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45- Playing Catch-Up
"FREEZE ARROW!"
Lina watched helplessly as her attacks were deflected, one after another. Damn, he's fast. She cursed under her breath, just barely ducking under a sword strike. Seeing her target exposed, she aimed her next attack for his abdomen. That was mistake number one. He'd expected her to go in for a close attack when he'd extended his sword away from his body, and was ready to catch her. She felt his hand on her shoulder, but didn't pull away until it was a little too late. That was mistake number two. He spun her around and wrapped one arm around her shoulders, holding the sword to her throat.
The two stood in that morbid embrace for a few seconds, hardly daring to breathe.
"Good game." Zelgadis released her, stepping back to give her some time to recover from the shock. "Your physical attacks are all on-point, but your reaction time isn't fast enough. You need more practice in reading your opponent's moves and acting accordingly. Those skills can get rusty too, when you don't use them for a long time. All things considered, you're doing well."
"Not well enough!" Lina pouted, stomping one foot onto the dirt. "Let's try that again!"
"That would be the fifth time today, Lina. Just because I'm here to spar with you doesn't mean we should overdo it." Zelgadis returned his sword to its sheath. "It's only been two months, so you're still recovering. We'll continue some tomo-"
"No! We'll continue now!" Lina insisted.
"You know that Amelia and Gourry would have my head if something were to happen to you. Take a break for now, and maybe later we can-"
Lina held her short sword up to his face, just inches away from his nose. "Now." she insisted.
"…okay." Zelgadis breathed.
Amelia, Gourry, and Pestis watched from the back porch of the Gabrievs' house. It was a relatively warm winter day in Craighouse, perfect for spending time outside in the garden. Amelia and Zelgadis had just come from Seyruun City to visit, interested in seeing how Lina and her family were doing. They knew that Shizuri had returned from Ti Toh, and with Pestis and Enrique staying in Craighouse for the time being as well, it was a great way to get everyone together. Amelia had excitedly reported that she and Zelgadis had big news from Seyruun City, but she wouldn't give any hint as to the subject of said news, despite Professor Nisery's eager pestering.
"Lina has really improved." Amelia watched the scene with a smile. "Her technique is still amazing, even after all these months. I just hope she doesn't wear herself out…"
"Lina? Don't worry about it." Gourry chuckled. "She's been itching for someone to spar with for a few weeks now, and heaven knows I don't have the guts to fight her. It's a good thing that you and Zel showed up when you did."
"Zelgadis is being very strict with her, though." Amelia rested her arms on the porch railing. "He doesn't have to be so harsh."
"He's not being too harsh. He wants her to improve as much as she wants to improve. They make a good team."
"They make a great team." Pestis sighed dreamily as he kept an intent watch on the pair. Gourry could swear that he saw little popping hearts floating around the professor's head. Pestis was directing his attention to either Lina or Zelgadis, and Gourry wasn't sure which would bother him more.
After a few more moments of watching, Pestis peeked up his head and looked over at Amelia. "Sooo… are you sure that you can't tell me anything about your and Zelgadis' news?"
"I told you already, Mister Pestis. It's very complicated, so we want to announce it at dinner, when everyone will be together." Amelia's patient smile was showing signs of wearing thin.
"Shizuri and Enrique should probably be finished with that soon." Gourry glanced over at the screen door that led into the kitchen. "Zara was going to help them if he could get the twins to sleep."
"You're not having any trouble with them sleeping, are you?" Amelia asked.
"No, not really. Luke sleeps more than Enrico does, but at least when they wake up at night, it's together." Gourry shrugged. "It's always easier to get Luke to sleep. Lina jokes that he's lazy, but… I think she's genuinely worried about him. He seems to be trying so hard, but he's a little behind Enrico."
"Behind?" Amelia asked in concern.
"Well, he's not quite as far along as his brother…" Gourry scratched the back of his head. "…developmentally, I mean. Enrico can lift himself by his arms and smile and whatnot. Luke is really quiet and doesn't move around much. He smiles at us sometimes, but not as often, and it's not quite the same. Lina says that he might just be shy, and the healer here assures us that there's nothing wrong with him, but…"
"Children develop at very different rates, Mister Gourry." Amelia replied. "Just because he's a late bloomer doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with him. Just be gentle with him and give him some more time."
Gourry nodded. "We will. Thank yo-"
"GOTCHA!"
Lina's triumphant voice rang out through the garden. She had Zelgadis pinned against a rose bush, her short sword against his chest.
"Who needs to work on their technique now, hmm?"
The expression on Zelgadis' face made it obvious that he hadn't let her win on purpose. "G-good job, Lina. I'm impressed." Embarrassed, seemed more like it, but it was hard for him to be angry when Lina was so happy.
"That's right! Who's the most powerful sorceress in the world? Look out, Azarel! You won't get off the hook so easily next time! Lina Inverse is coming for you!"
Gourry chuckled, walking into the garden to congratulate her. He picked Lina up and spun her around. "Didn't I tell you that you'd be fine? Don't underestimate yourself."
"Now I know why you didn't want to fight me. You knew that it would only be a matter of time before I kicked your butt!"
"Whatever you say, Lina…" Gourry murmured. He pulled her into a hug and whispered to her so that no one else could hear, "Gabriev."
Lina pulled herself from the hug and raised an eyebrow at him, but he smiled and so she smiled back.
Amelia, meanwhile, tried to console Zelgadis. "You were amazing! What a great job! I know that Lina appreciates all of your help."
Zelgadis sighed sadly. "I made a beginner's mistake. I didn't see that trick she had up her sleeve. It happens to everyone at some point, I guess."
Amelia patted him on the shoulder, while Pestis moved to hug him. "Oh, Zelgadis, you looked so cool out there! You've got some serious moves, let me tell you-"
"Please don't tell me."
"-but still!" Pestis, with his arms still around Zelgadis' neck, turned to Amelia. "Does this mean that you'll finally be telling us your news soon?"
"Yes, yes." Amelia replied. "Just be patient, please."
Pestis sighed and moved back toward the house. "Fine, fine. Be as secretive as you want- it'll only make the revelation sweeter, I'm sure."
Amelia and Zelgadis gave each other a puzzled look, but tried to shrug it off. The professor's irrational behaviour was becoming more and more normal each passing day.
"I didn't get the chance to ask you earlier," Shizuri began at the dinner table, after the piles of food had slowly begun to disappear. "has anything strange happened since we last saw one another?"
"You mean, like Mazoku stuff, right?" Lina responded.
"Something along those lines, yes."
"No, not at all." Lina put her fork down on the edge of her plate. "Everything around here has been really normal. We've spent our time mostly working on family stuff- you know, taking care of the children, managing the family business, cleaning up the most horrible messes…"
"Babies are waaay more messy than I thought." Zara spoke up. "I love them, but they're really loud, and they smell funny."
"Everything has been peaceful here in town." Gourry added. "The appearance of Enrique and Mister Nisery has been the only thing to cause any issues. In a little town where everybody knows everybody, new people tend to stir up a lot of excitement."
"Most of the kids here are super nice." Enrique smiled. "They even invite me to play games sometimes."
Shizuri sighed in relief. "Sounds like an idyllic country life to me. I'm glad that everyone has been safe here. What about Seyruun city?"
"YES!" Pestis jumped to alert. "Please tell us about Seyruun City!"
Zelgadis sighed. "Patience has never been a talent of yours, Pestis. Alright. I guess there's time to discuss it."
"Hooray!" Pestis cheered. Lina stood up and began collecting the plates, while Amelia eagerly went to another room to retrieve a large file folder with a bunch of papers tied together inside of it. She handed it to Zelgadis, though his response was to look at her as though asking what she expected him to do with it. She sheepishly took it back and held it close.
"We wanted to share with you guys something that we'd been thinking about for a while, but hadn't had the chance to actually pursue until now." Amelia began. "We've been working at it for the last two months almost, and we've finally got something to show for it."
"It was Amelia's idea to begin with." Zelgadis added.
"But I couldn't have done it without you." she insisted. "I hope that everyone will keep an open mind about all this, and will at least act happy for our sake, even if you don't necessarily approve-"
"What's not to approve? I'm so happy for you!" Pestis had jumped up from his seat. He threw his arms around Amelia's neck, pulling her into a big hug so that she could barely move- or breathe.
"W-we appreciate your enthusiasm… M-Mister Pestis…" she choked, and the professor loosened his grip to allow her to talk. "You have to understand that not everyone in Seyruun was as approving of us using the city's White Magic to pursue Mazoku-related studies. This kind of research is completely unprecedented in the Seyruun Meteorological Society."
Pestis' arms slid off Amelia's shoulders. He blinked in surprise. "…White Magic? Meteorology? Mazoku?"
"Well, yes." Amelia opened up the files and handed him a few pages. They were filled with writing, diagrams, and mathematical calculations. "Studies have been done on how miasma affects the White Magic barrier around Seyruun, but we've taken it a step further and began doing studies about the potential for tracking individual Mazoku by observing fluctuations in barrier disturbances. That's the exciting news that we wanted to share with everyone- we've made some major breakthroughs."
Pestis was silent for a moment. "…I thought you were pregnant."
THWAK
Amelia hit Pestis in the face with the folder of papers.
"Owwww! What's with you guys and hitting the face? What'd my face ever do to you?"
"Sit down and be quiet." Amelia ordered. "If that was the only reason you were excited, you can calm down now. All we want to do is present our findings so that we can collaborate on how to use this knowledge to fight Azarel in the future."
"Please, Pestis, can you give us a break from your normal shenanigans for this one time?" Zelgadis added. "You're embarrassing yourself."
"B-but…"
"Give it a rest, Pestis." Lina groaned. "Just let them talk."
"Okay…"
The professor slunk disappointedly back to his chair and rested his head on the table as he listened to the group continue. Enrique tapped him on the shoulder a few times, but he didn't move.
Amelia cleared her throat, the redness around her face beginning to disappear. "As I was saying, various studies have been done in the past surrounding the effects of miasma and Mazoku on the White Magic barrier around Seyruun. Miasma and Black Magic, which draws upon it, are directly opposite to White Magic. In their pure essence, these two are attracted to one another like opposite poles of a magnet, seeking to cancel the other out. Nature prefers a balance. The barrier around Seyruun is constantly being tugged on by outside sources of miasma as they move and change forms. This produces scale variations in the barrier, based upon the magnitude and distance of the miasma's source."
"Amelia originally had the idea of using these variations to locate individual Mazoku." Zelgadis added in, reaching over to the stack of papers and leafing through them to find several in particular. "I was sceptical at first, but I was surprised by how easy it was. When the exact miasma concentration is known, it's possible to locate a single Mazoku, no matter what their position or orientation is relative to the city. Of course… if you don't know a Mazoku's miasma concentration, you can't know anything about them, so the technique is useless. That's the problem we encountered when trying to track Azarel."
"Whoa, whoa. Slow down." Pestis picked up his head from the table. "You're trying… to track Azarel? Like some sort of lab animal?"
Amelia and Zelgadis glanced at each other. "Whatever the intention was," Amelia began, "the end result would be the same. We can't track Azarel."
"Xellos was our guinea pig, actually." Zelgadis added. "We were able to get his data from earlier records."
"Did you uncover anything suspicious?" Lina enquired.
"Not that we could tell, but you never know with Xellos." Zelgadis shrugged. "He disappeared often- either onto the astral plane or within a barrier somewhere."
"Wolfpack Island is known to have a pretty heavy-duty barrier around it." Pestis offered. "It prevents other Mazoku from finding the island. I've never seen it myself."
Zelgadis cleared his throat. "At any rate, there are clear limitations to tracking Mazoku with this technique. However, we believe that it could prove advantageous in the future with more research."
"Let me get this straight," Shizuri spoke up. "As long as Mazoku are present on this plane of existence and not within some sort of magical barrier, you can just plug their data into a mathematical equation and find out exactly they are?"
"…it's a work in progress." Amelia nodded her head. "Now that we had figured out how to use it, we wanted to come to Craighouse and share the information with you. If Mister Pestis can give us Azarel's information, we can track her as well, and gain an advantage in finding and defeating her."
Pestis flinched. "But I don't know Azarel's data! That's a very personal thing to ask, you know. The concentration of miasma within an astral being like a Mazoku is not only an indicator of their potential for strength, but also their ability to alter their environment- their potency, so to speak. That's like asking a human about… well… y'know…"
"Huh. So what's yours?" Gourry asked pointedly.
"Zero." The professor made the shape of a 0 with one hand. "Well, more like point-zero-zero-zero-zero- er, a negligible amount. You get the picture. They couldn't track me even if they tried."
"Lucky for you." Lina grinned. "Though I don't suppose it's something you're proud of."
"I'm very proud of it!" Pestis tapped his chest. "Like I said, it only shows the potential for strength, not the strength itself. When a being dependent on miasma encounters positive emotions, it's not a pretty sight. But I'm immune to those effects because I'm almost entirely astral energy. Isn't that great?"
"That also means you can't get stronger with negative emotions, huh?" Gourry pointed out.
"That's right!" Pestis gave him a playful punch on the arm. "You're pretty good at this, smarty-pants!"
Gourry tugged his arm away timidly. "Smarty-pants… that's a new one…"
"So, if we don't have Azarel's information, what else can we do to track her down?" Lina spoke up, changing the subject.
"Do we have to track down Azarel? Can't we just forget about the whole thing?" Enrique rested his head on the table.
"Sorry, kid." Gourry reached over and put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "We're all in too deep to quit now."
"I've been in contact with Lyos, and he and Miss Lin might be able to help." Shizuri suggested. "Her condition has greatly improved since we last saw her, or so Lyos says. In his last letter, he told me that he was accompanying her on walks in her garden every day."
"Have they been doing research on the Key of the Aqualord? What about the changes in the weather?" Lina asked.
Shizuri shrugged. "If they have, he didn't say about it in his letter."
"I hadn't given it much thought, to be honest." Amelia admitted. "I've been so consumed with this project, it hasn't left much room for musing on the issues surrounding the Key of the Aqualord."
"Well, Gourry and I haven't had the time for it either." Lina admitted. "Caring for twin infants is a full time job for both parents… and big brother, of course."
"I certainly haven't had the time." Pestis sniffed indignantly. "I've started calling bingo for the Senior Citizens' Club two nights a week."
Zelgadis rolled his eyes. "That sounds very time-consuming."
"Oh, it is, I assure you." Pestis nodded earnestly, ignoring the sarcasm.
"But what if Lyos and Miss Lin have been researching the Key, but have been unable to find anything. What then?" Shizuri asked. "I've looked through the information we have at the church in Ti Toh, but in the end, we're just humans and our knowledge of the realm of the gods is limited."
"So, what? Are we supposed to ask a non-human servant of the gods? Where are we gonna find one of those?" Enrique asked.
The room was quiet. Lina, Gourry, Amelia, and Zelgadis all glanced at one another, all wary of speaking up first.
"…we actually know one…" Lina murmured. "I didn't want to involve her in all this because she was with us a year ago when we had to fight Pathosmaster. I didn't want to take her away from her job and family again, but if we really need her help…"
"I'd feel more comfortable if we had someone with Filia's thorough knowledge." Zelgadis offered. "Not to mention that it would give us a bit of leverage against Xellos."
"How so?" Shizuri asked.
"Miss Filia and Mister Xellos are sort of… an item, so to speak." Amelia answered.
"An item? You mean like a couple? I thought Xellos was a Mazoku. Why would he… with a servant of the gods…"
"Xellos is a strange one." Lina shrugged. "I have no doubt that he genuinely has some sort of personal fixation on Filia but I'm fairly confident that he plans to use her for the benefit of his race somehow. Filia, on the other hand, hates him so much that she can't live without him. End of story."
"Come now. I'm sure Miss Filia's feelings are a bit purer than that. Mister Xellos has at least some charming attributes." Amelia chimed in.
"You'd have to be some kind of saint to find charming attributes about Xellos." Zelgadis rolled his eyes. "Which I don't put past Filia, but still…"
Zara spoke up for the first time since the meal had ended. "I can write her a letter now if you want!"
"Go get some paper from the library." Lina directed. "I'll write it."
"Should we ask her to meet here, or…?" Gourry asked.
"We'll ask her to meet at the Lin estate. I'll give her about two weeks- that's when I told Lyos we'd come visit." Lina replied.
"Two weeks, then." Zelgadis nodded. "I'll let everyone in Seyruun know. That's enough time for me to tie up loose ends with my work."
"Lina, Lina!" Zara rushed over to her side, handing her the paper and pen. "Can I go play now?"
"Sure you can. Come back home when it gets dark, okay?"
"Enrique, Enrique! Let's go to the lake!" Zara ran around the table and tugged on his friend's hand. "C'mon, c'mon! It's getting late!"
"…" Enrique sent a glance toward Pestis. "Lord Pathosmaster? Can I go?"
"Go ahead." The professor gave the boy a playful push.
"Yay! Let's go, let's go! Hurry, before it gets too dark!"
Zara took Enrique by the arm and dragged him out while the adults smiled at them. The sound of a baby crying from further upstairs caught their attention, and Lina and Gourry both stood up at once. They glanced at each other, chuckling awkwardly.
"It's okay, I've got this-" "Don't worry, I can take care of-" "No, no, allow me-" "But you already-"
Lina shoved the pen and paper she was holding into Gourry's hands and hurried up the stairs. "Thanks!"
Gourry sighed and sat down again. "Alright… does she expect me to write this letter now? I don't even know what to say."
"We'll help you." Amelia sat down next to him. "Let's see… Dear Miss Filia…"
(Starting next week, weekly updates will take place on Thursdays. Thank you to everyone who's continued reading!)
