~* SLAYERS: FALLEN STARS *~
Chapter 7: Never Take It Off
Torrin did not take the news of the nightmare incident well, as expected. He insisted that Filia be watched at all times, but Filia would not have it. She explained it would not help anyway, as the attacker comes without warning and with no tangible form. The conversation ended without any definite solution other than asking Lina for ideas the next day.
Without wanting Filia to go to bed in a gloomy mood, Torrin left the subject be and steered toward the original intent of their chat.
Filia talked about the daily grind of running the shop, her girls and their aspirations of becoming great artists, and the little things she did to help her relax. On her days off, she often flew into the mountains West of the city taking Val with her and spend their time near a beautiful mountain stream, where even in winter it provided a perfect playground for little Val to stretch his wings. She went on about her projects and even took Torrin down to the store room to show him the small vases and tea sets she did herself. The cup Torrin was drinking out of was her favorite, and she did not have the heart to sell it.
Not once did Filia ever mention her life before meeting Lina other than her parents names and the fact that she was an only child. She did, however, went into great detail about her first adventure out into the world, the numerous detours Lina and the rest of the gang took, and their final battle with Valgaav.
It was obvious to Torrin she did not want to forget any of it, as this was a reminder of her responsibility to Val. Though raising Val did bring Filia a great deal of joy, Torrin thought it wrong that she ought to feel responsible for what happened. In his mind, it was not her price to pay, and in a way, she was just as much of a victim. Seeing the look on Filia's face as she narrated, he figured it would be better to not say it. Her resolve was too great.
There was not enough time in a single evening, so their late night chats became a daily affair, with the others slowly joining in and eagerly sharing their life story. Torrin was the only one who was vague. Claiming it was for security reasons, he left out a great deal, and Lina taunted him relentlessly for it. She was especially interested in the piece of Shabranigdu his clan kept watch over. Torrin held his ground, but not without losing his temper a couple of times.
The activity in the shop rose to a break-neck pace during the next couple of weeks in preparation for the festival, but Filia did everything she could to keep her guests entertained.
Gourry took to Val like he was a baby brother (with wings and a tail), playing with him and attempting to teach simple songs to him. Most of Val's words were still garbled nonsense, in the form of squeals and O's, though anyone could get the general idea of what he meant. He gestured his intent very enthusiastically.
Val was also at the age where he was crawling wherever he could on his human limbs, but he had not tried to test his legs further by pulling himself up on the furniture. With Gourry's help, Val was soon slowly padding around while holding on to Gourry's hands.
Once, Val attempted to reach for the coffee table, but as Gourry let go, he fell down a little hard on his bottom and started to cry. Gourry scooped him up by the underarms and bounced the hatchling on a knee until he was giggling again.
Lina watched from behind the door frame of the kitchen where she had been grudgingly helping Jillas with Spring cleaning, her attention on the fatherly look on Gourry's face. Jillas then came up from behind, scaring her and began scolding her for laziness. An exchange of a few nasty words and they were back to washing out the cupboards in strained silence. For the rest of that week, Lina could not think of anything else except Gourry's face when he held Val.
Her feelings toward Val himself were a little more reserved. Lina mostly watched him with curiosity from a distance. The only time she would get close to him was when he was in Filia's arms, especially during his feedings. She would ask Filia all sorts of questions, like how long does a dragon have to breastfeed (about four years, starting out around six times a day, eventually dropping to three times a day), how fast does a hatchling grow (at half the speed of a human baby until they exited the toddler stage), and more general questions about babies altogether. The majority of the time though, she just watched.
Torrin did approach Lina the day after they arrived to ask about what to do with Filia's situation. Admittedly, all Lina could think of is just to keep an eye open but not be too intrusive. She did, however, have one convenient piece of arsenal in her possession she picked up while traveling with Milgazia. Lina figured if it really was a monster that attacked her, then at least it will give them warning.
She went to Filia later that day, pulled out the dragoness' hand, and placed in it a simple necklace with a red teardrop pendant. Lina explained it had similar properties as the pendants she wore, and though it did not give a magical boost like hers, it could give her time to prepare. If it gently glows, a monster is close, but if it turns bright red and starts vibrating, its resonating with the negative energy field a monster is setting up for an attack. Filia could then run to Lina or Torrin, or even Gourry for help.
It certainly put Filia at ease, at first, but the first time the pendant glowed while she was out getting groceries with Lina, Filia had a panic attack and wanted to run back to the shop to check on Val. Lina had to calm her down and reassure her the pendant was not resonating, so there was no danger. Filia scanned the marketplace just in case, and sure enough, she spotted Xellos down the street.
Her whole expression changed to one of deathly silent anger. Filia marched down the street toward him, with Lina trailing behind, and halted just a few feet away. Xellos, who knew where they were the whole time, pretended not to notice until then.
He greeted them with the usual overly sweet compliments he always used with Filia now, which was a bit of a shock to Lina, considering the last time she saw them together, neither of them were able to speak to each other civilly. But what amazed her more was when Filia approached Xellos, not with the usual attitude of contempt she held for his race, but with real exasperated concern for why he showed himself.
"You're picking a real bad time, Xellos. Unless you have something useful to say, leave."
Xellos simply ignored her warning. "I'm glad to see you're doing well, dear Filia. There weren't any more nightmares since my last visit, I hope."
He spotted the pendant around her neck, still glowing gently, and picked it up to observe it for a moment.
He did not ask what it was or where it came from, just looked Filia straight in the eye and in a dead serious tone, said, "Never take this off."
This left Lina flabbergasted. Not once has she ever heard Xellos speak that way.
Filia was a little taken aback herself, her frustration suddenly diminished. She carefully lifted the pendant out of Xellos' hand. "I won't. Now would you please, just go. You nearly gave me a heart attack."
Xellos switched back to a more cheerful voice, but his smile seemed off kilter. "Should I announce my arrival from now on?"
Filia let out a sigh. "No, no need. This is the first time I've seen it work, and it just gave me a good scare."
"There's more to that pendant than just warning the wearer," Xellos added.
Lina finally entered the conversation. "What do you mean? It doesn't work like my talismans. It can't really do much else."
"Have you taken a good look?" Xellos asked. "Its origins are the same. The pendant has an energy pattern very similar to your talismans."
"I realize that, but-"
"-Your talismans are used to amplify. This pendant is used to deflect."
A realization came over Lina: What was the point of being warned if it offered no means of protection? "Just what can it deflect?"
Xellos shrugged. "Well, it does tell when someone like me is nearby, so I gather it can just about anything I can throw at it. I don't know the full extend of its powers, but it sure won't let anyone get a jump on you. If there's a weakness, I've yet to figure it out."
"Well, I doubt Filia would be willing to become your little test subject, so I think Egan and I will keep a close eye on her," Lina said suspiciously.
Filia was looking at the pendant in her hand the whole time. Knowing how powerful Lina's talismans were, there was no telling what else her own blood stone was capable of.
"I wouldn't dream of it, Lina." Xellos bowed in reassurance. "I'm afraid I wouldn't have the time anyway, as I will be held up on business for a while."
Filia looked up. "Wait, did you ever find out more about the two beings in the desert?"
Xellos took the trouble to look thoughtful. "Hmm, I'm afraid not, except they're not in the desert anymore. Its like they flew away."
"Oh great," Lina moaned. "I thought you said they were on their last legs."
"That I did, but on my return one was missing and I felt a very odd energy burst heading North, then…nothing. Absolutely nothing. Not even the resistance I felt before."
"How can they just…shut themselves off like that?" Lina asked. "If they're stirring up every creep in the astral plane, surely someone would've found out who they were by now. There would be no place to hide! I'm surprised you couldn't!"
"I was acting on orders," Xellos replied. "It would not have made much of a difference anyway. I wasn't kidding when I said I tried but couldn't."
He felt the strange sinking feeling again and looked at Filia, who's face was a bit pale. "Are you worried, dear Filia?"
She lightly shook her head. "I'm just wondering, if this had anything to do with my nightmare. The man that I saw, he didn't look like a monster though he felt very much like one."
"All the more reason why you should hang on to that pendant," Xellos said.
"That being said, don't keep us in the dark on what's going on in the monster world," warned Lina.
"If anything else happens, I'll make sure you're one of the first to know, so until next time, stay safe." Xellos directed the last part of his statement toward Filia before he phased out.
"Lina?" Filia asked a moment later, "Where did you find this?" She referred to the pendant.
"Bought it off a friend…before they died -I'll-tell-you-about-it-later," Lina finished quickly, not wanting to dwell on that episode much further. "And what is with Xellos acting overprotective and calling you dear?"
"He's just trying to annoy me." Filia nervously waved it off and turned back in the direction of the market.
Her mind was only half focused on the question. All she really wanted right then was to go home and hold her beloved Val in her arms. Things must be getting bad if Xellos is going to be busy.
There was no time to really think too much about it after that day. The shop was in a frenzy of activity. Only during meals was there any room to breath. Even the bathrooms were occupied much of the time with girls trying to scrub themselves off after each round of pots going into the kilns.
It was almost too much for Torrin, who suffered from prolonged stares and blushing giggles from the girls, not to mention needing to be extra careful when he finally had a chance to grab one of the bathrooms. Gourry did not seem to mind the attention as much, which often put Lina in a fowl mood.
Filia finally had enough herself when one day she kept overhearing some of the girls talking about what might Torrin and Gourry look like (without apparel). She figured the best solution was to keep them out of sight during working hours, so Filia asked Torrin if he would be interested in seeing the mountain stream she talked about a few days before and could take Gourry and even Val with him.
It was one of the best ideas Filia came up with. Not only did the chatter about them die down, Lina's attitude improved and Torrin and Gourry found the perfect place to practice and spar with each other. Filia only had to take a quick trip to bring lunch and check on Val, who was having the time of his life.
One late afternoon Filia went to fetch them because the shop was closing a little early that day, which meant no giggling girls to deal with. Gourry was relaxing under a large tree along the mountain path beside Val who was still taking his afternoon nap. She asked him where Torrin was, and he pointed towards the opening at the end of the path.
Filia found Torrin lounging on large boulder about as high as her shoulders by the clear calm river. He wore a dark blue sleeveless open tunic loosely wrapped around him and tied with a matching belt showing off his large yet lean muscular physic the Dimos were well known for as it flapped idly in the evening breeze. His black baggy pants were of the same style many nomadic desert men wore, and in Filia's eyes it made Torrin look like a thief from exotic faraway land. His tied back hair, the small silver medallion hanging around his neck, thick bracelet on each wrist, and small axe and knife hanging casually at his sides added an air of confidence such a thief would need to raid a tomb.
Torrin looked so relaxed, like a drawing out of an adventure book, that Filia didn't want to disturb him.
However, he noticed her staring and without a glance, said in his natural accent, "You look like one of the human girls, when you do that."
Filia looked away, her face getting pink. "I'm nothing like them."
Torrin jumped down from the boulder and leaned on it as he smiled. "Then why did you send me and Gourry away?"
"That was just to keep them from acting like a bunch of stupid teenagers," she said, still not looking at him.
"Well, you certainly look young enough to be one of them," he teased.
"But I'm more mature than they are. After all, I am four hundred and-" Filia clamped a hand over her mouth. It was not very dragoness-like to blurt one's age out without anyone asking. Besides, compared to the girls she was not much older in dragon years.
"And what?" Torrin pressed on, still smiling.
She slowly lifted her hand away. "And twenty-one."
Torrin could not help but laugh at the discomfited expression on her face.
"What is it with you!" Filia burst out. "You're so serious all the time, then out of nowhere, you make fun of me!"
"I'm sorry!" He continued to laugh as he walked towards her. "You've seemed a little stressed out lately, I just wanted to make you feel better. I didn't think you were going to take that so seriously."
"It was a bad joke," Filia said flatly.
Torrin stopped laughing but still had a smirk on his face. "I know. I've never been good with jokes. At least I got something out of it."
Filia's face pinked again as she stared down at the grass beneath her.
"Let's go," Torrin sighed as he made his way towards the path. Filia followed behind without a word.
"You know," Torrin continued, "You should be proud of yourself for taking on a lot of responsibility at your age. Most dragons like to take their time on accomplishing anything, as if the world waits for them."
Filia's heart skipped a little at the compliment. "What about you?" she asked gently teasing. "What have you accomplished."
Torrin stopped and turned around. Her face was still blushed, but she looked more flattered than embarrassed now. He also took notice of what she was wearing. Her dress was covered in tiny roses of her favorite color on top of a cream background with a dark pink bodice and elbow length ruffled sleeves. It was one of the dresses she would only wear if she was spending most of the day behind the counter of her shop.
Filia's hair was also down and caught the sunlight beautifully. Torrin liked it when she left it down.
"Enough," he finally answered. "I'm only a hundred and fifty years ahead of you, so I still have a lot left to do myself." Torrin turned around and continued walking, hoping she did not think he was ogling her.
Filia continued to follow him. "Then you shouldn't be so serious most of the time. You might come up with better jokes."
"I know, I'm trying. Come to think of it, it's been a long time since I laughed that hard. I guess I should thank you for that, even if it was a bad joke." Torrin smiled at her over his shoulder.
He saw her look down at the ground again but was also smiling. Torrin thought it was so sweet he was fighting the urge to turn around again and catch her in a hug, just to see how red her face could get.
They were almost at the mouth of the path when Filia spoke up again. "Torrin?"
"Yes?"
"Would you go with me…to the festival?"
Torrin turned around again, not sure if he heard her right.
Filia was forcing herself to look him in the face. "I'd like a regular dance partner at the festival, and the girls will probably mob you for a dance. I thought…maybe if…we went together…then…" She let herself trail off.
The idea had been mulling around in her head since the week before when she watched Torrin attempt to give Lina a dance lesson after she complained she did not know how, having two left feet. Lina's reason was she wanted to impress Gourry at the festival. She couldn't admit it out loud, but Filia saw it written all over her face, and Torrin was no dunce about it either. It was the only time Filia remembered him not losing his temper with Lina.
But Filia wanted to be a bit braver than Lina and try asking outright, so she could have a chance of a whole evening with Torrin again.
However, Torrin was hoping to avoid something like this. His compliments and teasing were not merely out of kindness. He did like her, really like her, but this was a job. Eventually he will have to report back to Milgazia, who will most likely try some other method to convince her, especially if Milgazia ever found out about her age.
Filia would hate him for it, and there were other things about himself he deliberately left out for reasons besides his job, things that a proper dragoness should not hear about.
The prolonged silence worried Filia. Immediately in her head she came up with a dozen good reasons why Torrin would say no, the biggest two being her commitment to Val, and his promise to Milgazia. She hardly gave them a thought the last three weeks, until now.
"F-forget it! it's okay," she finally said too zealously. "I'll probably be too busy this year anyway to dance. The store can be a real madhouse during festivals!" Filia forced her feet forward in an awkward march onto the mountain path leaving Torrin behind.
Torrin watched Filia stop by the tree Gourry and Val were resting under and ask if he was ready to go like nothing bothered her. I knew it.
He had to give her a definite answer later. It was the proper thing to do.
Filia had a restless night.
She couldn't stop thinking about Torrin now that she knew he had no romantic interest in her and kept telling herself she should know better than to assume. All the little things he had said and done since they first met plagued her sleep, like her mind was searching for some sort of validation for her foolish assumption to make herself feel better.
Little Val sensed her frustration, taking well over an hour during his nighttime feeding session. He could not settle down afterwards like when he had terrible bouts of colic a few months before. Poor Filia only got a couple hours of sleep before she had to get up and start another long day.
The festival was only a few days away which meant all of Filia's girls were at the back of the shop through the day and evening finishing up their pieces they were going to showcase. Tempers were strained to the max. Filia warned all of them whether they start a fight of not they will be sent home if they refused to be cordial to each other. Because Spring cleaning was done and there was nothing else to do, Lina insisted on helping with storing their wares promising she will not start anything.
Out in the backyard large crates were carefully stacked sitting underneath huge brown tarps keeping the extra imports protected from the weather. Their owners would show up the day before to set their stands up along the towns main street being reserved for out of town merchants.
Gourry and Torrin joined the other men of the town setting up stages for dancing and performances, and as usual, Jillas kept Val company while Gravos went between tending the shop and guarding the extra wares in the back from possible thieves.
With so much going on, it made it convenient for Filia to avoid crossing paths with Torrin. The whole week passed in a blur for her until the last night before the festival when everything slowed to a lethal crawl and she finally had a chance to dwell on her depressing thoughts again.
Only a couple of girls were still at the shop to help with clean up that evening when Filia decided to take her bath before putting Val to bed. All she wanted was a quiet evening and a decent night's rest.
She past by Janna who came up for a quick snack in the hallway. The girl looked at her but did not say anything until Filia put her hand on the bathroom doorknob.
"Wait! Don't go-"
Too late. Filia turned the knob and opened.
Torrin was standing there, dripping wet, out of the bathtub, and stark naked.
Filia calmly closed the door but did not take her eyes off of it. Fumbling sounds came from the bathroom.
Janna came over with a large grin on her face. "What did you see?"
Filia looked at her. "Nothing!" she said in a voice that sounded too chipper.
"Right…" Janna giggled and took off down the hall.
Filia looked back at the door. She saw everything. All of it. She knew Torrin was well built as Dimos dragons are the physically strongest out of all the dragons, but with one look at the whole thing she was breathless.
"Wow." Filia shook her head. Don't even think of it! Her heart raced out of embarrassment and pleasure. She leaned forward against the door and hid her face. "Don't even dare think of him in that way!" she said to herself.
"In what way?" Torrin asked from the other side.
Filia squealed and jumped back from the door.
Torrin opened it, now fully clothed from the waist down but still wet which did not help Filia's nerves at all.
Filia put up her hands in apology keeping her now very red face down. "I'm sorry! I should've knocked first!"
"It's okay, it's okay," Torrin quickly reassured her.
"I really am sorry!" She turned to leave as quickly as possible, but Torrin stepped in front of her.
He gently put his hands on her shoulders. "I said it was okay, Filia."
Filia looked up at him. Torrin had no trace of embarrassment on his face. In fact, he was smiling, almost laughing.
"It was an honest mistake, okay?" He fought back his laughter. "The one time I forget to lock the door…Actually, I've been meaning to talk to you."
"Now?" Her eyes grew wide. "This is a little too awkward," she said, looking away.
"Well, you've been avoiding me all week," said Torrin.
"I haven't well… I've been bus-"
"-I didn't mean to turn you down."
Filia looked back at Torrin, who now looked earnestly apologetic. Her heart sank to the pit of her stomach. "Oh…"
He let go of her shoulders, seeing he had her full attention now. "I didn't want to turn you down, but it wouldn't have been a good idea."
"I see." Filia's eyes fell to the floor.
"I should have said something sooner," he continued on. "I'm sorry. Forgive me for misleading you."
Torrin's own stomach twisted a little at his own words and seeing her so disappointed. He bent down, and on Filia's left cheek pressed his lips gently against it, just missing her mouth. Torrin felt her hold her breath in surprise. He lingered there, waiting until she released it slowly, feeling it tingling in his ear.
Torrin then lifted his lips to Filia's ear. "You're very sweet," he whispered. "I would never let anyone hurt you, but I can't do this."
"I-I understand," Filia whispered back.
Torrin straightened up and immediately turn towards the bathroom to gather his things and to avoid her gaze. When he finished he walked down the hallway to his room. "You can have the bathroom now. Make sure you get plenty of sleep."
Filia did not move until he closed his door. She touched her cheek where he had kissed her as she walked into the bathroom and gently closed its door behind her. She thought she would feel better knowing what he really felt about her, but she honestly never felt worse. The ache in her stomach intensified almost to the point of tears.
Over the two years she had lived there, Filia watched her girls go from one boy to the next. One day they act as though they were high in the clouds when they meet someone new, and the next day they would feel like it was the end of the world simply because they were turned down. Filia always thought herself above this.
"Boy, did I ever fool myself," she said sadly.
In her clan, courtship was far more structured, with numerous little rituals both dragons and dragonesses have to go through before they can begin courting each other. After that there were many more customs that must be observed before the courtship can elevate to another level. It was all put in place to avoid the passionate mistakes that humans often made, and most dragons go through the entire chivalrous cycle with maybe only one or two dragons before finally choosing a lifelong mate. Only a few bother going through it again after the death of a spouse or other unforeseen circumstances.
In spite of thinking she knew better than her girls, Filia did prefer the human way. They did not wait around forever, and if it was a mistake, it was a mistake. They dealt with it (some better than others) and moved on.
Well, if I consider myself more mature than my girls, I better act like it. Filia's throat clinched. "But it hurts."
She felt a sob coming on, so she busied herself around the bathroom to distract her thoughts. By the time her bath was ready Filia was sniffing and a couple of big tears were rolling down her cheeks.
Thankies for the reviews so far. I have some things to take care of the next couple of days, making it harder for me to work on this story, but I'll keep trying to update on a regular basis. I'm still a couple of chapters ahead, so those I'll get out on time for sure. ~NB~
