When Sylphiel woke up in
the cave, she noticed right away that Lina and Zelgadis were missing. Afraid
that Zelgadis had taken off in the night, and Lina had followed him, she
rose and dressed quickly, completely missing the fact that Lina’s cape
and sword were by the sorceress’ bedroll.
She took off for the archway
that led deeper into the caverns, calling out their names. “Miss Lina!
Mister Zelgadis…!” The two people in concern looked over from a discussion,
and Sylphiel came to a halt, blushing. “Oh no… I’m sorry… I…”
Zelgadis put up a hand.
“Hold on, Sylphiel. Lina, release the spell.”
Lina, obviously holding
a spell in her hands, looked over to the cleric, and then turned, opening
her hands and allowing the energy to free itself from her grasp. “Grey
Bomb!” A small section of the ground nearby exploded in a miniature earthquake.
Lina grinned. “Got it!!”
Zelgadis nodded, folding
his arms. “What I don’t understand is how you learned the Dill Brand without
learning the Grey Bomb.”
Lina waved it off with her
hand. “Eh… that’s a story for another time, Zel.” She looked over to Sylphiel,
who was watching with wide eyes. “What’s wrong, Sylphiel?”
Sylphiel looked from Lina,
to the small hole in the ground, and then to Zelgadis. “I woke up… and
you both were gone… I was afraid that something had happened…”
Zelgadis hid his irritation.
He didn’t always take off on his own. He hadn’t done that for a while now…
Lina put her hands together,
lacing her fingers and raising her arms up over her head as she stretched.
“Nothing but a magic lesson… which I failed to get the first time through.
Is everyone awake, Sylphiel?”
Sylphiel nodded, and at
Gourry’s call, the three turned to see the blonde swordsman and the diminutive
princess looking towards them from the archway. With a cheerful holler,
Lina took off towards them. “Yay! Breakfast!!!”
Sylphiel laughed as she
followed Lina. “You’re doing the cooking, Miss Lina!”
Zelgadis’ shoulders slumped.
This was the biggest disadvantage of traveling with people. One or another
of them always wanted to eat. Cobalt eyes turned to the door hidden at
the bottom of the steps. Time to go off on his own… he turned, moving down
the steps towards the door.
A slipper came flying out
of nowhere and bounced off of his back. “Damnit, Zelgadis! Can’t I eat
breakfast without you trying to run off on us?” Lina hollered from the
archway where she had sent the slipper flying. Amelia stared at the redhead,
still trying to comprehend where the slipper had come from. Lina’s hand
had been empty…
The chimera sighed again,
turning back to see Lina standing up there with her hands on her hips.
As he moved back up the stone steps, he tried to decide if having friends
who cared was an advantage, or a disadvantage.
“So you’re saying there could
be some nasty things down here,” Lina looked at Zelgadis over her breakfast.
“Well… what else is new? Come on, Zel… We’ve fought Shabranigdo, Zanaffar,
Dark Star…” She paused, even though she knew that what they might encounter
would be a product of Shabranigdo’s magic. “What could we possibly run
into that we can’t overcome as a group?”
Zelgadis looked at her.
While she had a point, he didn’t really wish to concede so easily. “You
shouldn’t get involved. This isn’t your fight.”
Lina grinned at Zelgadis
as she finished her breakfast. “Maybe not. But you’re our friend. That
makes it, at least, my fight.”
“Mine too!” Amelia piped
up, but then, that didn’t surprise Lina or Zelgadis one bit. Amelia had
a tendency to join in any cause that both Lina and Zelgadis were taking.
“I will make it mine as
well. If we are going to be fighting unknown enemies, then the services
of a healer will most likely be needed. Besides,” Sylphiel continued as
she pulled a rather large book from her cloak and put it in her lap with
a thud. “I can enter them into my lexicon of creatures. I’m hoping that
as soon as I have catalogued eight thousand individual species and all
relative subspecies, I can publish my work and be able to fund a happy
life for Gourry dear so that he doesn’t have to wander all over the world
in order to make money!”
Everyone except Gourry and
Sylphiel fell over. Gourry blinked at Sylphiel. “Wow. That’s a really big
book. What is it for?”
Sylphiel facefaulted. “Mister
Gourry! It’s for your happiness!”
Gourry scratched his head.
“But… I am happy…” He looked at Lina, who was sitting up and brushing the
dust off. “Aren’t I, Lina?”
Lina stood and fastened
her cape. “Let’s go, guys. There’s a cure to be found, a cave to be mapped…”
she looked at Sylphiel for a moment, watching the girl put the book away.
“And a lexicon to be amended…”