*Disclaimer: Slayers belongs to Mr. Kanzaka Hajime, Araizumi Rui, Tkyo TV soft, Fumination, etc, etc... I don't own anything of Slayers franchise. This is just a fanwork to be happy reading it.
*Author Notes: This is a contest story. Basically "What if Miwan would have been a real woman instead a man?" from NEXT-Ep 17. This story follows the events of that "drag" episodie, but this time Miwan is a real woman, and we know Zelgadiss felt very attracted by her in that episodie. Basically this explains what would happen in such case. I talked with my friend Nadessiko (another fanfic author), about this, so we got a conclussion. This story is, indeed, the narration of that conclussion. So enjoy it!
Also, special thanks to Earthstar-chan, who beta readed this form me, correcting the typos and grammar mistakes. Thank you so much.
On this chapter, things are totally original, but tied to the canon. Warning: Zelgadiss is meaner in my stories, closer to the novels version.
Coments and constructive critizism are most welcome.
Chapter 4: The Two Princesses.
Two weeks had already passed since Miwan had started to travel with them; after the initial meeting, the group seemed to have reached a new routine of moves and interaction, some daily activities that Amelia couldn't fit in several but often casual activities.
The fact was that, as usual, Lina and Gourry moved up altogether, which was they were used to doing; of course, the redhead sorceress also talked with everybody as they walked. Sometimes she just chatted with Amelia, other times with Zelgadiss, and even some rare times, she also did with Xelloss or Martina, which was quite surprising; but in all those times, Gourry always was next to her, acting like he was supposed to be: Lina's bodyguard.
Meanwhile, Martina always traveled next to Xelloss, who obviously seemed to be her latest crush; it was doubly surprising because Martina's crushes always had been as short as intense, and hardly could be took as a serious relationship, but this time it seemed to be quite stable. Amelia didn't know what kind of relationship they both shared because Xelloss certainly seemed to enjoy Martina's presence next to him, but he didn't act like a regular boyfriend; most of the time, the priest dressed with black velvet seemed to be keeping a closer eye on Martina and Lina, both, as he was very interested in their relationship. Whatever it was, Xelloss' presence seemed to have calmed down the curly haired princess, just enough to even becoming a nice travel companion. Amelia had found herself quite surprised when she started to share some interesting chats about politics and girl matters with Martina. However, Amelia was overwhelmed by Martina's passionate speeches about Xoana and her future married life with Xelloss; which made her relationship with the mocking priest even more bizarre. Amelia, of course, kept her mouth closed at those ideas. At least their current situation seemed to have settled down the differences between the two countries.
But overall, Amelia wasn't in the position to be judging anybody's relationships, mostly when she was facing up her new situation in the group.
Till now, Amelia always had traveled next to Lina (her best female friend) and next to Zelgadiss (her best male friend). But now, that dynamic was broken, even if Lina and Gourry remained pretty much the same and Martina enjoyed her current position as "Xelloss' girlfriend". Amelia, usually, would have been traveling with Zelgadiss; but after Miwan joined the group, it had changed. Zelgadiss was always with Miwan except when the group was splinted by genders, and the Femille's princess seemed to enjoy his presence. As a result, Amelia had been kicked out of the little couple she formed with him; not as a lovers, but as a friends that traveled together. Therefore Amelia just found herself being… alone, in most of daily events.
Of course, Amelia still shared the "girl moments" with Lina, Martina and now, also Miwan; and she also shared the table to eat with them, shared the tent with her travel companions, the meals, the inns… but she was alone. She couldn't sit anymore next to Zelgadiss; neither could she talk with him about magic or just this or that. She did when all they were gathered together, but not the two alone, not anymore, because her position had been replaced by Miwan.
And now, Amelia could feel how much she missed him, and how important he had been in all her travels with Lina since the day they met for first time, even if that encounter hadn't been nice.
Amelia was mature enough to deal with Miwan's presence. She couldn't blame the shy princess to be there; Miwan was a nice person and had a strong conviction about what was good or bad, which was even more than what Amelia could tell about mostly of her travel companions (only Gourry seemed to have a high moral sense, and perhaps Shilfild, but she wasn't there), and she also had provided a lot of information about her kingdom. In fact, meeting her had been a good chance to tie up the relationship between their two countries.
However, the fact was Miwan had replaced her next to Zelgadiss; the chimera just seemed to enjoy her presence so much, and he was always talking with her, something that was weird for everyone, even for Gourry or Amelia, who under several reasons, had been the closer persons to him in some way.
Precisely that was what shocked her the most. Zelgadiss never had been "nice" or easy going, to say the least; of course, over the time, Amelia had gotten very close to him, Amelia had learned how to deal with his nasty manners and selfish behavior, and overall his lack of moral sense. Amelia had learned better and now, she understood Zelgadiss pretty well and she shared a nice relationship with him.
Or at least she thought so. For some reason, Miwan has been able to get closer to him breaking a record, faster than any of them. And the reason was painfully obvious: Zelgadiss liked Miwan.
Amelia was learning something else. Lina was clear about that; at first the redhead just was clearly oppose to the idea of Miwan traveling with them, but later she just used it to make remarkable ironic comments about the situation, teasing Zelgadiss about his relationship with Miwan, which were quickly suppressed by the chimera himself. In spite of the obvious, Zelgadiss hated to be told, and he just didn't admit to be teased in any sense, something that Lina loved to do with others. However, everybody had learned something else about the moody chimera, and Amelia was the first in learning it.
Zelgadiss was a man. And he liked cuties.
Miwan was surprised about everything. Almost all her daily experiences were something new for her. For the first time in her life, she was actually traveling outside the barriers of her kingdom, heading towards the north, to the Kataart Mountains. And everything was new and exciting.
First, her travel companions: three girls –besides herself, of course- and three boys. One of the girls was Lina Inverse, the infamous dark sorceress that everybody feared in some degree; the rest were all princesses (which included her), one of them was Martina Xoana Mel, the princess of Xoana, as she had demonstrated after the fight against Evia; the other was even more surprising, Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun, the princess of the powerful kingdom of Seyruun. After finding out who was her, Miwan was just in awe because she never thought the princess of such powerful kingdom, could travel around the world so freely, and even accepting to be a priestess. Miwan couldn't help but admire the short haired girl and feeling even happier to travel around like that with such prominent characters.
The men, on the other hand, were a mercenary swordsman that was Lina's bodyguard, a mocking priest (who, honestly, Miwan wondered how that guy could become a priest) and her savoir, a chimera enameled Zelgadiss. They were all friends in some degree, or at least Miwan thought so, and certainly Miwan was happy to be surrounded by such notorious characters like these; however, she felt quite uneasy with men, even if she had a high concept of Zelgadiss.
To tell the truth, Miwan knew many supposed women back Femille, actually were men in drag, pretty much like Zelgadiss had been in Femille. In fact, that was a silent secret that everybody kept quiet because of the fear to be executed; but even so she wasn't use to be surrounded by them so closely. Their manners were direct and rough, used a lot of slangs when they talked, and even their body' smell was different. So their closeness was something that made her feel uneasy. Zelgadiss, however, was somehow, different to her; he was very nice to her, and always kept a closer eye on her, speaking with her almost the half of the time he opened his mouth to say something. It was obvious the chimera man was very fond on her because he never spoke any further with the rest of the group.
Miwan, however, noticed that the Seyruun's princess, somebody that she felt a high respect for, also tried to talk with them when Zelgadiss was explaining her something about this or that, but after several tries, she just gave it up, and later began to walk alone. The shy princess noticed that Amelia seemed to be a bubbly person, always smiling and cheerful, even with commoners… but when she was walking alone across the sand paths towards the mountains; she seemed to be covered by a gloomy air. Somehow, Miwan wondered about her mood change, and she felt the impulse of asking Zelgadiss about it… but she just didn't find the courage to do so.
The Femille's princess had been raised between women and she just didn't know how to talk about personal matters with a man.
The day she had observed one of those mood changes in Amelia's behavior, the group finally had arrived to a village placed in the frontier of Kalmaart Dukedom. It wasn't so far from Vezendy city, yet as what usually happened in frontier villages; it was a trading place because the commerce caravans and the bandits that attacked them. Unfortunately for Lina, none of those had decided to attack a group of random travelers.
The village, however, was plenty of stores, counters and of course, inns. That's what Lina loved about commercial villages; they always were plenty of interesting things where to make money or just wasting it. Besides that, many buildings were being revised and repaired; the city was in the north, near the mountains, which meant the winters were long and cold, so houses and stores just had to be ready to spend the winter, and local people used the sunny summer to repair roofs and gates, collecting provisions and basically doing all the deeds to spend the hard cold days in winter.
Besides that, the village had plenty of street sellers that provided people of interesting snacks food, which was enough to make Lina happy.
"It would be perfect if this village would have some spring waters baths or something!" The redhead announced.
"I think you'll have to wait for it, flat-chested sorceress" Martina answered.
Before Lina would make something go boom, Xelloss intervened, "Well, but surely Lina will find the best inn with the best dishes."
Certainly the mocking priest knew how to calm down Lina, and certainly his presence and his relationship with Martina, made things go easier.
"Take note of this, dear Martina" he added turning towards the curly haired princess, "It's better to take advantage of things than fighting them."
"What kind of advice is that!?" Lina exclaimed, knowing that Xelloss meant her.
Amelia just ignored the issue; she had been around the group long enough to know better and, for her, Xelloss just wanted to tease Lina for some bizarre reason; perhaps even because the priest wanted to make clear that nobody could tease him. The dark haired princess thought actually nobody could piss off Xelloss.
So she just let it go and pointed at a certain building with masonry stonewalls and inclined roof.
"Look! I think this is a safe inn. It seems to be clean and firm, at least. Don't you think?"
Zelgadiss found himself raising an eyebrow under the hood that covered his head; he was surprised because it was obvious that Amelia had learned many things since he met her back in Sairag city. Now, Amelia could recognize a safe place with just a brief look. Certainly the princess had learned several things.
But his thoughts were stopped when Miwan poked at him softly.
"Zelgadiss… could you tell me… what is this for?"
Miwan was such a sweetheart, but sometimes, she made pointless questions. He sighed before answering, "We want to arrange rooms in a safe inn; some place where the food is good and cheap, and also must be clean. The rest of the guests must also be good; otherwise we could get into some trouble… That's why Amelia has suggested that inn; she thinks it's safe enough."
"But last time we were in an inn, we didn't worry about things and all we shared the same room." Miwan had thought it was the usual in traveling accommodations.
"It is because that place was a road motel for merchant caravans. There, we cannot arrange individual rooms, but we have to share them with other travelers, and since we're a group, we share the same room all together"
"But then, we'll have our own room?"
"Probably, yes. It depends on…" Zelgadiss raised his view and looked at Lina and Amelia, who were immerse in another argue; then, he pointed at the two girls with a soft move of his chin. "It depends on them."
"No way, Miss Lina!" Amelia complained. "You just cannot order me to use Seyruun's crest to pay for every whim you have!"
"But Amelia, it's for our own good sake!" The redhead complained. "I cannot pay everybody's accommodations! And that inn surely is cheap for some reason!"
"I'm not saying I'm asking you to pay mine!"
The discussion followed in those terms for quite a while; as usual, Gourry tried to calm down Lina, Martina complained about her lack of money, Xelloss said he didn't care and Zelgadiss just sighed till something was decided. Usually, he took sides with Amelia, but this time he just announced that he will pay Miwan's accommodation.
"Ok! Then we'll arrange two big rooms! One for we, girls, and one for you, boys!" Amelia announced. "But I won't pay it; everybody will pay their part."
Gourry sighed; lately Amelia didn't take things easily and she sounded harsh when she talked. And it was obvious she had become angrier when Zelgadiss said that Miwan's accommodation was his.
"I'm fine with that" Lina answered crossing her arms; it was the cheaper option. "We'll stay in that inn, but we'll take our lunch somewhere else."
"Well, that's almost the usual" Gourry answered; then, he turned towards Xelloss, "What about you? Will you stay with us this time?"
"Eh? Oh, no. I'll go to the local temple" the mocking priest answered.
"But sir Xelloss…" Martina encored behind him, "Won't you go with us to a meal, either?"
"I cannot, Martina." Xelloss smiled at her, "My stomach doesn't accept things with vinegar and that's the usual dishes here."
"Not enough Seyruun's ice-creams, huh?" Lina said in mocking tone.
Zelgadiss looked at the priest by the corner of his chimerical eyes; he often wondered what kind of priest rank he had because every time they arrived to a city, Xelloss just disappeared, explaining he went to sleep at the local temple. Zelgadiss was grateful with that because he just hardly could stand the mocking priest so close to him, and since Xelloss had joined the group, he never stayed with them at night sharing a room with Gourry and Zelgadiss himself.
Martina, however, was upset. "Tonight, too? Why? I was hoping we could arrange a room for only us, dear Xelloss."
"Martina… I've told you many times that you must learn to be patient."
"But I want to sleep with you."
At this point, everybody, but Miwan, was flushing in some degree; Martina and Xelloss were obviously discussing their couple relationship in front of everybody and they didn't seem to care and things were becoming awkward.
"Ok, ok! Let's cut it and move on!" Lina cut it off, "We'll arrange the two rooms. Xelloss can pass the night wherever he wants." And saying this, she headed towards the inn followed closely by Gourry, as usual.
When the blonde swordsman passed next to Zelgadiss, he said in low voice,
"Don't worry. I don't think Xelloss share the room with us, neither have I thought he keeps discussing with Martina about it. He isn't like that."
"Fortunately…" Zelgadiss exclaimed.
The chimera man just didn't figure out what Gourry really meant to say.
As Lina had anticipated, that inn was clean and had normal guests, but the food wasn't anything great, which explained the low cost; therefore they went to meal in some street food stores, where they ate fish and chips, and some vegetables in vinegar served over waxed papers that they ate using their hands only. Everybody but Xelloss, who in spite Martina's annoyance, had left her behind without saying a word and even less, enough money to pay her own meal. Xoana's princess was really infuriated by that. Miwan, however, found very exciting to eat in the middle of the streets with such idleness and using only her hands.
"Woaah! This is amazing! A real freedom!" Miwan exclaimed, leaving her waxed paper over her knees. Then, she turned towards Amelia, "Princess Amelia, don't you think is great to be able to do this kind of things? We, royalties, cannot do things like this."
Amelia seemed a little awkward by Miwan' sudden bubbly of happiness, "Yeah, well… I've done this many times, and it's one of the good things to travel like this."
"Oh! I'm sure that's why you find traveling so exciting!" Miwan smiled to her."We cannot do this kind of things in the palace."
"I like to travel a lot… but I rather like to pass unnoticed. So please, call me only Amelia."
Miwan blinked a couple of times till she realized what Amelia wanted to say. Then, she smiled her back with what seemed her usual charming self.
"Ok! I'll address to you as 'only Amelia', deal?"
"Deal."
Zelgadiss watched the scene sitting on the stone bench near the street store as he ate some vinegar gherkins. When she heard Miwan talking like that, he realized how… clueless Miwan was about many things, which included many things like that. It made sense because the Femille's princess had spent all her life in a little kingdom in the middle of the mountains, so even commercial towns as regular as that one, were surprising for her. Just being able to take your lunch so casually in the middle of a street. In spite Zelgadiss found Miwan really charming, her clueless was even… annoying.
At least Amelia had known better in their first encounter, and now, even she seemed to be awkward by Miwan's lousy speeches.
But even so, Zelgadiss forced himself to value the moment. When he could lunch like that with a girl like Miwan next to him since he became a chimera? It never had happened.
The room was big, but not as it should be because it kept inside four beds, in fact, the beds themselves were small, at least under Miwan's valued, besides, they lacked of canopy and the only furniture available (plus the beds) were four stools placed next to every bed and four oil lamps hanging from the walls; it was quite poor but Lina and Amelia seemed okay with it. Miwan come from a royal palace after all, and commoners' possessions weren't anything like hers back to Femille's royal palace, even if her kingdom was quite small. Even so, Miwan was surprised at how easily Amelia accepted the lack of commodities; Martina, however, seemed to be awkward about those things, although she accepted them as they come.
Lina had tromped in the room first, as usual, casting a "Lighting" spell to illuminate the room and finally, she choose the bed nearest to the window at the left wall; Martina did the same but in the opposite wall; Miwan just choice the one next to Martina's; and Amelia got the last one. The result was some bizarre "princess-with-princess" distribution, although Amelia always was the last in choosing, Miwan noticed. The Seyruun's princess was polite all the time and Lina always demanded things.
The redhead just left her things drop over the bed she had choose, scattering all them around her place, which was the usual in her. Amelia, however, pulled off her cloak, belt and boots and left them perfectly pledge over the stool next to her bed, and then she started to put on her nightdress, ready to spend the night. Martina, however, had left her things unstably over her own stool, and then she scolded to Lina.
"Oh, my… Why do you always leave all your things around like that, Lina?" She complained. "Tomorrow you'll make a scene because you cannot find your things, and you'll order us to look for them! I am tired of that!"
"Martina, I do things as I want… And you cannot give me lectures because you aren't my mom."
Amelia listened them with a déjà-vu feeling. She also had suffered because of Lina's rude manners when they shared a room; however, now it was Martina who complained and Amelia just let it go.
"…If my dear Xelloss would want to share the same room with me, then this wouldn't happen!" the curly haired princess with a dreamy look in her sparkling eyes.
"The heck, Martina!" Lina spat back, "Xelloss won't enter in this room just because you want him to sleep with you!" Even the redhead's checks were lightly red.
"Of course not! I meant a room for us both, only!" Martina rushed to clarify, being offended by Lina's comment.
Then, Miwan' soft voice just got all their attention.
"Eeer… Why do you want to share your room with the priest Xelloss, Princess Martina? Is that a custom here, too?"
Everybody shut up and looked at Miwan with a confuse look. The curly haired princess just blinked a couple of times, and then she started to giggle.
"I don't want to share my room with him, only. I also want to share my bed with him!" at this point, Martina closed her eyes and kept giggling in flirty tone with her fist clenched under her chin.
Amelia and Lina blushed; none of them dared to think in such possibility. Miwan, however, didn't get the sense.
"But… why? I just don't find why is so nice to be around men… all day."
Now, Martina was truly surprised, "And why not? All women want to spend their lives with a man… That's why you're with Zelgadiss, aren't you?"
Amelia jumped in her place and she felt again the pain inside her chest; Martina had said that with such naturally that it seemed to be the truth and she couldn't stop to turn her head towards Miwan, waiting to see her reaction.
"With… Zelgadiss?" she mused with a puzzle expression on her golden eyes. "He's the one that remains with me all the time, but sometimes it's too much." At this point, Miwan noticed the inquiring looks that everybody had on her, so she tried to explain herself. "Don't take me wrong. Zelgadiss is a wonderful person; he has changed my life, he's the reason I'm traveling with all you now. And he also is teaching me many things I didn't even know that existed." Miwan made a pause, "But being all day with a man is weird for me."
Lina began to laugh, "Zel is nice, she says… Certainly, Miwan you haven't realized how is Zel really!"
Miwan ignored Lina's comment; she had learned that Lina liked to tease and catching attention, so she just hadn't reasons to listen to her opinions as the only truth.
"That is…" Martina began, "Why do you say that being with men is weird?" An odd idea just had formed inside Martina's mind.
"I've been raised in an only-women kingdom, you know." Miwan answered, still absent of Martina's thoughts or even the possible implications of her words. "He's very nice with me… in fact, all them seem to be with all you. But I just am not used to be so closer of a man, although he seems to be very fond of me, but I guess perhaps it's the usual."
There was an utter silence; even Lina's laughs were silenced. Clearly Miwan didn't understand why Zelgadiss spent all the time with her. Amelia just felt confused, but also relieved; Miwan was right, she had been raised in a kingdom forbidden for men, where they were executed if they surpassed the frontiers. Probably Miwan had been raised in the belief of not accepting men, except perhaps, just for giving born to the next Femille's queen; so probably she just felt uneasy around Zelgadiss and the rest of the men in the group.
Amelia felt a hint of relief; she had thought that Miwan also liked Zelgadiss, but now it could be different.
"Then… why are you with Mr. Zelgadiss?" Amelia asked attempt.
Miwan blinked, "Being with him? ...He's my friend and the person that has made possible the change in my life. But I rather like to be with women more often." Her face turned a little pensive, "Perhaps I should tell him that, but I just… well--- I just don't know what to do because sometimes I feel awkward next to him."
"Oh, my! Oh, my!" Martina exclaimed, "Then, our chimera boy is in love with you but you aren't in love with him."
"In love what? I thought it was the norm…" Miwan answered even more confused. "I've seen Gourry is with Lina, Xelloss is with Princess Martina… and Zelgadiss is with me. Princess Amelia has nobody because we're four women and three men."
Putting aside the fact that Lina was red as a tomato right then and Martina was in joy because the mention of her relationship with Xelloss, Miwan's plain explication was just too simple. Certainly she just didn't know why Zelgadiss wanted to be with her, and had assumed that Amelia was alone because there weren't more men in the group.
But there was something else: even if Miwan had a high concept about Zelgadiss, she just didn't feel easy around him. Amelia surprised him thinking that it made sense because the chimera man was everything but nastiness at the first sigh, but later she –and she guessed more people- learned better around him. Perhaps Miwan just didn't like Zelgadiss because the same reasons that everybody had at first, even if he showed her his best side.
Therefore, it was a matter of time before Miwan changed her opinion, even if she wasn't easy around men… yet.
It was kind of ironic that the woman that Zelgadiss had choice to fall for was, in fact, so clueless about men. Perhaps that was part of the reason the chimera man had chosen her (besides the obvious physical attraction); Miwan just couldn't judge him in the same way as the rest.
"Man, that's nuts" Lina said under her breath, covering her eyes with the hand.
"I cannot believe it…" Martina mused, "She just doesn't understand why Zelgadiss is with her." Xoana's princess was just too lousy for not keeping her mouth shut.
Miwan was absent, of course. For her, the customs outside her kingdom were something alien to her, so she just didn't catch why all those young women were so surprised by her opinion; obviously they had assumed something different. The princess remained in silence for a moment, immerse in her thoughts, till finally she looked at them and spoke again.
"I… I don't want to do the same as Princess Martina is with the priest Xelloss." Miwan said just for making it clear, "To tell the truth, even if Zelgadiss had a high concept of me, I find that... that I don't know many things about him. I don't understand why he covers himself with that hood when we're around more people, for example."
"Didn't he explain you why he's a chimera?" Amelia asked her with a mix of curiosity and hope.
Miwan nodded, "My mother explained to me that some kingdoms and powerful characters have armies of enchanted men called chimeras. And he told me he was enchanted by a famous sorcerer and he wants to be a normal man again. But that's all what he told me." She looked at Amelia with questioning eyes, "Why? Do you know anything else?"
"Eeeer… Well, that's what we know, too." Amelia answered.
"To be honest, even if he's all kindness with me… I find he doesn't talk about himself, even if he talks a lot with me."
Amelia was just amazed. In the same spam of time that followed their first meeting, Amelia had found more things about Zelgadiss than what Miwan seemed to know. The Seyruun's princess knew many things about the chimera man: how he had be turned into a chimera, what his hopes and his wishes were, his magic skills, what he liked to eat or to drink, and basically many little things about him. But Miwan only knew what she had seen since she started to travel with them. Certainly Zelgadiss hadn't told her many details about his persona to her.
The Seyruun's princess felt somehow, relieved, but also disappointed. Certainly Zelgadiss didn't trust too much in Miwan if he just didn't have her in enough confidence to be sincere with her. Still, if it was like that, why did Zelgadiss want to be with a girl whom he didn't trust enough?
Amelia felt disappointed and even betrayed and for a moment, she wished to be in a room alone, just for crying in peace; not being able to do something else, she just said.
"Lina… I'm going to open the window a little. I think this room needs some air fresh."
"Hm, ok!"
And saying that, she cracked the shutter and her head popped out, feeling the night air on her hot eyes.
Martina watched her with some sad expression on her face as Lina just throw her front band on the stool and looked for her hairbrush.
Once Zelgadiss had casted the "Lighting" spell to illuminate their room, Gourry just dropped his shoulder pads on the ground and kicked them under his bed; later, he did the same with the rest of his armor and left his sword in the room's corner, next to the window. Perhaps the blonde swordsman wasn't as disorganized as Lina was, but certainly he didn't pay too much attention to his things.
Zelgadiss knew that and, over the time, he had become use to Gourry's careless manners, even being both swordsmen, Zelgadiss rather liked with his own blade next to the head bed, always ready for any danger, but not Gourry, who just left his amazing weapon somewhere around, kicked his armor, put some pajamas on and finally, ended up landing on the bed for falling asleep without any concern. From Zelgadiss' point of view, Gourry's negligent behavior was something totally unusual in a mercenary, but the chimera had learned long ago that the blond guy had a very high confidence in his own skills, even if he wasn't aware of those.
Therefore, he just let it go, as usual, and proceeded to untied his cloak after leaving his sword in the usual place; he was about to throw his cape over the bed when Gourry interrupted him.
"Hey, Zelgadiss!" the blonde exclaimed.
"Hmmm?"
"You already heard Lina. Tomorrow she wants to go to the local stores in order to make some money" Gourry started to explain, "Are you planning go with her or something, too?"
The chimera man turned towards Gourry and looked at him a little surprised.
"Go to shopping with Lina?" he exclaimed, sounding half amazed, half puzzled by Gourry' suggestion.
"Well, she wants to trade some magical objects, you know." Gourry explained waving a hand. "I don't understand about those things, but I had thought perhaps you also were interested in that stuff."
Zelgadiss had to admit Gourry was right. When he traveled alone, sometimes making business with magical objects provided him some good money. But he also knew too well how good Lina money making was, thus his presence wasn't needed.
"No. I don't think I'm going to make business with Lina. She's just good enough at that."
"I didn't plan to do it, either." Gourry answered, "Lina doesn't want me to go with her to magical shops because she says I'm too curious and I start to play idly with those expensive objects… and she just doesn't want to pay for them again. So I rather let her go alone in those places."
Zelgadiss almost clutched at Gourry's words. It was a funny picture to see Lina being angry because she had to pay her bodyguard's havocs. In fact, it was a nice change.
"Well, then what you wanted to do?" The chimera asked, knowing that probably Gourry had a plan.
"I was thinking in some light training with swords" Gourry smiled, "You know, we have to keep ourselves in shape, and it had been a while since we trained last time."
"Hmmm, that's truth. But I hadn't thought of sword straining. I doubt this city's laws allow it, and I don't want to get into trouble."
Gourry scratched his head, "Well, that's true. They could think we're fighting in a duel or something… Perhaps we should train outside the city's walls." Then, he turned towards Zelgadiss, "Or were you planning to train in magic with Amelia?"
"Magic training with…Amelia?" Zelgadiss asked, surprised.
Gourry nodded. "You both have been training together a lot lately. I've seen she's teaching priests' magic… Well, you know, I mean that kind of magic that priests use to heal people and repairing things."
The easy terms that Gourry used to definite things he didn't know were almost funny to Zelgadiss' eyes. However, he was right; since they met again on Xoana almost six months ago, the chimera man had learned a lot about White Magic. The Rezo's berserker had been always totally clueless about White Magic, in part because Rezo himself never wanted to teach those things to his pawn, just in order to keep him in line; in part because he never could convince anybody to teach such things gratis. Meeting Amelia had been a nice coincidence, because when he tried to ask her for learning "Recovery" (the most extended White Magic spell, even among not magic practices), she was willing to do it and she taught him the spell in record time. And not only that, Amelia also proved to be a good teacher and had started to teach thing more White Magic spells, such as "Sleeping", or even "Megiddo Flare", the powerful spell he had used to save Miwan. It was surprising he could have learned such magic spells from her.
Thinking on that, a light smile grown on the corner of his stone lips; but the fact was different.
"No. I hadn't thought in training more magic with Amelia. She hasn't suggested me that, either. I guess tomorrow, she will go with Lina."
"I dunno" Gourry answered. "Then, shall we stay in the tavern tomorrow?"
"I don't think so. Perhaps I'll go with Miwan to visit the city. Surely she's interested in visiting it."
The surprise face that merged on Gourry's face was very obvious.
"Visiting the city with Miwan?" he exclaimed.
Zelgadiss nodded, "She never has been outside of her country, and I don't think she can be alone in a city like this. I have to keep an eye on her."
Gourry blinked; for him, Zelgadiss' behavior was totally unusual.
"Whoa, Zel!" the blonde swordsman exclaimed, "You're very protective towards her!" then, he smiled, "But I don't think she needs help. Lina, Amelia and Martina will be with her, too."
"What? Didn't you just tell me that Lina would go to trade with magical items?"
"Yeah, but the rest of the girls will go too. Martina will do what Xelloss indicates her and surely he will follow Lina, as usual; Amelia… well, since she isn't going to train with you or something, she will go with Lina for sure. And Miwan… I think she would also go. Girls like to be together at times, you know."
Zelgadiss realized that Gourry was pretending to tell him something between lines, something that wasn't related with the fact that Gourry would like to train their swordsmanship together, or just spend the day jacking in the tavern. The Elmekian blonde guy wasn't as subtle as that, so he obviously wanted to point something else that he didn't dare to say openly.
"Are you saying… that Miwan wants to spend the day with the girls instead with me?" The chimera pointed, his eyes glaring.
Gourry waved his long blonde mane with a hand, in order to fit his pajama on his frame; the swordsman wasn't really proud of his luscious mane, so the gesture seemed to be theatric rather than a real need.
"Yeah, well… You know the girls; they need some space for themselves and you spend all the time with her. Even sometimes I find Amelia doesn't want to talk with you because of it."
"So you think I'm forcing Miwan to spend time with me?" Zelgadiss asked, his voice also tense, "And what the heck is this of Amelia refusing to talk with me?"
Gourry looked at the chimera man, his face serious yet peaceful.
"Before Miwan come with us, Amelia talked a lot with you… but now, she seems to have posted some space between you both. I find it strange that she didn't come to you for magic training and she walks alone half of the way when we're traveling."
"That's Amelia's problem. If she doesn't want to train magic anymore with me or just talk to me, it's her problem. I didn't force her to do it."
"And Miwan? I find you also…"
"I'm forcing her to stay with me all the time? Is that what you mean?" Zelgadiss was becoming angry.
"Yup! Since you met her, you spend all of your time with her… It's obvious you like her a lot." Gourry answered sounding casual. "However, you also have to think that Amelia isn't taking it easily and she's being quite upset these days. And since Miwan has spent all her life around women, she just needs to be with the girls more often. I find she doesn't feel easy around us as much."
After hearing that, the chimera's man face crossed different emotional states: first surprise, later indignation, and finally, angriness. The implication of Gourry's words was very clear: the blonde swordsman was saying that his interest in Miwan was so compulsive that he was becoming annoying for Amelia, and creepy for Miwan herself.
Zelgadiss greet his fans and his eyes turned into something more demonic; it was the usual look he had when the chimera man become furious, and usually it was enough to make people to think better about pissing him off. But Gourry knew Zelgadiss wouldn't cause him real damage.
"Listen, Gourry!" the chimera man began to say, his voice tilted of angriness. "This is the very first time a woman dares to be honest with me, not judging me, not depicting me… and not fearing me since I became a chimera. And this is the first time I have the chance to get closer to a woman I really like because I have a hidden purpose or just because I had been ordered to kill her!"
Gourry looked at Zelgadiss with sadness; he knew how many horrible things the chimera man had been forced to do, and now the result was obvious. However, the blonde swordsman knew the chimera was just wrong in his judgment, even if Zelgadiss had reasons to talk like that.
"Let me be happy with somebody that's what I always wanted!" Zelgadiss finished with a bark.
Gourry sighed, the sadness still on his blue eyes. "Ok, Zel. Go on… But I still thinking you're wrong. Perhaps you need some time to realize that."
"Cht! You aren't able to understand it!"
Zelgadiss step back, waved his cloak over his shoulders again, and headed towards the window, and then he opened the shutter and turned back towards Gourry before casting "Levitation" in order to fly out.
"I am tired of Lina's constants comments. And I don't want to be told by somebody that isn't able to solve his own love problems." Zelgadiss said with poisoned voice, "Go to sleep by yourself. I'm going out."
"Okay. Good night, Zelgadiss." Gourry said with a sigh; he knew arguing further more with the chimera man was pointless.
But Zelgadiss didn't answer; he just climbed the window's frame and flew away. Gourry didn't close the window because he hoped Zelgadiss would come back at the room when he calmed down enough.
The chimera man was always that zealous and Gourry always had been very patient. He was with Lina, after all.
---Too bad he left the "Lighting" spell active inside the room.
At the roofs level, things were different. Zelgadiss could watch the town under different perspective; certainly many roofs and buildings were being repaired, getting ready for the next cold winter, and certainly thanks to his chimerical eyes, he could catch glimpse of things that used to pass unnoticed to common people, such like cats running around the tiles, the silent fly of the barn owls over the towers and the streets, the local sorceries leaving "Lighting" spells on the main streets as night illumination, even two men sneaking on the dormer window of certain closer building with obvious intentions.
Then, he saw certain familiar figure poking out through the window of another inn's room from a lower story. It was Amelia.
For a brief second, Zelgadiss felt the impulse of saying something to her; he had become used to her bubbly presence around him and it had caused a mark in their relationship. But soon he just smashed the idea; the recent arguing with Gourry about perhaps he was being mean to her because his new relationship with Miwan. He was out there because he seek for peace, so he just wasn't going to have a light chat with Amelia after a fight.
Besides, Amelia was totally oblivious about his presence, and even in a certain way, moody.
His chimerical eyes caught the unusual shine of her eyes; at first, he thought it was because she had seen the two thieves on the near roof sneaking in that house, so probably she was becoming infuriated by that, although Zelgadiss didn't know how much Amelia was willed to make heroic deeds at midnight when everybody was asleep. Eventually she just didn't do anything, just stayed there, her eyes still shining. Somehow, she seemed to be really upset.
But, why? Perhaps Lina had hit her or something.
In that moment, his sharp ears caught how Lina said something to her and Amelia just disappeared from the window, closing the shutter after her.
Amelia didn't come back.
On the next morning, Lina's yells about where the heck were her things echoed all throughout the corridor where the girls' room was placed; as Martina had predicted, the redhead just couldn't find her things and now she was ordering to the other girls to look for them. Martina was angry, of course, and Amelia also pointed to her what was obvious, yet she also searched for Lina's things. Miwan also helped, but she found amazing that dark sorceress could order three princesses to look for her things. Certainly it wasn't the kind of things that she was used to.
After that, the girls group went to meet the boys at the inn's hall, where other costumers, mostly merchants and traders, also were gathering to start their business days. Lina never had really been an early-riser, so the other girls had to wait for her, and later seeking for their things; as a result, Gourry was already waiting for them in the hall.
"Hiya, Gourry!" Lina granted him waving a hand. "Ready for a breakfast match?"
"Good morning, Mr. Gourry." Amelia added, and then, she looked around, "Where is Mr. Zelgadiss? I cannot see him."
"Hi all you, girls!" The blonde swordsman answered, "I dunno. When I woke, he wasn't in the room… I guess he went out early."
"I see. It's the usual 'Zelgish' things he does." Lina said in unworried tone.
Amelia, however, felt a little worried, as what normally happened when the chimera man wasn't around. Of course, she knew he could take care of himself, but the fact of him abandoning the group made her to be upset, even if she was already upset by his choices.
"Oh, here he comes!" Miwan exclaimed, pointing at the main gate.
The fact was on the previous night, Gourry had slept with the window open, waiting for his return, which caused him to use a blanket in the middle of the hot summer. But the chimera man didn't come to sleep, or at least, Gourry didn't see his bed unwrapped and the "Lighting" spell was nulled in the early morning, he figured out that the chimera man had avoided him as much as possible. The blonde swordsman just sighed; he couldn't push the issue any further.
Zelgadiss was as usual; his face serious and his lack of sleep wasn't anything obvious because his chimerical condition allowed him to stay awake for longer than an average human, so he lacked black bags under his eyes. Besides that, Gourry didn't say a word about their argument the previous night.
"Hi, Zel!" Lina waved at him, "Did you have breakfast already?"
"I just took something, yes." He answered in cold tone, without greeting anybody.
"Good morning, Mr. Zelgadiss." Amelia said to him, her voice trying to sound chirping, "Where have you been?"
Zelgadiss turned towards Amelia, remembering what Gourry had told him the previous night to him about Amelia putting distance between them because of Miwan and how upset she seemed to be when he saw her on the previous night. However, he found Amelia's question and behavior fit the normal her.
"I've been checking clues about my cure, but this city isn't very interested in magic. It only has the typical magic stores and the Cephied's temple, so I haven't found any clues."
Ok, such answer also fit the usual in Zelgadiss.
"Typical magic stores?" Lina buffed, "I was expecting to make some good money."
"I'm sure you can do that, Lina." Zelgadiss answered, his voice sounding a little mocking.
"Of course I can! It's one of the many skills that the fabulous Lina Inverse has."
"Then, you won't come with us, Mr. Zelgadiss?" Amelia asked, figuring out that Zelgadiss didn't plan to go to those stores.
"I can wait you till you take your breakfast, but I won't go to the stores. That's Lina's business."
"Hmm, as usual" Martina complained, "That rude redhead sorceress only cares about money."
"Then, perhaps we could…" Amelia started to say, but Zelgadiss cut her off before she could keep talking.
"What do you plan to do, Miwan?"
"Me? Oh! I wanted to go with the sorceress Lina to those shops." Miwan answered, glancing briefly to Amelia. "It sounds interesting and I want to learn more about those things."
Amelia blinked and later, she sighed. Zelgadiss didn't even give her the chance to talk; he just rushed to ask Miwan what she wanted to do. Again, it was obvious that in one or other way, the chimera man had replaced her by the other princess in the scheme of their relationship. Amelia felt infuriated and despised, she wished to yell at him some speeches about such injustice, or perhaps even punching him… something she had never done previously; but she quickly rejected the thought. Amelia just couldn't order him to stay at her side or just be worried about her.
Zelgadiss, on the other hand, sighed. He had hoped Miwan would want to visit the city with him, and basically, staying with him; but in the end, Gourry was right. The Femille's princess wanted to do so-called interesting things going with Lina to trade magical items.
"Since nobody asks me…" Martina began to say, "I'll go where my dear Xelloss asks me as soon as he comes here to meet me."
"We know that already, Martina." Lina answered.
"Well, in any case, I think we all can go together to trade magical items" Amelia concluded, assuming that Zelgadiss wasn't about to take another magical lesson from her. Then, she turned towards Lina, "Perhaps you should allow Gourry to come with us, Lina. It isn't that bad."
For Amelia, seeing that Lina and Gourry spent time together, was something that made her happy in spite of the odds. Besides, it was an injustice that Gourry stayed along in the inn, waiting for them.
"Hmmm… Okaaaaay" Lina answered, sounding tired, "But you say so because you haven't to pay for his havocs." Amelia smiled at her, and Lina added waving her hands: "In the end, this has turned into a tourist visit."
--In the end, that day the group spent all the day together.
Amelia knew the reasons because she was angry, or rather, annoyed. Basically it was because she felt rejected; she felt that even if Zelgadiss hadn't done anything bad to her, he was openly ignoring her in favor of Miwan, and as a result, the silent support she had become use to have at her side, just had disappeared. And not only that; Amelia had been learning a lot of Astral Magic thanks to the chimera man, who explained many things about the matter in the same way that she did about White Magic; in fact, the Seyruun's Princess had started to making up a new combat spell based on Zelgadiss' "Astral Vine" one… but now, she almost gave it up because she just didn't find the chance to learn more about it through Zelgadiss, and Lina –of course- wasn't the best person to ask for magic lessons. And along with that reason, there were many others, such like his company on their long travels, the way they fight together, sharing their meals, and other many little tips.
Amelia was angry basically because of that…
But it was not only that.
The Seyruun's princess felt an odd pain inside her throat every time she saw how Zelgadiss talked with Miwan, or just wanted to spend time with her. It was an odd pain, a mix of sadness with rejection and angriness; something that she barely remembered to have felt some time in the past. Why she was so angry? ...No, it wasn't angry feelings, it was something different.
Amelia realized that after watching Zelgadiss with Miwan together all the day in that merchant's town. She was jealous.
The thought made Amelia to be surprised at herself.
Jealous? Her? How could she be?
Amelia never had wished to control other people, to take over power or just their life's happiness… Well, she always wanted to travel around the world, just like her father had done for years before she was born. In fact, her parents met in one of those travels, and sometimes Amelia had thought perhaps she could find her future love-interest in one of those rather than among other noblemen or royalties.
But one thing was to wish for something, and it's different to hate somebody because you feel that person is taking away something that you believe belongs to you.
And Amelia didn't hate Miwan, she just couldn't hate her. Miwan herself hadn't done anything bad to them, she even had been helpful. Amelia just couldn't hate that girl just because the chimera man preferred Miwan over her. What she hated was Zelgadiss' attitude, who overviewed everything she said or thought, or even asked, just because he wanted to stay with Miwan.
The irony of this was Zelgadiss didn't really trust the Femille's princess, which was obvious after Miwan admitted she didn't know a great deal of him.
Amelia clutched her fist.
How …how could he be so terribly selfish? And how could be he so mean to her? Back at their first meeting, Amelia had thought he was creepy, mean, shellfish and even cruel; she just dislike him. But slowly, she had become fond of him. She had seen things in him that made her to change her mind. Perhaps he wasn't that "Evil Swordsman" that peasants called him, or "Rezo's berserker" as his former fellows also called him. Amelia had started to think that she was discovering the real person that lay under that living armor that was his body.
He was mean and selfish. He just wanted to be with Miwan because the girl was a cutie; he just had an obvious physical attraction to her.
No …it wasn't only that.
Every time that Amelia looked at him, how happy he seemed to be next to Miwan, how often he smiled, she realized that her thoughts were just wrong. She was just disappointed because he had chosen Miwan over her. And she was jealous of that because, somehow, sometime, Amelia had decided to develop feelings for him. Her heart had decided that, and now, she was paying the disillusionment of her wrong choice.
Miwan should have something that she hadn't, something she just couldn't understand, and Zelgadiss had seen that in the Femille's princess. Hers was just a simple one-side love that she just had realized that she felt.
And Amelia couldn't be so selfish to order him to love her in return. If she truly was her best friend, she had to wish him for the best. In spite it was going to be really painful for her.
More friends and a new love interest will come to her in the future, right? And for the next time, she just will know better.
Once the group had abandoned the merchants' town; the group just kept travelling towards the north. All together, just like the time they left Femille.
Xelloss had convinced Lina to head towards a certain city called Rikkido, and even if Zelgadiss hated that mocking priest, he had to admit the guy knew "something" because he always headed them off towards certain places and helped them in some twisted way. Xelloss was useful and, as just Lina had pointed when Miwan joined the group, it was a good reason to allow him to be around them, in spite that he disliked Xelloss.
But he also had good reasons to be there. Miwan's presence next to him was refreshing and had made his travels less lonely. That shy girl was everything he always liked in a woman: she was charming, natural, honest, and sweet, and also had a very nice curved body shape; and overall, she accepted him without questioning him. Lina and Amelia also were nice to him, he had to admit, but Zelgadiss found Lina's bossy manners were really annoying, and he just didn't like to spend his life traveling around the world just because she wanted to stuff her stomach with so-called yummy food as Lina wanted. And Amelia…
Amelia was walking alone again. Perhaps Gourry was right and she was putting distance between them. Somehow, she was rejecting him, too, which was something surprising to him because the chimera man always had thought Amelia seemed to love everybody without questioning. Perhaps she was angry with him for some reason, or perhaps she just didn't want to interfere between Miwan and him…. And knowing Amelia, if she was truly angry with him, she would have given him a long Justice Speech as lecture, but she hadn't done it. Thus the only explication was she just wanted to let him go with Miwan. Lina had been teasing him about the matter, but Amelia never did (she wasn't like that after all), but surely she also knew he liked Miwan and had allowed him to go ahead with it. Amelia was generous and she would do that.
However, the chimera man found perhaps he should do something about his wished relationship with Miwan. Perhaps Gourry also was right when he told him that he was pressing her to stay with him… But Zelgadiss had always been a passionate man, and right now, the only thing he wanted was to demonstrate Miwan how much interested he was in her.
With that scenario, the group arrived to a certain forest of beech trees, mixed with elder bushes and ash trees, where they decided to cover themselves in order to spend the night. Sometimes they used abandoned shepherds cabins in the grasslands or forests lines, but in that direction, they didn't found any at the evening, so they had to sleep out in the open.
The group organized the tasks in the usual routine in those cases; gathering firewood and stones for making a fire, putting the camp tents around the fire and grilled some meat and vegetables for their supper, and finally, collecting some forest fruit to eat with that if a such thing was possible. Closer springs and streams provided the group with enough water, although that night Gourry had a craving for bear's meat.
Since the group's number had grown up a lot in the later weeks, they had bought a new tent in the merchants' town with the money that Lina had managed to get. Basically, now they had three tents: one for the guys, another for Lina and Amelia, and finally another for Martina and Miwan. Xelloss, however, also disappeared in the night and come back on the next morning, although sometimes they knew he spent the night in front of the fire or watching them from a high branch tree, although they weren't sure if he truly could slept like that.
…Perhaps he just wanted to avoid Martina's furious demands to sleep with her.
Watching them, Zelgadiss had concluded he just couldn't act that ridiculous with Miwan. As he had decided, perhaps he should be clear with her once and for all… but privately, without making scenes in front of everybody.
So once he finished taking his random supper, he just asked Miwan to accompany him to talk.
The fire cracked in front of her eyes, providing her face of the needed heat to spend the night. Her eyes, usually bright and blue, were now darkened and unusually hot because of the tears cornered in them. Amelia was trying her best not to cry, even if her thoughts were totally gloomy.
It was clear. He had made his choice and she couldn't do anything against it. Amelia just couldn't order, force a person to do something against his will when it was his personal life; sure, she gave orders back in Seyruun… But doing it because she had a rank was different from doing it because she just wasn't happy with her friends' decisions. Perhaps in other royal courts, the nobility could arrange marriages and courting somebody under the pressure of the obedience; perhaps those fake couples were only because one of the parts pay homage to their king. But not in Seyruun and not her. Amelia had been born because of the love of her father for a commoner woman, not a noble; she just wasn't going to do something against the belief of every person having the right to choose the person who they want to spend their life together.
On the other hand, Amelia was his friend. It would be very selfish to command him to love her after she realized her own feelings. It was just capricious. Mentally, Amelia kicked her own heart for not warning her about the obvious till it was too late, yet it didn't matter now. She knew how important it was for Zelgadiss being loved in some degree; his friends could be counted with the hands' fingers, and right now, two of them were already dead. If Miwan was able to see themselves as a reliable couple, thus loving him, she just hadn't the right to spoil it.
Being Amelia closest friend, the best option was giving him her benediction, as a friend and as priestess.
The dark haired princess had made up her mind. Her face turned serious and she rose on her knees, shook the sand off her white baggy trousers and asked,
"Lina, do you have any idea where Zelgadiss went?"
The redhead sorceress had her mouth stuffed with a baked sweet potato, something she loved to eat. Besides that, she was poking Gourry's eye with a finger because the blond swordsman had the bad idea of stealing one of her sweet potatoes. Fortunately for him, Lina's attention switched to Amelia when she asked for the chimera.
"I *fink* he's *witf* Miwan *behinf theref*" Lina explained splitting lumps of food from her mouth and making a gesture with her chin.
"Thanks, Lina" Amelia always was polite, after all. Then she turned over her heels and headed towards the elder bushes that Lina had pointed; the redhead just gulped hardly all the cooked potato that stuffed her mouth and added,
"But perhaps he doesn't want to be disturbed, you know. Zel has a sour humor and now he has reasons for not being disturbed" Then, she began to giggle in mocking tone.
Amelia stopped her path and her head dropped, "I know… But I must talk with him."
Once Amelia had disappeared quietly between the bushes, Lina turned towards Gourry in order to keep arguing with him about baked sweet potatoes; however, the redhead sorceress just found a very serious face with sharp blue eyes looking awkwardly to her.
"…What?" she asked, confused.
"Stop that already, Lina" Gourry told her, "Amelia is having a hard time and the last thing she needs is being teased."
"I just…"
"I know what you mean to say, Lina. But poking your noise in other people's affairs isn't good. So stop teasing Zel and Amelia."
"Okay, Okay… Man! You know how to spoil a girls' fun!"
"Let's hope they know what to do, too."
Sometimes, Lina marveled at the clarity of thoughts that Gourry had. That and his sharp intuition was something that she never understood how well it works.
Zelgadiss inclined himself towards Miwan; after the chat they had, he had told her how important it was what he wanted to tell her. Even so, it was a shy moved, yet decided; he had waited too long for this moment, and now it was the perfect chance to do it. Why not now? It had been his wish since he realized how much he liked Miwan; she was the perfect girl that the chimera always wanted to fall for, he had repeated to himself constantly. Miwan, however, seemed to be very unsure about what to do or to say, mostly when she noticed that the chimera man was raising a hand, as he was trying to catch her by her nap or something. What was that important thing he was going to tell her?
But the hand stopped in midair. Zelgadiss sharp ears caught a sound and he turned his chimerical eyed towards the intromission source. Even under those circumstances, he always was on guard.
It was Amelia. The short haired princess merged from the elder bushes; her white clothes made her shape very obvious in the night, in spite of her dark hair.
"Amelia!?" Zelgadiss exclaimed, truly surprised by her sudden appearance. The princess also caught a hint of anger in his voice. "What are you…?"
Miwan looked at her, too. She also was surprised, but in a certain sense, grateful with her sudden appearance.
"I… I came here to talk with you, Mr. Zelgadiss" The Seyruun's princess started to say.
"Talk …with me?" The chimera sounded puzzled, although his usual sharp tone remained.
"Yes. I have something to tell you. I think it's the time." Amelia had promised herself to be firm, not being weak, and also being mature enough to deal with her own feelings of rejection and frustration. She fought the urge to sob, and kept talking. "Later weeks… I've learned something about myself that I haven't realized previously. I had thought on it previously, but I always found it wasn't serious… It just couldn't be."
Zelgadiss looked at her with his sharp eyes. Perhaps a normal person couldn't catch the details in the night; he could see Amelia's watery eyes and how she tried to keep her composure, in spite of the firm sound of her voice. It surprised him because he knew Amelia was fighting the urge to cry. And he also knew Amelia didn't cry cheaply. What was all that speech for, then?
"However, it's already too late. You made your choice and I--- I'm not included." Amelia breathed heavily, trying to fill her lungs with the fresh night air. "I can't order you to that, and since I'm your friend, I wish you the best." At this point, her tears began to flow by her cheeks. "I wish you the best with Mss. Miwan, Mr. Zelgadiss…. I know how much you deserve somebody who can love you, finally."
Saying this, she wiped off her eyes and noise, "That's all what I wanted to tell you. My apologizes if I've interrupted you."
The Seyruun's princess curtsy her knees, just like she had been taught to do in the royal court, and turned over her turquoise boots to leave quietly.
Zelgadiss gapped, being unable to say something worthy. He knew what Amelia meant to say wishing him the best, but he just didn't know what to do… what to think about it.
Amelia' sudden confession had made him to lose all his wishes of trying to kiss Miwan.
*To be continued in the next chapter: "The Choice".