Beneath the purple mist

The three generals

The three women got up from their seats and walked to stand behind Aleksei.

"Um... Good evening?" Alexander said awkwardly, not knowing what to do in the situation. And given they were all still on the floor, the four people standing in front of them seemed like towering giants.

"I tell you not to follow me, you kids do exactly that, and you are not even capable to not be seen?" Aleksei asked them sharply.

"You always go too easy on them." the chinese woman told him in her own language.

The three women and Aleksei started talking in a mess of languages. They each spoke their own but understood the other three.

"Why did you follow me, despite being told to stay put?" Aleksei asked after some time.

"We were curious." Allyn answered, as they were the one incapable of uttering a lie, it was for the best that they answer.

"And now you saw what you wanted to see, Trottler will now escort you back underground." Aleksei anounced, leading them outside and yelling for Trottler to get to them at once.

And so it was, they were escorted back to the orphanage, greeted by a very angry Ayana and an even angrier Ezume. From that day on the passageway they used to sneak into the castle was guarded, and Aleksei's visits grew less frequent.

They all felt really bad, realising that he set one rule for them and they decided to break it. They could tell he lost trust in them.

In a year time following the incident he visited only four times. The fifth time happened a few days before the winter solstice. The decorations were all in place and the kids decided to help out with preperations for the big banquet.

Just as Aleksei walked into the dining room, were the big decorated tree was, there was a crashing sound in the hallway he just walked through.

He turned to see that Darius, who was playing tag with some smaller kids, tripped and send a shelf tumbling down.

Aleksei rolled his eyes and walked towards him to help, just as the other four troublemakers came running up the stairs, chasing a runaway four year old fae child that refused to put on pants.

They froze in place and the small child managed to get away from them and down the hallway. Darius managed to get himself free of the shelf and stand up.

"Where might Ezume be?" Aleksei asked after a few seconds of deafening silence.

"Downstairs, in her office." Amaris told him and moved to the side when he walked past them "We still feel sorry, you know." she added.

"I know." he assured her and walked down the stairs.

The five stood there for a while before Alexander spoke "So are we following him?" he asked.

"Absolutely." three out of four said.

"Absolutely not." Darius said. "Don't you guys remember what happened last time? He'll never talk to us again."

"Not if we don't get cought." Allyn said, more asked in fact but nodded once the rest looked at them with a look that said it's not worth the risk.

And so, once again, they were sneaking behind the demon king.

This time however, Aleksei turned after only a few seconds. They all jumped to the side to take cover behind something before he spotted them.

"You really think you can hide from me? I could hear your footsteps from six miles away." he said, waiting for them to come out.

"Look, we just want to fix what we screwed up. We never meant to betray your trust." Alexander was the first one to come out of hiding.

"You kids have no idea what you're trying to get yourself into." Aleksei told them.

"We just want to show you that we're really sorry." Amaris repeated.

"Yeah, you said that. Multiple times, and I know it, but I don't want to be dragging kids into a centuries old affair." Aleksei said in a tone that said his decision is final, then he turned around and walked away.

"You will find that we can be very presistant." Allyn said and blocked his path.

"I have some really urgen things to discuss with Ezume, now move." Aleksei demanded.

Just then Ezume opened the door to her office "Your highness." she greeted Aleksei before turning her head in the direction of the kids.

"I know you all want to make it up to the king, but this is urgent." she said and the two of them entered her office.

In a matter of seconds the five kids were glued to the door. To their dissapointment the door had a silence spell on it.

Inside the office, Aleksei and Ezume were spreading maps over the table. Ezume traced the bumpy surface of them to get a picture of what was in front of her.

"When was the last time you spotted one of them? And where?" she asked, her finger running over the edge of the map again and again. It represented the passage to the human world. It was surrounded by nothing but ocean.

"Two nights ago, there were four of them and they were right on the border. They could swim." he said.

"Didn't Morningstar exterminate them all? The sitings stopped years ago." the witch said and started walking around her office.

"I don't know. Since they came from the human world I'm assuming she lied. I'll be going there tomorrow to check out the real situation." he said.

Ezume turned to him, looking concerned "But the silencers have the passage under strict watch."

"Exactly, so how would the violets manage to get through. It's either they want them inside or they don't have it under strict watch after all. And I have other ways of getting to the human world." The king explained.

"I'm coming with you. Ayana can handle them for one night." Ezume announced. "And what other means do you have? You can't open a portal to a place you haven't been to."

"You forget the fact that I have a dragon at my disposal?" Aleksei asked with a smug smile.

"Right." Ezume said and laughed.