-- Lilith POV, Skyview Monastery --

  The moment she stepped into the superiors office she felt a certain weight in the air. On shelves among the walls and stands were dozens, maybe hundreds of books which emanated an air of power. And there were figurines and statues which she identified as saints or even avatars of gods. They felt scary to her.

  "Superior Martins?", a bit timidly she decided to make her presence known.

  He looked up from a heap of paper that covered his desk, a crown of silver hair on his head, "Ah yes, demon Lilith. Take a seat, please." He gestured to an empty chair in front of his desk.

  She took seat, immediately facing the problem of having no comfortable option but wedge her tail somewhere between her posterior and the backrest of the chair. Stools were decidedly better than chairs with a closed backrest.

  She looked at him, "You have let me be brought here?"

  He nodded, "Yes. I have good news and bad news for you. Try to get comfortable, this will take a while. Let's start with some of the good news. You have been identified as a lawful demon."

  She tilted her head to the right, "Lawful?"

  He pointed roughly towards her with an open hand, "Yes. There are lawful demons, even if many will deny this. Indications are plenty in your case though, starting with the first report of you being active in this world being that that you have reported a case of murder. Even if it completely escapes me why a demon ever would do such a thing. And then up to one of the last reports when the barracks burned down and you still stood where you cell had been and the first question you had was, if you are still supposed to remain in this place. Before that you apparently had promised several guards that you'll stay in your cell and they must not be afraid that you'll flee."

  She tilted her head to the other side, half in disbelief and he continued, "We believe that you are bound to promises that you give. It might be one of your sources of power, but we'll come to that later."

  "I never knew ...", she tried to explain, but stopped again.

  "There is something else that speaks for you", he continued, "for a demon you seem to be unusually honest and straightforward. You didn't hide it that you can make dice roll as you want them to. You also told the guards that you know which cards they hold and it can't be a fair game even you'd like it to be."

  She felt frozen on the chair.

  "Furthermore, you are not vindictive from our observations. Again, I have no idea why you would let that pass, and instead focused on small mischief which didn't cause any actual harm. But it speaks for you. So I think we can grant you some freedom in exchange to some promises that will be binding to you."

  "Yes?", she tried.

  "Indeed. You'll be free to visit some locations of the monastery, particularly the garden, the library and the dining hall. You'll visit the dining hall the same time all brothers gather there for the common meals and you'll listen to the prayers spoken to each meal. No one expects you to speak a prayer, probably you cannot even if you try. But you will listen. Furthermore you'll help the brothers to prepare food, wash the dishes, tend to the garden, and sort the books in the library."

  She swallowed, "Not the books, please."

  He looked surprised, "What is the problem?"

  She pointed to some of the tomes in the back of his office, "Your books hurt me."

  He looked in the direction she was pointing to, "You can feel that from here?"

  "Your whole room is fighting me."

  He slowly nodded and looked back to her, "Guess we come to the bad news then. Your demonstration with the holy water was brave and you have been very lucky there. You are a lawful demon, and some gods favor the lawful. It could have ended much worse if the water had been blessed by another god, or if you were not a lawful demon. So I must warn you, even if so far no weapon or artifact could hurt you, there are things in this monastery which are actually dangerous to you."

  "More dangerous than the books?", she had to ask.

  "We'll find that out", he declared and put a small figurine on his desk, then pushed it towards her, "Pick this up."

  The figurine almost looked malevolent to her, scary at least, definitely not something she wanted to touch. But the holy water had not hurt her ... not much at least. She took a breath and a bit hesitantly she picked the figurine up, just to freeze in shock as pain stung through her fingers. Way too many seconds she held the figurine before she dropped it with a scream and jumped from the chair to stare at her fingers. The figurine had burned holes into her fingers, which were now slowly growing whole again. She seemed to be alabaster white on the inside too. And she didn't bleed. Was that good? Once again, she didn't know.

  The superior put the figurine into an orderly position again. "More dangerous than the books", he concluded. She stared at the little thing that had tried to eat her fingers, "It hurt me!"

  He nodded, "See. Not all gods are so kind, just because you are a lawful demon. I still expect you to help out in the library. If some books are too holy for you to handle, tell the brothers you cannot touch them. They will understand that some books are untouchable for a demon, even a lawful one."

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  Her fingers had healed meanwhile and she returned to the chair, still shocked.

  He looked at her with a stern expression, "I know you were treated badly so far, but you also did do no harm. You once told you do not want to go back to where you came from, but I cannot allow you to roam freely. So I want to offer a compromise. You get a cell here in the monastery, you will work with the brothers, you will be allowed to visit the garden, the library and the dining hall, other locations if given permission or ordered to. Do you understand this deal?"

  She still eyed the scary figurine, then looked up to meet his eyes, "Yes, I understand this deal."

  He nods once more, "Now the difficult part. I cannot make you swear by a gods name, but I'll take it that you are bound to promises if you give them."

  "Maybe?", she allowed.

  "Then promise you'll stay in the assigned quarters and rooms, or be banished back to where you came from."

  This room was scary and the monastery was probably full of dangerous things like the one figurine there on his desk, but if she complied, this was still very much better than the prison.

  "No more assassinations?", she tried to require.

  "I'm only a man, but while it is within my power, there will be no assassinations in my monastery. You have my word."

  She took a breath and nodded more decidedly, "I have your word. I understand this deal. I promise to stay in the assigned quarters and rooms which include my cell, the garden, the library and the dining hall, help the brothers in their daily work or I will be banished back to where I came from. As reward I'll receive sanctuary in this monastery and be protected from further assassinations."

  Something tore at her and made her scream.

  The superior looked confused, "That hurt you?"

  She held her chest and nodded, "That hurt. I'm pretty sure it will hurt even more if I do not keep this promise. This room makes me weak. But to be frank, I don't think you can send me back to where I came from, because I don't think that was the place where banished demons go to. We'll not find out though because I'll not break this promise."

  She looked at him again, "You realize this does not work if someone abducts me and I did not initiate the abduction? Might still make me want to come back though. I like the idea of sanctuary."

  He granted her half a smile, "Nothing is perfect. That will be good enough. I have something else for you though, since you like games."

  "A game?", she asked with renewed interest.

  "More than one even. I was told you can see cards, and make dice roll in your favor, but unless you can read minds, these will have you play by the rules. Chess, checkers, morris and other board games where you cannot influence luck so easily"

  She suddenly had to laugh after the heavy talk before, "Now, is that a challenge or a promise! I'll love to try these."

  Something appeared to her in her mind and she paused for a moment before she spoke again, "Superior Martins, can I have that holy figurine once more?"

  Now he tilted his head, "It burned your flesh and you still want to hold it again?"

  She nodded, "Yes, I want to try something. You said, being lawful gives me power. You gave me laws and I agreed to them. Haven't broken any yet."

  "Oh", it escaped him, "Now you have me curious too. If you are willing to take the risk, please."

  He pushed the figurine to her side of the desk again. She eyed it. It still looked malevolent, but not so scary as before. Her hand had healed, so it would heal again ... she hoped.

  "Alright", she declared and picked up the figurine in a swift and decided move.

  Damn, that thing hurt. But she kept holding it and presented it to the superior.

  "I think you were right." She managed to squeeze out, but she really had to set the thing back down on the desk and take some heavy breaths while she inspected her hand. Her skin was discolored, but intact. "It still hurt plenty, but it didn't burn my flesh this time."

  "Impressive", he had to admit, "I take that as proof that there is substance in your promise. You can't lie to the gods. Not even as a demon."

  She smirked and shrugged, "Good for me, bad for me. Can't leave this place anymore, but the holy figurines can't burn me anymore. I'm not unhappy with the deal."

  He seemed to remember something, "Right, I forgot about this before I asked you to promise. For a demon you have very little powers to hurt other people, but great powers not to be hurt by yourself. That was part of the reason why I offered you to work alongside the brothers. You are somewhat safe to handle compared to other demons."

  She looked up surprised, "There are more?"

  "Not anymore"

  "I see. Hey, did you notice that I made no promise not to trick and tease people? Hope your brothers don't mind."

  "Lilith", he looked at her, sternly.

  "Yes?"

  "You'll behave decently in this place."

  "No promise." She felt bolder now that figurine had lost its power to burn her that badly. "You cannot throw me out anymore. You bound me to this place and set no limit, except that I must work for you and join the brothers for the prayers and meals."

  Now he showed a pained expression, "I was warned not to deal with demons."

  She leaned forward and put a hand on his, "Even without a promise, have some trust, superior Martins. I have no intention to turn this place into a madhouse. I like the idea of finding sanctuary here. I certainly do not want to lose it already again."

  He pulled his hand back, "That will be appreciated."

  She looks sad for a moment, "You know I'd like to hold your hand for a little longer. It's so soft and warm."

  "No, just no. Argh. Now I have a demon in my monastery. Why did I ever agree to this?"

  She looks at him with one eyebrow raised, "Because you want to do good things, and you trust that I am a lawful demon whom you can lead to a better path. We will hold hands another time?"

  He stared at her, struggling for words, "Yes. I mean, no. I mean, yes, I want to lead you to a better path. No we will not hold hands. Please Lilith, before things get complicated, return to your cell and meet us at 12 bells for the midday prayer and common meal."

  "As you wish, superior Martins", she got up and gave him a slight bow, "And thank you for the mattress. Before I had only straw to sleep upon."