Chapter Five:

An Unseen Departure

The morning dawned bright and cheerful, and Lina crawled out of her sleep sack, tugging the mystery pouch out along with her. She set it down beside the sack and began rolling things up when Amelia bounced cheerily up to her.

“Good morning, Miss Lina! I hope that you slept well?”

Lina barely refrained from glaring at Amelia. A cheery Amelia was the last thing she wanted to deal with this morning. “Amelia…” she stopped. “We had a visitor last night.” It was easier to sidetrack Amelia than to justify herself. And telling Amelia about the visitor seemed the best way to distract her.

Amelia’s eyes widened, and she blinked. “We did? But I don’t remember anyone coming last night…”

“Rather, I did.” Lina corrected. “Some young guy came by, good with magic. He brought me this pouch and said that it was a favor returned.” She held up the pouch for Amelia to see. “I haven’t opened it yet.”

“But… why not, Miss Lina?” Amelia asked.

Lina made a face. “Because. I wasn’t about to give that guy the pleasure of seeing me open it after he’d woken me up!” She didn’t mention that she was privately glad that he had – the nightmare that she was having was far worse than simply being awoken by a stranger in the night.

“Oh…” Amelia said. “So are you going to open it now?” Miss Lina’s acting strangely. I wonder if she slept after her visitor. And why didn’t I wake up? Why didn’t my magic sense his arrival?

Lina sighed, sitting on the rolled-up sleeping sack. “I guess…” She fingered the knot, feeling it loosen and fall open at her touch. A magical knot. Probably so that only I could untie it, and no one else. What’s in here? She tugged the pouch open, peering in. Whatever it was, it was wrapped in cloth.

She dumped the cloth bundle out into her lap, setting the pouch aside. One by one, layers of cloth fell off the oddly shaped item until…

Lina and Amelia both stared.

“Ano… Gourry? I… think you need to come over here…” Lina called out.

Gourry ambled over in his typical morning fashion, Zelgadis following with mild curiosity. He’d been aware of the intruder last night, but as the youth hadn’t seemed inclined to battle, had settled to watch and let Lina deal with him. He had seen the pouch, but hadn’t considered the contents.

Silently, Lina handed Gourry a thinly wrapped object. The blonde swordsman took it and turned it over in his hands for a moment before beginning to unwrap those final few layers.

Zelgadis arched an eyebrow as Gourry unwrapped it.

Then silence fell.

“My sword! Lina, where did you find my sword?!” Gourry held up the hilt of Golunova and held it out to admire it. Someone had cleaned it recently; the gems shone even more brilliantly than Gourry remembered. If he didn’t know better, he’d have thought that Golunova was pleased to be in his care once more. But that was silly. Swords didn’t have an awareness, did they?

“I didn’t find it, Gourry. It was brought to me. He said it was a favor returned… and it makes sense now,” Lina answered, standing up. “So now that that’s over with, shall we get moving?” She knew that she was moving quicker than normal, but she felt the pull of magic and wanted to investigate. That, and she thought better while walking… and she needed to do a lot of thinking.

Gourry set his sword at his hip with boyish excitement and wandered back to grab up his belongings. “I’m sure hungry. Think we could find a town nearby? I need to get a blade, too…”

Lina stared at Gourry, then shook her head. “Honestly…”

Zelgadis mused for a moment. “Was that all that the visitor wanted last night, Lina?”

Lina looked up to Zelgadis, something flashing faintly within her eyes, then fading. “I… I think so. I don’t recall giving him much of a chance to do anything else.”

Amelia looked from Lina to Zelgadis. Something had happened, she was sure of it. But was it only that Lina had become so injured while trying to help Zelgadis? How did she get hurt anyway? She didn’t say how she’d come by those injuries… and I know that my healing didn’t do all that much for her! She lied to make me look better than I had been, and to blow off her being hurt. But why? Amelia frowned slightly and decided it was safer to go finish getting ready to find a town. Asking anything of Miss Lina when she was already upset could have very bad after-effects.

It didn’t take the little group much more time to get on the road. Gourry was insufferably cheerful, which seemed to drag Lina’s normal grumpiness even further into sullen silence. Zelgadis wondered quietly at the cause of Lina’s odd mood shift, and Amelia chattered happily to no one and everyone.

Lina suddenly dragged her feet, scowling at everyone and anyone. She dropped back and began moving slower than everyone else in the group. Accordingly, so did Zelgadis.

“You want to tell me what is bothering you?” He asked quietly, still looking ahead, taking care not to look at her directly. He fell to pacing her, a fairly unconscious move, gained from many days of walking along with someone. It made it easier to talk if he matched steps with them. It was natural for him.

She sighed. “I can’t, Zelgadis. Not right now. I need to figure out what’s bothering me first. There’s too much to sort through.” She answered at length, looking at her feet. I can’t do this… I can’t do this…

He reached out, entirely on a thread of hope, and touched her lightly on the arm. She said that I was clumsy in my emotions… I should at least try. “Lina… I…”

“Don’t!” She yelled, yanking her arm out of his grasp and breaking free. “Just… don’t! I don’t need your pity!” She took off, running towards, then past the two who walked at the front of the little group, brushing past a startled Amelia, who turned around to see a crestfallen Zelgadis move quickly to cover his emotions back behind his normal stony mask. He’d been a fool, he decided. How could he have thought that she’d want his company? When we reach the town, I’m taking my leave. He decided. Somehow it made him all the sadder and he couldn’t decide why.

Amelia sighed and shook her head, turning back. I was right. Mister Zelgadis does care for Miss Lina. But something happened the other night… and it’s obviously upset Miss Lina. And Mister Zelgadis. But what can I do to help either one of them?

Gourry had no clues, himself. Lina must have slept poorly. She sometimes got that way. But he had his sword back. That made him happy. And she’d gotten it back for him. Lina sure was swell.

Lina sighed, ending her pell-mell run up the trail and started to walk again, catching her breath and her emotions. You idiot. He only meant to let you know that you weren’t alone. She ranted at herself. And now you’ve probably hurt him, but how can I tell him that I know? I know how he grew up, I know how it felt to turn into stone? Just as she was ready to turn around and apologize, she saw the town.

Sure enough, there was something very old and powerful around here. Just the kind of place that you’d find bits of the Claire Bible or older. It reached out and pulled her towards the town, encompassing her spirit with the promise of ancient magics and treasures.

When she got to the outskirts of the town, she turned around to wait, surprised that she had gotten so far ahead of the rest of them. She hadn’t been aware of how fast she had been moving, nor could she recall how she had traveled. Had she walked? Run? Used a Ray Wing spell?

Only Amelia and Gourry walked up, and by the look on Amelia’s face, something was wrong. “Amelia, where’s Zelgadis?” Lina asked her, knowing what had probably occurred, but needing to ask.

“Um… Miss Lina… Mister Zelgadis said that we were to go on without him. He said that he was looking for something else,” Amelia cringed. She didn’t understand what was going on, and it was clear that Zelgadis wasn’t happy, and now neither was Lina. This could have a devastating affect on Amelia, as Lina was well known for shooting the messenger first and asking questions later. She could only hope for the best and maybe Miss Lina wouldn’t be too upset with her. She’d tried to talk him into at least telling Lina goodbye, but the expression on his face… she had never seen him so… distant.

Lina looked past Amelia to a grouping of trees that she was certain that Zelgadis was hiding within. She shook her head and turned away, leading the way quietly into town. “Come on. He’s done this before. If we see him again, we see him again. That’s how it goes.” Her voice was distant to her ears, and her sight was blurred slightly. Get over it. You caused this, Lina Inverse. You’re the one who pushed him away. ‘You push, you pull, one day you’ll break something and you’ll never get it back, Lina.’ Luna used to say that to me all the time. I should have listened to her more often. She turned away carefully careless and kept on walking, not looking back to see if the others were following her.

Silently, the trio entered the town.