**Alright.  Just before school, I gift you with this.  It could be awhile until I post something else, so yeah.  Not as long as I wanted, but it’ll have to do.  The demon scene is dedicated to my friend toastmonger, who actually requested it.  I hope I have fulfilled your wildest hopes, o monger mine. Brownie points if someone reviews with what the head demon honcho’s name means.**

After weaving his way through crooked streets and backtracking once or thrice, Llewen stood in front of a wooden door that had faced many years and the abuse that comes with human habitation.  The pull on his thoughts clicked into release as the door flew open before his knuckles could announce his arrival. 

            Lily stood in front of him, hands on slender hips, leaning forward in mock accusation.  Ink black hair fell in a complicated weave to the small of her back and bright brown eyes snapped with impatience.  “Really, Llewen, I can’t believe you managed to get lost four times.  I did tell you where we’d be two days ago,” she greeted him.  Grabbing his arm, she shut the heavy door against the wind and pulled him into soft candlelight, where a small cluster of people shifted from foot to foot. 

            Llewen tried to defend himself, “Well I lost the map.  I hid it when Fledin barged up the stairs and then never found it again.”  He shrugged at Kwen and waved hello to his twin’s future mother-in-law.  The woman sniffed superciliously and responded with a nod a shade too polite to be an insult.  Marilla, Kwen’s mother, had disapproved of Lily the moment she met her.  Daughter of the town drunk, immodest, and disrespectful, only the dowry hidden from Fledin convinced her not to have Lily quietly ruined. As master of the village’s gossipmongers, Marilla could easily have had Lily painted as a child-eating werewolf who bought her bread instead of baking.  A particularly pretty gold filigree bracelet changed her mind.  Kwen was a good smith, but naïve when it came to his mother’s machinations.  Lily thought it diplomatic to let him keep his illusions. 

            As Llewen was the last to join the small party, the village priest cleared his throat.  Lily joined Kwen.  Llewen and Mathias, a mutual friend, served as witnesses to the simple hand-fasting.  The ceremony was quick, much to participants’ relief.  Religion was all well and good, but on a frosty night the pressing concerns of earth intruded.  Animals and families waited, and the fear of another snowfall birthed a flurry of activity.  And of course, the impatience of the couple was the favorite vein of joking at weddings.

            Llewen gave his twin a quick kiss to each cheek and saw her off with her new husband.  He trusted Kwen, which was rare.  Lily and her twin had a powerful mental link.  Strong emotions were shared, and one could ‘beckon’ the other as if reeling in a recalcitrant fish.  When they were younger, Lily had ended up with a broken heart or two just like any other young girl.  Llewen had nearly gone mad with the female grief intruding his thoughts.  At the time, he had been trying to seal an apprenticeship to the country’s messenger service.  He had a long explanation in front of him when he burst into irrational tears during a discussion with the district manager. After that, Llewen grilled each of his sister’s suitors thoroughly.  Her resulting anger was much more familiar to him and more easily dealt with.

            The match between Lily and Kwen seemed to be nearly perfect, or as near as a human pairing could be.  Lily loved to drive a hard bargain and took pride in her innate sense of a fair deal.  Kwen had raw skill and a huge heart. When Kwen lost himself in a dream of greater inventions, Lily cared for the down to earth details, such as meals.  Once they worked out the kinks, Kwen and Lily would be an efficient, affectionate couple. 

            People trickled out the scarred door and trudged their ways home.  Worried Llewen would fall into a ditch on his way home in the frigid dark, Mathias offered a bed to him.  Together they fought against biting wind to a small house held together by nails and rags in the chinks.  To cold for joking and too good friends to mind a silence, each listened to wind howl and carry away their thoughts.

*

Acacius of the marshy red scales ripped another leg off the pony.  It had the taste of the mountains, of harsh grass and hard work.  Young, though, and deliciously raw.  He watched Rien scutter back and forth a few feet away from the pony’s remains.  Acacius enjoyed this part of meals.  Flossing his teeth with a hair from the tail, he waited to gauge the stormy, expectant looks his flunky waffled from.  Just when the imp had nearly given up and resigned itself to a hungry, resentful silence, he threw a hoof at Rien’s head. 

Happy with the gift, Rien hunkered down and his loyalty was reassured for another fortnight.  Done with this game, Acacius cast his whirling grey eyes around for a new entertainment.  A filthy red head caught his eye.  Human hair.  When they’d first taken her during a raiding party, it had been a beautiful mess of curly flame.  Acacius had kept her alive on a whim, and had hacked off most of the hair on a similar whim.  Now it was attached to the back of one his favorite cloaks he wore when lashing his minions into line.  Her head was an interesting mix of dirt, mats, and live things. 

Looking upon her bowed head, a gleam of an idea began to spawn in his mind.  Apple green eyes suddenly met his and the girl paled and flushed in rapid succession.  Fear battled with anger.  The thoughtful expression on his face, combined with the overpowering scent of fresh blood won over anger.  Acacius smirked and clicked talons together.  Two brown demons pulled the girl back to her cell.  Picking up his staff and swatting Rien absentmindedly, Acacius left the feeding chamber to plot in earnest.

**

Thanks to:

Mispeled: Yeah, yeah. I’m a random person sometimes ;).  Has it settled in?  If not, give it time.  It’s young yet, and still a bit hyperactive.

Emer: I missed your reviews so!! Creepier than Tim Curry, though.  I don’t know why Rien sounds familiar.  I didn’t include the house description last time.  I thought this version needed it.  I apologize for the lack in length.  I’ll work on it just for you.