Sheba and her thoughts
"Hey, where's Piers?" Jenna said, mouth full of mashed potatoes.
Isaac shrugged. "He went to go 'get a surprise'. Said he'll be back tonight."
"There's not much left of tonight, though." Mia commented, balancing a carrot expertly on her fork.
"You know Piers," Felix said in between bites, "Once his mind is set… there's no turning back."
"Everyone knows that." Ivan said, reddening a little. Sheba hid a smile, knowing what he was blushing about.
Sheba listened to the rattle of talking, slowly becoming more and more introverted as the dinner went on. It was true that she had promised Felix that she would never read his mind, and she broke that promise in a silly fight?
Well, not a totally silly fight. He had insinuated that she liked Ivan. Which really was ridicules if you knew him at all.
What was wrong with that? If she knew she didn't, and Ivan knew, what did it matter?
Sheba shivered. She couldn't decide what made her feel so… weird.
"You okay, Sheba?" Garret asked, who was sitting next to her. This surprised her; Garret was neither sensitive nor intuitive.
"A little cold, I guess." Sheba said. Garret nodded.
"Autumn is coming." He leaned in closer to Sheba, and whispered in her ear. "What's up with Felix? He's even stiffer than usual, which is saying a lot. He won't even laugh at my jokes!"
Sheba had to laugh. Garret made terrible jokes.
Garret smiled. "It's good to see you laugh. You're much too serious some times." Sheba nodded as Mia took Garret's attention, and she was one again left alone.
As dinner was finishing up, a familiar voice sounded through the doorway:
"And you didn't even wait for me at dinner?" Piers mused. "How rude!"
"Piers!" Jenna jumped into his arms, giving him a huge hug, and Isaac looked more than a little miffed.
"Hey, hey," Piers said, "No hug from Sheba?"
Sheba stood, and shook Piers hand. "How was the trip?" She asked.
Piers smiled, slightly amused at her formality. "Better with company. Feizhi made a good companion."
Both Isaac and Felix snapped their heads towards the doorway, and in one voice: "Feizhi?"
"It's me," A light, female voice said. "In the flesh."
Feizhi smelled like lavender, and look like she had been born in a dewy meadow. Her violet hair was fell delicately around her shoulders, and her martial arts body was trim and thin.
Sheba couldn't help hating her.
"I meant to bring Hamma back," Piers said, blushing, "But she had work to do, and Feizhi was bidding time. So Hamma will come visit us in a day or so, and take Feizhi back to her home."
"Gee, why didn't you stay longer with Hamma, Piers?" Jenna asked, and Piers got redder.
"I didn't want to bother her," he said curtly. "If you excuse me, I'm very tired and would like to go to bed." He rose, and walked upstairs. Piers had a permanent room at the inn, in exchange for a bit of his cleaning.
"That's Piers." Ivan commented.
"Maybe we all should go to bed." Isaac stretched. If you didn't look right in his eyes you wouldn't notice what kind of bed he was thinking of. "You must be tired, Jenna."
"Where's Feizhi going to sleep?" Mia wondered.
"She could stay with me," offered Felix.
Sheba's face grew pink with anger, and only Ivan noticed that her fists became tightly clenched.
But the Innkeeper walked up to Feizhi, and patted her back. "You've got a room here lass, free of charge. It's Pier's home too."
"Why, thank you!" Feizhi said, "I will go upstairs then. I'm very tired." With that, the two wished all a good night, and headed upstairs for sleep.
"Felix?" Jenna called on her way out the door, "I'm staying at Isaac's tonight!" Before he could say anything, she was out the door.
"I shouldn't let her do that." He growled.
"I think it's too late to prevent anything," Sheba commented.
Felix ignored her, and even let the door shut in her face as he walked out.
Sheba let a gust of wind open it for her. This is going to be a long walk… not to mention night, she thought. She, Felix and Jenna shared a house together. Sheba didn't belong any where else; the only other people she felt close to were Piers and Ivan, and even then, not to the extent of Jenna and Felix.
Especially Felix.
She looked at his figure in front of her in the moonlight. In this light, he looked frightening and dangerous. But, she concluded, that was one of the things she liked most about him. No one would kidnap her and use her with Felix there; even angry at her he would probably kill someone if they looked at her wrong.
Sheba liked to believe that she was special to Felix. But he would do the same thing for Jenna, or Piers, or Ivan, or any of them.
Wouldn't he? Sheba tried to imagine him getting worked up over Isaac. She couldn't. But he and Isaac didn't get on that well anyway. She then thought of Garret. He would probably save him, however grudgingly. Jenna and Garrett had always been close, and Felix had always approved of their relationship.
Felix reached the front door first, and unlocked it. He walked in, and held the door open backhanded. Sheba rushed in before he would lock her out.
Felix turned and locked the door, muttering something about Jenna.
"So, do you want some tea?" Sheba asked, surprising even herself. "I just bought some more blackberry."
Felix just sat down on their couch, and held his head in his hands.
"Felix?" Sheba asked, gently walking towards him. "Did you really want Feizhi to stay here, or were you just being nice?"
Damn it! She thought, Second stupid consecutive thought!
Felix jerked up. "Why would you think that?" He asked. "Why would you care, anyway?"
"I don't know, because you invited her?" Sheba snapped, avoiding the second question.
Felix looked at her, hard.
"It's my house too, you know!" Sheba sniped. "You could at least ask me first!"
"…Oh." Felix said, and his head dropped back into his hands.
Sheba felt a little guilty, and she didn't know why. She sat down next to Felix, hands between her knees.
"I'm sorry, Felix." Sheba found herself saying. "I'm… I'm sorry I read your mind earlier."
Felix turned to looked at her. "You're apologizing?" He said, obviously taken aback.
"Well, yeah, I guess." Sheba said. "Do you except it, or what?"
"Yeah." Felix said, and leaned back. Sheba yawned, and her eyelids fluttered a little.
"You want to go up to bed?" Felix asked. Sheba shook her head no.
They sat for a few minutes, neither moving nor talking. Felix began to drum his fingers on the side of the couch. Then Sheba began to shiver a little.
"I'll get some fire wood." Felix said, getting up.
"No! Don't get up! Please." Sheba begged.
"Well…" Felix said dubiously, "Here's a blanket." He pulled the blanket from off the back of the couch, and lay it over Sheba. "There you go." He said, a little awkwardly.
Sheba had been hoping he would invite her to cuddle closer to him, but he didn't.
"I remember when I first met you, Sheba," Felix said. "You were this stubborn kid that Babi had kidnapped, then was kidnapped again by Saturos. I thought, 'how could a kid be this unlucky'!
"Then, when you let go of the edge of the lighthouse, I jumped in after you… because I couldn't stand the idea of seeing a girl so mistreated, die so young…
"And when I pulled you out of the sea, do you remember what you said to me? You said 'Felix, don't you respect me enough to let me save my own life'?"
Felix looked down because he felt a little thud on his side. Sheba had fallen asleep.
He sighed, and looked at her. She was very pretty, the way her straight blonde locks fell on that serious face. Her hair was nearly never tousled; just as she was nearly never upset. Why had she lost her temper the way she had earlier?
Well, he should put her to bed.
Felix stood up, and scooped Sheba up in his arms. In her sleep, she snuggled closer to his chest. Her mouth opened slightly and a gentle snore fell out. Sheba then swallowed in her sleep and sighed a little. She was being very adorable.
Felix thought it wouldn't hurt to take her upstairs, and just fall asleep with little Sheba on his chest, or next to him, he would certainly sleep better…
No! He thought sternly, What on earth would Sheba think if she woke? You're her guardian, so guard her.
With some reluctance, he carried her up to her room, and lay her in bed. As she touched the cool bed sheets, she woke up a little.
"Huh?" She mumbled, "I thought it was warm."
"It's fine," Felix whispered, "Go to sleep." He tucked her in the blankets. He hadn't even finished doing that before Sheba fell asleep again.
Felix gazed at her a moment before retreating to his room across the hall. But no matter what he tried to think about, the image of sleeping Sheba in his arms kept resurfacing. And he kept wishing he had brushed the long hair out of her face, just once.
