The first thing Zelgadis did once the others had left was search his room at the inn.
There wasn't much to find, but that was to be expected. The pushy girl, he was beginning to realize, was incredibly sharp. And he knew that anyone who could manipulate him into staying as easily as she had wouldn't be careless enough to leave incriminating possessions lying around for him to see.
Besides a few crumpled tissues on the nightstand, there was only a single brown leather bag near the foot of the bed. Zelgadis opened it, rifling through the contents haphazardly. It was packed with little notebooks and bits of crumpled loose-leaf. Opening a notebook at random he read:
C.B. at Mane = false lead; temple inscrpt. suggests possible C.B./artifact in So. Elmekia, but looks dubious and will take time. L.I. and co. heading to Saillune? Remember to ask A.S. in morning if possible. Also, kill X. in his sleep.
He shut the notebook, and replaced it in the bag. He'd go over the writing in more detail later, but for now he wanted to get as much of a general sense of what he was dealing with as possible.
There was a worn-looking compass buried in the clutter, along with a pocket telescope and a small knife. Zelgadis also found a single very abused pen. He wondered vaguely what its owner had even been doing with it; there were deep bite-like groves all over the metal handle.
Opening a side pocket, Zelgadis found a canteen, along with a pink bracelet, similar to the ones the crying girl wore.
Ah, so it's her bag.
That made sense. As far as he knew, she had been here last, and he could imagine her forgetting something like this in the commotion of the morning.
Searching the drawers yielded nothing. There was a sort of local guide which the inn probably put in everyone's room, and nothing else.
Zelgadis sat down heavily on the bed. This left two options: either he could search the crying girl's bag more thoroughly, or he could go poking around the inn and see what he could find out about the other two. On the one hand, the crying girl's bag was here, and that meant he was far less likely to get caught if the group came back early. On the other hand, the crying girl didn't really worry him for some reason, and this might be his only chance to figure out who the pushy girl was.
He compromised, and pocketed one of the smaller notebooks from her bag before heading out. He could read through it at his leisure later.
Zelgadis headed back through the hall and towards the entranceway. There was a sort of front desk on the far wall, although there didn't seem to be anyone there. Zelgadis walked up to it, and rang the little bell on the countertop. No one came forwards.
He rang it again, and this time accompanied the ring with a loud cough. A minute or so passed, and just as he was about to ring the bell a third time, a short, annoyed looking man came waddling in from around the back.
"Yes?" the man demanded in a clipped tone.
"…Are you the inn keeper?" asked Zelgadis.
"Yeah. You wanna check in?"
"Actually, I was wondering…"
"Rates are posted on the wall."
"Oh. No, I actually just wanted to know what room someone was staying at here. Short, red hair, she has a tall blonde friend with her, and another girl?"
The innkeeper gave him a vaguely suspicious look. "I can send along a message for you if you want."
"Oh," said Zelgadis, thinking on his feet. "I'm traveling with them, actually. I just left some of my stuff with them, and I can't remember where they're rooming, is all."
"Hmm…" The innkeeper glanced through a few papers on his desk, then looked back up at him. "What did you say their names were?"
"Lina," he said. "And, uh, Amy."
"Alright. Down the hall, third door on the left."
"Thanks."
He found the room easily enough. The door was locked, but a quick spell took care of that. Carefully, he opened the door and, when he was sure the room was empty, closed and relocked it behind him.
There were two beds, scattered clothes, a satchel beside the bedside table – the room was in use, and its occupants clearly hadn't bothered to try to hide that fact.
So much the better, Zelgadis thought. I might have actually gotten the jump on them.
Of course, he still couldn't let his guard down. The group probably wouldn't come back for a while yet. The pushy girl probably hadn't bobby-trapped anything. Probably, no one was waiting in the room to catch him in the act of searching through their stuff. But, as a lifetime of sneaking books from Rezo's library and peeking into the women's bathhouse had taught him, probably was never quite good enough.
He walked to the other end of the room slowly, cautiously, and then without warning yanked the closet door open. No one was hiding inside, to his relief, and Zelgadis relaxed just a bit.
Question is, though, he thought, glancing around the room, where do I start?
The satchel near the bed looked promising. Opening it, he found an eclectic assortment of things: a dagger, a blue crystalline sphere, a bunch of cheap identical charms, and a bag full of some of the oldest gold coins he had ever seen.
One thing jumped out at him immediately, though, and that was a single worn, leather-backed book. There was a hint of familiarity about that cover, a familiarity so out of place that it was almost uncanny. He picked up the volume, turning it over in his hands.
Yes, he had seen this book. But no, he hadn't: it was old, and worn, and the title was unfamiliar. No, but he definitely recognized the spine. Except for that little tear at the bottom, that is; that part must be new.
But new since when? he thought. This doesn't make sense.
A sound from the hall startled him, and he ducked behind the bedside table. Voices; someone was right outside the door. Zelgadis waited stock still, hardly daring to breathe.
Slowly, ever so slowly, the footsteps passed, and the voices dimmed to nothing.
Zelgadis let out a breath and got up, setting the strange book on the nearest bed. He'd figure out how he recognized the volume later; right now he needed to work fast.
The closet held nothing but a few clothes; all the pushy girl's by the looks of it. He found some spare change in one of her pockets, but that was it. And the dresser drawers were as empty as the ones in his room.
Which left the stuff in the satchel again.
Zelgadis decidedly ignored the book, instead giving a closer examination to the various other items in the bag. The dagger was completely ordinary, and he quickly lost interest in it. The charms were slightly more curious, if only because the satchel held so many. His best guess was that the pushy girl (he was fairly sure this was her bag) sold them, or possibly even made them. If his theory that she was a mage was right, that would make sense. Mages often worked as craftsmen on the side.
He did wonder what she needed the extra cash for, though, what with the antique and probably incredibly valuable coin bag. But then, the crying girl had mentioned a cave with some sort of treasure, so it was entirely possible that the group had just had a windfall.
So, nothing incredibly interesting here.
Except...
Zelgadis glanced down into the satchel again, this time removing the strange blue stone. It was heavy, and round, and fit snuggly in the palm of his hand. And something about it… called to him.
Zelgadis held the stone up gently to the light, and watched the colors change and sparkle as he turned it. It was bright, almost seeming to glow on its own, and as the light played off of the uneven, crystalline interior, Zelgadis wondered vaguely what it was made of. Stone? No, even for polished stone the surface seemed too smooth and even. Glass? Impossible; no glassblower could have formed the jagged, fractal shapes it contained. The surface of the thing was almost warm to his touch, but not alarmingly so. It was as though someone had been holding it only moments before, even though it must have sat untouched for at least the last half hour.
He heard voices again, and this time there was no doubt that they belonged to the group, although it sounded like they were still a good distance away.
Had he lost track of time?
Stupid... Get out quick, get out quick...
Zelgadis shoved the various items back in the satchel, glancing around quickly for anything out of place in the room. The closet door had been closed when he'd first come in, hadn't it? He slammed it quickly, and was just about to dart out of the room when...
His eyes fell on the blue stone as he turned, a glint of light in the open satchel neatly catching his gaze. Zelgadis paused a moment… just a moment… then snatched up the stone, pocketing it as he locked the inn room door behind him.
It was an impulsive decision, but it was only after he'd gotten back to his own room and caught his breath that he realized how stupid it actually was. First off, the pushy girl would definitely notice that it was missing, and there wasn't exactly time to go and put it back now. Of course, he could always fein innocence if she asked him about it, but really, what was he thinking? And it wasn't like the orb was even important. It was pretty, he guessed, but if anything, he should have taken the book.
Well, there was nothing he could do now. Maybe he could still get access to the book if he told the group that it might be helping him regain his memories. Or, failing that, he had the notebook from the crying girl's bag, and that was at least something.
His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Hey Zel, you in there?" It was the pushy girl's voice.
"Come in," he said, quickly closing the crying girl's bag, and moving it back to it's place by his bed.
In marched the pushy girl, closely followed by the other two.
"Well, that was pretty much a colossal waste of time. But we do have a slight lead now."
"Oh?"
The pushy girl nodded. "No one in the town has seen anything out of the ordinary–"
"Except for us, Miss Lina..."
"Which doesn't count. And there aren't any known powerful mages anywhere near here. But! Someone did apparently break into the inn and search our stuff while we were out, so clearly we have something someone wants."
"Oh?" asked Zelgadis again, in the most casually interested tone of voice he could manage. "How do you know someone broke in?"
"My bag was closed when I left it, and open when I got back. Plus, one of the items I picked up from the cave-temple was missing. You didn't hear anyone?"
"Uh, no, I don't think so."
"So quiet break-in then. Or maybe not, I guess; you're on the other side of the building. Anyways, we've at least got something now."
Zelgadis could have bashed his head against a wall.
Stupid, stupid, stupid..!
Now they'd probably go on a wild goose chase for whoever broke into the inn, and there was no way he was ever going to be able to just return the damn thing without causing a scene.
"What about you, Mr. Zelgadis? Were you able to remember anything?"
"Uh..? No, I don't think so."
"Figures," said the pushy girl. "Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving. Let's get dinner."
"Dinner?" Zelgadis glanced out the window, and was startled to realize it was already dark outside.
"Aren't you hungry?"
"Uh, yeah. Starved." He was, actually, although the thought of it hadn't occurred to him until she'd asked.
"Ok, food it is then! Last one to the dining hall pays."
"Miss Lina! That's not fair at all!" said the crying girl.
"Don't be last then," the pushy girl called behind her as she dashed off, the mercenary close behind her.
Zelgadis was left awkwardly standing with the crying girl, who sighed, and then turned to him almost expectantly.
"...Yes?" he said, after a moment's pause.
"Oh! Um... nothing really, I guess. I just... Do you want to go to dinner, Mr. Zelgadis?"
"Uh... sure."
She nodded, and they set off down the hall together. Her bearing wasn't the same as it had been around the other two, he noticed. Zelgadis couldn't quite put his finger on it, but there was something subtlety different in how she held herself.
"Um... Mr. Zelgaids," the crying girl said suddenly. "I'm sorry you couldn't remember anything."
"Oh. Uh, thanks, I guess."
"I believe in you, okay? If you just keep trying I know things will turn out alright and you'll be back to normal, so don't worry about it!"
I'm the one who's worrying? he thought to himself, although something about the crying girl's demeanor kept him from actually saying it.
"Uh... Thanks. Sure thing."
They walked to the dining room in comfortable silence. The girl had stopped awkwardly glancing at him, Zelgadis noticed, and he was somewhat relieved, if strangely disappointed.
Dinner was a rather chaotic affair, with the pushy girl and the mercenary fighting far more than could possibly be polite in any culture, and eating far more than he would have thought possible.
"Oh man, I'm stuffed!" announced the bodyguard.
"Well, you should be, given that you ate half my food." The pushy girl's annoyance was mostly for show, though, and she sighed rather dramatically, finished off a last piece of pie, and then abruptly sat up, pushing the piles of dishes unceremoniously to the side.
"Ok. Time for business, people."
Zelgadis straightened slightly. "What do you have in mind?"
"Well," said the pushy girl, counting off on her fingers, "there's the weird cave-temple, the item that was stolen, how your memories were erased and how to get them back, and then everything you've missed and desperately need to know."
She paused, giving a quick glance to her companions, and then to him. "If it's all the same to you guys, I think we should start with the last one."
Zelgadis nodded, slowly, trying very hard not to let the sudden rush of anxiousness he felt show on his face. He'd known this conversation was coming, but suddenly facing it like this was different. He shallowed nothing, and looked expectantly at the pushy girl.
"Alright then." She paused, glancing at the other two again. "Actually... Zel, are you alright with talking about this here? Where other people can hear, I mean?"
He glanced around the room. Besides them, there were only a couple old men playing cards at the other side of the room.
"Well... There aren't really many people here to hear..."
The girl said nothing, eyeing him, then them, then her companions again.
"Nah. Let's not take any risks. Your room or mine, Zel?" she said.
He hesitated. "I... It doesn't really matter, does it?"
She shrugged. "Yours it is then. Let's go, guys."
They walked down the hall in silence, and Zelgadis couldn't help but feel like they were all somehow avoiding looking at him, although he was so nervous himself that he couldn't really tell.
They filed into his room, and the pushy girl shut the door behind them.
"Ok. Awesome. Have a seat, everyone."
"I actually prefer to stand…" Zelgadis started.
"No, Zel, you're really going to want to sit down for this."
He sat down rather heavily on the bed. The mercenary sat down next to him, but the two girls remained standing, and he wasn't totally sure which of those unnerved him most.
The group was silent for a moment that seemed to last forever.
Then the pushy girl took a breath, and he held his.
"Ok… Let's start at the beginning. Tell me, Zel, what do you know about chimeras?"