Chapter 17

Afternoons in a Different Library

Amelia and Zelgadis both sighed as they realized that the setting sun would herald the return of Gourry and Sylphiel. Zelgadis absentmindedly popped his neck before looking down at the work in front of them... he was far from satisfied. There were numerous tracking spells... but most required being put on an object before trying to track it. They'd eventually found one that might work with some modifications, but they'd also have to find something of Lina's that still held her presence...

Zelgadis leaned back and rubbed at his eyes a bit, "well Amelia what do you think?"

Amelia looked at the work in front of them... they'd spent all day, after finding this spell around noon, working to modify it for their purposes, but it still wasn't finished... and even when it was... well creating new spells wasn't something Zelgadis or she herself did on a regular basis. In fact she'd never created a new spell... and she wasn't entirely sure Zelgadis had either, even if he was a master of shamanist magic. Still, it seemed solid...

"I think we need a little more time to finish it... but we're getting close. However... this spell means we'll have to follow on foot whichever way it's guiding us... I'm not sure how fast we'll be able to find her that way."

Zelgadis nodded, "but we don't really have another choice." He sighed then continued, "so what do we tell Sylphiel and Gourry to keep them off us for another day?"

Amelia thought a moment, "well... if they didn't find Lina within a day's travel of the castle she's gone somewhere farther right?" At his nod she continued, "so we tell them that the spell isn't quite ready but we need them to prepare for our trip. After all some horses will take us faster than our feet. So we'll send Gourry and Sylphiel to oversee selecting horses, and gathering supplies for the trip."

Zelgadis nodded, "alright. I think I need a short break before coming back to this," he said gesturing at the parchment in front of him.

Amelia smiled, "we'll work better after we've had some dinner and a good night's sleep." Her stomach growled lightly, and she blushed.

"Let's go ahead and get dinner, Gourry and Sylphiel can eat whenever they get back," said Zelgadis, he felt a little guilty that they had worked through lunch. He was used to skipping the middle meal of the day whenever he wasn't traveling with Lina, Amelia wasn't.

Amelia smiled brightly at him, and for a few moments they were quiet as they collected the things they would need. Amelia instructed one of the scribes to leave that table as they left it, since they would be back early tomorrow to finish. The scribe hastily complied with the request of the princess royal, and she and Zelgadis were on their way back to the castle. As they walked through the palace gates Amelia paused for a quick word with one of the pages, who went scampering off in the direction of the kitchen. She and Zelgadis continued at a more subdued pace to the same small dining room they had begun the morning in.

Shortly after their arrival in the room servants appeared with drinks, including coffee which Zelgadis gratefully accepted. Amelia smiled up at Zelgadis as she watched him eating their hot pot. She'd remembered how much he liked this meal and ordered it especially for them tonight. He seemed to be enjoying himself, in spite of the Lina quandary. She liked it when he enjoyed himself, he was depressed so often...

Gourry and Sylphiel slowly made their way back to the castle. While at first the act of doing something in search of Lina had galvanized Gourry, as the day wore on he seemed to wear out. Sylphiel has asked more than once if he was feeling alright, but to no avail. Gourry has continued to lose energy throughout the day, and had only eaten lunch when Sylphiel suggested they stop. Even then he had lacked his usual gusto for eating.

Sighing Gourry pulled out the sketch he'd shown to every innkeeper and food vendor they had seen today. Not only had they not seen Lina, they claimed to have never seen anyone remotely like her. Sylphiel had made an odd comment about the sketch too. Frowning he examined it, it wouldn't do to not find Lina just because the sketch was wrong somehow.

The sketch depicted a poorly drawn figure with long hair apparently beating up several other poorly drawn figures with bandannas. So far Gourry couldn't see anything wrong with his drawing, Lina had long hair, and the figures with bandannas were clearly the bandits she was beating up. The figure also had fangs and appeared to be breathing fire, while Lina didn't actually breath fire she did use magic fire a lot, besides it added to the air of violence which accompanied Lina beating up bandits. It was then that it occurred to him, the bandits were unlikely to be at the inn. He should have drawn a sketch of her eating! No wonder Sylphiel had said something... with another sigh he folded it back up and placed it in his pocket, he'd just have to make another one tonight.

Amelia and Zelgadis had finished eating when Gourry and Sylphiel showed up. After informing them of the plan, the two left them to eat on their own. As they exited the room Amelia paused and looked up at Zelgadis.

"If we're going to get an early start tomorrow maybe we should find an object of Lina's now?"

Zelgadis nodded, "that's probably a smart move." He gestured for her to lead the way to Lina's chambers, grateful he wouldn't have to function mentally the next morning until they reached the library. The walk over from the palace would give his coffee time to kick in.

When the reached the door Amelia hesitated, clearly a bit uneasy at the idea of just barging into Lina's private room. But with a mental shake to remind herself that it was for her friend's own good she pulled open the door.

It wasn't until they were both fully in the room that Zelgadis noticed that something was off... the bed! It wasn't made... but that meant.

"Amelia, look in Lina's wardrobe."

"That's a good idea a piece of clothing would make a great-" she trailed off as she opened the wardrobe and saw Lina's dress hanging there.

Zelgadis frowned as his suspicions were confirmed "Lina came back last night then," he said in a flat voice.

"But..." Amelia trailed off. Zelgadis motioned for her to continue. "Well I know they couldn't do anything but I informed the servants... they gossip wildly if you don't keep them in check. The servants would have told me if they'd seen her... and she's not here now."

Zelgadis sighed, why do things have to be so complicated? "We'll see if she turns up sometime today or tomorrow... but we should keep working on the spell. Xellos would have had to bring her here and take her away again if none of the servants saw anything. The spell may still be our best chance to find out what's going on."

Amelia looked once more at the dress in the wardrobe before closing the door. "You're probably right," she said, but her face wore a thoughtful frown.