Amelia shot up in bed and clasped her chest as she forced the breath into her lungs as she struggled to orient herself. Another nightmare? But then the distressing train of images played through her mind. Her father chastising her for yelling at Maxine. Gracia warning her that nothing good would come from her plan. The sight of Zelgadis turning away from her as he walked out of her life again as Maxine laughed and held Phil more tightly. The image of Maxine with tears in her eyes as she pleaded with Martinette for mercy followed by Gracia's wails of grief as Phil carried her into their chambers, her white dress stained with their mother's blood…
Amelia shut her eyes and forced the memories down. While technically a nightmare it was one spun from all of the things she tried hard to forget. The weight on her chest continued to grow as her thoughts raced as she struggled to suppress the memories. She threw the bedsheets off of her as she shot out of bed and quickly dressed, desperate to escape her memories by going outside. A stroll through the gardens usually dulled the sting. And even in the dead of night the palace was still well patrolled, not to mention it wasn't as if it truly ever slept. Plenty of courtiers would be milling about. Amelia had nothing to fear.
She took a moment to glance at herself in the mirror to ensure that her distress was well hidden. A princess was never allowed to show how broken she truly was. She took a moment to wash her face and hoped it would do. She then rushed from her bedroom and through the hallway to the exit. The night air was cool and bracing, and Amelia was finally able to get a full breath under the protection of the stars. She exhaled and took another one as she started to walk to the rose gardens. There was a small pond there with a fountain and Amelia had always found tremendous comfort there.
Amelia felt the tension leave her body as she stared up at the stars and searched for her favorite constellations. The Mighty Witch. Ceiphied. The Dark Lord's Hungry Bone Staff. The Hero. Amelia remembered laying under the stars with Phil and the stories he would tell about the Hero and the path a hero walks. Amelia started to focus on that memory as she approached the entrance to the rose garden and started to discern voices.
At first she did not pay them much mind. But she soon found herself stopping in her tracks as a gravelly voice said in a loud, disapproving manner. "Terrible behavior from that chimera man!"
From behind the rose bushes and hidden from sight another man with a reedy voice replied, "I am just glad our sweet princess wasn't there to hear it!"
Amelia's heart started pounding as she moved to a more obscure spot so she could listen unobserved as the gravelly voiced man said, "And I expected better from that Lina Inverse! I mean, she had such a bad reputation before all this. But after she saved Seyruun I started to think that perhaps I'd misjudged her. But after hearing about her talk about Princess Amelia as though she is some annoying, lovesick idiot…"
"Much as I hate to admit it, Princess Amelia has been rather foolish regarding that odious chimera!" the other man said as Amelia felt a pit of ice form in her stomach. "Here he has the love of the most beautiful woman in the kingdom! A man who looks like him should be more appreciative, yet there he was talking about how he can't wait to get away from her and her naivete!"
"And spreading such filth! The idea that she was touching herself in her bedroom and moaning for him while he listened from his room and laughed is so ludicrous..."
"You're lying!" Amelia said as she charged through the rose bushes and ignored the biting thorns as she emerged on the other side and was horrified to find that she recognized the noblemen, one Duke Nordbury and one Count Listro. "Mr. Zelgadis would never…"
Duke Nordbury looked abashed as Count Listro started fidgeting with his fingers, "I'm so sorry Princess. Especially for you to have to find out this way. But he was at the Tavern of Justice rather late tonight with Lina Inverse and her companion. They were all saying horrible things about you, the barkeep kicked them out even."
Amelia felt her eyes well up with tears as a million protests swelled upon her tongue until she finally shouted, "Lies! I've traveled with them! Fought beside them! I know the love of justice that burns in all of their hearts. They would never! Never!"
But the looks of pity they returned made it difficult for her to believe they were spreading malicious falsehoods as Count Listro said kindly, "I am so sorry Princess."
Amelia shook her head and turned to run back to her room. There had to be some mistake! It simply couldn't be true! But then to her horror as she ran past two noblewoman she caught a bit of their conversation, "Insulting our princess like that! He is every bit the monster he looks like!"
No! Amelia screamed internally as she reached the palace walls and opened the door and ran towards her room. What was happening? Was she really so naïve and trusting as to have been fooled by Zelgadis, Lina and the others? Surely it couldn't have been true! Somehow there had to be some mistake!
But then, how would they have known about what'd I'd done in my bedroom tonight? Amelia wondered. Of course, the palace was full of spies. But Amelia had developed a sense for when she was being watched. Had someone slipped through her radar somehow? Or had Zelgadis really been laughing at her at the Tavern of Justice?
It can't be true! She told herself as she ran into her room and locked the door behind her, I refuse to believe it!
Once in the sanctuary of her room Amelia climbed into her bed and cried silent tears that she had been holding back since returning home. Time passed in blur of pain, interrupted only by the sound of footsteps coming down the hallway followed by Zelgadis's door opening and closing. Amelia stiffened. How long had Zelgadis been away from his room? And if he'd not been sleeping this whole time, then did this mean he really had been at the Tavern of Justice, slandering her? Part of her fought ferociously against the mere thought, a thought that clung persistently despite her efforts to combat it. Gradually the sun rose, spraying beams of light into her room that did little to warm her heart. Still, Zelgadis was leaving early this morning. And she needed to see him. If she was going to get any sort of assurance that it was some mistake or a prank the nobles were pulling on her then the only way she would learn about it was by talking to him.
Morosely she got up and washed her face. Then she plastered on her biggest, brightest smile as she reminded herself that if she continued to love justice and followed its path then nothing could really harm her. Once she was convinced that her pain was well masked she stepped outside her room and headed down to breakfast.
Zelgadis smiled at her as she walked in, and Amelia felt her heart race. See that! She thought to herself as she waved chipperly at him, "Good morning, Mr. Zelgadis! Are you ready for your trip?"
"Yes." He said as Lina and Gourry walked in.
"Morning!" They said as everyone got seated and started to fill their plates.
"Morning Miss Lina!" Amelia said as she decided to interrogate them to figure out what they had done last night before she confronted them with the rumors she'd heard. Because if they were badmouthing her, they would undoubtedly flat out deny it if she asked them directly. If they were being bad allies of justice, she would have to catch them in the act! "How was your date with Mr. Gourry last night?"
Lina and Gourry shared a smile as Lina said, "We had a lot of fun."
"What all did you do?" Amelia asked.
"Hm." Lina said as she cut into her pancakes, "Well, we decided to go all out and eat at the Emerald Platter. We thought about seeing a play but we were rather tired so we went back to the palace."
"Oh," Amelia said as she decided to dig a bit deeper, "And that's all you did?"
Lina blushed a little as she gripped her fork more tightly while Gourry continued to shovel food in his mouth without an apparent care in the world, "What do you mean?"
"You didn't go anywhere else?" Amelia asked.
"Gourry that's my food!" Lina said as she smacked her companion upside the head for stealing her pancake. Usually Amelia was used to their food fights and resigned to the fact that it was a cherished tradition for them. But this morning Amelia wondered if it was too convenient. Just when she was getting to the bottom of whether or not they'd been at the Tavern of Justice…
Stop it Amelia! She took a deep breath and did her best to tune out the food fight as she looked at Zelgadis and felt a tightening in her stomach.
"What about you, Mr. Zelgadis?" Amelia asked. "Did you sleep well?"
"Not really," he said in his lackadaisical way. "I wanted to plan for the trip so I visited the library to learn some more about Saqara. Strange place for a Claire Bible manuscript to turn up if you ask me."
Amelia shifted uncomfortably. It made perfect sense for Zelgadis to spend the night in the library. He'd done it plenty of times before. Still, if he was at the library, could he have stopped by the bar at some point? But then Zelgadis hated bars! But she needed to be sure! "Well, maybe that's why it's the perfect place, because people wouldn't expect it to be there so it would be undisturbed."
"I suppose that could be." He said.
Amelia took a drink of tea to buy herself some time as she tried to figure out which direction to go in. If she started prying into Zelgadis' exact movements he would likely get defensive. Still, she had to know! "You sure do love the library. Did you explore anything else Seyruun has to offer last night?"
"Good morning Princess Amelia!" Maxine said, and Amelia spun around to see her walking into the dining room arm in arm with Phil.
Amelia managed to plaster on a smile as she said, "Good morning, Maxine."
Amelia wanted to charge into Phil's arms. But with Maxine there it seemed wrong somehow. So she waited for him to pull a chair out for Maxine and once she was settled Phil turned to her and opened his arms wide, "How is my precious Amelia doing today?" he bellowed.
Amelia got up and threw her arms around him. "Good morning Daddy!"
"This sure looks like a good breakfast," Phil said as they broke apart and sat back down and started to eat. "And how are you doing this morning, Lady Lina?"
"No complaints!" Lina replied.
Amelia felt a sense of disquiet settle within her. She wanted to continue the conversation she had been having with Zelgadis, but she did not want to do it in front of Maxine. In fact, she didn't want Maxine at the breakfast table at all! One by one Phil and Maxine greeted everyone at the table and Amelia silently seethed to the point that when Maxine turned to her she nearly jumped, "Princess Amelia?"
"Huh!?"
"I'm going to look at the crown jewels today. I thought you would like to come with me. Of course, Miss Lina would be invited to attend as well."
"The crown jewels!" Lina exclaimed as her eyes turned to diamonds as Amelia's stomach sank. She really did not want to see the crown jewels with Maxine. For a multitude of reasons.
"Just to look at!" Amelia snapped at Lina.
"Right, right, I only steal from thieves, remember?" Lina said, "Though if you ask me this kingdom still owes me…"
"I'd love to. Thank you for inviting me." Amelia lied when she could not think of a reason to get out of it fast enough.
"It's time for me to leave." Zelgadis said as he stood up.
"Let me walk you out." Amelia said as Lina and Gourry got up as well as a familiar heaviness gripped her heart.
"We'll see you out as well." Lina said.
"Are you two planning to stick around here?" Zelgadis asked as they started walking to the courtyard.
Lina and Gourry looked at each other, "Haven't really thought about it!" They said in unison.
"But if we do decide to bail then good luck with the whole cure thing!" Gourry said as a noblewoman approached them and then turned her nose up disapprovingly.
"What was that about?" Lina asked.
"You haven't heard the rumors going around?" Amelia asked.
"Only it's hardly rumors." Zelgadis said, and Amelia felt the breath leave her body as she feared for a moment that he was about the confirm the truth about what happened at the Tavern of Justice. "Somehow word got out about our misadventures in the Outerworld."
"What?" Lina said, "But how?"
"That's what I've been wondering." Zelgadis said. "There's no way they should be able to know about the runaway train."
"Damn, why do that only remember the destruction? Why don't they ever remember the world saving!" Lina seethed.
"If you could calm down for a moment to see the actual concern." Zelgadis griped, "Do you have any explanation for how world traveled to Seyruun about this so fast?"
Lina folded her arms under her breasts as she huffed, "No."
They reached the courtyard and Amelia blinked at the brightness of the day as Lina said as they reached the team that Zelgadis would travel with, "Either someone is desperate to destroy my reputation or someone, perhaps a sorcerer using the Vision spell has been following me and reporting back to someone here or…"
"Well, I guess it's time to say goodbye." Zelgadis said.
Goodbye. The word, as always, weighed heavily on her heart. And she still had so much she wanted to talk to him about! Meanwhile, Gourry smiled brightly and said, "Good luck! I hope you find something helpful."
"You keep your eyes and ears peeled. I have a funny feeling about this." Zelgadis said as he suddenly learned forward to whisper something in Gourry's ear, and to Amelia's bafflement given Zelgadis's sober warning, Gourry laughed and smiled in response.
"Thanks for the reminder!" the swordsman replied.
"What reminder?" Lina asked dangerously.
Are they talking about what I did last night? Amelia wondered as mortification washed through her. And laughing?
"Amelia." Zelgadis said. She wanted to hug him. But she also knew it was a quick way to prove to the citizens of Seyruun that she was that lovesick fool if he responded with any sort of awkwardness, as he was liable to do. "I'll be back in a few days."
"Have a safe trip." Amelia said, "And I look forward to our reunion!"
Zelgadis turned from her and walked towards his new team. Lina put her arms around her and said, "He'll be back in a few days."
"And then he'll be gone again." Amelia said as she wondered if, regardless or not Zelgadis really said it, the rumors were true. She was just a silly little lovesick girl who was making herself look like a fool by chasing after him as she did.
"Well it's just until he finds his cure. Which could be a long time…"
"Princess Amelia! Lady Lina!" Maxine said as she found them. "Are you ready?"
"I sure am!" Lina said. And then she looked at Gourry, "What will you be doing?"
Gourry smiled, "Oh, I have a secret mission."
"Huh?" Lina said. "What secret mission?"
But he knelt down to give her a quick kiss on the forehead, "If I told you it wouldn't be a secret. Have fun looking at the jewels!"
"That man!" Lina said as she put her hands on her hips, and then she smiled as she shook her head, "Come on, Amelia, let's go look at those beautiful jewels!"