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Lindyss rolled around in bed before letting out a yawn. Her eyes opened halfway, and she groaned as she turned her face into her pillow, smothering herself with it. After a few seconds, the cursed elf pushed herself up and blinked before wiping at her eyes. She climbed out of bed and walked to the window, which was a knothole in the tree she was staying in. Were Vur and Tafel sleeping outside again? Lindyss spotted Vur and Tafel, and a furrow appeared on her brow. “You guys woke up early.”
Tafel flinched and turned her head towards Lindyss. “Y-yeah,” the demon said. “That’s what happened.”
Lindyss blinked at the demon’s response, and she glanced down at Tafel’s clothes. They were the same as the ones she wore yesterday. “Did the two of you stay up all night staring at that dragon tablet?”
“Yep,” Vur said, his eyes still glued to the screen. A green landscape was displayed, and a relaxing voice was talking about the insects that could be found in the region. Occasionally, it’d zoom in on one to better demonstrate what it was saying.
“Where’s the rest of them?” Lindyss asked.
“Mary’s training,” Vur said. “Kax and Melody went somewhere. Jeffery’s with Garlic and Ginger.” He wrapped his arm around Tafel’s shoulder. “Tafel’s here. Sir Selddup and his owner went home.”
“Is that what you think of Ashley?” Tafel asked, raising an eyebrow. “She’s just Puddles’ owner?”
“Sir Selddup’s owner,” Vur said and nodded.
“Right,” Tafel said and nodded. She glanced up at the sky and let out a yawn. “It’s a bit too late to go to sleep now, isn’t it? The day’s already begun.”
Vur blinked before shaking his head. “If you’re tired, sleep,” he said. “The day has nothing to do with it.”
Lindyss pressed her hand on the windowsill, which was the bottom of the knothole, and several of the tree’s branches bent downwards, shielding the interior of the tree from outside view with their leaves. The cursed elf’s shadow extended in front of her, and a massive wardrobe made of bones rose out of it. The plan was to meet the dragons today, so an outfit made of tougher materials was probably better. Some dragons liked picking things up to get a better look at them.
After Lindyss selected and changed into a dress made of mithril and orichalcum, she pressed her hand on the branches that were acting as shutters, and they slowly bent back into position. A frown appeared on the cursed elf’s face as faint snores droned in her ears. Did those two seriously fall asleep in the time it took her to get dressed? She leapt out the knothole, landing on the ground with a soft thumping sound before walking over to the sleeping couple. They were sitting up, leaning their heads on each other. Tafel’s horns were stabbing into Vur, but he didn’t seem to mind judging by the size of the snot bubble coming out of his nose.
“Well, I should’ve expected that,” Lindyss said and sighed, placing her hands on her hips. There was no point in going to see the dragons by herself. Without Vur around, she wouldn’t have much leverage when the time came to for a discussion with the big, magical lizards. Since that was the case….
Lindyss took a bat skeleton out of her pocket and threw it forward. It flapped its skinless wings and landed behind Vur and Tafel. “Alert me when they wake up,” the cursed elf said to the skeleton, and the small undead creature saluted by raising a bony wing. Lindyss put on a pair of sunglasses and headed towards the wooden tablet. “I’m going shopping.”
***
Within a giant, curled leaf on one of the trees that made up the phoenix canopy, Malvina frowned as she stared into a mirror. She let out sounds of annoyance as she tilted her body to get a look at her feathered self from different angles. Sighs escaped from her beak, and she turned her head to the side, glancing at the feather-crowned phoenix, who was perched on a branch in front of a small, red monument shaped similarly to Vur’s dragon tablet.
Malvina stared at the phoenix and … stared some more. She cleared her throat, but the feather-crowned phoenix didn’t even react. “Dear,” she said, “I need your opinion on something.”
The feather-crowned phoenix turned his head to look at Malvina. “What is it?”
“I should be disguising myself as a human to sneak into the tower to rescue that phoenix we were told about, but don’t you think it’d be too suspicious?”
“Suspicious?” the feather-crowned phoenix asked. “Why would it be suspicious? Your disguise skill is so perfect, even I can’t see through it.”
“Yes, that’s true,” Malvina said and nodded as she puffed her chest out. “But I’m the most beautiful phoenix in existence. If I turn myself into a human, wouldn’t people be suspicious of how perfect I am?”
The feather-crowned phoenix nodded. “That’s true,” he said. “In that case, you should send someone else to guide that phoenix home.”
A sigh escaped from Malvina’s beak as she hung her head. “But it wouldn’t feel right to pass on the responsibility of this phoenix’s safety to someone else. What if they fail, and two phoenixes are captured by those dragons? I’d be responsible because I assigned someone incapable of completing the task.”
“That’s true too,” the feather-crowned phoenix said. He furrowed his brow and brought his wing up to his beak. Whether he was actually thinking hard or just pretending, it was hard to tell. His eyes lit up, and he fixed his posture, facing Malvina completely. “I have the most brilliant idea. When you disguise yourself, model yourself after an average human.”
Malvina blinked and furrowed her brow as she straightened her head. “But then, I’d be ugly.”
“Exactly,” the feather-crowned phoenix said. “Who would ever expect a phoenix to take on such a hideous disguise? No one would suspect a thing.”
Malvina’s face cramped. “I’d be ugly.”
The feather-crowned phoenix nodded, and Malvina’s face crinkled even further.