Visit Thirteen
That weekend I decided to bring Ensharra out to the garden with me in the morning. Dia and Lucifer had a meeting that morning so they wouldn’t be back until the afternoon. I went down to his cell.
“Good morning, Ensharra,” I walked into his cell with his food and set it on the table.
“Good morning,” he kissed the top of my head and sat down to eat.
“So I have some good news.”
“What is it?”
“Would you like to join me in the garden this morning?”
“Really?”
“There are rules of course.”
“Of course,” he pouted.
“It’s nothing major, stop with the puppy dog face.”
“I’m not a dog.”
I gave him a look, “The first rule is for you to be on your best behavior of course. The second rule is you are to stay by my side. You aren’t allowed to fly off. In fact, you won’t even have your wings. No tail or claws either.”
“Why no tail or claws?”
“Because they can be used as weapons. You don’t use your horns for combat so you aren’t likely to use them.”
“Do I really need to get rid of them?”
“Yes. You don’t have a choice if you want to go outside.”
“Fine,” he sighed, “I agree to your rules.”
“Good,” I realized, “Oh, and when I take you out of your cell I will shock you for bad behavior.”
“What?!”
“I won’t use it willy-nilly. But if you’re starting to become an ass I’m going to give a tiny shock. It won’t hurt you, just surprise you.”
“No. I do not like that.”
“Then you get to stay in the cell forever. This is the first step to reforming. If you won’t even do this then you’re a lost cause.”
“That is harsh.”
“I don’t care. Just because I like you doesn’t mean I’m gonna let you have bad behaviors.”
“I wish I hated you.”
“Too bad, now you’re stuck with me. So, do you want to go outside?”
“Yes,” he gave up, sighing.
When he finished breakfast I took away the features that I deemed dangerous. I took his tray and led him out of the dungeon to the kitchen. Barbatos appeared to be elsewhere in the castle so I took the opportunity to do the dishes immediately.
“You do housework,” Ensharra questioned, looking around the kitchen.
“Yes,” I questioned back, “Is that surprising?”
“Is that not the job of Barbatos?”
“He has enough to do. I can wash a few dishes.”
He puttered around the kitchen waiting for me to finish and off we went to the garden. When we stepped outside he stretched and exhaled contently, “The fresh air is nice.”
“Isn’t it,” I agreed, leading him to some flowers, “I know this probably isn’t the best choice for your first outing but I have a stop to make.”
“At the flowers?”
“No.”
I didn’t elaborate as I picked 2 bundles of flowers and quietly walked to a more remote part of the garden. A very small cemetery with 2 small cat statues as headstones. I walked in and set a bouquet in front of each statue.
“These are the graves of my cats that passed while I was frozen,” I explained, sitting in front of their graves, “I’d like to spend a few minutes here if that’s okay?”
“Of course. Would you like me to give you some privacy,” he gently rubbed my head.
“No, I’d appreciate it if you were here with me.”
He wordlessly sat down next to me. We lingered in the silence for a few minutes.
“You know,” I quietly started, “I have no friends or family left from my life as human? They all died thinking I went missing or died.”
Ensharra didn’t say anything. I didn’t know what his expression was because I was staring at my cats.
“But I think the worst is that my cats passed away without the person who had them their whole lives. When they were hurting and needing me the most, I was stuck frozen inside a statue. My human relations had a support system to help them. But cats? What do they have or understand? Other than that their person, who they are familiars too, just disappeared? That mental connection, just. Gone.”
I didn’t really realize, but I started crying, the guilt getting to me. I hugged my knees to my chest as I rested my head on them. Ensharra was quiet for a moment, “I have the ability to resurrect them.”
“No,” my voice broke, “let them have their peace. Even if it’s without me.”
He gently laid his hand on the upper part of my back, “... Would you like a hug?”
I nodded and climbed into his lap as he wrapped his arms around me. He rubbed my back soothingly. We stayed like that for a few moments before he started humming. I relaxed into him and calmed down. I let him hum for a couple of minutes before sighing and straightening, causing him to stop.
“I’m sorry,” I looked at him, “I didn’t think I’d start crying.”
“You do not need to apologize,” he comforted, “They meant a lot to you.”
I sighed sadly and paused before looking at the graves, “By the way, I don’t need you to resurrect them. I have the ability to do so myself.”
“What did you resurrect?”
“There was a curse that turned Dia back into a child temporarily and he was holding a rabbit. It suddenly tried to hop down, startling him and he accidentally gripped it too hard, killing it. He began crying so I comforted him and resurrected the rabbit. I told him that he was kind and to not hold the rabbit. Just in case it got jumpy again.”
“You are soft.”
“Are you insulting me?”
“Not necessarily.”
“What do you mean not necessarily,” I lightly glared at him.
“I’m just saying that you are softer in your approach. It’s just different than when I handled the same situation.”
“I can’t imagine you were kind.”
“I told him to stop his senseless crying because he is above something like a rabbit. No need to care for something like that.”
I was not amused, remembering how he talked about me at first, “Something lowly?”
“What are you getting at?”
“Just remembering how you treated me at first. The lowly human being and how you are above something like that?”
He looked away, kinda pouting, “But I don’t think of you like that anymore.”
“Me, sure, but other things have feelings and feel pain too.”
“But they aren’t of the same intelligence as us.”
“That’s not the point,” I sighed, exacerbated, “The point is not doing undue harm to things, even those that you deem ‘lesser’.”
“What does it matter?”
“Because when you have strength you should use it to help those that don’t. Isn’t that what being a king is about? Being the strength of your people?”
He looked at me, taken aback.
“Do no harm, take no shit.”
“What?”
“Do no harm to others, unless others try to harm you or those you care about.”
“I see. Is that your guiding value?”
“Generally, yes.”
“That makes sense for you.”
“You could do with taking some of that to heart.”
He made a noise of complaint. I rolled my eyes.
“Alright, let’s get a move on. We’ve yapped my cats’s ears off enough for one day.”
I got up and Ensharra followed me through the garden. Even before freezing I spent a lot of time in the garden so I sorta yapped about the different plants as we walked. He did as he was supposed to and kept close to me, keeping a hand around my shoulder. We made our way to the lake and sat down near it.
“You have a lot of knowledge of plants,” Ensharra commented.
“Sorry, did I talk too much,” I apologized, rubbing the back of my head.
“No, I’m impressed you know so much about Devildom flora.”
“I actually have more knowledge about Human World plants. I taught a class at RAD about growing Human World plants in the Devildom.”
“Is that so?”
“Is that hard to believe?”
“Starshine,” came a voice from one of the back doors, “Are you still out here?”
“Sunshine,” I exclaimed happily, getting up and running up to him, hugging him, “Welcome home! How was the meeting?”
“I’m glad it’s over let’s just say that,” Lucifer approached us. I kissed Dia before moving to Lucifer.
“Bad or just annoying,” I gave him a kiss as well.
“Annoying,” Dia sighed, “The current head of the Magical Society isn’t as tactful as their predecessor.”
“Or as good at leading,” Lucifer scoffed.
“Aw, well, at least it’s over, right,” I put a hand on both of their cheeks, caressing them with my thumbs.
Diavolo’s eyes flicked behind me and he remembered that his father was here. He stood tall and met Ensharra’s gaze, “Hello, Father.”
Ensharra nodded in greeting but still didn’t speak. He looked at me and I glared at him, causing him to sigh, “Greetings, Diavolo.”
“How has your time with Starshine been?”
He didn’t want to answer at first but the glowing of my eyes told him that wasn’t a choice. He clenched his jaw in frustration but spoke, “The fresh air has been enjoyable.”
“I see,” Dia stepped towards his father, “Who knew you just needed some fresh air to get you to speak to me?”
Ensharra glared at him.
“Are you going to continue to dodge my questions, Father?”
“No,” he sighed in defeat as the glow faded from my eyes, “I will speak with you now. I do not wish to be shocked.”
“Then tell me honestly. How has Starshine changed you so in less than a year? Don’t forget I have the ability to discern whether or not you’re telling the truth.”
He hesitated for a moment as he thought, “I wish I knew exactly myself. He still irritates me often but something about his forcefully kind nature and dedication in the face of a very stubborn demon for the sake of his loved one wore me down. Outside of your vacation, he has not missed a single meal for me. No matter how frustrated he was when he ended our conversation.”
The genuine praise made me blush. He had given me small compliments before, but hearing him lay out why he started liking me made me happy. Diavolo turned to me, a bittersweet smile on his face.
“I knew if there was someone who could get to him,” he cupped my cheeks, “It would be you, Starshine.”
“Yes,” I smiled and put my hands on his jaws, “I believe you’ve said that before.”
He put our foreheads together and sighed, “I wish this could have happened sooner.”
“Do not think I like you because I enjoy Snowflake’s company.”
“Ensharra,” I scolded, eyes glowing. He ruined our moment.
“What did you call them,” Diavolo looked to him again, “Snowflake?”
He recoiled, obviously not intending to call me that, “I thought of it earlier. He is small and fragile like a snowflake. However, at the same time, when he rages he’s like a blizzard, which is made of snowflakes.”
“Did you just explain a blizzard to us,” I asked.
He pouted at me, “I did not expect to have to explain myself.”
“Are you going to start calling me that regularly?”
“Is that an issue?”
“No, I think it’s cute.”
He looked away, feeling uncomfortable with this sort of attention while Dia and Lucifer were here to see him be cute.
“I have never seen Father like this,” Dia mused.
“Yeah, he’s still new to the whole ‘love’ thing,” I explained with a smile, amused.
“I can hear you,” he glared at us.
“Good,” I proudly said, then suggested, “Since it’s lunchtime. Why not have lunch with Dia and Lucifer, Ensharra?”
His eyebrows furrowed in thought, “Would they willing to have that arrangement?”
I looked at Dia, then Lucifer. They both nodded. I turned back to Ensharra, “Well, that settles that. Come on, En.”
“En,” he questioned and approached me, “Is that what you are going to refer to me as?”
“Since we’re giving nicknames, I thought I’d spare myself some syllables.”
“How very you.”
I linked arms with Diavolo and Lucifer and we walked through the castle, En following behind us. I could feel the envy radiating into my back. Too bad for him, he needs to learn to share.
Barbatos had lunch for everyone set out already. Except for my seat which was empty of course. It seemed En was to sit next to me to my right, Diavolo sat to my left at the head of the table, and Lucifer sat across from me. We all sat in our seats and I sorta expected En to make a fuss about not sitting at the head of the table, but he didn’t.
“Are there still figure skating classes,” I asked, leaning my head on my fist.
“Of course,” Diavolo answered, “Are you itching to skate again?”
“Yeah, I’m starting to get antsy. I need something to do with my energy.”
“You figure skate,” Ensharra interrupted with a question.
I nodded, “Diavolo was my skate partner sometimes. But I would have exhibitions every now and then. It’s mostly for fun but I do love performing too.”
“You really are a snowflake.”
“That’s a very amusing sentence. But not for reasons you’d understand.”
He raised an eyebrow at me.
“I don’t really wanna do evening classes because it’ll cut into my time with you two,” I leaned back in my chair, crossing my arms, thinking.
“Why not in the afternoon,” Lucifer suggested.
“That’s when I recover from morning practice.”
“Then don’t practice on those days.”
“It’d probably be good to get out of the house regularly and take a break,” I agreed, “I think I’ll start with twice a week practice and see how I feel.”
“Don’t wear yourself out Starshine,” Diavolo told me.
“But I’m so excited,”I lightly tapped the end of my feet a few times in anticipation before turning to En, “Do you mind if start in three days?”
“Why are you asking me,” he scoffed.
“Don’t be like that. What’s wrong?”
“Why do you think something is wrong?”
“You scoffed at me.”
He glared at me.
“Are you sad you’ll lose time with me?”
He looked away.
“I’m right.”
“Stop that,” he scolded.
“Alright, I’m sorry,” I put my hand on his back apologetically, “But maybe one day you’ll be able to accompany me to my practices.”
“One day?”
“This is your first time out. You’ll be confined to the castle grounds as your outings until I’m sure I can control you.”
He scowled.
“Don’t look at me like that. I know exactly how you treat others you don’t like.”
He looked away again, taking a bite of his food.
I rubbed his back before leaning back on that fist, looking to talk to Diavolo and Lucifer again. We chatted until they were all finished eating and I brought En back to his cell in the dungeon. As soon as we were in his cell he grabbed and put me on his lap at the table.
“Feeling jealous are we,” I teased with a smile.
“I did not enjoy being left out,” he admitted, “I have never had to share before.”
“It’s a great time to learn then. Besides, you knew I’ve been with them. Kinda the whole reason I don’t bring you dinner.”
He pouted, “Yes, I know. However, it is still hard to share you when I have not had to share anything.”
“Aw, well, I’m glad you were able to make it through such a tough experience.”
“Why do I feel like you’re mocking me?”
“Just a little bit,” I smiled cheekily. He looked like he wanted to say something, “What’s up?”
“I also do not like that you will not be here for 2 days a week.”
“I’m not gone the whole day. I’ll still spend the mornings with you,” I smirked at him, “Besides, like I said, maybe one day I’ll let you come observe my practices.”
“Really?”
“If you are good then I’ll consider it. I don’t want to make the other skaters nervous.”
He scoffed, “So much consideration for others.”
“That’s part of what you like about me.”
“Hush,” he forced me quiet with a kiss. We chatted for a while longer before I left to spend the rest of the day with Diavolo and Lucifer. The former of which was quite pleased with the fact En was talking with him again, and that it went seemingly well. Which, all things considering, it did.