A/N: This story's getting close to being finished. Sorry for any delays. Let me know what you think!

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Lecia stalked down the hall from the royal library, hands shoved deep in the pockets of her loose trousers.  At first it had been fun to wear her tight clothing around the palace, watching Alfred blush as he saw her, but then Amelia had told her that her crazy sister Gracia used to wear a similar style, and Lecia abandoned her outfits.  Not that she had worn the outfits very long, anyway.  She had only purchased them after they had arrived in Seyruun, since her mother and father weren't around anymore to tell her what to do.  Besides, she had recieved a lot of attention from it.  Her breasts were finally starting to grow in earnest, and in a couple of years she would have twice the chest her mother did.  In the end, though, she had become bored of being stared at.  She wanted people to be blown away by her brilliance and sheer magical power, after all.

That was why she was spending almost all of every day in the library.  She hadn't realized it at first, but not only was Seyruun's library full of books on white magic, but also had a special section on black magic, too.  Those books were old and rare.  Plus, she had managed to grab her father's magic bag on her way out of the house, and was pulling ancient books out of there, too.  Aunt Filia had taught her to read dragon a long time ago, and her father had taught her several other dead languages, and so she could read languages that even the librarians couldn't.  They were coming to her asking for interpretations, now.  She had learned a lot, especially about history.  Lecia knew her father had been a Monster, but after reading about ancient history, she realized just what a huge part he  had in the path leading to the modern world.  A man like that wouldn't just throw his life away.  Her father was alive somewhere, she just knew it.

Lecia wanted to string her father up and beat him for tossing away his ring like that.  Gorran had picked it up, and said it felt warm to him when he held it in his palm, so she knew their mother was okay and still searching.  She had been very upset at Zelgadis for several weeks after he shipped her little brother off to Gourry's.  Even though he was a pain sometimes, Gorran was her little brother, and since their parents were gone, she felt he was her responsibility.  Besides, she loved him.  She really didn't have too much use for anyone outside her family, but she loved her family fiercely.

The intensity of that love was what made it so difficult to sit around and do nothing all day.  She had all this power at her disposal, and all this free time, and she was stuck in Seyruun, doing nothing.  Her brother was busy training with the swordsman, her mother was out searching for Daddy, and who knew where Daddy himself was.

Her mood was becoming increasingly foul, especially when she thought about who Gorran was training with.  She had only been a little girl at the time, but she clearly remember her father's pale face as he lay on the grass of the training grounds, bleeding from a mortal wound that Gourry had inflicted.  Gourry had insisted it was an accident, but Lecia knew better.  She had seen, even as a child, the way that Gourry looked at her mother.  It was awful, and she remembered the way both her parents refused to speak the man's name.  Yet Gorran was training with the man, and Lecia knew her parents wouldn't be pleased.  She didn't really like him, either.  He was nice enough, but dreadfully stupid, and her magic was so strong that she had no use for weapons whatsoever.  The only redeeming feature of Gorran's training was that Gorran was loving it.  He had always wanted to learn how to use a sword, and just in the last few months Lecia was able to see an improvement.  In spite of her feelings about Gourry, he treated her brother like his own son, and Gorran was safe and happy.  She loved her brother even more than her parents, and so that was okay with her.  She would let Gorran study with the swordsman for the time being.

She was trying to figure out a way to help her mother locate her father when she rounded a corner and ran smack dab into Alfred.  She stumbled backward and automatically smiled, knowing that such an expression could disarm just about anyone she met.  Alfred gasped and leapt away from her, his cheeks stained red.  His dark blue eyes were wide, strands of hair falling into his eyes.  He wasn't tall, but he moved gracefully and was very sweet.  She was always tempted to tell him how cute he was when he blushed, but she valued his friendship and didn't want to embarrass him.

"O-oh, I'm so sorry, Miss Lecia!" Alfred breathed, cheeks flaming.  "Are you hurt?"

Lecia shook her head, still smiling, and tossed her long, glossy dark hair over her shoulder.  "No, I'm fine.  How are you?"

"Fine," he said with an abbreviated bow.  "How are you?"

Lecia's smile turned into a grin.   He was such a cutie pie.  So vulnerable.  It was hard to believe that he was actually a disciplined, accomplished magician and scholar.  She had found that few people knew history like Alfred knew history.  "You already asked me that, Freddy," she replied.

Alfred's face turned beet red.  "Oh, I'm sorry."

"You said that, too."

Alfred turned purple.

Lecia sighed and let her eyes widen, turning the full force of their amethyst depths upon him.  "Freddy, can I talk to you about something?"

He nodded his head vigorously.

"Are you busy right now?" she asked.

Alfred shook his head.  "No, actually. I just finished training with my father for the morning.  I'm free until about two this afternoon."

"Great!" Lecia exclaimed, grabbing his hand.  "Let's go into town.  We can talk on the way."

Alfred's face looked like it was going to explode, so full of blood were his cheeks, and his body went slightly rigid as she touched him.  "O-okay. What will we be doing?"

Lecia was tempted for a moment to tell him that she was going to check them into an inn for a while so that she could have her way with him, just to see the expression on his face, but decided against it.  She would need his help, after all.  If Val was around she could have made do with him, but she had no way of contacting him and asking him to show up, except for the letters she sent that took weeks to arrive in his hands.  Well, maybe Alfred could help her with that, too.

"We're going artifact hunting," she replied as they left the palace.

Alfred's eyes began to sparkle.  Lecia had heard from her parents that Zelgadis had a love of artifacts, and it seemed that Alfred had inherited that love.  "Really?" the young man exclaimed.  "What exactly are we looking for?"

Lecia smiled at his enthusiasm.  He was really handsome when he was excited.  "Okay, now we can talk," she said.  "I'm looking for a way to help my mother find my father."

Alfred's face became serious, his dark eyes hardening.  "Lecia, your mother told you not to interfere."

Lecia sighed.  She should have known he'd be obedient about this thing.  All his mother's justice talk must have gotten to him.  "But she's been gone for so long, and there's still no sign of my father.  I just want to help her, that's all.  I don't want to have to actually join her on the search, if that's what you're worried about."

Alfred's eyes softened slightly.  "Okay, that's a little better.  So what do you need my help with?"

Lecia batted her eyelashes at him in the most subtle manner possible, shifting slightly so that he could see down her shirt a little and squeezing his wrist, which she still held as she towed him down the streets of Seyruun.  "Well, I was in the library reading, and I happened across a story where a bunch of priestesses used a scrying dish to locate someone.  The only thing is, there's no equivalent in black magic, and I can't use white magic."

Alfred's expression started to become stern once again, but she shifted again and watched his eyes dart from her face to her chest and back up again.  He was blushing slightly and suddenly seemed very focused on her jaw.  Lecia smiled to herself.  She was a teenager too, and she knew what worked on her.  She loved it when she could watch Alfred training outside without his shirt on.  She hadn't worked up the courage to actually try and touch him yet, but she knew she'd be distracted if all of a sudden he whipped his shirt off.  It pleased her that he was reacting the same way.

"Ahh," Alfred said, blinking rapidly.

"Yes?"

"Well, yes, techinically you can do it.  You need some special instruments, though, and the spell is pretty complicated."

"That's why we're in town," she replied.

"To get the instruments?"

"Exactly."

Alfred sighed.  "And you're bringing me along because?"

Lecia clenched her teeth.  He sounded just like his father when he said things like that, and it annoyed her.  "Because you grew up here, so you'll know where the best place to find stuff like that is, and you're a white magician, so you can actually cast the spell."

Alfred came to a halt.  "This sounds sort of dangerous, Miss Lecia," he said seriously, gently removing his wrist from her grasp.  "And it seems to me it goes against everybody's wishes."

Lecia growled silently to herself.  Dammit, if Val was here, he would help her.  It seemed that it was time to pull out all the stops.  "Oh, Freddy!" she cried, and threw herself against his chest.  She blushed in spite of herself as she felt his warm body through his thin shirt, winding her arms around his slender waist.  "Please help me!  I'm so scared that Daddy's dead, and that my mom will die trying to find him.  We need to help, so that I can have my family back!"

Alfred frowned, cheeks stained red, and his hands hovered uncertainly over her back.  "But, Miss Lecia," he murmured.

Lecia burst into tears, burying her face in the side of his neck.  "Oh, Daddy," she sobbed.  "Mama."

She felt Alfred's hands pat her gently on the back, his body temperature increasing slightly.  "Hey, it's okay," he said, setting to stroking her glossy hair.

"I just don't know what to do, Freddy," she cried.  "You're the only friend I have here.  I don't have anybody else to turn to."

Alfred sighed, and she knew she almost had him.  Not that her entire performance was an act.  She really didn't have anyone else to turn to, and she really did like him.  People were also starting to stare, and she knew Alfred hating making a scene.   It would get back to his parents if the people in town spread the rumor that they saw the prince making a girl cry in the middle of the city.  "Okay, okay," Alfred breathed, pressing his cheek against her hair.  "I'll help you."

Lecia pushed away from his chest, smiling and her eyes sparkling.  "Really?"

Alfred's face softened in a smile.  "Yeah."

"Oh, thank you!" she breathed, and squeezed him in a hug.  When she released him, he was blushing once more.  She wondered why none of the blood vessels in his cheeks ever burst, he blushed so often.  "So where do we start?"

Alfred narrowed his eyes and pushed a thumb against his chin, apparently thinking.  "Well, we should probably try to find a suitable bowl first.  Silver works best, if I remember correctly.  Then we need a stirring rod, a linen cloth, and some salt."

"Those last two we can get from the palace, right?" she asked, slipping her hand into his.

"Yes," he replied, giving her hand a faint squeeze.  "So all we need to find are the first two.  I think I know just the place."

"You're the best, Freddy," Lecia said, and the funny thing was, at the moment, at least, she meant it.