(AN: I hope you all like this chapter, because it was hard to write, what with Amelia and Zel's current situation left hanging. Lina and Gourry's, too, now that I think about it… ^_^ .~*~Tams~*~

NOTE: Destructive Sorceress pointed out to me that there is a fic called To Err Is Human, by Ichiban Victory…I just want you to know that I did NOT steal the title! The title goes along with this whole chapter, OK? Just so you all know. )

Royal Blunders

Chapter Ten: To Err Is Human, To Ransack A Kitchen Is Divine

"So what so I've got a smile on


It's hiding the quiet superstitions in my head

don't believe me


Don't you dare believe me


when I say I've got it down

everybody is just a stranger


but that's the danger in going my own way


I guess it's a price I have to pay


still everything happens for a reason


is no reason not to ask yourself if you are


living it right."

~ Why Georgia, John Mayer

Amelia was still sitting in that chair in the front Hall, watching with hazy blue eyes the colorful shadows cast by the setting sun on the stained glass windows. They created a million tiny rainbows on the marble floor. They were beautiful. She loved those windows.

Now, they seemed as empty to her as the man who'd walked past them a few hours ago, seemingly, never to return. They reminded her of him; they were cold, but from the wind hurtling against them from outside, not from cold hearts. They, at first glance, made one curious about them, they were colorful, but in the end were just sheets of painted glass.

Zelgadis wasn't much different.

Funny, how things end up, she thought. I thought Zelgadis-san was changing for the better. Then he got scared…yes, that's it, he's scared. He was scared of the things that might happen, because he wants to believe that he is a cold, heartless swordsman destined to be a lone wolf forever. That's the image he wants of himself, and nothing can change that…right?

She covered her tear-stricken face with her hands, breathing in deeply. "I wish he'd just told me….why can't he just tell people what he feels? He didn't have as big of a problem with it before!" She leaned forward, resting her chin on her folded arms and letting her eyelids droop. "Why did he leave? Why did he do that?"

He's so…I'm so confused.

She traced the faint remnant of a burn mark on the table with her index finger, her mind drifting slowly into sleep mode. "I want to know why he did that…why he won't tell…me…I wish he were still here. I wish he were…I wish…" A quiet thump signaled that she'd fallen asleep.

~*~*~

"Done!"

Gourry took a few steps backwards to the door and peered around to look at his handiwork. He'd spent an hour and a half cleaning up Lina's room for her; the mirror sparkled, the floor was clean, the furniture was dusted, the bed was made—it was perfect!

He made sure the painting on the left of the door was perfectly straight, then smiled brightly. "Now it's good."

WHAM!

In the split second during the "WHAM!", the door flew open, crashing into the wall with a loud, resounding "BOOM!", leaving an indent in the plaster and wood chips scattered on the now dusty floor. The painting went back to its jaunty, sideways position, and Gourry stared at the mess wrought by an annoyed looking Lina Inverse in the doorway. He was more amazed than upset at how his cleaning result could be brought to a dust-filled destruction in less than three-quarters of a second.

"Gourry!" Lina shouted, her fists clenched, making him jump a foot off the dirty floor. "I can't find Amelia anywhere! She's not in her room, the Ballroom, the Dining Room, anywhere!" Her fists went to rest on her hips as she stared at the cleaner half of the room. "What've you been doing in here, anyway?"

Gourry twiddled his thumbs and smiled in his naïve way. "Well, I thought, since you weren't feeling too well earlier, I ought to help you out a little and cheer you up!" He laughed nervously.

Surprisingly, Lina didn't hit him. She poked him instead. "What made you think I needed to be cheered up? (I was under the previous assumption that nothing could make you think that hard, anyway,)" she asked, raising her eyebrows at him.

"Well, I thought it would make you happy. It would make me feel better, too. And you were roadsick, like I said before."

"Roadsick, huh?" Lina smirked, shaking her head. "It would make you feel better? You're the most complacent person I've ever met, Gourry."

Gourry scratched the back of his head, his mouth in the shape of a thoughtful "o". "Complashent? What's that?"

That resulted in a somewhat lighter bonk on the head. "It means self-satisfied, idiot."

Gourry rubbed his head. "You know, Lina, I do know some things, like how you're feeling. Isn't that more important than knowing what some weird word like 'comprayshint' means?" He gave her an earnest look, and she looked a little taken aback, but folded her arms.

"If you know how I'm feeling, what am I feeling like now?" She stared straight at his eyes defiantly, but Gourry didn't falter.

"You're annoyed at me."

"So what?" she snapped, her eye twitching a little. "I feel like that more than half the time, anyway." She frowned at him, wearing a mean look. "Even you know that."

Gourry nodded solemnly. "But, you know, I pay attention sometimes…that's how I know what you're feeling like, and you weren't happy today. That makes me unhappy." He folded his arms, perhaps in imitation of her. "I don't know what some things mean. But I know what you feel like, Lina. I've been around you way too long to know otherwise, and I hope you know that what you feel like matters a lot to me."

"Well—" Lina began, struck by his simple (when I say simple, I mean simple) logic once again. "You—I think you have—oh, c'mon, stupid, we have to go find Amelia!" She yanked him out of the room by his upper arm and slammed the door, making the painting fall from the floor to the wall altogether.

~*~*~

Amelia, in a light, dreamless sleep state, felt a warm hand on her shoulder, prodding her gently.

"A little worse for wear, aren't we, Princess," a familiar voice stated with an amused tone.

Amelia's head shot up immediately, to see Lady Adara smiling calmly down at her, seated in the opposite chair. Her hand fell and rested on top of the other one as Amelia sat up drowsily, rubbing her eyes and sitting up straight. "I'm sorry….I fell asleep, I—"

Lady Adara held up a hand to quiet her. "No need to explain, Princess, I asked the staff to let you regain your yourself this morning, but you went to sleep rather late. There's no shame in still being tired." Lady Adara's serene smile made Amelia want to break down again; she felt as though she wouldn't be able to smile for a long time…her face fell as she stared at the table, unable to think of something to say.

Lady Adara saw this immediately. 'Something the matter, Princess?"

Amelia didn't look up as she locked her fingers together in front of her. "Zelgadis-san…"

"Left?" Lady Adara's sympathy was genuine, it showed in her docile eyes.

Amelia stared at her sorrowfully before resting her chin in her hands. "How did you know?"

Lady Adara shook her head. "My dear Princess, for one, I saw him earlier today. He looked very determined, but upset as well. And now I find you, sitting near the door, asleep, and now you're wearing the most melancholy face I've had the misfortune to see on so vibrant a girl as yourself, Princess." She looked right into Amelia's saddened eyes and said, "And I know it must be upsetting, not to mention the shock of finding out you've kissed him as well."

Amelia, in spite of being depressed, hadn't lost the ability to blush profusely. "H-How'd you know about that?"

Lady Adara drew one of her secretive smiles. "Once again, Sir Greywords' face gave it away. When he came down from your room, he was turning that interesting shade of pink he has whenever something embarrasses him. And you were liable to have done something out of the blue, being under the influence of two glasses of wine." She chuckled lightly. "I knew that the only possible thing was that you'd kissed him. People, you could say, have their hearts not only on their sleeves, but also in their eyes. Next time you want to know what he's thinking, look at his face, Amelia, in his eyes."

The blush faded, and Amelia's expression was downcast once again. "Lady Adara, I don't think he—"

"Adara, my dear. I feel that formality, in this case, is wholly unnecessary. And I hope you won't find it out of disrespect when I call you Amelia; rather, I hope you find it acceptable in terms of friendship." Adara clasped Amelia's hand kindly. Amelia managed to raise her parted frown up to a small grin.

Adara released her hand and peered steadily at her face. "Now, continue, please."

Amelia drew in a slow breath. "La—Adara, I don't think he's coming back."

Adara cocked her head slightly to the side. "And why is that?"

"He left yelling at me. He doesn't think he's human, and all he's going to focus on is getting a stupid cure! It's as if he doesn't care about me or Lina-san or Gourry-san, or what we'll all do. He was changing so much, and then he had to go and throw it all away, he threw what he could have had away!" Her voice cracked as she began to choke up, shutting her eyes tight to keep the tears down.

"Amelia…" Adara's soft voice broke through the quiet sobs. "It's healthier to let out your feelings. You know that. I wish Sir Greywords did, but right now, it's only you and me, so just let it out." Adara dragged her chair over to Amelia's side and patted her back lightly as Amelia sniffled.

"Now," began Adara quietly, "I'm going to tell you what I think. I think that even though what Sir Greywords did was indeed irrational, it has some logic to it."

Amelia's tearstained face looked up at her, pink and puzzled. 'You mean…you think what he did is alright?" She wiped her eyes and sat there, looking confused as ever. "How could it possibly be alright?" Her wide blue eyes looked as though she was contemplating a huge ordeal.

Adara smiled. "You know, you remind me just a little of your mother."

Amelia's head shot up to stare at Adara, who just nodded serenely, her eyes shining reminiscently. "Yes, she and I were nearly the same age, separated only by the difference of a couple years. She would talk to me at times, about her life, when she had just little problems that would confuse her…she'd get that very same look."

Adara looked reflectively at Amelia, whose mouth was parted in something not too short of awe. "And she'd get that other look afterwards, that silly look of dawning comprehension whenever I told her my answers." She folded her hands. "So I'll tell you now…Sir Greywords did act irrationally. But, as you may have heard, to err is human."

Amelia nodded slowly, eyes rimmed with interest.

"You were correct, Sir Greywords is indeed human. Do you know what makes up a human? Emotion. Want. Need. Thought. And…" she glanced at Amelia before finishing, "Especially fault."

"Fault?"

"Mm-hmm. Fault is a natural feature of a human being. We learn from fault, we correct our mistakes, we move on to what is hopefully a better decision on our part, having experienced being wrong due to fault. Fault is what helps us realize things. And emotion, that is what helps us to get over things, to see things. We express our decisions with emotion. They go hand in hand."

She glanced at Amelia to see her reaction, which was a quiet reverie, eyes on Adara at all times. She continued.

"Obviously, or, at least I hope, Sir Greywords will learn from this fault. He is human, but he doesn't realize it yet because he is caught up in the belief that looks triumph over feelings. He is too focused on his body, rather than his heart. He believes that once he has attained a normal, human body, he will be like everyone else.

"What he doesn't know is that he is already like everyone else. The human body isn't something to be regarded as necessary to express yourself. It is merely where we keep our souls and minds, though some people take it to the farthest extent they ought not to take it to. The human heart is something to be kept healthy, and Sir Greywords is keeping his own heart in its own dark, depressing environment by leaving his friends.

"Now, in your case…" she gave the silent Amelia one of her secretive smiles, "I think Sir Greywords has something more in his heart for you, and he's been opening it up lately, until you kissed him. I believe that that experience was too much for him to handle as of yet, and he became scared of having someone so close and comfortable with him…Sir Greywords is the type that needs solace to focus on what he needs. He wants his cure so much that he has to separate himself from everyone in order to focus on getting it. Though I think that, if he found it, he would come straight to you." She sighed shortly and leaned back in her chair.

Amelia, who had been watching this one-sided discussion with awed eyes and a wide-open mouth, sat up straight. "I understand…he has to take things one at a time…" she sighed dramatically. "But I didn't mean to kiss him…not really…" She blushed again, twiddling her thumbs.

Adara gave a melodious laugh. "I'm sure that was the case, and I know it wasn't completely your fault. But Sir Greywords was still nervous about it. But, on another note…" she grinned slyly at Amelia, "I have a feeling….a hunch, if you will, that he cares more about you than he lets on. Maybe the whole reason he's searching for humanity is so he can share it with you."

Amelia blinked. "What?"

Lady Adara nodded solemnly, but with an amused twinkle in her eye. "Maybe why he wants a cure for a human body is so he can be comfortable around you in particular. Men have that tendency; the need to be completely content in a situation. Then again, that's just my opinion." She chuckled again, her eyes still docile. "But Amelia, you should know what you have to do, now."

"I should?" Amelia was jarred out of a pensive wake as she turned to gaze at Adara. "What sh…what should I do?"

"Tell him how you feel. Tell him what I told you and make sure he knows that you only want him around."

Amelia was hesitant, but she looked the tiniest bit hopeful. "You mean, go find him?"

Adara nodded at once, her long silver/gray braid shaking. "Yes, go find him. I know you can. Besides, I'm quite sure Lady Lina is itching to get out of here," she finished, smiling graciously.

Amelia shook her head and smiled a genuinely happy smile. "Okay, Adara."

Then Adara gave her the sly smile again. "And don't forget to tell him you love him." She winked, chuckling.

"Right, don't forget to—huh?" Amelia was surprised, but pleasantly—yes, if she was so emotional about this situation, that was the explanation. She loved him. All the things Adara had been saying were true about herself as well, only on a different level—she hadn't known she'd loved him, she'd only thought of it as a particularly strong bond between the two. But if she was so upset over him, if the whirlwind of emotions was all over him, then—well, she was willing to let it go to that extreme of love.

She stood up and gazed thoughtfully at Adara. "How did you know all of that, Adara?"

Another secretive smile. "I fell in love once. I had to figure it all out as well. Think of this as your getting off easily."

Amelia nodded, and was just about to ask who she fell in love with, but just then, they both heard the crash of a vase, followed by a string of colorful curse words that won't be repeated if we want to keep this story rated at PG.

"That's Lina-san," said Amelia sheepishly.

That shattering of glass was followed by an indistinct question—then a loud smack and the hard thud of something falling sideways on the floor.

"And I'm guessing that's Sir Gabriev," finished Adara, shaking her head, the amused twinkle never leaving her eyes as Lina poked her head around the corner.

"Amelia!" she shouted, then disappeared behind the corner for a few seconds. Amelia blinked—until Lina appeared again, stomping and dragging, with her right hand, the long mane of golden hair from Gourry's lumpy head. Both of them watched, the only sound being Lina's grunts and the sound of Gourry's armor grinding against the marble floor.

When Lina reached them, she dropped the mane and let Gourry's head fall to the floor with a softer thud than before, putting her hands on her hips. "Where have you been, Amelia? Oh, hi, Adara," she gave an offhand wave to the elder woman before turning back to Amelia. "I swear, I have been looking for you for three HOURS! Do you know how long I had to lug this jellyfish around??" She jerked her thumb down at the unconscious form of a lumpy Gourry, twitching on the floor.

Amelia had to stifle a giggle, in spite of it all. "I'm sorry, Lina-san…I fell asleep after—" She looked down at Adara, and Lina looked back and forth between the both of them, frowning.

"What? After what? What did I miss? What's going on that no one told me? This doesn't happen very often!" To her side, Gourry gave a low groan. Adara nodded at Amelia, who exhaled shortly.

"After…after Zelgadis-san left."

Lina folded her arms, raising an eyebrow and beginning to take on that usual dangerous look. "Left to go where? Some wimpy diplomat thing? Because if that's the case, there is something seriously wrong with him." She sighed plaintively. "I knew his laying around and doing nothing wouldn't come to any good! Lazyass."

Amelia took the opportunity to let a large sweatdrop roll down the side of her forehead. "Uh, Lina-san, that's not it. He's left…to go find his cure."

"He left in such a rush," added Adara. "He was furious, yelling at the Princess, but I'm sure he—"

"He WHAT?!" Lina's eyes widened to their fullest extent, filling with the fiery, dangerous glint she got whenever she spied a bandit gang, a look she hadn't had in over a month. "That big, stupid—he left without—that damn—I'm gonna KILL him, I swear—"

Gourry sat up, wincing, and rubbed his head as he looked up at the three women. "Oh, hi, Amelia! Hi, Adara! Hi, Lina with a really hard fist and scary look in her eye!"

Lina chose to glare at him while uttering a low, threatening growl in her throat to show her irritation. Luckily, Gourry backed off, chuckling nervously as he stood up, dusting himself off. "So…is this a party or something? Where's Zel?"

Lina's eyes narrowed even further. "Stone Boy decided to go off and look for his cure again without saying a damn thing about it." She looked over at Amelia. "Well?"

Amelia blinked, staring back at Lina. "Well…what?"

Lina threw out her arms in frustration. "Well, are you coming? We're going to find Zel!"

Amelia nodded at once. "Of course, Lina-san, that's what I was trying to tell you, I'm going to find—wait, you want to come too?"

"Well, obviously we are!" (She made no effort to ask Gourry's opinion.) "Zelgadis Greywords might think he's something else, but he is nothing compared to Lina Inverse! Besides," she added, her tone rising. "Do you know how long it's been since I've traveled? Do you know how long it has been since these hands touched dirt? How long it's been since I FRIED something?!" She grabbed Amelia's shoulders and shook her slightly. "I need to get on the road, again! Gourry said it himself!"

Gourry, for whatever reason, looked immensely proud of himself. "Yeah, I told Lina she was roadsick, because I know what she's feel—" He was cut off by another blow to the head. "Itaiiii…"

"Just because you finally accomplished original thought doesn't mean you can interrupt me." Lina clapped her hands together and clapped Amelia on the back. "Well, come on! Help me get my stuff, because we are OUT of here!"

Amelia looked surprised. "For how long?"

Lina smirked, her triumphant smirk that Amelia hadn't seen for a while. "For however long I want to be gone! You might be able to spend some time in a dress learning how to eat soup with the right fork, but not Lina Inverse! Lina Inverse goes out. Lina Inverse does some badass magic. Lina Inverse gets her bandits, and Lina Inverse gets her gold." Lina struck a pose. "I'm ready to be Lina Inverse again!"

Amelia grinned and shot her fist into the air. "Alright, Lina-san! That's the way a warrior of justice thinks!" This resulted in sweatdrops from Lina and Gourry, but Amelia chose to ignore them. She threw her arms around Lady Adara, who had been watching this proclamation unfold for a few silent minutes, and was now pleasantly surprised. "Thank you so much, Adara! If it wasn't for you—"

"Don't thank me now, Princess," said Adara, standing up and smoothing out the creases of her dress, smiling. "You have somewhere to go and someone's heart to get back. I suggest you get going, because it's almost sunset." She gestured out the window to the beautiful rays of gold and red coming in through the stained glass windows.

"C'mon, Amelia, we have to get my clothes! I'm not traveling in this thing," she said, tapping the bodice of her summer gown. "Let's go!"

~*~*~

Only fifteen minutes later, Amelia, Lina, Gourry, and Adara stood outside the palace, just before the wrought iron gates. Lina was hugging herself, a genki grin on her face; she was back in her sorceress garb, and couldn't have looked happier. "Yes! I'm me again! No more dresses, no boring cooks, no more Recburg's dirty looks!"

Adara had to laugh at that. "Oh, don't think of him too little, Lady Lina."

"Just Lina," corrected Lina, hands on her hips in another triumphant pose, her cape swooshing in the breeze. "I don't want people thinking I'm some wussy little princess. No offense, Amelia."

"None taken, Lina-san." Amelia was in her own traveling apparel again as well; she took a few steps around to get the feeling back of moving easily; Lina-san is right, she thought. It feels good to be back on the road!

Gourry watched the two of them with a content grin. "C'mon, you two, let's go and get Zel!"

"Right!" shouted Lina, her fist in the air. "We're gonna get that stupid chimera boy back and toast some bandits! What do you say?!"

"I say," began a drawling voice, "That you are not going to do any of the above." The three of them whirled around to see Sir Recburg, the infamous mustache twitching as usual. Lina bared her teeth and thrust a fist in his direction.

"Don't interfere, Gramps! We're on our way to get Zel back. I'm not stopping for you."

Amelia took a step forward. "Excuse me, Sir Recburg…" Sir Recburg didn't move from his position.

"I know you've been trying very hard to help my friends with their lessons, and we all appreciate, even if some of us don't show it. (Lina snorted.) But I think you should let us make our own decisions, because we can't stay locked up in the castle forever, even if we are part of royalty. I believe that if we are truly going to be warriors of Justice, we should be able to spread fairness around instead of remaining in one place!" She smiled brightly, while Lina and Gourry both fell over.

Adara went silently over to Sir Recburg and whispered something in his ear, then rested an elegant hand on his shoulder. "Let them go."

Sir Recburg began to stutter. "But—they—I can't just let—" He clenched his fists together, and Lina resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at him as he released his grip. "F-Fine…but as soon as you return, I expect a demonstration of which salad fork is which!!"

Lina waved him away. "Yeah, yeah, get on with your life, Gramps." Sir Recburg started to protest, but Adara pushed him gently towards the door, which he went inside, muttering.

Lina began running immediately, clenching Gourry's arm and dragging him down the steps, waving a hurried goodbye to Adara. "We'll see you later, when we get our stupid stone boy back!!" Amelia giggled and hugged Adara before rushing down the steps with more bounce in her step.

"Wait up, Lina-san, Gourry-san!" Amelia caught up to the both of them, and they stopped, out of breath, to wait for her.

"Hurry it up, Amelia!" said Lina, balling up her fists. "I wanna get out there! By the way…" she gestured to an extremely large, lumpy sack waiting by a nearby clump of trees. "I brought some food for the trip."

Gourry nodded in agreement. Amelia blinked. "Um….great…Lina-san…"

"Now," said Lina enthusiastically. "Thanks to Adara, I can do some of my badass magic!"

Gourry shook his head as Amelia giggled again. "I'm sure, Lina-san. We should thank Adara later. She does have a gift for handling Sir Recburg, but I'm not surprised, what with Adara being his wife."

Lina stopped short. "WHAT?!"

~*~*~

Meanwhile, back at the palace…

"Sir Recburg!" A short, squat messenger was sprinting towards Sir Recburg and Adara. He stopped a few feet from them, gasping for breath.

"What's the matter?" Sir Recburg twitched, as though he couldn't handle any more disarray.

The messenger looked up fearfully. "Um…I think you should see this, Sir. In the…in the kitchen."

Sir Recburg gave Adara one swift glance before running (still in a respectively formal manner) off to the kitchens. Five minutes later, he arrived to find the kitchen in ruins, as though pillaged by an army of bandits.

"LIIINAAA INVERSE!!!!"