Gourry and I met up with Zelgadis for the first time in three years while checking out a famous museum. We were looking for a good replacement for Gourry's sword, but ran into some unexpected complications. One of the museum's caretakers was exposed as a partner to someone trying to break in -- wait, did Xellos say "time-taster"! Those don't exist anymore! And what's Xellos doing here, anyway? Man, I just know I'm going to wind up casting the Giga Slave again . . .
Oh well, looks like that strange duo's taken off, and hopefully our friendly Mysterious Priest has gone with them. Time to see what goodies this museum has! And maybe find out what's bugging Zel, too . . .
Episode 02: Affording the Best
Besides the burned-out section of the dormitories, the museum was in pretty good condition despite recent events. Ivy's original attack hadn't done much damage, and they were able to repair the shield after her second. It was about noon and the white walls and towers sparkled prettily above a thin layer of snow.
Lina, Gourry, and Zel, along with a few other magicians and scholars, were entering the main hallway. Marble pillars and delicate etching were in evidence, as well as an array of statues and suits of armor. The group, one of the ten people they would take at a time, was led by a young girl with purple hair and eyes, dressed in somber blue sorcerer's robes. Her obvious maturity beyond her years irked Lina, reminding her of the time taster who got away scot-free.
"Again, we are very sorry about the delay," the guide was saying, her slippered feet tapping along the smooth stone ground. "However, we judged that the threat was over for now, and the investigation could not progress any further, so the tours could begin safely."
"Yeah, 'cause they split," Lina snorted softly. The girl glanced her way with a slight sweatdrop, but for the most part tried to ignore her. The Curators had been startled to see Lina and company, and didn't want to seem ungrateful for the slight part they had played in protecting the museum and chasing off the offenders (however dubious that part may have been), but obviously weren't pleased they had decided to get involved with their business in the first place. Lina was just happy to finally be seeing all the treasures the museum had to offer, although the would-be thieves remained a headache-inducing puzzle.
Their guide stopped at the base of the largest statue in the room, depicting in white stone a heavily-bearded man who carried a scythe. Lina eyed the scythe and then the figure, but decided it was of no significance. Zel was looking at it kinda funny too, but then their guide turned around, a small smile on her young lips. "On the behalf of all the Curators, I'd like welcome you to the Ruinana Museum. We hope you will find our collection of artifacts and records to be fascinating and useful in whatever research you may be composing."
On cue, the statue stood up from its marble chair and swung the scythe high over its head. Half the crowd took a step back in alarm, but the rest were as battle-hardened as Lina and company and didn't even flinch. "Oh, it moved," Gourry remarked.
"However, be advised," the statue rumbled in a deep bass, "that these treasures are guarded by the Curators for life, and with their lives. You are free to study, but not to take." Around the room, the other statues and suits of armor swung up their weapons or thumped their bases on the ground. Lina raised her eyebrows, but said nothing. Could be they would have nothing worth bargaining or fighting for, after all.
The big statue sat back down with a small puff of ground stone, the others following its lead, and the guide smoothly led the group around it and through an archway into another hall. Here she was already waiting for them . . . no, wait, it was a girl who looked exactly like her, except her eyes and hair were dark blue and her robes purple. The difference was subtle and a little maddening to the eye.
The twin girl smiled as her sister stepped up beside her. "I am Ana, and this is Nina. I will be the guide for those who wish to read from our collection of records that make up our famous library, and she will guide those who wish to peruse our various artifacts and weapons that comprise our well-known gallery. After everyone is done, we will switch sides."
"I'm going to the library," Zel said, moving off to the group forming up behind the purple-robed girl. Lina hrmed.
"Let me know if you see anything I might be interested in, Zel, I'm going to check out the treasures with Gourry first," she decided. She and Gourry were joined by three others while four chose the library, making two even groups of five. They set off through opposite archways.
The central building was somewhat wishbone-shaped, with a wing for each aspect of the museum branching off from the main hall. Dormitories securely bracketed each wing. The museum itself really wasn't all that big . . . but there were at least a hundred Curators living there. Each dormitory building was two stories tall, and they seemed to be filled, although according to the normal townspeople the museum's residents never left the enclosure.
Zelgadis walked as patiently as he could after the young girl as she extolled the famousness and expansiveness of the library section, citing documents that dated back to the War of the Monsters Fall, manuscripts of the Claire Bible, and other such rare and ancient records. He didn't know if this place would have anything on the subject he was researching, but he had to try. Absently he pushed up one sleeve briefly, glancing down at his forearm. Black had spread downward from his elbow, giving his stony skin the consistency of charcoal. Who'd ever heard of a chimera disease? Hope flickered in his expression as the girl effortlessly pushed open a set of double doors, revealing a long room stuffed with overflowing bookshelves taller than he was and glass cases protecting fragile papers.
---
Lina and Gourry trailed after their group as they entered the grand, curving hall that was decorated with alcoves, stands, and hangings or every shape and color. Around each item glimmered a smaller version of the shield that protected the museum. Lina couldn't help but wonder just how effective those shields were, considering how easily Ivy had cut through the big one. Then again, she had had a contact on the inside. Just the same, Lina grinned evilly to herself as she eyed the various treasures. Gourry edged away reflexively.
"You are free to inspect the items from outside the shield, and read the plaques describing the history and powers of each item. If you would like to know more about any of our items, please ask me." Nina -- or was it Ana? -- smiled charmingly and stepped aside, gesturing one arm to release the group into the gallery.
The five tourists spread out, looking at the different items. The first one Lina looked at was a magical necklace, a pretty confection of obsidian and silver that had originally been created to enhance one's lifespan. It was created by a desperate sorcerer for a woman with a terminal illness, but such was the depth of her sickness that it distorted the magic of the amulet, cursing anyone who wore it to certain death. Lina shuddered and moved on. The next one was a tapestry with threads that changed colors, displaying a moving, living scene, though the roughness of the threads made details indistinct. Lina blinked. "Hey, that's the town right outside!" she said.
"That's right," the guide said, stepping up beside Lina. She reached through the shield -- it allowed her through without resistance -- and touched one side of the tapestry. The scene scrolled to the left. She touched the bottom, and the view tilted downward.
"Amazing," Lina breathed, eyes shining.
The girl smiled. "It's like a viewing globe, but more advanced and self-sustaining. Unfortunately the material doesn't lend itself to clarity of picture, but it's still an amazing piece of work, isn't it?"
"Distance-seeing spells are difficult," Lina agreed. "I've never really bothered studying them myself, but I appreciate the work involved."
Someone else stepped up to see the tapestry at work, and as the guide again demonstrated its capabilities, Lina moved down the wall. Here there was a plaque and pegs, but nothing hung from them. She peered at the plaque. "The Demon Scythe," she read aloud. "Huh. Guess they'll be putting something else in this spot." The absent weapon, which Lina was sure was the one Trayna had carried, had the ability to shear through any and all holy magic. Nowadays it wouldn't be so useful since holy magic was nearly nonexistent, surviving only in the form of the healing and exorcism found in white magic, but the plaque added that this artifact also supposedly reacted to chaos magic in some way. However, that was just legend. They didn't know for sure because chaos magic didn't exist in their world. "Sure it doesn't," Lina said to herself with a small smile, turning away.
Gourry was reading the notes on a large scimitar displayed on the other side of the room. Supposedly anything cut by it would explode in grandiose fashion shortly after. It was displayed pointing out from the wall, the blade clear of anything besides air and protected by a shield. "Huh, neat," he remarked. The guide appeared next to him as though summoned by those idle words.
"Would you like a demonstration?" she inquired sweetly.
Gourry blinked. "Uh, sure," he said. The girl reached up and plucked a single hair from her head. She reached forward through the shield, and with a flip of her wrist, tossed the hair onto the blade. The faint momentum of the little thing was enough to slice it in half on the incredible sharpness of the weapon, and each half of the hair immolated before it hit the ground. "Wow, that's deadly!" Gourry said, clapping. Then he asked, "So, where's the sheath?"
The girl sweatdropped. "Well, about that . . ."
Lina and Gourry continued to poke around the gallery for a good hour, investigating all the weapons and artifacts the museum had collected. All of them were powerful and most of them fairly useful, with a few obvious exceptions, but none really caught their eye. Lina was disappointed as the group gathered to leave the hall. "Hopefully the library has some neat stuff. This place is a joke," she muttered to Gourry.
They met up with the other group in the main hall. She waved to Zel as they passed each other, but he was too absorbed in his thoughts to see her. "Huh, wonder if he found what he was looking for," Gourry said, glancing over his shoulder at the retreating chimera.
"Whatever it is," Lina agreed as they walked up to the library doors. Her eyes lit up as their guide pushed them open and entreated them to enter. "Oh, cool, they've got tons of stuff!" She turned to their guide. "What's the most powerful spell you guys have here?"
The girl smiled as though used to getting asked that question. She led them to one of the glass cases. "This is a fragment of a document that claims to describe a chaos magic spell. However, it is incomplete, and no one in our world is capable of casting such a spell anyway." Her smile was smug.
Lina glanced down and scanned the tattered paper briefly. "Oh, that. I know that one," she said, and disinterested, walked away. Gourry nodded knowingly and followed after her. The girl blinked.
Lina pulled out a book on white magic and sat down at one of the tables to leaf through it. The guide was announcing that they'd have an hour to research whatever they liked, but could take no notes, and if they wanted to see more, they'd have to come back the next day. The museum would be open for a week, and everyone was allowed one visit a day, and after that they'd have to wait another year. The information here was too valuable to allow free access.
Gourry wandered down the rows of bookshelves, reading the spines. History of the Four Worlds. Monster Hierarchies. Evolution of Beast People in the East. Shabranigdo -- Legend or Loser? He scratched his head at that one and moved on. The swordsman didn't notice how one of the books tipped itself out slightly after he'd passed it, then tumbled to the carpet with a soft thud and started scooting after him.
In no time Lina had collected several stacks of books, and was flipping through them rapidly, scanning the pages for something new on white or black magic. The guide wandered up, and looked on curiously. Lina smiled brightly. "Gotta keep my skills sharp!" she said. The girl smiled nervously and moved along.
Lina paused at one page, and turned back one to look at a diagram she'd almost skipped over. It showed the interconnection of white and black magic to create chaos magic, but if she hadn't understood chaos magic the way she did, she wouldn't've noticed its significance. "Huh," she said. The diagram indicated that you needed equal parts white and black magic to create a chaos spell of the same level. But that couldn't be right, because she wasn't that good at white magic. Much less holy magic, which was black magic's true equal.
Gourry sat down next to her, moving a stack aside. "See something interesting?" he asked. The little book that had followed him this far scooted under the table, unseen.
"Yeah," Lina said absently, still studying the diagram. "The theory looks right on this, but it's not the way it's been in the past. It just doesn't make any sense." She showed the diagram to Gourry.
Gourry might've had some piece of fascinating intellectual wisdom to share at that point, but just then the book started climbing up his leg. "GAH!" Gourry cried, flailing. His chair fell backwards and he knocked over the table.
Lina blinked as books rained all around her, and then one landed on her head. She tipped it back with one gloved hand to reveal an unamused expression leveled on her prone bodyguard. "What's wrong with you?" she inquired, her tone a little flat. Gourry was rolling around, flapping the arm that the book was clinging to desperately.
"Get it off get it off get it off!" he cried. Lina's expression began to become more amused, but just then the guide ran up, alerted by all the commotion.
"Oh, Mickey!" she cried. "You know better than to bother the guests!" She swooped down and peeled the now unresisting book off Gourry. It cuddled up to her arm, somehow emanating chagrin. "I'm sorry," she said to the swordsman as he scooted away from the perfectly harmless book in terror. "He does this sometimes. I don't know why. Bad Mickey, bad!" She looked down and waved a reprimanding finger at the book, which was nestling in the crook of her arm like it was trying to hide its face. Gourry blinked and peered at it curiously, alarm subsiding.
"A living book, huh?" Lina said, pulling the considerably more normal one off the top of her head. "That's different."
"Named Mickey?" said Gourry. It perked up at Gourry saying its name, and launched itself from the guide's arms into the swordsman's. He caught it reflexively, and held it out at a distance as it squirmed excitedly. "Woah, down boy!"
"I'm sorry," the girl said again helplessly. "He really likes you, I think. He just does this sometimes. Don't worry, he's harmless."
Lina leaned around to look at the cover, upside-down. "Elfin Heritage?" she said. "A book about elves?"
"And by elves, actually," the guide said, sheepish. "Apparently all their books had personalities. This one just reacts to people sometimes, especially I--" She stopped short, embarrassment forgotten. "Mickey. Come."
The book sadly freed itself from Gourry's relaxing grip and fell to the ground, sliding slowly after the guide as she walked away. Gourry waved after it, a little charmed by the thing, and it fluttered a page at him. One of Lina's eyebrows was arched. 'If she was about to say the name I think she was going to say, that puts a whole different spin on things, doesn't it,' she thought.
Gourry started collecting books and righting furniture. Lina looked at him thoughtfully, remembering an old adventure when she'd first seen the Sword of Light. Well, it wasn't like it didn't make sense. Shaking her head, she picked up the next book and leafed through it, but like the rest of the museum, it had very little to offer.
"What's with this place?" Lina grumbled as the group assembled to leave. They started to walk down the hall connecting them to the main entranceway. "It's really famous and they've got all these great protectors, but their actual materials are about average. I don't get it." Gourry shrugged and spread his hands.
In the entrance hall, they were reunited with a still-pensive Zel. Lina decided to grill him as soon as they left, but the two guides seemed to have one more announcement to make from where they stood in front of the first statue. Nina or Ana or whoever stepped forward, a small smile on her lips as before.
"We hope our public collection has interested you and satisfied your scholarly interests," she began. Lina's expression darkened as understanding dawned. "However, we can only offer a few demonstrations of what our private collection contains." Her twin stepped up next to her at that point, and they joined hands; then they began to glow, and Lina heard Zel suck in a startled breath as they shifted into one another, joining to become what became obvious as the glow faded to be an older version of the "twins". "My name is Niana," the woman said.
"Clever," Zel said. "Splitting the soul into two distinct entities, each a half of the original person." The crowd oohed and ahhed. Gourry scratched his head.
Lina's arms were crossed as she gazed at the guide sorceress with a notable lack of delight. "So let me guess, the private collection is accessible only by the Curators?"
The guide smiled as she turned to Lina. Both her eyes and her robes were a blue-purple hue now. "Indeed," she said. "We Curators studied hard and proved our worthiness to study the materials too arcane for public viewing, and to handle the artifacts and weapons too powerful to let the public have free access to." She paused, a pained expression briefly crossing her face. "And for the most part, none of regret the choice to spend our lives dwelling here."
"Oh? And how often does a Curator go bad and try to steal from the museum?" Lina inquired.
"Rarely," the guide replied, her voice hardening. "When they do, it's even more rare that they live. Even those that escape are eventually brought to justice, and the stolen items returned to Ruinana."
Lina smirked a little, but said nothing more. The guide gave them one last thank-you-come-again speech, and showed them out.
---
"I haven't got the time to take the Curator test," Zel muttered, pacing. Lina and Gourry were digging into a late lunch. A second lunch, anyway. Or maybe it was a first dinner. Lina waved a drumstick at him.
"So are you gonna tell us, Zel? I mean, I know I said if it's personal you don't have to talk about it, but it feels like --" She took a bite. "Like we're not helping you as much as we could. Maybe if we knew what you were after, we could help you figure out how to get it."
"Yeah," Gourry agreed, putting down a mug. "We could probably come up with something."
Zel glanced toward them, a brooding expression on his face. Then he sighed and pulled up a chair backwards, sitting down and pulling up his sleeve to reveal the blackened stone skin. "I don't know what it is," he said quietly, "but I'm sure it's not good."
Lina put down her drumstick and leaned forward, eyes wide. "Woah, Zel, that's definitely not good!"
He let his sleeve drop back down and folded his arms across the back of the chair. "The only thing I can think of is that it's been six years, and my body is beginning to wear out," he said grimly. "But I can't find anyone who knows as much about chimeras as Rezo and Erin did. Most chimera sorcerers just make monsters, not humanoid bodies. And none of the places I've been to have any helpful documentation."
"And the ones that might aren't sharing," Gourry commented.
Lina steepled her fingers before her mouth, contemplating. "I hate to take the pity approach," she said after a moment, "but maybe we could explain the importance of the situation and they'd let us see anything they have that's related."
Zel scowled, but nodded. He knew he was in no position to let pride get in the way. "How late are they giving tours tonight?"
"I think they said until midnight," Gourry said. "They're trying to let as many people take tours as they can, and with only ten people at a time they've got a lot of tours to go."
"Heh," Lina said. "Maybe if they made sure the information they put out was more accurate, they wouldn't have that problem. I know I wouldn't've bothered to come all this way if I'd known all the good stuff was in a private collection only for a bunch of zealous, stingy live-in guards."
"Zealous indeed," Zel said. "It sounds like they're going to send someone after Trayna and Ivy. Another good reason why I'm not interested in becoming a Curator just to look at their real collection." He paused. "But anyway, let's go back tonight and see if they'll let us have access to anything useful."
"Here's hoping," said Gourry.
---
Elsewhere, a beautiful woman spoke to a jovial priest.
"Have you found the child yet?" she asked. Her voice was calm, cool, from behind the curtain. Xellos could see her silhouette and her shapely legs as she languidly reached out an arm to pick up a piece of fruit set in a bowl nearby. Although her physical body was the greatest understatement, she liked to keep herself hidden from sight like some kind of ancient royalty.
"No, Master," Xellos said regretfully. His voice and pose were respectful, but not fearful despite the failure he was admitting. He and the woman had had this arrangement for a very long time, and he knew the trust she reposed in him. "There was a complication."
"Do tell."
Xellos wondered why she peeled the fruit when she would not eat it. "A time-taster was involved."
Her movements stilled for the briefest of moments. "Interesting," she said, much as Xellos had said the word the night before.
"Indeed." His mouth crooked into a slight smile. "I was surprised to find one still alive after this long. However, I judged locating the child was of higher priority, and decided to see what form her interference would take before I made my next move."
"Very well." She waved a hand at him. "I don't need to hear the details. I know you'll get the job done."
He knew a dismissal when he heard one. "Yes, Master."
Alone, the Beastmaster said once more, "Interesting."
---
"A private audience?" the gate guard said dubiously.
Zel stood off to the side, arms crossed and shoe tapping on the ground impatiently. He didn't like this and made no effort to hide it. Meanwhile, Lina tried to pump her chosen source for information. "Yeah," she said. "Has it ever happened? And who's the best person to ask?"
"Well . . . All that would've gone through Trayna, before. Now I don't know," he confessed. He looked away at the mention of his crush's name, perhaps feelings the pangs of her betrayal of the city's revered museum. "I don't know any of the other Curators. But I've never, ever heard of someone seeing the private collection who didn't earn it first by becoming a Curator."
"Not even when it's a matter of life and death?" Lina said, her voice low. Gourry looked troubled.
He shook his head. "I don't know. I'm sorry. You should ask one of the Curators . . . There's a couple of tours left tonight."
Lina looked over to Zel. She knew they'd be turned away at the front gate because they'd been there once today already. But in the back of her mind, a plan was brewing -- a surprisingly honest one, actually.
"I'll ask 'em, all right," she said.
At the front gate, Lina asked to see the guard captain. At first they weren't going to let her, used to eager sorcerers wanting more than their permitted access to the museum, but when she identified herself and her companions as those who had been at the battle last night, the guard hurriedly scampered off to fetch his captain. That man proved to be a forty-something grizzled fellow with a short salt-and-pepper beard and gray-shot black hair. He took them to an office behind the gate guard building. Inside, Lina took in the various medals, awards, and exotic weaponry that made up the décor. It seemed Ruinana could afford the best, and this guy was definitely no-nonsense. He was tough to talk around, but when Lina slyly dropped the fact that she knew there had been two traitors, he agreed to take her to the head Curator.
He led them across the lawns and directly to the front entrance. The guards on either side of the door, a new addition, snapped to attention for him as the group moved past. Lina wondered where they were going as they crossed the hall of statues, all immobile as the current tour was probably occupied in the library and gallery. The guard captain led them behind the great scythe-wielding statue, through the second part of the entrance hallway, to a door Lina had not noticed on her first visit. This proved to open to the outside again, where they saw the central building that stood between the wishbone-like wings. They entered and ascended the stairs. Lina realized that the entire top floor must be a giant suite of some kind as they walked into what was obviously a reception area.
A young man sitting at the desk looked up, a startled expression crossing his face before he smoothed it away. Lina and company waited while the captain went over to him and spoke in low, muffled tones, the man's gaze straying to them during the course of his briefing. He nodded, a tiny movement, and the captain turned and walked back to them. "She'll see you." With that, he left.
Lina looked around and chose a padded couch to recline on. "Hopefully she doesn't keep me waiting," she announced to the room.
"Yeah, Lina gets pretty impatient," Gourry added, for the receptionist's benefit. He seemed to ignore them, seated at his desk again and rifling through papers, a quill in one hand. Zel glowered at him, but the man was just as disinterested in that as he was in Lina's and Gourry's remarks.
Before Lina had to worry too much about quelling the urge to start terrorizing the receptionist into action, he looked up again, touching one ear. "Please enter through that door," he said, indicating a door to his left. Lina noticed, then, that he had some sort of odd but very small contraption attached to his ear. Maybe some kind of communications artifact. She'd've loved to have grabbed it and checked it out, but business was at hand. The redhead rose as gracefully as she could from where she'd sunk into the deeply-cushioned couch, collecting Gourry and Zel on the way to the door, which swung open at her lightest touch. Irritated for no reason she could fathom, Lina stepped inside.
The sorceress didn't know what she'd been expecting since she'd only ever seen a handful of Curators, but the prim woman who stood in this room before the fireplace was not what she had expected. A decorous dark red velvet skirt bared only a short length of calf before her slippered feet, and her white blouse closed high on her neck with a jeweled brooch. Black hair was swept back professionally, and blue eyes regarded the group with a certain detachment that didn't obscure the intelligence glowing within her gaze. "Lina Inverse," she said. "Gourry Gabriev. Zelgadis Graywords. It is a pleasure to meet such famous parties. My name is Angela Ray. How may I be of service to you?"
Lina glanced around the room, noting the thick carpeting, rich oak paneling, plush furniture and various discerning pieces of art, all placed with an eye to impress. Very similar to how the woman had tried to impress them with her knowledge, but Lina had bargaining chips she knew the museum wouldn't be able to resist. Her red gaze returned to the woman's cool blue one.
"I might be able to say you owe us personally. I might be able to say you'd owe anyone in a desperate situation. But I just got here and I'm already tired of dancing around. We need to see your private collection. A friend's life is at stake. Are you going to let us?"
No one missed the flash of irritation that passed through Angela's expression at having the issue so bluntly presented. 'Politics,' Lina thought sourly. 'The most politicky I get is threatening to Dragon Slave someone before I do it, and that's rare.'
"What is it you need to see, specifically?" Angela inquired, strolling beyond the fireplace to a short marble statue of a great cat of some kind. She rested a hand on its head, not looking to Lina and her friends.
"Chimeras," Zelgadis spoke up then, gruffly. "Anything to do with chimeras. Anything at all."
She sent him a slightly surprised glance. "Still after your human body, are you? I wouldn't call that a matter of life and death. I'd consider myself lucky to have a powerful body like yours."
Lina decided then and there she didn't like this Angela, but Zel was way ahead of her. He stepped forward, growling, "You have no idea what a curse this is. And you're lucky you don't. But that's not the issue here." He bared his arm to her, and she recoiled, more out of fear from his closeness and anger than the sight of his blackened skin. "I don't have time to play games with you. Answer Lina's question."
"I can't allow it," she snapped back, recovering. "We'd be bogged down by charity cases if that was our policy, unable to make a living, and the danger to our collection would be increased a hundredfold! I'm sorry." She smoothed her skirt, avoiding any of their gazes. "Truly I am. Look elsewhere for your research."
"Then," Lina said before Zel could get really angry, "I have a proposition for you." At that Gourry looked to her, mystified, and Zel sent her an indecipherable glance as well, but Lina went on. "Tell me there's something in your precious little collection that could cure Zel's condition, and I'll offer my services in finding your bothersome turncoats."
Angela turned slowly to study Lina. She knew Lina and company were nothing to be laughed at; that much was obvious. Just the same, much calculation weighed in her expression. "We have our own ways of dealing with internal issues."
"Oh, do you?" Lina took a step forward, crossing her arms loosely. "Tell me, do you know who that guy was that Ivy called a Monster? Do you know why he was there?" She saw the glimmer of uncertainty in Angela's expression, and jumped all over it. "Yeah, that's none other than Xellos, probably the highest-ranking Monster you'll ever see. He's only one step below Monsters like Hellmaster Phibrizzo and Gaav, the Demon Dragon King -- as a matter of fact, I met him while he was working for one or both of them, before they were both destroyed. And I'll tell you right now that no matter how tough you and your Curators are, you're in way over your head if he's involved. You need someone like me who's got connections and knowledge, and the power to make certain personas sit up and take notice. If you want back whatever Ivy and Trayna took, and your museum's reputation restored, you need my help. And all I'm asking for is access to your private collection, which you know I could earn if I had the time or inclination to apply here."
Gourry nodded along like he'd known this plan from the start.
Angela studied Lina in silence for a good, long time. Then she looked to Zel. "Fully half of our private records involved chimeras. If you can't find what ails you in there, I doubt you'll find it anywhere on this continent. I can't guarantee there's a cure, but we're probably your best shot."
Zel's hands unclenched. "I take it, then, you like Lina's idea."
She inclined her head regally. "Yes, Lina Inverse, I will take you up on your offer. I suspected as much as you have said. And with a price like the one you've offered to pay, no one will think to trifle with us under similar circumstances. However."
Everyone in the room tensed on that one word. Lina's eyes narrowed, as she had a feeling she knew what was coming next.
"We cannot blithely hand out trust. The next hopeful would offer the world if he thought we'd let him view our private collection for such a promise. So in all fairness, I cannot give you access to the collection until you have returned Ivy, Trayna, and the artifacts they stole."
Zel gritted his teeth, and Lina moved forward again, placing a hand on his shoulder to restrain him. "I expected no less from you," she informed the woman. "Deny us consideration in the name of the museum if you want. Even believe it if you want. But because we're not going to risk destroying the collection while tearing this place apart to find it, we'll do as you require."
Zel sent Lina a startled look, then, issues temporarily forgotten. 'I was wrong . . . She has changed.' Lina paid no heed, watching Angela carefully for her response. Gourry stepped up next to Lina, silently supportive.
The newly-appointed head Curator's expression was unamused, but she nodded again. "It is done." Just then, the receptionist walked in, bearing two papers and a quill. He handed them to Angela, who signed both with a flourish before handing it to Lina. The redhead scanned the duplicate contract, not showing how impressed she was that the receptionist -- who must've been listening in -- had written it up before she signed both as well. She kept one copy and the man took the other before retreating back to his desk. None of it smelled of deception; the woman knew that Lina would do as she said, even if she was known for somewhat erratic behavior. Every word spoken in this room carried great weight.
"Let's go," Lina said to Zel and Gourry. They left. Angela watched them go with a hint of satisfaction in her eyes.
---
"But nothing exploded today," Gourry said.
Lina stuffed a roll or two in her mouth. Around them she said, "Yeah, well, we'll make up for it. Trust me."
Zel stared off into space, completely unaware of his surroundings. Or so Lina thought until his gaze suddenly shifted to hers. "You surprised me, Lina."
"I did?" She drained a mug and made a happy sound.
Gourry waved a fork around. "You were so cool, Lina. Cooler than a penguin."
Lina chose to ignore that, looking to Zel. The chimera said with a slight quirk to his mouth, "Pretty much what he said."
Lina shrugged expansively, perhaps a bit self-conscious. "Hey, I know I'm all that, but I don't want to take on a hundred of the best sorcerers on the continent at once, even with you guys backing me up. And it'll probably be faster to haul Trayna and Ivy back here than to find a way to sneak into the private collection. I'd just do that if I could."
A bemused expression crossed Zel's face. "I see."
"And," Lina added, "I'm curious."
"Curious?" Gourry said.
"Yeah. I think we'd probably end up crossing paths again with those two sooner or later anyway, knowing how the Monsters like to drag me into everything." She conveniently overlooked all the times she'd willingly interfered in their business first . . . starting with Shabranigdo. "I want to know just what's going on with them. And if I can do that and use it to help out Zel, then there's no reason not to!"
Gourry and Zel were silent as Lina resumed eating. Gourry stirred his noodles serenely, and the slight curve had returned to Zel's mouth.
"So what do we do next?" Gourry asked presently.
"We have no idea where Ivy and Trayna were going," Lina admitted, "so it might be a bit hard to pick up their trail. Still, I know Xellos is keeping tabs on us. Chances are he'll point us in the right direction, the way he does."
"Or in the direction he wants us to go, anyway," Zel muttered.
"Cheer up, Zel!" Lina said. "It won't be too bad -- we'll figure it out. Just like the old days!"
"That's what I'm afraid of," he sighed.
It was well past dark now, and they'd be getting up early in the morning to make travel arrangements, so they bid each other good night. In her pajamas and stowed under the covers, Lina crossed her arms behind her head and stared at the ceiling above her bed. It had been an eventful day; as quickly as that, they had a mission that could very well take them across the continent and back, and attract attention from the Monsters once more. The redhead grinned. It sounded like fun.
---
Although she'd never been much of an early-morning person, Lina forced herself out of bed the next morning before more than a hint of light was showing above the horizon. A quick bath and she gathered her few possessions to leave the room, fairly sure that Gourry and Zel would already be awake. She stopped outside their doors anyway and listened, reassured by the lack of snoring that they hadn't slept in. The redhead had made it at least halfway down the stairs before she realized that someone was talking about her in the otherwise quiet main room.
She stopped, pressing against the wall to disguise her figure in the shadows. They hadn't seemed to notice her footsteps, though, so they couldn't be too perceptive. She caught her name again and listened closely.
". . . after Trayna and Ivy," came a familiar young man's voice. Lina couldn't place it right away. "Probably in return for access to the private collection."
The person he was talking to was too quiet for Lina to hear. The young man said, and Lina realized it was her favorite gate guard, "I don't know. Maybe she's just curious."
The other person spoke again, and Lina thought it sounded male. The gate guard responded, "She has to. I know Trayna. I know I can find her."
A suspicion was forming in Lina's mind. She eased her short sword out of its sheath and carefully took a few more steps down. It sounded like they were standing to the side of the stairwell, and it was just two of them. "Yes, I suppose, but at the same time she'd be my best bet, wouldn't she?" the gate guard said.
Lina jumped the rest of the way down the stairs, her cape flaring as she skidded to a halt facing the two men. The spell was already half-formed before she shouted "SHADOW SNAP!" and hurled her blade into the wooden planks before the second figure, where his shadow was cast by a lantern.
"Oh dear," said Xellos.
The gate guard wore a flabbergasted expression. Lina ignored him, marching up to Xellos and grabbing his cloak to throttle him slightly. "Spying on me, huh? Keeping tabs on me? Since when can't you talk to me yourself, huh?"
"You're up early," Xellos said, with his trademark sanguinity.
Lina pulled him a little closer, and he leaned away as much as he could despite himself. The sorceress said, "I know you once offered to kill me in cold blood, being a Monster and all, but I thought we were friends of a kind. Tell me right now, Xellos, if that's changed."
"Not at all!" Xellos protested, lifting his hands to carefully pluck Lina's off his clothing. He smiled charmingly. "You see, you've got it all wrong, Lina. I was waiting down here for you, and so was this young man, so naturally we struck up a conversation on our common topic."
"Common topic," Lina muttered, stepping back and crossing her arms. Now she favored the gate guard with a look. He took an involuntary half-step back, pushing his glasses up on his nose nervously. "What do you want?"
He visibly gathered some courage. "I want to come with you!" he blurted out.
"Why?" asked Zelgadis, who slipped out of the shadows of the staircase behind Lina. She didn't jump, like she'd known he was there all along. Whether she really did or not, however, is a matter worthy of debate.
"I . . . I want to find Trayna. To talk some sense into her. And I can help you find her, I know where she's from, what she can do and where she's likely to go. I can take care of myself, I won't be a burden." As he looked at her entreatingly, Lina decided that he reminded her of a puppy, albeit one who seemed pretty determined at the moment. She directed her attention back to the priest, and the young man seemed to sense that it was an encouraging sign that she hadn't dismissed him out of hand and kept silent.
"And you, Xellos? Why were you waiting for me?"
"Why, I'd like to come with you too!" Xellos beamed.
"No way. Absolutely not," said Zelgadis.
"I'm hungry!" declared Gourry as he walked down the stairs, through the group, and over to a table, oblivious to the messy situation. The innkeeper, still yawning, took his order and his order for Lina as well. Lina resisted the urge to yell out a few more sides to add, concentrating on the Monster and gate guard.
"Are you going to tell me why, or what you know about what's going on?" Lina inquired of Xellos.
"Well, you see, that's a --"
"Don't say it." Lina turned back to the gate guard. "What's your name?"
Xellos said as an aside to Zel, "She's even bossier than she used to be, isn't she?" The Monster then stepped forward and pulled out Lina's short sword, as presumably he could have at any time; Zel looked unamused, but Lina took it in stride as he handed the weapon back to her.
"Derec," the gate guard said. Lina looked at him, really looked at him for once, since he seemed destined for more than NPC status. His hair was black, eyes blue, and he seemed to have just outgrown the lankiness of teenagehood although a certain innocence and idealism still clung to him. He wore a black-trimmed green uniform, the Ruinana guard uniform, and wore a sword at his left hip and a knife or dagger of some kind on his right. The wire-framed glasses perched on his nose lent him a scholarly air, and the way he spoke indicated intelligence, but the way he moved indicated he knew how to use the weapons he carried. There was also a certain proper, noble manner to him.
"What's your last name?" Lina questioned, becoming aware of a certain resemblance thing young man carried to someone she had met recently.
"Ray," Derec said, like an admission. "Derec Ray. You know my aunt."
She didn't ask him how he'd gotten the job as a gate guard. If his aunt, who must have been second in line to being head Curator, had loaned any influence to him, he likely would've had a more glamorous job. "Let's sit down and eat while we sort this out," Lina said after a moment, feeling her stomach rumble. Its premonition was accurate, as always, as the innkeeper walked out with several trays heaped with food. She was at the table before the man even reached it.
"But some things don't change," Xellos mused.
"Damn straight," Lina replied, grabbing a plate of poached eggs. Zel silently seated himself, and Xellos chose a chair as well; Derec seemed bewildered, but followed their lead. Zel said to the former gate guard, "You get used to it."
"Does that mean I can come with you guys?" he asked hopefully. He was barely audible over the ruckus of Lina and Gourry's fighting and feasting. The innkeeper was busy bringing more food for the others.
"Yeah, why not," Lina replied after a moment, stabbing one of Gourry's pieces of toast. He promptly stabbed it as well, pinning it in place, so Lina eyed his bacon. "You could be useful," she added, picking up a glass of orange juice.
Xellos didn't ask if he would be allowed to come or not. Lina didn't try to tell him whether he could or not. Zelgadis gave it up as a lost cause, and Gourry was oblivious.
"So, Derec, where do you think Trayna's gone, with Ivy presumably in tow?" Lina asked in between bites.
"Seyruun," he said, picking at his hash browns.
Lina, Gourry, and Zelgadis stopped eating and exchanged looks. Xellos' smile broadened, but he said nothing. "Why there? Gourry asked.
"She's always wanted to go there," Derec said. "It's the center of learning for white magic, isn't it? She loves white magic."
Lina remembered the semi-useless scythe Trayna had chosen to wield, despite the fact it wasn't even part of the private collection, but a publicly displayed item. It had had something to do with holy magic. Could that be what Trayna was after, the long-lost discipline of holy spellcasting? But why? It had to be more than scholarly interest if she was willing to antagonize a whole museum full of zealous sorcerers. Well, they'd probably find out more in Seyruun. Lina didn't doubt they'd catch up with another old friend there, as well.
"Just like the good ol' days," Lina said, echoing her words from the night before as she finished off the last of her meal. "At this rate we'll trip over Filia when we walk out the door."
Xellos shuddered. "Don't say such things, Lina!" She grinned, pushing her chair out from the table.
"Hurry up and finish eating, guys, I'm eager to hit the road."
---
Mer's Notes:
I revised this episode a bit, cut out some dull parts and added some interesting parts. I'll have to start over episode three, but it's worth it, don't you think? We'll see what becomes of Derec in a cast of such colorful characters, and what happens when they get to Seyruun -- though don't be surprised if they have some misadventures along the way! More action in the next episode, I promise. Till then, leave some feedback, it matters a lot to me!