Luna, on the other hand, seemed to be quite the morning person. She was the first one up, and making breakfast, a job she had done for the family ever since since she was old enough to do so. She enjoyed it, she had a very strong domestic streak. "Well, what have we gotten ourselves into?" she asked Lina, setting a cup of something strong, black, and bitter in front of her still sleepy sibling, then the rest of her family and their guests.
Lina groggily put her spoon in the middle of the cup, and when if fell to the side she said "It's not strong enough..."
"you always joke like that about my tea, Lina." said Luna. She looked thoughtful for a second then added "Have I ever told you I appreciate it?"
"No..." said Lina, clearly unsure what to make of Luna's statement.
Ayn entered from outside, bearing an enormous pile of firewood. "Oh. Let me help you." said Gourry, going to take some of the wood.
"Thanks, but I've got it." Ayn replied, taking the weight, impossibly, on one arm while she closed the door behind her before going to the wood box to dump her load off. Gourry could only stare at her, puzzled.
"What kind of morning is it?" asked Luna.
"Good. Flying weather even." said Ayn.
"Nah, I think we should walk at least one day." Luna replied, then added "Right, Lina?" Lina shrugged, still not fully awake.
A couple of minutes later that all changed. Luna brought the food to the table.
Finally, the meal came to an end. The sun had now fully risen and there were people bustling in the streets. It was high time to set off. Packed bags were slung onto backs, swords were sheathed, boots and cloaks donned, and final bits of advice were given. Then came the tender endearments as their mother hugged them.
"Don't be silly, my babies, together you are invincible, but you tend to be each other's worse enemy when you get going. For the life of me I can't figure out what the problem is, except that in so many ways you are so much alike. Indeed, Lina, when you were born you were so much like your big sister I couldn't help myself, it was almost as if you were a twin who forgot to show up the first time round, so I named you Lina because it was as close as I could get to Luna." She sighed. "If I upset either of you by doing that I am sorry." She gave them a rare sad look. "Luna, learn from this trip, okay? Your baby sister does just fine without being bullied. And Lina, learn from this trip as well. Your big sister really is a wonderful person, it's just that irresponsibility sets her off so. I know that sounds strange as she often acts that way herself in fun, but when it's serious..." The two girls gulped and promised to try their best.
"That's just what I'm afraid of..." said their mother. She then hugged Ayn. "You will have to be the mature one I think, Ayn. Keep my girls in line, okay?" she asked.
Ayn smiled warmly and hugged the older woman back. "Of course I will." she said softly. Then she turned with an evil smirk and gave a wicked laugh as she looked at the two sisters. "Hehe, hehe, hehe, you heard her, I have permission!"
"I don't think..." Lina started to say, a sweatdrop on her brow. "Yeah, yeah, well, we'll see..." said Luna, butting in, an even bigger sweatdrop on her brow.
She knew Ayn better...
"If you want to help Lina you'll help Ayn, okay?" said Mom as she hugged Gourry in his turn. "And thank you for making my baby so happy!" she added with her usual beautiful smile.
"Er, yeah, happy to help out..." said Gourry with a perplexed smile on his face.
"Don't worry about it, it's a "mother" thing." added Lina's dad with a pat on Gourry's shoulder.
"As if you don't think the same thing..." smiled Mom.
Finally Gavos and Jilas, who were going on the journey as well, each got hugged, and with that, the mission to rescue Filia finally got started. They left the house, waved a final goodbye, and turned towards Seirune.
They moved easily through the streets. There were a few stares, there were some called greetings, most to Luna and Ayn, but a few old friends of Lina's called out to her too. In fact a couple of girls even came up and seemed determined to pump Lina for all the information they could get about Gourry. It was hard to know if they were excited, or dissapointed, to learn he was Lina's fiance. "Oh! Lucky!" said one girl, while the other one looked at her own ample bosom, and Lina's rather more compact one, then gave Gourry a very puzzled look. But she wisely kept her mouth shut, Lina did have a reputation that was second only to Luna's...
The gang walked on. Luna and Lina exchanged rememberances as they passed familiar landmarks. The place Luna had cruelly dunked Lina in the horse trough for example. True, she had been demonstrating her new found talent for fireballs to her friends at the time, and threatening to to burn the town down, but still...
Of course, Lina had gotten her revenge, setting off a small explosion in a water fountain one morning as Luna was passing by it on her way to her very first day of work. Lina succeeded in soaking Luna's nice, clean, brand new waitress' uniform. It had taken her several weeks to recover, apparently...
Lina, that is...
In fact, it began to sound like most of the girls life together had been a sort of a merry war of rather violent one-up-man-ship. Gourry began to understand why Lina had freaked out so badly at the letter Luna had sent her on that day they first met, um, what's her name, the blonde chick they were going to rescue from, well, whoever it was she needed rescuing from...
"Ah, what memories youth is made of." said Ayn in her usual sarcastic tone.
"I remember makin' explosions as a lad" said Jilas, wonderingly, "but never so irresponsibly..."
"Oh. Ho, ho, ho, you want irresponsible do you?" said Luna. "Lina. why don't you tell everyone about Greenway point? Or should I say Deadwater Bay?"
"Oh, you just can't let up about that can you?" said a huffy Lina. "I mean, come on, I had to practice the Dragon Slave somewhere, I just never expected my first one to be so powerful." She shot a dark look at Luna then added "Look, how many times do I have to say I'm sorry I blew up that little peninsula and turned it into a bay? I was actually aiming off shore, but my aim was way off because the spell was stronger than I thought. And no, I don't know why fish won't live in that bay to this day..."
"Wasn't it shortly after that they gave you your colour?" asked an oh so innocent Ayn.
"GAH! I don't know which of you two is the worst!" shouted Lina in exasperation.
"Oh, come on, it suits you, you know. It's a lovely colour, and that robe they gave you, you really should wear it more, it's so, so, well, you..." Luna said, giggling unpleasantly.
"Huh?" said Gavos. Gourry just shrugged.
"What, you haven't heard of Lina the..."
"DON'T YOU SAY A WORD!!" shrieked a horrified Lina.
Luna sighed. "Sorry guys, I guess I can't tell you. But let me tell you about a little twelve year old girl who had a wonderful idea one day of how to use her big sister to make some money!" she went on, brightly.
"PINK! IT'S LINA THE PINK. AND IT'S A FRILLY FEMININE GOWN, DRESS, WHATEVER, THAT THEY MADE FOR ME BECAUSE THEY THOUGHT I WAS A CUTE LITTLE GIRL! AND TO MAKE MATTERS WORSE, WHEN I GOT HOME IN IT LUNA HERE ASKED ME IF I WORKED IN A BAR AND SHE DIDN"T MEAN AS A WAITRESS EITHER..." shrieked a suddenly desperate Lina. "Big sister! How could you? You said you had forgiven me and that you weren't ever going to mention that, that, other incident again." cried Lina, tears of genuine pain coming to her eyes as she grabbed Luna's hand. "Please?" she asked imploringly.
Luna looked surprised, then smirked. "Well, but I never actually said anything, now did I? I only dropped a hint.Anyway, maybe we can modify that pink thing for a wedding dress and save mom and dad some money, you think?"
Lina's eyes continued to tear up. "I can afford my own dress, Luna. Don't be so cruel!" she sobbed.
"We seem to be off to a fine start..." said Gourry quietly, as he came over behind Lina and hugged her. "I see why you are so afraid of her." he added.
"Hmph! Don't let her fool you, Gourry, and don't encourage her like that." said a rather annoyed Luna. She seemed on the verge of saying something else, and from the look on her face it was going to be hurtful, but suddenly...
Luna found herself down on one knee, her sword hand twisted behind her. She was very rapidly and very definitely slapping the ground with her other hand to indicate she surrendered as she howled in sudden pain. Behind her, Ayn had suddenly grabbed her hand and pinched on a pressure point on Luna's wrist, with dramatic results. "Enough is enough!" she shouted at Luna. "Didn't you learn from last night? Didn't you hear your mother this morning? You're about to do it again! Now STOP IT!" she commanded.
Luna could only nod through her tears as Ayn let her take her hand back.
Lina looked stunned, blinking in shock through her own tears. No one had ever done that to Luna. No one! Then Ayn rounded on her and stuck her finger in Lina's face. "And you! Stop being such a CRYBABY! It only encourages her. Haven't you figured that out yet? OOOH! You, you're as bad as that blonde twit in that, that, Moon Princess story!" Lina fearfully sunk deeper into Gourry's arms.
Oh GODS! Not that...
"I-I'll try..."she promised, trembling.
"Please don't hurt Lina." said Gourry in a gentle voice that still somehow managed to convey a sense of threat.
Ayn relaxed, and calmed down. "I'm not going to hurt her," she said in a surprisingly gentle voice, "and I didn't mean to frighten her. I just want her to stop backing down when her sister bullies her, it doesn't help."
"That's probably true," said Gourry, tenderly, "but you just don't know how gentle and tender she is inside. I think she's perfect just as she is." Lina hugged him the closest yet.
Ayn sighed. "Well, you look after her, and I'll look after this one." she said, patting Luna, who was still nursing her wrist. Luna responded with a black look, but said nothing.
"Deal!" smiled Gourry.
Ayn turned to Gavos and Jilas. "Sorry, you two, we must be putting on quite the show..." she said.
"Oh well, we won't be bored on this trip, I suppose." smiled Jilas, trying to ease the tension.
There was a general forced laugh and the group pulled itself together again and walked on. Soon they left the gates of the town behind them and were heading south to Seirune.
The day was actually quite pleasant after that. Both sisters, perhaps shocked into good behaviour by Ayn's standing up to Lina and Luna, actually got along pleasantly. Now, intead of horror stories they talked about everything from their favourite dolls as children to telling bits of their own adventures. They even compared notes on various characters they had met in common. Xellos seemed to have a large share of that.
"I never knew Xellos had such an abiding interest in the Inverse family." remarked Lina at one point.
"Well, it isn't every generation where you find the most powerful swordsman, sorry Gourry, and the most powerful sorceress in the same family. Even rarer to have them be each other's sister. That's got to have them worried that there's something special about us. I'll bet Xellos was keeping an eye on you for years before he actually let you make contact with him, all lying tales about the Claire bible to the contrary." replied Luna.
"Eh? He, he, so, you finally admit I'm the best then, do you?" giggled Lina, secretly thrilled that Luna had actually praised her.
Luna smiled back and said "Well, it's either you, or the snake woman..."
Lina shuddered. "Don't remind me..." she said.
"Uh, we're not from around here, who's this snake woman?" asked Jilas innocently.
"OOOOOHHHH! Don't you get me started." said Lina with a nasty, superior edge to her voice.
"Why not? Truth is, we actually do have all day." said Ayn.
"Okay." said Lina, warming up to the task. She then launched into a rather long monologue about her one time partner and self professed rival, one Naga the Serpent. By the time she was done Jilas and Gavos were very scared and hoped fervently to never meet such an atrocious person, Ayn and Luna were laughing nastily at various parts of Lina's descriptions of the woman, and Gourry, well, he was listening to something else.
His stomach.
"Oi Lina, isn't it just about lunch time?" he asked.
Suddenly, there was a loud rumble...
Gourry grabbed his stomach and looked embarased. Lina likewise blushed and started to apologise. Luna did exactly the same thing, it was almost as if the two girls were syncronized. Jilas and Gavos just looked at each other...
"Actually", said Ayn,with a nasty little laugh, and sounding rather proud of herself, "that was me, and Gourry's right, it's time to eat!"
Gourry looked relieved, Lina giggled nervously, and Luna gave Ayn an exasperated look. Jilas and Gavos just looked at each other...
Then another rumble sounded out. "Yeah, we got the point the first time." said Luna with a sigh.
"Of course you did!" enthused Ayn. "Only that was you this time..."
"Wha...?? N-no way!" insisted Luna, but the blush on her face was too red to miss, causing Ayn to laugh even more nastily.
Jilas and Gavos just looked at each other...
"Are we close to a restaurant?" asked Lina, trying to break the mood.
"Nearest one's at least another few hours away, I recon." replied Ayn. "How about we just picnic on what's in our packs?"
"Hey, is there a river nearby?" asked Gourry. "Lina's got this great fishing spell!"
"Yeah, but freshwater sashimi just doesn't taste the same." teased Luna.
"So, you starve and we'll eat, to each her own." smirked Ayn, cutting off anything Lina might have said. Then she added "I think we are a mile or so from a little bridge, that might be a great spot to eat, fish or no fish, if we are able to bear up under our crushing hunger till we get there."
"Oh, yeah! Don't remind me of that!" put in Gourry. Then with Lina's corrections, er, help, he recounted the tale of the long and unexpected sea voyage he had taken with Lina on their first trip to the outer world. How they had accidentally launched themselves when Filia had attacked the fleet to test Lina. How they had drifted for many days with no food whatsoever. Finally, how they made landfall, just in time to let their intense search for food interfere with Gavos and Jilas' attempt to terrorise and extort the village they had just stumbled into. At that, Ayn shot a quizzical, and dangerous look at them.
They both managed to tremble, and Jilas blurted out "We got better..."
"Yeah, yeah, they're good guys now." said Lina. Ayn just chuckled.
"Oh, she's just messing with them, don't worry about it." giggled Luna.
"We're here." said Gourry, pointing to the low little bridge in front of them, crossing a quiet little stream.
"Okay! Gourry! Get the firewood, and I'll get at the stream." said Lina with enthusiasm as she took out a fishing line and a hook from somewhere in her cloak. "Oh, and cut me a pole please." she added. In an instant Gourry had his trusted sword, the magically sharp Blast Blade out. The first thing he did was cut a sapling for Lina's pole and then he went to work with a will and by the time Lina had tied her line to the pole, cast her spell, and then put her hook into the water, and snagged the first fish, the first load of wood was being carried back by Gavos as Gourry loaded up Jilas..
"They have this down to an artform!" said an impressed Luna.
"Practice, I imagine." nodded Ayn, equally impressed.
Luna rumaged around and produced a flint and steel and prepared to start the fire. "Hmmm, kindling." she said out loud, though she was talking to herself.
"Hey, Lina's got that covered, don't worry about it." said Gourry as he arrived with his own load of firewood, along with a few twigs he'd cut for skewers, and started to lay out the fire.
Luna looked puzzled, cocked an eye at Gourry, and put her fire starter away. A few minutes later the mystery was solved as Lina staggered up with a tremendous catch. She put the fish on the grass, muttered another spell, and popped an amazingly well controlled tiny fireball into the wood Gourry had set up. There was a whoosh, and the fire was blazing merrily, at full force.
"Dig in." she said matter of factly, as she grabbed a skewer and impaled some fish on it, then started cooking them.
"How come you never do that?" Luna asked Ayn, sounding slightly peeved, and pointing at the fire.
"You must be joking." answered Ayn flatly. With that the two women joined the other four travelers around the fire.
Between the fish and the packed food they actually had a good picnic.
And after that, naps all around...
"Nothing like traveling in the heat of the day." remarked Luna as they set out again in the early afternoon, having avoided just the that, the hottest part of the day.
"Works when you're in a hurry." said Lina. "But it sucks being that hot..."
There was a general agreement from the group, as they treked onwards.
There was the afternoon, the evening, the cool of the evening, and finally the chill of the night before they made the village they were walking towards. There was a bit of a protest in the small inn they decended upon and some talk of closing, but Luna, to Lina's shock, simply dumped a small fortune in gold on the counter and it was amazing how awake the staff became. "Food till we burst, then rooms all around, please." she said.
"Er, I regret to tell you we only have two rooms to let out tonight." said a sweatdropping inn keeper, obviously fearing letting such well paying clients get away.
"Well, then one room for those of us that are women, and one room for those of us who aren't." said Ayn, acting like she was explaining things as simply as possible.
"Oh? and which room are you sleeping in?" asked Luna, apparently seriously.
"Ya wanna get biffed up the hooter now, or after we've eaten?" replied Ayn...
"Wow, how do you get away with that" asked Lina, perplexed, and just possibly admiringly...
"Hey, Lina..." complained Luna as Ayn snorted a chuckle.
Lina cringed and sweatdropped. "S-sorry, big sister, that didn't come out right..."
"Oh yes it did..." said Luna quietly, and a little dangerously.
Lina gulped and backed off and Ayn asked Luna "What do you want to drink?" She gently took Luna's hand as she asked.
Luna looked down and sighed. "You won't need to pinch my wrist again, Ayn, I'm not going there. I was just trying to tease Lina."
"But did Lina know that?" Ayn asked, quietly. Then she repeated her question about the drinks.
"Zefeilian brandy, of course." replied Luna. "A good squire would know that."
"Doesn't mean a good squire would presume to know what her Mistress liked at any particular moment, though." replied Ayn. "Besides, that only applies to good squires..." she smirked.
"Ain't that the truth." giggled Luna, rolling her eyes.
"You better not be serious about that..." said Ayn.
"Only one way to find out." said Luna, smiling evily.
"Right, will that be one keg, or two?" asked Ayn.
Lina walked away at that point. She she found herself wondering yet again just what was the nature of the relationship between Luna and Ayn. Oh well, that was their business, right now, she wanted to work on her own relationship. So thinking, she walked over and sat beside Gourry, who had already plunked himself down at a table, waiting for supper.
"Are we hopeless or what?" she asked.
"No, I think we are full of hope." said Gourry, with a big smile. "We are like any young couple on the verge of starting out, well, of course most young couples don't have to go on adventures before they get married, getting married is the adventure for them but still..."
"I meant Luna and me." said Lina, butting in before Gourry got too far off on his tangent. "I already know you and I are totally beyond hope..." she added with a giggle.
Gourry chuckled and put his arm around Lina. She sighed happily and settled in.
"Hey Lina, what would our friends say, seeing us so open with our feelings? All those years of being so private, and I think I've hugged you more times in public since yesterday that in all the times before that since I met you." Gourry asked gently.
"Well, if they know what's good for 'em they wouldn't say anything nasty..." chuckled Lina, not altogether pleasantly.
"Do you think they'll ever find anyone?" asked Gourry. "I mean all this time and they don't seem to have moved on in their relationships." he further observed.
Lina thought a bit before answering. "Well, I'm not sure if that's true, but let's see. Amilia loves Zel, of that I'm sure, and I think he returns her affection though he's harder to read. But she's always busy with the job of becoming Queen, and he's usually away questing after his cure, so they don't have the together time that most people need to really develop an abiding love. And I don't know, there is something about Zel, I don't think he'll really be ready before he gets his cure. I hope Amilia is ready to wait a long time."
She thought some more. "Sylphiel has really thrown herself into the white magic ever since we got done with Hell Master. I don't know, I think it started as a way of getting over you, as if anyone ever could, he, he, and I think that since then it's become habit. I doubt she'll ever get married now, she just seems too busy with her magic."
She "hmmm'd" then went on "Of course, not everyone we know is still single, I hear Zangulas and Martina are working on their third child..."
"Oh well, everyone will do what they must I suppose. Even Ayn and my sister..." she finished, as the latter two showed up with drinks all around, finally. Jillas and Gavos showed up from wherever they had gotten off to as well, presumably the little non human's room...
"Ayn and your sister what?" asked Luna a little suspiciously.
Lina hemmed but Gourry, amazingly, had an answer. "Have their good side!" he said, brightly.
Ayn frowned, "Hey! Now that's a vicious lie!" she snapped. "Oh sure, little Miss Browny-locks here is chocked full of such stuff, but I am pure evil and don't you forget it!" She declaimed heartily.
"Hey?" said Luna, a bit shocked.
"Well, if you're pure, isn't that good?" asked Gourry, innocently.
Ayn stepped back, grabbed her chest and hammed it up as if she had been stabbed."ACK! ACKACKACK! Straight to the heart! Oh you're good, Mr. Gourry!" she laughed. Luna and Lina laughed till they had tears.
"Wow! Way to answer her back, Gourry, my dear!" said Luna still giggling. "That's a rare enough occurance!"
Gavos and Jilas just looked at each other, then sighed. "D'ya get th' feeling we are out of the loop?" Jilas asked. Gavos nodded.
However, supper arrived very soon thereafter, and all was forgotten under the serious business of depleting the inn of all it's consumable stores.
And after that, bed, with the promise of a too early wake up call. Naturally the girls got one room and the guys got the other. They guys did "rock, paper, scissors" and Gourry managed to get the floor. Being tired, and also full, the men did what men have always done, they conked out and were soon asleep.
In the girls room, much the same thing happened, only with more talking and carrying on. Eventually, after a lot of brave volunteering, of each other, Ayn drew the floor, and made her displeasure known by taking most of the bedding to make a slightly softer place to sleep. Luna and Lina snuggled in under the remaining thin sheet.
"I, uh, don't mind the floor, really." said Lina. After the fact, of course. "I've done it lots of times with Gourry, in our travels. In fact, more than once, we've both slept on the floor on opposite sides of the same bed."
"Well, that's puzzling." said Luna. "If you've done it with Gourry, wouldn't it have been more comfortable in the bed?"
Lina sat up. "What are you saying?" she asked, a horrified tone in her voice.
"Just what you are afraid of, that you and Gourry jumped the queue and are already man and wife. But she's teasing, or she better be." said Ayn.
"Oh way to spoil things." pouted Luna.
"Hey, I'm a virgin!" declared Lina.
"I believe you." replied Luna. "And I'm sorry, but you left yourself so wide open that I couldn't help myself. My naughty nature got the better of me and I yielded to the temptation to tease you. But let me give you a bit of advice. The tradition goes that you don't have to put a whole bed between you to maintain your purity, just a sword. You can either stick it in the ground so that it is there like a pillar between you two, one you presumably won't roll over in your sleep, or if you are really light sleepers, you can just place it lying down on the ground between you, and presumably as you roll over, you'll feel it and stop. I suppose the inn keeper won't like a hole in his bed, but atleast you can both sleep on the mattress."
Lina sighed. "Yeah, yeah, I get it, I did set myself up. But it is true we have slept like that. It is also true that we've slept in each other's arms, for warmth, and yes, for comfort, but I really mean it, Gourry is a perfect gentleman, and he has never ever tried to take advantage of me. Well, the occasional kiss, maybe. But I've also willingly given him some of those, so I suppose it's to be expected."
Luna gave a sisterly chuckle and hugged Lina. "Well, I suspected as much, but it's good to have a chat like this. You know what Lina? Mom was right, we need to do more things together like this. Playing together as little girls never let us see the deeper side of each other."
Lina hugged back "Do you know how wonderful it feels to have your sister hug you?" she asked, quietly.
"Yes." replied Luna, just as quietly.
"Hey love birds! Get a hotel room. Some of us want to sleep." cut in Ayn, sleepily, from the floor.
"Idiot..." muttered Luna.
Yeah, yeah, I know, early start..." said Lina, suddenly remembering why they had gone to bed. A few yawns later, and some giggles, just because, and the three women joined the three men in the world of dreams.