Demon King's Gardener

Jurao headed out to the garden before the evening meal so he could see the shrine in the daylight - while demons had excellent night vision, it wasn’t perfect. When he arrived in the Bewitching Garden, he was surprised to see snow covering the area.

Braelin looked up from the bench next to the shrine, “Oh, good afternoon, my lord.”

“Good afternoon,” Jurao replied, unbothered by the cold as he walked across the distance, “What is this.”

“I asked the Howling Shrubs if they could freeze this bucket of water for me, and after they did, they made some snow to keep it cold while I worked,” the human replied, holding up the partially carved ice block in gloved hands, “It’s only a rough likeness, but Eweylona said frost elf deities should always be represented with ice or glass, so I was making a statue of Wylylendra.”

“I see,” Jurao nodded, “Does the castle have glassmakers.”

Braelin shook his head, “Gaele said we could put a request in with a merchant, but it would be expensive - so I decided to make this in the meantime.”

“Understandable,” the Demon King replied. While goods from other realms in the Strength Triad were common enough, goods from the realms in the Arcane and Inspired Triads were harder to come by. Though of those, Human Realm goods were only a little more difficult than Beastkin or Troll goods, so a glass statue of an elven god could certainly come from there for less than the Elven Realm.

Jurao flinched as a Crystal Hydra tree branch creaked down and wrapped around Braelin’s waist.

The human set the statue down and grabbed onto the tree limb, “Ah, excuse me.”

The Demon King blinked as the tree simply picked his gardener up and deposited the man at its center, carefully rearranging its branches to hide him from view. Jurao frowned, cupping his chin as he looked down and tried to figure out what it meant.

“Your highness!” Gnori shouted, pounding a fist against his chest as he charged over, “Good afternoon!”

“Ah, good afternoon, Gnori,” Jurao nodded, understanding now - it was only day five of the week the Captain of the Castle Guard had demanded Braelin continue hiding from him.

“Is something wrong, sir?” Gnori asked - volume only slightly lowered from a shout.

“No,” Jurao replied, waving at the shrine, “I only came to see the shrine in the daylight.”

His castle guard captain snorted, crossing his arms, “I don’t really get this shrine idea, but I guess it’s good to show appropriate gratitude!”

“That’s true,” Jurao nodded, careful not to look at the tree hiding Braelin as he asked, “How fares your search.”

“The gardens may be big, but they’re not big enough for him to evade me forever!” Gnori replied, pounding a fist into his palm, “Especially since he follows the same routine!”

“Is that why you’re in the Betwitching Gardens now,” the Demon King asked.

Gnori nodded, “Yes, exactly! But there’s no way he could be here now; I would know!”

Jurao did glance at the left behind carving in progress before asking, “What if he were here now - would you give up your search.”

“Ha!” Gnori grinned, “There’s no way he could be here without me sensing him, so sure! If Braelin is here, I’ll give up early!”

The Demon King nodded, and turned to the Crystal Hydra tree with a smile.

As prompted, the tree picked Braelin up again to gently deposit the human next to Jurao. His gardener scratched at his chin and said, “Sorry.”

Gnori stared, frozen in shock.

Jurao turned away to laugh - he didn’t mean to belittle Gnori’s efforts, but seeing his very loud captain of the guard at a complete loss was too amusing.

This seemed to stir Gnori back to himself, and his face darkened as he pointed at Braelin, “No! I mean, no! Don’t apologize! I told you to prove you could hide, and you did! I concede my defeat!”

“But you were trying really hard…” Braelin said, not appearing bothered by the aggressive tone.

“That doesn’t matter!” Gnori shouted, “You proved even the best of the castle guard couldn’t detect you, so the honor of my men is intact!”

“If you say so,” Braelin replied.

“I do!” Gnori said, then straightened up and said, “But this place still scares me so I’m going now that we’ve resolved this!”

“See you at the evening meal, Gnori,” Jurao said as means of farewell.

Gnori pounded a fist against his chest again - then begrudgingly nodded to Braelin before turning and jogging away as he shouted, “Goodbye!”

As the Demon King watched him flee, he observed, “You seem to have adjusted to Gnori quickly.”

Braelin sat on the bench again, picking up his carving, “He reminds me of my brother.”

“Really,” Jurao asked, sitting next to the human.

His gardener nodded, returning to his work, “Malson is also very loud - he said it was because no one really listened to what he had to say when he wasn’t shouting. Gnori seems similar - that he’s just shouting to be heard, not because he’s angry.”

The Demon King smiled, “I do not think Gnori would appreciate the comparison.”

Braelin hummed, “Probably not.”

“What are your other siblings like,” Jurao asked, “The twins.”

“They were teenagers when we were separated,” the human said, “So they’d be adults by now. They were always close with each other - Meir’ril is quieter and enjoys reading and handcrafts, while Ayelma loves riding and hunting.”

“I see,” the Demon King said, “It sounds like you were all close.”

Braelin smiled, “Yes - it was nice.”

“I hope we find them,” Jurao said, looking out over the gardens. It might be nice to add an afternoon walk to his routine - he was already missing his former exercise.

“Me too,” Braelin said, and shivered, “Ah, I probably should have gotten a coat as well as gloves…”

“Here,” Jurao said, unpinning his cloak and draping it over the human, “This level of cold doesn’t bother me.”

“Thank you, my lord,” Braelin said, adjusting the way it draped. As he returned to carving, he asked, “Have you any siblings?”

“No,” the Demon King replied, leaning back on his upper set of arms and letting his lower set rest in his lap, “I’m an only child.”

Braelin nodded, “But you have good friends.”

“I do,” Jurao agreed, “I’ve known Feyl since we were both,” he paused and rephrased, “The demon equivalent of teenagers and Minaz since we were young adults. I am also good friends with Exka, but you’ve yet to meet her.”

“I’ve never had many people friends,” Braelin said, “But I had my family, so it was fine.”

The Demon King nodded, “Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to have siblings, but I never felt unfulfilled.”

His gardener nodded, then said, “Oh, we have another staff member now.”

“Ah,” Jurao asked.

Braelin nodded, “We got complaints about no one being in the office, so Gaele asked to bring in one of their friends from the Administration Department. Her name is Demarri.”

“I see,” the Demon King said, “When did she start.”

“This morning,” Braelin replied, “She seems nice - she joined so she wouldn’t have to do much work. Since she’s mostly there to be a person in the office, it works out.”

“And Gaele has been handling paperwork fine on their own, I’ve heard,” Jurao nodded, watching the human as he carved, “Seems the Gardening Department is coming along then.”

Braelin hummed in agreement.

“Ah, you’re being granted a title to go with your station,” the Demon King said, “Since the rest of the department heads are all nobles already. Just a minor lordship.”

“Is there… something I have to do for that?” his gardener asked, frowning.

Jurao chuckled, “No - I understand titles in the Human Realm often relate to the ownership and governing of land, correct.”

Braelin nodded.

“In the Demon Realm, it is difficult to manage small settlements spread over large portions of land,” Jurao explained, “Our land here is very hostile, so only larger settlements tend to survive. As such, nobility is not tied to land ownership like in the Human Realm. Titles are tied to positions of authority - when I became General, I was also granted a title.”

“But titles are still hereditary as well, right?” the human asked.

The Demon King nodded, “Yes, they are.”

Braelin nodded, finishing up with his ice carving. He set his tools aside, looking over the simple ice sculpture and nodding in satisfaction before getting up to place it in the shrine, “How many different titles are there?”

“What do you mean,” Jurao asked, picking his cloak up and folding it over an arm.

“In the Human Realm,” the human said, scooping up snow to pack around the statue, “There are several different titles that denote rank within the nobility.”

“Ah,” the Demon King said, getting to his feet, “In that case, only three - King, princelin, and lordis.”

“But there are different levels of… lordi?” Braelin asked.

Jurao nodded, “Petty, Minor, Lesser, Middling, Major, and Greater.”

“How do you tell them apart?” his gardener asked.

“Oh,” the Demon King frowned, “I suppose most just… are aware of who is who.”

Braelin hummed, then said, “I think having different names is simpler than just having to know, even if they’re annoying to learn.”

“That’s true,” Jurao said.

His gardener looked around the garden, “I think it would have to stay like this for the statue not to melt…”

“The garden is your purview now,” the Demon King said, “And as I said, this level of cold isn’t much hardship for demons, so you’re free to allow the snow to remain. Many nobles who haven’t been to colder regions may enjoy it.”

Braelin smiled, “Thank you - at the castle in Jost, I didn’t actually have much control over the gardens beyond caring for them. It’s nice to be able to do what’s best for the plants.”

Jurao smiled back and nodded, “You’re welcome.”

“Oh! Your Highness!”

They both turned as Gaele jogged into the garden. They sketched a quick bow and said, “I was coming to get Braelin for the evening meal - uh, what… is this?”

“Snow,” Jurao replied, “A different form of frozen water.”

“It was…” Braelin considered, “It is to keep the ice statue from melting.”

Gaele crouched down, putting their hands in the snow and laughing with a shiver, “For frozen water, it sure is soft! Equally cold, though.”

“Back home, we would build snow statues and people,” his gardener said, “Want me to show you?”

“Yes, absolutely!” Gaele agreed, seeming to have completely forgotten their reason for coming.

Braelin started balling up some of the snow and turned to the Howling Shrubs, “You can keep making more if that’s alright.”

The shrubs shivered, then started swaying, which caused snow to come out of them in drifts.

“Thank you,” Braelin smiled at them, then went back to creating a ball of snow.

Jurao looked towards the castle, then shrugged, “Here - you’ll get too cold again without this.”

“Oh, right, thank you, my lord,” his gardener said, standing still as Jurao leaned down to pin his cloak around the human.

Gaele watched with wide eyes, forgetting the ball of snow they were forming in their own hands.

Jurao remembered Minaz’s comment earlier that day about how it was good Gaele wasn’t a gossip, so felt compelled to explain, “Humans aren’t able to tolerate the same level of cold as demons.”

Braelin nodded, setting his snowball on the ground and starting to roll it bigger, “That’s true, but I tend to forget the cold when I’m doing something. I’ve gotten sick that way in the past.”

“Oh!” Gaele said, “I get it! I just thought it was because-” their face darkened, and they shook their head, “Uh, nope! Nevermind!”

“If you believed I have a romantic interest in Braelin,” Jurao said, deciding to join in on the activity, “I do not, but you would hardly be the only one. I am not upset by the misunderstanding.”

“You just… said that,” Gaele gasped, then grinned, “Your highness, you’re amazing! Anyone else would be too embarrassed to even talk about it!” then they chuckled, “Well, I would be, anyway…”

The Demon King hummed, “Is that so.”

It took a few moments for Gaele to respond, “Oh, that was a question! Ah, um, yes? Romantic feelings can often cause embarrassment, especially if you aren’t sure if they’re going to be returned.”

“I see,” Jurao said, watching as Braelin continued rolling his ball of snow bigger and bigger.

“Malson definitely,” his gardener huffed, “Would get embarrassed… by his crushes…. I never… really had… any.”

“That’s not surprising,” Gaele laughed, starting to roll their ball of snow as well, “What are we going to do with these, anyway?”

By the time they had successfully stacked the balls of snow and decorated them to look somewhat like a person, Alae walked up to them with a laugh.

“Your highness, you’re missing the evening meal,” he said, inspecting their work. Alae was a rare inspired demon, a little under eight feet tall with tan skin and green, wavy markings. Unlike other demons, he only had two blue eyes, though his sclera were still black. His tail was plain, and his horns small bumps from his forehead - his pink hair pulled back in a low bun as usual.

“Every once in a while that’s fine,” Jurao replied, intrigued by the snow person they’d made.

“Certainly, but as King, you should send word ahead,” Alae replied, “Otherwise, your advisors will worry.”

“Ah, I’ll have to make my apologies,” the Demon King said, seeing the wisdom in that.

Alae nodded, then turned to Braelin. He stepped over and partially bowed, “We haven’t been introduced yet - I’m Alae, his highness’s secretary.”

Braelin nodded in return, “Nice to meet you.”

“I haven’t seen snowpeople in a few centuries,” Alae laughed, looking at their handiwork again, “I went to the Human Realm to learn about my heritage on that side, and my human ancestors live in a snowy region. Seeing this is quite nostalgic.”

“The snow will be around for a while if you want to make your own,” Braelin said.

“I might, at a later time,” Alae nodded, then said, “But for now, the others are waiting for your arrival to begin the meal, your highness.”

“They didn’t need to do that,” Jurao said.

“By protocol, they very much did,” Alae chuckled again.

“Ah, yes,” the Demon King had forgotten that. He turned to Braelin, “Shall we, then?”

Braelin nodded, and they started heading out.

“Ah!” Gaele said, then seemed to hesitate, “Um, maybe you should…”

“Yes,” Jurao asked, pausing.

“Um!” Gaele straightened, then bowed, “Nevermind! Have a good meal!”

Jurao looked at Alae.

Alae glanced at Braelin with a small smile, but merely bowed.

The Demon King nodded back, and they resumed walking to the castle for the evening meal. Jurao noticed odd stares as they passed through the halls but paid them no attention.

“Apologies for being late,” he said as he entered the dining hall.

“No matter, it-” Hujur cut himself off as he looked at them.

Jurao looked at his steward expectantly as he and Braelin took their seats, and the table was unusually quiet.

“My lord,” Minaz sighed, covering her eyes, “Is that your cloak Braelin is wearing?”

“Oh,” Braelin responded, unpinning the cloak and holding it out, “I forgot I had it on. Thank you for lending it to me.”

“You’re welcome,” Jurao said, placing the cloak in his lap. He turned back to the rest of the table, “Let the meal begin, and thank you all for waiting.”