-- Lilith POV --

  "Lilith, lift you arms, I must tie this tighter", princess Lisa demanded.

  She lifted her arms dutifully. After the emotional backlash of the first walk, princess Lisa had regained her usual energy and was now even more eager to walk with Lilith and show off the result of the latest dress up game session. The fact that her claws made it hard to handle textiles gave princess Lisa a just too welcome excuse to dress her. Almost daily she was presented new outfits to wear.

  "Princess Lisa, do you know when I'm supposed to start working at the forge? Have the blacksmith candidates been selected already?" She tried to move the focus to the matters more interesting to her.

  She didn't get an immediate answer but felt the corsage tighten around her midsection. "I don't know. Is it important?" Princess Lisa seemed to be focused on her work at Lilith back.

  She tried to look over her shoulder at the princess, "I thought that was the sole reason your men brought me here, to do rune crafting for your mother."

  "No, this is more important to mom now." Another rather forceful tug at her back.

  "To make me a demon fashion show?" She tried to challenge Princess Lisa.

  "Proper clothes are important for any person of status. So that people can see immediately that you are not some poor peasant but you have achieved something. But that's not really the point. You are mom's achievement. The only demon who can do rune crafting with metal. And you work for mom now. She wants everyone to see that. And for that", it felt like Princess Lisa had put a knee into her back to have more leverage on the laces, "you must look like a royal prize."

  "You can take the arms down now Lilith." She was informed. "Close your hands so your claws don't get stuck. It's time for the blouse."

  Luckily they didn't even try any pieces that had to be pulled over her head, the horns were too obviously in the way. And the blouse was such a design again that covered her arms and flowed long down her back, but was cut very short at front and held together only by single decorative bow over her chest. Plenty of space to peek above and below. She had meanwhile given up to protest against this. While the princess used to wear less exposing clothes, they certainly were plenty suggestive as well.

  The princess inspected her from all sides, tugged and corrected the one or other bit of cloth till she stood in front of her again, "Looking good Lilith. Now the shoes and you are ready to go."

  Ah yes. Plateau-hooves. Whoever had invented these. The princess swore to high heaven that these improved her pose and walk and were an absolute necessity. She had to admit that they indeed changed her posture and body tension. The pain point was though that even without these she was already more than a full head taller than the princess and with them she felt even further separated.

  Nevertheless her lower legs got laced with leather once more and she stood now easily towering even over the well grown guards.

  "Leash time?" She asked. "Yes, let me get a chair", Princess Lisa declared and fetched a chair from the table to climb it and attach the leash to that platinum collier that was just a very elaborately disguised slave collar.

  So far Princess Lisa had held the leash in a hand, more a formality than a serious means to hold her if she didn't want to. Now the princess had shoved the sleeve of her right arm back and it revealed a bracer that looked to be made from the same metal as the collier and leash itself. They had told her this metal was also used for medical purposes.

  "Princess Lisa, what happened to your arm? Is it broken?", she pointed at the bracer and noticed that the hand held end of the leash also had been changed since last time. It ended now in a sort of loop that Princess Lisa fitted to a ring on the bracer.

  "My arm is fine. I don't know who had the idea, but during our first walk you had said that I am probably not strong enough to hold you if you actually want to run away. So someone made this. If you want to run, you'll have to take me with you", Princess Lisa informed her.

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  "You know I won't run. This cell is plenty comfortable. I'm even promised an oven for winter if I keep doing the walks with you. Why should I run? And where to? John is dead."

  "I know but someone wanted some actual security in place", Princess Lisa told her and put a small lock on the connection before she pulled her sleeve over the bracer and held the leash with a hand so it almost looked natural.

  "Today there is a craftsmen fair on the marketplace. Mom thinks that is a perfect situation to show you around and make you acquainted with some of them", Princess Lisa let her know while she put the slave shackles disguised as jewelry on her wrists, the final peace worn like waist chain to complete the outfit and continued, "Some are instructed that you will be there, some don't know anything, so there will be some surprise. Today there will also be two guards escorting us. We can still do our usual talk, they are under oath to keep everything we say secret. Just imagine they are not there at all. Mom is worried that kidnappers might see a chance to get you or me in the crowd."

  She frowned, "I sure hope there won't be any kidnappers. I had more than enough already. I want to settle in in some place eventually."

  Princess Lisa grasped a hand of hers, "Today they can't separate you from me. Alright Lilith, walk on my right side, hold my hand. That makes the leash almost invisible."

  "I just wish I wasn't so much taller than you", she felt a need to let Princess Lisa know this. "Don't worry Lilith. I like you the way you are."

  Princess Lisa tossed the key to the table, "Key must stay here the guards say. If it's on me, kidnappers can open the lock and separate us."

  "Can we talk about something else? Like, what do you like to eat? Or, your favorite games?" She tried to change the topic.

  "Just a moment. Guards!" The princess shouted with surprising intensity in her voice and the door opened. "We're ready. The key is on the table. You can let us out now."

  With horns and the plateau-hooves each door became a challenge, but she made it and stood relieved once they were outside. It was a sunny day again, but notably colder. Behind them two guards were standing, fully armed and armored.

  "It's quite cold today", she said to Princess Lisa.

  "Yes, it's autumn now. Soon the trees will take color and then drop their leaves. But snow is still some weeks away, maybe even two months." The princess didn't seem to be bothered by the temperature.

  Princess Lisa began to walk, this time leading them down the road away from the palace. She tried to stay at Lisa's side, holding hands with the princess. Eyes on the horizon, Lisa had told her, stand tall, walk with deliberate grace. She forgot about the plan to talk while she tried her best to walk in a graceful manner, despite being the tallest in their group.

  Soon more and more people filled the streets and she could hear a lot of people shouting, "Is that the craftsmen fair?" She had to look down onto Princess Lisa and really missed an easy way to make eye contact. The princess looked up to her though and nodded, "Yes. There are competitions going. Wood cutting, iron bending, and other strongmen spectacles."

  Strongmen. And they were dressed like two puppets from a dollhouse.

  They didn't make it much further when someone exclaimed, "The demon! And the princess! Make space for the princess!"

  From then they walked within an invisible bubble. One half of the fair was craftsmen showing their best products, praising their unique skills. Some booths were more on the practical side displaying tools, furniture, pottery and similar things, while others were geared towards artistry, less utilitarian but decorative items. Small sculptures made from wood, ceramics and metal were advertised and even a glassblower showed his skills and products.

  She immediately felt attracted by the blow torch the glassblower used, but wasn't given much time to indulge her love for fire. At least she was not tugged at the leash, the princess was still holding her hand, so the influence was rather friendly.

  "Princess Lisa, does the royal palace have glassblowers employed?"

  The princess looked up to her, "I don't know. Why do you ask?"

  "I like fire, but I only ever worked with metal at a forge. I'm curious how it is to work with hot glass. I can shape some hot metal with my hands. I've once made a small sculpture of bronze. Well, not a very good one, but it was fun to try", she smiled. "I'd like to try and see if I can do something like that with glass too."

  The princess seemed to think about it for a moment, but then lead her onward, "Mom probably wants you to work at the forge first, but I can talk to mom and the advisors and see what they think about it. Mom likes everything that she can advertise to improve the recognition of the royal family. Demon made glass figurines might be one of such things." The shorter princess looked up to her and she could see her smile, "Don't worry Lilith. Mom values you. If you offer to try something special, she won't say no to that."

  She was about to answer when a shout rang out, "Hey, demon!"