Disclaimer: I do NOT own Slayers. I am not making any profit from this. I just love writing. I can't stop. It's a disease.
- CAUGHT UP IN TIME - by spare
CHAPTER 3 : POTS AND SHADOWS
"Thank you, please come again!" Filia cheerfully bid her latest customer goodbye. Val sat on a stool next to her, happily playing with a few clay blocks. Alex had fallen asleep again upstairs and she was sure by tomorrow the girl will recover fully. The dragon maiden had settled down to reopen the shop, and the way things were going, she was thankful she had.
It was turning out to be quite a busy day. She admitted more customers than usual, the city for some reason experiencing a fad-frenzy for pots and other earthenware. It had something to do about a new holiday the mayor of the city, Dela Barca something-or-other, had declared recently. Not that she cared what the pots were for. Business was business, ne?
"Miss Ul Copt?" An elder and fatherly voice inquired at the doorway. Filia looked up from where she was showing two ladies her flower pot selection to see a frail-looking, gray-haired man dressed in a navy blue suit. The old man leaned slightly on a polished cane. Behind him stood two tall, stony-faced guardsmen.
"Mr. Dela Barca," Filia acknowledged, recognizing him immediately. She excused herself and stood up to admit the elderly man inside. "What an honor-- would you like a cup of tea?" The dragon offered politely. 'Why would the city mayor come in here?' From what she have heard the man was a bit of an eccentric, prone to sudden whims and outlandish ideas. He was a wise and just ruler, however, and was well-loved by the populace.
Dela Barca shook his head jovially. "I'm afraid I don't have the time for that now, millady," he replied in a rather perky, energetic tone. They paused for a while as the mayor waved and cheerily acknowledged some customers who came forward to greet him. "Nah, I came here for business, you see. You've earned a reputation as one of the best, no, if not THE best potter in this here little city of ours, yes?"
Filia nodded, blushing at the compliment. "Uh, I guess--"
"And boy have I heard of your whopping good blend of tea! Legendary, one friend of mine told me, yes..." the mayor went on. "Ah, but tea is not the object of my visit right now. Pots it is, lots and lots of pottery... What I would like to purchase from you, Miss Filia."
"You want to buy some pottery?" Filia inquired, trying to understand half of the onslaught of words the mayor had delivered.
"Hai, my dear," Dela Barca confirmed, nodding. "Not just some pottery, though, LOTS of pottery, say, twenty pieces of that beautifully crafted vase on the shelf, and thirty of the flower pots by the counter, and tea pots, musn't forget the tea pots... Oi, Jio..." he turned to one of the guardsmen. "Care you to hand over the list I made?"
"Thirty... teapots..." Filia repeated, dumbfounded, trying to process the information through her brain. Apparently, the mayor of the city has just practically offered to buy her entire stock of pottery. The guardsman stepped forward and handed her a scroll listing what must be dozens of orders of every vase piece she kept in the shop. "Are you sure, sir? I mean, so many... What are you..." she stammered.
"Oi, don't worry about payment," the mayor told her, gesturing to the other guardsman. The said soldier procured a bulky bag of gold from his cloak, handing it to the mayor, who handed it to the trembling dragon ex-priestess. "Will ten thousand gold pieces cover it?"
Filia's mouth was open in shock, but she managed to say something. "It-- it's more than enough, Mr. Dela Barca. Are you sure--"
"Five thousand gold pieces in that bag. The remaining five thousand will be given to you upon delivery to my mansion. Fair enough deal, is it? Got to be an honest man, reward an honest living," Dela Barca continued good-naturedly.
"Um, yes..."
The mayor nodded. "I'd guess everything will be ready by, let's say, two days from now?" Filia nodded in return, not knowing what to say. "Good, good. Well, I must leave now, I'm afraid. City hall awaits, gotta attend the hearing and all..." The mayor and his consorts turned to leave, and Filia finally found her voice.
"Um, Mr. Dela Barca?" She called out, just before they reached the door.
"Eh? What is it, Filia dear?" the old man inquired.
"Could I know what are you going to use those pots for?"
Dela Barca looked at her quizically. "Oi, so you don't know, yes?" She shook her head. "It's for the annual Pot Breaking Festival, of course!!!"
If not for the fear of hurting the feelings of her most generous customer, Filia would have suffered a major face fault on the floor. She contented herself with a sweatdrop instead. "... Pot Breaking Festival?" she repeated slowly, trying not to smile too widely.
"Right, Pot Breaking Festival," the mayor concluded happily as the guardsmen and some surrounding townsfolk nodded their approval. "Just made it up this morning. One of yon's flashes of inspiration! The perfect way to celebrate the passing of what must have been the strongest storms in decades!!! We'll be holding it exactly two days from now, main event in the town square... Ano, I must be going now, see you at the celebration, be sure to bring your little kid with you, what a fine boy..." The mayor was well out of the teashop and into the streets outside by the time he was finished, and Filia waved her goodbye.
OK, so somebody stumbles half-dead into her home in the stormiest of nights. Somebody whose grin and hair color reminded her of an annoying namagomi. On top of that, the eccentric city mayor pays her a visit and she finds herself five thousand gold pieces richer. A festival for breaking pots is due in two days. The dragon maiden, not quite up to dealing with the customers who continued pouring in right now, just sat behind the counter and poured herself a cup of tea. 'Some days are just too weird for me.'
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In a secluded alley not far from Filia's Teahouse...
"I'm sorry." The young woman gazed sadly at the lanky man before her, brown locks swaying as she shook her head. Her companion tensed, back hunching in a gesture of defeat.
"Why?" He whispered without emotion.
"I don't... I don't love you," she said, green eyes pleading. "I'm engaged to someone else. M-my father's announcing it in two days--" she broke off, unable to continue.
The young man said nothing. His eyes swerved downward, not wanting to look back up at her and let her see the pain of rejection he knew filled his entire being. He backed off, clenching his fists together.
"I'm sorry Marco... You're a nice guy. I'm sure you could find someone else... meant for you." She touched his shoulder gently, meaning to comfort him. He remained motionless.
"Sarah..." He started to say, then, as if deciding against it, turned around and left without a second glance.
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The shadows rematerialized, the brown-haired young woman having left the area at last. Existence was such an easy and controllable thing.
/Nasaan ang suwail?/ one cloaked figure inquired to its brethren.
One shadow shook its head. "Addaaappttt youurrr tongue, brother." It advised in demonstration.
"She is lost." It argued.
"We cannot help that," placated another.
"Where have we arrived?"
"Yyooouuu meannnn w-whhheeeenn..." One responded weakly. "C-cannnn nnooot ho-- hold fffooorrmmm... ceaase tttooo exissst..." It gave up, vanishing into nothingness again.
"I admit we have been weakened considerably."
"We shall remedy that."
"Are you suggesting we take mortal's forms?"
"We shall be able to move around much easier. The child was wounded severely as well. We need not fear her."
A seventh muttered. "Time..."
"No matter. We shall retrieve the Catarina. The child shall not succeed."
"For now, though," who appeared to be the shadows' leader shifted form, until in his place stood not the cloaked creature but an ordinary jolly-faced townman. The rest of his companions followed suit. "The rebirth of the Beyond shall not be stopped."
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It was late in the afternoon when Filia finally decided to close shop. Of course, only the tea shop remained open for the rest of the day, the mayor having bought every single pottery piece in her inventory earlier before.
The dragon maiden stretched on her seat, the strain of the day catching up on her. She moved to stand up, and nearly collided head on with the purple-haired Mazoku teleporting right behind her.
"EEEEPPP!!!" *WHACK*WHACK*WHACK*WHA--
"Fi-chan, you just destroyed your chair." Xellos informed from a safe floating distance away.
Filia glanced and sure enough lay several splinters of the now unidentifiable furniture. She closed her eyes and lowered her mace. "Xellos..." She said, approaching the Mazoku seriously until they were almost nose to nose, facing each other.
"Yes?" The trickster inquired, puzzled by her unnaturally calm demeanor.
"DON'T EVER APPEAR RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY FACE LIKE THAT, DO YOU UNDERSTAND??????!!!!!!!!!!!!" *WHACK!!!*
"Itaiii..."
"Why are you here again?" The now considerably pacified dragon maiden interrogated him warily.
Xellos grinned, picking himself from the floor. "Why, to be with my Fi-chan, of course!"
*WHACK*
"Missed me," the Mazoku remarked from behind her. "Go easy on the violence, Filia. Can't we have a conversation without having you reintroduce Mace-sama to me?"
"Oh, alright," fumed a blushing Filia. She hated it when the namagomi was right.
"Now why don't we sit ourselves in your kitchen and have a nice cup of your *legendary* tea, ne? You've had a hard day, you need to relax."
She nodded warily. 'Why is he being... nice? Something's up, he isn't always this polite...' In an instant Xellos had teleported both of them to her kitchen, and she sat as the Trickster Priest poured her a cup of her own tea. Then he joined her at the table, sitting across each other. Filia sniffed at her cup, making sure the tea was unpoisoned, before taking a tentative sip. Xellos drank delicately, watching her through closed eyes.
"So, Filia-chan," Xellos broke in conversationally, "How is Alexia doing?"
She set down her cup. "She's getting along fine," she answered, avoiding his gaze. "By tomorrow she'll be fully well, I would guess. She heals pretty fast." 'Like...' She wanted to add. 'Mazoku.'
"I see," Xellos said, smirking slightly. "Well, what do you think of her?"
Filia's quirked an eyebrow at the question. "She's a nice girl. Well-mannered. Sweet. What are you up to?" she demanded.
"Me? What makes you think I'm up to something, Fi-chan?"
"Because you always are!" Filia pointed out, sighing yet again. She stood up. "Fine. If you're not going to answer my questions, I'll stop wasting my time with you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a huge order to fill in..." She turned, about to take her empty teacup to the sink.
Xellos stayed her arm, gently but firmly setting her back down on her seat. "Well, if you really want to know..."
"Yes?" Filia pressed on.
He opened both eyes, looking at her almost seriously. "You guessed right, it's got something to do with an... occurrence last night," he began. "Perhaps you noticed a sudden disturbance, a release of magical energy yesterday, around the time you found Alexia?"
She nodded. "Come to think of it, I do recall feeling something strange that night..."
Xellos shrugged. "Well, I did a little investigating and the source of that magic turned out to be some kind of runic portal, just outside the city."
"So? What does that have to do with Alex?"
Now it was Xellos' turn to sigh impatiently. "Wouldn't you think it strange that a magical portal and a badly wounded girl would appear at almost the same location at around the same time?"
"Coincidence, then," Filia stated. But the aura of the girl...
"Ne, don't play dumb with me, Fi-chan. I know you could sense the girl's aura. Don't you think it's a tad strange she's emitting a magical aura very much like Valgarv's?" The Beastmaster's eyes remained open, amethyst pools quite serious, apparently.
"So you know," she replied. "But right now she is quite harmless, and a guest in my home, and you and I have no business prodding a young woman why--"
"On the contrary," Xellos corrected, "I do sense an enormous amount of power within her. Badly drained, yes, but her magical capacity is far beyond any human, Ryuzoku, or Mazoku for that matter."
Filia stared evenly at him. "Are you suggesting that she... that Alex is..."
"The one who opened and arrived from that portal, yes..."
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Author's Delirious Ramblings: And here I plug in three events that seem to have nothing to do with each other. And I really had no idea what to write when I grabbed the keyboard. I'm starting to tie things together though...
AND THE ENEMIES MAKE THEMSELVES KNOWN... -_-