Aftermath
The road stretched on before them, but Lina kept insisting that the next town was right ahead.
"You had better be right Lina. I'm not going to sleep on the ground again tonight," Zelgadis grumbled.
Amelia smiled. Anything he did was now unbearably cute. Still, she couldn't help but to poke a little fun at him.
"Oh, come on, Zel. It's not like sleeping on rocks would hurt you; unless they were relatives or something."
Lina started laughing. "Good one, Amelia."
Amelia used to feel guilty about teasing him. That was before Lina pulled that trick with the rooms the other week. Now, their relationship was as strong as possible.
Actually, they were on their way to Seyruun at the moment. The white magic kingdom was out of the way, and at least another week of hard travel. Still, they had to stop by and inform Prince Phil of his successor, of course.
"Speaking of relatives, you're the one descended from oddballs." The teasing went both ways, now that they were engaged.
Lina took the chance to join in the banter. "And knowing that, look who volunteered to marry into them!"
Both Amelia and Zelgadis beamed, ignoring the sarcasm. Stepping even closer beside him, she slipped an arm through his. She lifted her left arm and gazed fondly at the ring she now wore on her hand.
It might have seemed sudden, but it had just happened. Before they had left Tuskman's, Zelgadis had approached Amelia. Awkwardly, he had handed a small, brightly wrapped package to her.
"Um," he said, placing a hand behind his head self-consciously, "I got you...something...you'll probably like it...I hope...uh, it's yours."
Amelia quite liked his recent rambles. He always did it when he was trying to speak of a difficult topic. Curiously, she opened it. It was an easily identifiable box.
"Oh, Zel..." She opened it—
Dropping imperfectly to one knee, he had looked up and asked, "Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun, would you marry me?"
Coming back to the present, Amelia grinned childishly at the memory. The answer to that was obvious. At least he hadn't been tormented for weeks with that question!
So now they were on their way to Amelia's hometown. It hadn't been discussed much; once Lina found out the extent of her meddling, it had turned into the automatic destination. The ceremony itself would likely be held somewhere on the royal grounds.
Amelia was definitely looking forward to it.
Slowly, night came upon them. Still there was no town.
"Lina, it's getting really late. Are you sure that there's even a town I this direction?" Gourry was very good at complaining.
"Gourry, there wouldn't be a road if it didn't go any where. We're bound to come to a town sooner or later."
Zelgadis groaned. "But will it be in our lifetime?"
Amelia liked their group's banter. They were all very good friends. Things would change when they reached Seyruun; she only hoped that her friendship with Lina and Gourry would remain intact.
It continued to grow darker until finally they stopped. There was obviously no town anywhere near them. They would be sleeping on the ground again, tonight.
The campsite was decent, a good covering of trees, and a near-by hill protected them from the wind. Soon, a small fire was going, and Lina and Gourry were scarfing the food they had scavenged from somewhere.
Zelgadis and Amelia, of course, sat staring lovingly at each other. They couldn't do anything else, even talking would be too public in front of the others. But staring was good enough to last a lifetime. Amelia especially treasured it, because she had never had an excuse to stare him in the face before.
As Lina finished eating, she spotted the pair in their gaze. "Oh, come on! You guys are making me sick! If I had known that you two would be doing this, I would never have set you up."
"You're just jealous, Miss Lina. Maybe we should set you up with—"
Lina flushed bright red. "You wouldn't..."
"Wouldn't what?" Gourry's voice behind her made Lina jump alarmed into the air.
Amelia didn't have the heart to keep Lina in her misery. "Nothing, Mr. Gourry. We just thought that we should set Lina up on a date. You know, because of what she did to us."
Gourry went over to sit next to Amelia.
Lina, seeing her chance to escape, said, "Well, I'll just go and see what's ahead of us, bye!"
Watching her go, Gourry whispered to Amelia, "I wouldn't mind you setting her up. As long as you pick the right person."
Amelia looked up at him, but Gourry was already looking the other way, as if he hadn't said anything. She looked back to Zelgadis. He grinned; he must have heard it, too.
They smiled meaningfully at each other. Perhaps Gourry was more perceptive than he seemed.
Lina certainly didn't know how far her interfering was going to extend.
"WHAT?!" they all cried.
Having conquered the peak of the near-by hill, they discovered that Lina's fabled town was right on the other side.
"I-I told you it was close..."
"I can't believe that it was right here that whole time..."
"Lina, didn't you say you where scouting ahead?"
She looked down, sheepishly. "I only checked the other way."
"Zelgadis exploded. "We just came from the other way! What were you thinking!!??"
"It's okay now, isn't it? The towns right there."
Zelgadis was sitting on the ground, facing the way they came. "...Soft beds...hard ground...why me?..."
Amelia smiled at him, then started off down the hill. After all, they were one more day closer to Seyruun. And one more day closer to living happily ever after.
END OF CHAPTER 4
