning. It’s part of why Emile thinks there’s something wrong with me. It’s like he’s never seen someone studying hard before.”

Minerva flipped through the pages of the book. Although Tafel wanted to say something, she held back the uncomfortable feeling and let the phoenix do as she wished. After a bit, the phoenix matriarch nodded. “If you want me to, I can translate this for you. Who knows how long it’d take for you to learn how to read this? It’s better for you to spend your time taking care of Emile and Susan. As maturing phoenixes, they need a lot of attention to grow properly.”

“You can read this?” Tafel asked, her eyes widening.

“Of course,” Minerva said and puffed her chest out. “I’ll have you know I was considered quite the scholar when I was growing up.”

Tafel stared at the phoenix matriarch. Had the demon spent so much time and effort for nothing?