Chapter Text
The kingdom of death was still. Quiet. Organized. Yes, there were people, but they were dead and in no hurry. Which suited Caleb, its ruler, just fine. He liked the silent, unmoving days of managing the affairs of the deceased.
Which is why he was so disturbed by the off-key humming ringing through the halls. Caleb sent out his assistant Nott to find the source of the noise, but after half an hour on the dot, she had not returned and the humming got louder with another out of tune layer(There were some that argued that Caleb did not need an assistant, especially not Nott, that Caleb's skills and knowledge were enough. He ignored all of those comments promptly).
With a heavy sigh, Caleb got up and searched for for the 'music' and his assistant. He found it shortly. A blue tiefling with horns that curled forward was humming and drawing on the walls with Nott. A very alive blue tiefling. Drawings went down the left side of the hallway as far as the eye could see.
"Ahem." Caleb cleared his throat trying to get their attention. Nott was too absorbed in their art to notice him(which was more endearing than anything else. Caleb made a note to get her some art supplies). The tiefling turned to look at him for a moment and went back to her art. "Do I want to ask what you are doing?"
Nott jumped back from the wall dropping the crayon she was using to draw what looked like frowning bread loaf. "Cay! What a surprise." She tried to hide the drawings behind her diminutive form. "We were just, um, trying to clean off the walls."
"With crayons?" Caleb asked trying to hide his amusement. It was nearly impossible for him to be mad at Nott. A fault of his that he was criticized for endlessly, but he refused to be what he was before Nott again.
"Yes," Nott said. "Oh, I just remembered that I need to find that sound that was bugging you. Off I go." The tiny goblin scampered off before Caleb could say anything otherwise.
He chuckled to himself shaking his head before turning to the tiefling his demeanor becoming colder. Caleb got a better look at her. She was a couple of inches taller than him and nearly twice as wide(well, if he was being precise, she was 7.2 centimeters taller and 1.7853 times as wide). And there was a clear touch of divinity to her, likely a child of a god. Children of gods had the potential to become gods themselves but not all of them did, so that did not make her of any interest. The fact that her divinity screamed of life and birth and renewal did.
"What is the daughter of a living god doing in the land of the dead." There was more bitterness in Caleb's voice than he had meant there to be, but he never got along well with the gods above.
The tiefling took a step to observe her art and trading her green crayon for a blue one. Neither were colors that were natural for Caleb's kingdom. "Goddess. My mother is a goddess and she's super pretty and popular. She's pretty amazing."
"Then why aren't you there instead of vandalizing my halls?"
"Well, I have to. If I didn't put marks on the walls, I'd get lost," she explained like it was the most obvious thing ever.
Caleb rolled his eyes. "Then leave a mark where only you can see it. Otherwise anyone can find you by following the pictures. But that doesn't explain why you are here."
The tiefling looked away at the ground. "I had to run away. One of the big gods was being rude to my mom, so I thought I'd play a prank on him, but that made him really really mad and was going to kill me and stuff. So Mom sent me away to hide, so I'm hiding here."
"You really shouldn't be here. It's not a place for the living," Caleb said. "You shouldn't have been able to even get here."
"Well, that's what the boatman said, but I had the money for passage and he's actually nice and has the cutest blush."
Caleb was going to have to give Fjord the ferryman a talking to. The half-orc was awkward and uncomfortable with matters of romance and would agree to anything to make the flirting stop. "And your prank? What was it?"
The tiefling leaned in conspiratorially a grin wide across her fanged mouth. Up close Caleb noticed the freckles spattered across her face and just how cute she was. All the more proof that she did not belong here. "Well, this god was being all pushy and stuff and complaining about the celebrations Mom's followers were holding and their maypoles. So I left him a note saying to meet my mom in a certain field early in the morning. What he didn't know was that my mom wasn't actually going to be there and that field is super sticky in the morning and he got stuck. So then in the afternoon when it dried up and he was still stuck. I got streamers and decorated him like a maypole. Turns out he was a more important god than I realized and I got in huge trouble, so I'm here."
Caleb had to fight back a laugh. It was a good prank he had to admit. Though he had little time for pranks or tieflings or anything living really. But Nott had been seeming lonely lately and this tiefling could prove to be a good friend for her. Temporarily. "You can stay." The tiefling jumped up with joy. "But only for a month. After that then it's back to the world of the living for you."
"Thank you! Thank you!" She nearly gave him a hug, but Caleb managed to dodge it just in time. "My name's Jester! And yours?"
"My name is Caleb Widogast."
Jester stared at him wide-eyed. "The Lord of the Dead?" Caleb had never been popular with the gods of life. Whenever there was a council of the gods, the polite ones would ignore him like a bad smell and the rest would make not so secret comments about his apparent wickedness and cruelty(and now mostly likely rumors about him kidnapping Jester). He waited to see which category Jester fell into. "Do you sleep on a bed of skulls?" she asked brimming with excited curiosity. "Do you eat the souls of the living? And is your dog really three headed and can swallow me whole?"
Caleb was taken aback. He had not expected this reaction. "No, no, and I don't have a dog; I have a cat." He regained his composure and cut her off before she could ask him anymore questions. "There is something you must remember if you stay here. Whatever you do, do not eat or drink here. If you do consume anything during your stay, then you can never return to the land of the living."
"Never?" She sounded small and frightened.
"Never. But, do not worry, you will not need to eat while you're here and I will make sure that no one will offer any food either. I do not wish to trap you." That was the very last thing Caleb desired.
Jester drew herself to her full height looking more serious than Caleb imagined possible. "I won't be trapped." She then turned away from him and went back to finishing her drawing.
Caleb could already hear the entire underworld questioning his sanity.