Ch. 5 In which Zelgadiss protects what is important to him.
here and now, i feel that i'm embracing freedom
even tho i may be alone, that's ok
and looking out to a different sky it seems so easy
absence is never the answer, i know, but it serves as my shade
~*~
She was beautiful, Zelgadiss realised as soon as he spotted Amelia on the dance floor.
His now sleeping cat-side snickered. It had told him as much. But in Zelgadiss' option, his cat-side was a bit biased, much like every little kid thought that -their- mommy was the most beautiful in the world.
But in this case, his cat-side hadn't been exaggerating.
They had gone out costume shopping for the Masquerade earlier in the day, his cat self riding on her shoulder in the city. They had visited a few clothing shops which had been mostly boring until he had found some bells to play with.
The bells had been attached to a gypsy outfit, the same she wore now. White over-tunic that came about knee level over a skirt made of some sort of gauzy pale pink and light blue material. The pale blue in the skirt matched the billowy sleeves coming out of the tight bodice. A darker blue sash with bells on it accented both her eyes and the blue in the sleeves.
Much to his current embarrassment, he now realised that the bells he had been playing with were on the area that now covered her chest.
The bells made an interesting contrast to the rest of the sounds of the party. People talking, silverware clinking as the servants ran around offering drinks and refreshments, musicians playing softly in the background as people waltzed.
Amelia spotted, he eased into the crowd, allowing their numbers to hide him. He had entered thru the one place that the Grimwold's, with their anti-magic attitude, had overlooked as an entry. The balcony.
It was amazing the places a simple Levitation spell could take you when people didn't think about magic.
She turned, and for a second, he was sure she had spotted him. Then she turned as someone came up to talk to her.
Score one for his costume. He had taken a cue from her costume and dressed as a gypsy as well. But since he had to quickly scrambled to make one, it had been in dark materials that had just come out of the laundry room.
He didn't quite want to know why someone had black silk sheets, but he wasn't going to question it. It worked.
Satisfied that she wasn't going to recognise him, he drifted closer. He had decided to keep an eye on her while stuck in human form as well, instead of hiding as he usually did for the hour that he was 'Zelgadiss' instead of 'Grey'. Something dangerous was going on, and neither he or his cat-side were comfortable leaving her alone for long.
He noticed Amelia wobble a bit as she declined an offer to dance. From a distance she had looked normal, but up close he noticed that her eyes were a bit glassy and she looked flushed. She looked ill.
A servant passed by, offering him a glass of wine. He declined, the drink smelling wrong to him. The servant nodded and wandered off, offering other people wine.
While the servant had distracted him, Amelia had wandered next to him. "Excuse me." She murmured brushing past him, and nearly fell. He caught her, holding her upright with an arm around her waist.
"Oh!" Amelia put a hand on his arm, stabilizing herself. "I'm sorry, I don't know what's wrong with me..." He caught the faint scent of the same smell in the wine on her breath. His cat-side informed him that he had smelled that in the kitchens as well. The mice there seemed to find it bad and had left the food with it in it alone.
He silently cursed the Kami yet again for giving him such a selective memory. "Dance with me?" He requested, taking her other hand and pulling he into the dance before anyone could notice their positions.
Glassy eyes cleared for a moment. "Zelgadiss-san?" She whispered.
"Shh. You've been poisoned." He said softly. "Can you cast a 'Flow Break'?" Shamanism was his specialty, he still hadn't mastered some of the White Magic spells.
"I... I think so." She closed her eyes to concentrate, silently mouthing words. He could feel the magic flare thru her body from where he held her before it faded.
Amelia blinked a few times, then grinned, tightening her grip on him. "Zelgadiss-san! I thought it was you! What are you doing here? When did you get back?!" She asked, practically glowing with excitement.
"A few weeks ago." He said calmly, amused by her reaction. "I was in the area and thought I'd see how you were doing before they discovered I don't have an invitation."
Amelia beamed at him. "I'm glad you did. I missed you. We all did, actually. Lina and Gourry ask me when ever we see each other if I've heard from you yet."
"So they're still travelling together?"
She nodded. "They're strange that way. They say that they're looking for a new blade for Gourry. Haven't found one that will keep up with him yet."
"Why am I not surprised?" He muttered, smiling fondly. The song ended and they bowed to each other. "Care to join me for a breath of fresh air?" He offered, extending an arm.
She looked surprised for a moment, then looped her arm thru his, blushing faintly before banishing it with a grin. Zelgadiss briefly wondered if the Flow Break hadn't taken care of all the poison before he realised that he was blushing faintly too.
It was odd being human, he mused as he escorted her to where he had entered. He never had any problems blushing around her as Grey.
Of course, he was in a completely different mind as Grey too. The wonders of having a split persona.
"It is good to see you." Amelia reiterated as they stepped out into the cooler night air. "Have you had any luck with your quest?"
"Uh.. kind of." He'd forgotten about that. "I'd ask how you are doing, but I can see for myself." He commented, perhaps a bit too coldly.
She looked a bit surprised the topic change, but nodded. "I didn't think they'd try something in a large crowd." She admitted, sitting down on the ledge that surrounded the balcony. "Usually if someone's going to attack, it'll be you're alone and by surprise."
"You sound like you have experience with this before." He commented, frowning.
"Okaasan was killed by an assassin after Gracia-neesan." She whispered.
Wheels rolled and clicked in his head. They'd had a similar conversation in the past. "Your older sister, who left."
"Yeah." She nodded. "Tousan was worried that it might happen again here, but with Grey-kun's help, I've been keeping ahead of them."
"Grey-kun?" He echoed, barely remembering to play dumb.
"My friend, Grey-kun. He's a cat." She said, a touch of pride in her voice. "I found him on my way here, and he's been following me around ever since. He reminds me of you, somewhat."
"Ah."
"Don't worry about me, Zelgadiss-san." Amelia straighten, a determined spark in her eyes. "Tomorrow is the vote and the day after we go home."
"You could have to flee if the vote is negative." He pointed out. "You might want to send your escorts on ahead. It's easier to Ray Wing of you're by yourself."
"I don't think I can send Grey-kun away." She mused. "He's too loyal. But I think you're right. It would be safer for them if I meet them at the border."
"And pack tonight, just in case. Even if the vote is in our favour, it wouldn't hurt to be prepared."
Amelia nodded. "What about you, Zelgadiss-san?"
"I can take care of myself. Besides, I'm just passing thru." Not exactly a lie, but not the truth either. It seemed he was doing a lot of that. It was becoming a habit he didn't necessarily like.
She nodded. "I know you can take care of yourself, but it doesn't stop me from worrying sometimes." Amelia bit her lip, as if she wasn't sure if she had said too much.
He smiled. "Then I thank you for your worry. But like I said, I can take care of myself."
"You've got more lives than a cat!" She grinned, agreeing. He froze for a moment, before realising that she hadn't made the connection of him as a cat.
The hairs on the back of his neck rose, and he glanced up at the sky. His time was almost up. Crap. He must have spent more time watching her in the ballroom than he had realised.
Amelia noticed his stillness. "Zelgadiss-san?" She asked, her voice concerned. "Is everything alright?"
"Yeah. Fine. I've got to go." He said quickly.
"So soon?"
Zelgadiss felt a pang of regret at the sad tone in her voice. "I'm sorry. Take care of yourself, Amelia."
"You too, Zelgadiss-san." She smiled, a bit of a bittersweet smile. He felt much the same way. They had both gotten to see each other, but not for very long. "Perhaps I'll see you again soon, right?" She added cheerfully.
"I..." He paused. "I don't know. Good night, Amelia."
Before he could say anything to further complicate things, he jumped off the railing, casting a quick Levitation before he hit the ground and floated off.
~*~
2 leggers were all jerks, he decided as he wiggled out of the pile of dark cloth. With the exception of his human, of course. He had thought that his sleeping self wasn't a jerk, but then his sleeping self had gone and made his human sad. Which made him mad.
So his human was sad, his sleeping part was sad as well and he was mad. Tapestry would be shredded later.
Anomalously, of course. He had learned a -few- things from the jerk of a sleeping portion.
Ears laid back, he stiff-leg trotted back thru the large stinky building to the ball room. It was still full of swirling dizzy 2 leggers. Peering between ankles, feet and toes, he thought he spotted his human still sitting where his sleeping part had left his human. He started to cross to his human, only to be stopped by a pair of legs belonging to 2 of the stinky humans.
They were talking softly about his human.
He froze, his sleeping part suddenly very alert. This was bad, the sleeping portion of his mind informed him. Something that involved hurting his human. He wouldn't allow that.
The stinky 2 leggers walked off, moving toward one of the hallways. He followed with a little prompting from his sleeping part. If the stinky 2 leggers were talking about hurting his human, he wanted to know. His human be okay alone for a little bit longer.
The 2 leggers didn't notice him following them. They were stupid, even if they talked quietly. The sleeping part understood what they were talking about and bristled, angry.
He followed them to a room down a dark hallway. Inside the room was lots of rolls of paper. All of them had dark scribbles on it, some of them had globs of burnt wax on them. It smelled in here.
One of the stinky 2 leggers held up a roll of paper for the other to see, one with a couple of globs of wax on it. The second one looked at it, then asked a question. The first answered, and they began to laugh.
He shivered. It was not a nice sound. The sleeping part of him told him it was okay to leave now, it understood what it needed to. It knew how to protect his human now.
He was only too happy to run back to the safety of his human while the sleeping part made plans.
He didn't like this. He didn't like this at all.
~*~
Okaasan = Mother.
Neesan = Sister
TBC…
