Title: Conversation with Naga

Pairing: Amelia /zelgadis

Rating: PG

Author's Notes: thanks to my beta-reader Raywing

Summary: Naga receives a letter from her father, while Zelgadis looks for her, having heard she is in possesion of a copy of the Clare Bible .

DISCLAIMER: I do not claim to own these characters;
they belong solely hajime kanzaka and his Slayers world.

CHAPTER ONE

A year and a half had passed since Naga had last sent any news about herself to her father. So, when a messenger came with a letter addressed to her from the (now) king of Seyruun, she knew she wasn't going to be getting good news. After all, her father was the only one who knew where to find her. She sat under a tree and opened the letter. There were more than 10 pages. The first two pages were all about how unhappy he was that he hadn't heard from her in so long. She skipped that part without remorse. She suspected that the rest of the letter would be far more interesting than that first bit. She was right. Sure enough, Naga read that her father and little sister had met her rival Lina inverse. It annoyed Naga that Phil wrote so much about Amelia's deep sense of justice, rather than saying more about Gourry, a new companion of Lina's. When she had written back to her father, had she asked him to tell her more about it. Now she had another letter, and she was hoping to get all the juicy details.

She was so curious and impatient that she started laughing, scaring all the little cute birds unlucky enough to be caught nearby.

Not so far from there, Zelgadis was looking for a certain "Naga the White Serpent". He had heard rumors about this unusual-sounding sorceress; what had interested him the most was the rumor that she was in possession of a copy of the Claire Bible. He was walking the streets of a village which, just then, was a little too quiet for his taste. There was nobody in the streets, and this struck him as unnatural. Still wondering what might have caused all this, he turned from the street and entered a restaurant. He didn't get two steps inside before a woman screamed in horror. Zelgadis spotted her hiding with several others under a table.

"Please!! Have pity!" he heard.

"What happened?" asked Zelgadis.

When he heard Zelgadis's very male voice, the restaurant's owner emerged from under another table.

"Oh! Excuse us! We thought it was her coming back."

Zelgadis frowned.

"Her?"

"Na…ga the White Serpent…She just left. It was horrible…horrible" repeated the man.

"What did she do?"

"She couldn't stop laughing…" the man was in tears.

Zelgadis 's eyes went wide in surprise.

"Is that all she did?"

"You don't understand how it is! It's still ringing in my head…". Now the poor man was trembling and crying.

Zelgadis crossed his arms.

"Do you know where she went?"

The man shooked his head. Zelgadis sighed.

Meanwhile, Naga was reading.

"Gracia, I know you wanted me to write more about Lina Inverse. I wonder why you are so interested in her. Actually, I'm very upset at her right now, because she recently blew up one of our grandest temples. Your sister was trying to play matchmaker again, and Gourry messed it all up. Apparently, the swordman didn't understand the plan at all. Lina was so upset she fireballedl him several times and ended up to destroying the whole building! I agree it was the worst proposal I ever heard, but why does she always have to blast everything around her when she is upset? I guess I should be glad she didn't use a Dragon Slave…. Now, about your sister…"

"NOOOOO! Argh, dad! Why don't you go into details!" Naga yelled. "Is Lina engaged? What happened really? Damn, it is so frustrating! I bet there will be plenty of detail now, since this next bit is about Amelia," she sighed. In his last letter, he had written everything, down to what Amelia ate for dinner that whole week.

"I'm worried about her, actually," he wrote. Naga's face softened. Even though she knew that Philionnel was very protective of his younger daughter, Naga knew that he wasn't the type to write about being worried. This must be serious.

"I wrote to you last time about the crush I noticed she seems to have on Zelgadis--the man who had been cursed into a Chimera by Rezo, if you remember."

Naga nodded. "Of course I remember! It was the only interesting thing in the whole damned letter. She was still upset, remembering the three lines about it. "By the way" it had read, "I think Amelia has her first crush. The young man is one of her travelling companions, Zelgadis Greywords. I suppose I should have expended it, since she's old enough now to start thinking about boys, but this 'Zelgadis' is an unusual fellow. Apparently, the Great Sage Rezo turned the poor young man into a Chimera…".

"Details! Details, father!" she had yelled. Her father's letters were so frustrating. She loved gossip and he wasn't writing any! She sighed. May be it was being done on purpose, her father's way of trying to make her come back….

"Yeah, right! He can dream…. No way," she whispered. She continued to read the latest letter.

"I think now the crush has turned into something deeper. She really didn't take it well when he left again to find his cure. She is trying to hide it but she can't hide it from me! She asked me to allow her to follow him on his quest like she had done sometimes before, but I refused. Now I'm king and she has more important tasks to do. She can't leave on long trips anymore. She understood, but I think it hurt her to know that she will no longer have much freedom. I tried to talk to her but she just keeps saying that everything is fine. She insists that he will find his cure and come back. I wish her mother or you could be here to talk to her about it. I like Zelgadis and I wouldn't mind if he someday married Amelia, but he is a chimera and I'm worried about that.

"I wanted to know more about Amelia 's feelings, so I asked her again. Her words were very confusing. Still, I understood from the talk how much she is in love with him. It appeared that she was uncertain wheather or not he loved her in return. If I'm writing all of this to you Gracia, it's because I'm lost and I need woman's advice. Also, I fear that I have said the wrong thing and broken her heart. I told her that he may never find a cure. Of course she told me that I was wrong, that is was unfair and of course he will find a cure because it was just. I answered that may be it was for the sake of the justice that he couldn't find one. After all, he has a lot of power the way he is, which he could continue to use to help to save the world, along with Lina…. When I said that, Amelia went pale. I also told her to move on. That is was the best for her to meet other young men, since she didn't even know if he loves her back. I might have been clumsy, and right now she just doesn't seem to really be her usual, bouncy self. It's been a week now and she hasn't climbed a single tree or roof. I don't know much about the relationship they had when they were travelling together. Zelgadis seemed a bit cold towards her, even after so much time. On the other hand, he never seemed to mind her following him, and he was usually there to help when she needed it. Lina refused to talk with me about their relationship, and Gourry didn't remember. Tell me what can I tell her…. Please don't wait. Your sister needs you.

Love,

Daddy."

Naga felt sad for her sister. how did she do to fell in love with a monster even if he was once a human? How bizarre her sister was. Plus, it seemed to be unrequited. What could she tell to her dad? She didn't even have a love interest. Suddenly she heard a voice.

"Are you Naga the White Serpent?"

"I am" she answered. "Speaking of chimeras," she thought, as she caught sight of the man's unusual face.

"There something you have I want."

"Oh?... It depends on your offering price, and what it is you're asking for," she replied.

"The Clare Bible manuscript."

Naga frowned. She didn't have any Claire Bible manuscripts, but if she could sell him something else….

"Well…I don't know…. Why do you want it?" she asked, hoping he would answer in a way she could turn to her own purposes. She was a cunning saleswoman, after all….

"I'm Zelgadis Greywords. I was once human. I need your manuscript to cure myself."

Naga couldn't believe her own ears. Could it be possible the chimera in front of her was the Zelgadis her little sister was in love with?"

She started to laugh hysterically. Zelgadis understood suddenly what the restaurant-owner had been talking about.

"Why are you laughing?" he asked, upset.

"You're the famous Zelgadis greywords who travelled with Lina Inverse?"

"That's right."

She started to laugh again and it was painful for the chimera. It was too good to be true, thought Naga.

"So…can we make a deal?"

Naga smirked. "On one condition," she told him.

"I 'm listening"

"I want to hear some gossip!"

"What?" Zelgadis frowned.

"I want you to tell me everything about Lina Inverse , Gourry Gabriev and Amelia, the little princess of Seryunn… and I want all the juicy details"

"I'm not sure I understand."

"I heard many things about them, and now I have tons of questions to ask. See, a few years ago I used to travel to Lina inverse. I'm sure she's talked about me" she smiled.

"Absolutely not."

"Argh! Damnit, Lina! How could you not mention Naga the White Serpent, your greatest and foremost rival!"

"What do you want to know?" Zelgadis was torn. He didn't want betray his friends' secrets, but at the same time, this "Naga" had a copy of the Claire Bible. He couldn't ignore that, either. He was prepared to fight Naga for it if he had to. The times when he would have betrayed his friends to get what he wanted were long over.

"What do you want to know, exactly? I Won't betray my friends' secrets," he said firmly, as he pointed his sword at her.

"Calm down! I just want to know all about their love-lives."

"Their love-lives??" Zelgadis almost fell to the ground from surprise. That…had not been the answer he was expecting.

"Yes…. I want all the latest love-gossip. I've heard so many rumors, like…. Hey-- is it true you are gay?" She smiled.

"WHHAAAAAT? Of course not!" Zelgadis was furious. "Who dares say that!?"

Naga laughed hysterically again, then she paused.

"So, do we have a deal?"

Zelgadis nodded hesitantly. It wasn't a big deal to talk about Lina's love life to get the clare bible and he was eager to know who dare to tell he was gay.

Naga smirked. Now she had a way to learn all she craved to know about Lina's love-life, and maybe now she had a way to help her sister, too.

TBC