Lifen! That was Senior Lin's demon!

Kai's heart beat wildly in excitement. He did it! He had found her! After all these years and fruitless searching, he had actually found her! Senior Lin's demon and his legendary painting!

Wait a minute, the demon was supposed to be beautiful. He looked doubtfully at the flour covered girl before him. Then he chuckled. She was a mess.

"The demon hunter who caught you ... was his name Lin?"

Lifen snapped her fingers. "That's it, Lin! That was his name! It was the Taoist Lin. How could I forget?" She studied him with renewed interest. "You know of him?"

"Yes. He's my revered senior."

"Revered? Why would you want to revere him? He's a hasty, self-righteous, pompous ...."

"Hey!" Kai shook his head, eyes widening in shock at her description of Senior Lin. He held up his hands to stop her blasphemous words. "No he's not!"

"He is too!"

"He's not!"

"Is too!"

"Ughh!" Kai breathed in and held his breath counting to ten. Then he exhaled slowly. He repeated this simple calming exercise until he felt less agitated. Forget about Senior Lin for now, he could always come back to the topic later. The important fact was that Lifen was Senior Lin's demon.

Lifen watched him silently. She could clearly see his irritation fade to be replaced by calmness and then elation. This demon hunter had more self control than the first one. But, what was he happy about? He was a strange one. She would never understand humans.

When she was yanked out from her painted home, she knew she was not dealing with an ordinary human. Playing dumb did not help, neither did diverting his attention. He may not now it but this human Kai was subtlety powerful and unusually focused. However, he was a softie. Unlike others who cursed or used her upon her manifestation, he simply wanted to ... talk?

"What are you thinking?" she asked when he stayed quiet. He was obviously wrestling with his thoughts, his face showed it all too clearly.

If she spoke to him civilly, maybe she could get him on her side and release her. Kai had claimed to be a demon hunter. Also, if he did know of the Taoist Lin who had captured her, he would also now the relevant spells to set her free!

"It's just that ..."

"What?"

"If you're Senior Lin's demon and this is his painting, why is there a house in this picture?" blurted the confused Kai. "Did someone find your lost painting, release you and seal you in another painting? If so, why did he not just bring you in for evaluation? You could have been cleared of all charges and set free! And it would have been recorded too!"

Lifen started in surprised realization. This human wanted to release her! Knowing this gave her encouragement. If she could just defend herself and clarify the events that happened all those long years ago, maybe the charges against her would be dropped. The truth would be recorded so that everyone would know what really happened. Only then would she be truly free.

"Demon hunter Kai?" she called softly.

He was still preoccupied, turning his head form her to the scroll and back to her again. Too many questions clouded his mind. But she knew if she made a false move, he would and could instantly banish her back without any qualms. Once inside, she would lose any opportunity to persuade him of her innocence until summoned again. That was part of the magic.

"I've only been trapped in one painting. That one," Lifen gestured to the battered scroll. "No one who found me ever removed the spell that bound me to it."

"Then why?"

"The house?" she smiled sadly remembering the hard days of her initial confinement. "I built it."

Kai's eyes widened. "You did?"

"Yes. The original work was just the forest and mountain. It's a nice place but had no shelter for me. I did not like sleeping on the hard ground nor did I like the sun shining on me all the time. It's bad for my skin," she patted her flawless face self-consciously. "But more importantly, I wanted some privacy from your Senior."

When Kai did not interrupt, she continued.

"The demon hunter Lin did not summon me out to question me even after he had obtained permission to keep me in his rooms. Instead he studied and scrutinized me. It got to a point where I felt almost violated! He could have just done what you're doing now, put up spells to make me harmless and just talk to me. Instead, he watched me, trying to guess my motives for harassing the villagers."

Kai was rapt with attention encouraging her to go on.

"I gestured to him trying to communicate but that obstinate ... "

"Hey! Watch it!"

"Umm, sorry. I mean that ... man," she bit her lips to stop herself from adding any colourful adjectives, "... only ignored me. Finally one day, I had had enough. I did not know how long I was going to be in there and it seemed that Lin had no intention of setting me free. So I decided to make myself comfortable. I also needed somewhere private away from his constant surveillance. So I built a house."

"How on earth did you do that?" asked Kai. Who would have thought a demon would ever do such a thing?

"The clearing is surrounded by a forest," she pointed out. "All I had to do was get some wood to start building. It didn't have to be too big. I was all alone."

Somehow her brutal honesty made him feel bad.

"Later I planted some flowers and vegetable for food. There are no animals, the artist did not paint any but that's o'kay because I don't eat meat."

"You don't? Ahhhh, I guess not. Flower demons don't eat meat," he concluded. It made sense. "But ... you eat flowers?"

Lifen tilted her head back and laughed. "Silly human. Of course not! I drink the nectar and consume the pollen among other things."

"Oh."

This was news to Kai. He had never bothered with actually getting to know the demons he caught before. There was no need. He doubted any other demon hunter in his Sect did either. Usually the Sect only questioned the demons regarding their crimes, punish them or rehabilitate them. He had only allowed Lifen to ramble on because he was interested in her backstory and Senior Lin's past.

Amazingly, Lifen was willing to talk. Since she couldn't lie as along as the truth spell was effective, this was his chance to ask all his questions which had consumed him over the years.

They spoke for hours. Kai lost track of time and was startled by his rumbling stomach. The embarrassing sound and Lifen's giggle finally ended their long conversation.

"You better tend to your human needs," sniggered Lifen. "I'm tired too. I haven't spoken to anyone properly in a long time."

"Yes, I'll eat and rest. You should too."

"Thank you," replied Lifen softly.

"Huh? For what?" asked Kai in surprised. "All I did was ask you questions."

He had learned a lot about her and her past. Everything made more sense now. After all, why would a normally docile flower demon cause havoc? They usually get along well with humans. Many of his burning questions had been answered and her terrible crimes, if one could call them that had been justified. At least to him. All he had to do was bring her back to the Sect for a formal hearing and convince them of her innocence. But first he would need some proof to confirm her story. Since he was near the village where it had all started, he would find the evidence to corroborate her claims or ... disprove it.

"Thank you ... for believing me."

"I did not say I did."

"I know, but at least you're willing to hear me out. It's more than what others have done."

"Ahhh ... o'kay," gulped Kai awkwardly. If her tale was true, his Sect had wronged her. As a representative, he felt apologetic and suddenly protective and responsible for her.

"You should go rest now. Sorry about your ruined dumplings."

"That's o'kay. I think you more than made up for it."

Without another word she turned to the painting, stepped in neatly as it was the most natural thing to do. Her figure became smaller as she walked down the stone path that led to her door. When she reached it, she opened it but turned to smile at him before entering the tiny opening.

Kai was elated. Now he had a chance to put things right. A chance to finally complete Senior Lin's demon's evaluation and end her long overdue imprisonment.