Pilgrimage –
Reunion
Part Four
Zelgadis looked up from the book, closing it. He'd come to the end of what she had written of the first year. He remembered how ill she'd looked, recalled how angrily she'd pushed him away when he'd offered help. In a series of quick mental calculations, he did the math. Ah. That made sense. Likely she hadn't known it then.
He blushed at his own train of thoughts, forcibly refocusing his attentions on something else. It was early morning, and the sun was just beginning to rise in the window. As he set the book on the seat beside him, he noticed two green eyes peering at him through the crack in the door.
That would be Amelia's daughter.
He paused for a moment, and then offered the child a smile. "You may come in. Contrary to… appearances, I don't bite."
"I know," came the child's answer, yet she didn't enter the room.
He raised a stony eyebrow. "You do?"
"Yes. Mother told me," she replied.
"Well then, come in. I would like to meet you. If I recall correctly, we didn't have much of a meeting last night," Zelgadis said. He wondered if Amelia had been that shy when she was younger. Somehow he doubted it.
The door finally opened and the child tiptoed in, clad in a blue night-dress with bare feet. Her hair tumbled down in unruly locks, and Zelgadis knew right away that she'd snuck out of her room without the servants knowing it. A growing suspicion that she had more spunk than she wanted to reveal planted itself in the back of his mind.
She padded over to the chimera and looked at him with wide green eyes. His other eyebrow lifted to join the first, and he tilted his head as she looked at him. "Am I that strange-looking?"
She considered as seriously as a nine-year-old can consider, and then shook her head. "No."
"Then what do you see that interests you so?" Zelgadis asked, noting the fine features in her face. Yes… Amelia's child indeed with those cheekbones and the shape of her lips.
The girl smiled. "Someone who made my mother smile."
He blinked. Was Amelia that unhappy, then? "Your mother doesn't smile?"
Tangled black tresses swung back and forth as the girl shook her head. "Mother doesn't smile at other people."
"I've seen her smile at you," Zelgadis countered.
"I've seen her smile at you," she echoed, turning it back on Zelgadis, who blinked. That earlier suspicion of his took root. There was definitely more spunk in this child than she was letting on.
At that moment, there was a startled sound outside the room and a servant rushed in, catching up the girl's hand. "Miss Lina! We've been searching all over for you! Come now, you shouldn't be in here with just your night-dress on! And your hair! Oh… what will your mother say…"
The servant started walking the girl to the door, and the girl didn't truly protest, but offered no willing assistance in leaving the room.
When they were gone, Zelgadis shook his head and picked up the second book.
Somewhere, a droplet of water began to form.