Filia sighed, her tears having finally slowed, and leaned against Xelloss's chest. Though it was comforting, it wasn't completely so. He didn't feel alive, even though his flesh was warm. She couldn't hear his heartbeat, even though she had an ear to his chest, and it was too still. Besides...no matter what, he still felt like and was a mazoku.

Xelloss, kneeling beside the slain Knight of Ceified, his gloves stained with the dragon's blood.

Filia shuddered at the flashback of to her dream, and the reminder of whom and what her lover truly was. "Filia-san? What's wrong?" She pulled herself away, and out of his arms, so she could look at his face.

"Xelloss..." He was confused, clearly so, and there was worry in his expression and she wondered if he really be worried about her. "Please go..."

Damn... Lord, will I manage to ever spend an entire night with her without something going wrong? "As you wish, Filia-san." He slipped out of bed silently, switching to his usual, dressed form as he did, and teleported away silently.

Filia sat still for a few seconds, surprised that Xelloss left so easily and quickly when she asked him to go. Then, recovering, she hugged one of the pillows close to her chest, and cried into it. As she did, she couldn't help but think that Xelloss was more satisfying to cry on than her pillow.

Zelas was fetching another bottle of wine, on foot as she had found that teleporting did strange things to a good wine, when she discovered Xelloss sleeping among her wolves. She smiled. He didn't often sleep -- mazoku didn't need to sleep, but like many other things with them, not needing to did not mean that they couldn't -- and she hadn't seen him sleeping with the wolves since when he had been quite young.

She carefully put the bottle down in a safe place, and went over to Xelloss. After simply enjoying watching him for a few moments, she gently shook him awake. She needed to know why he was there instead of on his mission, even though she did have a guest of her own to entertain.

Xelloss jumped slightly. "I'm sorry, Zelas-sama, I did not want to disturb you..."

She nodded, with an understanding smile. "What happened, Xelloss-chan?"

Xelloss nodded, and answered her. He was more direct than usual, skipping over the details (particularly the embarrassing ones) and only telling of what was directly related to both his mission and why he was sleeping among her wolves. Sometimes, it was to his benefit that she be in a hurry.

Zelas tapped her chin thoughtfully as Xelloss finished with, "And I don't know why she asked me to leave, Mother..."

"I don't think it's anything you did, Xelloss-chan. Sometimes, a woman just wants to be alone. But, are you certain that she mentioned 'the eyes of Shabraningdo'?" Xelloss nodded. "Then you better return to her in the morning. Make her some tea, apologise for not making her breakfast -- feel free to tell her that I ordered you not to cook for her, and why I did," Xelloss winced at that, "and then ask her about them. She was a priestess of the Fire Dragon King; this may be a prophesy." Zelas paused, and then added, "If she asks any questions related to her dreams, answer them as fully as you can. We may need her."

Xelloss nodded. It went without saying that, if it truly was a prophesy about what they suspected, it was not likely to be one from the gods. "Are you sure she'll tell me about her dreams...?"

Zelas smiled, fangs clearly showing. "Tell her that you have been ordered to answer any questions she might have about them, as fully as you can, after she has told you about her dreams."

Xelloss smiled back. "Thank you. She will be surprised at such honesty from me," he said, very amused by the thought of Filia's reaction to that.

There was a quiet, rather polite cough from one of the openings. Xelloss looked up to see Dynast standing there, looking patient. I thought Dynast had sworn to stay in his fortress until Shabraningdo returned... Xelloss thought to himself.

"I'm sorry, Dynast! I have the wine, and my servant shouldn't be a bother now. He's having some girl troubles on his current mission," Zelas said cheerfully, standing up.

Dynast nodded, understanding. "Servants can sometimes be quite bad with their timing for needing their superior's attentions. Sherra once spent a bit too much time disguised too well as a human once, and turned up in the middle of the night in a panic because her borrowed form had started bleeding unexpectedly..."

Zelas joined Dynast in the door, looking interested. "It just started bleeding suddenly...? How strange!"

Xelloss watched, somewhat stunned, as Zelas and Dynast walked away. From the direction their voices -- still discussing Dynast's story which Xelloss would have found amusing any other time and place -- it sounded like they were going to Zelas's bedroom. Lord... Zelas-sama and Dynast?

Filia woke up the next morning, having cried herself into a dreamless, unrefreshing sleep, to the smell of fresh-made tea. She rubbed her eyes and cheeks, doing her best to remove the dried tears from her face without using a mirror and, pulling on her robe, started blearily down to her kitchen.

She stopped in the door at the sight of Xelloss, wearing a frilly pink apron with a rather cute yellow chick on it, cleaning her kitchen even though it hadn't really needed cleaning and was now well past being spotless. On the table she normally ate at sat her tea service, properly laid out for two and with the tea pot full of chamomile tea.

"Good morning, Filia-san," he said, not looking up from where he was scrubbing the floor. Filia couldn't help but notice that the tiles were even shinier than they could have been when new. "Are you feeling better this morning?"

Filia nodded, realized that wasn't quite polite, and then said, "Yes, I am." Even though she really wasn't, she didn't want to admit it to Xelloss. She still remembered seeing him, in the dream, with the dead Knight of Ceified.

She couldn't let herself forget that he was a powerful mazoku, deadly, and had killed many of her kind, though not ones of her own clan. He had even once threatened her own life, and that of the High Elder's. She had to forget that he had also saved her life, and how nicely he had been treating her lately, both in and out of her bed...

Xelloss was looking at her, eyes open. "Filia-san, please don't lie. What's wrong? Please tell me..." Filia's eyes stared into his own, and her emotions were a riot of different flavors serving as a spice for the dominant candy flavor of surprise. "If there's anything about it that...I could explain, Zelas-sama's ordered me to tell you as much as I can about it, so..."

"Xelloss..." she said, voice shaky, "why? Why are you asking me to tell, instead of tricking me into telling you about my dreams, or using force...?"

Xelloss's mouth curved upwards in a bitter smile. "Can't you guess, Filia-san...?"