Lush greenery spread across a broad mountain landscape. A forest at noon. Here and there, rocky outcroppings thrusting up from the trees, and one in particular sporting a cave mouth. A hot red glow shines out of it, dims, brightens, and then from within steps...

It had been three years since he had departed the volcano, and his fire safety habits had become second nature. He wore a heavy coat of plate mail, and a matching mail hood. He had ceramic clogs on his feet and thick gloves like oven mitts over his hands. Around his waist was arrayed a collection of long tools carved and cast from various ceramics and metals, looking like a set of fire irons, or very unusual weapons, but they weren't weapons. Nothing wanted to get anywhere near Iggy anyway. If there had been anyone around to notice, the overall effect might have been comical, but there wasn't. Visible beneath his clothes, and at every gap, his rough skin burned and flickered.

He had two objectives for this trip: Potentilla species plants, and bird eggs. The former he had long suspected would halt bleeding in creatures of higher metabolism if grown at higher temperatures, then reduced. The latter he suspected of being tasty. Three hours later, he had six sparrow eggs nestled inside an insulated bag full of Cinquefoil and Silverweed, and was headed back to the cave.

Originally, Iggy hadn't been interested in medicine per se, but it had meant interesting botanical challenges. He had done some experimentation on the local fauna with home grown remedies, and then an unexpected opportunity put a new spin on things: A kid in a nearby village of benighted humans from which Iggy used to steal food had come down with an otherwise fatal illness Iggy knew how to treat. It came to his attention when they dragged the poor child into the forest for some useless chanting while Iggy happened to be nearby, and he noticed the poor kid had the same symptoms as a pair of bear cubs Iggy had cured earlier that year. There was a distinctive rash on his face, and the same cough. The mother bear had died from it.

So later that week, for the first time since leaving the volcano, Iggy did the usual imp thing and abducted a child. A week later, he returned him to his crib, well again. His stealth failed him on the way out and he got three arrows in his backside for his trouble, but saving the kid's life had made him feel something he had never felt before, and so he got more systematic about his researches.

Iggy thought about this on the way back. The Potentilla species of plants promoted blood coagulation in humans and other mammals, but didn't work well on many other species, possibly because the pathways involved in "blood" coagulation was different in creatures that didn't exactly have "blood". But very rarely, it did seem to help, and Iggy thought he could make that reliable. Lost in thought, his eyes happened to land on a rocky outcropping ahead.

There was a nest in a badly windblown tree on top. Iggy snickered. A little variety in his diet wouldn't hurt. He detoured to the rocks and began to climb.

The trouble with birds' nests was that they tended to be in trees. If Iggy was quick, his continually burning skin would merely sear the tree as he climbed, but if anything caused him to linger they could catch fire. This tree was isolated among rocks, though, so even if he did burn it down, it wouldn't take the whole forest with it. Lucky. He began to climb, quickly and deftly, with a lateral rocking motion he had worked out to avoid heating one part of the tree for too long. He reached the top and peered eagerly into the nest.

It contained four hawk's eggs, and a dead pixie. His heart dropped into his stomach. It was such a sad sight. She was stripped, bleeding all over, and missing an eye. Even like this it was clear she had been beautiful before, for a pixie. He felt sad for her, and lingered too long thinking about it. The nest ignited. At least his presence would allow her to pass on in fire, he thought to himself. He deftly plucked a long pair of padded tweezers from his belt and put the eggs in his bag before beginning to climb back down. He wanted to get to the ground before the tree got to really burning. And then, just before he was out of sight, he looked up one last time. She was breathing.

Pel awoke slowly, and painfully. Her whole body ached. Eventually, she was conscious enough to wonder why she was still alive. Her last memories were of... She shuddered, which caused searing pain all over, and she cried out. Her last memories were of the hawk tearing her left eye from her face, before she passed out from the pain and sheer horror. She steeled herself, and then raised her uninjured right hand to her left eye. Her head was thickly wrapped in bandages, but that was enough confirmation. The horror returned. She had lost an eye... The permanence of the thing washed over her. She may be alive, but her life was over nonetheless. She began sobbing, despite the pain, but couldn't keep it up. She shoved those thoughts as far into the back of her mind as she could for now, and slipped again into unconsciousness.

Someone had changed her bandages. Of course if someone had rescued her, they must be still around, caring for her. She wondered who, since this certainly wasn't anything like the clan citadel's infirmary. Even lying on her back she could tell she was in a cave. There were stalactites on the ceiling. A strange cave, too. It was so hot that she was sweating, even though the one blanket was all she had on besides the bandages... She tried moving a bit, and the pain was still there, but less severe than before. She raised her head to get a look around - and there was a burning red hot demon not ten meters from her, fully ten times her height and looking right at her, holding implements of torture... She screamed in pure, visceral terror. Again and again she screamed, and then her mind caught up with the situation and she began to scramble backwards, but as soon as she moved the thing shouted, "Stop! Stop! You'll tear your sutures!"

Her mind blew a fuse. That phrase and that tone coming from that mouth, (which even as it opened revealed a burning throat and fiery tongue) was confusing enough that she did stop. The panic in her mind was still there, but some part of her registered that the demon wasn't coming any closer, it had its own panicked look on its face, and it was holding its hands up and out in the "stop" gesture. She shouted nonsensically, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? GET AWAY!"

It backed up until it was against the far cave wall, and said, "uh... um..."

She shouted again, completely without thinking, "WHAT IS GOING ON?!" She was so confused. Was this just a very strange nightmare? The thing was behaving... so wrongly... She was feverish from her wounds. Yes.

"I rescued you from the hawk's nest!"

Relief spread through her then. She was dreaming. "That's all right then," she said aloud, (because why not?) and passed out.

Awake again. Her head was clearer this time, which wasn't comforting. She was better able to take stock of her situation. She would have preferred to go back to sleep, and tried. No such luck. Maybe if it wasn't so hot... she extended her right arm sideways to get it out from under the blanket, and discovered two things in quick succession: First, the blanket was cooling, not heating, her body. The air outside of the blanket was even hotter than underneath it. Second, whatever soft thing she was lying on was suspended in a pool of water. The sudden feeling of intense confusion reminded her of her dream, and she raised her head to confirm... No demon. Good. She hoped whoever was caring for her hadn't been too offended at her feverish shouting.

Then the demon walked through the cave mouth, and she screamed. He jumped, as if he had forgotten she was there, and then put his hands up again and very deliberately walked backwards until he was standing with his back against the far cave wall where he had been in her dream last night. No, she corrected herself. He was standing where he had been standing last night when she had woken up and seen him for the first time. She stopped screaming.

They just stared at each other for a while. He dropped his hands, but otherwise didn't move. This time he was fully dressed, looking like he was covered in fish scales and assorted broken fishing poles. Now that she was forcing herself to think anything other than "NO, STOP, GET AWAY", she thought he looked rather ridiculous. That helped, somehow.

"You rescued me from the hawk's nest," she said, repeating his words from her dream. No, she consciously reminded herself, his actual words. He looked a little relieved at this, but still didn't move.

"Yes."

"Why... Why would you do that?"

The demon looked conflicted at that, and paused for a bit. Then he said, "You were hurt..."

She just stared at him for a while, and then said, more forcefully, "Why would you help... me?"

The demon said, "I know what you mean, but I don't know what to say. You were dying." Iggy looked like he didn't know whether to be proud or disgusted. His expression twitched between the two, and the fact that his face was literally on fire didn't help to clarify things for Pel.

She was tired of holding herself up, and slumped back on the bed, but with her neck angled sharply so she could still see him. He still hadn't moved from the far wall. She wondered if she could believe this. Demons torched whole villages while giggling. They stole children of all races and ate them. She had seen them do that. They delighted in suffering, and maximized it for the sheer challenge.

"You saw me in the birds nest, and instead of taking a bite yourself, you somehow brought me here... Why would a demon..."

Iggy frowned at that, and replied, "I prefer 'fire imp' to 'demon'."

"I'll bet you do", she barked, and then, "...Sorry," and with a shock realized that she was sorry. She wondered then if she thought she was safe. No. Hell no. Even if he had the best intentions, if he so much as walked forward, she would be roasted alive. But she had to admit she didn't expect him to do that. She realized that she believed every word, and marveled at that. There was literally a written set of instructions, put in the simplest language so no pixie could misunderstand, for what to do if a demon was spotted near the citadel. And yet...

"You aren't just saving me for later, are you? Too full now, so roast pixie later?"

"Weeeeeeeell..." he said with a grin, and then backpedaled immediately at the look on her face, "No, sorry, bad joke. I have no intention whatsoever of eating you, or of hurting you in any other way."

She stared at him for a long, long while. The fire imp leaned his back against the cave wall, and then slid down it into a sitting position. The broken fishing poles jangled against the ground as he settled. Finally she decided. "Thank you for saving my life. I thought I was dead."

He looked shocked, and then like he might cry, but said, "Any time."

She shook her head at that, and regretted it immediately because it jostled the bandages on her head. Grimacing, she asked, "What condition am I in, really?"

The imp said, "Hmm..." to that, looked at the ceiling, and then said, quickly and precisely, "The hawk took your left eye, two of the fingers from your left hand, and some of the muscle from both of your legs, and it tore your liver and intestines. You had a concussion, and I wasn't able to get you away from there quite cleanly either, so you have some burns on your back and legs, and I intentionally cauterized your more severe wounds before trying to move you. Your wings are almost completely unharmed." Then he looked back at her, and said, with unmistakable compassionate anxiety, "I did the best I could, and I hope you're going to be mostly OK in a few weeks."

Having somehow accepted the demon, her mind was now lingering angrily on the damage report. She growled through gritted teeth, "In a few weeks then, I am going to hunt down that hawk and murder its whole family."

"Ah... Sorry. You can't."

Her eyebrows shot up. This fire imp was going to tell her not to commit violence?

Then he raised a bulky bag he had clipped to his belt, and with a wicked grin, said, "I already took care of it. Which reminds me, are you hungry?"

She laughed like a bell, in spite of herself. Iggy thought it was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard. Then she clutched her abdomen with her good hand and moaned. After a minute of breathing through her teeth, she managed, "Yes. I am indeed quite hungry." Then, smiling at him, "Do you have a name?"

"Igneous! Iggy for short."

...

"Do all your people have such... fitting names?"

"Fire imps don't usually get names. I named myself after leaving the volcano."

Still smiling, Pel said, "My name's Pel. Tell me all about it while you roast that fucking chicken."