Disclaimer: The Slayers and Ranma ½... Wait a sec, why do I keep mentioning Ranma ½? I don't HAVE any Ranma ½ characters in here! -_-; The SLAYERS characters do not belong to me.

However, the characters Poison Tree, Meri, Etarnia AND Yeshta belong to me and my siblings.

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"Rezo swore that Zelgadiss was a male child." Mr. Tree was lying comfortably on a bed with a wet washcloth on his forehead. He seemed to be quite drained of energy.

"What male do you see here?!!" Etarnia demanded, poking Zel's breast again.

"Uhm... Please don't do that." Zel said quietly to Etarnia.

"How are we supposed to be engaged to someone like this?!!" Etarnia continued to poke Zel.

"Cut it out, Etarnia! He... She is our guest!" Yeshta glared over at her older sister, who removed her hand from Zel's breast.

"Thanks." Zel said to Yeshta.

"No problem. I'm used to dealing with my family." Yeshta smiled. "Since you're here, do you want to be friends?"

"Why don't you two go have a sparring match in the training hall? I'm sure you would enjoy it." Meri suggested, removing the washcloth from Mr. Tree's head. "Dinner won't be done for a while anyway, and it would be a lovely way to pass the time."

"It would!" Yeshta agreed enthusiastically. "What do you think, Zelgadiss?"

"Ah... Well..." (S)he stuttered.

"You have studied some magic before, haven't you?" Etarnia asked in a bored tone.

"A little, but I don't think..." Zel was cut off by Yeshta.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you." She smiled reassuringly.

"If you say so." Zel said doubtfully.

*************************In the training hall...***********************

"You can attack first, if you want." Yeshta stood across the room from Zelgadiss. The room had been designed for the containment of magical power; a room you could set a Dragon Slave off in without much worry as to the damage you would cause.

"Not that Lina ever worried about destroying things." Zel muttered to him(her)self.

"What?" Yeshta tilted her head curiously.

"Er... Nothing. Just that you can attack first." Zel's body fell in to a defensive stance.

"All right." Yeshta said. She attacked with a poorly aimed Static Bolt, which he easily dodged.

"Okay, so she isn't a wimp." Yeshta smiled to herself. "Now for something stronger."

They went through varying levels of magical power, but Yeshta was never able to hit Zel. Yeshta sat on the plain wooden floor, catching her breath.

"She's a lot better than I thought! Why wasn't I able to hit her?" She wondered as she sat there, panting. Zel walked over and helped her stand up.

"You're pretty good." Yeshta turned away from Zel, laughing. "Well, I'm just glad you're a girl!"

"Why is that?" Zel asked, suddenly getting a bad feeling.

"It's just..." She paused. "I'd really hate to lose to a boy." She smiled again, and walked away. Zel watched as she left the training hall.

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Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho! ^.^ I'm enjoying my work on this story! I think it's going to be really long, though... That's okay, I'm not forcing anyone to read it... Maybe I should put "Any insanity you may gain from reading this fanifc is purely coincidental" in the disclaimer... ^_~* Anyways, look forward to the next chapter! ^_^ \/ Peace!