Chapter 36: The Secret Inside the Locket

Aurora and Toffee returned from their early evening seaside stroll, though when they came back home, they didn't feel ready to call it a night yet.

So, after Toffee locked the door behind him, he turned to his lady who looked sideways, grinning despite her shyness.

He smiled at her ever-modest nature as he gently cupped her right cheek to make her look up at him before he stroked his left hand on the right side of her head, making her close her eyes as his soothing touch made her feel so relaxed.

He stopped as he slid his left hand under her chin before he slowly brought her head close to his, gently kissing her for a rapturous moment.

During that moment, Aurora held his face, then she stretched her neck to slowly brush her lips from the top to the bottom of his neck, making him feel serene as he pressed a lock of her hair on his long lips.

Then Aurora leaned the right side of her head on his chest, making him gently wrap his tail around her waist to lift her feet off the floor, keeping her against him as he hugged her tight.

Then, he rubbed his left fingers on the back of her neck, his right hand keeping her head on his chest as he kept massaging his fingers on her neck.

Yet again, his special spell took its hold on her as her eyelids felt heavy and a comforted smile grew on her lips.

When he knew she had succumbed to his physical hypnotism, he slowly unwrapped his tail off her midsection before he diligently held her bridal style and placed her on her bed, making sure she was comfortable and warm.

He stood by her bedside as he admired his sleeping beauty whose forehead he deeply kissed.

When he looked at her again, he wished she was his wife so that the two of them could allow themselves to share the same room then he could hold her in his arms all night.

"But we are not married...and as much as I want it, we do not have time for a wedding," he told himself, feeling rather sad that they couldn't unite in holy matrimony yet. "We both have too much to do..."

Still, if the world wasn't in a crisis, Toffee wouldn't take very long at all to ask for her hand in marriage.

"But we must wait. We have more urgent matters... Then again..."

By morning, Aurora woke up in her room which told her Toffee brought her to her room again.

"He must enjoy holding me in his arms," Aurora smiled.

Once she had on her white T-shirt and denim shorts on, her three weapons (staff, whip and sword) strapped on her, she made her way downstairs, catching the palatable, sweet aroma of pancakes.

Her sense of smell was correct when she saw black forest pancakes that looked absolutely scrumptious.

"Toffee never disappoints."

Of course, seeing the note she saw in front of his empty seat gave her an inkling that he had left before she woke up. She picked the note up to read it.

"'Aurora, as you can guess, I'm studying the Aissuran maps again at City Hall. I do have something important to talk to you about later at 6:00 this evening. Please meet me at that time in the training yard behind City Hall. -Toffee'."

Aurora tilted her head, wondering what he wanted to speak to her about.

"Maybe there's a fighting technique he wants to teach me since he wants a chat in the training yard?"

After enjoying the wonderful culinary delight, she made her way to City Hall to train with Eru in the backyard to practice more on her magic on the Phoenix Blade.

Her ability to summon big balls of light was getting easier to her excitement. Then Aurora asked Eru if he could help her use her whip's magic.

Eru understood that she wanted to put the power of her two weapons to good use, so he agreed. Learning to use the whip's power was a bit tough at first because she wasn't used to it yet.

"Does it require concentrating my heart in it, too, Master Eru?"

"Actually, this particular magic weapon requires your mental concentration than your emotional concentration. Most magic requires a person's mind power unlike the Phoenix Blade but if you can use the sword with your heart, you can use the whip with your mind," he supported.

Aurora put her trust in Eru's words as she focused her mind in her whip.

"Just think of what you want your whip to do," Eru added.

Aurora made a small nod as she did as he instructed, wanting her whip to pick up her staff that she had gently laid down on the grass in front of her.

The whip responded to her request as it slowly moved like a snake, slithering itself to the staff that it wrapped itself around on.

Aurora opened her right eye to see that it had worked, making both of her eyes widen in amazement and excitement.

"Well done, Aurora, well done," Eru praised, patting his left hand on her back. "Your power is still developing, but this is a fairly decent start. By each minute, your bond with the Phoenix increases your magic."

"Slowly but surely," she thought with a grin.

After Aurora trained plenty of time with Eru, she left to work-out with her staff at the dojo as well as her whip, practicing its physical strength this time. After several minutes, she drank her bottle of water before looking out the window.

"I wonder when Toffee will arrive. We're supposed to be sword-training."

She heard a knock on the work-out room's door that she opened, seeing her lizard love before her.

"Well, there you are," Aurora smiled. "I was just wondering if you were coming."

"Don't worry, I haven't forgotten our important training. I just had to take care of other important things first," he explained as he entered, closing the door behind him with his tail. "I see you've been training on your own," he observed, seeing the sweat beats on her forehead.

"Yes, I was just praticing with my staff and whip."

"Oh, yes, Master Eru told me about you learning to use the whip's magic."

"Yes, I thought I might as well know how to use both the whip and Phoenix Blade's magic."

"And why not? Putting everything to good use as much as possible proves beneficial," Toffee nodded. "And speaking of which, shall we resume our sword lessons?" he questioned with a grin.

Aurora grinned before Toffee handed her a wooden practice-sword.

He taught her defensive techniques with the sword such as using her blade to block her opponent's literally sharp attacks.

Aurora was learning this new move just fine to his satisfaction. What he really wanted to work on was building up her confidence to use her legendary weapon.

Toffee had her stand in front of the wooden post. With his hands on her shoulders, he said, "Now...just pretend you're holding the Phoenix Blade...and attack your imaginary foe."

Aurora knew what Toffee was trying to do, so she worked with him and pictured herself wielding the Phoenix Blade.

Although, she was hesitating, for she was still disconcerted at the thought of using a real blade.

"Just remember what you have to do."

She took a deep breath, Toffee able to tell from his touch on her shoulders that her fearful tensions were vanishing, so he gently removed his hands off her as he stood back.

Aurora, with a firm grip on the wooden sword that she imagined was the Phoenix Blade, striked the wooden post just as Toffee showed her which impressed her reptilian mentor who proudly watched Aurora hit the wooden post.

"Even with a wooden sword, she has the ambience of a sword bearer."

When Aurora struck at the wooden post enough, Toffee thought now was the time she ought to try using her blade.

Aurora decided to try her luck as she handed Toffee her wooden sword before she unsheathed her special sword.

Strengthening her hardihood like she did a minute ago, she felt like a different person as she attacked the wooden post that she cut wooden chips off of as she struck it on the areas Toffee taught her to.

Toffee grinned calmly, very pleased with Aurora's change. "I believe our chosen heroine has finally found the warrior inside herself..."

But he wasn't going to ask Aurora to try sparring with him yet. He thought it'd be best if she had the comfort of fortifying her courage by practicing with a fake opponent for today.

Aurora seemed to be forgetting how time was flying as she intently focused attacking the wooden post and Toffee patiently stood on the other side of the room, letting her practice as much as she wished.

Frankly, he was enjoying seeing this new side of her which was why he didn't mind standing where he was for so long. However, when he could see her drenching with sweat and hearing her panting from exhaustion, he knew she needed to take a break before she overworked herself.

He gently put his left hand on her left shoulder as he touched her right wrist where the sword was being held in her right hand.

"That will suffice for today," he advised as he gently took the sword out of her grip and sheathed it in the flame-colored scabbard strapped on her back.

Aurora made no objections as she wiped the sweat off her forehead. "...How long was I chipping the wooden post?"

"For over ten minutes," he answered with a grin as he put his hands behind his back.

"Huh. You know, I had lost track of time when I was working out," she smiled.

"You looked like you were," he nodded. "You seemed to be enjoying yourself."

"To be honest, I was," she confessed, holding her tired right arm that she massaged. "I'm sorry if you were bored all that time."

"Oh, I wasn't bored," he corrected with a shake of his head. "Frankly, I liked watching you work. And besides, I myself tend to enjoy a good work-out too much to pay much attention to the time."

Aurora grinned at his understanding, also feeling flattered by his liking to look at her exercising with her blade.

"That reminds me...this talk he wants with me tonight at the training yard behind City Hall..."

If he's training with her at the dojo, what could he want to teach her tonight at behind City Hall?

"Maybe it's not a training session at all..."

As curious as she was, she had to keep herself from asking him right now.

"All I know is: It has to be important."

By the time evening have arrived, Aurora made her way to the meeting spot as Toffee requested her to.

When she came to the training yard, she saw Toffee already there with his back to her. Since his arms weren't behind his back, she wondered if he was holding something in his hands.

Aurora announced her presence. "Toffee."

He slightly turned his head to her, grinning at her arrival. "Ah, Aurora. Right on time."

"Well, your note said you had something important you needed to talk to me about," she said as she walked up to him.

"Indeed, it is important...and I hope you'll be open-minded," he said calmly.

Aurora blinked, wondering more than ever what he wanted to say to her.

Toffee put his hands behind his back before facing her. "Now, as you know, we...both have very paramount responsibilities...which means our quality times together have become minimum..."

Toffee silently walked behind her, his left hand on her left cheek that he slowly stroked, making her happily lightheaded for a second before she kept listening to him.

"So, last night, I did a lot of serious thinking... And this morning, I asked Master Eru if he could do me a favor. A favor he can only do depending on your answer."

"My answer?"

"Yes." Toffee held a small black velvet box in front of Aurora who held it in her hands.

Her heart nearly stopped when she started to guess what was inside it. "Is it...? Is he asking me...?"

She gently opened the box to see something. Instead of seeing what she had expected to see, it was a necklace...

"This is a locket."

She carefully held the necklace by the clasp, the silver locket the shape of the Phoenix.

"Well, it's pretty, but what question comes with this?"

"There's a secret inside that locket," Toffee explained as he slightly turned the silver Phoenix's beak clockwise, making its chest open for Aurora to see something small and shiny inside with a tiny pearl studded in it.

Toffee tilted the silver Phoenix forward for the tiny object to fall in his right hand. Aurora narrowed her eyes to make out what it was...and it turned out to be the very thing she had guessed earlier.

"There is an engagement ring! Then..."

"I know this is completely unexpected," Toffee went on, "I would have waited to ask you this question after completing our mission...but because we're currently working very hard for a very difficult journey...I'd like for us to be allowed to be closer than usual. As in...holding you in my arms at night."

Aurora was seeing his point. "Because we're currently preparing for a very dangerous expedition, he wants us to be near each other as much as possible...and giving him my hand is the only way we can do that."

Actually, Aurora wanted to be close to him at night...because, even though she wouldn't say this to Toffee, she was afraid of what kind of perils they would face in Aissur.

"I'm not saying we won't survive...but I want him to be the last precious thing I see before I close my eyes...and feel his comforting touch in my slumber."

Tears fell out of her eyes as she nodded. "I want that, too."

Toffee was stunned by both surprise and joy. The reason he was surprised was because a part of him had thought maybe Aurora wouldn't want this sudden marriage. But because he was wrong, he was calmly exuberant that she understood his feelings on this.

He calmed his racing heart as he smiled blissfully, kissing the left corner of her forehead, making her close her eyes as she slightly shuddered in pleasure.

Then, before anything else was done, he carefully placed the engagement ring back in the silver Phoenix-shaped locket.

"Although we'll have the small merger tonight, do you have objections of having a normal wedding after the mission?" he asked.

Despite her fear of the dangers of Aissur, she liked to have a regular wedding, a more special, memorable one.

"No, I don't."

"Then until then, we should keep our small union a secret. After all, we still haven't told all of Roca about us yet."

"So that's why you made a this locket, to hide the ring from everyone."

"Yes," he confirmed, gently slipping the necklace on her, freeing her hair from the clasp. "And I'm certain everyone will think I've given you the locket out of friendship."

"What about Rosela and the others?"

"They...don't know about our secret union. It's a very short and quick one, so it wouldn't be something worth attending."

"But...we can tell them tomorrow, right? We can just ask them to keep it classified from everyone else, right?"

"I don't see why not. The only one who'll be attending tonight's wedding is Master Eru. I asked him to be our officiant. He's upstairs in his study waiting for us."

"Then...shall we?" she asked with a smile.

Grinning warmly at her, he kissed her left hand. "Let's."

Toffee led her to Eru's study's door that he knocked on, the blind sage owl opening the door to greet them with a smile.

"Here, Aurora," Eru said as he held out a silk tulle veil. "I know this is a very small wedlock, but I couldn't help but make one of these."

Aurora looked at the handmade veil that looked so well designed, the texture exquisite.

"Thank you, Master Eru. It's beautiful," she complimented before he put the veil on her.

"Excellent. Come on in," Eru gestured, "everything is ready."

In Eru's study, there were candles all around and a red and blue oriental rug across the room.

Eru took his place at the other side of the study, his hands together as he waited for them.

Toffee held out his right hand to Aurora who grinned as she took his hand before they walked down the little altar, standing in front of Eru.

The owl officiant cleared his throat before he said, "We be gathered here tonight to join this man and woman in...a sudden but holy matrimony."

Looking at Toffee, Eru asked, "Toffee, will you take Aurora to be your lawfully wedded wife and love, comfort, honor and keep her, for better or for worse for as long as you both shall live?"

"I will."

"And will you, Aurora, take Toffee to be your lawfully wedded husband love, comfort, honor and keep him, for better or for worse for as long as you both shall live?"

"I will."

"Then, with the power vested in me, I pronounce you husband and wife."

Aurora, the literally and figuratively blushing bride, stood still as her husband gently removed the veil off her face that he tilted upwards to kiss her.

When the kiss was broken, the newly weds embraced each other tightly, Eru smiling to see them so happy.

Before he let them leave, Eru asked to speak to Aurora alone. After Toffee went downstairs to wait for his wife, Aurora stood in the study as Eru rummaged in a drawer in his desk to pull out a little black bottle of pills.

He handed her the bottle that she examined quizzically.

"Those are..." Eru glanced away, a little unsure how to explain this for a moment.. "...birth control pills," he finished carefully.

Aurora looked at him with wide eyes.

"I figured...even though you're married now...you and Toffee are still too busy to...start a family...at vital times like this. So that's why I..."

Aurora understood what he was saying as she looked at the bottle that had a hundred pills inside.

"...You're right, now's definitely not the best time to start a family..."

Although, Aurora was a bit depressed by two things: 1. She and Toffee couldn't let themselves have children yet. 2. ...She wondered, after their mission is complete, if she could actually have any children with her anthropomorphic lizard husband.

Eru could sense the sadness in her heart. "I know you wish to have a child, but all in good time," he said gently as he patted her left shoulder.

Aurora couldn't tell him all of her thoughts...or Toffee. All she did was grin before she gave back the veil.

"Here. It'd be best if this stays with you for safekeeping. If anyone comes to Toffee's house and sees this, they'd ask...uncomfortable questions."

"Right. I'll keep it until your...second, more special wedding," he said with a wink.

Aurora nodded in gratitude. "I hope you'll be the officiant for that, too."

"Of course. It'd be my honor," he agreed wholeheartedly, holding her hands. "Well, best not keep your husband waiting."

Bidding Eru good night, Aurora walked downstairs. With each step, her heart beat faster and faster at the thought of seeing her husband.

"It may not have been the wedding I've always dreamed of...but still, Toffee is my husband!"

She met Toffee at the exit, the married couple smiling happily at each other as they started walking home.

Eru remained in his study where he held the veil he had made, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"I actually don't blame them for wanting to be as close to each other as possible... They should enjoy each other's presence before they head into the biggest battle they'll ever face."

Since they were a couple, they had the liberty to share a room, so Aurora came to Toffee's room even though she didn't move any of her belongings in there.

Reason being was Toffee thought the less changes they make in the house, the least likely everyone will discover they secretly got married.

Aurora agreed. Then, after dressing herself in her long pink nightgown, she sat on Toffee's bed waiting for him, holding a pillow as she thought of how they were going to tell Rosela and the gang.

"I hope they won't be too upset they didn't see the wedding in Eru's study... Of course, we will tell them we're gonna have a longer and momentous wedlock after the journey. I hope they'll be excited about that."

She gripped the pillow she was hugging as she thought about the very short wedding tonight.

"We are legally married, but that hardly felt like a wedding. Well, that is why we'll have another one when we get back from our mission..."

Thinking about Aissur started to fill her with dread...

"I shouldn't let it get to me. I know I shouldn't...but...what kind of place is it?"

The Phoenix's spirit brought warmth in her heart, as if he was saying "Be brave. We are in this together".

She closed her eyes as she thought, "The Phoenix is right. And tonight, all I want is to savor me and Toffee's freedom as wife and husband."

Speaking of her husband, he finally stepped out of his W.C, dressed in black silk pajamas.

Aurora blushed, liking the sight of him, though she kept her gaze on the pillow she was holding.

Toffee grinned. "I'm gone for five minutes and you've replaced your husband with a pillow?"

Aurora smiled, amused by his humor. "Oh, of course not. Sure, this is a fine pillow, but I'd like to love someone with a face and a voice."

"Oh? So, you only love me for my face and voice, and not my personality?" he teased.

"Of course I love your personality. Your personality first and your face and voice second," she grinned as she turned her back to him, keeping the pillow against her chest.

He grinned as he leaned over the bed, touching her shoulders from behind. "Then I should be comforted you love everything about me, just as I do you."

Aurora smiled softly at his kind words, then she closed her eyes as he gently rubbed her shoulders.

He started massaging her shoulders deeply, making her feel so at ease. Then, when he carefully slipped her sleeves off her shoulders a little, he softly and slowly brushed his lips on her left shoulder to her right shoulder.

His euphoric touch was putting her under his gentle control when her body slackened.

He smiled before he wrapped his arms around her upper torso, pressing his lips on the back of her head. He then slid his face down to the back of her neck where he gently moved her hair away so he could kiss her neck deeply.

Aurora released the pillow as her fingers found their way around his hands that gripped hers as he carefully bit the right side of her collarbone.

Then he kissed up to the right side of her neck that he started to give tiny gentle licks, making her more lightheaded by the second.

However, she gathered her energy as she moved her hands to hold his face that she slightly tilted upwards before she leaned forward to kiss his long neck that he gladly let her do as he closed his eyes.

When she was done kissing his neck thoroughly, she gently tilted his head downward to kiss him, Toffee wrapping his arms behind her back as he returned the kiss.

When they broke the kiss, Toffee carefully had Aurora sit on his lap, his right hand stroking her left cheek, Aurora leaning her head on his left shoulder as she closed her eyes, feeling very relaxed again.

After several seconds of caressing her, he knew she was already asleep which made him smile lovingly at her as he leaned down to gently kiss her forehead.

Without waking her, he set her and himself under the covers. Before he went to sleep, he admired her slumbering form, enjoying having her by his side like this.

Then, he closed his eyes as he gently held his wife against him, his tail carefully slipping around her waist as he rested his long chin on the top of her head.

Right there, he felt a new sense of security. He felt safe in her presence just as he was sure she felt safe in his.

"Dark times are ahead...and that's why I want her by my side day and night as much as possible." He gently pulled her closer, kissing the top of her head. "Because when we start on our mission, we won't have too much time to be together."

Choosing to forget those uncomfortable thoughts, he slowly nuzzled his left cheek in her hair, combing his left claws through her soft crimson locks.

"I've always dreamed of holding her with me like this...though our union wasn't the kind either of us have dreamed of, but we can still have the luxury of having a better one...after we make our dreams of world peace realize."

He started to feel Aurora move in her sleep, her arms holding him, her right hand slithering behind his head to stroke his dark hair.

Her hold seemed...protective which Toffee loved. Even though he never felt afraid and nervous before he met her, having her in his life brought all sorts of new comforts, none of which he ever desired to be without again.

"I wonder if she feels the same." He grinned as he held a strand of her hair that he kissed softly. "I'm certain she does and I intend to keep making her feel that way as she does to me."