Very carefully Valgaav stepped up behind his friend and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Perhaps you should consult the transcript again, maybe there's something you've overlooked." Once again the breeze struck up as the group stood on the hill that overlooked Rorfinia's seaports. They were unusually busy that day, with more ships pulling in than Rorfinia was used to seeing.
"We have looked everywhere, Val!" Tabby suddenly spun on him, an ardent expression clouding her features. "Everywhere there is to look in this forsaken place!" At any moment it seemed she might even burst into tears. Valgaav was poised and ready, as everyone else remained quiet.
As things fell silent again, Tabby took in a sharp breath and sighed it long and audible through her nose. Overhead the sky was a radiant mixture of cerulean and cornflower blue, dappled with fluffy clouds and a nearly smiling sun. Around Tabby, the world was a complete contrast to her mood. The breeze whispered merrily around the seven of them and tickled its way through the viridian trees that grew along the hill. Silently Tabby fumed. I was so close, she moaned to herself, only the faintest audible form of the thought leaving her lips. She wanted to throw a tantrum right then, one that even Lina could be proud of, however she kept herself in tact. It wouldn't do to lose her composure now.
Filia stepped up on the other side of Tabby and said, "Valgaav's right, Tabby. You should consult this transcript of yours again. It could be right under our noses." Everyone, excluding Gourry (who'd been staring off into the wild blue yonder), nodded to Filia's rational statement.
"Ah, yes," a new voice suddenly said. Tabby's head whipped up in a flash to find its source. Standing before her on the hill's clearing was a man. His longish violet hair fluttered elegantly around his face. "I do think Filia and Valgaav are correct, Miss Inverse."
Tabby gaped at this newcomer, but her startlement was nowhere close to Valgaav's sudden intense anger. His hand suddenly locked down hard on Tabby's shoulder before he ripped it away and suddenly rushed the newcomer.
Before then, this person's eyes had been shut in merry little "u" shapes. When he somehow perceived the half Ryuzoku running headlong towards him, one eye opened in a sort of reverse wink and his smile only widened rather than faltering. The eye that focused on Valgaav was a pale amethyst and almost beautiful were it not for the cat-slitted pupil. Just before Valgaav crashed into him full force, he held up one white-gloved hand and suddenly the aqua-haired Dragon was frozen in place. Again the violet haired man smiled, but this time shook his head. For the time being the air had stopped toying with his hair and everything was still. A snarl was frozen on Valgaav's lips.
Tabby's eyes trained on this new event, while everyone else looked on. Briefly Lina wondered again if Tabby knew the man standing before the seven of them. Everyone else did, that was for sure. Gourry, even though he'd had a rather passive relationship with the purple-haired one, seemed ready to draw his sword. In a fighting stance, Zelgadis held his hands close to his side, ready to ball in them a spell if something were to happen.
Filia only glared, and softly, the word, "Namagomi..." left her.
"Now, now, Valgaav, such impulsiveness is not comely. Not in front of the lady anyhow." A smirk reformed the previous smile as he nodded in Tabby's direction. "Wherever are your manners?"
To much everybody's surprise, Lina spoke up. "Look, Xelloss," she addressed the man holding Valgaav frozen in place, "Let him go." Tabby looked back at her cousin when she spoke, a confused look on her face.
However, to this Xelloss happily nodded and returned his hand to his side. Valgaav's body relaxed, having been released from the magical grip. A glare now furrowed his brow as he bored holes into Xelloss with his eyes. Finally he stalked back to stand at Tabby's side, his chest heaving just a bit with angry breaths. With wondering eyes Tabby looked around hoping someone would explain who Xelloss was. No one said a thing though; they continued to look upon the man with much more disdain than welcome.
Once again Lina spoke up. "Look, Xell, we don't have time for games. And I'm sure Tabby can keep Valgaav -" Aforementioned Valgaav glowered and growled at this, "- in check, if you'll keep your mitts to yourself."
Xelloss smiled innocently, both eyes closed again. "You have my word, Lina. As long as I have Tabby and Valgaav's."
Neither said a word as of then.
Lina turned her attention back to Tabby's confused and lost look. "You see, Tabby, this is Xelloss."
"I kinda gathered that, Lina. Tell me something I don't know." Suddenly Tabby felt her patience being tried once more. She looked back and forth between Lina and Xelloss.
Taking a deep breath to stifle her own distaste at that remark, Lina continued, "Anyway, he's a Mazoku, much like what Valgaav's half of now. Only he's full... blooded I guess you'd say. And while he's super annoying, he's rather helpful."
"Aren't all Mazoku super annoying?" Tabby muttered. She hoped however that Valgaav knew he was excluded from that remark. Her eyes locked on Lina's again before they trailed back to Xelloss. He was simply standing there; the hand that had not stopped Valgaav clutched a long staff that looked to be made of mahogany wood. At its top, it branched out into two separate pieces, which curled around a bright, vermilion orb. His eyes were again closed, looking as if he were blissfully unaware of the unwelcome faces around him.
"I resent that, Tabby Inverse," he broke his silence, a frown twisting his smirk. One eye opened again and Tabby felt a chill rise up her spine. "And here I was, come to help you and your friends."
Eyebrow raised, Tabby questioned, "Whaddya mean? And how do you know my name?" Her eyes narrowed. Tabby didn't like strangers knowing her name, especially now that she recalled him saying her name before Lina did.
No longer frowning, but grinning quite profusely, Xelloss lifted his hand and raised one finger to waggle at her. Winking, he replied, "That... is a secret!"
Everyone groaned, including Tabby, though she did not yet know that the Mazoku used this trademarked phrase very often. In fact, she didn't know he had many secrets and many hidden agendas, which he usually joined up with Lina and the others to carry out. Tabby knew nothing about this new character, and why he claimed to come help them. She wasn't sure if she wanted this so-called "help." However, if Lina said a Mazoku, of all things, was useful, then he must be good for something.
"Now what do you want, Xelloss?" Lina questioned, her voice nothing less than agitated. Tabby noticed she kept shooting Valgaav looks, which Valgaav all but ignored.
"I came to help out your relative, dear Lina. I hear she's looking for the ever elusive Lady of Faith..." For affect more than anything else, he opened both of his eyes. Focusing them on Tabby's, he stared hard and long at her before saying, "That is, if she'll graciously accept my help and call off her pet."
"Pet?!" Valgaav raged. He lunged forward only to be stopped by Lina, Tabby and Filia, who were all standing at the front. "I'm not her pet!"
But Xelloss merely chuckled and shrugged. "Valgaav, I've no time for this. My business is with no one but young Miss Inverse here."
"Look, I don't know how you knew I was looking for the Lady, but you better explain what you're up to. There's only one exception to my hatred of Mazoku and that's Val, here. So you better get to talking because I'm not afraid to Ragna Blade you!" Hands struck on her hips, Tabby did her best to look threatening. By the look on Xelloss's cheery face, Tabby remembered that he was only feasting on all the anger vibrating on the air around him. She wasn't fazing him one bit.
Xelloss laughed again. It seemed he was on the verge of telling her that too was a secret, but he surprised them by actually explaining. "You see, Tabby, I happen to know the exact whereabouts of the Lady of Faith. In fact, I've had the pleasure of having tea with her several times over the years. When I saw that you were so passionately upset over not finding her, I thought you might need my... help."
Filia looked as if she were about to discredit his statements, but Lina quieted her with a wave, also beckoning the others into a tighter semi-circle behind Tabby. There they all stood waiting to see if she would accept Xelloss's words. "And just what do you want in return?"
Xelloss's sweet face dropped. It was obvious he hadn't expected that, considering no one had ever really asked him that before. Within a second's time however, he was smiling again and shaking his head. "Oh, nothing, dear Tabby; just want you to meet the Lady. She's very nice."
Everyone exchanged a look, wondering exactly what Xelloss's definition of nice might be.
So, the party had gained one more member as they reluctantly let Xelloss into the group. Tabby was far more than reluctant. She practically loathed that a true Mazoku was joining her and that she might very well be accepting help from him. No one listened to her though as she grumbled, mostly to herself than anyone else. Valgaav too was almost livid, but of course that could've signaled the remembrance of his past with what he mostly referred to as "the purple-haired fruitcake." Tabby hadn't known, and Valgaav prayed she never would, that it was Xelloss who had rendered him in the state that she'd found him. With the Mazoku so close now, Valgaav felt ready to explode. But he kept his cool, or what little he had left of it, because he wanted Tabby to be safe. Sure, she could handle her own against even the most formidable of opponents, but Valgaav knew she would be the first thing threatened if he tried anything funny with Xelloss.
Xelloss floated a few inches off the ground rather than walking, as he led them into Rorfinia's shallow outlining forest. It could hardly be called that, the little strip of greenery that surrounded most of it, but it was a forest nonetheless. It made them all just a bit jittery that they were heading towards the sparsely populated outskirts, but even Tabby agreed that getting anywhere closer to the Lady (even if it meant following a Mazoku) was better than getting nowhere at all. She kept her comments to her self for the time and followed along with more eagerness than she would admit.
When at last the group came to rest, it was outside of a large outcropping of rock that was not too far from the sea. A black, cavernous cave mouth greeted them from the side. Quizzically, Tabby turned her gaze to Xelloss and raised one eyebrow.
"Just through there, you'll find the Lady," Xelloss pointed towards the opening. "Tiz dark, but she's placed lights throughout, leading the way."
However, even Lina looked skeptical of such a direct explanation. "Are you sure, Xelloss? I mean, really sure? You've never said something so blunt in the entire time I've known you... and..." She shook her head and pursed her mouth, resting her hands on her hips. The short sorceress tossed her cape over her shoulder and glared at her surroundings.
However, Xelloss only chuckled in a low manner and looked back to Tabby. "Straight through there," he pressed. "I'll even enter with you, if you'd like such insurance."
At this Tabby seemed convinced. She struck a contemplative pose much like Lina's exasperated one earlier and then finally shrugged. "Then come on. What've we got to lose?"
"What if there are dragons in there, Tabby?" Gourry said, scratching the back of his head. "You might get eaten."
Smiling, Tabby shook her head. "There aren't any dragons here in Ralteague... well, except for Filia of course."
"Filia's a dragon?"
A chorus of groans resounded at this remark, but no one tried to explain it. Not even Filia who looked even more peeved with it than the rest of them. Instead they filed into the cave (Xelloss not far behind) and screamed in terror as there was suddenly no floor beneath them.
