Deep yawns were shared by the end of their meal and Eial steamed out the fire with water magic. He picked up his cloak and tied it back around his neck, welcoming the warmth it provided. By now, the moon illuminated the ground, peeking through gaps in the trees.

Wet steps caught Eial’s attention.

“Where are you going?” asked Eial, intently staring at the tall, dark figure.

“I’m gonna take a walk.” The demon continued to move further away.

“I don’t think that’s a safe idea.”

Spinning around, the demon faced the elf who had made his way over to him. With an irritated look, he bit out, “let me rephrase that. I’m gonna take a shit.”

“Oh,” blinked the elf with widened eyes. “Sorry for stopping you. Just stay near the trunk. The barrier isn’t too wide.”

“Sure,” waved the demon and left.

Demons must take their time, the elf thought, noticing his companion hadn’t returned for a while. He’d been waiting outside to make sure the demon was okay. Suddenly, bright purple magic caught the elf’s eye from the direction of the demon, followed by roaring and yelling. More purple magic revealed itself and hit what seemed to be an invisible wall before dissipating. Eial rose to his feet immediately to run in that direction, but soon enough the demon came into his field of vision.

He was… furious.

The demon stomped his feet in long strides before picking up the elf by the fabric around his neckline, holding him in the air. “You thought I wouldn’t find out, huh?”

Eial gripped the demon’s forearm without saying a word.

“Your fucking barrier doesn’t just stop elves from coming in, it stops me from leaving. You really thought you could hide it from me?”

“...So you tried to leave?”

Slits of the demon’s narrowed eyes turned towards a reddish hue as he glowered at the elf. He brought the elf close to his chest before using momentum to throw him against the trunk of the tree. The back of the elf slammed against the rough edge before he fell down, coughing, with a rain of leaves falling around him.

The demon marched closer in a rhythmic pattern before crouching down in front of the elf, reaching his lips near the elf’s left ear.

“You wanted to make sure I didn’t abandon you, huh? Like your parents did.”

Eial’s heart dropped. He sat still, eyes wide with a small puddle forming in them.

The demon pulled away, indifferent to the small being’s reaction. Had he gone too far? Perhaps. But he wanted his words to sting, and they did. For a being with wings, the thought of being caged without exit drove his instinct mad. And a cage he couldn’t escape because of a single, tiny elf? There was no limit to how much this elf crushed his pride.

“Change the barrier.”

“...”

“Change the fucking barrier.”

“...”

“Fuck!” the demon roared and kicked the ground, grass flying from contact. Turning around in steps, he retreated to the underground hut. “Better be fucking changed by tomorrow.” And he dropped inside, away from sight.

Eial sat still for a moment and then turned his body around to face the tree trunk, his knees hugging his chest. His small pointer finger traced the black crevasses of the wood as a soft lullaby escaped his lips. “E ro elv krevi ko sheh n te ‘evi—”

“Is that… demon’s tongue?” The demon's deep voice interrupted from the opening in the ground.

Quickly, the elf covered himself in a small cave of soil with magic, hiding away from the demon’s eyes and his ears. And in the blackness, he continued whispering his pained foreign rhyme, “the baby elf cries with tears in his eyes for love he did not know...”