They were incredibly lucky – unbelievably lucky. It turned out that Frau herself had once helped women in the village give birth and cared for them after delivery. Just an ordinary village life, where the community works as a single mechanism. That’s why the woman could now point out some important things. Moreover, Frau had already been present at five births… impressive.
The umbilical cord was cut with a hot, clean knife. The baby was wrapped in a swaddle. Mari and Sefi turned into nannies and Frau’s assistants for several days: they brought food, carried out her instructions, handled all sorts of small tasks. They took care of her almost the same way she cared for the newborn.
***
A week passed. Everything had stabilized a little. Sefi nodded to Mari and stepped out of the tent. Today she wanted to ease the tension, help him, and cook a proper dinner, so she decided to go hunting in the forest again – despite the vision problems. Moving around with one eye was difficult: distances sometimes deceived her, and she kept stumbling.
Rabbit tracks were found quickly. No bow, but there was magic. That was great.
The first rabbit fell. Almost perfect, but the hole in its chest was too large; she should have used a smaller stone. And yes, she was throwing stones using magic. She made it swirl with the help of wind, and used a mini-tornado as the launching mechanism. The stone also spun thanks to the tornado, so it flew accurately.
The second one was caught, wounded, and squealing. She calmed it with a quick strike to the head, and the blood flowed stronger than she expected. Demons’ bodies were stronger, and their strikes were stronger accordingly.
The third had to be abandoned, because this time she decided to attack not with a stone, but with wind… it sliced its entire half.
There would be plenty of food, and tasty too, because there were spices here.
She returned and calmly, slowly began butchering them – carefully, so as not to splatter everything around. Mari had stepped away to chop firewood, and when he returned to the camp, he saw the demoness up to her elbows in blood. He howled and lunged at her with an axe.
— You! — Sefi waved her only arm, stepping back, and fell to the ground. — I shouldn’t have trusted you, demon!
Frau came out of the tent with the baby in her arms
…
…
…
— I apologize for what I did… — The man was kneeling before her. The demoness only looked at him, slightly shaking her head. — I…
Please, stay away from me
She wasn’t offended… but something still stirred in her chest when she saw him rushing at her with an axe. She could forgive – but she didn’t want to. Let him think about his behavior.
— Demon… I…
Serafima
— What?
Your name is Mari. My name is Serafima. All this time you didn’t even bother to ask my name.
She wasn’t offended… truly. She was simply setting boundaries. She helped them, cared for them, and in return received blind panic ready to kill her. That does not deserve trust. At all. Were her efforts… the blood she spilled for them worth nothing?
[Mari]
Trust: 65% → -1%
She displayed these letters right in front of his face so he would read them. The man flinched, and Frau standing nearby quietly sniffled.
— I… understand. Sorry.
***
After what happened, the relationship between them cooled sharply. Sefi didn’t try to restore it – there was no point. But she wasn’t going to abandon them either. She could make them think about their behavior, but she wasn’t cruel enough to leave because of it. And there was a baby here… that was too… bad.
She continued to help: she brought animal carcasses from the forest and demonstratively waited at a distance until Mari approached, after which she handed the catch directly into his hands. She left berries behind the wagon.
They settled in the same place where they had stopped. The first reason was that Frau needed to recover. The second… there wasn’t any particular reason. They simply decided so. And they weren’t eager to go to the village. More precisely, the couple wasn’t, but why? She didn’t know, although there were assumptions… but it was better to hear it from them directly.
Despite the lowered trust, Sefi helped them build a house – large, square, with four rooms: three living rooms and one for the kitchen. She didn’t count the entryway and the small storage room – too small to consider them full rooms. The house came out well-built, maybe even better. A stone foundation, solid wooden walls, thick and reliable.
She also used a new technique for herself: around the wooden wall she built another one – at a distance of about a centimeter – and filled the gap with sawdust, creating an insulated layer. On the outside she added a brick wall and coated everything with clay she found by the river. Her skills were enough, and the house rose in a week. The roof was wooden, only covered with several layers. The floor was the same, except instead of layers there was a carpet.
She worked entirely alone
When Mari tried to help, she stopped working and stepped away from him, step by step, ignoring his words. She returned only when he left. Frau’s attempts to talk didn’t break through, but Sefi calmly warned each time: “Don’t interfere if you don’t want a decrease in trust.” And Frau retreated. She separated them by trust, because it would have been unfair for the wife to answer for the actions of her husband.
***
The days stretched on – even and steady. They lived nearby, but the feeling was as if an entire forest stood between them. No… cold. Yes, the cold she hated so much, but fine, let it be. She wasn’t hurt… truly… just… let them learn, otherwise… it doesn’t matter.
Mari continued his attempts at improvement. At first timid, almost invisible. He walked closer than before, shifted from foot to foot for long moments, as if he wanted to say something… but the moment Sefi turned her head in his direction, he saw an empty, glassy stare, and she silently stepped away. Not rudely, not quickly – she simply walked off. Smoothly, quietly, without aggression.
He tried to help: lift logs, carry stones, even bring her water. But every time he approached, her hand froze in the air, her movements stopped. If she was holding something, she gently set it down… if he lifted a heavy load, she took it from his hands. She had only one arm, but she did have mana.
She stepped away
He stood there like a guilty student
And that was it
Frau was softer. She tried to talk. Small phrases. With caution, as if speaking to something fragile made of glass, though she knew – in front of her stood a CREATURE capable of breaking stone. Yes, a creature… because even though she knew it had a name, she didn’t ask for it… just like Mari didn’t. Maybe separating them by trust wasn’t necessary? She was a demon to them, horned…
— Serafima… you don’t have to distance yourself like this… we understand that you’re afraid…
Not afraid
Two words right before her eyes, glowing with a soft blue light, yet carrying the weight of a closed door. And when Frau tried to continue, Sefi simply stood up and walked behind the house. Farther away from her.
At night they heard her walking along the perimeter of the house. Doing something, sounds of dragging, and that sound of magic that Mari heard when the demon… Serafima… was building the house. What was she doing?
At first Mari thought she was nervous. Then they walked outside in the morning and saw a wall, tall, one and a half meters high. Stone pillars, between them a wooden palisade reinforced with several vertical logs.
That same morning, when he tried to say “thank you” – Sefi passed by, looking as if he wasn’t even there.
Sometimes Frau placed a bowl of soup on the table beside them. The table was long, Sefi had made it herself.
— Eat with us?
Sefi lifted the bowl with magic without even standing up, let it glide over to her, and ate while sitting on the opposite end.
And every time Mari and Frau started talking about her, Sefi tensed slightly: her shoulders twitched, her gaze slid over them, or her fingers froze in the same pose.
Then nothing
No attempts to reduce the distance
Only cold, even politeness and endless distance
At the same time, she stayed useful. Helped a lot and with high quality – more than needed. But her help was mechanical, dry. No gestures, no looks, no hints of the former warmth. If Sefi once widened her eyes in surprise or did silly cute things, now… nothing.
One day Mari tried again:
— Serafima… we… we truly regret it.
Sefi stood still, then motioned with her hand and called them to the kitchen. The two brightened and followed her. The demoness pointed to the chairs, and the couple quickly sat down. They waited for Serafima to take her seat, and as expected, she sat across from them. A minute passed in silence.
Tell me what you regret
The letters, that same blue color. They knew it, had seen it many times…
The question caught Mari off guard. He froze for a second, then intertwined his fingers and squeezed his palms:
— For that moment when I thought that you… attacked…
Attacked? Mari, the awful thing here is what you thought right away. You could have looked around, noticed the rabbits I had butchered, or the tent that wasn’t damaged
You could have considered hundreds of things: that a beast attacked us and I defended myself, or that I was injured, so the blood… but no, you immediately decided that I…
Frau lowered her head, the baby slept, nothing distracted them.
It was blind rage, Mari
Maybe because I am horrible… or because I am a creature with horns on my head? A demon?
She pointed at her horns – a mark of a being everyone wants to kill, yet why was it on her?
I just wanted to be proper, to take care of you so you wouldn’t die. But you yourself act… like this. I don’t ask you… but this is wrong. Trust must be earned.
The man stayed silent, staring at one point. Sefi stood up and walked out of the kitchen. The conversation was over.
She was walking down the corridor when she suddenly heard a quiet rustle. The sound came from Flamme’s room – the daughter of the couple. Sefi stepped inside uncertainly.
The cradle stood in the middle of the room. Inside lay a little golden one. How those two even managed to construct such a thing for a child was unclear. Apparently there really were cradle parts in the wagon, but still… strange.
— Ummm… — The little one, wrapped in a swaddle, lay with her eyes wide open. She looked straight at Sefi for several seconds and suddenly. — Guaaa!
Sefi froze, not knowing what to do, like a cat
Play?.. Is she asking for food?.. What is she even supposed to do? Sefi had no idea how to do this properly. What if the girl starts crying? How would she calm her down…
— Waa! — The girl instead made curious sounds, continuing to look at her. What was she staring at like that? Her face?.. No, higher. At the horns?
…
…
…
This feeling…
It cannot be put into words
***
The married couple eventually noticed the strangeness. Even though Sefi treated them… tensely, kept her distance as if ready to vanish into the shadows at any moment… it was different with Flamme. The demoness could stand near the child, all stiff and withdrawn as if facing a trap, and still – carefully stretch out her only hand, clench it into a fist, shake it, open her fingers and wiggle them as if trying to attract attention.
Was this her version of “playing”? It seemed so.
One day Frau left Sefi alone with Flamme. Mari was firmly against it, but the wife insisted – she chose to trust. And when they returned, they saw…
Sefi was sitting on her knees beside the cradle, motionless and focused. And the baby was giggling as if she had seen the funniest thing in the world. The demoness held her hand in front of Flamme – and the little one grabbed it with her tiny fingers and squeezed it like a plush toy.
After that, Flamme received her first teddy bear. Soft beyond belief. Not many colors, of course – just brown fur, tiny black dots for eyes, and a few neat stitches marking a mouth. And yet the quality was flawless: you couldn’t tear or rip it easily. Later it turned out that inside was a mix of bird down and something like cotton. And despite its simplicity, the toy was surprisingly warm.
I made it so that this toy would always be warm
That was what Sefi said… or rather wrote. Turns out there were charms. The simplest ones, but touching. And made specifically for their child. Though what looked like a simple charm had far more complexity than Frau expected.
The wife checked the bear’s mana – completely safe. The aura didn’t come from the whole toy at once, but from the very center, spreading smoothly outward. A true phenomenon. And it worked constantly, like a heater. The temperature never rose above what was needed, as if it knew better… it was a miracle.
After that, more toys appeared. A deer with large antlers, knitted with thick yarn. An owl with round eyes. A little ram. And later came a doll: long black hair, blue eyes. Blue – unusual, unlike any shade Sefi herself had. The demoness always wore warm clothing no matter what: a warm shirt, pants, and over them a light coat. Fur boots. If it got even a little colder, she always wore a hat.
The demoness handed the doll to the child with such pride, as if this creation would define everything in the world. Flamme giggled and began shaking the toy. The doll wore a simple red dress, without patterns, with small limbs and modest button eyes – but the colors made it special.
Then came other gifts. Sefi ignored the couple – but not their child. A favorite had been found. Bitterly so.
A baby chair with a soft cushion appeared. Clothes – perfectly sized and seasonal. Hats, mittens. Large metal bottles for milk, on which Sefi carved a single word:
Preservation
She explained that these containers would keep warmth. Pour in tea – it would stay at the perfect temperature forever. And the bottle could be held with bare hands – it wouldn’t burn.
At first they didn’t believe her. But the hot water left inside overnight stayed just as warm in the morning. No arguments left.
— Listen… she lives better than we ever have in our entire lives, — Mari said with a chuckle, examining another gift, a new hat, this time orange. Almost every one of Sefi’s gifts she handed to them first, waiting for approval. Only once she didn’t, and that was the colorful doll. — I’m glad, really… but ashamed too.
— I know…
Frau looked at all of it and felt something strange. A demon from far away, cold, closed-off… cared for their child more than they themselves did.
She took a deep breath, clenched her fists and finally forced the words out:
— Alright! Today we absolutely have to make peace with her!
***
A year had passed. Sefi had become better at talking with them, although a slight chill between her and Mari still remained. At least now she didn’t step away from him every time and didn’t ignore him. For that, he was sincerely grateful.
During all this time Sefi had become much more skilled. Especially in what concerned working with one hand. When she first made a toy for Flamme – that very teddy bear – she spent much more magic than necessary. Her only hand trembled, there were several visible needle wounds. Now she could do many things with one hand without using magic.
Isn’t that success?
For example, sewing with one hand. At first she barely managed, but over time she learned to control the thread and fabric almost as confidently as she once had with two hands. She also finally understood how to bring out colors. Yes, it took a lot of magic, but the result was worth it.
The principle was simple: if you need red – find a pigment. For example, berries. She threw them into water, steamed them with magic, crushed them and enhanced the color, saturating the solution. It was more of a shade enhancement than real “extracting” of color, but the main thing was that she could do it. Even at the cost of mana.
By the way, she did speak with Mari, but those words still remained like a seal on their relationship.
Your trust level will never rise above fifty percent. That's your penalty.
The man only took a deep breath and accepted it. Nothing more, Frau tried but received only a refusal.
But there was something more important.
She had spent a long time thinking through the replacement for her hand. A new one, magical. Technically, her magic could change matter if it was saturated with her mana. So she created a wooden hand – almost identical to the real one. Today was the day she intended to use it.
The principle needed to be explained, even if she had gone over it many times. Repetition is the mother of learning. Her magic could, for example, form a wall or spikes from stone and give them the needed shape. With any matter it worked the same… probably. A wooden hand, controlled by mana, like a prosthesis. The movements were like those clay figures in videos, where each position of the hand is a separate frame. The movement of the hand or, for example, the change of the face is already a new sculpting, the same with it but without frames. The wood itself changed smoothly; she only needed to control and adjust it depending on the task. The limitation was mana consumption for every movement or alteration, so she couldn’t swing it around too much, but it was better than nothing.
With the eye, unfortunately, this wouldn’t work, it was impossible. Too complex an organ. At best she could insert a crystal prosthesis to simply hide the absence of an eye. Nothing more.
Also…
Flamme usually made sounds like: “Guaaa!”, “Hehehe!”, “Ptyaa!”. For a one-year-old child, that was normal. But Sefi herself was over thirty, and she couldn’t make any sounds at all. Shameful and irritating, and it needed to be fixed.
Once she had made herself a choker that translated her words into the local language. She built her new device on that idea. The choker existed, but how to make sound appear?
Difficult. But she figured it out.
If she could bring out letters with magic in the air – then theoretically she could create sound as well. Her own voice. Something like a children’s talking toy, or like a phone’s voice assistant, or at least like the speaking voice of a translator. As the “original” she used her own voice. It came from the choker around her neck… and… well, it came out as sound.
But to speak, she had to construct the phrase in advance in her head, precise and complete, and only then “read” it in her mind. It turned into almost a script for each line – without real freedom of communication. But it was better than the complete mute chaos of gestures when trying to explain something. This forced her to face the fact that she could not speak and that every new word ate mana and required time to express… well…
The main reason for this “upgrade” was not only to return to her former form, but something else.
From her own observations Sefi had noticed that Flamme reacted more and more to words. For example, once she waved her hand in front of her, trying to get her attention, but as soon as Frau spoke the girl’s name – Flamme immediately turned her head toward the voice. It didn’t offend Sefi, it just… became a clear sign of her weakness… yes… weakness, nothing more. And weaknesses, as she knew, could become a problem in the future. And for a child, hearing different sounds was useful: the first words like “mama” and “papa” appeared thanks to constant contact and sounds.
The second hand was also supposed to play its role. Sefi, although afraid of children – simply because she had never really interacted with them… understood that this needed to be fixed. And Flamme deserved more involvement. The new hand would allow her at least to lift the child… though Sefi tried not to think about that yet.
As for gifts, she still couldn’t properly express care through words or gestures, but through things – easily. Gifts were her way of speaking without sounds. And if a thing was useful, then why not make another one? And… that wasn’t bad. Toys for children were good.
***
Three months passed. Sefi somehow learned to work with the new limbs – essentially, they were prosthetics. The arm was still glitching: sometimes turning into an unrecognizable shape, the fingers twisting or deforming, sometimes not changing at all and becoming a log… The voice module, the choker, also failed – sometimes the sound just didn’t come out, sometimes it distorted, but overall it worked.
This was a serious problem, but the spouses appreciated her efforts. Frau was even so happy that she arranged a feast. Today they were sitting at that feast table.
The place of honor was taken by Flamme. She sat at the head of the table, in a soft children’s chair. Yes, a children’s one. This detail was important, because the demoness made it herself. And Sefi insisted very harshly that Flamme should sit in the place of honor, even threatening to remove the trust points from the parents.
She carefully put a bib on the girl, tying the ribbons – she spent exactly two minutes on it, maybe more, but the ribbon turned out good, not pressing on her neck. Flamme sat still, like a little figurine. Lovely.
The feast began. There was a lot of food, especially vegetables – Sefi’s doing. Her ability to accelerate plant growth allowed them to gather a harvest in a week of intense mana infusion, a harvest that usually grows for a year.
She couldn’t taste any of it herself. The absence of a tongue deprived her of both taste and normal speech. But even visually it was clear how perfect Frau’s cooking was: lush, beautiful, as if clouds were resting on the dishes.
One-year-old Flamme was already reaching out to the most appetizing dish – the apple pie. Quite the appetite.
— Frau, give my portion of pie as an extra to Flamme, — Sefi said through the choker. The module didn’t allow changing tone or intonation: no sarcasm, no threats, just a flat, emotionless sound. The “pit of emotionlessness” became even deeper. Before, she could at least voice something, maybe not emotions, but something like a joke or disappointment, and now only flatness without any tonality.
Frau only laughed and nodded. She cut the pie but didn’t serve it yet. For Flamme, a bowl of porridge with berries came first – soft, light food for a child.
For Mari – a piece of meat, steak, plus mashed potatoes with a brownish sweet-sour sauce. Not sure about the sauce, but it smelled like it. It smelled both sweet and bitter so much that Sefi’s nose even tingled, not in a bad way, but pleasantly.
For Sefi herself – the most. Salad, meat, fried potatoes decorated with greens and tomatoes. It looked luxurious. She didn’t know the taste, but the smell was magnificent. Apparently the appearance was made special so Sefi could at least feel something.
On Frau’s plate there were more vegetables, but meat was present too – just less.
— Gugaaa! — Flamme tried a spoon of porridge. The girl was learning amazingly fast: she already knew how to hold a spoon, how to eat. A couple of drops still fell onto the bib. — Mama!
— What? Wait… stop, what?! Flami, say it again! — The mother almost choked when she heard this.
The father already did choke, but Sefi promptly handed him a cup of water.
— Mama!
— Sweetie! Sweetie, say papa! — Mari immediately brightened, jumped to the child and knelt down, looking with pride like a loyal dog.
— Papaaa!
— My girl! — He carefully picked her up and spun around, glowing with happiness. Frau repeated “papa” several times, making her husband even happier. He stopped and kissed the girl’s forehead. — Good girl! You are my genius!
And then… Sefi squeezed the spoon. Something stirred inside. Expectation? Desire? She didn’t know herself.
Flamme looked at her
She looked…
— Sepi!
She wouldn’t be able to pronounce “Seraphima”, even the shortened “Sefi” – too difficult for her tongue. What did she even expect? She wanted too much from a child, selfish… but still… Sepi…
Why
Why is it so warm in the chest?
Why does it ache like this?
What to do?
— Frau… give Flamme the whole pie, please. — Sefi looked at the girl. — I will reimburse later.
She couldn’t speak normally, but gifts – those are good, right? Flamme wanted the pie. So this was the right thing. Gifts are good.
[Flamme]
Trust: 95% → 1̶0̶0̶… 120%
She displayed these words right before Flamme’s eyes – blue symbols glowing, and the girl happily tried to grab them, clapping her hands. She couldn’t read at all… So why did she do it? Hm, that was another gift. Sefi herself hadn’t figured out what she would do if trust went over 100… But fine… she would think of something… Hah… Sepi…
Sepi… How pleasant