Ch 7/Interlude – An alternative perspective on viewing adorable, red cheeks in the mirror, and why sometimes, that’s actually a bad thing?

In my many years of life, I was certain I’d never had a nap quite that terrible. Groaning, I rubbed my forehead. The soft, fur-like feathers that covered my hands and arms brushed against my bare face, tickling my cheeks. Even with my eyes closed, I felt unbalanced. Because at the same time, I was also staring at a cute vyxa reflected in the mirror, as though I were in two places at once. The acidic smell of boiling archidion blood met my nose, and I took in a breath, allowing the strong scent to pull my focus back to my own senses.

My head spun and throbbed as my eyes, my actual eyes, blinked open. All four of them struggled to stare down at the thick book sitting atop the rough desk below. One would think an extra pair wouldn’t have made such a difference for me. Six wasn’t much more than four, and many demons had plenty more. Not to mention that many of my kind developed bonds with vyxa, allowing them to share vision.

The problem was of course that I didn’t have a bond with the little demon making faces at the mirror. Nor did I want one with the arrogant vyxa. Our link was purely accidental—the unfortunate outcome of a failed ritual and my own foolish curiosity.

Another groan slipped from my lips, or rather, from her lips. Or should it be ‘their’ lips?

It didn’t matter. What mattered was fixing this. Once more, I looked down at the book in front of me, doing my best to focus on it. My efforts made my head spin and throb harder with a heavy, piercing pain. One of my arms moved to steady myself, bumping a nearby shelf. I heard something wobble and fall, glass shattering against the rough cobblestone floor. My stomach rolled with nausea, and finally, I sat in the chair below. With two hands continuing to rub my forehead, the other two gripped the desk, fearful that I might fall from my seat otherwise. And the other hands—their hands—pinched those cute, red cheeks.

Ughhh.

The curtain into the cramped little room shifted, its chimes letting off a vaguely discordant jingle. I did my best to ignore it, much as I ignored the splash of liquid as the potion pot began to boil over. It was a poor mixture, regardless, and it wasn’t as though the room could be made into much more of a mess than it already was. Plus I didn’t feel up to standing yet. My eyes vaguely scanned the words below.

Someone spoke. Not the vyxa, but the person there with me. A hand met my forehead, smooth and cold, unlike my own. The bout of nausea finally began to calm, though my head still felt ready to burst.

“I thought you were going to sleep,” she said. When no response came, she continued, “Flauri’el?”

I grumbled something, though I truthfully wasn’t sure what. If only I could sleep.

“I brought you some stew.”

An old wooden bowl found its way in front of me, replacing the book on the desk. Finally, I looked over at the impudent lizard, frowning.

“Transformation potions?” Nhlia questioned, as she scanned the page’s contents. “Flauri, surely you aren’t thinking of—” She froze as her eyes met mine, trapped. I could feel as she began to get lost in my mesmerizing gaze.

My head pulsed in outrage, and I groaned, eyes blinking closed.

“Fluffbug, did you get any sleep?” she asked. A hand rubbed up and down my back.

My antenna twitched as the near-tangible concern flowed off of her in thick waves.

“A bit,” I grumbled. “If you can call it sleep.” I could feel she was about to scold me and cut her off. “I need to find a way to reverse this,” I insisted. A hand gestured vaguely at the room around me, as though it explained everything. In my waving, something else tumbled to the floor, luckily with a thump rather than a shatter. My darling lizard let out a sigh as she lent downward to pick it up.

The room was far too small for a workspace. With Nhlia inside, it felt even smaller. But it was what I had to work with. Oh how I wished to be able to stretch my wings in here.

When I looked back over to the pot, I found that the blue flames of mage fire beneath it had already been extinguished. Rather than boiling, the half-made potion now slowly cooled. I was so disoriented and distracted that I hadn’t even noticed her doing it. Ignoring the bowl of stew in front of me, I eyed a small flask that sat on the edge of the table and pinched out a small bit of bark from within. It was one of the few things that grew in the area that could help with the headaches, and luckily, it helped to settle my stomach as well.

“You can’t ‘fix’ anything without food or sleep,” she argued.

I grumbled under my breath, eyes closing as I chewed on the rough bark.

“Here,” she said, and my eyes opened to find a spoon full of something hovering in front of my face. As I parted my lips to protest, she slipped it past. “Eat,” she insisted.

Swallowing it down along with the bitter bark, I grumbled out, “I can feed myself.”

“Then do so,” she snarked back.

Glaring at her, I snatched the spoon from her grasp. The devious lizard grinned back, showing off her sharp, pointed teeth. The slippery devil was lucky I didn’t have the energy to put her in her place. As things were, I suspected the tables would be turned were I to try. She would enjoy that too much.

As I ate, my focus went back to the young vyxa, still slowly examining herself in the mirror. Her cheeks were as hot as fire, and thoughts a jumbled mess as she tried to suppress the various feelings it was bringing forth.

‘I’d be hot and bothered too if I woke up to see that in the mirror.’

She jumped in place, red skin threatening to turn white as my thoughts entered her mind. Their mind, I reminded myself. I didn’t know how they saw themselves now. Something to ask later.

As our little mental conversation continued, Nhlia spoke up.

“So, transformation potions?” she said, flipping through several pages. “Flauri’el, I thought you were trying to end the bond between you, not searching for a way to change her back into a human?”

I glanced her way, finally taking a moment to properly look her over. The reptilian demon was in a more snake-like form at the moment, with most of her mass in the long, thick tail that made up her lower half. Black spiky scales traveled down her back all the way to the tip, matching her currently-dark-gray skin. Even now, after having been together for several years, I still held some amount of jealousy over how easily she could adjust her form. It wasn’t nearly so easy for me.

“We don’t have a bond,” I insisted. “Transforming them back would solve both of our problems rather neatly, if my theory is right. It’s their current nature as a vyxa that has created our mental connection in the first place. Making them human again should sever it.”

She leaned forward, curving her body around to hover over the desk. “Is that so?” she asked, with another sly smile. “You’re certain it’s not because a certain kind-hearted Kh’aithri just wants to help the little demon stranded all alone in another realm?”

All four of my eyes narrowed on the presumptuous snake. “Why would I want to help them? I want nothing to do with the annoying little human. They’re obnoxious and cruel, even for a human. And just being in their head makes me nauseous. I’ll be glad when this is over with,” I grumbled.

Nhlia hummed. “Humans do have a tendency to be rather arrogant. I find it kind of cute. Surely she can’t be that bad?”

“They are. And don’t call them ‘her,’” I chided. “They’ve been quite insistent on wanting to be human, but I’m not so sure on what sort.” It was tempting to just ask them directly, but the annoying little human had decided they wanted to ignore me. Still it wasn’t my problem. They could figure it out on their own when all of this was done and over.

“It is interesting that sh—they became a strictly female vyxa during the transformation, though.” The meaningful look she gave me told me exactly what her opinion on the matter was.

I shook my head. “I don’t want to assume. It could merely be another strange quirk of the flawed ritual.” It was all completely relative, regardless. Far too many demons could change their sexual characteristics on a whim. And for the rest of us? A bit of time and magic could do wonders. The same was surely true for humans as well.

“What I’m curious about is—how are you going to convince them to make and drink this potion you’re working on?” Nhlia questioned.

My brows furrowed. “That…would be the challenge, yes.” Just how was I going to convince them?

‘We should talk while we have time,’ I sent across our link.

To my frustration the annoying vyxa continued to ignore me.

Nhlia leaned forward. Noticing my expression, another sly grin spread along her lips. “This would all be easier if you were willing to just summon her here. It would be easy, with the bond between you.”

“Them,” I insisted once more. “And again, we don’t have a proper bond with each other. Our animus link is strange, but that doesn’t mean we have any real emotional connection with each other.”

The conniving lizard slithered around the chair, wrapping her tail around its legs as she whispered into my ear, “But you could, Flauri’el. You could have the young vyxa wrapped around your fingers by the day’s end. If you’d just bring them here.”

“No. We’ve been over this already.” The finality in my tone made it clear just how done this discussion was. Sure, it would make removing our link a much more trivial matter. And I could even change the vyxa back into a human, I expected. But I had no illusions in being able to successfully send her—them—back. Even out here in this small little settlement, someone would be bound to notice not just one, but two piercing holes through the veil between realms. It wasn’t exactly subtle. I could get out of it, but not without consequences—problems that I was very much already actively avoiding.

Nhlia deflated, her head flopping down dramatically onto one of my arms.

“It would cause more problems than it would solve,” I continued, rubbing the spot between her horns.

“We wouldn’t have to do it in secret. I took a bit of time to read up on it earlier. You can get permits for special circumstances,” Nhlia muttered.

I looked down at her. She’d actually researched it? Was that what she’d been doing the last few hours? I didn’t think I’d ever seen Nhlia read anything. She was serious about this.

The cute Htolian looked up, giving me a pout as she continued, “Like vulnerable and helpless little demons trapped in the human realm.” She stared meaningfully into my eyes.

I hesitated, deciding to be diplomatic. “Perhaps it can be a last resort then,” I compromised. Bringing the human here would be cruel unless we could also send them back.

The toothy smile she gave me back lit up the room. Now to just somehow get through to the arrogant human so that things wouldn’t have to come to that. Thinning the barrier between the realms was not something I was interested in contributing to…