A much cleaner and happier Amelia was back in her room, attempting to manage her wet hair when again there was a knock at her door.
"Yes, who's there?" Amelia asked.
"It's me, Amelia. Are you ready to get dinner?" Zelgadis responded.
"Most definitely!"
Amelia whirled around on her stool, then jumped up to her feet. She had too much momentum and began to stumble about, as she tried to regain her balance.
Zelgadis listened to the racket outside the door. "We'd better heal her soon, before she kills herself!" he thought.
Zelgadis heard a thud against the door, then watched the doorknob slowly turn. Amelia poked her head out the door, wearing an embarrassed smile.
"I must be hungrier than I thought." she giggled nervously.
Zelgadis just shook his head and smiled.
"How about I lead the way? I have to get you back home in one piece." Zelgadis said.
Amelia pouted. "You're just having fun teasing me! Just you wait, I'll get you back!"
"Oh? How so?" Zelgadis grinned.
"Well, I...I'll... All right, I don't know, but I'll think of something."
Zelgadis grinned as they walked down the hall, down the stairs, and into the dining area. He found a booth and sat himself and Amelia down. Then they waited...
Zelgadis tapped his finger on the table impatiently.
"How long are they going to take?" Zelgadis wondered.
"I don't know, you tell me. It sounds like there are a lot of people here, though." Amelia said.
"Yes, it would seem that everybody decided to eat here tonight." Zelgadis sighed. "It never took this long to be waited on when I traveled with Lina."
Amelia laughed. "That's because Miss Lina demanded attention. Get me five chicken dinners, and step on it!'"
A nearby waiter snapped to attention. "Right away, Miss!" and off he ran to the kitchen.
Amelia gasped.
"You sure got his attention, Lina!" Zelgadis joked.
"How was I to know there was a waiter nearby? I must have sounded so rude!" Amelia looked devastated.
"Don't worry about it, Amelia. Just tip him well and he'll forget the whole thing. That was a pretty good impression of Lina, though."
The waiter came back a moment later. "Here's your order, Miss. Is there anything else I can get for you?"
Zelgadis cleared his throat. "Yes, could we get some tea as well?"
"Yes, I'll bring it right out. Will that be all?"
"Yes, thank you." Amelia tried to sound extra polite.
After the waiter left, Zelgadis turned to Amelia. "I hope you like chicken. You have five plates of it!"
"You can have some as well, Mr. Zelgadis. There's no way I could eat that much! ...it smells good though."
Zelgadis slid a plate in front of Amelia and handed her a fork, then sat back and watched her search about for her food.
"You know I'd help you out, but I thought it best to leave you some dignity." Zelgadis said.
"Don't worry, I'm doing just fine." Then, to change the topic she asked. "So where are we going next?"
"Well, unless we get a good lead on somebody who can help us, we'll just have to travel around."
Amelia contemplated this while she ate.
Zelgadis continued, "I didn't find anyone here so we'll set off for the next town tomorrow."
Zelgadis looked up from his thoughts to see that Amelia had moved onto her third plate.
"Hey, save some for me!" Zelgadis grabbed the last two plates and put them out of her reach.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Zelgadis. I guess all of this traveling works up an appetite!" Amelia beamed.
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"Well, we made it back to your room. I want to leave first thing in the morning, so be prepared." Zelgadis said, leading Amelia back into her room.
"Yes, I know, Mr. Zelgadis. Good night."
"Good night."
Amelia waited until Zelgadis had left the room, then felt around for some pajamas. After struggling into them (and hoping she didn't have them on backward) Amelia crawled under the covers of the bed and settled down for sleep.
A moment passed...
Amelia rolled onto her side to get more comfortable. Still no luck, so she rolled onto her stomach, resting her chin on the pillow. Her body was willing to get rest, but her thoughts were keeping her awake.
"Oh, I hope we find somebody who can help me. If only Mommy hadn't been killed. Daddy says that she was on of the best practitioners of White Magic in the world."
Amelia wiped a tear from her eye.
"But then, if Mommy hadn't been unjustly murdered, then Gracia would have never left home, and...and I would have had no reason to leave Seyruun. I might have never met Miss Lina, Mr. Gourry, and especially Mr. Zelgadis."
Amelia wiped another tear from her eye.
"Life can be so unjust at times, but it always seems to make up for it. I do miss Mommy and Gracia, but I'm grateful for all of the friends I've made."
Amelia yawned, her thoughts beginning to drift.
"Well, if Miss Sylphiel is still in Seyruun, we can always go find her. Maybe she'd be able to help. I just...want to see...again..."
Amelia's head drooped to one side, as she finally succumbed to sleep.
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KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
Amelia awoke with a start, but unsure if she had actually heard anything or not, began to drift back to sleep.
KNOCK! KNOCK!
"Amelia, are you up yet?" came the slightly disgruntled voice of Zelgadis.
Amelia rolled onto her back, just wanting to drift back to sleep. The voice outside her door wouldn't let her, however, so she got out of bed.
"Yes, I'm up." she yawned.
Amelia reached for her clothes. Then, after taking off the pajamas, quickly got dressed. She then felt for the nearest wall and followed it to the door. Finding the knob, she opened the door.
"Sleep well?" Zelgadis asked.
Amelia yawned again. "I guess the mattress was really comfortable. What about you?"
"Oh, it was just fine, until some bird decided to screech right outside my window." Zelgadis replied.
"I prefer your wake-up call to mine." Amelia grinned.
"Yes, well, sorry about that. I just wanted to get out of here while it's still fairly early. Are you all set?"
Amelia shook her head to rid herself of sleep. "Yes, all ready here! Are we going to get Hiro?"
"That's where we're going first. The stables are right next to the inn, luckily." Zelgadis took a hold of Amelia's arm and proceeded to leave.
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"Off we go trot-ing!
Me and my Hi-ro!
Off, to places that I can-not see!"
"Amelia, of all the songs you had to use to make that up, why did it have to be that song?"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Zelgadis, that tune is just so catchy! Actually, I would sing the original song, but I forgot the words. So I've been making up my own lyrics! What do you think?"
Zelgadis just sighed and continued walking down the road. He lead Hiro (who Amelia was currently riding) behind him.
"I would like it better if you sang to a different tune." Zelgadis finally replied.
"Hmm..." Amelia thought for a moment. "Now I can't think of anything but that one!"
"Just my luck."
"Don't you like to sing, Mr. Zelgadis?"
"No, I don't sing very well. I'd rather play."
"You play an instrument?" Amelia inquired.
"Well...I can manage on stringed instruments, such as a guitar, but I haven't really tried much else. What about you?"
"No, I never had the patience. Daddy tried to get me to learn to play the flute, but I preferred to play outside instead. Especially with the horses." Amelia gave Hiro a big hug.
"I should have guessed."
And on they went. They traveled for most of the day, and set up camp in the early evening. After an uneventful night they resumed their journey. About mid-morning Zelgadis noticed two people coming from the opposite direction.
"No, it couldn't be!" Zelgadis gasped.
But of course, it was. Zelgadis quietly spoke to Amelia.
"We have some unplanned guests. Keep a low profile."
Zelgadis pulled his hood over his head, Amelia following suit. As the couple approached, they could be heard talking. Amelia couldn't help but listen.
"So where are we off to?"
"For the last time, Gourry! We are going to Zephilia, just like you wanted. It's just as well. My family -especially my sister- would have hunted me down eventually."
"So what's with all this money we're been saving?"
"Consider it a peace offering, to smooth things over with my sister."
"Why?"
"You don't want to know!"
Within minutes, the couple was out of sight. Zelgadis breathed a sigh of relief.
"That was a little too close for comfort!" Zelgadis said.
"Oh, but Mr. Zelgadis, it's so romantic!" Amelia replied.
"Romantic? How? Lina and Gourry are just going to her homeland."
"Yes, but Miss Lina is taking Mr. Gourry to meet her family! And after that..." Amelia giggled. "I hope they invite me to the wedding."
"You really are a hopeless romantic, aren't you?"
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"Hey Lina, did you see those people back there?"
"Who, those peasants? What about them?"
"Well, they looked familiar."
"Since when do you hang out with peasants, Gourry?"
"Well, never, actually."
"Just as I thought. Now come on, we should be reaching a city soon, and then we eat!"
Gourry grinned in anticipation.
And another chapter is complete! (I must be getting better at typing! This only took me little over an hour to type up! True it's now really early in the morning, but it's less that I'll have to type later!)
Hmmwhat to say? Oh! I am very much aware of the fact that Lina and Gourry go back to Zephilia when Lina's 18 (it's the ending of the very last Slayers novel), but I just HAD to let them have a cameo appearance, and I couldn't think of any other reason for them to be still travelling (Lina would be about 29-30 now, and Gourry just over 30. Dang these years! Maybe I'll change that in Love is Blind', but don't count on it.)
Now to see if I can get this finished before I get dragged out of state for a week. (Not yet, but within the month!) "I don't want to go!" (Yes, I love Pokémon. So sue me!) ^_-