Slayers Highland Storytime!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They are owned by…uh…the guy who created Slayers. Also, the basic plot was not my creation. It was shamelessly lifted from a novel I read. I just tweaked, elaborated, and Slayers-ized. Think of it as a Slayers Fairytale, if you like. ^_^
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Notes: Okay, this first one is very important, so even if you don't read the rest of them, please read this one. Again I say, I do not own the basic storyline of this story. It was based off of a story told by a character in Lucy Maud Montgomery's wonderful novel, The Story Girl. I've always found the story utterly charming, and as I read it last week, I just kept seeing the characters of Slayers playing it out, and it was so entirely adorable that I had to write this. I hope no one minds!
Next note: Lina and Amelia's last name. Well, hey, they're supposed to be sisters, so at least one of them would need an altered name. And Inverse…no. And as for that mouthful that Amelia has in her name…double-no. So, I just picked a random last name that seemed to fit with the tone I was going for (sort of a pseudo-Scottish type of thing), and went with it. Also, I really, really wanted to make the father named Phil, and act remarkably like Philionel, but my conscience just wouldn't let me. ^_^
Oh, yes; and Zelgadis is indeed completely normal and human in this story, as I doubt a chimera has any sort of place in the semi-realistic setting I'm going for. That would make the story far too angsty for what it is.
Anyway, that should be all. I hope you enjoy!
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Summary: Two friends turned rivals. Two beautiful sisters with far more spirit between them than any family should have. The cast of Slayers taken to another time and place. You know what this means: it's story time! Hopefully, the author will live to see another day after Lina gets hold of her…
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The evening was bitterly cold, and on a hillside just outside the village of Enshyr, the snow swirled madly through the darkened sky, making it nearly bright as day. But swirl and bluster as the snow might, one lone house set half a mile up the hill leading down to a bay long since frozen over for the winter, stood firm. Inside the house, the atmosphere was one of warmth and sleepy contentment and daydreams of the bonniest lass ever to tread the earth.
At least, this is what young Gourry Gabriev would have averred. He sat, comfortably settled, in a chair old as the hills and nearly changed to take his shape, beside fireplace, the better to take advantage of the heat cast by the roaring fire he had built after coming in from a long trek through the snow to break the monotony of a fortnight indoors recovering from a cold. As he rocked back and forth, despite the fact that his chair was not a rocking chair and it was wreaking havoc on the floorboards, which cursed him each time he leaned back, thoughts of Lina Isaac filled his mind. They might have been a torment to another man, but to Gourry, relentless thoughts of the girl he loved were a joy, even if he hadn't gotten around to finding out if she loved him back yet. The way he looked at it, there was plenty of time – they were both young – and old Hugh Isaac didn't seem eager to give up either of his daughters. So, he, Gourry, would wait. For now, he would content himself by conjuring up images of seemingly endless waves of gleaming red hair that lent such warmth to skin white as new cream, blowing out behind her as she chased down some boy or another who had made the fatal error of making an inappropriate show of intimacy or affection, her deep eyes of crimson, sparking with laughter, blazing with anger, or glowing with the friendliness and natural warmth that no show of brazenness and hostility could hide.
Oh, yes, Gourry had it very bad.
It seemed, despite his intention to move slowly and bide his time, that Fate was becoming rather impatient to see whether or not this young man would act, should the need arise. Gourry was just beginning to drift off to sleep, the tune of an old Scotch love ballad still on his lips, when a brisk knock sounded at the door.
Mystified, he pulled himself up out of his seat and hastened to the door. After all, every hospitality must be shown to a visitor, no matter who he was.
As he pulled open the door, Gourry gave a shout of genuine joy.
"Zelgadis! Hey, come on in! Knock some of the snow off, will you?"
"Uh, thank-you, Gourry," Zelgadis Greywyrs returned hesitantly, pitching forward as Gourry delivered one or two solid thumps to his spine, apparently forgetting his own strength in his attempt to 'knock the snow off' his comrade.
"Come on, pull up a chair. I got a fire going, and I'm glad it's not going to waste on just me."
As soon as the other man was comfortably settled before a roaring fire to banish the chill of a trek through the countryside on a night fit for neither man nor beast to be abroad, Gourry went immediately to the cabinet along the wall of the sitting room and from it produced a bottle of whisky, as the custom of the area required. Of course, a woman wouldn't offer whiskey, nor would whiskey be offered to a woman if twern't for medicinal purposes, but it was considered most unseemly for a man to receive a male guest and not offer him a "taste".
It was also very unseemly for the visitor to refuse the drink offered, which accounted for perhaps part of Zelgadis' willingness to accept the glass filled nearly to the brim with clear amber liquid. Hey, it was no coffee, but it was better than nothing. And the warmth of a cup of coffee didn't tend to stay with a man quite like the fire of a shot of whiskey. And after all, perhaps a little artificial courage wouldn't be a bad thing when he reached his final destination…
As the level of liquid in the glass, considerably more than a shot, began to gradually fall, Gourry asked of the happenings in the village over the past weeks that he had spent confined to his home both by a violent cold and by the remoteness of his farm.
"So, what's new? Has Miss Martina fallen in love with anyone this week?" he asked with a chuckle.
Zelgadis rolled his eyes, but couldn't quite suppress a smile.
"She has, indeed. The girl is more fickle-minded than a breeze."
"I wonder what'll happen when she actually marries someone."
"It'll be interesting, to say the least."
"And any more heard of the…ah…blossoming friendship between Miss Filia and Xellos?"
"Ah! That there has. I believe we can expect to hear of a wedding fairly soon – if the poor man lives that long," Zelgadis replied with a chuckle. "With the fine temper of the girl, Xellos can expect not to lose his bride to any other men. Few would be brave enough to trifle with that violent streak."
"With the long, golden locks and blue eyes of her?" Gourry asked with a quirked eyebrow. "It's only his willingness to take abuse that sets him up as a lover for her."
"And a temper does make life interesting for a man," Zelgadis amended with a small, fond smile, his eyes growing slightly dreamy.
It was because Gourry wasn't taking much of the whiskey himself that he noticed this and took notice.
"A little more?" Gourry asked casually, nudging the bottle across the table.
Because Zelgadis wanted surprisingly little encouragement, given his usual restraint, he seemed not to notice that his host hadn't yet drained his first glass, half-filled. He also didn't notice that his host seemed very interested in his plans for the evening, and before either man knew it, he had revealed, amid many other things, that he was planning a trip over the bay to the Isaac homestead to ask old Hugh for Lina's hand.
Gourry stopped short. This was a turn he hadn't expected. Of course, he knew that Zelgadis was among his many rivals for the affections of the high-spirited lass whose hair reflected her temper to perfection, but he hadn't known that the man would think of proposing marriage after a month!
Still, Gourry, although by no means the smartest man around, had the wit not to let his guest see that his words had had any effect.
Zelgadis raised an eyebrow.
"Were you by any chance thinking of taking a trip over the bay tonight, yourself?" he asked with a humorous smile.
Gourry grinned.
"Nah, not tonight. I thought about it, but it sounds like a storm's starting up. And I don't want to try Angus' speed on sheer ice tonight. This cold's still clearing up, and my own fireside is far too tempting."
Seeing that his guest's suspicions had apparently been put to rest by these words, Gourry's mind raced. He knew, in his heart, that Lina would marry him, if the choice were up to her. However, if Hugh Isaac had his way, Lina would be married to Zelgadis not long past the asking. Hugh had always favoured Zelgadis and his steady, serious nature and prospects of what was fast becoming a very hopeful political career, over the light-hearted Gourry and his tendency to rent his farm out to any man willing, and pick up and travel when a roving spirit moved him. And if Lina's personality and temper were strong, Old Hugh and his fine Highland temper were nothing short of frightening when aroused. Not even Lina would stand a chance in the face of that tempest! And the girl really was very fond of her father, and would do nearly anything to avoid losing his favour.
Thus, he had to proceed carefully. If only he could find a way to gain the Isaac homestead first and ask Lina! Hugh was equally fond of both his daughters, but tended to favour Lina and her temperament identical to his, even as Mrs. Isaac, with her sunny temperament tended to favour the younger daughter, Amelia, with her similar nature. If Lina had promised to marry someone else, Hugh wouldn't ask her to break that promise if it was clear that the promise was important to her.
His mind made up in an instant, Gourry leaned comfortably back in his chair, hooked his thumbs into his vest pockets, and regarded his rival calmly.
"Have a little more, Zelgadis," Gourry encouraged, face solemn but eyes flickering with amusement. "It's pretty cold out there, and a man needs something to keep the warmth in his veins if he's to brave a storm like that."
Perhaps, if not for the quantity of the fine whisky he had already "tasted", Zelgadis might have noticed the unaccustomed shrewdness in the other man's eyes. However, unsuspecting of any motives, he acquiesced and slid his glass forward over the table.
"Much obliged, Gourry," he said with a smile no sleepier than any man's might be after a good half of a bottle of whiskey coupled with a hard day's work and a long trip through a snowstorm.
And so it went for a time, as a warm fire and a good friend were apparently difficult to leave, even with the incentive of brilliant red eyes and hair. Finally, Gourry, upon noticing that his friend's uncommonly steady stream of chatter had petered out, looked up abruptly and smiled in satisfaction at the sight of Zelgadis leaning back in his chair, head rolling to one side, clearly asleep.
"Sweet dreams, Zelgadis," Gourry muttered to himself as he threw on his coat and hunted up his boots. "And take your time waking up."
As he left the house and went into the yard, his eyes flickered from Angus' sleek brown coat, to Hermia, a handsome mare of a light tan, hitched up to a sleigh. From Angus, to the sleigh. Back to Angus. Back to the sleigh.
Finally, mind made up, Gourry climbed into the cutter, grabbed the reigns, and started off.
"Okay, Hermia, let's see what you can do. Hopefully, you've still got some speed in you. If Zelgadis wakes up too soon, he and my own Angus might give me a pretty good race."
He shook his head, laughing heartily.
"I just hope the poor guy's okay. He'll probably be pretty mad when he wakes up. He won't think a lot about the danger."
Hermia sped over the ice speedily enough, needing little direction, which left the young man to his own thoughts – and fears – of what the interview to come might hold. If he was wrong, and Lina wasn't interested…Gourry shuddered. She was just as likely as not to chip a hole in the ice of the bay and shove him in headfirst!
Still, before the hour was up, Gourry found himself lighting in the Isaac yard. He hopped down from the sled, and started in the direction of the milking shed as a gleam of red caught his eye. As he approached, Lina peered up at him, bewildered, through thick-lashed eyes. He swallowed to relieve the dryness in his throat. Gods, she was beautiful!
Before he had time to talk himself out of it, turn around, bolt back to the sleigh and race back over the bay, doubtlessly to meet Zelgadis on his way, he caught her hand in his.
"Lina," he began, hoping his voice wasn't shaking quite as much as his knees were, "I love you. This may be really sudden, but there's a reason for it, and I can tell you the story later. But I do love you, and we can be happy together. You say you've always wanted to travel? Well, marry me and we can see the world together."
Lina simply stared incredulously up at him, rising slowly from her milking stool.
"Well, you took your sweet time in asking me, you big idiot!" she finally exclaimed, laughter and tears nearly as thick in her voice as exasperation, as she brought her milking pail down hard on his head.
She raised her arm for a second hit, but never got the chance, because Gourry, after one incredulous look, took that moment to catch her in his arms and kiss her soundly.
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Of course, when Zelgadis awoke to a glorious sunrise (which was, naturally, entirely lost on him), groggy and disoriented, with a pounding headache that he was grimly certain was a sign of a faint hangover, he knew in an instant what had happened. And so, hastening to saddle up Angus just as Gourry had predicted, he made haste over the bay, such fury emanating from him that the horse sensed something was wrong and behaved with more meekness than might have been expected of a horse carrying a different rider for the first time under less than ideal riding conditions.
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"Where is Gourry?" he growled as he bolted into the kitchen of the Isaac farmhouse.
The sole occupant of the kitchen, a girl smaller than Lina in height but with more pronounced curves and short, glossy black hair in place of long, gleaming red masses, turned around, startled by the sudden bluster interrupting her from the task of preparing a batch of bread dough.
Big, dark-blue eyes glimmering with mirth, a small, mischievous smile playing over her lips, she turned back to her task. For a moment, the young man, who had frozen a few steps from the doorway, watched her hands, fascinated, as she continued to knead the soft dough, flour sprinkled up her arms. Then, giving his head a firm shake to jolt him back to the fury that had gotten him safely over the bay on a horse more suited for racing in fine weather than braving winter's storms, he repeated the question, eyes narrowing.
"Amelia, where is Gourry?"
She turned around again, this time laughing openly, and brushed a strand of hair from her nose.
He turned away, uncomfortably aware that the streak of flour now extending from the tip of her nose to her forehead was making it exceedingly hard to be angry with anything.
"Early abroad today, Mr. Zelgadis," that infuriating female noted cheerfully. "And on Angus' brown back, no less! I thought I heard Mr. Gourry say once that he'd be dead before he'd let another man ride his prized horse. Of course, I suppose Angus is a fair trade for Hermia. A good mare in her own way, if a little fancifully named. Of course," she added impishly, "that's no fault of the animal."
"Did you not hear me?" Zelgadis exclaimed angrily. "I want to know where Gourry is!"
"Now, leave Mr. Gourry alone," she said severely in what the other girls in the village had taken years ago to calling, with varying degrees of fondness, her 'princess tone.' "No doubt, he'll be miles away by now, and my sister with him. Lina had a great story to tell me when she finally crept up to bed in the wee hours of the morning. It involved a true lover's quick wits, and-" Here she paused to grin cheekily up at him. "Another man's lack of discretion with his whiskey. Late last night, Mr. Gourry showed up, and my sister accepted his blurted out proposal in an instant. Really," she added airily, "I think it's a bit brazen, to accept a proposal with a milking pail in your hands and a cow at your side. But I guess Lina thought differently, because she and Mr. Gourry are off in Shaevale, spreading the good news to any relative who will listen. And here you stand, about to have a tantrum like a child! You'd best be thinking of growing up before you look to marry, Mr. Zelgadis."
Zelgadis took a calming breath.
"Look, Amelia, I don't need this right now. It's barely an hour before dawn, my head is pounding-"
"And whose fault is that, I wonder?" she asked the bread pan delicately.
"-my best horse, not to mention my cutter, has been stolen, and on top of everything, I've been outsmarted by Gourry, of all people! Do you know what that's like?"
Amelia turned away from the counter again and wiped floury hands on her apron.
"So, it's loss of male pride that's driving your anger?"
Had Zelgadis been less taken up with his headache and the loss of a cutter, a mare, and a marriage prospect all in one day, he might have noticed that her tone was a little too light to be natural, that her posture had tensed ever so slightly.
"Well, no! Of course not!"
"Of course," Amelia sighed, rolling her eyes. "You've got yourself worked up like this because one pretty girl prefers the golden hair and blue eyes of a farmer with the blood of a roving adventurer to the dark, brooding temperament and brown hair and eyes of a serious shopkeep with political ambitions. Some men just can't see any farther in front of them than their own noses. If you had an ounce of sense in that head of yours, you'd realize that there are other women in the world, and many of them would even be glad to be with you."
"Uh-"
"And one of them's standing before of you now! Why not marry me?"
His eyes approaching the size of the very prosaic dinner plate to fit well with a rather prosaic proposal made by a woman still up to her elbows in flour, Zelgadis mulled this over. Then, his eyes shrinking to the size of a slightly healthier saucer, he gazed thoughtfully at the girl before him. As the streak of flour extending to her hairline caught his eye, now approaching normal size again, his expression lost much of the hunted quality it had borne following this shock.
In that moment, a few things began to occur to him.
The first was that the unattainable was not, as he had always believed, always more desirable and worthy of seeking than the attainable.
The second was that, despite its preoccupation with Lina, Amelia had always hovered somewhere in his mind, and he had been more than glad to let her.
The third was that a temper like Lina's could very easily destroy any man's prospective political career.
And, following these musings, what do my readers think that young Mr. Greywyrs did then?
Why, exactly what he ought to, of course.
"Very well," he agreed, mouth twitching slightly as he crossed the kitchen and dropped to one knee in front of her, taking her hand. "Amelia, will you marry me?"
"I thought I just did that," she noted with a laugh that might have been a little hysterical. "Proposed, I mean."
"I can't start off our engagement, never to speak of our marriage, by letting the woman do all the work, can I?" he asked teasingly, stroking the back of her hand lightly with his thumb.
Whether he could or not was never exactly discovered. Likely, Amelia found herself quite unable to answer his question, as it is rather difficult to answer any question while kissing someone.
And so it was that Hugh Isaac was treated to the odd scene of his younger daughter, barely turned seventeen, brazenly kissing a man that he as yet knew as his older daughter's suitor, when he came down to breakfast that morning. This scene certainly would have solidified the engagement between the two, if his daughter had not done so already by means that would become a tale told at family gatherings for years to come.
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Not long after, there was a double wedding, complete with two beautiful, blushing brides, two grooms trying to look composed but inwardly quaking, enough liquor to drown an elephant, and a wedding feast like nothing seen or heard of in the countryside for years.
Although most of the guests, as well as Zelgadis and Amelia, left hungry, Lina and Gourry, for once, were full.
And after all, this is what makes a truly happy ending, isn't it?
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End Notes: Hoo boy, that was weird! I'm afraid I took a lot of liberties with the characterizations here. I tried to make them reasonably true to the universe; in the original, the character that I made Gourry was a clever prankster type, the character that I turned into Lina was a bit of a doormat and very shy, the character that I made Zelgadis was a lot less serious, and everyone spoke with Scottish accents which I dropped entirely in the interest of both preserving some characterization as well as my own pride, which would have been shredded ruthlessly by my sad attempt to write a good Scottish accent.
Anyway, I think I also shifted a bit between the way the characters talk, and they way they would talk if they were in the universe that this is ideally set in.