Nearby stood a young man dressed all in ivory. A hood covered his head and shaded his face from the moonlight. Still, his posture alone seemed to say that he felt ashamed and miserable. He occasionally stole a glance toward the young girl, and though it seemed he would speak, the silence stretched between them.
Eventually, the girl's tears slowed, and she wiped her face with the back of her hand. She gave a ragged sigh, then said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Zelgadis. I really do understand. I just want to know why you don't understand that it's not important to ME."
Now he sighed. "Amelia.... Amelia, I'm flattered and amazed that you say it doesn't matter. I find it very hard to believe, but even it things were different, even if it wasn't an issue, which it IS --"
"HOW is it an issue?" she demanded. "HOW?"
Zelgadis turned away from her. "Amelia, you're still young. I know you hate that, but it's true. And one day, you're going to figure out on your own just how much of an issue it is, and frankly, I think you'll be a bit relieved."
Amelia shook her head. "I don't care."
"But your father will. Your PEOPLE will." Zelgadis pulled a leaf off a nearby bush and shredded it in frustration. "How do I say this right? Even if I wasn't cursed, I still couldn't be with you. You have obligations as royalty I couldn't possibly deal with. I can't live here, be here, among all these people, even if I was normal. My past alone would be a problem. Amelia, I do care about you, but I don't love you. I'm sorry." He turned and looked at the Princess. Her face was turned up to him, and the moon glittered on the teartrackes on her cheeks. She looked away.
"Friends sin't so bad, I guess," she said slowly.
Zelgadis, in a rare moment of gentleness, knelt and took her hand. "Always. Comrades in arms. You saved my worthless life, fighting Gaav. I owe you."
She whipped her head around to face him with an indignant look. "You saved me first that time! If you hadn't jumped between me and Gaav....." The twinkle in his eyes clued her to his trick. "You're trying to cheer me up? Oh, Zelgadis..." She squeezed his hand. "Miss Lina used to say that you're the best friend anyone could have. She was right."
Zel flushed. "Friends. You know, you and Lina and Gourry are.... are my ONLY friends."
Amelia pulled her hand from his, in order to pat the bench so he would sit next to her. As he did, she shifted and leaned her head against his hard shoulder. After a second, he put his arm around her.
Silence reigned in the garden for a while. Neither seemed inclined to move, as if a peace and understanding between them had been reached, but was still to fragile to test. But all good things must end, this time by the sounds of the Court party spilling from the ballroom to the balconies. Amelia leapt to her feet and away from Zelgadis. When she realized she'd instinctively done it before her subjects could see her, she glanced at Zelgadis with surprise at herself and horror at her own duplicity. But Zel only gazed back at her with simple acceptance, and a glimmer of a smile that seemed to say, I told you so.
All Amelia could think was, So this is what it means to grow up. It must have shown, for Zelgadis pulled his mask over his face and stood as well.
"I think I'll retire now, Amelia. I'll stay until tomorrow, then I'm off again."
Amelia only nodded. A sparkle suddenly attracted her attention. Hovering over the crowd of courtiers, a message-spell hesitated, then swooped down to the garden to stop a little above Amelia's head. She held out her hand, and it dropped to her. With a shimmer, it turned crystal-clear and the message contained in the magic globe appeared.
A tiny image of Lina Inverse showed in the globe. "Amelia, it's me! Listen, if you have any idea where Zelgadis is, you've got to contact him IMMEDIATELY!" Lina's voice was audible, and at the mention of his name, Zelgadis came around to peer over Amelia's shoulder. Lina went on.
"It's so super important! Tell him that he's got to come to meet me right away. Amelia, I think I found a CURE for Zel! Tell him to come to....hey, where are we exactly?" Lin looked away from the globe, as if to listen to someone else. She nodded, and reached up to her ear and removed one of her earrings. "Tell Zel he can track us with this, just like your bracelets. I'll slip it into the message-globe for you. Give it to Zel so it can lead him here. Amelia, this is REALLY REAL! Get Zel and get him here NOW!" This image faded, and the message-globe shivered and went out, its purpose completed. Left in Amelia's hand was Lina's golden earring.
Amelia glanced up at Zelgadis. She couldn't read the expression on his face. It seemed a mix of hope, skepticism, and fear? That didn't seem like Zelgadis at all. But with a smile, she put the earring in his hand. He stared at it like he'd never seen one before, then slipped it into his pocket. He still didn't say a word.
"Umm, will you leave now?"
With a shake, Zel finally focussed on her. "No. No, I'll stay one more night as planned." Suddenly, his eyes narrowed. "Can we be sure this is really from Lina? That it isn't a trap of some sort?"
"Oh, please!" Amelia was suddenly exasperated with him. "If it is a trap, it means Lina's in big trouble, was captured so someone could get her earring and my bracelet. So you better to go help her than you? And if it's real, then....." She trailed off.
"Then I have a chance at becoming normal." Zel glanced up at the crowd of courtiers on the balcony, who were very interested in the little tete-a-tete between their Princess and this hooded sorcerer she'd spent the whole evening with. "You aren't coming with me, are you?"
Amelia declined. "No, I can't keep haring off on adventures. Daddy wants me to stay a while, so I will." She too glanced at the courtiers. "Hey, you want to really freak them out? Let's go dance."
Zelgadis smiled just the tiniest bit. "You get more like Lina all the time."
Amelia smiled back as she put her arm through his and started to lead him back into the palace. "I once got really mad at Mr. Gourry for saying the same thing."
Zelgadis allowed himself to be led. "And did you start pounding on him?"
Amelia giggled, "A little!"
Sollemnly, Zel nodded. "I rest my case."
Early the next morning, Zle started his journey. The earring's tracking spell led him north and east out of Saillune. As he travelled, Zel pondered the chances of Lina's find being effective. He know that Lina was too competent a sorceress to jump on to anything ridiculous. Therefore, logically, she had found something that actually had an outside chance of working. Well, he'd jumped into plenty of supposedly magical pools and drunk all sorts of strange concoctions in hopes of finding a cure, one more was unlikely to kill him. And he'd visited Amelia simpley because he'd had no other leads.....
Finally, just after sunset on his fourth day of travel, having used chimera-speed to shorten the trip, the tracking spell in the earring pulsated and died. A small village stood nearby. Donning his hood and mask, Zelgadis left the road and approached the town. Some surreptuous peeking in windows told him that only one inn operated in this place. A glance in it's windows showed Lina and Gourry headed up the stairs, leaving behind a table covered in empty plates.
A quiet Levitation brought Zel to the walkway surrounding the outside of the second floor. He didn't want to enter the inn from the main door, to avoid a stir in such a small town. A peek through the hall window let him see which room they entered, and he slipped passed the other darkened windows to theirs. When did Lina and Gourry start sharing a room, he wondered as he snuck up to the lighted window.
Just as he was about to tap on the windowpane, a hand grabbed him from behind, yanking the collar of his cloak and tunic back to choke him. A sharp point tapped against his ear. Zelgadis froze.
A soft, almost friendly voice whispered in his ear. "Now. I've to a thin sharp pointy thing right in your ear, which I could jsut shove right up into yer brain, killing you instantly. I would suggest ya play along."
"Aoife?" Zel heard Lina's voice call from within the room.
"Lina!" called his captor, "Come and see! I've caught a prowler. D'ye wanna beat him up, or shall I?"
The window burst open, and Lina's head appeared, followed by her hand holding a lamp high. She caught sight of Zelgadis and immediately relaxed. "Let him go, Aoife. He's who we've been waiting for."
The knife moved from Zel's ear, and his collar eased. He stepped towards Lina, then whirled to confront his attacker. And froze again, this time in shock.
Lina grinned widely. "Aoife, meet Zelgadis. Zel, this is Aoife. She's your clue."
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