The chair shattered under her weight the second she sat down upon it. She fell flat on her lower half, exhaustion having dulled her reflexes

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Miss," the waiter apologized, amid secreting a chuckle. "That's never happened before."

"I'll bet," said Filia, gritting her teeth and pulling herself up by his proffered hand. She sighed and cracked in her back into place while another chair was called. The waiter politely stood behind it to push her further to the table, but she hadn't suffered an exorbitant amount of blows to her dignity that day to be stupid enough to fall for the same trick twice. She firmly pushed down her weight on the chair seat with her hand and smiled grimly when her suspicious proved to be in check.

"I really am sorry, Miss. I realize how this may look, but I assure you, nothing of this sort of thing has ever–" Filia interrupted the now truly flustered waiter.

"It's alright, just bring me another chair please."

The waiter immediately left with another apology to inspect a chair, leaving her to sigh again and rub the pulsing vein in her temple. Satisfaction was not always the sweetest treat. The tirade of attacks had been increasing steadily as she went about the town, preparing for her trip, from morning right up to this afternoon.

As of today, she had been accused of stealing large amount of watermelons when a vendor noticed his missing and instantly spotted them by Filia's side, ostentatiously arranged in a pyramid by her feet; was told by a fortune reader whom she hadn't even paid for a reading that in spite of her unflattering looks, she would find a husband (a horse stall mucker, as she recalled); and was almost trampled when she passed by a pen of some rather hefty pigs, where the gate was secured by a heavy padlock, but mysteriously opened of its own accord to let the pigs barreling out in her direction.

The day had certainly been not one of her luckiest, although memorable, she mused, as the waiter brought back a chair that held together when tested. She was beginning to wonder when the havoc wreaked upon her life would end or if it ever would.

"Xelloss, Xelloss, XELLOSS," she raged silently at the mazoku priest, losing her self-control temporarily and then catching herself. It wouldn't do to blame him when she had no proof at all to confront him with. She wouldn't play his game. When she caught him, if she caught him, he would pay, but until then, she had to just keep herself composed and calm..

Abruptly, the chair under her collapsed.

"NAMAGOMI!!"

...ooooooooooooooooooo...

After a day of misfortune like her own, Filia naturally was ready to call it quits as soon as she picked up a last required item. She walked through the now almost familiar streets, looking for a booth she had spotted earlier that sold large satchels, just what she needed to store all she had bought for her trip. Once she found one to her liking, it was off to her room where she would get some well-deserved rest for her to leave in the morning.

Or so she had hoped. Rather, when she found the particular vendor she was looking for, a small old woman with a friendly countenance, a series of events came into play that would, ultimately, cause her to lose more than a few hours of sleep over for sheer burning rage.

"It's a very strong weave, isn't it?" Filia fingered the large pack, testing the durability of the fabric.

"Oh my, yes, that's a very strong weave. If you're traveling about, it's just the thing to carry your possessions in."

"Well, it definitely seems to suit my purpose then," replied the priestess, smiling despite the weariness she felt. This woman seemed like a congenial soul of sorts. "I'll take it. How much?"

The woman named a fairly reasonable price and began wrapping up the desired item, making some small talk with Filia. Behind the dragon priestess, completely unbeknownst to her, was a quickly becoming odd spectacle: Quite a large frog had been placed upon the furthest end of a wooden staff, where it perched precariously while the staff was slowly and carefully being maneuvered to the region of the her neck.

"It's so lovely to be young," the vendor gabbed, in mind of a few of her own adventures. "When you're young, the world is yours for the exploring and the fun. Never forget that dear, will you?"

Filia began to voice an affable reply when the frog suddenly grew tired of the torpid game of patience and waiting, and jumped from its post, landing upon the dragoness's shoulder. Instincts raw and sharp, she plucked it off instantly, clenching the creature so hard with one hand its eyes nearly popped from its head.

Such a piercing scream had never been heard by most of the townspeople, nor such a rapid dash of escape by a person had ever been seen. It broke the record.

"Wait, you forgot your pack!" The old woman yelled, in an attempt to bring her back, but dust clouds were the only evidence the priestess had been in the street at all. Cautiously, the vendor peered over her table of goods. The frog stared at her, happy to be alive. She looked again in the direction of the young woman, then shrugged and collected the money dolled out on the table.

...ooooooooooooooooooo...

Fear giving her speed usually unknown to her, Filia didn't stop running until she was on the outskirts of the town. She stopped at a wide, matriarchal tree, leaning her weight against it and panting. Unexpectedly, she slammed her fist at its bark, emitting a growl of frustration, as tears involuntary appeared in her eyes.

The blow caused a slight noise of branches and leaves thrashing above her, only to mark the drop from the tree of..

"XELLOSS!"

The priest was curled in a ball upon the grass, laughing so hard he couldn't breath, hitting weakly at the ground with his fist.

...ooooooooooooooooooo...

"I can't BELIEVE you!"

Xelloss scratched his head from his low sitting position on the ground, apparently not all that astonished by his recent actions. "Now, Filia..you're making something out of nothing."

Filia jabbed a whole arm at the town, trying to serrate the air to prove her point. "You call what you did to me back there NOTHING? A FROG, Xelloss, a FROG! Don't you think that's.." She blushed pink at the thought of her recently established phobia. "That's-that's..kind of low? Even for you?"

"I couldn't just let you walk away, could I?" He smiled in reply.

Filia was near speechless. "You have the vindication of a THREE YEAR OLD!"

"I meant from Lina," Xelloss said, neatly covering his tracks.

The priestess stamped her foot in annoyance as he stood, surveying the land lightly. "That's no excuse to humiliate me like that! Don't give me the, "I did it for Lina" line! I know you would have done it any way, regardless of Miss Lina's peril–"

Xelloss interrupted her. "Well, it's over and done with, and we're once again chit-chatting while Lina could be in the clutches of death itself." He paused, contemplating. "Or perhaps just in absolute fear. In any case, I have a proposal for you, Filia."

He paused again. "Although that chair trick in the restaurant really was quite good, wasn't it?"

"You filthy Namagomi! I can't even believe you, Mazoku scum as you are, would do that!"

Xelloss's eyebrow twitched ever so subtly before he responded.

"Do you wish to hear the proposal, my dear dragoness?"

Filia's glare became slightly more pronounced. "Yes, I do. But, don't 'my dear dragoness' me."

Xelloss smiled once more. "I propose a truce."

The anger upon the priestess's face became pure cynicism. "You have got to be kidding me," she said flatly.

"A temporary truce, of course, but an informal alliance nevertheless." His charisma was the equivalent of a used car salesman's in Filia's view as he fetched a small stick from the ground and began a diagram upon the earth.

"Here is our party to be rescued." He drew four crude stick people in the dirt and a circle around them.

"They are terrorized by a giant slug of magnificent magnitude. Or, at least, the most powerful among them is." A bad drawing that only remotely looked like a slug was placed beside the party to be rescued.

"And then there is you.." The priest's stick hesitated slightly before scraping another stick person to the lower right of the other pictures. "And there is me." Another stick person, opposite Filia's.

"Now, you must go to the party's aid," he said, quickly making a line between Filia and Lina and her gang. "Because Lina is the one who will supposedly fulfill your prophecy."

Filia bit back a retort to the narrow condescension in his tone as made another line between his personage and the party.

"And I, busy as I am, must also lend my services to the party," he continued, re-sketching a bit of the diagram and then standing up once more and looking at her.

Filia waited for him to continue for a long moment. "Well?" she broke into the silence impatiently.

"Well what?"

"Why do you have to help out Miss Lina? It isn't your credo to just help someone out for no reason at all." She eyed him with an expectant look in her eye. His answer..

"That is a secret!"

..was not necessarily a difficult one to predetermine. She scowled at him. He smiled back sweetly in return.

Filia coughed slightly in a gloved fist. "And you drew that elaborate picture board..."

"My artistic side needed some release," he finished.

She sighed. "Alright, Xelloss. We'll agree to a truce until Miss Lina has been rescued. But I do have some terms."

"Naturally," the Mazoku said, with a nod.

"First, NO pulling pranks like you did back there." A slight smirk appeared on his face at the mention of his handiwork, but Filia ignored it as best she could.

"Second, no disappearing on me without due notice."

Xelloss's face dropped slightly on mockingly perfect cue, emitting a small noise of disappointment.

"And third," Filia's voice became a touch more strangled. "You have to be honest and share with me what you know of Miss Lina's kidnaping or with anything else concerning this matter."

"Do you intend to keep these same conditions, my dearest Filia?" Xelloss asked.

Slightly annoyed with the endearment, she extended her hand sourly. "Yes."

They shook on the matter for as little time as possible. Filia turned to leave with a slight sigh, but before she could, Xelloss pulled another card from up his sleeve.

"So you're ready to tell me why you can't transform into a dragon then?"

The dragoness turned to face him again, her face livid. She swallowed hard, angry he had more ammunition to her name, but mumbled a reply, glaring fiercely.

Xelloss cupped his ear, leaning towards her. "What's that? I couldn't hear you."

She said nothing, features emulating those of a volcano about to erupt.

Xelloss leaned further toward her. "Sorry, still can't hear you!"

"...IT'S THAT TIME OF THE MONTH, YOU-"

"Ahha.." The priest put a finger to his chin, as if truly contemplating this news instead of reveling in Filia's fury.

"Don't act like you didn't know, Namagomi," she hissed at him before turning again to leave towards the setting sun.

"Don't sleep late," he called after her, grinning from ear to ear to himself.

...ooooooooooooooooooo...

See? No big mystery about Filia's inability to transform, people! The curse comes to every woman, human and non-human alike. Makes you just weep for menopause, doesn't it?

And now for something completely different..

I'M READY TO SOB MY EYES OUT. I recently finished the Try series of Slayers. Is it just me or does anyone else get slight tear in the heart when a season ends? No exaggeration here - I actually get a pain in my chest. I don't cry (yeah, a little embellishment on that small detail there..), as I would if I lost someone dear to me, I just get a heavy ache that will dissipate in about two-three days.

I really don't know what is it. Perhaps it's because I feel so close to the characters sometimes? You gotta admit, when you watch certain anime that fit you like a soul mate, it's like looking over friends and saying goodbye to them every time a season ends. I may be just addressing the hardcore otaku here, however, there's a chance this feeling is more widespread than I think..

..Or I could just upset about the way Try ended. Okay, Valgaav's going to be reborn, world is safe from danger, odd-looking otherworlder has just left with Gourry's Sword of Light, CIAO! What the hell?!? Can't you all just sit down for five minutes and reminisce about the "good ol' times" or something? Can we down some sake in celebration? Pull a firecracker? Claim victory in hand gesture? No. We gotta leave this very instant, dammit - Goodbye, Filia, have a nice life; Xelloss, I have no doubt we'll see you around sometime.

Yeah, I'm an angry fan. Enough though of my ranting. It's time for..

...ooooooooooooooooooo...

GODZILLA-PORTIONED SMOTHERING LOVE AND PLEDGED ADORATION FOR REVIEWERS:

Oh, God! I love you all so much! I want hug each and every one of you til your eyes pop out of your heads and you have 6" waists! Wait..I feel a song coming on..I BELIEVE I CAN FLY. I BELIEVE I CAN TOUCH THE SKY–

Ahem..reviewer comments typed with the author's now ego-inflated fingers:

Charatka: GOOD! Good things get better with time. If they got worse, this would be a horrible story. Even if this was a so-so story and continued to be..eh, it still wouldn't be good. So..GOOD! Arigato! And are you feeling better, I hope?

Bluediamond: You win the most wonderful reviewer award! Thank you, thank you, thank you! (MUCHO gracias, I think it is in Spanish..) I am forever indebted to your kindness and humorous commentary. I agree with you - we need more stories where Filia kicks some Mazoku-butt sometimes (figuratively speaking, of course). Sorry the cat thought you were demented. You know he's going to look at you strange for a year now. And don't worry, I'll keep true to the story (and resist the urge to declare, "What story!" right now..). Hopefully, you snagged this chapter before you went to Australia. If not, eh, perhaps you'll get a 2 chapter deal when you return.

P.S. What country are you from?

foxyandredpandy: I'm keeping the faith, sister! (I assume?) And I think they're metaphors, although you might want to check that up yourself since I don't have the best memory when it comes to grammar..ehehe..

Mistress DragonFlame: Yes, yes! I owe it all to you! Look at the fire you have ignited! People are getting drawn to my story like flies to sticky tape. BWAHAHA! (Yeah, I'm really grateful for your reviews.)

Ahh, you know Xelloss. He can probably manipulate a tree to grow into the ground if he held out his patience, so the town was most likely a blow-over. I'll pretend I actually thought about how he did it. And how about that plot starting to form, eh? Hehe.

Once again, thanks.

Cooking Spray: Wow, now there's a neat screenname! (Tell me you strained your brain over that one.) Thanks for the encouragement! Even if it takes me a month to produce each chapter, I'll keep up the fight.

...ooooooooooooooooooo...

Hope you had an edible Thanksgiving!