"I just mentioned that even though this worked, I still look like a monster," Zelgadis admitted.
"Oh, Ceipheed's Scales! Get a grip, OK, Zel? Aoife busted her butt for you. She didn't have to. And you! You have to be so ungrateful!..."
"I'm not ungrateful! I just.... I just... I wish..." his voice trailed off. It felt strange, to not have to suppress anything anymore. Could he learn to EX-press anything? There were things he wanted to say to people, to Lina and Amelia and others, that he'd have to figure out how to say. But, Aoife had said that she was just herself, always, and that's how she stayed comfortable. He'd have to relearn how to be himself.
Lina suddenly punched him in the shoulder, impatient with his silence. "OW!" She shook her hand. "You jerk, you turned yourself to rock again, didn't you?"
"As soon as I saw your face. I knew you were pissed at something." Zelgadis smirked. Lina surprisingly smiled back.
"Well, at least you're still the same smarty-pants you always were." She got a strange look in her eyes. "Zel? Change it back, please?"
Blinking with confusion, he made the Astral connection and whispered, "An Abhainn.."
Lina waited a moment, then carefully pick up the tray and set it on the table. Then, shockingly, Lina flung herself at him, wrapping her arms around him in a hug. Too shocked to react normally, Zelgadis instinctively returned the hug.
"I was WORRIED about you, you stone idiot!" Lina's voice was muffled in his shoulder. He rested his cheek against her hair. "Zel, are you really OK?"
"Yes. Yes, for the first time in a long time, I really feel OK."
She held on a moment longer, then pulled back and gave him a mischevious look. "Well, you do feel fine to me!"
Zelgadis's eyes widened when he got the reference. Then he turned red. Lina giggled and stood. She took the tray and said, "You better make up with Aoife."
Later, outside, the four watched the first stars come out. Abject apologies and words of gratitude to Aoife had been followed by her breaking out another bottle of the uisce beatha to celebrate their success. Several drams later, they lay on the grass in front of the house.
"Aoife, why don't you come with us?" Lina asked. "You're great in a fight, and you might enjoy it. We have great adventures."
"Yeah, chased by Mazoku, fighting gods, terrorizing bandits. Great adventures," Zelgadis commented sarcastically. Lina smacked him.
"Hey! That's much easier when you're not hard!"
Aoife and Gourry cracked up at that, and Lina turned fushia. "Hey, knock it off!"
Aoife gave Lina a wicked glance, "Aye, and what were YOU thinking we were thinking?"
This time Zelgadis blushed too.
"Ahem. Seriously, Aoife, come with us." Lina cajoled.
"Yeah, it would be cool!" Gourry chimed in.
"No, I can't." Aoife smiled at the stars. "I've got meself and me home and me friends here. I canna go. Ye can always come here and visit me."
"I will," Zelgadis promised. "Someday, I'd like to meet Diancecht, and tell him how good his student is."
Aoife smiled wider. "Yer a fine man, Zelgadis. I'm proud to have ya as a friend." The two reached hands to each other and shook on it. Aoife's eyes twinkled. "Och, but ye'll be leaving me tomorrow, and I more the fool for letting such a handsome strong pair of fellows get away! Lina, tis yerself that's got all the luck!"
Now everyone was blushing, especially when Aoife nudged Gourry, causing him to gasp and jump. "Hey! I'm ticklish!" Gourry protested.
"Really?" Aoife's eyes became huge and super-innocent.
"Uh-oh. You know, you're as scary as Lina when you do that, Aoife," Gourry said.
"Prepare yerself for torture, man!" Aoife crowed. Gourry jumped up, and Aoife gave chase.
"No fair, Aoife! You have demon-speed!" Zelgadis called. He and Lina heard Gourry yelling and Aoife laughing. Those two continued to run around, while Lina poured herself and Zelgadis another drink.
"Lina, I didn't think you drank."
"I have something to drink to," Lina told him. "I realized a couple of things waiting two days for you to wake up."
"Oh?"
"Oh?" she mimicked. "Yep. Sometimes, things are hidden for a reason, and when they're revealed, they're even more important."
"You sound like that Mazoku bastard."
"Gee, thanks." Lina set down her drink and stretched out next to Zelgadis. She laid her head on his shoulder.
"Uh, Lina?"
"Mmmm, later. When you're confortable with it. You've got years of habit to unlearn, Zel. The worst part of everything, the part that made everything dangerous, is gone. Let's take it easy from here." She turned her head so that she was nose to nose with Zel.
He held his breath a moment, then said, "How come you're so smart?"
"I'm a genius, remember? The great and powerful Lina Inverse."
The stars shined down on the two in the grass, lying comfortably. The other two returned and collapsed laughing, good-naturedly joking with each other. Aoife and Gourry grinned at Lina and Zelgadis, and shared a silent, telling glance between themselves.
"Och, Zelgadis, ye'll have to go tell yer princess friend what's happened," Aoife teased.
"Oh, gods, no. Let's not, OK?"
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