Yet another Disclaimer: You know what this means, Right? I make no money on this.
The sorceress?
A dinner of reunion
After the small assembly Eruk and Sylphiel were shown a couple of rooms they could use during their stay in Seyruun. The rooms were located in the same hallway as the one they put Taki in. Sylphiel wanted to go to the castle baths. She said something about her feeling dirty after her stay in the sewer. Eruk understood perfectly, he kind of felt the same way. They agreed that she would go to the baths first, and Eruk would wait in Taki's room. There should be somebody there when she woke up. He sat down on a chair by the bed. He usually didn't like to be alone like this, with nobody to talk to and nothing to do. It made him think too much.
How long has it been? Since I woke up in that forest. Almost half a year, I think. I wonder if I'll ever find out who I really am. It's not like I don't like my life as it is, I just would like to find out if I have any relatives or anybody else searching or waiting for me. I have seen quite a lot during our travels, but nothing seems familiar to me.
He shook his head in an attempt to get rid of those thoughts. Enough of this. I'm sure it will all come back in time. I should concentrate on the present, not the past. He smiled a bit, and patted a small pouch that hang in his belt. He was planing on inviting Sylphiel and Taki out for dinner, just to celebrate that this entire mess was over with. He had asked Phill for a small reward with that in mind. He just hoped that Taki would wake up soon. Almost as on command, Taki started mumbling something, and slowly opened her eyes.
He snapped out of his thoughts, and turned his attention to the former waitress. "Hey, how are you feeling?" he asked her. She didn't answer right away, instead she was looking around in the room. "Where am I?" she asked him. He placed his hand on her shoulder "You are safe now, we are in the Seyruun palace" he said "this is your room for as long as you need it" She was a bit surprised . She had never imagined that she would ever find herself sleeping in the palace, let alone to have her own room there.
Eruk stood up "you should take it easy for the time being, try to relax, ok?". Taki sat up "I can't be lying here all day, this is just too exiting". He threw her a robe, "you can use this until you get some new clothes. If you want to take a bath, I can show you where it is". She jumped up "that would be great". He showed her through the hallways to the bath. "Here we are. You just go inside, and I'll try to find some clothes for you".
She did as he suggested, and he turned to leave. He didn't make it far before he heard a loud splash. Go ahead. Enjoy yourself, you deserve it. He thought, smiling a bit to himself.
He walked away looking for a maid. As he walked around a corner he almost bumped into Zelgadis and Amelia. "Oh, sorry about that" he said, and moved away to allow them to pass. Amelia stopped "don't worry about it, but why are you here, Mr. Eruk? Shouldn't you be watching that girl you brought here" she asked. "Don't worry about her, princess, she just woke up. I showed her to the baths, and promised her to find some new clothes for her. Would it be possible for you to help me out?" Eruk asked the princess.
She turned to her chimera companion "I'll go with Mr. Eruk, see you later Mr. Zelgadis". Zelgadis walked on "you can find me in the library, as usual", was his only comment. Eruk looked after him for a moment, then turned back to the young princess "cherry fellow, that Zelgadis". Amelia laughed a bit "don't worry about him, Mr. Eruk, he just like playing the part as the cold and mysterious swordsman. Now what can I do for you?" she asked. Eruk still didn't feel quite right when dealing with Amelia. She was a nice enough girl, but he didn't exactly know how to act when dealing with royalty.
"I need someone to help me find some clothes for Taki, I kinda ruined her old ones". Amelia stopped walking and eyed him suspiciously "WHAT! What do you mean? Exactly how did you ruin her clothes?". Feeling that one of the infamous justice-speeches, he had heard so much about was coming, he quickly explained how he met Taki and why he had ruined her clothes. "Oh, now I see… You had me scared there for second. Ok, let's go find your friend some clothes" Amelia said, and almost dragged the young warrior along with her. She quickly gathered some clothes, and dragged Eruk back to the baths. "Amelia, just one more favor. Could you go give her the clothes? I can't just go in there" he said "Oh, and don't tell her who you are, in case she don't know. She's still trying to get used to the thought of being in a palace, meeting the princess may upset her".
Amelia went into the baths, and Eruk sat down outside waiting for them to come out. He didn't have to wait for long, The two girls came out. Taki was wearing emerald green shirt, and a knee-length skirt. "Tadaaa, make over complete" Amelia said, and flashed a victory sign in his direction. He smiled to himself, the Seyruun princes was just as hyper as he had heard. He turned his attention to Taki "looks good on you Taki" he said. Taki smiled, she felt better already. She was safe now and didn't have to worry any more about the bandits. "I'll just excuse myself, Mr. Zelgadis is waiting for me in the library" Amelia said and walked off, waving back at them.
They looked at her until she was out of sight "Listen Taki, did you see Sylphiel in there?" Eruk asked. "Sylphiel? You mean she is here too?" Taki was surprised "No, I didn't see her anywhere". She must have left before we got here, I can probably find her in her room. Eruk thought. "Taki, would you care to have dinner with Sylphiel and me? I thought we could celebrate that we got out of this alive." He asked her. She looked happy, then a sad expression appeared on her face. "I would love to, but I wouldn't want to intrude on you two, and I don't have any money either". He laughed a bit "Don't worry about intruding, I was planing this for your sake as well. And about the money, I managed to get a handsome reward from prince Phill, so no worries there, it's my treat". Takis smile grew, "So you wanna go?" he asked. She happily agreed. "I'll come get you later then. And you're free to pick whatever clothes you wanna wear, a maid should drop by to help you. I'll see you later, you just check out the palace if you want" Eruk left her and headed for Sylphiels room.
He knocked on the door to announce his arrival "Sylphiel? I'm coming in". He waited a bit before opening the door. She was sitting in front of the mirror, brushing her hair. She jumped a bit when she saw his reflection in the mirror. "Eruk? When did you come in here?" she asked. "I'm sorry if I scared you, but I did knock, I guess you didn't hear me" he said. She blushed a bit, I'm sorry. I was just sitting in my own thoughts".
He went over and sat down on the bed. "I was just wondering if you would join Taki and me for dinner tonight", he said. "Her expression saddened a bit, "you… and Taki?" she was glad her hair covered most of her face right now, he shouldn't se how she felt. "I don't want to intrude. And you shouldn't invite me if it's just pity!". He was taken by surprise, he had never heard her talk like that before. "Hold it right there Sylphiel" he got up and walked over to the shrinemaiden. "I don't follow you at all right now, you don't think me and Taki are…?"
She too stood up, and turned around. "I can't blame you, she's a pretty girl" her voice was bittersweet. By now Eruk was almost in a state of shock "Hold it for a second there, there is nothing between me and Taki. I just wanted to invite both of you out to celebrate that we all got through this entire bandit mess alive". She sat back down, "I'm so sorry, I don't know what got into me". He knelt down beside her "don't worry about it, just come tonight, and we'll forget this entire conversation ever took place". She nodded "I will, and I'm sorry" He got up and started to leave "by the way, what is it with you two girls? She said the same thing about not wanting to interfere." He left the room.
Back in his own room, he sat down on his bed. What's going on between those two? I wonder if I could understand girls before I lost m memory. If that's the case, I sure could use that now. He laid back and dozed off for a while.
Evening came and it was time for him to get ready. After taking a bath, he found the clothes he was planing on wearing. It was nothing to fancy, a black shirt and deep blue pants. Like always he was wearing his wristblades, it had become a habit. He couldn't help but silently thanking Gen for giving him a weapon that could be disguised that easily. As he came out of his room, he saw Zelgadis waiting for him. "Hi, Mr. Zelgadis. What brings you here?" he said. The chimera looked straight at him. Somehow Eruk did always feel uneasy around Zelgadis, there were just something about him. It wasn't like he was afraid, there was just a strangely familiar feeling. "I just thought you should know, Sylphiel is waiting for you downstairs. I don't know about that other one, but I'll imagine she'll be down soon too". Having said what he wanted to say, Zelgadis turned to leave. "Thanks for telling me" Eruk said, just before the shaman turned down the hallway leading to the library. Eruk figured that he'd better get downstairs, and left his room.
Just as Zelgadis had told him, Sylphiel was sitting on a bench just below the stairs. She was wearing a green dress, that matched her emerald eyes. He stopped walking for a moment, and looked at her. It was the first time he actually had seen her wearing a dress. He had to admit that he wished she'd do that more often, it really suited her.
"Hi, ready to go?" he asked when he got all the way down the stairs. She nodded "Yes. And Taki should be here any minute now". Just as she finished talking, Taki came running down the stairs. "Sorry I'm late. I'm not used to choosing between that much clothes. So how do I look?" She spun around to give them a better look at her. The outfit she had chosen was a dark blue dress and a purple shirt, around her neck Eruk noticed a golden chain. "Come on, come on!! Let's go. I'm starving" the happy teenager was almost dancing around them. Eruk couldn't help but look at her in stunned silence. It was almost unbelievable that this was the same girl he had met in a dark prison cell.
The restaurant he had chosen was known as one of the best in Seyruun. It was fairly late, so there weren't that many visitors at the time they arrived. They sat down at their table. Taki was in state of pure bliss "Whoa!!! I have never been at such a fancy place before. I sure could get used to this". Both Eruk and Sylphiel were impressed too, this place really was something. "You can chose whatever you want" Eruk said, and handed both of the girls a menu "This money should be able to cover almost anything". Taki immediately took the card and started browsing through it. Sylphiel was a little more hesitant, but accepted the card and started to look through the pages.
"So, are you ready to order, sir?" a waiter asked Eruk. "I think I'll have the special chicken platter, how about you girls?" Eruk said. Sylphiel chose the Seyruun stew, and a salad. "Oh, what to chose? what to chose?" Taki mumbled to herself "I'll just take what my friends are having. Make my order a chicken platter like he's having, and a salad like her" she finally decided. "Very well" the waiter wrote it all down on a piece of paper, "would you like to have something to drink as well?" he continued on. "I'll just have water" Eruk and Sylphiel said in unison. Taki looked displeased, "come on, don't be so boring! We're celebrating. Waiter, could we have a bottle of Zephilian wine, please?". The waiter was busy writing "Very well. I'll bring you your drinks at once" he said, and walked into the kitchen. Sylphiel looked at Taki "are you sure you should have wine Taki? People sometimes do weird things when they get drunk".
Taki almost collapsed in laughter "come on now Sylphiel. Don't be such a boring old shrinemaiden. It's not like I'm going to drink an entire bottle of serpent brew".
"Yeah, I suppose she's right" Eruk agreed, trusting the former waitresses experience with alcohol, "but please stop me if I go for second's, I don't need my head to be anymore messed up than it already is". Even Sylphiel seemed to agree, even though the wasn't used to drinking wine. Taki padded his shoulder "come on now, you're not that messed up. I mean, you ruined my clothes back there, that isn't messed up, that's just plain dirty and perverted. But then again, I AM a beautiful innocent girl, so…".
Eruk looked mildly irritated "just cut it out, ok? That's not what I mean". While they were talking the waiter had returned with their drinks. Taki raised her glass, "This is to us, for escaping with our lives" she quickly emptied her glass. Eruk only took a sip, and Sylphiel drank half of hers. "Now while we wait for our food, why don't you tell me some of yourself, like you promised to, Eruk?" Taki said "and perhaps you can tell me, just how your head is messed up. If you think my innocent ears can handle it" she giggled.
He sighed "Well, the story of my life is pretty short. For about a ½ year ago I somehow got hurt in the forest of New Sairaag. I was brought to Sylphiel, who healed me. I lived with her for about 6 months, then we were forced to leave" that is pretty much the story of my life. Taki didn't understand "You only told me of your life with Sylphiel, surely that can't be all. Where were you born?" she asked. "Actually, what I have told you is all I know" he answered "I don't have any memory of my life before then, I don't even remember my real name". Taki were really surprised "you have amnesia? That's why you said your head was messed up?" she asked. He merely nodded as an answer.
Eruk noticed how Sylphiel was left out of the conversation, and changed the subject "Sylphiel, what are our plans now? Do we stay here or do we keep travelling?". She jumped a bit in her seat, she hadn't expected to be drawn into the conversation like that. "I don't know" she answered "I just wanted to go somewhere safe. What do you plan on doing?". He shrugged his shoulders "Haven't really thought about it, I guess I'll go along with your decision". She blushed a bit. Even though she had been with him a long time now, she wasn't used to people caring about her like he did. "Ah, the power of love" Taki said in a singsong tone. Both Eruk and Sylphiel blushed, but before they could say anything the waiter came with their meals. "There you go, please enjoy" he said and left.
They started eating. The food really was outstanding. "This is almost as good as your cooking Sylphiel" Eruk said. Sylphiel giggled a bit "oh you don't mean that" she said. He nodded "you are right, this is better than what you have made while we were travelling, but I have seen you do miracles in a kitchen, nobody can beat you there". The time passed as they ate their dinner. They were talking about a lot of things. Eruk had noticed that somewhere in the room, a girl were complaining about something. He couldn't hear everything, but her voice grew louder and louder.
He scouted the room trying to figure out where the dissatisfied customer were. From where he was, he had some difficulty in pinpointing the sound, but it seemed to come from a red-haired girl in the other end of the room. He continued to watch the scene, while Sylphiel and Taki were talking. The redhead suddenly grabbed the waiter, and seemingly threatened him. He was waving wildly in Eruk's direction. The red-haired girl got up and was stomping over towards Eruk. "Sylphiel, don't turn around, but I think we might have a small problem. Just act naturally, and let me take care of it" he said, trying to look as normal as possible.
The approaching girl stopped right behind Sylphiels chair. "Good evening miss" Eruk said "can I help you with anything?" The girl gave him a menacing look "Yeah, I wanna know, how dare you order the last chicken dinner in stock?" Sylphiel suddenly spun around "Miss Lina? Is that you?". The redhead jumped back in surprise "SYLPHIEL! How? Why? What?" The surprise of the two girls were nothing compared to the surprise Eruk felt "Sylphiel you mean to tell me you know her as well?" he asked. She stood up and took a step back. She could now look at both of them "of course. This is the one I have told you so much about. This is Lina Inverse".
A loud bang was heard. It was Taki, who fell out of her chair " You mean THAT is Lina Inverse? Lina the bandit killer? Eruk let's get out of here, I have heard some terrible stories about her". Taki tried to get back on her feet, and run away at the same time. "yeah, and most of them are true too" a voice came from behind her. She couldn't see the person who spoke, but she didn't have time to care. She was suddenly pulled to her feet. She spun around to face whoever it was who had approached her. All she could see was a black breastplate.
The man was very tall, at least a head taller than Eruk. He had a kind face though, and incredibly long golden hair. "don't worry kid, just don't upset her, and you might be able to walk away without a scratch" he whispered, loud enough for everyone to hear. Lina gave him a menacing look "Gourry, what have I told you about adding to my bad reputation?" she asked sweetly. The blond man looked dumbfounded at her "I don't know. I guess I wasn't paying attention". Lina looked like she was ready to kill him, or in the very least hurt him badly.
"Gourry dear!" Sylphiel spun around. He eyed the shrinemaiden "Oh hi, miss… uh?". Lina gave him a tired look "Come on Gourry, don't tell me you don't remember Sylphiel! It's only been a couple of years". The blonde warriors face lit up "Oh yeah, now I remember! So how's life as a princess?" Sylphiel blinked a couple of times in confusion, her? A princess? Lina gave him another of her famous do-I-have-to-explain-everything? looks "Gourry you jellyfishbrain! Amelia is the princess! This is Sylphiel, remember? From Sairaag, always calling you Gourry dear? Come on you have to remember her". He blinked a couple of times. Lina threw up her hands "she's a great cook". That seemed to do the trick "Oh yeah! Now I remember! Sylphiel how have you been?"
Eruk looked at his purple-haired friend "It seems like you know everybody we meet, why don't you ever warn me?" he asked in mock depression. "Oh that's right. Sylphiel who are your friends?" Lina gestured to Eruk and Taki. "Oh, sorry about that miss Lina, I was just so surprised to see you here, I almost forgot my manners. This is miss Taki" She gestured to the teenage girl on the other side of the table. "Hi! I'm Takiana, but just call me Taki. Wow, are you really THE Lina Inverse!?" Taki seemed to have gotten over her first shock, and was being her usual happy self. Lina gestured to Eruk "and who's this young fellow, your boyfriend maybe?"
Sylphiel almost choked on her drink "NO! Cough it's just Cough…" She was almost unable speak. Eruk extended his hand to the red-haired sorceress "Hello miss Lina, a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I'm called Eruk. And no, I'm not her boyfriend, I like to think of myself as her guardian". Lina nodded, but didn't stop smiling "whatever you say. As you already know I'm the beautiful, young sorcery genius Lina Inverse, and this airhead" she gestured to her blond companion "Is Gourry Gabriev".
"Miss Lina, may I ask what brings you to Seyruun?" Sylphiel asked, after she finally had swallowed her drink. "Come on now, Sylphiel. Even you must have heard of the bandits terrorizing this city. We are here to clear them out, and to claim any treasure they may have, of course" Linas eyes were starry, when she thought about treasure. "Um, miss Lina? I think you are a little to late" Sylphiel said quietly. Lina slapped her on the back "come on now Sylphiel, don't be like that. You don't mean to tell me some amateur adventures have beaten ME to the treasure". Eruk laughed a bit " I'm afraid WE are those amateurs, miss Lina" he said "we got involved in this, and helped sort it out, of course we had some help from the palace, and from a certain chimera, I believe you know".
They went on to telling Lina and Gourry, how they had managed to put and end to the gang. Lina didn't look all to convinced. "WOW, so that means you are going to call yourself Sylphiel the bandit killer now?" Gourry asked, but was quickly slapped silent by Lina "Of course she isn't". Eruk cut in on the conversation "Actually we are celebrating right now, why don't you sit down and join us?" he asked. Lina quickly grabbed Gourry "Sure, we'll just go find our waiter and tell him where to find us ". As Lina stomped of, dragging Gourry behind her, Sylphiel leaned in and whispered in Eruk's ear "Are you sure we can afford this? They can eat quite a lot". He laughed a bit of her concern "don't worry about it Sylphiel, I think we could live a month on this money".
They didn't have time to talk anymore about that subject, as Lina and Gourry were back. Lina was already gesturing like mad to get the waiters attention. "Hey mister, I'll have everything on the menu" she shouted. "And I'll have this and this and this and this" Gourry were pointing away in his menu "and could you double-size it?". Eruk was petrified how can they possibly eat that ridiculous amount of food?. Sylphiel sent him a look that almost screamed "Told you, didn't I?". They could only watch in silent shock as Lina and Gourry were fighting over the food. About 15 minutes later the table was empty.
Eruk was mentally calculating the expenses, he now had some serious doubt that he had enough money. Lina sat back, looking satisfied, and looked at Eruk "you know, it's pretty ironic you end up travelling as Sylphiels guardian. Did you know that her fathers name was Eruk too?". He smiled a bit "yeah, actually I do. She has named me Eruk, in honor of him" Linas eyes went wide "Wait a minute! SHE has named YOU? Just who are you anyway?" He looked down, it still pained him that he didn't know about his past, "actually I don't know who I am" he answered truthfully. Lina blinked in confusion "you don't know who you are?" she rolled her eyes "man you're even worse than Gourry". Gourry looked a bit hurt "Now Lina, that's mean. I'm Gourry Gabriev! See, at least I know who I am" he declared loudly. Eruk shook his head, he decided to ignore Gourry's last comment.
He looked to Sylphiel for help, seeing that she was the one who knew his story best, "Sylphiel why don't you tell her my story?" Sylphiel nodded, and proceeded to tell about everything that had happened. "Now I see" Lina said "Amnesia huh?". Eruk nodded. He turned to Taki, she had been awfully quiet ever since Lina and Gourry had joined them. "Taki why don't you tell them your story too? He asked. He got no answer, Taki was fast asleep, a strange bottle were standing in front of her. It was almost empty. "Did she drink this while we were talking?" he asked out loud to nobody in particular. "yeah she did" Gourry said "when Sylphiel started talking, this girl said something about being thirsty, so I went over and got her something to drink". Eruk picked up the bottle "wow, so this is the serpent brew she was talking about earlier, now I understand what she meant by Zephilian wine not being strong." He thought out loud.
He went over and tried to get her to stand up. He failed. To him the only choice was to get her back to her room, and let her sleep it of. "I don't like to ruin a pleasant evening, but I think we should get her back to her room to sleep", he turned to the redhead "Could we talk on tomorrow?" Lina nodded. Eruk carefully sat Taki back down and found a waiter "I would like to pay the bill for that table." He gestured to the table they had occupied. The waiter quickly found a sheet of paper, and started calculating the cost of the dinner "that will be 497 goldpieces, Sir" Eruk nodded, bitterly knowing the reward he had gotten was 500 goldpieces. He handed over all his money "just keep the rest".
He went back to the table and tried to wake up the drunk waitress "Hey Taki come on, we gotta get you back to the palace". He did get some indication that she understood, but she was definitely not awake. "Sylphiel could you give me a hand?" he asked. She got up and walked to Taki's left side, while Eruk supported her from the right. "We are staying at the palace, I'm sure miss Amelia and Mr. Zelgadis would be happy to see you" Sylphiel said as they left. Just before the walked out the door, Eruk heard Gourry calling "BYE Sylphiel, BYE uh Gruk?" He smiled a bit to himself, Sylphiel had told him Gourry was a little dense, but he had never expected something like this.
They didn't say much on the way back, it was more than enough to try to keep Taki walking. They finally made it back to the palace. "I'll just put her in her bed" Eruk said "you just go to sleep to, Sylphiel. You also look like you could drop any minute". Sylphiel yawned "I think I'll do that. Thank you for a wonderful evening" She smiled as she entered her room. "No problem, Sylphiel, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Of course, now I'm broke, but it was worth it". He got into Taki's room, and put her on the bed. "Goodnight Taki" he said as he turned to leave. Just before he reached the door, he thought of something. She was wearing some sort of necklace, I'd better get that of her, otherwise she could end up strangling herself.
He turned back to the sleeping girl. The necklace was no longer hidden by her dress. He watched it for a while, That… that is the necklace the bandits were after, How did she get it? Well no use wondering about it now, she can probably tell me tomorrow. He reached for the golden chain, but strangely enough he couldn't get it off her. What the hell is going on here? It's just a necklace, it should be no problem getting it off. Could it be some sort of magic? He thought. He quickly went over to Sylphiels room and gently knocked the door. When he got no response, he opened the door and looked inside. Sylphiel had fallen asleep on her bed, still wearing her dress. He left the room, he couldn't just wake her up. Well, whatever magic is in that necklace, it's probably also something that protects the wearer from getting strangled. He thought. He went into his own room, and laid down on the bed. I'll just sleep a little, then go check on her. With that ringing through his mind, he fell asleep.
Authors notes:
Ahh yes another long chapter. So Lina and Gourry finally met up with Sylphiel and Eruk. That was what you had been waiting for, right? Now the big question is, what's the deal with Taki's necklace? Is it just a useless trinket or does it hide some special power?
I know that some of the slayers act a little OOC but this takes place about a year after try. I guess everybody just have grown up a little. Also I hope you like Taki, I had a lot of fun writing her.
Read on, ok? I'll try to update as fast as I can.
