Chapter 16

Evenings at Dinner

Lina yawned and stretched slightly trying to get a particular kink out of her back. She rubbed dry eyes, then shook her head sharply in an attempt to dispel her sleepy feeling. Looking at the mound of books on the table she fought back a groan of frustration, in spite of Xellos' surprising helpfulness she hadn't made much progress beyond basic theory. The light was growing dim, and they'd worked through lunch... something Lina most definitely didn't do. Honestly until she'd stopped to stretch she'd been to engrossed to notice anything but her work. She did let out a small groan as her stomach rumbled and gave an unpleasant clench to punish her for neglecting it so. She looked up to find Xellos' eyes on her, and fixed him with a slightly wounded look.

"The library will be closing soon, we can put these on reserve before going to get some dinner if you want," said Xellos in an appeasing tone, correctly sensing that her hunger could quickly disintegrate into annoyance if not handled with care.

Lina nodded, and closing her current tome asked, "should I get the parchment before we go for the night?" She gestured at his annotations which stuck haphazardly out of the books she'd already read, and neatly out of the ones she hadn't.

"They should be alright for now, the librarians are very good about leaving people's research private. As long as we have them all when we turn the books in for re-shelving it should be fine," said Xellos thinking of some of the research he had done here before... and some of the research he was going to do. Lina gratefully began stacking books while Xellos went to fetch a cart.

Since their work would take most of a single cart, and the library was being used lightly the clerk at the desk said they could leave the cart near their table if they thought they would be in tomorrow as well. Xellos assured him they would, and tipped him for his kindness. The young scribe was surprised, but happy to accept. Xellos returned to Lina, and they began loading the heap of books onto the cart.

"What would you like for dinner?" he asked as he quickly lined the books up in the same order they had been in on the table.

"You said crab was the big specialty here right?" At Xellos affirmative nod she continued, "well then where's the best place for that?"

Xellos paused a moment as he maneuvered the cart against the end of a bookshelf near their table, "Jameson's by the Sea, but it's a bit dressy."

Lina frowned, "how dressy?"

"Nicer than we're dressed now, but not formal like the ball either."

Lina scowled at this, "then I don't have anything to wear."

"Why don't we get something then?"

Lina blinked at him with a blank look.

"Something as trivial as clothing surely wouldn't stop Lina Inverse from eating the best local cuisine would it?" he asked in a lightly teasing tone. "We'll go to one of the shops down the way, they should have something we could make do with. It may not be perfectly tailored for you, but it'd work."

Lina's smile slowly reappeared. "Where did you have in mind?" Xellos only grinned, tucking her hand into the increasingly familiar crook of his arm, and led her away.

A short while later Lina stood in a rather pretty summer dress of soft yellow, and some sandals Xellos had picked out. He had shown up with the shoes in hand when she was standing in front of the mirror, and since they matched well with what she was wearing she'd obligingly put them on. Xellos never ceased to surprise Lina, not only were they the right size and a match for the dress, but they were exceedingly comfortable as well. He'd also paid for the new clothes when she went back to gather her things, and then began carrying the bag of her old clothing for her.

At some point when she'd been trying things on he'd obtained some new clothes of his own. His loose fitting black pants and shirt had been exchanged for a pair of slacks and a button down shirt that had the first few buttons left open. She was surprised at how different the clothes made him seem, in spite of his distinctive hair he looked relatively normal. Though since there were more people around his eyes were closed again. She felt the urge to turn him towards her and make him open his eyes, and she frowned at him slightly, confused by her own feelings... after all they were only eyes, even if they were the most unique ones she'd ever seen.

She blinked as she looked up at the front of the restaurant, apparently she'd been caught up enough in her musings that she hadn't noticed when they'd arrived. Xellos opened the door for her, another gesture she was becoming increasingly familiar with, and they entered. She was surprised when the man behind the counter smiled at Xellos and nodded.

"This way please," the man said giving her a quick approving look, that she barely caught. Lina was most definitely confused, the man was acting as if he knew Xellos... and Lina rarely got looks of approval from anyone. "Your waiter will be with you momentarily," the man said as he held Lina's chair out for her. "Shall I check your bag sir?"

"No, thank you," said Xellos mildly. The man nodded and was gone. Lina turned to look at their surroundings and once again blinked in astonishment. They were sitting on a small balcony that thrust out over the water below them, letting them see and hear the oceans waves on the rocky shore below. The sun was just beginning to set on the water, and the breeze was light and cool. She turned back to Xellos, who was watching her with his eyes open. "Do you like it?" he asked softly.

Lina blushed but forced it down as best she could. "I do..." she said softly, "it's... perfect." It was too, which was part of why she felt so off balance. It was like a dream... only better. Never had Lina been treated like this... and she liked it. Recovering a bit from her embarrassment she realized what the private table, and knowing look from the host had meant. "When did you do this?" she asked gesturing.

He smiled lightly, "early this morning."

Lina's blush returned with interest. "You planned on us eating here? Why didn't you say something so I could have brought clothing with me?"

Xellos looked slightly nervous for a moment, before his face returned to the mildly seductive look he'd been wearing earlier after he'd finished kissing her in the library. "But then I wouldn't have gotten to see you wear so many new dresses," he purred. Lina blushed, recalling that she had in fact paraded each dress in turn in front of the mirror to determine which she liked best. "Besides, it wouldn't have been a surprise if I told you in advance."

She gave him a slight scowl at the lightly mocking town his voice had taken on towards the end, but found it hard to keep up when he was giving her that heated look. She was starting to feel warm when the waiter showed up. Lina jerked her attention to the man as he listed the specials for the evening and asked for drink orders. Lina was further surprised when Xellos suggested a bottle of wine from Zelphila, she nodded her agreement and the waiter departed again. She was cut off from asking about it as a bus-boy appeared with the water pitcher and a basket of fresh warm bread with a little dish of butter. When they were alone again Lina reached slowly for a slice of the bread, and as she buttered it finally managed to get out her question.

"Won't wine from Zelphila be really expensive here? Since they have to bring it all that way and over the mountains?"

"Naturally," said Xellos, "but I would never settle for anything less than the best for you Lina-chan."

She blushed lightly, but forced it back down with relative ease... she was getting used to his compliments surprisingly quickly. She turned her gaze to the menu, and gave her attention over to deciding which meals were in order for tonight.

While eating her many entrées Lina used the time spent eating to think a bit more. She hadn't really had some serious thinking time since before the ball... and everything had changed since then. She was fairly certain Xellos was courting her... or something similar at any rate. But did she want this to happen? Yes. She wasn't really surprised by her answer now... it was all happening very quickly, but Lina liked it. What was more was that while she did care for Gourry, Xellos' attention was pleasing her even more than the few times she'd imagined what a romantic relationship with Gourry would be like. Besides she could still have the relationship she currently held with Gourry even if she was in a romantic relationship with someone else, which was perhaps a benefit of the fact that they'd never had romantic encounters. She loved Gourry, but that love wasn't necessarily a romantic one... after all she'd loved Zel and Amelia too... though she'd never say it out loud if she could help it. She had been interested in a romantic relationship with Gourry, but that interest had virtually disappeared in the course of 24 hours. She knew that her interest had been usurped by an interest in Xellos... but she wasn't sure that the interest in him was new... she'd just never seriously considered it before. Was a relationship with a mazoku a real possibility? Mazoku weren't supposed to be capable of love... but Xellos actions, and something in that line of reasoning weren't quite sitting right. After all, look at what the Golden Dragons had done to the Ancient Dragons... and they were the servants of the gods. Maybe... maybe Xellos was capable of feeling love? The dragons were capable of feeling hate...

Lina peered up at Xellos carefully, he was watching her eat with a heated expression while slowly sipping his wine. He'd let the waiter assume the massive amount of food was going to be shared by them, and was content just to drink while she ate everything. She'd been careful to keep eating while she thought, and she turned back to her food concentrating. She was almost done with her meal... and she had to make a choice. This game... if it was one, had already gone much farther than she should have been comfortable with. Lina knew that if she kept playing something much more serious was going to happen. She might fly by the seat of her pants most of the time, but the reason she was able to make such brilliant deductions about what was going on around her is that even as she was doing things she took the time to think and consider. She knew that Xellos respected her, and desired her physically... he also seemed to be trying very hard to make her happy, even to the point of being helpful and more open than she'd ever witnessed before. This was hardly conclusive evidence of love... yet somehow it was what she thought he'd do if he were in love. Maybe he wasn't in love, and she didn't think that she was either... but she was fairly certain she was capable of loving him. His intelligence, power, respect, desire, consideration... attractiveness... they all pulled at her. She had to admit that if someone had asked her what she wanted in someone before she'd met any of her current friends she would have described someone an awful lot like Xellos.

Slowly she finished up the last of the sweet crab meat, savoring it and the wine. She looked back up and met Xellos' intense gaze. She made her choice.