Chapter 32

"Val? Vaaaaal? Sweety where are you? Xellos have you seen Val?...Xellos? Oh where in Ceifeed's name are you two!?" Filia called as she roamed her house looking for the pair, trying to rub the excess clay from her hands with her work apron. She came up from her basement for a short tea break and found the house unusually quiet. A quick search revealed no trace of her son or the monster. Getting a little concerned she quickly ran upstairs to her room and checked her bedside draw. The key was still in its place and a quick test of the portal door showed it to still be locked tight, so they must still be around the property somewhere.

Outside stealthily hovering and peering in through the window was a humanoid figure holding a larged birdlike shadow, the beings turned to each other and muffled their snickers as they left the window.

Filia went back downstairs and out her back door. There was a small landing of a back porch that went down two steps before going out to her expansive, and very overgrown backyard. She'd have to find some time to sort this mess out some point soon. "VAL? XELLOS?" Filia yelled for them, a small amount of worry starting to creep up on her. She was very confident that her protective barrier would keep most dangers and intruders out, but if Val had gotten outside the protective barrier...

No no no stop that thought. Xellos was with him when she secluded herself in the basement to work on her commisions that morning. There's no way he would just let Val wonder out alone, not at the risk of her seriously maiming him if he ever made a pass at her again if he did. Unless some horrible, world ending calamity has happened while she was working, Xellos will be with him. But where on earth are they!?

Stepping down and into the yard she began walking out into the yard proper, trying to find any sign of them. The tingles on her back let her know that they were close, were they hidi-?

A woosh of bright green flames flared up infront of her face from the overgrown grass. "Aaaaaaahhh!" Filia screamed as she stumbled back away from the flame jet, falling back on her rump. Sitting there with her hair slightly singed she heard hearty chuckling coming from the overgrowth, Val jumping with smoke coming out the sides of his mouth and nostrils like the smoking gun he was, looking very pleased with himself. Xellos stepping out a moment after, wiping fake tears of merriment.

"Oh my gosh Fi-chan, hahaha, your face! Hahahaha," Xellos continued chuckling, leaning down to Val and holding out a hand which Val promptly smacked his front claw down into in congratulations.

Filia sat in a moment in a whirlwind of shock, alarm at almost having her face burnt off, and absolute joy. "Val? Val! You flamed. You flamed!" Filia cried ecstatically as she sat up to her knees and held out her arms for her son, Val taking the invitation to jump into her arms. Filia spun around with his momentum as she rose to her full height with him. "Oh my baby! Your first flame! Oh aren't you just a little over achiever!" Filia cooed at the young dragon, nuzzling her nose to his snout.

"He's been practicing all morning," said Xellos. "Speaking of which, you really need to sort all those burnt patches of grass, they make the grounds look like a battlefield," Xellos commented as he gestured towards the side of the house. Indeed a large chunk of the field between her house and the fence posts had a scattering of empty burnt patches, some of them still with smoke coming from them.

Filia turned to him with a scowl, "you mean YOU need to sort out all those burnt patches, not like you're doing much of anything else around here," Filia scolded as she set Val back down at his insistence. He was all good for hugs with mommy, but he didn't like being held for too long lately.

Xellos seemed affronted. "I do things! When you're having your alone time downstairs I'm the one babysitting all the time," Xellos quipped back with crossed arms. Val now entertaining himself with jumping into the tall grass.

"Twice. Including today you've babysat twice. And I'm not having alone time, I'm working! One of us has to make a living somehow," Filia retorted, putting one hand on her hip and gesturing to the property in general as she spoke.

Xellos snuffed at her, "people actually pay you for those things you make? And they call me the charlatan," Xellos shrugged as he turned away from her, hiding his smirk as she got fired up.

"Why you lazy, know nothing-no, no. I'm not letting you ruin this. Val has just had his first flame and I'm going to savor this happy moment," she turned away from him towards where her son had gone into the grass. "Val. Hey sweety, how about we go inside and have a treat to celebrate!" Filia said to the young ancient as she motioned her head towards the house. Val chuffed happily and followed his mother inside the house, Xellos following a moment behind.

Filia went into the kitchen and unlocked her special cupboard, pulling out a jar of cookies, Val jumping excitedly from chair to chair in the adjoined dining area as she came in with the treats. Xellos walking in to see her toss a cookie into the air and Val leap for it, snatching it in his jaws, landing back on a chair as he munched happily. Filia turned and walked back towards the kitchen, tossing another cookie over her shoulder which Xellos managed to catch, surprised he even got one. Taking a bite and giving the rest to a very happy dragon he followed her into the kitchen. She was putting a pot of tea on as she held a cookie of her own in between her teeth, putting the rest back away in the locked cupboard.

Three weeks. Had it already been three weeks since he marked her? Since he started spending most of his time here with her? Not that he hasn't left from time to time, but lord Beastmaster hasn't been giving him nearly as much to do as she used to, the unknowns of their bond and consequences of such making her a tad cautious. The occasional testing and experimenting had continued, for Xellos at least, Filia being a lot more resistant to their trial and error method. They did find that she could only initiate a link and talk back with him, however Zelas was able to connect with her, even if it was a one way conversation. Filia did not like that experience in the slightest, especially when no one told her it was going to be attempted. Zelas seemed to get a lot of amusement from it though. Xellos had also tried teaching her how to link without shouting at him, but so far all attempts were in vain.

As for him not much more was found to be any different, only two new abilities have so far shown themselves. One being that he can actually survive casting a white magic healing spell. Not that he was ever going to do that again if he could help it. He can survive it, that doesn't mean that it didn't cause him extreme pain as the magic tried to erase him while he was casting it. The second thing being...

Filia hummed a happy tune to herself as she brought out two tea cups to the counter as the pot began to whistle. A now familiar, overly sweet champaign taste bubbling into his being as he absorbed her happiness.

The second being that he was able to partially feed off Filia's positive emotions. He still much preferred her rage and aggression, them being much more sustaining and savoury to his taste. Now that was quite the surprising discovery. He still isn't sure how mistress Zelas took this bit of news. After demanding that they test this ability of his on other people and finding out that he was only able to safely absorb Filia's positive energy, she had seemed to retract away from her servants in deep contemplation, and Xellos hadn't received any new orders since for over the last week. While this would not be the first time Zelas has gone little to no contact before, he couldn't help but worry about what she was cooking up in her solitude.

Filia put a cup in front of him, leaning against the counter with her own as she took small sips of the hot liquid. "I can't believe it. He's growing up so fast," Filia commented as she stared into her cup.

"Very fast, he's what, three months old?" Xellos asked as he sipped his own brew.

"A couple of days shy of it, yeah. Where is the time going?" Filia said with a small smile.

"When will he be learning to fly?" Xellos asked offhandedly.

Filia seemed to tense up at the question, her thumb fiddling with the handle of the cup. "I'm not sure. Could be very soon, might not be for another year, each dragon is a little different on when they pick it up. But let's not rush things! He's got plenty of time to learn, let's just enjoy the time we got with him being safely on the ground for now," Filia seemed to be very uncomfortable with the topic. Xellos raising an eyebrow in question.

"Speaking of flying. Have you transformed to your dragon form yet Filia? I've not noticed you do it when I've been around," Xellos prodded. He expected her to transform almost as soon as they became mates to test if she really would regain her wing like he promised she would. He wasn't lying when he told her that becoming his mate would allow his power to reform her severed wing. She must be feeling incredibly stifled in her human form by now after so long.

"I've, I've not really felt the need to. Everything I need is here on the ground. And I don't need to go travelling such long distances that require it. I've felt quite content to just be as I am day by day," Filia responded nervously, sternly avoiding any eye contact with him. "Oh hey would you look at the time! I'll just get back to work. If I hurry I can be finished-"

Xellos's hand caught her arm as she tried to walk past him in a hurry. "Filia. I would appreciate you not insulting my intelligence so blatantly with such horrendous lying. Now tell me, what is going on? Why are you avoiding transforming into your true form?" Xellos demanded sternly as he took another sip from his cup whilst continuing to hold her arm.

"I'm not avoiding anything. Like I said I've not felt the need to shift, and that's that!" Filia spat as she wrenched her arm from his grasp and began walking off. Xellos put down his cup, she had gotten three steps into the dining room when Xellos grabbed her shoulder and spun her backwards and caged her between his arms and the wall, halting her escape. Val squeaked in surprise and chittered in question.

Xellos turned to face him while caging Filia against the wall, "Shhh it's ok little one. Mommy's just being a little silly so I'm making her stop it. Why don't you go to the living room and we'll be in there soon, ok Val?" Xellos comforted the worried dragon. Val lowered his head and hopped down from the chair he was on and walked over to the doorway, looking back worriedly at the pair. "Go on, everything's fine, I promise," Xellos reassured the hatchling, Val turning his head and continuing into the sitting room and towards his toys.

Xellos turned back to regard his mate. She was stubbornly looking away from him with a frown on her face. "The truth Filia, now," Xellos was not going to let this one slide. Her emotions already giving him an idea of her mindset.

Her clenched fists shook as she fought the stinging sensation in her eyes, "I just, I just can't ok? Ever since elder Lortus I, that was the worst, I can't go through that again!" Filia clenched her eyes shut as she felt tears gather in the corner of her eyes, refusing to let them fall. She's so sick of crying all the time, it's been making her angry lately, but then that anger just wants to turn into more tears, putting her in an endless spiral of tears and frustration.

Ah, so that's it. "So you're afraid, is that it?" Xellos saw her jaw clench at his accusation. "Afraid of finding out if your wing didn't reform? Afraid of if it did? Afraid of flying because you may get hurt again?" he saw her visibly flinch at his harsh questions, she still refused to look at him. "You're being rather foolish about this lizard lips. You can't hide from this forever. Do you really think avoiding transformation will keep the fears at bay? You're letting them control you. What are you going to do when Val does start learning to fly? You're going to let him suffer because you want to stay grounded?"

Filia opened her eyes and glared at Xellos with utter rage as she spoke. "Don't you DARE use Val against me! I will cross that bridge when I come to it. Until then you can just piss off and mind your own business!" Filia fumed as she pushed passed him and out towards the sitting room. Turning back to Xellos she took her work apron off. "I think I'll call it a day for work. You can leave now Xellos," Filia spat as she left him alone in the dining room.

Xellos gave a steely glare to the space Filia had just vacated. Did she actually just tell him to piss off and mind his own business? And then just dismiss him like a common servant? Clenching his fists he reigned in his temper, he can make her pay for that later. In the meantime, her reluctance in transforming could simply not be allowed to continue. Despite what she may believe, anything to do with her was his business, and he will be rectifying this situation promptly.

Whether she liked it or not.