(AN: Chapter fourteen is probably going to be more serious than I would have liked, so hopefully there will be enough humor later to be satisfied by. ^^ Almost done!)

Royal Blunders

Chapter Fourteen: Justice, Imported Wine, And A Priestess Can Do A Lot

"I'm so tired that I can't sleep

Standing on the edge of something much too deep

It's funny how I feel so much yet cannot say a word

We are screaming inside, oh, we can't be heard…

…So afraid to love you, more afraid to lose

Clinging to a past that doesn't let me choose

Where once there was a darkness, a deep and endless night

You gave me everything you had, oh, you gave me life."

~ I Will Remember You, Sarah McLachlan

It was amazing how the shock would not register in Amelia's mind. She had been waiting and searching for him, yet the meeting that was finally about to take place between them, for the first time since the argument, was something unexpected. She swallowed heavily; her throat seemed to have suddenly become very dry. "Hello, Zelgadis-san."

Zelgadis froze. He could not believe that she was here, after such a vivid fight, after so much emotion, saying something as simple as "hello" to him. Shouldn't she be screaming? Or hitting him with all the magical power she possessed, as punishment for his stupidity? Shouldn't she be doing something?

"Amelia." He nodded his head slightly, as he spoke, to show that he had acknowledged her. What now, he thought. What else could he say now? He had just been lectured by a stranger, had just been reprimanded for being so dense in the matters of the heart, had just learned some things he had never bothered to learn before. He was worn out from talking. But the words that had been spoken in his head only minutes ago were now cemented in his mind as he stared at her…

You seem to be afraid, Kimirah had said.

Why in HELL would I be afraid, he had replied furiously.

Because you know nothing about handling love.

Was he still afraid? He let out his breath swiftly, to hide his nervousness from her. Funny, that was another one of the many things he now hid from her.

Amelia fidgeted with her fingers, finally balling them up into a tightly held position. What should she say now? Zelgadis didn't seem to be in any hurry, so there probably wasn't any danger of him escaping. But what words could possibly gain his attention, when the last words he had heard from her had caused him to storm away and leave town? Somehow, she thought, 'how is the weather up here' didn't seem quite as inviting. "How are you…have you found anything up here?"

Now there was something Zelgadis could answer without the threat of awkward tendencies. "There was an entire library of information. I just didn't feel like going through all eight hundred-ninety shelves of it." He blinked as he remembered what he was going to ask. "How did you find me?"

Amelia shrugged lightly. "Lina-san thought you might go someplace creepy, and we arrived at this temple as soon as she suggested it."

A tiny sweatdrop rolled down the side of Zelgadis' head. "Figures…"

"And Gourry-san got stuck in a wall, so it took us a while to get out of there…"

The expression on Zelgadis' face flattened. "Why am I not surprised…" Of course, he had no intention of spilling the fact that he himself had gotten pulled though the wall from being so easily amused. That he would keep to himself.

Amelia continued quietly. "And then a shrine maiden helped us find the way out. She was very kind, and she knew who you were. That's how we found you in this garden…"

Zelgadis cocked an eyebrow ever so slightly; was that were Kimirah had gone? And then another thought struck him…how much had Kimirah told Amelia? He had, after all, had a long conversation with the priestess, and she was bound to have told him some of the more innermost details that he was not yet ready to share. He cursed inwardly at the bothersome priestess and looked over at Amelia again. "She knew you?" he asked cautiously.

"Well, she seemed to, well enough…" At this, Amelia had to wonder herself, exactly how had the priestess known the both of them; herself and Zelgadis, when she had never met them before? But before she could belabor the moment for that question, she looked directly at Zelgadis. It was time to stop procrastinating.

"Zelgadis-san…I…I need to talk to you."

"Like you are now?" That was an incredibly stupid question on his own part, Zelgadis thought to himself, but Amelia didn't seem particularly affected by it; she seemed much more focused than himself.

"Yes. I need to talk to you…" Amelia could not bring herself to gaze at his face any longer, and now turned her eyes' direction to the ground. "I need to talk to you…about yesterday."

Ah, yes, yesterday. The day he, Zelgadis, had been dreading the subject of. Now he was in trouble. His stomach sank as he eyed her quietly. "Go on…"

Amelia bit back her lip. She had not expected the discussion to be turned over to her so quickly, but nevertheless, began to talk. "I want to…apologize."

Well, this came as a shock. She was apologizing? And here Zelgadis had been expecting a reprimand from Amelia, as well, and she…was apologizing to him?? It was now that Zelgadis felt a strange twisting feeling in his stomach. "For…what?"

She still could not look at him, blinking repeatedly, for fear of tears gushing down her face in front of him. "I know how much you want to be a real human. I know you don't want to have the looks you have now. I really do. I'm sorry for putting so much pressure on you when all you w-wanted was to look like e-everyone else…" She nearly choked on the lump that was growing in her throat. Zelgadis didn't say a word. "I guess I was just…so upset that you were leaving, because I've been trying to get you to know how much you mean to everyone, and your looks don't change that…"

"Amelia…" Zelgadis almost reached out to stop her. She was going to cry, he knew it. The pang he kept feeling in his gut was shame; it was himself who had brought this suffering on her, the guilt she thought was her own, but really was not. That was another unexpected turn. Zelgadis had not been anticipating feeling ashamed of his own actions, when he had just convinced himself that they were right. How did that happen?

"And I was so s-selfish, trying to keep you in Seyruun when you were trying to look for a cure, and I shouldn't have gotten mad, but I was so upset that you were leaving me…" She made the mistake of looking into his eyes, then closed her own, feeling the warm wet trickle down her cheeks, embarrassed of the excess emotion she was pressuring him with, again.

Zelgadis could only stare at her dampening face. So, it hadn't been an act, he thought belatedly. As the princess broke down in front of him, he could only think of everything that had been said prior to this conversation, and it began to piece itself together as he looked on…

"Amelia never forgot about you…she never forgot about the bracelet, or the promise, for that matter…"

"Underneath, she's not so stupid to you…"

"During this whole month, you've been seeing her with new eyes. She's more grown up, and you've seen that. She's also seen you for the true person you are, under that rocky head of yours. Of course, she knew most of that before this month. That's what she's been trying to tell you."

Kimirah had been right, he thought, looking down on Amelia, sobbing silently onto the ground…

"It's something you have never experienced before, yet it's been there all along, but you were too scared to recognize it."

"Amelia will not hold a grudge against you. Why do you think she's looking for you?"

"I mean…you're running."

"Oh, what, from Amelia?" Zelgadis had said in an angry tone. "Is that what you're going to say?"

"That's exactly what I was going to say."

It all began to click inside Zel's head. He kneeled next to Amelia, who had been stammering her apologies, and had collapsed to her knees as well. He took a gentle hold of her shoulders and shook her just slightly. "Amelia, calm down a minute." Yes, it all was starting to make sense…it was all crazy…it was stupid, really…but it made sense…

"Amelia wants you to have human feelings. They're keeping you from finding the way to look human. And you don't think that what Amelia wants you to be will ever be better than what you dreamed of."

Amelia looked up at Zelgadis, surprised at his sudden change of motion. Her face was shining with tears. "I'm sorry, Z-Zelgadis-san…"

"What I meant when I said you were not faithful…was that you are quite unfaithful…to what Amelia wants. And you don't know this, but…what she wants is what you want. Do you know what that means, O Emotion-Challenged One?"

"Don't be sorry, Amelia," answered Zelgadis quietly, looking at the ground and releasing his grip on her as he stood up again, and she followed suit. "Just…don't. Look, I'm…sorry. It was my fault."

Amelia wiped her face immediately, flushing slightly from her unbridled emotion. "Zelgadis-san, don't say that. It wasn't all your fault."

"Why did you come out here, then?" Zelgadis was desperately searching for answers from Amelia, because Kimirah had said she was the only one qualified to tell him. Huh, he thought, imagine that, me listening to that crazy priestess.

Amelia peered up at Zelgadis somewhat fixedly. "To find you."

Why was she so rapt when it came to him, Zelgadis wondered. He had tormented her with his leaving, had unknowingly forced her to search for him, and was causing her to sob right in from of him. So, why? "But…why?"

Amelia drew in a long, shuddering breath. Now was the time. If she didn't do what Adara had told her to do, she would never say it. Now or never, she thought. "Because I love you." There it was. Blunt, and abrupt. But it was out.

Zelgadis gaped at her. He'd heard this many time before from alternate sources, but to hear it from Amelia's own mouth was positively bewildering.

Enraptured by her own confidence, Amelia began to speak in a much clearer, much louder voice. "Why else would I be so upset, Zelgadis-san? Adara was right! It would be unjust to lie about something this important…I love you, Zelgadis-san! All this time I though it was just a strong bond of friendship, but with all these emotions, what else could it be?? My heart of Justice is telling me so, and Justice is ALWAYS right!! Think about it. I even kissed you, Zelgadis-san!!"

"That was under the influence of two glasses of imported wine, Amelia," interrupted Zelgadis weakly.

"That doesn't matter!" continued Amelia with as much zest as before and without a single falter. "Adara was right, Zelgadis-san." She looked him deliberately in the eyes. "She said that you think you have to look like everyone else to be happy. You're too caught up in being normal to think about what really matters. But you don't need a normal body for that, Zelgadis-san! You don't need that for things like friendship, and justice, and…" Her eyes stung from staring at him so intensely. "I don't care about how you look."

Zelgadis didn't say a word.

"And I love you anyway." With that, she exhaled slowly, clasped her hands in the folds of her shirt, and looked up at him, waiting, almost fearfully.

Zelgadis stared at the ground, thinking. She's right. About all of that. I wanted a cure to be human. I wanted it so I would feel like I was a normal part of this world. So I would get out from being under the curse Rezo gave me. So I could walk on a street and not be stared at for once. But after a while, I…he glanced at Amelia's hopeful-looking face. I…wanted it not just for myself, but…I want it to be with Amelia. So she would love me.

He lifted his gaze from the ground. But she does. She already does. He took a step forward and, to both his and Amelia's surprise, grasped her hands in his. "I think it's taken me a couple absences, a priestess, and you to get this out of me, but…"

Amelia hardly dared to breathe. Or move, for that matter. "What, Zelgadis-san?"

"I…I love you…too. I guess I've been…afraid of admitting it, but from what I've been told…and what's happened this month…it's all that makes sense. It's taken a number of things for me to realize…how much I care for you." Then he stopped suddenly, with bated breath, for her reaction.

Which was nothing like what he expected. Amelia had flung her arms around his neck as much as she could, for Zelgadis was taller than herself, and had suddenly kissed him. Wide eyes and a bright red flush covered his face, until the initial shock had been suspended, and he could relax into it.

When Amelia stepped back from him, her face was as brilliantly red as his own, but her smile was even more so. She fidgeted slightly with her fingers and grinned somewhat sheepishly. "I think that was better than the kiss from before." She laughed into her palms a little.

Zelgadis cracked into a half-smile, embarrassed as it was. "Do you even remember that?"

"Not really," she said with a slight chuckle. "This'll take the place of it." Then she cocked her head curiously at him. "Zelgadis-san…no offense, but I kind of wasn't expecting you to…um…admit how you felt so quickly. But you did." She examined his face quizzically, waiting for an answer. "How?"

Zelgadis shrugged. "It took me a while. I guess my leaving you made me see how much you are to me…and, uh…that priestess knocked some sense into me." He massaged his temple. "Literally."

Amelia nodded slowly, taking it all in to piece together the broken puzzle of her thoughts. "So…what now, Zelgadis-san?"

Zelgadis surveyed the garden behind him. The early morning sky was peeking through the twisted vines of the green canopy, a brilliant mix of reds, pinks, and violets. He looked back down at Amelia. "I guess…I'll go back to Seyruun with you. I'm still learning a lot, aren't I? You should be able to teach me." He looked quite serious as he said this.

"Really, Zelgadis-san?" Amelia looked quite happy now.

Zelgadis smiled and moved a loose strand of black hair out of Amelia's face and behind her ear. "Really, Amelia." Then he broke into an all-out grin, a first for him. "You're being stubborn, you know."

Amelia was slightly alarmed by this statement. "I am…? How?"

"You forgot? I kept telling you to stop calling me 'Zelgadis-san', didn't I?" His eyes were just the tiniest bit mischievous. Amelia smiled in relief.

"I'm just used to calling you Zelgadis-san, that's all. It might be hard to break the habit."

Then Zelgadis cupped his hands behind Amelia's head, moving some of her hair aside. "You're going to have to learn."

Amelia blushed, resting her arms against his shoulders. "Then we both have a lot to learn, I guess!"

Zelgadis nodded silently, and pulled her gently toward him into a kiss, which she accepted wholeheartedly.

…;::..;::*::;..::;…

"Well, that was much quicker than I expected, but it was well worth the effort," exclaimed Kimirah, peeking through a hole in the carpeted vines. She smiled as Zelgadis pulled Amelia into the kiss. "Good boy, Zelgadis." She let the vines fall back into place and turned to the other two.

Lina was walking back and forth in the dirt, with such an intense look on her face and pound in her step that she had reduced that particular section of the ground to a grinded line in the dust. Gourry was watching her curiously as he absentmindedly picked the petals off of a rare flower he'd found behind the shrine he was sitting on.

"Are you trying to make a hole, Lina?" he asked casually, now shredding the petals into microscopic pieces.

Lina groaned in frustration and turned on him. "I'm waiting for them to get back out here! What are they doing? And what's taking so long?" She glanced at Kimirah for answers.

Kimirah merely grinned. "I don't think you'll have to wait for long, Lina. I, however, have to get back to work." She dusted off the front of her robes and took a few steps toward Lina. "Don't be too hard on him. It took a lot for him to understand."

"Understand what?" Lina asked impatiently.

"Oh, a lot of things," said Kimirah, waving her hand. "His feelings, Amelia's feelings, and most importantly…himself." She looked at the wrought iron gate covered by vines, but could see through them. Amelia and Zelgadis were making their way back quickly. She turned to Lina with a smile. "Don't tease them too much for being in love." She turned on heel and swept away from Lina, who was staring after her, shell-shocked.

"What?? Wait a minute, Kimirah, what do you mean in lo—" But Kimirah was gone from sight. Lowering her hand, Lina dashed over to the gate to try and see them. "I can't see a thing--!"

Gourry arose from his seat and stood behind her, peering past the gate. Lina looked up at him. "Well, what do you see?" she demanded.

Gourry, after a moment's pause, stood back on his heels and shrugged. "Not a thing."

Lina scowled and ran back past Gourry. "What are you doing…?" he asked, but Lina ignored him, rolling up her sleeves.

"I'm sick of waiting…" she murmured angrily, walking towards the gate and turning into a sprint.

She took a running leap into the air, with her right foot aimed downward at the gate. "OPEN UP, YOU STUPID—" Before her foot hit the gate, the invisible forcefield between the outside, where they were, and the inside of the temple garden sensed a motion, and repelled Lina backwards as soon as the tip of her foot came close. Lina flew backwards into Gourry, knocking them both into the dirt.

Gourry instantly tried to sit up, but failed and groaned painfully, as Lina was sitting on his stomach. "Oi, Lina…" he gasped for breath.

Lina sat up and looked at him. "What?"

Gourry heaved a short breath and cried, "You're sitting on me, and you're heavy!" He had barely finished when he caught, not a moment too soon, Lina's fist aiming straight for his face. He caught the other one as it came flying at him.

"I'll teach you not to call me heavy, Gourry--!" hissed Lina, wrestling with his arms and finally wrenching out of his grip and grasping his arms when she was free, flattening them to the ground and sitting on his stomach to hold him there. "Take it back!"

"Linaaaa!" Now there was no doubt that Gourry would suffer for his misuse of words, and also, that he would suffocate.

"Take it back!"

"But, Lina!"

"Take it BACK!"

"Lina!"

"Gourry—"

"Lina…"

"—I'm warning you—"

"*gasp* I can't…"

"Can't take it back?"

"….Can't breathe…"

At that precise moment, Zelgadis led Amelia through the gate, only to have both of them find Lina and Gourry in quite a compromising situation: Gourry, laying on the ground, straddled by Lina, who was pinning his arms to his sides. Zelgadis blinked. "Are we…interrupting something?" At his side, Amelia giggled under her breath.

Lina sneered at him. "Absolutely not." She stood up instantly, allowing Gourry to stand, and kicked him in the shin for good measure. "And where have you been, Mr. I-Think-I'm-More-Important-Than-Everyone?" she asked darkly, as Gourry howled and hopped around on one foot in the background. "Change your mind yet?"

Amelia spoke up for him. "Zelgadis-san is coming back. There's no need for you to get mad at him now, Lina-san." She gave Zelgadis an encouraging look, but he could only smile weakly and pray that Lina would be merciful.

Lina gave Zelgadis a calculating look. "Is that true?"

Zelgadis, in response, nodded, perhaps a bit more enthusiastically than necessary, but hey, he was ensuring the safety of his health, here. "Absolutely. I made a mistake, and I…I want to make it right…if I can."

"Glad to hear it, Zel," said Lina, grinning suddenly, and alarming the two of them slightly with the change of personality. "You know, it was stupid of you to leave, but it must have taken guts to come back. More importantly, it must take a lot of guts to face me."

Zelgadis grinned. "I'm sure."

Lina nodded. "You better be, because I was about to Dragon Slave you to next Wednesday," she added cheerfully, going over to help Gourry off his one foot.

Zelgadis gave Amelia a deadpan look. "She's something else." Amelia nodded in agreement.

Lina approached the two of them again, dragging Gourry by the arm; he waved weakly at Zel. "We're going back to Seyruun! Although," added Lina, in slight disappointment, "I'd rather stay on the road than go back to give a report on the difference between dinner forks." She muttered something about "stupid Recburg".

Amelia gave her a sympathetic look. "You know, Lina-san…you all may be knighted…but that doesn't mean you have to be confined to the palace."

Lina perked up instantly; Zelgadis looked at Amelia somewhat incredulously, in hopes that what she said was true, and Gourry stopped rubbing his arm to look up too.

Amelia nodded. "I know I got you all into this to reward you, but none of you are very happy with what's happened in the last month…" she gave Zelgadis an oddly furtive glance as she said this, "So, if you want, I'll ask Daddy to let you all go."

Lina stared. "Amelia…are you sure? I mean, you were so happy to have us all there…" Even as she said so, she had a look on her face, one that hoped Amelia would let them go.

Amelia shrugged. "If you leave, it doesn't mean you're not knighted anymore! Besides, you don't really fit in with royalty. What I mean is, you belong on the road, fighting and everything!" she added nervously, as Lina narrowed her eyes. "So, Lina-san, Gourry-san…Zelgadis-s…" Amelia smiled at Zelgadis, making sure to drop the '-san' part. "I'll make sure we can get out of there."

Lina wrapped Amelia in a swift, rushed hug, yanked Gourry by the arm, and began rushing down the road, away from the temple as fast as was humanly possible. "Then let's get going, guys!!" In her excitement, she'd forgotten to tease the two that were still standing behind, for which Zelgadis was thankful.

Amelia made a happy noise between a squeal and a laugh, and gazed eagerly at Zelgadis. "She's right. Let's get back as soon as we can!"

Zelgadis nodded, allowing a half-grin to form on his face, and began to follow Amelia as she ran down the road, until he heard a very familiar, very triumphant-sounding voice somewhere above him as he walked.

I have to say, I'm proud of you, Zelgadis Graywords. You've done well.

Zelgadis didn't have to, but he turned around to see who was speaking. No one was there. Until he saw a distant figure in the high window of the temple, which was slowly fading into the background as he walked. A smiling face and easily noticeable violet robes told him it was Kimirah. He didn't frown. Thanks, Kimirah.

He could see her waving slightly. And don't think you've gotten rid of me. I think we will be seeing each other again very soon.

He had to laugh. Yeah, sure.

Then he heard it. Because you owe me for that broken fountain.

NOW he frowned. Zelgadis backed away before turning completely to follow Amelia and the others, back onto the road to Seyruun.