A/N: Hi guys! So I've been working hard to update all my stories. Some are easier than others. Don't give up on me! I hope you enjoy a bit of cuteness in this chapter. Things should move faster... or maybe not... My stories are never fast paced enough I think. Hope I'm not boring you all. R&R please!


Chapter 5 – Who is Tochiro?

Zelgadis awoke thanks to a thud and the sounds of rustling fabric. Instinctively he stood and swung his hand out to the open room, ready to cast a spell. Normally he'd reach for his sword as it caused less of a mess, but it didn't really matter anyway since the room was empty, and he didn't even sense the presence of anyone. Zelgadis stood straight and scratched his head, "Was it just my imagination?"

There was a knock on the door. He moved to answer it while still keeping his eye on the room.

Hina smiled as the door swung open. "Sorry to bother you, but have you seen Master?"

Zelgadis shook his head. "Sorry no."

Hina sighed and put her hands on her hips. "Darn it, and I was certain he was headed this way." She sighed again. "Little scamp. Every night he does this."

"He ran off?" Zelgadis inquired.

Hina nodded, "Same time every night, the instant I mention a bath, he's gone." Zelgadis nearly toppled over hearing the ridiculous situation, but Hina didn't seem to find anything strange, "I swear it's like clockwork. Anyway," she turned away, "If you see him could you grab him for me?"

"Uh… sure."

"Thanks." She jogged down the hallway to search the remaining rooms.

Zelgadis watched after her for a moment. "He doesn't like baths? I don't get it. He acts mature," he muttered to himself, closing the door, "then turns around and does something so childish it makes me wonder if he's really a sorcerer at all."

"Well that's rude." The voice came from inside the room and Zelgadis whipped around, ready with another attack spell. Glen poked his head out from under the bed. "I'm a great sorcerer. I just don't like baths." The kid pulled himself out from under the bed then trotted up to Zelgadis smiling happily. "But wow you sure saved me, tricking Hina like that."

Zelgadis lowered his hand slowly, raising a brow in annoyance. "I didn't do it for you. I didn't know you were in here."

"Really! You didn't?!" Glens eyes sparkled and he pumped his fists in the air. "That means I'm getting better at hiding my presence! Hurray!" His excitement froze and he quickly pointed a finger at Zel. "Just because I'm sometimes not good at hiding my presence doesn't mean I can't do cool things with chimeras," he declared.

"Now look…" Zelgadis groaned. Even if he said so, that attitude didn't instill him with much confidence.

The door banged open, "Got you!" Hina dodge around Zelgadis and snatched Glen up in her arms. Poor little Glen struggled but couldn't fight against the determined woman. "Dinner's almost ready so we need to hurry." To Zelgadis who was shocked by her sudden entrance, she smiled and said, "dinner will be ready in an hour. The cook makes something different each night for Glen. We figured you could dine with him tonight, or in your room if you prefer. Just head downstairs and let the cook know which you would rather."

Zelgadis nodded. His eyes were on the child who was supposedly going to help him. Glen hung limp in Hina's arms, a pout across his face as he was carried away to be washed. Zelgadis scratched his head. "What exactly have I gotten myself into…?" He muttered.

While he waited he wrote a letter to a contact he had in one of the magical guilds. He wouldn't call the person a friend but he knew them well enough to trust their word. The individual was good at research and in his letter Zelgadis requested more information about Glenar Tochiro. He had just finished writing when there was a knock on the door.

"Zel?" It was Glen. "Dinner is ready. I was hoping we could discuss the first steps of research while eating." His voice was back to that haughty tone he'd had when they first met. Zelgadis capped his ink and wiped off the pen tip. Glen gave him a calm smile when he opened the door. "Oh good, I was worried you had gone out." He pointed down the hallway. "Come. I asked them to bring the meal to the conference room."

Glen led Zelgadis to a different conference room from prior. This one had a full sized table and a number of fine-looking chairs surrounding it. "Normally this room is used for meetings with my sponsors, but it's the only one with a full table," Glen explained as they entered.

The meal was already set out for them. Nothing extravagant, just a basic soup broth with a good amount of noodles in it. Glen took a seat at the end chair which was made a bit taller than the rest, probably so that he could see over the table, and immediately started eating. Zelgadis sat next to him on the long side of the table where the second bowl had been set, but rather than digging in he closed his eyes and ran through his usual list of spells to check for poisons or drugs in the food. It was rare that any food actually reacted, but it was better safe than sorry.

When he'd finished he noticed Glen staring at him with a bit of a smirk. Zelgadis growled in annoyance, "Can I help you?"

"I don't blame you for being worried about poisons, but our food came from the same pot, and besides, there's no one around here who would do something like that." Glen shrugged, "But I guess it's better safe than sorry," then slurped up a noodle. "Oh right, I almost forgot," he said turning in his chair to face Zelgadis, "I wanted to apologize for earlier." He said, a blush filling his cheeks. "No doubt my behavior at the time was startling to you; I'm sometimes like that when I'm tired."

When you're tired? Thought Zelgadis. His skepticism must have shown on his face because Glen laughed. "Yes I know it sounds strange. If you'll recall I was a bit like that on the night we met as well."

"Now that you mention it." Zelgadis fiddled with his spoon; stirring it he stared at the rising steam. The intelligent child just got stranger the more Zelgadis learned about him. But the child-like side definitely made him nervous. "Do you ever work on your research while you're tired?"

Glen slurped his soup, "Well projects do sometimes blend the days together," he said matter-of-factly. "Of course that's only in the research aspect. I'd never perform any spells or transmutations while drowsy. I'm sure you can agree that being well rested is best for every sorcerer."

The memory of a half-asleep Lina popped into Zelgadis' head. The red-head was volatile enough when fully awake. He nodded, "Point taken."

Glen smiled. "Good. Now that that's out of the way, about tomorrow's schedule. I'd like to give you a standard physical. Height. Weight. Blood pressure. Oh and of course I'll have to gain an understanding of your physical and magical capabilities. Just some basic things, but it's all absolutely necessary data." Zelgadis nodded. "We should be able to get that all done tomorrow as long as we start early. I'll ask the cooks to set out an early breakfast for us."

Zelgadis listened as the child rattled off all the preparations that were needed; every detail, down to the potential that they might have to head up the mountain to avoid damaging anything while getting a gauge of Zel's strength, was accounted for. From the sounds of it, tomorrow would be busy, and very likely every day after that.

Glen put down his spoon and covered up a burp as he finished both his meal and his explanation of the next day's schedule. "Delicious as always. What'd you think Zel?"

Zelgadis looked down at his meal. The food was good but to be honest he was still hungry. He'd have to talk to Hina about the portion sizes. For some reason it felt too embarrassing to complain to Glen. It seemed odd that Glen, being a renowned sorcerer, didn't have much of an appetite. Typically, the stronger a person's magic ability, the more food they had to consume. Lina was the perfect example of this.

"It was good."

"Well that's good to hear." Hina opened the door pushing a cart with a large covered platter on it. "Hopefully the second course will stand up to the first," she said transferring the platter to the table and lifting off the cover. The platter had a full large roasted bird on it.

Glen looked at her skeptically. "I hope you weren't standing out there waiting for us to finish."

"And let the food get cold? Oh believe me I would have interrupted you. I know how hungry you sorcerers can be." She winked at Zelgadis as she said this. Zelgadis quickly looked down at his plate.

When the full meal had concluded, both Glen and Zelgadis had eaten their fill and the bird was entirely consumed. Glen leaned back in his chair and patted his stomach. "That was delicious. I couldn't eat another bite," he happily declared. Zelgadis nodded and wiped his mouth with a napkin. They chatted for a short while about research and about the town until Hina returned with the cart to clean up the meal.

"Off to bed with you now." She told Glen as she gathered up the plates. The young sorcerer rolled his eyes and suppressed a yawn. Zelgadis hid a smirk when the boy's yawn only got bigger. Glen sighed and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Well I suppose I must." To Zelgadis he smiled, "I'll see you bright and early, Zel. We have a lot to do tomorrow."

Glen left and Hina gathered up the last of the dishes. Zelgadis pushed back his seat and nodded to her on his way out. As he left the room he heard her cough several times, and for the first time in a while he was reminded of Zolft and Rodomir. His servants had always refused to cough or show weakness around him as well, and he wondered if it bothered Glen the same as it always had himself. "Well whatever." He shrugged but couldn't help a smile. "Perhaps I can get used to living here after all."

XXX

Zelgadis woke with the sun, he dressed and went down to the kitchen, searching through cabinets until he found a cup and some tea. He was enjoying the nice hot cup of tea when Glen stumbled down into the kitchen. The young sorcerer looked far from awake, and he repeatedly grumbled under his breath while he got himself tea and some slices of ham and cheese for breakfast. Zelgadis said nothing and went back to reading the book on advanced chimera formulation that he'd stumbled on in the lobby bookshelves.

A little over ten minutes passed before Glen finally spoke, "That volume's an old one. A newer copy should be on the shelf left of where you found that one." Zelgadis glanced up from the page and watched Glen sleepily gnawing on a tough piece of meat.

He looked back to the book and picked up his tea, raising the cup to his lips. "Does that one have your signature on it also?" he asked with a hint of snarkyness. Glen didn't even notice the attitude and nodded, "Yeah though mostly in reference to my past works." He pulled the tough chunk of meat from his mouth and squinted at it before putting it back on his plate in defeat. With a sigh, the young sorcerer pushed back his chair and hopped to the floor.

"Well then. Shall we?"

Zelgadis put down his book and followed him out the door, with full expectations of being exhausted before day's end.

XXX

"You've got to be kidding me…" Lina tossed yet another book down from the ladder onto the already massive stack held and balanced by none other than Goury. "Don't you think you've got enough books yet Lina?" he grumbled. They'd been hunkered down in that sorcerer's guild's library for half a day and the pile contained nearly half of a floor to ceiling shelf's worth of books.

"Oh I suppose." Lina sighed. She climbed down the ladder grabbing one more book on the way down, and walked back to the table where she'd begun gathering the journals she'd pulled from the shelves. Everything she could find on chimera makers. Glenar Tochiro… something about that name just seemed too familiar. But why?

Goury took a nap on the table while Lina flipped through book after book. Nothing! An entire sorcerer's guild and nothing! "There's got to be something on him…" She set down the large leather bound book she'd been reading with a frustrated growl.

The librarian of the guild happened to walk by while restocking books just in time to hear her complaints. "Are you having trouble finding something?" he asked.

Lina picked up the book and waved it angrily in his face. "Yeah as a matter of fact. I'm looking for info on a sorcerer to specialize in chimera production with Human bases." The creation of chimeras was always a touchy subject but the moment Lina mentioned human components the man's eyes narrowed on her. "I don't know what you're hoping to find," he told her, "but our guild would never have research material on something as barbaric as that. Now if you would kindly leave, I won't even ask you to restack this mountain of books. You're disturbing the other guests."

It wasn't a large guild hall, and there were maybe only two or three other people in the library, but this was clearly a time to pick her battles. This place wouldn't have the info she needed anyway. "Fine." She huffed, pushing back her seat. "Let's go Goury." Goury sat up when he heard his name, drool still dripping from his mouth. Lina ended up dragging him out of the guild hall.

The librarian watched carefully until they were out of sight down the road. With a sigh he turned back to restack the books.