Chapter Three
"So where are we?" Jedah asked, rising to his feet and moving to look out of a window. The street beyond was busy, people bustling back and forth on a dirt road, and it didn't look overly built up like Saillune. "Rural, but pretty."
"Zefilia," Zelgadis replied, standing and walking over to look out the window next to Jedah. "It's Lina's hometown, the best place for us to have a home, even if we aren't always here. The wine here isn't half-bad, either."
As Jedah turned, a basket came flying out at Zelgadis, who merely reached up and caught it. "Well, I see she hasn't changed any. That's good for the two of you," Jedah followed up, catching the loaf of bread that followed the basket. "Have you two had any children?"
This time it was the knife that went flying with deadly accuracy. Zelgadis simply plucked it out of the air with a wry smirk and offered to cut the bread into the basket. "No, no children. Sylphiel and Gourry have a girl, though. I'd say she's about two years old now."
"She was two last month," Lina retorted, walking over with a tray bearing a decanter of wine and three goblets. She turned to place it on the table and poured the red liquid. "We can go see her whenever. Sylphiel and Gourry are always happy to have us over."
Jedah nodded and moved to pick up a goblet and look at the dazzling scarlet of the wine for a moment before he took a sip. "That is good, Lina, and the wine is superb." He turned and looked to the others for a moment, thinking.
Lina hadn't changed much since he'd seen her last. Her hair looked a little longer, and her eyes showed a little more age, but they still glinted with the promise of her unpredictable temper. Just because she wasn't wearing the talismans at the moment didn't mean that she couldn't carry her own at Zelgadis' side.
Zelgadis, on the other hand… Jedah nodded to himself. The formerly haunted look had left the once-chimera, revealing a man who looked calm and at ease. It made Jedah smile, and the smile turned into a grin when Zelgadis quirked an eyebrow at him. Heading off any queries, he lifted his glass. "I'm glad the two of you are happy together. You both deserve it."
Lina opened her mouth, but said nothing, instead taking a drink of her own wine. She sensed it rapidly becoming another awkward moment, and lowered the glass, looking to Jedah. "It takes a lot of work sometimes. But it wouldn't be worth it if it didn't. Hey Zel, what do you think we should do for dinner?"
Food was always one of Lina's favorite things, and Jedah could have placed bets on her bringing it up within an hour of his arrival. "You're hosting me… why don't I take care of dinner? It's the least that I can do…" He lifted a hand, calling his magic to him, flexing powers that hadn't been used in entirely too long, and began collecting food onto the table.
Once upon a time, Lina's eyes would have grown round at the fascination of the food appearing. Roasts, fish, fowl, side dishes beyond imagination arranged themselves on the table, but it didn't seem to faze her any longer. She'd grown accustomed to the magic wielded by Zelgadis, and Jedah's magics were considerably similar.
When Jedah lowered his hand, the table was heavy with food and the smell was beyond intoxicating. He'd not actually eaten since that last dinner- he forced his thoughts away from that, and looked brightly to both Lina and Zelgadis. "Well, I think that should do reasonably enough. Shall we?"
Lina looked up at Jedah from around the turkey leg she'd grabbed, but instead of saying anything, she just winked at him cheekily. He'd never known Lina to stand on ceremony when it came to food, why in the world had he thought she'd do so now. "Ah, well, nevermind…" He shrugged a bit helplessly and sat at the table and began to eat.
After dinner, Lina shooed Zelgadis and Jedah out of the way as she fussed the guest room into some semblance of habitable. Jedah tried to remind her that he was a Mazoku and didn't need that much comfort, but the look Lina had given him had been enough to silence his protests. Meekly, Jedah backed out of the way and went back over to the front window to look out.
"You can stop looking out of windows, Jedah." Zelgadis said as he walked up behind him. "You don't have to stay cooped up like a bird any longer. You want to go, just do it. Lina and I will understand." A hand rested on his shoulder. "Come and go as you please, Jedah. You're family."
Jedah turned, looking to Zelgadis, that watered steel gaze unable to meet the aquamarine one for long. He didn't need to tell Zelgadis much, he knew that the other man could read him like an open scroll. "It will take time, Zelgadis. Much happened that you do know, and even more still happened that you don't. In some cases, it is best that you don't know all of what happened."
"You'll tell me what you're willing to tell me when you are willing to tell it, Jedah. You always have," Zelgadis replied with a nod. There was no use trying to pry it from Jedah, but he suspected that the youth (could he even call him that?) was far sadder than he allowed the outside world to see. "But I'm here, and I daresay that Lina is too."
"Okay, the room is all set, it's not much but it's comfortable," Lina clapped her hands together as she walked back into the open room. "Just make yourself at home, Jedah. If there's one thing I insist on you being: it is yourself."
As he waved goodnight to them both, Jedah had to admit to wondering who himself was. He wasn't who he'd started this journey out being, and he certainly didn't want to be who he was now. He wanted to be his old self again, the troublemaker younger brother without a care in the world.
As he lay down on the bed, he wondered if he could.
