He fumbled with the tin pot, trying to set it upright amongst the coals from last night�s fire and not spill the water from the nearby stream. Finally he had it balanced with a few sticks. He blew on the coals to bring the fire back to flame, then rummaged in his pack for tea.
He traveled very light these days. With no one to distract him with bandit-beatings, world-saving, or buffet-eating, he got from place to place, shrine to holy well, in days rather than weeks. Setting the tea near to hand, he set himself to rolling up his bedroll, the extent of his incampment.
The sudden cessation of birdsong caught his attention.
A tremor in the astral plane tickled his senses a moment before a red-glowing tear in the fabric of reality appeared. To his great amazement, two people seemed to fall out of the tear. In a single smooth movement, he came to his feet and drew his sword, ready for some sort of Mazoku attack.
�#(*&@#(#( CHICHIRI!!! GET OFFA ME!!!!�
The two mystery people resolved themselves into a young redheaded man foully berating a blue-haired man who appeared slightly older, and who was sitting on the redhead.
�Sorry about that Tasuki! I think I might have, um, messed up, no da?�
He waited to be noticed. It didn�t take long.
The blue-haired man smiled up at him and rose. �Hello! Have you seen a young girl with auburn hair being attacked by a blonde shogun, ya know?�
He shook his head. �Who are you?�
�Oh, I�m sorry! I�m Chichiri, and this is Tasuki, ya know. And you are?�
At this point the redhead finally caught up to the conversation.
�HEY! What the hell happened to you, man? Ya possessed by a demon or something?�
�Tasuki! Behave, ya know! That might be his normal state! We�re in another world, ya know!�
The redhead sneered. �Miaka never said anything about demons in her world!�
�My name is Zelgadis,� the camper interrupted. �And for your information, I look this way because of curse, alright?� He raised his sword, and let a fireball gather in his other hand. �What do you want with me?�
�Hey, buddy, we don�t want nothing from you!� The redhead drew a weapon from behind his back. Zelgadis thought it looked like a fan, but he couldn�t be sure. What he could be sure of, however, was the matching glow of some sort of fire-spell building up around it. �Where do ya get off challenging us, huh? We�re just *#^$*^@ passing through!�
The blue-haired man put out his hands. �Enough, both of you. Tasuki, you stop provoking him, ya know! And Sir Zelgadis, we�re sorry for disturbing you.� He glanced around at the tiny campsite, and Zelgadis�s shirtless state. �I hope we didn�t wake you, ya know. I think my teleport spell went a bit wrong. We�ll be going now. We�d love to stay and chat, ya know, but our Priestess needs us.� He gave redheaded Tasuki a yank. �Come on, Tasuki. Save it for Nakago!�
Tasuki just glared at Zelgadis as he resheathed his weapon. With a gesture, Chichiri reduced himself to a remarkable miniature of himself and settled onto the pack on Tasuki�s back. �Now then, ya know!� Chichiri made another gesture, and both strangers disappeared into another red tear in reality.
Zelgadis stood frozen a moment, absently dispelling the fireball. It took the hissing of the pot boiling over to bring him back to himself. Setting his sword down, he grabbed the pot off the fire and tossed in the tea herbs. As the fragrant steam rose into his face, he shook his head to rid himself of the morning�s encounter. He hated surprises before his first cup of tea.
THE END.
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