Thank you to the people who have reviewed the last chapter so far... I'm very glad that you remembered this story, Lauren-sama... It's very nice to also have several new reviewers. Thank you, Winged Dancer and KellyChan -- I've been enjoying your stories very much.
Meneguilda, your review of the 4th chapter was garbled by FF.net; was the review you left for the 3rd chapter the rest of it? Thank you for reading this so far, even though it's not your usual type.
As for Zelgadiss getting hurt in this chapter, Moro... He just jumped off a cliff, into the ocean; this is something that tends to result in death. I hope you don't mind if I decide to be a bit nicer to him in this chapter...
Slayers is the creation of Hajime Kanzanka and Rui Araizumi. I don't own it; they and a lot of other people do. I'm not making any profit off of this story.
Idylls
+=== A Slayers Fanfic by Ryo Hoshi
5 +===+ Stir About the Stars
Zelgadiss felt himself falling downwards, and then suddenly falling sideways. His body felt heavier, too, and somehow that felt right. He tried to stop himself, so he could try to stop feeling so disoriented, but he stumbled and momentum kept him moving, straight towards a wall of shifting sand...
Zelgadiss felt a hand gently shaking him, and a familiar voice calling his name. He wiggled so that he was sitting up in his bed and, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, saw that Rezo was sitting on the edge of his bed. He noticed that Rezo looked worried.
"Zelgadiss-chan, you were having a nightmare..." Rezo said, softly.
Zelgadiss smiled at Rezo, a bright, sunny smile that looked perfectly at home on his young face. "I'm not afraid of anything, Grandfather, as long as you're here!" he said, with the confidence of a seven-year-old child.
But that was alright: he was a seven year old, who had just had a nightmare which he couldn't remember much of besides the parts about an evil monster taking away his grandfather, and a girl who he wanted to play with and who wanted to play with him, but the evil monster wouldn't let him...
Zelgadiss hugged his grandfather. I won't let that evil monster take Grandfather away... Me and the girl and Grandfather will live together forever, and we'll all be happy and I and the girl would play all day while Grandfather works in his lab on all sorts of wonderful things... "I want to be strong like you, grandfather!"
And Grandfather will sometimes watch me and the girl as we play, happy because he can see us...
Rezo smiled, and though it was perhaps not a truly happy smile, Zelgadiss felt better. Zel yawned, and closed his eyes to go back to sleep.
"Are you too tired to go look at the stars, Zelgadiss-san?" Rezo asked gently, and Zelgadiss woke up quickly. He had completely forgotten that his grandfather had promised to go look at the stars with him tonight. "Eris made some hot chocolate for us..."
Zelgadiss smiled happily. Eris-san's not that bad, for a bossy girl!
"We'll also have some cinnamon buns with us..." If Rezo could see, he would have noticed stars in Zelgadiss's eyes as the bait was taken. "Now, you need to get dressed. You don't want to get grass stains on your pajamas."
Zelgadiss looked horrified at that thought. He loved his pajamas, they were his favorite color (blue, of course) and all worn and comfortable in all the right places. As Rezo turned and left to room to wait at the front door for Zelgadiss, the pajamas went flying. There was a pause, and then they were picked up and carefully folded up and put on the pillow.
Zelgadiss quickly pulled a pair of tan pants on -- their shade suggested that they had been at some point white, and dirt had gotten ground in -- and a blue shirt the same color as his pajamas. He looked longingly at the door, wanting to run out and join Rezo now, but he knew it was cold outside and his grandfather always seemed to sense it if he shivered... He grabbed his red scarf, a gift from his grandfather, and wrapped it around his neck.
Before he went to the door, he stopped to look into a mirror. It was in a hand-carved wooden cabinet, one of the few things he had left of his parents', and ran his fingers through his hair. He smiled to himself in the mirror. Perfect, he thought to himself.
Just in case he ran into the girl.
Rezo smiled as Zelgadiss ran to the door, only pausing to put his shoes on. "Ready to go, Zelgadiss-chan?" He smiled, sensing Zel's enthusiastic nodding. "Let's go, then."
The pair set off up the path and towards the flat rock they often had picnics on, Rezo carrying a basket and Zelgadiss running ahead.
Alright, folks, you know the usual request... Complements and useful comments will encourage me to try to write faster. Dark chocolate will encourage my muse to cooperate with me. Chibi Zelgadiss will take cinnamon buns as bribes to...hang around being kawaii, I suppose.
