Chapter Eleven

As if it were a reward all in itself, Luna had decided to ambush Lina once again for another pre-dawn knife-fight. She slowly edged the door open and peered in through the crack.

Snores filled the air, as well as some incoherently muttering on behalf of her younger sister. When she nudged the door open wider, she winced, her face burning. Although most of the two were covered in blankets, there was ample evidence to suggest that both Lina and Gourry were wearing less than usual. Both were tangled together, looking oddly content at such a contorted achievement. Gourry's cheek was resting on Lina's collarbone, drooling to affect on her chest, while Lina's arms and legs were entwined with Gourry, her hands tangled in his hair.

However, despite it being embarrassing, Luna had to admit that they both looked so...peaceful. So content, so open and innocent in their slumber. If she looked at Lina closer, she could see that, even in her sleep, the younger girl was smiling faintly.

Luna slowly backed out of the doorway, sheathing her butcher knife at her side. She shut the door, took a breath, then shrugged, smiling a little, before walking back down the hallway and into the kitchen to get ready for a new day.

X X X

Lina uttered a shout and flung a blast of fire at Gourry. With a cry of his own, he dove towards it, both hands holding the hilt of his new sword tightly. He swung his arms down, slicing the fireball in half, forcing it to vanish. When the blade touched the magic, it glittered.

Lina wiped her brow. It was afternoon, and she and Gourry had only been up about an hour. Her parents had let them sleep in as a reward, and after a late breakfast, were now in the backyard testing out their new creation.

The sun was hot, however, and Lina was getting overheated pretty fast. "That was a good hit, Gourry," she said, smiling a little.

Gourry touched the blade gingerly. "It's sharper," he said with a tinge of awe.

Lina smiled. "It should be!" she replied. "Did you focus like I suggested?"

Before they had begun, Lina had run a few pointers by Gourry, mostly about how to focus his energy into the blade in order to make it more powerful. It hadn't been easy, he realised, especially not as easy as Lina made it look when she did it herself. But then, Lina had years of practise, and Gourry was just starting out. For the short time, both felt that he had made considerable progress.

In response to her question, he nodded slowly. "Yeah, but I think it gave me a headache," he admitted sheepishly.

Lina, however, nodded sympathetically. "Get used to it," she replied. "As you practise, it's going to get worse until you find a way to ease out of it and get more control."

Gourry frowned. "That sucks," he said bluntly.

A sudden blast of lightning startled them out of their discussion. Both turned towards the sound. Apparently Luka had busted another potential shoplifter.

Lina, despite herself, had to smile. "It's nice to be home, and I do love my family, but to be honest, I'm looking forward to getting on the road again, and to find a place of our own."

Gourry nodded, sheathing the sword carefully at his hip. The scabbard was a plain leather one, for now; Lina had decided in the forge that she would make a better one once they found a place to live. "This place is so busy!" he exclaimed. "I don't think I've ever been in a place with this many people for so long."

Lina tilted her head at him. "Your hometown isn't this populated?" she wondered carefully.

Gourry's face darkened, and he looked away, saying nothing. When Lina opened her mouth to apoligise, he said, "More like, it's not a friendly place, and people don't want to spend time together just for fun."

Lina's eyes focused. "You're from Elmekia," she realised. Gourry started, his face going pale, and she nodded. "I had suspected it, but never made the connection." She looked closer at him. "You seem the complete opposite of the average Elmekian, Gourry."

Gourry laughed shortly. "That's the greatest compliment you could ever give me," he snapped out.

Lina closed the distance and touched his cheek lightly. "I'm sorry," she said.

Gourry closed his eyes and sighed. "No, I knew you would find out eventually," he admitted. "I just hoped you wouldn't think badly of me when you did."

Lina slapped his cheek lightly. "Nothing changes, kurage," she chided with a smile. Gourry made a whining noise, as if she had slapped him hard, and she laughed.

There was a companionable silence, between them, both going quiet to enjoy the beautiful day and listen to the shrieks and hollers of Luka's indignation.

"Did you want to stay for the wine festival?" Lina wondered absently, toying with Gourry's braid.

Gourry looked over at her. "What did you want to do?"

Lina sighed, giving the braid a hard tug. "I'm asking you, you moron," she snapped.

Gourry staggered. "I, uh, don't have an opinion?" he smiled lamely, and she glared at him. "Okay, okay; I want to head out as soon as we can. I'm pretty tired, and would like to relax, with you...alone, you know?"

Lina put her hands on her hips. "Was that so damned hard?" she demanded.

Gourry rubbed his head. "Yes," he said sulkily.

Lina punched his shoulder. Gourry responded by shoving her away. She stumbled, reeled back and kicked his shins. He yelped and hopped around, then darted forward and tripped her.

And thus a whole new kind of sparring began.

X X X

It took a few more days to finally establish where Lina and Gourry would settle. Lina and Luka were the main researchers, both women using their sharp merchant minds and cutthroat strategies to the test in order to find a perfect, and most profitable, location. Delmas and Gourry, who were only mildly interested, discussed the possibility of different names for the new sword, coming up with sometimes foolish ideas instead of real ones (especially when alcohol was involved).

In the end, Luka and Lina both agreed on a place in the south, only a few towns into the New World. It was located in a sparsely populated area, but it also straddled two borders, which means that at least two towns had to know about them in order for them to build there.

Since both Luka and Gourry knew of Lina's less-than-ascetic taste when it came to architecture, it was decided that once they had found the perfect spot on that land, Lina would send to Zephilia for some contractors to build there. It was a huge help, but Luka shot that away, declaring, "No one will touch anything of yours unless I approve of them, Lina-chan." Her gaze instantly was on Gourry, and he jolted, swallowing hard. "You know that."

Lina waved a hand at her, still poring over several maps. "Yes yes yes," she said boredly, completely oblivious to Luka's double-meaning. "Whatever."

After that, the rest was pretty straight-forward. Once they found the perfect spot (a nice, shaded area surrounded by trees, but also nearby a small town, situated on a main pathway), they summoned the contractors and got to work. Lina tried, several times, to dictate the way it was being built, but Gourry managed to override her each time, to the relief of everyone but her.

It was quite the building. Similar to her own childhood home, it was two stories as well. However, the bottom level was the widest and split into two parts: the front end was the main store front, while the back was the main home. The upper level had three spare bedrooms and a water closet, used mostly for storage or guests, while the bottom level, complete with kitchen, dining room, master bedroom, and water closet, was used as the living area.

The storefront was modest, and Lina knew it would be a crowded place once it was full of wares, but it was charming. It was rectangular, complete with a counter and pegged-wall, and a small storage room in the back. It had huge windows in the front, ready for any kind of display that they could think of.

In the back, Lina commissioned for a small forge a few metres away from the house. It was small, intimate, but certainly effective, and both Gourry and Lina were satisfied with it.

Once the entire house was full of furniture, supplies, and a few items they had already made, they moved from the closest inn into their new home.

The first thing Lina did was walk in and leave her belongings lying around on the floor. Gourry scowled, but Lina was innocent about it. "It's how I make a space mine," she admitted.

That night, their first night together in their new home, they lay tucked in together, smushed together like two dumplings. Both were elated by how things turned out, and despite Lina's grumbling about how her hard-earned nest-egg was now vanished, they still had some money left over to survive a few skint months if need be. But best of all, in as little as a few months, they had done it; they had started their shared life together.

"Gourry," Lina whispered suddenly, feeling him drift off in her arms. "Are you happy?"

Gourry stirred, made a face, and muttered, "No, I'm miserable."

Lina smacked him, and he snorted and laughed, before diving in close to her and kissing her. She kissed him back, but smacked him again for good measure.

It was the first night of the rest of their lives. And everyone knows that, of course, there's no place like home. Especially if you made that home yourself, with your own blood, sweat and tears. Which, you know as well as I do, that they both had.

So for a while, there was quiet. For a while, there was routine. And eventually, there was some other interesting events that added to the spice of their lives. It would be a decade and a half before there was any real conflict, but they had no way of knowing that. They just lived their lives together, as best they could.

Which, of course, is all anyone can do, don't you think?