Frey Is Acting Strange

Over the next several weeks, Haalfrin starts to notice that Frey is acting a little strange.

First off, she spends most of her time wandering the Threshold, hidden in the Death Aura. This is unusual since she usually goes with him on his missions - all while hidden in her bottle.

Then, in the rare moments when he DOES see her, she's usually hidden in his room - pacing back and forth, as if thinking about something serious; he doesn't even need Spirit magic to notice how chaotic her heart is right now.

But why?

Haalfrin's not going to ask her, of course. He knows very well that she won't talk about it unless she wanted to already. If she wanted to talk about it, her spirit threads would say so.

The only thing Haalfrin can do for her is act as normally as possible around her and talk to her as if everything is normal; that way, she'll remember that he's open for a talk whenever she wants to talk.

Frey seems to appreciate his acting this way. Once again, Haalfrin can tell just by feeling the way those knots in her Spirit Threads are loosening.

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So, after several weeks of Frey not talking to him, Haalfrin comes back to the Threshold after being sent on another mission. This last mission was just a scouting mission, so it was quick and simple.

Once he gets back, he heads straight to his room to unpack. When he opens the door, he finds Frey inside, waiting for him.

"Oh, hi Frey," Haalfrin greets her with a wave of his hand. "You eaten yet? I still have some leftovers in my spatial bag."

"What is it?"

"Some deer meat." As he reaches into the bag at his waist, he adds, "You know meat is the only thing I know how to cook."

"You never know!" Frey crosses her arms. "Myra and Resburn go on these missions with you. Both of those people know how to cook."

"True." He fishes out a wrapped-up hunk of meat, cut it in half with a quick spell, and hands half of it to Frey.

He then sits on the bed next to Frey and hands her half of the meat. "So," he asks, "How are you feeling?"

"Better," Frey says with a soft smile. "...Haalfrin... Can I talk to you for a minute? Are you busy?"

"Oh? You're ready to talk now?" Haalfrin smiles back. "Great!"

Frankly, he was getting a little tired of this girl avoiding him.

"Yeah...," she looks down and frowns. "So... During that century before you crossed the World Gate... What were you doing with your life? You've never really talked about it?"

Haalfrin looks blankly at the floor and absentmindedly uses magic to push heat into his food - warming it up and making it smell delicious.

"Hmm...," he thinks for a moment. "Before I crossed the Gate, I was teaching some kid Spirit Magic for a few years. Before that, I was lounging around in Gorima Kingdom. Before that, I was fighting as a gladiator in the imperial arena. Before that, I was living a simple life in one of the border towns at the edge of Brancotte."

"It's just...," Frey asks hesitantly, "I heard you got married earlier."

She was eavesdropping on some soldiers earlier whilst she was hiding in the Threshold's Death Aura. She heard them gossiping about Haalfrin, and how the man was married to a magicless girl some time ago.

Of course, with Haalfrin being a dragon slayer, it's natural for people to gossip about him.

"It's true," Haalfrin admits. "Her name was Tanya."

Frey looks down and takes her first bite of meat. "... It's good," she mutters in between mouthfuls.

"Thanks."

"Anyway," she swallows her food before asking, "Can you tell me your story with Tanya? Do you mind?"

"Sure."

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Haalfrin goes on to talk about how he met that woman - the bittersweet story of how it all started with him wanting to just repay her for her hospitality, only to not know how to fix her house.

"Heh," Frey laughs at this part. "You really didn't know what you were doing, huh?"

"Meh," Haalfrin shrugs, "I learned later. Anyway, as I was saying..."

His story continues with how he spent the winter there, in that village. Just before he was about to leave, Tanya stopped him on the road leading outside of town, and she asked to marry him.

To this, Frey covers her face and mutters, "...so bold..."

Haalfrin resists the urge to laugh at her.

"Anyway," Frey asks, "I want to hear all about it. You were with her for several decades, so you must have plenty of interesting stories..."

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And so, the next several hours, Frey listens on with interest. Whenever Haalfrin finishes one little story, she prods him on for more information.

She hears all about the little stories that he'd never shared with anyone before - the little moments one experiences when they have a family.

For example, there was one time when Haalfrin dropped a spider on Tanya's cheek as she lay sleeping.

Surprisingly, the woman didn't wake up. Haalfrin, not wanting his prank to be wasted, started blowing on her cheek and tickling her neck by barely brushing it with his fingers.

Finally, when Tanya woke up, her scream was so horrendous that several of their neighbors ran over, expecting to find a murder scene.

The next night, Tanya rolled over on her bed and said to her husband, "Dear... I forgot to cover the garden last night."

It was early spring, and the garden vegetables were still in danger of freezing over. Thus, they had to wrap up all the plants with warm blankets to protect them before going to bed.

Haalfrin, realizing how urgent this was, darted out the door without even getting properly dressed. Wasting any time could potentially mean the death of the plants!

Once Haalfrin got the chore done, he tried opening the door with his shivering hands, only to find that it had been locked...

"Heh heh," Frey chuckles at this part. "Good for her."

"Oi," Haalfrin fakes a growl, "Aren't you on my side on this?"

"No. You shouldn't put spiders on a girl," Frey crosses her arms and says matter-of-factly. "Anyway, How'd the story go?"

"Well, I tried wiggling the door open and calling out to Tanya, but she was ignoring me. I could hear her laughing on the other side..."

Haalfrin starts laughing at the fond memory. "Well, Tanya was intending to let me rot out there the whole night, but when I lied to her and said that I was low on mana and that I couldn't keep myself warm, she relented and opened the door."

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This talk goes on for the next several hours. Whenever Haalfrin finishes one story, Frey asks for another.

Frey knows very well that Haalfrin has needed someone to talk to about this part of his life. He certainly needed to get this off his chest.

Haalfrin, on the other hand, is well aware that Frey likes him. In his mind, being shy or trying to hide his past would be incredibly disrespectful to her. Even if he doesn't accept her feelings for him, he shouldn't disrespect those feelings by being secretive.

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Finally, after Frey stops asking him for these mundane stories, there's a long moment of silence; they're both lost in their own thoughts.

In the end, the silence is broken by Frey.

"Haalfrin...? Tanya never did become a mage, did she?" Frey asks hesitantly.

"No...," Haalfrin shakes his head. "She left to the Death Realm."

"Is she waiting there for you?"

"No," Haalfrin sighs. "She didn't want to leave her first husband alone in the Death Realm."

"Do you regret it?"

Haalfrin thinks for a long moment.

"No," he says. "I don't regret it."

Indeed, no matter how sad their parting made him, he's at least glad he got to experience that kind of life - at least for a little while.

"Would you ever do it again?" Frey asks.

"Hmm...," Haalfrin thinks aloud, "I'm thinking about it."

"You're not just saying that, are you?" Frey says with a tilted eyebrow.

This time, Haalfrin tilts an eyebrow. "Why? You curious?"

"N-no...," Frey looks down and mumbles.

"...Suit yourself, girl," Haalfrin says just as he takes his last bite.

Frey is about to take her last bite too, but instead, she sets her hands on her laps and stares at the wall.

Haalfrin wouldn've thought that her expression is troubled, but he can feel the peaceful Threads in her spirit.

Whatever was troubling her before... she seems to be at peace with it now.

"Haalfrin?" Frey asks after a long pause. "I do want to have this conversation again in the future, but I won't ask unless you bring it up first, you hear me?"

"Sure," Haalfrin nods.

"Thank you," Frey bows her head. "I'll see you later."

With that, she disappears in a puff of Black Aura, and her black smoke flows into the bottle at Haalfirn's waist. Once she's all the way inside, Haalfrin corks it back up again, lays on his back, and closes his eyes.

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As Haalfrin slowly drifts off to sleep, Frey is left on his nightstand to think the night away.

She would certainly like to talk more with Haalfrin about their relationship, but she's not nearly as bold as Tanya was. She'd hate to ask that kind of thing from Haalfrin when she's not even sure if he's ready for it.

Still, she's confident that she got her feelings across sufficiently. She may have not said it directly, but she lossened her guard on her Spirit - allowing Haalfrin to read her emotions and tell her intentions.

(She's a Rehkin, and a far greater Spirit mage than him; there's no way he'd be able to read her spirit unless she let him.)

Besides, Frey knows from reading his Spirit that he LIKES her, but he doesn't LOVE her - hence, why he said, "I'm thinking about it."

'I should be content with this much, for now,' Frey thinks to herself. 'It's best that I'm on his mind. We both have long lives ahead of us, so I have a lot more time to get him than this dead woman did.'

Frey can think about is the idea of Haalfrin and this human girl together. 'I guess I'm a little jealous,' she thinks. 'However, after talking with him about it, I feel a lot better.'

For some reason, the idea of Haalfrin being able to find happiness in such a simple life has moved Frey a little. 'I don't know. Their relationship just seemed way too wholesome to bicker over...,' she thinks.

Then, her spirit turns sour at the next thought. 'Still, how could that hussy turn Haalfrin down in the end like that - after they'd been through so much together!? Grr. He deserved better than that.'

'Still, I can tell that even though Haalfrin was hurt a lot over her turning him down, he's come to accept it.'

Frey frowns. 'Hmm... It seems that he was able to let her go, even if it was painful. However, if he falls for me, I want him to fall so hard that he'd never be able to let me go.'

Maybe it's because of Frey's competitive spirit, but she at least wants that much.

'That's why I'll make HIM be the one to confess to me. I'll stay silent about this and be at his side until then. He's the sentimental type anyway, and time tends to make him care about things more. I have a lot more time than Tanya did, which means that he'll love me a lot more!'

With her heart at ease and her mind made up, she, too, drifts off to sleep.