Irik informed them, then, that they were on the way to the place where Lina was. It turned out that Gourry had married Sylphiel – they had no children, and had not gone on many adventures, but Irik's message had prompted them to go on this one. Zel wondered if perhaps a cure to Sylphiel's infertility was part of what Irik had promised in the message.
Amelia, whose father had ascended to the throne five years ago, had become so caught up in bureaucracy that she jumped on the chance to go on the road again. So eager was she that she in fact acted exactly like she had ten years ago. Irik probably didn't even have to promise her anything.
And now they were to see Lina. Zel wondered if any of the group had as many butterflies in their stomach as he did. He felt nervous – Lina wasn't one to take abandonment lightly, and apparently they all had done so on that same morning. He fought the urge to fiddle with his reins, knowing that Adir, his black stallion, had a sensitive mouth and would react badly to it.
He'd only left because he knew that Lina would still have Amelia and Gourry to keep her company. How was he to know that Amelia left to assume her responsibilities as Seyruun's heir, or that Gourry would be going to Sylphiel that very same day? Of them all, he was most amazed that Gourry would leave, and it was obvious the blue-eyed swordsman knew it.
They rode, and they rode, and then they rode some more. Zel and Gourry engaged in sword-duels to test their skill – and if they were a little more fierce in the clash of blades than previously, they blamed it on stress.
Sylphiel helped Amelia to perfect her White magic. And Irik continued to read and make startling announcements, most of which came true. Funnily enough, neither Zel nor Gourry nor Sylphiel pestered him for whatever he had promised them to get them to come along.
And on they rode.
***
They stopped in Alephis, the large cosmopolitan capital of the kingdom Tellio. They needed to pick up supplies, rest their mounts and – although only the girls would admit this – have a night's sleep on an actual bed. Irik, who had become deeply engrossed in one of his thick tomes (it was a wonder he had managed to pack so many) hardly even seemed to notice where they were.
Amelia and Sylphiel ran to the inn's bath, and proceeded to soak in the stone tub. Zel didn't think they'd be out anytime before supper. Gourry, not surprisingly, went to the dining room, where he began to eat everything on the inn's menu and send the chef into conniptions.
Zel decided to go for a walk. They'd decided to stock up on supplies the next day, but it wouldn't hurt to pick up a few weapons and such for himself now. He walked through the wide, stone-paved streets of Alephis, face safely hidden within his hood and veil, blue eyes watching the people around him. The people of Alephis strode briskly through their city's streets, mostly ignoring strangers – such as Zel – but greeting merrily any casual acquaintance they might happen by. The stores Zel passed, still busy despite the approaching evening, did a brisk business. There were worse places to be in than Alephis.
Zel walked through the whole city, finding a blacksmith at the edge of town who gruffly promised to have throwing knives ready for him the next day; Zel also left his sword there, for a long-overdue sharpening and reshaping. He felt uneasy to be walking about unarmed except for a few hidden daggers, but he still had his magic at least. And Alephis wasn't particularly known for its criminal underground.
He began to walk back to the inn. It was sunset by the time he was back in the inn's general vicinity, and he enjoyed seeing how the mostly white rock used in the buildings and streets reflected back the sun's red-gold light.
His eye was caught by a flash of red-gold, more intense than the sunset light. He whipped around, ivory cloak billowing around him, to stare at a woman across the street with fiery hair that reached down to her back. The woman turned slightly, to talk to a fruit vendor beside her, and Zel's heightened eyesight caught the glimmer of ruby-red eyes in a sun-tanned face.
Lina.
Lina!
Coins exchanged hands, and the fire-haired woman – Lina, it was Lina, Zel was sure of it in an instant, unquestionable way – began to walk away, towards the northern end of Alephis.
After a frozen moment, Zel followed.
***
He watched her go up a set of stairs to the door of an elegant townhouse, set in Alephis's swanky North End. She pressed the hand not occupied in holding a bag of fruit to a small plate on the side of the door. The door slid open, not swinging like most others, and she stepped through it.
Zel stood around for a good ten minutes, memorizing the address and the features of the townhouse, fiddling nervously with his cape. Other residents of North End, on their way home, stared suspiciously at the cloaked man, until hard blue eyes set in a glare sent them hurrying on their way.
Finally, he took a deep breath, screwed up his courage, and knocked on the door.
He heard the quick tramp of feet going down a staircase. "I'm coming!" a voice said, and Zel began to feel a little unsure. That…wasn't exactly Lina's voice.
"Jeez, Datt, you sure took your time…the t…" her voice trailed off as the door slid open, and she caught her first glimpse of the chimera in her doorway. She stared wordlessly, ruby eyes wide and mouth opening and closing with no words coming from it.
Zel stared back as wordlessly. The eyes and the hair seemed to scream 'Lina!' but…but…
This woman in the doorway wasn't the fire-haired sorceress he had traveled and fought with. (in both senses of the word 'with') The red-gold hair was tied up in a high, simple ponytail – something he had never seen Lina do. Her clothing, a gray shirt and comfortable loose pajama bottoms, were also the type of wardrobe he did not associate with Lina. They seemed too…well, normal. No sword at her side, no cape to add a dramatic flair, no magical Demonsblood talismans. They were like house-clothes.
Duh, Zel, the woman is _in_ her house.
But, more than that, she was…well, grown. Amelia, Sylphiel and Gourry had aged normally for the past ten years; Zel had aged not at all. But if this woman was Lina, as one part of him insisted she was while another part was equally insistent that she was not, then she had somehow managed to change from looking like a fifteen-year-old girl to a slim lady in her early twenties. She had not aged normally, as had the others; neither had she stopped, as Zel had. She was taller than he remembered Lina being. And her skin, rather than the nearly translucent ivory skin tone Lina had once had, was now suntanned slightly. Her face was no longer so rounded, the sheer cuteness giving way to somewhat fae beauty as her features sharpened somewhat. And, though she wasn't, um, as developed as Amelia and Sylphiel, neither would Gourry have any pretext for calling her 'flat' anymore.
If this is Lina and not some look-alike.
"Z…Zel?"
Nope, it's Lina.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"
Definitely Lina.
Zel decided he'd better say something before he got Fireballed. "I…I'm…" he trailed off, staring in even more amazement than he had at his first glimpse of Lina, as he saw who was standing behind her.