It had taken a lot of coaxing to get Alona into the wing where the portal was, but after being assured that Lina and Amelia would be nearby, she finally went in to clean the hallway, chattering nervously as she did, "This is part of the original manor. They say so many eerie things happened here that the owners built the rest of the house to move into and leave this part alone!"

"Hm," Lina said as she filed the information away while she stared at the door where they had contained the Sad Lady and the portal. The men had left to get wood to build a new door for the basement, so it was just Lina and Amelia with the servants.

"Ready to open it?" Amelia asked.

"Yes, let's do this." Lina said, and Amelia opened the door as Alona looked at them, obviously a bit panicked.

When the door opened, Lina's eyes first fell on the view from the window of the nearby pond. "Wow."

"Oh, it's so lovely!" Amelia crooned before she glanced at the rest of the dusty room, "They must really be scared of this place to let it go to waste. Do you think the Sad Lady lived here?"

"No," Lina said as she started to examine some of the paintings on the wall of what looked to have been the original parlor room. "I think she died here before this place was built. I'm going to have to go through some records before I know for sure. Nothing like a three hundred year old murder mystery to crack!"

"How do you know it was three hundred years ago?" Amelia asked as she brushed the dust off some knickknacks.

"It was back when the Kingdom of Zeferia formed." Lina explained as she started searching the room for hidden nooks and crannies, as well as anything of value, all while ignoring the disquieting feeling of being watched. To distract herself, she started to relate her vision to Amelia.

After searching and then cataloguing everything in the room, they left and closed the door behind them, and Lina relaxed a little as the feeling of being watched abated. "It looks like Alona did a good job clearing the hallway." Lina observed.

"So what now?" Amelia asked.

"I guess we get a basic bed ordered for that room, for when the time comes. We can easily convert the old furnishings to be fit for a room people will seldom sleep in."

"You're not going to order new things?" Amelia asked incredulously. "Honestly, with a few upgrades that room would be stunning!"

Lina shrugged, "It seems like a waste, especially if the Sad Lady just starts breaking things. Shame about the view, though, perhaps one of the other rooms in this wing will have a better one. Anyway, I'm ready for lunch!"


The rest of the day was spent exploring the house, blissfully free of the feeling of being watched or any sudden bursts of sadness. And while several rooms in the old wing did have views of the pond, none were as stunning as the one occupied by the Sad Lady. Still, there were bedrooms, rooms for entertaining, and a library, making Lina the proud owner of a home with two libraries. Gourry and Zelgadis had fixed the door to the basement, and Lina hoped that with the Sad Lady contained she could get the servants to stay overnight. But so far, she was not having a lot of luck there.

She canceled her levitation spell as she came down from getting a heavy tomb from the top of a shelf at the old library. She reflected happily on how cataloguing everything in her libraries would take years, and that she was sure there would be many intriguing discoveries in the years to come, and how she hoped that at some point a sorcerer had occupied the house. In the meantime, she was on a hunt for information about the building of Maninstit, and she figured that the older library was the best place to find information on that, as well as a primary illustration of what Queen Carliena's crest looked lie.

The servants had left for the night, and the rest of the sunlight was gone, but if the Sad Lady was still haunting the rest of the house, she left Lina alone. Still, Lina about jumped out of her skin when she heard Gourry ask, "You coming to bed tonight?"

"When did you come in?" she asked.

"I didn't mean to startle you." He said, "But it's getting late. Besides, I know if left to your own devices we'd probably find you here tomorrow morning covered in dust and old ink and using a book as a pillow."

"You got me." She said as she closed the volume while he glanced out the window.

"Wow!" he exclaimed.

"Isn't it beautiful?" she asked as she walked up beside him and wrapped an arm around him as he looked at the pond. "Most of the rooms in this wing have a good view of it. And," she said as she leaned up to whisper in his ear, "I think this room needs to be warmed by some love."

"The Sad Lady isn't going to interrupt us?" he asked as she kissed his cheek while he brought his arms around her.

"I don't think we'll have to worry about her for a long while."


"What's in this room?" Amelia asked as she walked with Lina down the hallway. After Lina and Gourry had spent a day exploring every square inch of their new home, Lina had to throw her arms up and admit that she did not have a clue as to how to organize such a large household, and asked Amelia for help. After spending another day exploring the downstairs and getting a plan in place for how to organize the class and student rooms, they were now tackling the upstairs, which they agreed would be best left for family and guests.

Lina furrowed her brow as she tried to remember, and wound up opening it, and then she rolled her eyes. "Nursey."

"How cute!" Amelia exclaimed as her eyes set upon a little rocking horse.

"I guess you and Zel are already working on an heir and a spare, then?" Lina said as Amelia knelt down by the rocking horse, obviously charmed.

Amelia shook her head, "No. Since we eloped we're giving it some time to squelch any rumors that I was pregnant when we knelt before the altar."

"Oh." Lina said. "Makes sense."

"So, should we have Alona dust this off, or order brand new stuff?"

Lina groaned. Amelia looked at her, puzzled. "Sorry," Lina said, "Everyone keeps making hints about this. Even Gourry. And it just seems like a lot of changes at once, you know?"

"But these are good changes, Miss Lina!"

"Even good changes take some getting used to." Lina replied. "I don't exactly want to be figuring out parenthood as I'm figuring out teaching or being a public role model, as well as how to be a wife."

"But it takes nine months for a baby to arrive. You'll have it all under control by then, I'm sure of it!" Amelia said.

Lina shook her head, and wondered what all of the rush truly was about when the butler came in, "Lady Inverse, Princess," Jeeves said, "A woman who says her name is Baroness Guloisa Gabriev is here and wishes to speak with you."

"Gabriev?" Lina repeated.

"She does bear a resembled to Sir Gourry." He added.

Amelia looked at her curiously as Lina asked, "Where is Gourry?"

"He went to the baths ten minutes before she arrived and asked not to be interrupted. She is currently in the main parlor."

"See that she's comfortable." Lina said, "And tell her we'll be with her momentarily."

"Yes, my lady." He said as Lina looked pensive.

"Jitters about meeting the future in-laws?" Amelia asked.

"Hm." Lina said, "Actually, I'm wondering if this is some kind of scam."

"Why would you think that?"

Lina shrugged, and started to walk over to Gourry's chambers, "Gourry doesn't talk about it, so I don't know much. But from what I gather most of his family is dead, and he deliberately cut himself off from the ones who survived. A family feud gone out of control type thing."

"What?" Amelia exclaimed.

"He doesn't like to talk about it." Lina repeated, feeling a little sheepish over just how little she did know.

"That's understandable." Amelia said after a moment's reflection. "After all this time it's still hard to talk about Alfred and Uncle Randy. I guess I'll find something to do while you and Mr. Gourry handle this."

"Thanks," Lina said as she walked into Gourry's chambers, and reflected that it was the first time she had actually been in them. Since they'd moved in he'd slept in her room, and she'd never had an occasion to visit his. After a quick glance she determined that his chambers smaller and less decorated, which meant that she still had the nicest room in the house, and thus assured, she sat down and waited for him to emerge from the baths.

He smiled invitingly when his eyes fell on her as he walked in, "Couldn't wait to track me down, my treasure?" he asked as he sat beside her and wasted no time in starting to nuzzle at her neck.

"Regretfully," she said as she closed her eyes and put her hands on his shoulders, "We have a visitor."

"Mmm," he said as he continued to move his kisses along her neck, "Can he wait?"

"She," Lina corrected with a gasp, "A Baroness."

Gourry stopped and looked at her as she continued, "Baroness Guloisa Gabriev."

"Shit," Gourry whispered as the desire vanished from his eyes.

"Who is she?" Lina asked.

He grabbed her hand, his expression hard to decipher. "She's my mother."

"Your mother is a baroness!?" Lina asked.

"Yes."

"But you made it sound like you grew up in a mud hut."

"I came from Elmekia. Even the Emperor grew up in a mud hut. Our hut was just bigger and held more stuff than the others." He explained.

Lina said. "So you don't think she's an imposter?"

"I wish." He said with a mirthless laugh, "I don't know what she's doing outside of the Elmekian Empire, but I have a bad idea of why she's here."

"The Sword of Light?" Lina asked.

"Whatever you do, don't tell her about the Blast Sword." Gourry instructed.

Lina bit her lip, "It must be bad if you of all people are asking me to lie."

"I'm not asking you to lie," Gourry said uncomfortably, "I'm just asking you to leave out one little detail."

Lina bit her lip uneasily. "Is she really that bad? I mean, perhaps she changed?"

Gourry smiled, and for a moment she caught a glimpse of a great sadness within his eyes, "I've just been let down by her too much."

Lina felt her stomach flip a bit. Just how bad was his mother going to be? "Let's get this over with then."

"Lina," he said quietly, "Be careful. Don't tell her anything you wouldn't want seen in the newspaper."

"Huh?" she asked.

"Trust me." He said as he stood up morosely while he held out his hand.

"Okay." She said uncertainly.


Lina decided that Jeeves was understating things a little bit when he mentioned the resemblance. Guloisa Gabriev looked like an older, stouter, female version of her son. Her blue taffeta dress was well made, though, several steps below the clothes that Amelia wore, and she kept her long hair neatly pinned. Guloisa stood up, and Lina's stomach flopped and she did her best to hide just how nervous she was as the older woman smiled warmly. "Gourry!" she said as she held her arms open.

Gourry stood in the doorway, surprising Lina with his aloofness. Sure, she knew that things were bad, but that he wouldn't even hug his mother was shocking. "Hi, um, what are you doing out of the Elmekian Empire?" he asked.

To Lina's horror, this was looking worse and worse on Gourry than on Guloisa. While she had only the faintest idea of what had happened between Gourry and his family, Guloisa seemed friendly enough. She suddenly wished she had read what her sister had offered, especially as growing up her mother had always cautioned her that you can learn a lot about how a man will treat his wife by how he treats his mother.

"Well," Guloisa said as she put her arms down with aplomb and sat back down, "I was in exile just over the border of Saillune when I heard you would be so honored. And of course I wanted to catch up with my dear son."

"Exile?" Gourry asked.

"Well," she said breathlessly, "After you pulled that stunt with the Sword of Light, all sorts of fighting broke out. In the end your aunt got control and set me packing."

Gourry scratched his face as he looked at the ground, "I was hoping that if I took it, it would stop the fighting."

"Oh, it's well enough that you did. I never knew how much I would enjoy peace, quiet, and brick walls until I found myself in Saillune." Guloisa said, "I trust that you still have the sword with you?"

"The Sword of Light is at it's home." Gourry said, and Lina had to admire how he split hairs with that truth, and then by how deftly he changed the subject, "This is my fiancée, Lina Inverse. Lina, this is my mother, Baroness Guloisa."

"Hey," Lina said, feeling unusually nervous under Guloisa's stare.

"She is lovely." Guloisa stated.

"Now that's you've met her, I'm sure you're ready to be on your way into town." Gourry said with a strange smile on his face.

"Oh, I'm afraid I spent all of my money on a carriage just to get here! I'm quite broke, not that I expect you to give me any. And I'm at the age where a walk into the next town is a bit more than I can handle right now. But I'm sure there's plenty of room here. Why don't we sit and chat and get reacquainted?"

Lina when and sat on the couch opposite her and noticed that Gourry was not following her. Lina sent him a look and he reluctantly joined her. "Now, tell me how you met." Guloisa prompted, and Lina spent the next hour relating her adventures with Gourry as Guloisa listened attentively and asked some good questions, making Lina decide that Gourry's denseness came from his father's side of the family. To her chagrin, Lina found herself charmed by Guloisa, and worried about Gourry, who made no move on softening towards his mother as he glowered at the window. And while Lina had questions, it didn't seem right to interrogate her future mother-in-law on her first meeting with her.

Eventually Jeeves found them and stated, "Dinner is prepared."

"Goodness, is it that late?" Guloisa asked.

"Go ahead and have a room prepared for Baroness Gabriev." Lina instructed, and Gourry gave her a look.

"And then in the morning I expect you'll be ready to be on your way." He added

It was Lina's turn to favor him with a look. "Oh, we'll get it all worked out I'm sure. I know you will want to see I am well cared for," Guloisa said pleasantly. "Only I am wondering, why are you playing house before you walk down the aisle?"

Lina blushed and stuttered, and Gourry spoke. "Lina and I have been traveling and working together for years, and our lives are dangerous. We've often woken up when thieves or mazoku sneak into our rooms. We protect each other, and we can't do that if we're staying in different places for propriety."

"Where did you learn that word?" Lina asked.

"My son is very well read." Guloisa said, "Of course he knows big words."

Lina bit back a retort, but only because she did not want to get things off on the complete wrong foot with her future mother-in-law. Guloisa stared at Lina for a minute, "She's not pregnant, is she?"

"Now look!" Lina yelled.

"No, she's not pregnant. And let's take a step back for a moment," Gourry said as he put a hand on Lina's arm, "I mean, dinner's getting cold, isn't it?"

"Yes, yes, of course. I can see the genuine connection and love between you, and of course you wouldn't sully your reputations so." Guloisa said, "Now, where are my manners? Dinner sounds lovely."

As Gourry started to walk, he took a moment to lean down and whisper to Lina, "She hasn't changed a bit."

Lina stared at them as they moved to the hallway and wondered what had just happened and just what she was marrying into.


Guloisa continued to charm everyone but Gourry at dinner, who continued to be aloof and distant despite Guloisa's attempts to make a connection, and Lina found herself growing more and more frustrated with him so that, by the time he entered her room after she was in bed, she turned away from him as he tried to kiss her. He sighed as he sat down on the bed, "Should I go back to my room tonight?"

"What are you finding so hard to forgive anyway?" Lina snapped, "All evening you've been so rude to her!"

Gourry scratched his cheek, "It's not a matter of forgiveness so much. It's strategy. If you let her close to you she will strike, so I have to keep my guard up and wait for her to reveal her true colors because she can only keep the act up for so long. You saw it tonight when she asked if you were pregnant."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"The nobles in the Elmekian Empire are land rich and cash poor." He explained, "They spend too much time drinking and gambling to do anything productive. So they're always looking for new sources of money and resources. It's why she married my dad. He didn't have a title but he had the Sword of Light and he had money. And it's why she's here now, because she heard about what you had been bestowed with and that I was with you."

"But she's not asked for money!" Lina protested.

"That's not how she works." Gourry continued, "She finds things to use against you, such as an out of wedlock pregnancy, and then she'll hold you over the barrel for cash, lodgings, or whatever it is she wants. And the longer she stays here, the more ammunition she collects. So the quicker she leaves, the better."

Lina stared at him incredulously, "But she's so charming. I mean, I can tell when I'm being conned!"

Gourry shrugged, "My mother was doing this since she was in diapers. She's very good at what she does."

"Look, I know there's been bad blood, but what I see is an old lady reaching out and you turning her away! You've barely told me what happened in the first place, and now you're acting strange and being ruder than I've ever seen you, Mr. Nobility and Chivalry, act and to your own mother! So if my ability to read people is way off, and if it's way off about your mother, then what's to say it's not way off about you?"

He looked a little hurt as he said, "Well, I guess you're going to have to decide if someone can really pull off an act for two years."

Lina sighed, "After everything we've been through, I feel like I know you well and that you are one of the most genuinely good people I know. Still, this is an aspect of you I've never seen and I don't like it! So forgive me if this takes some time to get used to! Especially with all of the other changes going on in our lives!"

"Oh, trust me, she's leaving as soon as possible so you won't see this part of me often." Gourry said, "I want to focus on our future, together, not putting skeletons back in the closet. And if after all we've been through together you can't trust that I have good reasons for being this way..."

He stopped for a moment as he brought his hand to his head, "Look, I just need your support right now. Turning my back on my family and giving up on them left me broken for a long time. Years. Meeting you was what healed me. And having to turn my back again on them again is still not easy and was something I hoped would never happen, and now it is. I mean, I wish it would work out, that things really have changed, but I can tell they haven't. You've known my mom for a few hours. I grew up with her! And I don't know what to tell you than to trust me."

Something about his demeanor caused her to soften a little as she reached for him, "You've been wonderful to me since I met you. I guess it just sometimes seems too good to be true. Dream house, dream job, servants, plenty of cash, and a perfect husband. I guess I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop."

He leaned forward and gently kissed her on the lips. "Just trust me, okay? Mother can't keep the act up long. By tomorrow night you will be thanking me for showing her the door."