Demon King's Gardener

"Maukul!" Souar yelled, stretching up to lean on the railing of the upper floor, "Maukul!"

One of the doors was thrown open, with an irritated Maukul demanding, "What?"

"Your partner's brother planted a drakebloom!" Souar replied.

"What!?" Maukul asked, leaning around their fellow dragon and spotting the King and his betrothed. They stepped back and bounded down the stairs nearby, asking, "Are you sure?"

"I take it drakeblooms are concerning?" Braelin asked.

"Um," Maukul scratched the back of their neck, seeming to consider Braelin for a moment before they said, "Usually…?"

"Usually?" Souar asked incredulously, standing back on the first floor.

Meir'ril – looking a bit disheveled – ran out the door and into the railing, and asked, "What's a drakebloom?"

"It's," Maukul growled a little uncertainly, then shrugged, and said, "I mean. It's… it's a sentient carnivorous plant. So. Usually pretty dangerous, but…"

"It's one of the most dangerous dragonic plants," a third dragon – Lave, Jurao assumed – said, emerging behind Meir'ril and gently fixing the elf-human young man's hair with one hand as fos said, "It usually grows into an entire nest, and draws animals in with a sweet scent. In dragons, the scent puts us in a heat state, and the drakebloom uses us as part of its reproductive cycle. So we destroy them on sight."

Lave was much bulkier with muscle than either Maukul or Souar, and fos wings appeared smaller. Fos had dark green scales, with thick brown stripes on fos back and a pale yellow mane.

Meir'ril blushed, clearing his throat and straightening his tunic as he said, "I was… uh…"

"I did not know you were courting," Braelin said mildly with a smile.

"Well, nothing formal," Maukul said, offering Meir a smile of their own, "So I'm not surprised he didn't mention it."

Meir'ril's blush deepened as he nodded to Lave in thanks and ran over to the stairs as well, asking, "R-right. But, um, about the drakebloom…?"

Maukul shrugged again, "Considering all you've told me about your brother, it'll probably be fine?"

For a moment, no one said anything.

Then Meir'ril laughed and said, "Well… probably, yes."

"I'll still come look at it if you want," Maukul offered, "I have sound breath, which is the most effective against it."

"I have fire breath, but they're resistant," Souar said, regarding Braelin with concern.

"And my earth breath would just damage the whole area," Lave added with a shrug, though fos remained on the second floor.

"I would appreciate that," Braelin said, cupping his chin as he added, "If it's too invasive, I couldn't let it overrun the rest of the gardens. Or getting out to the rest of the Demon Realm."

"The whole eating people and using them as seedbeds isn't the concern…?" Souar asked.

"All the garden plants eat people," Braelin replied, still looking thoughtful, "The seedbed aspect is an issue – if it doesn't need to propagate to remain healthy, it should be fine, but otherwise…"

Jurao frowned, knowing the idea of harming a plant likely distressed his partner.

Meir'ril chuckled and scratched at his chin as he said, "It may sound surprising, but Braelin has never had any issues with getting rid of weeds or other plants that harm a garden."

"I did have issues when I was a child," Braelin said, "but I can't let the rest of the gardens suffer for one plant, no matter how interesting. That's why I started it in a pot – but Huo'a noticed it fed on magic, so I moved it to the Bewitching Gardens. I figured the plants would be able to handle it if it started getting out of line."

"… it is the only sentient plant from our realm I know of," Souar said, "So I guess having other sentient plants watch it works…?"

"That's why it specifically uses dragons as seedbeds," Lave added, leaning on the second-floor railing, "because we generate such a high amount of magicka in our bodies."

Braelin hummed thoughtfully, but offered no further comment.

As their initial business was complete, Maukul and Meir'ril joined them in the coach returning to the castle – the dragon taking up the second bench, and Meir sitting beside his brother.

"So, um," Meir'ril started, "How did… announcing your intent to wed go?"

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"Well," Braelin replied, "or so I assume, since there was no objection."

"I would agree with that," Jurao said.

Smiling, Braelin asked, "And when did you start your informal courtship?"

"Ah," his brother blushed and said, "Two weeks ago, I think?"

"I mean, I've been flirting with Meir since we met almost a month ago," Maukul said, looking amused, "but I realized he was too flustered to make his own move about two weeks ago, yeah."

Meir'ril sighed, but smiled as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Braelin chuckled and asked, "And why did the three of you move to the Demon Realm, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Oh, well, you noticed how we're all very different colors?" Maukul asked, gesturing to their cloudy-patterned blue, gray, and white scaled body, "That's a good indicator of where we're from. I'm a Water Dragon, so I'm from the coastline. Souar's a Fire dragon – he's from the volcanic region. Lave is an Earth Dragon; she's from the plains. Most pods are formed from dragons in the same region, so we're kind of odd to begin with.

"We had trouble figuring out where to build a lair that worked for all of us," Maukul said, "so we decided to try other realms. We asked Grandpa where he thought we should go, and he thought we might like the Demon Realm. We came to Caslavven pretty much straight from the gate, and he was right. From here, Gevonar is close enough for Souar, the lake is big enough for me, and Lave can roam as much as she pleases across the plains."

"Grandpa," Jurao asked, tilting his head. He did not think, by Maukul's description, that the three were related.

Braelin considered, then asked, "Do you mean your god, Sou?"

"Ah, yeah," Maukul confirmed, "Forgot that's not how others talk about their deities."

"I don't think I've asked how you met," Meir'ril said.

"Mostly by chance," Maukul replied, "Souar loves exploring – I found him when he was trying to catch fish, but he had no experience with it. I taught him the basics, and he moved on. Came back a few months later with Lave, and said she wanted to learn to fish too. Lave took me to the plains to teach me to run down game the way she had with Souar, and Souar took us both to the volcanic region to teach us to hunt his way. Somewhere in the middle, we decided to be a family together."

"That sounds nice," Jurao said.

"Yeah," Maukul agreed – then added, "Souar's a terrible hunter, by the way."

Meir'ril laughed in surprise and asked, "What?"

"Doesn't matter what or how," Maukul shrugged, "Man can barely catch a thing. Part of why he wanted Lave and me to teach him was because he figured maybe he just wasn't good at catching birds midair. Turns out, he's just not good catching anything but attractive dragons."

Meir'ril laughed more and said, "Seems like the better option!"

"I know you appreciate the results," Maukul said, smile widening a little.

Meir'ril choked on air, then cleared his throat as he blushed again, looking away from the dragon.

Maukul chuckled, then asked, "Did Meir tell you about Grandpa Sou?"

"He did," Braelin confirmed, "but Maenscul mentioned him as well."

"Maenscul?" Meir'ril asked, "The demon deity of kings?"

"I thought, since we are wedding," Jurao said, wrapping an arm loosely around his partner's waist, "they might like to meet Braelin."

"They seemed nice," Braelin said. Then chuckled and added, "Not as energetic as Iescula, but neither is a bad thing."

"I've heard they visit Grandpa sometimes," Maukul said. They looked aside and added, "Well. More that they pull Grandpa away…"

"They are also the demon deity of sex," Jurao said.

"Oh," Meir'ril said, "I never thought about deities mixing like that…"

"Mm-hm?" Maukul hummed with a smile.

Meir blushed and said, "I mean, deities of different realm pantheons interacting like that, not… having sex in general."

"Oh," Braelin said, "I had not considered that either."

"You hear about the deities of pantheons from the same realm interacting and having kids sometimes," Meir said, "so I guess it's not that different. It's just the first time I've heard of deities from different realms doing so."

"You know, I think Grandpa and Maenscul may be the only ones I've heard of doing so," Maukul said. Then they shrugged and said, "I'm sure they're not the only ones, though."

They spoke a little more of Maukul and their partners before reaching the castle, and the dragon received plenty of curious looks as they crossed the courtyards to reach the gardens.

"It has grown out more," Braelin remarked as they reached the Bewitching Gardens.

As maroon vines had grown over half the garden shrine, Jurao was inclined to agree. They had also grown out dusky blue leaves and pink flowers that hung down in clusters.

"It's matured," Maukul remarked, shifting their weight between their four paws uncertainly. They growled and added, "They only grow flowers to draw in prey, but… I'm not smelling anything that's making me aroused, so…"

A few gardening staff members approached them, but before anyone spoke again, there was a loud rustling that made them all pause. From behind the shrine, a figure pulled itself into view.

It looked like a dragon in their smaller form, as Maukul was now – though half of its quadrupedal lower half appeared stuck in a large pink flower, which caused it to crawl across the ground with its front paws. Most of its body was covered with the dusky blue leaves, though the lower half of its paws and face were the maroon of its vines. The drooping flower vines grew out of its back like a dragon mane, though the Demon King was not sure what made up its pupilless solid yellow eyes as it settled on the ground.

It tilted its head and asked, "Braelin?"

"That's me," Braelin said, taking a step forward, "Do you have a name?"

The drakebloom shook its head and said, "I liked 'bud'. Is that a name?"

"It can be a name," Braelin said, taking another cautious step forward. He looked back at Jurao.

The Demon King nodded to his partner – he was ready if he needed to be, but would not stop his gardener.

Braelin nodded back with a smile and easily approached the drakebloom and said, "Bud it is. You could hear me before, then?"

Bud nodded and pulled the human close with the hands on its anthropoid torso to nuzzle his face, "And the other plants. They told me as long as I don't try to hunt anyone, you'll make sure I get fed. You smell nice."

"That's probably from being blessed by Iescula," Braelin mused, appearing content with the affection, "And the other plants are right – as long as you don't hurt anyone, you can stay here and we'll make sure you get fed and taken care of."

"Then I won't do that," Bud promised, leaning into the shrine.

"Is there a dragon deity of plants, Maukul?" Braelin asked, not attempting to escape the drakebloom's embrace.

Maukul chuckled uneasily as they lay their quadrupedal lower half on the ground, tail twitching as they said, "I know I assumed it would be fine, but it's… still weird to see. Uh, Dazikul is the dragon god of the earth and plants. I take it you would like to add him to your shrine?"

"Of course," Braelin said, "Since there's a dragon plant here now."

Jurao turned at a sigh.

High Priest Milve appeared vaguely amused as he said, "I am sure our resident elven botanist will be pleased with this development."