Sylphiel sighed, looking down at her armload of stained robes, as she stood outside the bathing room door, collecting her thoughts and catching her breath. She hadn't expected him to look... quite so ...well.
Her blush returned with a vengeance. It was better not to think about it. He was a tree- or... had the mentality of a tree. He probably didn't care about clothes anyway. She leaned closer to the door as she heard his voice, "...not worth keeping for rags anyway," she heard him muttering, then the sound of water. Good. He didn't want them back, though, Sylphiel really wasn't sure why Flagoon would want Rezo's old robes anyway. Shaking her head, she headed towards the back door and wrestled it open, dumping the lot of it outside, though she did salvage the belt, it wasn't cloth, nor was it in that bad of shape, just slightly rusted and needing a bit of repair to the tassels. Turning, she set the belt on the floor next to the door for later, headed back out into the living room where there were stairs leading up to the second floor.
He would need new clothes, Sylphiel decided, and she had some of her father's old robes. They would do for now, though they were probably too short for him. She would work on sewing him new clothes, or just go down to the tailor shop in town. Flagoon might not care how he looked, but Sylphiel did.
Heading down the upstairs hall, Sylphiel pulled down the ladder that lead to the attic and climbed up, casting a lighting spell so she could see her way through the short and cramped confines of her storage area. There were plenty of old things up here, somehow, someone had even managed to fit a dresser up the ladder and into the far back. It was covered in dust, but Sylphiel knew that it was too old for even her father to have known where it came from. Her goal, however, was closer than that. Just to the left of the entrance was a chest full of old clothes she simply hadn't had the heart to throw away. Her father's robes, her mother's dresses among other old clothes that were folded neatly and packed into the old antique chest her mother had gotten from her mother. Crouching, Sylphiel opened the chest and shuffled through the clothes, selecting Eruk's longer robes and larger shirts, Flagoon's shoulders were a bit wider than her father's, his hips narrower, and legs longer.
After getting a fairly good sample of clothes out, Sylphiel started to shut the chest, then paused, pushing it open fully again to reach in. She had never really looked through the chest before, and something of velvety new-green caught Sylphiel's attention. Catching hold of the cloth, Sylphiel pulled the dress out.
"Oh my," the shrine maiden breathed and stood, holding the dress out at arm's length to inspect it. The style was old, the fabric slightly wrinkled but in good condition, and in all, it was beautiful. Bonus was it looked to be about Sylphiel's size. Setting it down atop the pile of clothes she was going to take downstairs, she knelt at the chest again. "Flagoon will probably be a while... I just hope he doesn't fall asleep and drown..." But she had the feeling that she'd know if he was in any danger, she could already feel a faint echo of aching fatigue that she knew wasn't hers and her only explanation was that it was Flagoon's. "The poor thing," she sighed, "Not used to this kind of activity at all, even if he is taking things rather well."
Bringing her light closer, Sylphiel continued to dig through the chest, finding two more dresses near the bottom that were to her liking, then carefully folded what would remain in the chest and repacked it. Following that, she shut the chest and gathered up her clothes, carefully heading down the ladder. The hall was the length of most of the house with two rooms on the north side, facing the road, and two on the south. The house used to be her family's summer home, an old house her mother had grown up in and inherited when her parents died. Now it was Sylphiel's only home, and though she could have lived in town, where she tended to spend most of her time anyway, the place had too many good memories to simply abandon. She set down her load long enough to raise the ladder back into the ceiling, then detoured into her room long enough to hang up her new garments, then headed over to the guest bedroom, which stood across the hall from her room.
Both rooms were tidy, Sylphiel always keeping her room clean and the guest bedroom having been left untouched except for occasional dusting since the last time the house had seen guests. The room was decorated in a gender-neutral style of light blue painted walls, a full sized bed against the left wall near the door, a night table beside that. Across the room there were two windows with half-curtains of white lace, blocking view, but not the light. Beneath the windows was a writing desk and chair. On the right wall was the dresser and door to the closet in the far corner.
In the room on the other side of that wall, the shape was mirrored, except for the placement of the closet door, making the best use of space between the rooms. The floor was polished hardwood, a dark cherry in color with an area rug in the center of the floor for a bit of pattern. Hung on the walls were paintings of landscapes done by some artist in her mother's family a few generations back. They were good paintings, though, and worth displaying. Setting her bundle of clothes on the floor next to the dresser, Sylphiel sorted them and folded most into the drawers, then hung up the robes in the closet.
Taking up a shirt and pair of pants, Sylphiel headed back downstairs to the living room, which was long with a fireplace on the east wall and a couch facing that, the other end of the room was decorated with a formal dining table that Sylphiel hardly ever used. There was an old chess game set on that table, one she'd been playing with her father and never finished. She simply didn't have the heart to move the pieces and didn't have any pets to mess with them, so they stayed, lifted only occasionally for a bit of dusting, but otherwise, the game was on pause indefinitely.
The door to the kitchen was on the south side of the living room, a short ways from the stairs. The kitchen was half the size of the front room and had another dining table set in it with four chairs, beyond that was the door into the backyard garden, and on the east wall, the door to the bathroom.
Once more, Sylphiel's blush returned, and she carefully cracked the bathroom door open and peeked in. Flagoon was still in the tub, arms draped over the side and cheek on the edge. His hair was clean and starting to dry and his eyes were closed. He didn't even twitch as she stepped in and placed the clothes on the bench next to his towel.
Backing out of the room, Sylphiel stole one last glance towards the resurrected body sprawled in her tub to find that his left eye had cracked open, the demonic-looking yellow color sending a chill down her spine. He closed his eye again after recognition passed across his face and relaxed deeper in the water, as if he were trying to put down roots there. Sylphiel had a feeling that he may have been. He was a tree, after all.
Closing the door, Sylphiel turned and surveyed her kitchen. It was clean, just as she'd left it. That wasn't surprising, but it left her with little to do while she waited for Flagoon to decide when he'd absorbed enough hot water to come out of the bathroom. She hoped he didn't think he could just live in there, even if he did claim to have the memories of a human for guidance on how to act properly. ...then again, they were that copy of Rezo's memories, and he hadn't been too civil. Sure, when she'd met him before everything started, he was polite and kind, with that woman Eris lurking at his elbow, doing most of the talking. Sylphiel could see now, with 20/20 hindsight that Eris had been the one playing ventriloquist with the copy, but that didn't excuse Rezo's actions after he'd freed himself from Eris's gem.
Taking a breath, Sylphiel decided. "I can forgive the body, but never the soul."
With that declaration, she headed into the living room to pick up her traveling pack and pull everything from it and wash the dishes she'd taken with her.
Kopii felt clean at last, and Flagoon was happy too, having gotten that good long soak to loosen his muscles and ease the pain in his joints, and now, they were more than ready for lunch. Prying himself out of the tub, Kopii let the water drain and began drying off, pulling on the clothes Sylphiel had left. They didn't quite fit, but he wasn't complaining. It was clean and that was all that really mattered. Barefooted, Kopii padded out into the kitchen, using his fingers to comb out the tangles in his hair. It was a task a comb would have been better suited to, but he didn't have one at the moment.
Sylphiel was at the stove, stirring a pot. She was still wearing her dirty clothes from earlier, but then, he'd been occupying the tub for quite some time. "Oh," she murmured as she glanced back. "Flagoon- are you feeling better?"
"Yes," he replied and took a seat at the table and placed his hands on it, spreading his fingers and gazing at his nails. Not even they had a trace of grime beneath them, though they were a bit longer than he liked to keep them but that was easily fixed too. Glancing up, he found Sylphiel still watching him. "Much better," he added, just to be courteous, as she did deserve that much, "Thank you."
She smiled finally and turned back to the pot. "Lunch is ready," she said and got out bowls. It was soup this time, and it smelled like heaven. Taking a seat across from him, Sylphiel made the usual blessing to Cepheid and Kopii took up his spoon and began eating. Oh god, tasting was even better than smelling, and Kopii savored every bite. Eris's cooking had never been that good, even compared to the fare at taverns and third class restaurants- which was why Rezo had hardly ever eaten with her, and had remained so thin- but what his copy was sampling at that moment was better than what kings had. And this was just vegetable soup!
The thought that he was being a cannibal crossed his mind, and he dismissed it before he laughed.
Finishing one serving, he held his bowl out for seconds when she offered it, well aware that if all her cooking was this good, Kopii had better get into the habit of exercising more often. Sylphiel smiled at his appetite, apparently feeling complimented by it. "I have a room ready for you," she told him, watching as he slurped down a third bowl, "if you want, you can sleep more."
Swallowing the last of the juice from the bowl, Kopii found the ability to smile at her, though it was brief, "No," he answered, "I will sit outside," he had a sudden craving for sunlight, which he blamed on Flagoon, but then again, he had nothing better to do, except maybe read, but that could be done outside too. He would see if he could find something to read. He'd thought he saw a bookshelf in the living room near the fireplace in that mad rush through the house to the bath.
Sylphiel nodded, "Try not to stay in the sun too long, you'll burn," she warned, needlessly, Kopii already knew of that danger, but accepted it anyway. She did think he was Flagoon... which he was, as well as himself. It was okay, being called Flagoon was a lot better than being called Rezo all the time, and what did a name matter, so long as he was aware that he was being addressed, she could call him demonspawn if she wanted.
He had to admit though, that being called that by Sylphiel would hurt. ...Okay, so he liked her. She wasn't so bad when he wasn't trying to destroy her home and her tree, but he had the feeling that if she knew he was the copy merged with Flagoon, she just might have thrown a fit. Too much to think about, Kopii decided. If she found out, fine. If she didn't, fine. He wasn't thinking very fast at the moment, thoughts were running like syrup across a horizontal surface. He blamed Flagoon for that, knowing an outside influence in his mind when he felt it, after all, Kopii had gotten plenty of exposure to that.
Standing, Sylphiel picked up her bowl, and he handed his over after consulting his stomach on whether he wanted more. She smiled again and headed over to the sink to put the dirty dishes in for soaking. "I'm going to take a bath now," she told him, "but if you need me, I'll come."
Kopii didn't have a doubt that she wouldn't. He nodded and watched as she left the room, heading upstairs for a moment before returning with clean clothes and another towel. She disappeared into the bathroom, and he remained where he was for a while longer, listening to her soft sounds in the other room. At last, he found the energy to get up and headed into the living room. Yes, there was indeed a bookshelf on the wall beneath the stairs. None of the book titles were anything he'd read before, so Kopii selected one and headed towards the back door.
Looking down to the right of the door, Kopii's lips twitched, "looks like she intends to bury them," he stated, mostly to himself, partially to Flagoon, who didn't care, and headed on into the garden. The yard behind the house was partially closed off by a tall white fence made of lattice on which vines of various flowering plants grew, the back was left open, giving access to the patch of forest the house was built on the edge of. In front of the various vines, were flowerbeds, brimming with a riot of colors, and a patch near the backdoor of the house was of herbs and vegetables with a small fence around it to keep animals out. Out in the center was a small stone patio with a tea table and birdfeeders on tall stands nearby as well as a stone birdbath. Kopii took his book and headed that direction, placing himself in the cast iron chair and opened his book on the table after dusting off some birdseed.
Opening his book, Kopii set his fingers to the text and closed his eyes, reading by feel of the imprints writing left on the pages. The book turned out to be a storybook of some sort, some tale of a far away kingdom and hero going to save a damsel in distress. It was alright for a book, but not something Rezo would have ever paid money for. Kopii, just enjoyed the ability to read whatever he wanted without Eris getting pissed at him for not being Rezo-like while he read. She said Rezo never crossed his ankles or jiggled his knee, but she was just unobservant and stupid, and quite dead now and thus no longer a nuisance to him.
Flagoon's way of thinking was really starting to affect him, Kopii realized, and it wasn't all that bad. A calmer outlook on life was much easier to deal with than Eris's irritating pressures and compulsions on what she wanted him to say or think, or Zanafaar's 'Destroy Everything' single-tracked mind. Flagoon... just sat there and thought of nothing except how pleasant the sunshine was, and the breeze, and the birds. This wasn't going to be that bad, this new life, Kopii decided.
Sylphiel smiled to herself as she dried her hair, stepping out of the bathroom with her towel over her head. Flagoon had really enjoyed lunch, and could apparently pack it away, though not nearly as much as Mrs. Lina and Dear Gourry could, but that was fine, it meant that she wasn't cooking for just her small appetite anymore and could use some of the bigger recipes that she had learned from her mother. That meant more variety at dinnertime. Lifting her towel, she found the kitchen unoccupied, and a glance out the kitchen window revealed that Flagoon had gone outside, just as he'd said he would, and taken a book with him. Odd, that, but Sylphiel supposed a tree could occupy itself however it wanted, so long as he wasn't in everything like a small child on a sugar high.
Taking the towel off completely, she draped it over the back of a chair to dry a bit and headed upstairs into her room to get her brush and straighten out the snags in her hair. Taking it back downstairs, she stepped out into the backyard, smiling up at the partially clouded sky. The storm they'd spotted earlier would likely hit them that night. Opening his eyes at the sound of the door, Flagoon looked towards her and blinked, giving her that flat emotionless stare. It was unnerving that he seemed to have no hint of life in his eyes, even when he smiled, the expression wasn't long lasting, nor was it very intense. Had recent events scarred him, or was it that Flagoon just didn't understand the importance of genuine expression? Either way, Sylphiel wasn't going to say anything about it.
Finishing combing her hair into place, Sylphiel smiled slightly and came to stand behind him, running the brush through his hair, though it had already dried into a rather wild style, she tamed it as best she could with the water drippings from her hair. "What are you reading?" she asked into the silence.
Turning the book Flagoon ran a finger down the spine of it, "River of Dreams and Darkness," told her.
"Oh, that one is my favorite. How do you like it?" Sylphiel's lips smiled at him and Flagoon turned his head to look at her face, rather closely, as if she'd said something strange or unexpected. She kept her smile in place, unsure of what he was looking for.
Finally, he seemed satisfied, for Flagoon turned to face forward once more and replied. "It is... interesting." He was halfway through the book, where the good plot twists happened, and Sylphiel was taken with the urge to read the book again. She hadn't read it in a while and had forgotten some of the plot.
Putting her hands back into motion, Sylphiel continued brushing his hair, marveling at how soft it felt, and how it shone in the sunlight. "Flagoon... why did you choose to become a human?"
He remained silent for a long time, eyes half lidded and leaning slightly into her brush strokes, enjoying the sensation like a cat. "It was time," he murmured. "Sairaag will be rebuilt in time, but I am no longer needed. Zanafaar was resurrected, as it needed to be for me to finally dispose of the last of its aura. Then there was Hellmaster, attempting to subjugate me or destroy me. You asked why I chose this body. That was because it suited my purposes best and it was there."
Flagoon opened his eyes as Sylphiel stopped brushing and looked back at her, to find her standing there... shocked. "So... you mean... you knew that was going to happen? All of it?"
"Yes," Flagoon stated, "I was never a normal tree, my shrine maiden, and a thousand years of care and absorbing Zanafaar's miasma has given me the time and energy to dig my roots deep. Though time, and space. What happens, happens because it is meant to. There is more to the world than what you see, there is a balance that must be kept." He paused, looking off into the distance once again as Flagoon's explanation drifted into his mind on a surge of sap, "Sairaag was meant to fall. Sairaag's loss was a readjustment of the balance between this world and the Other. Humans live... short lives and cannot see both sides of the world. Except this one. This body can. His original saw the Other side, but the seal that bound the one called Rezo did not apply to this body, but he knew the way to that Vision." How shocking to know that he had a real purpose now... it would have been nice to know it back when he'd first lived. Alas, there was one last thing he needed to say that was as incredibly important as it was frightening and shocking.
Abruptly, Flagoon stood and turned to face Sylphiel, taking her hands, "I am bound by the laws of nature, I always have been. My time of moving on and restoring the balance is coming, but it is not time yet. I will be gone, but I will leave seeds."
Sylphiel blushed, staring up into his mismatched eyes, heart fluttering as she tried to make sense of his words. ...Flagoon... would die? But what sort of seeds could he leave? Oddly enough, a flush crossed Flagoon's cheeks and he dropped her hands, looked away, as if overcome by embarrassment, expression darkening as if he were mentally berating himself. She had to admit, that was the longest conversation she'd had with him so far, and it left her feeling small and somewhat frightened. Tightening her grip on the brush, Sylphiel held her hands against her chest, hoping her heart wasn't beating as loudly as she thought it was.
Flagoon's expression cleared and he sat once more, expertly reaching back to take her hands, bringing the brush back to his hair. Flushing, the shrine maiden did as he had silently requested, and the Holy Tree sat there with a look of bliss quirking the corners of his lips, eyes half-lidded.
Kopii vowed never to let Flagoon talk for that long again! How embarrassing! Like Sylphiel would ever agree to... to... Oh Cephied! How close Flagoon had come to admitting that the Kopii was still alive- and inhabiting the same body as the Holy Tree! You don't need to tell her that! He told the tree firmly. She hates me. She would never forgive me, even if you tell her a thousand times that what I did was supposed to happen!
The tree had no answer, it simply shrugged in a slow syrupy way. It could care less, as it knew that what was supposed to happen would happen eventually and it was only a matter of waiting for it to happen. The tree had never been a very active participant in life, and it didn't see any reason to change now.
Damn you, Kopii cursed it, then returned to reality, took a seat and reached back to find Sylphiel's hand and put her back to work brushing his hair- cause that did feel good and Flagoon agreed. He slipped into a daze, far too easily perhaps, and simply spent some time thinking of nothing. He drifted on the sound of nature all around him, a low humming of energy that he could feel if he concentrated on it- something deeper than the magic humans used. It was like the very essence of life. And on top of that, he had his shrine maiden doing pleasant things to his hair, humming softly, a tune she had always sang to Flagoon, even as a child playing beneath his roots.
Her hands moved from his hair to his neck, and his eyes fell fully closed, head hanging forward in bliss as her fingers found knotted muscles and send pleasant waves of sensation down his spine. Kopii relaxed fully into her hands, and even if he hadn't already been merged with Flagoon's thoughts, he wouldn't have been thinking much anyway. His wits were dribbling out his ears.