Now, going through the reviews...
Kioku, if I'm a dreamwalker, I'm quite oblivious to it. Thanks for the complements, though!
Lauren-sama, I highly recommend rereading this if you're disoriented. As for being paranoid, it's not paranoia if you've every reason to believe that you're right. (Oh, and the prologue has a hint on where Zelgadiss has ended up...) Just don't expect any deeper significance behind his 'Rezo dream' anytime soon!
By the way, Lauren-sama, you've missed a chapter of Mr Somewhere.
Amechan, I'm so glad you weren't disappointed! I like Rezo a lot, really. I may go into more detail about that part of Zel's past sometime, if people are really interested... I hope you're not disappointed by this chapter, though. (Also, I'm happy you liked the bed part.)
Slayers is the creation of Hajime Kanzaka 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
8 +===+ Love's Labour's Lost
Zelgadiss did his best to not let how nervous he was show as he sat in the parlor he'd been shown to by a succession of servants. It just wasn't quite the reception he had expected, but he knew that he really shouldn't be surprised. Amelia was queen now, having chose to take up the crown her father had insisted remain unoccupied during his time ruling Saillune since the king had not officially abdicated.
He wondered, briefly, if Prince Philionel was still alive. The last Zel knew, the man had simply retired to the country when his daughter had been crowned. Well, if everything went right (and it would), he'd know soon enough.
A servant brought in a tray which turned out to have coffee and a small selection of pastries on it. He politely acknowledged her presence, and sipped the coffee while she left. As soon as she was gone, he chose one of the pastries and ate it quickly. He had quickly realized why Lina, Gourry, and Amelia had eaten like they had after he'd been cured: magic, even when it's simply using a magical sword, burnt calories like they were gasoline-soaked straw when you were human.
It was rather easy to understand, now, why even though the kitchen at home was always very well-stocked he spent so much time going out to get even more supplies. He just wasn't sure he wanted to know how he had managed to obtain enough energy for his magic while he was a chimera, even though every so often since he'd been cured he'd made a half-hearted attempt to discover what exactly was the source of power for a stone golem or what a brow demon ate.
It had been somewhat surprising to discover that nobody was sure of the answer to either of those questions, or at least nobody whom he had read yet. Perhaps, once he was settled down, he could research those things in his free time...?
He smiled slightly to himself, realizing how much that idea appealed to him.
Amelia finally arrived as he was finishing his coffee, the crumbs of the pastries brushed away and the illusion of having eaten them in a genteel manner fixed firmly in place. He realized as he saw her that she had grown up, and that he hadn't really expected it either. Well, to be truthful, she'd not gotten any taller since he had last seen her, after they'd parted ways after the defeat of Dark Star. She'd grown in other ways, becoming even more beautiful than she'd been back then.
Those changes were ones he liked. However, she seemed rather unenthusiastic about his return after so long, no less his being cured. He found that disturbing, because however much he might be irritated by her enthusiasm, he couldn't help but enjoy watching her when she was enthusiastic.
She was built in such a way that only a dead man or a completely homosexual man wouldn't enjoy that.
"Hello, Zelgadiss-san. I'm glad that you've finally come to visit me. It's been such a very long time."
He nodded, feeling suddenly awkward. "I'm sorry I have taken so long to visit, and didn't send word ahead. I've been very distracted lately."
She smiled politely. "Yes, I can see that."
Wanting to prevent silence, he asked, "I've been very out of touch. The last thing I heard of you was that you had been crowned on your 18th birthday and that your father had retired, and I heard about that only by luck."
Some of her old enthusiasm sparkled in her eyes, and she launched into what was certain to be a long monologue so he could safely try to figure out a new plan. "Oh, you've missed so much! Let's see, there was..."
Most of what had happened while he was wandering around the world outside where the barrier had lain was boring. A few things were interesting, like having missed Lina and Gourry's wedding, or the fact that the couple had a really cute baby about two years ago. The idea of Lina reproducing was somewhat scary.
He screened most of it out, though, nodding every so often and making polite noises.
Then, Amelia said, "I then met Prince Adrian at the ball held for my 19th birthday. He was really polite, and very sweet... I couldn't help falling in love with him."
While Zelgadiss was looking at her, stunned, she smiled sweetly at him.
"You were right, Zelgadiss-san. My feelings for you were only a crush. I've realized that I wasn't in love with you, that I'd never really been in love with you. My feelings for Prince Adrian were so much stronger...
"It didn't even matter to me that he was the youngest son of a prolific ruling couple, or that his homeland is so small that it doesn't even get included on the maps of the outside world. When he proposed to me only a month after we'd met, I said yes without any hesitation or second thoughts."
"Oh," he said. The feeling of his dreams falling apart because of some stupid little thing he had said turning out to be right had overwhelmed him. There was only one thing left... "When... Are you married to him already?"
Amelia laughed. "Of course! It's been nearly a year since he proposed!" Zelgadiss winced, as he realized that he hadn't before bothered learning when her birthday was, though she hadn't really made much of an issue of it back when they were traveling together... "We've been married nearly nine months, now..."
"...and I still feel like we're newlyweds, sometimes. Good morning, Amelia," the new arrival, presumably Prince Adrian, said as he leaned down to kiss Amelia. He looked somewhat like Gourry's evil twin brother, though his hair was a dirty blond and his eyes were dark muddy color instead of a clear blue. "Who's our guest?"
"Adrian, this is Zelgadiss Greywords. You remember my telling you about him...?"
Adrian smiled, his face turned so that Amelia was unlikely to see the nasty cast his smile had. "Oh, yes. Your old traveling companion, who was looking for a cure. I see he's found it..."
There's very little to say here. I chose to believe the theory I've seen mentioned elsewhere that Amelia's grandfather did the same thing as her sister & ran away. It certainly seems unlikely to me that he is present in Saillune, even in an ailing kind of way, in the canon.
It also does seem quite likely to me that Prince Philionel would choose to insist on leaving the possibility of his father resuming his abandoned throne open. That requires that he did not even stick around long enough after choosing to leave to abdicate, since then Prince Philionel would have had very little say about the entire thing then.
Reviews are very much welcomed. I will find dark chocolate for myself and cinnamon buns for little Zel and Ame very encouraging and will work harder on this story if they're provided.
