When she kissed him, Zelgadis's mind went blank. A tiny corner of his mind hollered that this was impossible, a dream, a hallucination. The rest of his brain promptly squashed that little voice and let him enjoy the moment. As the kiss went on, he let himself hold her as tight as he dared, afraid to hurt her and at the same time wanting to crush her to him.
Time lost all meaning for a bit, then started up again. They let go of each other at the same second, but still kept their arms around each other. Another minute passed as they stared into each others eyes. Both were thinking of the next step. Both were breathing rather hard.
Finally, Zelgadis broke the silence. "That was much MUCH more powerful than a Mono Volt," he said seriously.
Lina laughed with just a touch of hysteria. Then she stopped. "I don't want to say this, but.... now what?"
"I think we need to be discreet. There are two other people here that have no idea. We have to be careful. Lina nodded her agreement. "Act as usual. But if you get all grumpy and depressed again, I'm going to kick your ass all the way to Atlas City!"
"Agreed." Zel hugged her tight again, then let go of her entirely with obvious reluctance. "We should try to sleep tonight."
"You expect me to sleep after that?"
"You started it."
"Wait a minute! You went along with it!"
They grinned at each other. Then Zel said, "You know, I think this is going to be fun."
"Huh? Am I nuts or did the word 'fun' just pass your lips?"
"I can have fun. It usually involves beating up monsters and Mazoku, but yeah, I can have fun." He reached out and carressed her face. "I think that I'll really enjoy this kind of fun."
"Stop it!" Lina pushed him back, towards his room. "If you don't go now, we'll never get any sleep."
"OK, OK." He picked up his shoes and clothes. When he straightened, Lina had retreated to her room, and was half through the door. He looked at her for a long moment.
"Goodnight...... my love." He said.
Lina smiled. "Goodnight, my love," she repeated. "If this is a dream I hope I don't wake up." And with that, she shut her door behind her.
Zelgadis walked to his room. He closed the door, dropped his things, and collapsed on the bed. The world is a strange place, he thought, and sometimes the gods do miracles. He never thought he'd be able to sleep, but he was out almost instantly.
Lina curled up in her bed and tried not to imagine Zel in there with her. She'd faced her biggest challenge, and won. She'd gained not only peace with her guilt, but the prize she'd secretly wanted most. She closed her eyes in what she thought was a futile effort, but was dreamlessly asleep in seconds.
The next morning, the innkeeper went out and butchered a piglet for bacon. His wife started cooking masses of good healthy food for their guests. The larder was unusually full, so she made as much breakfast as possible. They said little to each other about it, but they knew it was a sign, and both were eager to see the travellers, to see the relief wrought by the domovoi.
First down was the big blond man. He was chipper and friendly, and the innkeeper's wife could see that the faint lines of stress around his eyes were gone. He dug into breakfast like a starvation victim.
Next was the Princess. She entered like a breeze, sincerely thanking the wife for her care and complimenting everything. She had an air of easy nobility.
Third down was the quiet young man. He'd left his hood and mask off, and no longer seemed to project furtive hostility. The wife, ignoring his unusual skin and hair, was most relieved to see he'd reached some sort of point of tranquillity.
Last came the redheaded sorceress. She was radiant. She walked freely and confidently into the room, with an air of serenity and ease that was missing the night before. She greeted all her friends warmly and happily.
Seeing the way these four ate, the innkeeper and his wife just kept the food coming. They had no fear of being eaten out of their home, for every time they went into the larder, the domovoi had refilled the stores.
Lina was stuffing her face as much as the others, but she noted that Amelia seemed fine, that Gourry inhaled his food no worse for wear, and even Zel had an empty plate before him. Lina was sorry she missed that amazing sight, Zel eating. She looked around the table at her friends. Each one was unique and special, and Lina felt content.
Amelia looked up. "Nuff-wuff foo wmmmm foo?"
Zel said, "Amelia, you're talking with your mouth full."
Swallowing quickly, she repeated, "Now what do we do?"
Lina slapped Gourry's hand. "Gourry, knock it off!"
"But Lina, if you eat too much, you'll get fat!" There was a general pause to see if Lina would just beat him up, or magically blast him.
She drew herself up like a queen and said, "Out of respect for our hosts, I'm not going to blast you now, Gourry. But when we get outside, you are SO DEAD!!! For you information, I need to eat like this for energy. How many times do I have to tell you that?"
"But Lina, how are you going to use that much energy?"
Lina glanced across the table, meeting Zelgadis's eyes. "I can think of plenty of good ways, Gourry."
Zel's eyebrows raised slightly, but he hid his smile by taking a drink of his usual coffee. Clearing his throat, which let Lina know she'd scored a point, he said, "Amelia's question is valid. Where are we headed next?"
Lina thought a moment, then said, "How about Saillune?" Amelia cheered and Gourry nodded.
"Can we stop and visit Sylphiel on the way?" Gourry asked.
"Fine by me," said Zel.
An hour later the travellers headed out with a fine farewell from the innkeeper and his wife. They'd paid fully, even excessively for their stay, though the couple had protested that they were glad to be of help, and that was enough. As the four walked out of sight, they talked about how they like that inn, and the people who ran it.
"OH!" said Amelia, "I should have given them a writ or something official, as a special thanks from the Royal House of Saillune." She turned and ran back, as the others stopped to wait. But when Amelia reached the last bend, the one that would have given her a view of the inn, she froze and stared.
"What is it?" called Lina.
"M-M-MISS LINA! Come and look!"
The other three rushed back to Amelia, and all were struck dumb. Where the small well-kept inn had stood, there was only a ruin of a building, charred and overgrown, as if it had been destroyed in a fire many many years ago, and quite deserted.
They all looked at each other, then back at the ruined inn. Amelia checked her pack. "Well, the sandwiches we were given are still here. They seem real enough."
Zelgadis looked around at everyone. "Our clothes are still clean and mended too. Whatever happened was definately real, despite how it looks now."
Lina nodded solemnly. "Magic. Really strong, really good, really OLD magic." She looked at Zel. "What do you think?"
He shrugged, then gave her a small reassuring smile, one that Amelia and Gourry couldn't see. "I think we were luckier than we could ever know." Lina smiled back at him. Even though it looked odd now, their stay at the magical inn had been the best think that could have happened to them all.
Lina turned back to the road. "Well, whatever it was, it was good, and I'm not going to snoop. We've got a long way to Saillune, so let's get going!"
"Right!" Amelia cried. "On to Saillune!"
The travellers resumed their journey. As they walked down the road, anyone around could hear one more thing. Lina's voice.
"Oh, Gourry? What you said at breakfast?"
"Yeah, Lina?"
"DIL BRAND!!!"
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