Author's Notes: This is all my Gourry/Sylphiel material goes on my Gourry/Sylphiel shrine first before anywhere else:

relmw . com / gs

(just remove the spaces)

Goodnight Kisses

Part Three, Faraway

By Relm

Lina and company continued on with their travels heading towards the White Magic Convention. After leaving that town they had stayed at the foursome traveled down the only trail leading to where they were going. But as they walked the trail they found it wasn't really much of one.

"This isn't a proper trail!" Lina grumbled as she stomped her way through the woods. Yes they were traveling on something that could resemble a proper path or road except for maybe it hadn't been used in years. There were fallen trees, over grown branches, roots and large rocks littering the path. It was annoying Lina because the ground was so uneven. She was constantly having to step over and on things and kept accidently stubbing her toes. "No one's used this road in years!" She declared in anger.

"I don't know Lina..." Zelgadis mused while looking down at the ground below them. "These tracks look fresh. I'd say it looks like someone was riding a horse drawn carriage through here not too long ago."

"I don't care! This still isn't a proper road! You'd think the people in that town we were just in would take more pride in their roads! I mean how are people supposed to get to Bornish anyway?" Lina huffed in annoyance.

"Miss Lina the town were just in was Boran." Amelia corrected her.

"Whatever. At least we know why it's just a backwater town. They have no pride in their land I tell yeah!"

"They probably don't get much people coming through here unless they are on their way to something like the White Magic Convention." Zelgadis surmised. "Though I do wonder who would try and come through here with a horse drawn carriage. This is a really bad trail to use that sort of means of travel."

"Why's that?" Gourry wondered. To him is seemed like a good idea to have a carriage. You could take more things with you and you wouldn't get the sores on your bottom that riding a horse tended to give.

"Like the things that Lina keeps tripping over it would be hard on the wheels for a carriage if they kept bumping over them. The carriage could break or the horse's reigns could get loose." Zelgadis explained.

"Well that would explain that mess coming up." Amelia pointed to what they saw further down the trail ahead of them.

It was a carriage no doubt and it was on its side and appeared to be broken. There was no horse insight but rather a very irate woman with blond hair stomping about.

"That's funny that almost looks like Filia." Lina mused.

"STUPID PIECE OF JUNK!" The blond woman yelled while kicking the broken carriage. Though a dragon tail didn't emerge from under the woman's skirt it was easy to tell who it was from her voice.

"That is Miss Filia!" Amelia exclaimed in excitement. "MISS FILIA!" She yelled while waving.

The blond woman stopped glaring at the broken carriage to look over to who was calling her. Seeing who it was she waved back and headed towards them. "Miss Lina, Miss Amelia, Mister Gourry and Mister Zelgadis! How nice it is to see all of you again!" Filia said with a happy smile as she got closer to the group. It was a stark contrast to the anger she was just taking out on the seemingly broken carriage.

"Filia what are you doing in these parts?" Lina wondered.

"Oh well I've been invited to this convention that showcases everything that's going on in the white magic and healing front." Filia explained.

"So you're going to the White Magic Convention too!" Amelia squealed in delight.

"Yes I am. In fact I'm supposed to be the head speaker at the convention. Though being that I turned my back on the temple I don't know if I'm really the best choice for this sort of thing..." Filia mumbled that last bit. "But I told them I would go so that's why I'm heading there. Were all of you invited?"

Amelia shook her head. "No just I was. I'm going to represent Sailune. Miss Lina, Mister Zelgadis and Mister Gourry are coming with me."

"That's lovely! We could all go together!" Filia clapped her hands together in excitement.

"Except your carriage looks buster and your horse has raced off." Zelgadis observed. "Why exactly are you traveling like this? Being a golden dragon couldn't you just fly or even teleport there?"

"And your tail didn't pop out when you were mad at the carriage." Gourry pointed out.

This got mutual looks of disbelief from all of Gourry's traveling companions.

"What?" Gourry looked around confused. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No you actually made a good point, for once..." Lina muttered. She turned to face Filia noticing something different about the former priestess. "What's the deal with that piece of jewellery around your neck? It looks pretty but it also kinda looks like a collar."

Filia's face turned red with obvious anger and irritation. "It is a collar and it's the reason why I can't travel the way I'm used to." Filia grumbled while crossing her arms across her chest with a huff.

"So the collar is to blame...?" Amelia prompted her.

"No that piece of garbage is to blame!" Filia hissed with a voice full of bitter resentment.

"Now, now Filia that's not very nice to say." A disembodied voice chided.

Everyone looked around for the source of the voice unsure of where it was coming from. Even though they couldn't see where the voice was coming from it was easy to figure who it belonged to.

"Is it not nice because it's the truth?" Filia spat out in a daring voice.

"I don't know why you always try and wound me with your words so much. Especially when I'm such a loveable guy." Xellos exclaimed pretending to be hurt.

"Loveable? You're as loveable as a sack of bricks!" Filia yelled.

"One would love bricks if they were building a house." Xellos surmised.

"GRAAAHHHHH!" Filia screamed but her tail still refused to pop out from under her skirt.

"So... Filia's what's going on?" Lina interjected hoping to distract the blond golden dragon from the monster that was irritating her so.

"What's going on? What's going on? I'll tell you what's going on!" Filia yelled out. "Because of that thing I got stuck with a transformation collar stuck around my neck! And I can't get it off either!"

"What's a transformation collar?" Gourry wondered. He hadn't heard or seen such a thing before. To him it just looked like a pretty jewelled choker necklace.

"GRAAAAAAHHHH!" Filia screamed once more.

"A transformation collar is a training tool that helps creatures like golden dragons get used to being in a human type form." Zelgadis explained. "While wearing the collar it prevents you from changing back into your original form."

"Hmmm... why would Filia need that for? She's already good at being a human." Gourry mused while tapping his chin.

"The collar wasn't for me! It was for Val! And he wouldn't wear it. In fact it scared him so much that he wouldn't even let me get it near him. So Xellos got the bright idea to suggest I put one on to show him it's not bad. And then that piece of stinking garbage locked it on me!"

"I was just trying to help. I had no idea it was going to get stuck." Xellos explained with a small innocent voice.

"So you're stuck not able to transform back into your dragon form huh?" Lina mused with a frown.

"Yes and I can't even teleport either." Filia crumpled down to the floor with tears rapidly falling down her cheeks. "I can't get it off because it was locked without setting a special command word. So I've been stuck traveling by such a slow and tedious method!"

"Travelling by carriage without a horse would be slow." Gourry agreed.

"Grrr! I did have a horse! But it ran away!" Filia wailed.

"Why didn't you just ride the horse instead of having it pull a carriage?" Lina questioned Filia with a raised eyebrow.

"Because... I don't like riding horses!" Filia huffed.

"Is that because you're so heavy it would hurt the horse?" This question of course came from Gourry.

"WHAT?" Filia screamed. She would have clubbed Gourry over the head with her mace if it hadn't been for Lina, Zelgadis and Amelia interfering.

"Good point Gourry. I couldn't have said it better myself." Xellos patted Gourry on the back.

Filia's mace went flying and landed on Xellos' head.

"Ow..."

...

"This trail doesn't look much like a trail." Sylphiel mused as she and Pokota continued on their travels towards the convention.

"Probably doesn't get used much. If it weren't for the convention I doubt anyone would have travelled to Boran much less use this trail." Pokota surmised.

"Yeah the convention is usually held in a different place every year." Sylphiel agreed.

"So what sorts of things do you think we'll see?"

"I have no clue. Probably any new advances in white magic. But what I'm really keen on seeing is what new discoveries have been made in medicinal healing. There are so many strange plants out there that can possibly used to cure ailments. Who knows what new find has been made! Like a mushroom that can cure fowl pox or a tree sap that can reduce muscle inflammation." Sylphiel exclaimed her voice filled with bubbly excitement.

"You're really interested in that sort of stuff aren't you? Kinda strange for a shrine maiden. White magic is usually their main thing."

"It is but magic can't fix everything. I feel to be a proper healer you need have proficiency and understanding in all areas of healing. Medicine is as much of a part of that as magic is." Sylphiel stated very sagely.

"Yeah and you can't heal anyone with magic when it's your time of the month." Pokota added.

Sylphiel blushed in embarrassment. "Um, yes that's true..."

"Well regardless I'm looking forward to seeing the convention. It will be nice to be there representing Tarforashia. Everyone will know our kingdom is back and no longer slumbering. Maybe that will get people back to traveling to Tarforashia. Right now only people from Sailune have gone to see the kingdom. But that's usually just Amelia or her dad bringing supplies."

"You've been seeing a lot of Amelia these past few months haven't you?"

"Yeah... Amelia's pretty good at white magic isn't she? I'll bet she'll be at the convention."

Sylphiel pressed her lips together in thought. "You're probably right about that."

"And maybe Lina, Zelgadis and Gourry will be there too."

At the mention of Gourry's name Sylphiel's face went far off and dreamy. "That would be nice..."