The Sixth Line of Defense
Page 15
* * *
The months that followed those first strangely wonderful days were some of the happiest in Vala's memory. She delighted in Shiva's company even when all logic might have told her that living together, going to nearly all the same classes, and spending nearly all their recreation hours together should have made at least one of them sick of the other after the passage of enough time. However this was never the case for Vala as even an hour apart was enough time to miss Shiva's small little comments and her soft expression and gentle touches, and she knew for certain that Shiva felt the same. Seila was able to confirm through her old friends that this had been the case for all the couples formed in those early days of Series 3, that same intense need of each other and that same unending love. While she was just a little disappointed that the casual research done so long ago had been the extent of the investigation into such connections, even if she still had questions it was easy to take solace in the fact no answer was more important than the one she had already been given, her love for Shiva.
It was perhaps only aided by the fact that once they had settled in Titania house Shiva almost seemed to have blossomed like a flower kept too long in the dark. Though she had expressed her frustration that all the girls who shared their nights with the two of them were cold and distant towards Vala during the daylight hours on campus during the first few weeks, Vala's assurances that she didn't mind the duality from any of their house mates went a long way to easing Shiva's resentment. The girls of Titania house had their own secrets to keep and their own burdens to bear and she could never have resented any of them for not wishing to join Vala in social exile. And eventually Shiva began to see that for herself, slowly but surely. Even if she would have wanted to keep herself isolated and separate from the other girls Vala would never have allowed her to do that. And little by little that armored shell that the rest of the world got to see cracked open so that at least a few others got to see the real Shiva during their long nights at the edge of the school grounds. While those dark angry clouds that hovered over Shiva's thoughts and emotions never truly went away they certain retreated great distances and for weeks at a time and Shiva's true gentle nature grew closer to the surface and easier to draw out.