"No way!" Lina exclaimed.
"I recognize the crest on the ring. She used to be my fiancee."
Lina was shocked. "You know what a fiancee is!?"
"Yes, I do," he confirmed with annoyance. "I had to play dumb to get rid of that crazy Martina without making her mad at me." He gave a little shiver.
Lina tapped her index fingers together as she looked down to avoid his eyes and asked quietly, "Were you in love with her?"
'Nah. Our parents arranged the engagement. It was purely a political alliance between distant cousins. The girl complained bitterly about being forced to marry such a stupid, younger son like me. She was studying sorcery but disappeared from her guild just before I left Elmekia."
"Somebody could have stolen her ring, you know," Lina advised him as she shifted through more debris. "Oh, here are earrings and parts of a necklace." She held them out to Gourry for him to see.
"No, I recognize those as well," he declared sadly. "My grandmother gave her those earrings as an engagement present."
His eyes suddenly widened as he felt a ghostly presence rush past him. Lina fell backwards with a "Yulp!" and pushed her hands forward at a misty figure.
"Damn!" the apparition cried. "I can't take her over!"
"Thanks to my improved spells on my headband. Being taken over by a ghost once was embarrassing enough!" Lina retorted.
"Oh, please! I need a real body to find my murderer and get revenge!" the ghost pleaded and began wailing and wringing her semi- transparent hands in front of Lina.
"Katarina Sergayevna?" Gourry gasped.
"Yes, Grigour Rowdivitch. You'll help me, won't you? Make her take off that awful headband!" Katarina gave him her best, big, moist-eyed stare.
It didn't work. Somehow semi-transparent puppy-dog eyes didn't have the impact of real ones. "Sorry. I'm her protector. Can't do it."
"You're still the idiot I ran away from!" the specter growled in contempt.
"I was told you ran away with one of your instructors. Was it true?"
She responded sheepishly, "Heh, heh. Yeah. Big mistake. He died as soon as we left Elmekia. But he was getting too possessive before it happened."
"Why do you need a body, anyway? Maybe Lina and I can help you bring your murderer to justice without you taking her over," the swordsman inquired.
Lina huffed and started to object about working for free until the ghost replied, "He's a powerful Elmekian sorcerer. May he and his family slowly and painful rot! He murdered me to get powerful artifacts from the ruins here. One of them required a human sacrifice to activate it, me. I can't cast spells as a ghost."
"Powerful artifacts, huh?" and a calculating glint appeared in Lina's eyes. "So who was this sorcerer?"
But Katarina only snarled and grabbed Gourry by the throat and started to strangle him. "Let me take you over or the idiot dies!" The poor swordsman could do nothing to defend himself from a person who was already dead but still had a powerful will.
"Hey, hey! Let go of him! I'm Lina Inverse, the powerful and beautiful sorcery genius. I've taken on two parts of Shabranigdo and its ghost. I'm sure I can handle that sorcerer for you on my own!" she shouted whilen searching her hidden pockets for the emergency ghost catcher Amelia had made for her.
With ghostly fingers still clutching Gourry's throat, Katarina began, "His name was..."
Just then a female voice roared, "Holy Bless!" The specter shrieked and immediately disappeared.
Gourry coughed, gasped, and rubbed his throat as he abruptly sat down. Lina ran to him while yelling in dismay, "Amelia?! Damnit! You cast Holy Bless too soon!"
"I'm not too sure about that," Gourry croaked as he gave Lina a sour look.
"Mr. Gourry could have died if I had waited. Here, Mr. Gourry, lie back. Miss Lina, please support his head while I heal his throat," Amelia commanded and she began her healing spell.
"I had that ghost catcher you made for me. After catching her, I could have found out the sorcerer's name and more information," Lina grumbled as she knelt down and supported Gourry's head in her hands.
"Smells like a latrine back here," another familiar voice declared. "Didn't know ghosts could generate that odor."
Lina blushed as she greeted the chimera, "Hi, Zel. You heard about the ruins, too, I see."
"Daddy has sent me on a diplomatic mission to Elmekia with Mr. Zelgadis as my bodyguard. We decided to check out the ruins on our way, since time isn't important."
"So what happened here? Are those the remains of the ghost's body lying there?" Zelgadis asked.
While Amelia finished healing Gourry, Lina related the story of Katarina and Gourry's connection to her. "There may have been useful artifacts here, but it appears they are gone. One of them is very dangerous. It required a human sacrifice to activate. We'll have to investigate it further before tackling the sorcerer."
"That certainly is not an artifact I would use, even if it could return me to normal again," Zelgadis remarked. "According to my map, there is a fairly large city just over the border in Elmekia. Maybe its guild library could tell us more about these ruins and what the artifact is and its powers. You don't want to go hunting someone powerful and not know what he can throw at you."
The four friends left the ruins and started walking back to the more traveled road.
"Wow, Mr. Gourry. You were almost in an arranged marriage? That would have been so unjust," Amelia observed.
"Oh, that's the norm among the major families of Elmekia," the blond man told her. "I would have accepted it as duty to my family. Katarina didn't."
Amelia opened her mouth to make an observation, but a warning look from Gourry quieted her.
'Hey, jellyfish, Grigour Rowdivitch?" Lina questioned.
"Ye-yeah. In Elmekia we address each other by full first name and patronymic. My father was named Rowdy for a Gabriev ancestor. The "'vitch" sorta means "son of" For females, it's "'vna" for "daughter of." I've just always used my diminutive name, Gourry, as the name I want people to use. Grigour Rowdivitch Gabriev hasn't existed since I left home. There's only Gourry Gabriev. You know the reasons, Lina."
Amelia, in the meanwhile, had been looking her friends over. "You've both changed your traveling outfits. It's strange to see Mr. Gourry without his shoulder and hip armor, but you both look very good. Green suits you so well, Miss Lina. And those long boots..."
Zelgadis raised an eyebrow and commented with a smirk, "We can see you both have necks and good chests now. And what's with the matching bracelets? Don't tell me you two are needing one room now?"
Lina turned sunset red, and Gourry beamed. "Yes, we're official now. We had the ceremony in Zephilia when we visited Lina's family. Her sister, Luna, presided over it as the Knight of Ceiphied."
Amelia squealed in delight and jumped on Lina. The chimera shook Gourry's hand and clasped him on the shoulder. "Congratulations!" he said to the couple.
"You are coming back with us later to Seyruun for a big celebration, you know!" Amelia informed Lina and Gourry.
"Yeah, yeah. First things first, though. I want to track down this murderer and let Katarina's family know what happened to her," Lina stated. To herself she thought, "Plus I also want to find out more about Gourry's family and past. He's been so reluctant to reveal anything."
Gourry looked at his mate with unease. "I'd rather not go into Elmekia, but I guess the family should know about her fate and a dangerous sorcerer be dealt with," he admitted with a sigh.
"According to my guidebook, the next town has a decent inn. Let's go there and make plans," Amelia suggested. "I still have my diplomatic mission at the Elmekian court, but I want to help when I can."
Zelgadis shook his head and sighed, "Might have known we'd get drawn into something with you again." But a smile lurked on his face.