Hello! As usual, I don't own anything. I'm just a fan writing some fiction- and by fiction, let me assure you that I'm probably going out on a limb with some of these theories and explanations, so despite all of my research, if you see something that contradicts established canon, let me know! Thank you, and please enjoy!
33-Hit the Books
It took Lina a moment to realize that she'd fallen asleep. She thought that she had just been resting for a while, but she woke up in the unmistakable daze of someone who had been napping. "S-sorry, I fell asleep." she apologized to no one in particular.
"It's okay. You're lucky to have all those blankets- it's cold in this part of the house."
She hadn't actually expected anyone to answer. It was a pleasant surprise.
"Gourry!"
He stiffened in response to her exclamation. "I'm sorry; did I say something wrong?"
"N-no, of course not. You're here!"
"Of course I'm here. Are you feeling okay?"
"No, I- er, I mean, yes, but it's just- you were-" Lina took a moment to catch her breath and laugh at her inability to speak. "I was just worried about you. I hope you're not mad at me."
"What would I be mad at you for?" Gourry moved from the armchair he had occupied and settled down on the opposite side of the bed.
"For getting lost and making you worry?"
"Ah, things happen. I might've been a little frustrated, but not mad. It wasn't like you meant to get lost." He paused for a moment and glared at her. "…unless it was all part of your plan-"
"No way!" Lina assured him. "That's a dumb plan if I've ever heard one!"
"Well, you Black Magicians seem to enjoy putting your friends through a lot of grief just for the sake of your plans. If you can fool your friends, you can fool your enemies, right?"
"Are you still holding a grudge about that?"
"Hardly. I'm just frustrated because it would be completely in-character for you to do it again."
"And what if I did?"
"Didn't I ask you to think of my feelings before playing with your friends' minds like that?"
"And I will." Lina replied sternly. "That's something you don't have to worry about. You've got enough to worry about now. Why would I make it worse?"
Gourry sighed and lay back across the bed. "Sorry, sorry. I got a little carried away. I guess I started thinking through the lecture I was going to give you if this whole thing really was part of some elaborate plan, and now that I know it wasn't, I'm not sure what to do with all these words."
"You poor child." Lina rolled her eyes with an affectionate smile. "Don't worry- I'll give you extra credit for the lecture anyway."
"Extra credit for what?"
"I don't know. Food, I guess?" Lina shrugged. "I mean- sometime soon when I'm no longer eating for the sake of multiple people."
Gourry seemed to perk up at the prospect. "Will you make that potato dish for me?"
"Which one? My mother's recipe- the one with the onions and cheese?"
"Yes, that one!"
Lina smiled. "You've been so good to me these past few months. When we get home, I'll cook you whatever you want."
"Hooray!" Gourry celebrated. "But not just for me! Cook enough so that we can all share! There'll be plenty for everyone-" He stopped suddenly, and his face fell. "…well, just you and me, I guess…"
Lina gripped one of the blankets tightly, averting her gaze. "…yeah, I guess so."
"H-hey, cheer up!" Gourry sat up again, placing his hand over Lina's. "Zara will come home eventually. And when he does, we can cook his favourite food for him. Won't that be nice?"
Lina didn't respond.
"What are you so upset about? Don't you remember the bird you gave him? It's supposed to be able to find its way home, no matter how far away it might be. Zara is just like that. No matter where he goes, he'll come home in the end."
Lina leaned forward as much as possible, pressing her face next to his. "Forgive me. You deserve so much more than potatoes."
"Like ice cream?"
"Like ice cream."
They both were silent for a moment and then began laughing. A pair of servants down the hall heard the laughter and peeked into the room to make sure that nothing was wrong, but Lina and Gourry didn't even notice them.
For a moment, Ren didn't seem to be convinced that it was really Lyos. She stared at him for a few minutes, scrutinizing his features that had far matured since she had last seen him. After a while, finally satisfied that he was the same person she had known before, Miss Hayze reached out to embrace him.
Lyos, however, avoided the gesture and stepped away from the woman.
The two stared at one another for a long moment. Everyone else tensed up, and Pestis and Shizuri backed away from the scene slightly.
"Lyos?" Miss Hayze asked again, this time far more confused.
"Sorry, Milady. It's been a long time." Lyos broke away from her gaze, turning his own to the ground. "Too long. I'm sorry that I can't greet you more warmly."
"Why not?" Pestis broke in, drawing disapproving stares from some of the others, though he paid no mind to them. "Don't you still care about her like you did before?"
"Things are different, okay?" Lyos yelled. "It's just… too sudden!" He turned his back to the group.
"I understand your feelings, Lyos. I do." Ren finally began, walking towards him with an outstretched hand, her famous unwavering composure showing. "We aren't strangers, but it's been such a long time, we're both completely different people. So why don't we get to know each other all over again. Won't you join me in the library?"
"Library? There's a library?" Pestis was excited by the prospect, and Zelgadis put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down.
"If you'd be so kind as to host us- we already appreciate your hospitality thus far. With the storm the way it is, it's impossible to see very far, and it's too cold to be out for a long period of time." Amelia gave a respectful bow.
Miss Hayze waved her hand. "There's no need for that. I'm the one who should be thanking you."
"What does that mean?" Shizuri asked.
"It's a long, complicated story. Won't you follow me somewhere warmer where we can sit down?"
Amelia and Pestis were eager to take her up on her invitation. "Warmer?" "Sit down?" "Yes, please!"
Lyos looked at them tentatively, gave a deep sigh, and followed after them.
The large brick fireplace made the whole library glow with a warmth that went far beyond just the room's temperature. It permeated the very feel of the atmosphere, making the whole room seem inviting. While books lined the walls, the middle of the room was filled with chairs, desks, and tables- far more than would be needed to host the estate's sole proprietor. It felt as though it were a space just beckoning to host a group of friends, and that was exactly what was now being provided.
Miss Hayze offered the group hot beverages, and though almost all of them refused, Pestis would never pass up an offer of coffee, and so coffee was ordered for all of them despite their protests.
The conversations started on the topic of Kōma War-era paintings, most notably those painted by Maria Nisery (whose widower chose not to reveal his relationship to her as a way of hiding his clear bias in her favour.) Talk of paintings then moved to that of history in general, and to Miss Hayze's support of the Seyruun Historical Society. Seyruun's royal historian (who chose to reveal his position as a way of connecting himself to the conversation) was fascinated by his host's attention to detail in her studies of religious histories. The priestesses of the group were also amazed by the theology with which Miss Hayze was very familiar, and addressed many questions of their own to her. Everyone was talking, laughing, and having a wonderful time.
Everyone except, of course, the Knight of the Aqualord.
Lyos kept his gaze locked on the group, but he sat farther away from them, outside of the circle of chairs that were pulled around one of the large tables in the library. He hadn't drunk any of the coffee that had been poured for him, preferring to absentmindedly stir his finger around the gilded rim of the porcelain cup. Miss Hayze was just as he remembered her, and somehow that made him more upset he would have ever imagined. Her powerful, compelling personality drew the attention of others like moths to a flame, and for Lyos, who had worked so hard for so long to make friends, to see his companions so suddenly enamoured with this woman they had just met was infuriating. It was odd- Lyos thought that he could never be angry with the woman who had done so much for him… but he was, and it hurt.
The worst part was, she wasn't angry with him in return. She was sad that he had chosen to be angry with her. She still cared for him- in fact she had tried to embrace him- but there was something wrong with the picture for him, and he couldn't place the reason.
"…isn't that right, Lyos?"
"Huh? What?"
Lyos had been completely distanced from the conversation, and now that he had been addressed, he looked up suddenly.
"Miss Lina and I had been talking about how your group is searching for a legendary item known as the Key of the Aqualord. I don't know if I have anything like that in my collection, but I am certainly willing to help you look. I have a large amount of literature here that talks about the legends surrounding the Aqualord. Surely some of the information you are seeking will be here."
"If you can do better than the libraries of both Taforashia and Seyruun, then maybe we have a shot." Zelgadis shrugged. "I'm always up for a good research project."
Amelia giggled, tousling his hair with one hand. "You're really cute when you're excited about research."
"Cute?" Zelgadis groaned. "Gee, thanks."
Pestis was already pulling books off shelves, and Miss Hayze jumped up to show him how to properly re-shelve the ones that he was putting back. The professor was being careless and getting them out of order, and clearly Ren was not happy with that.
Lyos stayed where he was sitting, away from the rest of the group. They seemed to be having plenty of fun without him, and he didn't want to interrupt their research party. Research- what kind of crazy people made a party out of that anyway?
Still, after a short while, Shizuri dropped a stack of books on the table beside Lyos, causing him to jump.
"Hey! What's the big idea, scaring me like that?"
"Are you going to sit here moping forever? Get your head out of the clouds- you want to find out how to fix the Banisher, right?"
Lyos just scowled. "We're looking for the Key of the Aqualord, aren't we? Why bother with the Banisher?"
"The Banisher is clearly connected to the power of the Aqualord somehow." Zelgadis answered him. "If we can find that information, we might be able to find the secret of how to restore the Banisher to normal."
"Or- or!- the other way around!" Amelia suddenly gasped, clapping her hands together. "Miss Lin, do you have any information specifically on the Banisher? Maybe by researching a weapon made specifically to channel the power of the Aqualord, we could get some information about a vessel made specifically to store the power of the Aqualord!"
"I do have some- they're in my personal collection in that corner over there." Ren pointed to a shelf that was set aside from the others in one corner of the room. "They probably still have certain passages tabbed from the time when I was searching for the Banisher- just before I met Lyos."
Everyone turned their attention to the bookshelf that she'd pointed out, but the Knight of the Aqualord was the first to get to the shelf, thumbing through the books to find the ones that Miss Hayze had been talking about.
"Here! This one! And- and- no, not that… here? This? Yes! Wait…"
A smile spread over Miss Hayze's face as she watched with satisfaction. It was the first time Lyos had really opened up since his group had arrived at the manor, and he was finally showing some semblance of the spirit he'd had when she'd known him before.
"Is this one that you were looking for?" Zelgadis pulled one of the older-looking books out of the shelf, turning it over gently to look at the cover. Lyos gasped and snatched it from his hands.
"Yeah, that's it!"
Of course, the book fell apart in Lyos' hands. Zelgadis saw it happening, and tried to reach out to prevent it, but he wasn't fast enough and pages flew everywhere.
"You can't just grab these things! Old stuff falls apart easily!"
Lyos flinched. "H-hey, I'm sorry. We can't all be historians, y'know." He sighed and knelt down to gather the pages, trying to find pages numbers to help him order them again. Zelgadis followed suit, offering what help he could.
"I'm sorry- I didn't mean to yell. I've done the same with a number of books from the Seyruun Archives, and I figured something like this would happen if we weren't careful." Zelgadis gave an honest apology, much to Lyos' surprise.
"It's okay. I should'a thought before I grabbed it from you." he conceded. "Sometimes I just don't know what I'm doing."
The two exchanged smiles for perhaps the first time, but the moment was broken as Pestis jumped in between them, gathering pages and looking over them frantically.
"Hey, hey! This one has something about a key on it!" the professor yelled excitedly, waving one particular page in the air.
"What? Let me see!" Amelia grabbed for it and got a corner- that promptly ripped off of the rest of the page. "Ah! Oops!"
"Please can we stop snatching things?" Shizuri groaned. "Why do you all act like such children whenever we go to a library?"
"We're sorry."
Even Zelgadis joined in the chorus of apologies, at least when he saw Amelia looking at him. He did have a habit of getting excited over libraries, after all…
"It's okay. It's still legible." Pestis put the two pieces of the page back together. "See? I can read it perfectly."
"That's great, but what does it say?" Zelgadis stood up and leaned over the professor's shoulder to view the page. The others crowded around too, but Pestis read it out loud anyway.
"…the key to the Aqualord's barrier, a vessel which acts as a method of regulation for the barrier that holds the Demon King in place in the North. Because the power of the gods is more like a living entity rather than just an impersonal force, the power that exists within the vessel is channelled back and forth between the physical object and the barrier as needed to compensate for the normal fluctuations in power levels over weeks, months, or years…"
"So it's like a heart, pumping the lifeblood of the barrier to the North." Amelia murmured.
"The vessel itself is said to be able to channel other godly powers, should it come into contact with such, and has been feared by many as a potential weapon of mass destruction. Its location is unknown however, as it was hidden away for protection. It is said that only the power of the Aqualord himself can manipulate the vessel in order to use its power, but still it has been feared by many, who believe that great disasters may befall the world should the vessel be unearthed. This has never been confirmed by any mythology or legend, but because the vessel has yet to be discovered, it remains unknown. The vessel goes by many names in various parts of the continent, often ones used to describe the Aqualord himself, such as The Ba-"
Pestis stopped short. He didn't need to finish the word- everyone else knew exactly what it was. There was a nervous silence that no one dared to break. All eyes were focused on Lyos. He opened his mouth a few times to speak, but closed it again every time, unable to find something to say.
It was during this awkward silence that the group was interrupted by an enthusiastic voice.
"Hey, you guys! Wow, is this the library? It's fantastic! I'm so glad that you're all safe, and-" Lina cut off her sentence as she noticed the group huddled in a circle in the corner, all transfixed in stunned silence. "What's the matter with you guys?"
The group said nothing, and Lina and Gourry glanced at each other in confusion.