Asuriel recognized the voice and the gloved hand. Quickly turning around in the chair, she saw Ghirahim standing directly behind her, leaning over her. Startled, she led out a small scream and placed her hands on the desk to help her stand, but found that the demon's other hand was clamped firmly on one of her shoulders, holding her down in the chair. Lazily, he drummed the fingers of his left hand against the cover of the closed book and he waited for Asuriel to do something. Meanwhile, the girl was completely frozen with fear. Not only was there a demon standing behind her, she was trapped and couldn't even see him.

Ghirahim sighed and leaned to one side so her could see Asuriel better.

"The least you could have done was do something more interesting than sitting in one place. I understand my presence demands respect, but you are allowed to move."

The girl pursed her lips, considering what to do. Obviously, Ghirahim was expecting her to do something and she had an idea that he would take it upon himself to see that she did. Perhaps he could give her some information.

"Where am I?"

Her voice quavered with the fear that she was trying to surpress.

"Demise's castle in the Faron Woods."

"How did I get here?"

"I brought you here."

"Why?"

"It was only natural, of course."

He straightened and began pacing around the vicinity of the desk, making his usual dramatic hand gestures.

"I couldn't stand to see such a delicate thing such as yourself continue to be mistreated by that blundering band of bokoblins. But, it puzzled me to think why I would bring a human to my master's castle and treat them so lavishly as I have you. To put it bluntly, something about you intrigues me and you are not permitted to die until I figure it out."

"You but you could have thought about that in the bokoblin camp."

"How very astute of you to notice. They may be my loyal soldiers, but they are stupid and not good company when one is trying to think."

"Another thing, what do you mean by intrigues y-"

She was silenced by a hand being pressed to her mouth.

"Shhh, that's enough for now. I came here for a reason, you know."

In answer, the girl tilted her head to the side, since she could not speak.

"It would be positively uncivil to leave a guest without some attention, starting with that ankle. Shall we have a look?"

Asuriel pulled back out of his reach, giving him a wary glance.

"I don't know..."

"Well then, lucky for you, I do. Now come here."

At his first step forward, the girl ran towards the door in hopes she could open it. The demon snapped his fingers and teleported in front of her. She bumped against him as she changed directions and ran away, yet he was soon there as well.

What fun this was for Ghirahim! One thing he knew for sure about Asuriel: she had an excellent taste in games. Unfortunately, the fun would have to come to an end. It certainly would not do for her to hurt her foot for a second time. When he teleported again, the demon swept Asuriel off her feet and carried her to the crimson chaise. She screamed and kicked her legs in vain, but it was obviously because she wasn't done playing, that or she was angry about loosing. Either way, it was quickly becoming an annoyance.

"There's no need to fuss, I know you're better than that. Now, stop this little temper tantrum so I can check your ankle."

The demon sounded perfectly calm as he adopted a patronizing tone. This seemed to make no difference in the girl's attitude, so he adjusted his tactic.

"How about we make a bargain, you let me inspect your injuries and I in return will teach you a spell from my notebook."

At these words, Asuriel stopped struggling and looked at Ghirahim to see if he was sincere. His next sentence confirmed it.

"Is it a deal?"

"...yes."

"Very good. When I put you down, I wanted you to sit and position yourself sideways to I can reach your foot."

When she was released, Asuriel carefully took a seat and, once Ghirahim was also seated, turned so her foot lay in his lap. Gently, he held her ankle and unwrapped the bandages, revealing just how swollen the skin was. Even the act of him brushing his fingers against the bruises or adjusting his grip sent shocks of pain through her leg, yet she remained still. Asuriel had no desire to lessen the probability of learning a new spell.

Wrapping her foot again hurt more than she thought. The girl wondered how she had been able to move around the room before when she was still so injured.

After securing the bandage, Ghirahim placed Asuriel's foot on the floor and shifted his attention to her head. When he was satisfied, he snapped his fingers and the journal appeared in his hands.

"When you regain your strength, I expect you should be able to heal yourself. Meanwhile, why don't you look through the first few pages and try to find something simple that doesn't require too much energy."

Asuriel took the book and gingerly flipped through the pages in search of spells that interested her. The beginning of the book was filled with basic things, such as simple levitation and creating illumination. It was all parlor magic used to train inexperienced people so they wouldn't hurt themselves.

As she kept going, the level of difficulty of the spells began to rise. Finally, Ghirahim placed his hand over the right half of the book to prevent Asuriel from going further.

"That's far enough."

"But those are spells for beginners, I would like to try something more challenging."

"No, the last thing you need is to overexert yourself. Depleting your magical energy will slow down your healing process."

"But you don't care about people working too hard. The first time I saw you, you drove Link to exhaustion."

Something about that struck a nerve and the book was promptly snatched from Asuriel's hands.

"Actually, I'm not in the mood to teach you something. It would be better for you to rest anyway."

"But-"

"Don't try my patience. I am going to lay down and read."

He snapped his fingers and a plate of food appeared on a small table not far away.

"When you finish eating, you may join me."

With that, he rose and strode over to his bed, reclining and summoning one of the large texts from his shelf. Asuriel didn't understand what had caused his sudden change of attitude, but she realized she was too hungry to figure it out. Through a window that was a few feet from the bed, she could see that it was already past sunset. How many hours had it been since she had eaten?

Meanwhile, Ghirahim brooded as he skimmed the pages of his book. Something boring about the 'creations of Hylia'. Whatever. His mind was too preoccupied to pay any real attention to what he was reading. The girl was an interesting little creature, something about her captured his attention, made him want to heal her and teach her new things. The notion seemed ridiculous, yet he felt that fate had a hand in this matter. More specifically, a string of fate.

He was careful not to disclose too much of this information to the girl. Her nature would require answers to questions Ghirahim wasn't ready to give answers to. The strings of fate were not the only things that intrigued him. Her reckless curiosity coupled with her innocence amused him, and he wondered what life looked like through her inexperienced eyes. But then, she had to go and mention that brat's name, hurling him into a foul mood for a second time that day. Not only had the hero have the gall to not die, but he had spent the day fawning over Asuriel and messing with his observations. But, that would have to be let go. This was the perfect opportunity to interact with her and no child from the skies was going to interfere.

Something about the situation surprised the demon lord. After their first encounter, he spas sure that the goddess' guard dog would have warned her to keep away from him and not listen to anything he said, yet she had consistently let down her guard. She should be terrified to be in his presence, so why was she so comfortable?

Speaking of her, Asuriel finished her food, which she had been deliberately eating slowly. For whatever reason, Ghirahim was in a bad mood and would probably need some space. But, with the food gone, there was no excuse for her not to go over to him. Approaching the bed, she saw that he lay on the left side of it, allowing a generous gap to be between them. The girl paused at the side of the bed, unsure if he wanted her to sleep there. This was quickly answered when she felt herself being picked up by some sort of magic and placed on the soft sheets. Asuriel stole a glance at Ghirahim, but his attention was still on his book. Careful to disturb the bed as little as possible, she situation herself under the covers. A few feet away, she heard the all too familiar snap as Ghirahim's book appeared back in its place in the shelf. Was he going to sleep beside her? She thought he was simply waiting her her to eat and then he would leave again.

"Do you need to sleep?"

The demon scoffed as he adjusted one of the pillows to his liking.

"Hardly. I don't need to sleep, however I find it quite refreshing to wake up from a nice rest. You, on the other hand, are bound to sleep as a way to renew yourself. You will surely need a good deal of time to rest, so I will wake you later in the morning."

Without another word, he lay down completely, signaling that the conversation was over. It was probably the closest thing to a 'goodnight' that Asuriel was going to get, so she followed suit and tried to relax.

What was she doing, anyway? Impa had warned her about the demon. He was dangerous. He was unpredictable. He was a weapon without mercy. Yet here she was, an attendant of the goddess Hylia, sharing a bed with a servant of Demise. Impa would have a thing or two to say about this.

Ha! I still updated in time. But only by a few minutes. Sorry about the later update.