CHAPTER 2

"Thank you so very much, please stay safe and come back soon". Filia just finished tending to her last customer for the day and was waving the elderly woman farewell before closing the shop door and flipping the OPEN sign to CLOSED.

"Phew, what a day, honestly I have never seen one person spend an hour and a half trying to pick between a blue or a green tea set".

Filia quickly shook off the woman's strange behaviour and went about closing the rest of the store off. She gave every surface a quick dust off and was in the middle of putting her days earnings into the little safe she had under the counter when there was a slight ripple in the air behind her. Filia failed to not notice that she was no longer alone in the shop, until she thought she heard a chuckle and the voice of one of her least favourite people in the world "My my Fi-chan, I must say this is a rather interesting position I find you in. It's not exactly new for me, but it's still appealing".

Filia let slip a gasp and went to stand up and confront the trickster priest and give him an introduction to her mace. -DONK!- Pain exploded in her head as the counter rudely refused to move out of her way, and now she sat with a splitting headache.

"Hahaha, careful Miss Filia, any harder and you would have broken the table, and what good would that do you?"

"More than you ever could filthy garbage" Filia spat as she rose from the ground, checking her hand for any signs of blood.

"Such harsh words Fi-chan, and after I went through the trouble of getting you a gift too, such a selfish dragon you are," Xellos chastised her whilst waging a finger at her. It was then that Filia noticed that he had one of his hands hidden behind his back.

"I've told you before stop calling me Fi-chan, and what do you mean a gift? Surely anything a monster such as you would consider a gift cannot be good," Filia questioned Xellos. Surely this was some type of sick trick of his to catch her unawares and get a 'free meal' out of her again. Ever since she first met him he has caused her nothing but trouble.

Xellos eye twitched slightly at her accusation, this of course went unnoticed by the dragon maiden. "And so suspicious, do I not deserve at least a small amount of trust? Even after I have saved your life personally in the past?"

Filia hesitated at this question. It was true, Xellos had saved her life in the incident with Valgaav in the cave. To this day she still hasn't figured out why he did though. He had Valgaav right where he wanted him, and yet he gave up the chance for a swift kill to save her from the cave in. Now why would he do that?

"Well...that is true, but you're a monster. Your kind is created to trick and deceive others, and besides even after you helped me back in the cave, you still used me as a distraction. That was quite a fall you know, it hurt!"

Xellos just shrugged, "Ah well, that's all in the past now, can't we just let bygones be bygones and move on Filia? Besides aren't you a bit curious as to what your present is?" Xellos raised his eyebrows suggestively. Filia couldn't put her finger on it, but something about that smirk that Xellos had seemed a bit off, although she was curious as to what he got her. Maybe it was a new tea set, or some art supplies, she was running low and could really use some more paint for her vases.

"But you have to close your eyes," Xellos's instruction brought Filia out of her contemplations and looked up at the monster to meet his amethyst eyes staring back at her, the sight made her tremble slightly. "Why, why should I?" Filia questioned suspiciously, she was starting to have a bad feeling about where this was going.

"You have to, because it's a surprise, duh! Just close your eyes Fi-chan. I won't hurt you I promise," Xellos gave her the most innocent and harmless smile he could. Filia was still wary, but decided to close her eyes anyway, mostly to just get this over and done with. She was tired and needed to get to bed soon, she had an early start tomorrow, after all she had a shop to run.

After he was satisfied that her eyes where indeed closed, Xellos pulled his gift from behind his back and put on a big cheshire cat grin and said "alright, you can open them now".

Filia opened her eyes and gasped. Before her was the most beautiful flower she had ever seen. The petals where arranged in a long funnel shape until they spread wide at the end. The outside was a deep violet colouration that contrasted beautifully with the yellow center. The stem of the flower was a light blue, a very unique characteristic for a flower, but that just made it all the more astounding. Filia was at a loss for words. She did not know how such a flower even existed, let alone how Xellos managed to get a hold of one, and why he would be giving it to her in the first place.

"Xellos, it's beautiful. But, why are you giving me this?" Filia questioned.

"Now that, is a secret!" Xellos gave his trademark wink and finger, frustrating the dragoness.

"Why am I not surprised? Honestly Xellos. This flower looks extremely rare and probably very expensive. How on earth did you manage to come by it? And why go through the trouble in the first place?" Filia was determined to know why Xellos would give her such a gift, this was the last thing she expected when he said he had something for her and for once she wanted to find out what his intentions are.

"Nah ah Filia-chan, now that would ruin the mystery now wouldn't it?" Xellos smirked before vanishing in a ripple of air.

"I suggest you head to bed Miss Filia, wouldn't want you to be too tired for business tomorrow now would we?" The disembodied voice floated around her before finally vanishing along with the monster, leaving a very confused dragon holding the violet flower she didn't even remember taking.

She glanced down at the flower and went to find a vase and to get some water. She found one of her newly made blue vases decorated with purple vines winding around the body and neck of the vase. It just seemed to fit with the flower, so she added some water to the vase and placed the flower very carefully inside and set it in the middle of her dining room table.

Before heading off upstairs to bed she gave the flower one last look before whispering to an empty room.

"Xellos. What are you up to now?"

/

Xellos was back in his study as he watched his dragon ascend the stairs for a good nights sleep. He couldn't help but chuckle. Oh the shock if she realized what he was up to. That flower he had given was no ordinary flower, heck the flower wasn't even from earth. It was an extremely rare flower called the Timeless Bloom. This rare bloom only grows in the astral plane itself, which makes locating it quite tricky with the Astral planes constant shifting. This flower never withers and never dies, hence the name. Xellos himself wasn't exactly sure as to why that is so, but he would have to guess it's because like him, it's being exists in the astral plane, and since the astral plane is a small pocket in the dimension of space and time, it is unaffected by such forces in the physical world. Of course, that was just his guess.

Meaning this was the perfect vessel to contain a small portion of his power. He managed to take a part of his consciousness and infused the flower with it, so now he can keep an eye on his dragon through it. And if he concentrated enough, even hear what is going on.

This was mostly for assurance. Xellos merely wanted to be able to keep an eye on his mate whilst he was away on missions. After all Filia did appear to have a habit of getting herself into rather unusual situations, and one can never be too careful when dealing with a mates safety. Xellos smiled, he was growing quite fond of referring to Filia as his mate, the idea seemed to sooth his inner demon that she will be claimed as his own. "Yes my dear Filia, one day I plan to put my mark on you, and you will be completely mine."

"Xellos, Xellos dear, would you come here please, we need to have a talk, now."

Xellos flinched, 'shit! That ruined the moment'. Lord Beastmaster beckoned him to her. 'This is probably not going to be pleasant,' Xellos contemplates as he phases away to do the unthinkable, tell his mistress he has a mate.