"Amelia, what do you think you're doing?" Jonathan demanded as he rushed to catch Amelia as she began to fall. "You're supposed to be in bed regaining your strength! You were very sick for quite a while."
"I won't regain my strength any faster just lying in bed," Amelia protested as Jonathan began to carry her back up the stairs.
"Well, the only thing you'll regain if you try to push yourself in such a way is a relapse," Jonathan scolded. Daniel was just about to start down the stairs when Jonathan and a still protesting Amelia came into view, and he stepped back a bit in shock.
"What's she doing up?" he asked his brother, while Amelia rolled her eyes.
"I found her in the kitchen holding on to the counter for dear life," Jonathan replied.
"You need to be in bed," Daniel said, parroting Jonathan's words.
"I'm surrounded by mother hens," Amelia grumped, earning a laugh from the twins.
"Seriously, you really should listen to Dr. Jonathan here," Daniel said, giving Amelia a serious look. "We were afraid that you wouldn't survive the fever, and you definitely wouldn't survive another one in your weakened condition."
"You should listen to my boys," an amused voice said from the foot of the stairs, and everyone turned to look at Sarah. "They know what they're talking about, and besides, you really don't want to worry us anymore, do you?"
"Lay the guilt on nice and thick," Amelia quipped, then sighed. "All right, I'll stay in my room for another day."
"A few more days," Jonathan said sternly, earning a dirty look from Amelia.
"A few more days," she replied. "I won't leave the room, I promise."
"Good. Now, let's get you back to bed," Jonathan said, and walked into her room, carefully depositing her on her mattress, and covering her with the quilt.
"You know, you really remind me of our sister, Ashely," Jonathan said as he tucked Amelia in. "She was just as willful and stubborn as you are, and once she made up her mind, you had to get out of her way."
"What happened to her?" Amelia asked, curious.
"She didn't want to live life out here on the farm anymore, and so left for the big city in the east. You see, Ashely had a wonderful singing voice, and she didn't feel like it was appreciated out here."
"I bet you miss her," Amelia said softly.
"I do...we all do...but we keep in touch with her, so we know she's doing well," Jonathan replied.
"I don't know if I have any family," Amelia said sadly, wishing, not for the first time since waking up, that she could remember her past, and what had happened to her those moments before her memory had fled.
"I know! We can be your family! Daniel and I can be your big brothers, and Mom can be your mom! What do you think?" Jonathan said, his face as eager as a child half his age.
"A mother," Amelia whispered, and felt something tug at the back of her mind, but when she tried to capture it, it vanished back into her subconscious, where she couldn't reach it. She returned her gaze to Jonathan's eager face, and smiled. "I'd like that," she replied, and Jonathan grinned.
"Good! As your new big brother, I instruct you to get some rest, and to not leave this room for the next few days."
"I knew there would be a catch," Amelia said teasingly.
"Of course! We gotta get you healthy again," Jonathan replied as he left the room, carefully shutting the door behind him.
Amelia lay still for a few moments, listening to the sounds of his footfalls retreating down the hallway, before throwing back the comforter and sitting up, swinging her feet over and placing them down on the floor. Then, using her headboard to brace herself, she rose to her feet and began to take faltering steps, cursing her weakness as she felt her legs tremble beneath her.
"I didn't promise to not get out of bed," Amelia said to the room, "only that I wouldn't leave the room. That doesn't mean I can't try to get my strength back in here."
Amelia couldn't explain the urgency behind her desire to get her strength back, she just knew that Sarah was worried about something. After she had shown Amelia how to mend socks, the two had talked a bit about the farm, the boys, and how to try to regain Amelia's memory. When Amelia asked about the boys' father, Sarah had become very quiet before telling her what had happened to him. Amelia felt, however, that Sarah was leaving something out, something she didn't want Amelia or her boys to know. Whatever that something was, though, it was close by and worried Sarah greatly. Amelia was determined to get her strength back and help Sarah with whatever it was that was worrying her in an effort to repay the debt she owed these good people for finding her, keeping her alive, and taking her in.
Gritting her teeth, Amelia forced her weak legs to take one step after another, until she reached the bedroom window. Once there, she stopped to catch her breath, before turning to stagger back to the bed. Upon reaching the bed, she took a deep breath, and began again.
--------------------------
Up, down, relax back, lift rib cage, the voice of Horse Master
Josh seemed to drone on and on with no end. Zelgadis had always considered
himself to be pretty miserable, but this misery beat anything he had
ever experienced. He found it hard to believe, seeing as how
his skin was stone, but he could easily swear that his neither regions
were crying out for mercy as Breeze trotted on, either unaware of his suffering,
or indifferent to it.
"My my, looks like you're having a wonderful time!" Xelloss'
cheerful voice invaded his concentration, and caused him to start so badly
that if Breeze hadn't shifted beneath him to catch his off balance weight,
he would have found himself butt first on the ground of the riding arena.
"XELLOSS!" Zel exclaimed, glaring at the grinning trickster
who was casually sitting cross legged in the air only a few feet from him.
"What are you doing here?"
"I was bored and I wanted to see how the riding lesson was going,"
Xelloss said with a smirk, as Zel shifted slightly with discomfort.
"Why you," Zel began, only to be interrupted by Josh.
"What do you think you're doing coming into MY ring and disturbing
MY student?!" the Horse Master roared, stalking towards the grinning
Trickster. "NO ONE is allowed inside the ring while I'm teaching,
so you can just get out because you're distracting my student!"
Xelloss lifted an eyebrow, but shrugged and vanished, only to
reappear on the other side of the fence, grinning at Zel, who again shifted
a little uncomfortably. He wasn't at all happy about having an audience
witness his "torture session", and was even more unhappy that his audience
was the grinning Trickster. He sighed, and was getting ready to proceed
with the lesson, when a sudden commotion in the vicinity of the stables
made itself known. One of the stable hands came running up to Josh,
yelling his words so fast that Zel couldn't make out what he was saying.
His curiosity rose as he watched Josh pale and give a panicked look towards
the stables. He was about to ask Josh what was going on when, suddenly,
squealing and thrashing noises were heard coming from the stables.
Breeze lifted her head up and pricked her ears in that direction, and Zel
followed the line of her ears to find out what all the commotion was about.
There was a round of curses, inhuman screaming, a crash, and
then a sickening crunching noise, all of which appeared to be heading in
the direction of the ring. Suddenly, a black tornado tore through
the entranceway of the stables, with several ropes and men trailing behind
it, each one turning the air blue with their curses. The tornado
suddenly switched directions, swinging the ropes and men that were attached
to it in a strange parody of a ballroom dance, except a waltz wasn't supposed
to end with the men being flung through the air in all directions.
Zel could finally make out the features of the large mass of destruction,
and was quite surprised to find only a medium-sized, black horse
was creating all this damage. Upon closer inspection, his amazement
grew, because this horse was so thin he looked like the mascot for
some weird dieter's club. Blood was slowly leaking from several small
lacerations upon the black hide, while older cuts had crusted over, making
the horse look like he had also run a gauntlet of very sharp swords.
The horse suddenly screamed again as yet another rope settled
around his neck, tucked his hindquarters underneath him, and came to a
skidding halt. He rose up to his full height, pawing madly at the
air and the rope that attached him to the men who were standing well away
from those deadly hooves. His ears were flat against his head, and
his wild eyes were wide and rimmed in white. As the horse came down
upon all four legs again, he lunged in the opposite direction of the men
that were holding him, pulling them off balance and onto the ground as
they released the rope they had used to try and control him. Zel
felt a sudden spurt of panic as the horse began to race in his direction,
his eyes blind to anything in front of him. He half expected the
horse to come to a halt as he reached the fence that enclosed the riding
ring, but the horse simply gathered up his front feet and leaped over the
fence. Now, nothing stood between him and the nervous, inexperienced
chimera on horse back.
Zel felt Breeze tense up underneath him, and his mind froze
up as he watched the black horse pound its way towards him. He had
no idea what to do, and even his common sense failed to provide the fact
that the best thing to have done would have been to either give Breeze
a boot to get out of the way, or to get off Breeze's back and run while
she fended for herself. His eyes widened as they met the crazed eyes
of the black horse, and he braced himself for an impact when a voice suddenly
roared out of the chaos.
"SAFIR! HOLD!"
The black's head jerked, and he dug in his hooves, half rearing
in his attempt to obey that command. He left deep furrows in the
soft sand of the riding ring, but he halted and stood a few inches from
Zel and Breeze, his muscles quivering with fatigue and stress. He
jerked his head around in the direction the command had come from, and
let out a breathy, pitifully sounding whicker as the Horse Master walked
up to him, carefully allowing the exhausted black to sniff his scent.
Safir took a step towards Josh, his legs trembling so badly that it appeared
he would fall over any second. When he got within reaching distance,
he carefully lowered his head and pressed it up against Josh's chest, making
soft sounds deep in his chest that almost sounded like sobs. Josh
stroked Safir around his ears and down his neck, while a stable hand carefully
walked up and began to slowly check the horse over for more serious injuries
other than the cuts, fatigue, and thinness. Once that was accomplished,
Josh gave another order to both the stable hands and Safir, and had them
begin to walk him around the ring in an effort to cool him down and try
to stop his trembling.
"That's enough of a lesson for today," Josh told Zel, and helped
him to dismount. "We need to get to Prince Phil as fast as possible,
and let him know about Safir."
"Why do we need to let Phil know about that bag of bones so
quickly?" Zel wondered as he and Josh began to lightly jog towards the
palace.
"Because that's Safir," Josh answered, "And he's Princess Amelia's
horse. He's the one she was riding when she left for Diolon."
Zel's step faltered, and he cast another look back at the ragged
horse. Even though he had known that Amelia had been in trouble,
and had even had that knowledge confirmed by Ailanthus, the sight of her
exhausted and battered horse slammed that knowledge home. For the
first time, he actually thought about the fact that Amelia could very easily
be lost to them forever. Even though Aila swore that she was alive,
there was the riddle of why she couldn't pinpoint her exact location, and
if Amelia were being held by a Mazoku, there was no telling what might
be happening to her. Zel's insides clenched as fear began to claw
its way up his throat, but he forced it back down, knowing that now wasn't
the time to give in to the emotion that could easily drown him. There
would be plenty of time for that once he reached the sanctity of his room.
For now, they needed to alert Phil and decide on their course of action.
He really wished Lina and Gourry were with him right now. He wasn't
looking forward to Phil's reaction.
-------------------------------
The War For The Tea Cakes was finally over, and while Gourry
helped his grandmother clean off the table, Lina and Rowdy idly yakked.
"Gourry was right," Rowdy began. "Best way to snap you
out of your shock was to wave food underneath your nose."
"Don't get on my bad side, Rowdy Gabriev. I still haven't
forgiven you for that stunt you pulled about the Hot Springs of Growth,"
Lina growled at the small man.
"He really told you that you could grow taller if you swam in
that spring?" Meliroon asked from the kitchen.
"Yep."
"Rowdy, shame on you," Meliroon chided gently.
"You know why I did it, and if I had to do it over, I'd do the
same thing," Rowdy grumped. "Besides, I never actually said it would
grow her taller, I just said that it made things grow. She's the
one who thought it would make her grow taller."
"I still wonder why you never told me about meeting Lina before,
Grandpa," Gourry called out while washing a couple of plates.
"Well, if I had, it would have changed the course of history
again," Rowdy replied. "You see, if you knew that you would have
wound up with Lina, you would have gone off and searched for her first
thing, instead of learning all those skills during your years as a mercenary."
"Makes sense," Lina mused, putting her elbow on the table and
leaning her chin in her hand.
Gourry and Meliroon soon joined them at the table, and Gourry
quickly told them about his engagement to Lina, which resulted in hearty
congratulations and a smug look from Rowdy. Then the sorceress began
to explain the reason behind their surprise visit.
"I see. Ryo is causing trouble once again for the Saillunes,
huh? And since the Sword of Light has returned to its original point
of origin, you're unable to get it back. What do you propose I do
about it?" Rowdy asked.
"Aila is the one who suggested that we ask you that very question,"
Lina said.
"Aila? You mean, Guardian Ailanthus?"
"The very one. And how did you know that Ryo's the one
who caused the problems in Saillune, anyway?" Lina asked.
"Remember Joyrock?" Rowdy asked.
"Without any fondness," Lina replied.
"He was one of Ryo's minions. Before you went back in
time and took care of him, with my help of course, he delighted in telling
me how his master, Ryo, had caused the death of the Guardian Ailanthus,
and was going to obtain the power of the Saillune Sword. Very
nerve wracking," Rowdy answered.
"I'll bet," Lina replied sarcastically. "So, do you know
of a way to help us or not?"
"She doesn't beat around the bush, does she?" Rowdy asked Gourry.
"Not at all," Gourry replied with a grin.
"Well, I know of a spell that can send you two back in time
to meet up with my younger self about two years after the Joyrock incident,"
Rowdy mused. "It's similar to the one I used last time we met, Lina
Inverse. However, it's going to take me about a week to gather up
all the components for this spell to work."
"Great! That means we get to stay here and eat grandma's
cooking!" Gourry said enthusiastically.
"What about sleeping arrangements?" Meliroon asked. "Do
you and Gourry want to share a room?"
"WHAT?!" Lina exploded, turning very red.
"Grandma, don't embarrass her," Gourry said with a wink.
"We may be engaged, but we're not ready for that yet."
Lina sputtered for a few minutes, with her face matching the
color of her hair, before she managed to get herself under control and
agreed with Gourry. "We'll take separate rooms, thanks."
Rowdy nodded while smirking, and Meliroon hit him lightly over
the head. She then suggested that the two "children" go freshen up
and settle into their respective rooms while she started on dinner.
Gourry and Lina quickly agreed, with Lina calling dibs for the bath while
Gourry claimed his old room for the duration of their stay. Rowdy
left shortly afterwards, promising that he would be back soon after finding
the first ingredients for his spell. Meliroon smiled with contentment,
and went into the pantry to hunt up some of Gourry's favorite foods.
----------------------------------
Next episode: It's all Amelia, folks! She turns out to be
more stubborn than the Coddles had thought, but they soon find themselves
very grateful for that stubbornness when danger rides into the farm, and
Amelia discovers her sorceress powers.