Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ Gypsy Moon ❯ Chapter 4: Welcome to the Dead Parrot Inn ( Chapter 4 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Chapter 4: Welcome to the Dead Parrot Inn

Gourry stared at the pale sorceress. "Luna? Your sister?" By then, everyone had turned to Lina.

"I'll go dig my own grave!" Lina shrieked and began to run off.

The girl, who they had just met, twitched. "L-Luna?" She looked at the sorceress running off through the green field. "Wait! That's not-"

"Are you really Luna?" Amelia questioned. They all looked stared at the mystical girl.

"I'm not Luna! What's Luna? Who are all of you?" She glanced back at Lina. "Hey! You!" Her voice became enraged. "I don't like being accused of things like this!"

"YAAAH!" Lina was still running far off.

The woman gave a low growl and took off after Lina. "What are you accusing me of ?! Hey!"

"Oh no." Zelgadiss moaned. The remaining three took off after Lina and the girl. Suddenly, Zelgadiss noticed something. The woman had stopped and held out her hand, the palm facing the air. Is that a spell? Eh thought. Zelgadiss yelled out. "Don't hur-"

The woman blew a light breath across her palm. Small pink flower petals rose up off her palm and floated through the air. Amelia stopped beside the woman. "Flower petals?"

The girl smirked. In an instant, the petals shot through the air over to Lina. The sorceress looked behind her. "Oh crap! She's smiling! Wha-" Lina saw flower petals shooting through the air at her. "Ahh!" The petals whipped around Lina's body. As they did, Lina looked down and saw that the petals had tied a shining rope around her. "Noo!" The sorceress began to try and hop away.

"What is she doing?" The woman asked. She watched as the red haired girl jumped with both her legs through the field, although she was not making much progress.

"I am not to sure." Amelia sighed.

The four people ran over to Lina. The red haired sorceress turned around to face the decorated mystic. "Luna! No! Please don't-"

The woman grabbed Lina by the shoulders. "Who is Luna?!" She demanded.

Lina was trying to struggle out of the rope as best she could. Gourry walked around to the back of Lina and began to try and untie the rope. "Luna." Lina looked at the women. Her hair was darker then Luna's. And she was taller. Lina sighed and looked up at the woman. "Can you slay a dragon with a kitchen knife?"

"A dragon. With a kitchen knife? No, only with a few spells."

Gourry talked behind Lina. "Hey Lina, I can't get this thing untied."

"What? Keep trying!" Lina looked back to the woman. "OK, your not Luna! Good! Now who are you and why did you do this to me?!"

The woman scoffed. "What? You come here, accusing me of being some lady who slays a dragon with a kitchen knife, and then demand to know who I am and why I did this to you?" She took a few steps back to the face the four friends. "I should keep you tied in that spell!"

Amelia had begun to take her turn at attempting to untie the rope. Zelgadiss looked over to the woman. "Sorry to come in like this."

"Yes, please forgive us." Amelia got up to the woman. "Please, can you help us? I think we are really lost."

Lina yelled over to the princess. "Lost? Never! Gods Amelia, don't you trust my sense of direction?!"

The woman looked over to Lina then back to Amelia. She took a deep breath and sighed. "I'll just take this all as a misunderstanding." She walked over to Lina, who was still tied up. "Want those ropes off?"

Lina nodded. "Bye the way, what spell was that?" Lina looked to the woman then at the ropes that tied her up. "I've never seen or heard of anything like this.

The woman placed her hands on the ropes. "The all of you must not be from around here."

"No, we're not." Lina commented. "We're kinda' traveling right now. Need to get to a certain place."

The woman smiled. "Tasson." The ropes around Lina disappeared. The sorceress drew her hand back and looked at the travelers who were staring at her in a bit of amazement. "The spell I did on you was 'Flora Lillis'. If you don't know that spell then you really are not from around here."

Lina waved her hands and stretched her arms out. "No, we aren't. Like I said, we have to get somewhere."

Amelia walked up to the woman. "My name is Amelia Wil Telsa Saillune. Nice to meet you."

The woman smiled and bowed to Amelia. "Ah, the princess or Saillune. The pleasure is mine."

Amelia smiled, then she shook her head. "Wait, how did you know I was a prin-"

Lina went over and shook the woman's hands. "Lina Inverse." The woman nodded.

"I'm Gourry Gabriev."

"Zelgadiss."

The woman began to speak. "My name is Sasheem Erana."

"Wait," Amelia walked over to the woman. "How did you know I was the Princess of Saillune?"

Sasheem gave a slight chuckle. "Well all the gypsies here know about the infamous Princess of Saillune."

"Gypsies?" Amelia asked. The four travelers looked at the woman in confusion.

She looked at them and smirked. "Yes, gypsies. Heh, you thought we were all- "

"Yes! This is great!" Lina cheered.

"Wh-what?" Sasheem looked over at Lina.

"We made it!" The sorceress chirped. "You wouldn't be a gypsy, would you?"

Sasheem pointed to herself. "Isn't it obvious! Gypsies are the only thing closest to a human in Cymbalien."

"Cymbalien?!" Amelia cut in. "This is Cymbalien?" The princess looked at the field.

"Cymbalien is a field of grass?" Gourry asked.

"That can't be right." Zelgadiss added.

"Ahhha! We made it!" Lina cheered, yet again.

"Shut up!" The gypsy snapped. Everyone turned to her in a questionable matter. "What is with you people? Why are you here? I told you what you wanted to know about me, now it's your turn to speak!"

Lina huffed. "Geez, you don't have to yell at us." She walked over to Sasheem and smiled at her. "OK, lets just leave it at that we are travelers and were coming to Cymbalien to-"

"Lina-san, wait." Amelia cut in and walked over beside Lina.

"Amelia, what are you doing?"

"Lina-san, let me take care of this. Please." Lina sighed and moved out of the way. Amelia looked up the gypsy. Sasheem folded her arms and Amelia could tell that her and her friends had not exactly made the best of entrances. "Sasheem-san,"

"Whoa, hold on." The gypsy put her hand up. "Princess, let me ask you one thing before you go on."

Zelgadiss huffed at the gypsies act and looked at her and Amelia talk. Amelia nodded. "Anything, what is it?"

"All of you are from across the Forest of Spirits, right?" The four friends nodded. The gypsy smiled. "That's all."

Amelia continued. "We came on behalf of Saillune, for certain matters. We are looking for Cymbalien and. A certain man."

Sasheem nodded. "That war, right?"

Amelia gawked a bit. "The war? Wait, you know?"

The gypsy nodded. "Yeah. Everyone in Cymbalien knows about it." She looked out upon the four friends. "Look, all of you apparently have quite a few questions."

"So, then the war is coming from here. At least we made the right decision." Amelia said to herself.

"Yeah, we got questions!" Lina butted in, and walked back over to the gypsy. "Royal matters to be exact."

The gypsy turned around and began to walk off. She looked behind her at the travelers. "Let me take you to the city first. I can get you some rooms and settled down, than we can talk. Sound good?"

Zelgadiss talked softly to Gourry. "I don't know if we can trust her." His face grew stern.

Gourry turned to the chimera. "Well we made it to the city. Lets just see what comes up, Zel."

The chimera groaned and followed behind his friends as the walked through the field. He looked past Lina and Gourry to watch Amelia talking to the gypsy. He couldn't see the gypsies' eyes. That really bothered him for some reason. It's like she was hiding her emotions. But she did seem to be rather open to things. He then took a glance at Amelia 'She's all right. Still, how does she trust this woman?' He drew his head back and walked on.

~*~

When the group thought of gypsies, they thought of elegant women covered in cloaks and moving their hands over crystal balls. It wasn't like gypsies didn't do that; but when they entered the city, it wasn't much as they had expected. Yes, they saw gypsies. And they dressed the way the group thought they would.

There were male and female gypsies. Most of the men wore open vests that were either over a shirt or not, and wore sashes around their pants and jewelry over their arms or around their necks.

'Gourry would probably look good dressed like that.' Lina thought to herself. "I never imagined a guy dressed like that."

Sasheem led them through the town. It was rather busy infect. People were going about their daily routines. All the shops were open and the gypsies were coming in and out. What bothered Zelgadiss were the fairies that he would see floating through the air. The city wasn't that different from what looked like a regular town, but music was heard through out the streets and the people did seem rather friendly. Not all of the people in the streets were gypsies. Some were fairies but that were the size of a human.

Gourry looked over to his left and saw a man walk by. The problem was that only the top half of the man's body was human. The lower half was that of a foul. Gourry twitched and poked Lina in her back. "Lina, that man is half goat!"

Lina scoffed. "Don't be stupid Gourry! A man who is half-waaah!" Lina turned and saw the man walking through the streets. "What's wrong with these people?"

"I'm not to sure." Zelgadiss groaned.

Amelia looked up at the chimera and realized why he was suddenly in a bad mood. "Oh no." Tied inside the chimera's wiry hair were several flowers. Amelia reached up and picked out a flower. "Um, maybe they like you Zelgadiss-san."

"I doubt it."

Sasheem came to a halt. "Alright, we can stop here."

Lina came up to the gypsy. "And where are we suppose to stay?"

The gypsy smiled and pointed across the street. "I would have to say that this is the best place you could stay at."

The group looked to where the gypsies' hand pointed. It was a classic looking Inn. Amelia twitched as she read off the name of the Inn. " 'The Dead Parrot Inn'?"

Zelgadiss gave off a long sigh. Gourry blinked as he looked at the place. "Was it made out of a dead parrot?"

Lina felt her blood boil. She turned around to the gypsy. "You want us to trust a place that is named after a dead animal?!"

Sasheem shook her head. "Please, have a little faith! I have a good friend who runs this place!"

Zelgadiss still wasn't sure what to think. "Well, don't judge a book by its cover."

"A good moral, Zelgadiss!" Sasheem walked by and patted Zelgadiss on the back. "Come with me, I'll get you set up here." She led the travelers into the Inn.

"This better not smell like a dead parrot." Lina complained.

When they entered the Inn, it was a small bar and restaurant. "Well, it looks OK." Amelia stated, trying to keep optimistic about the place, not just because it had a bad name.

Sasheem turned to the people. "Well this is the place you can stay. At least, I hope they have four free rooms. I'll have to ask Melendil."

"Melendil?" Lina questioned.

"Uh-huh." Sasheem said not turning to face Lina. "She's the elf who runs this place. And good friend of mine. But." The gypsy trailed off.

Lina started to lose all hope of trusting this girl. Too many weird things were happening. She felt her head pulsing. "But what, Sasheem?"

"Well, she's usually drunk.a lot."

"What?!" The four said in unison.

"How unjust! To be drunk all the time!" Amelia yelled.

"You want us to trust a drunk elf?" Zelgadiss asked.

"She isn't drunk all the time! She just really likes her alcohol!" Sasheem knew she was losing their trust. "Please, I'm asking you to trust me!"

Lina folded her arms. "I'm starting to lose trust here."

Sasheem sighed. "Alright. I can understand. This is moving rather fast." She turned around and went over to the bar, peeking over the edge. "Ah! There you are! Get up you stupid elf!"

A voice moaned. "Damnnit, Sasheem. Leave me alone, bad hangover."

"You got some customers, can't you attend to them?"

The voice moaned again. "Yeah, alright. I'm up." A head rose over the side of the bar. A golden haired elf propped herself up on the bar's edge. Her hair was somewhat curly like Lina's, but it was separated in to two sections that hung off her head. She wore a beige dress with noticeable stitches that held the sleeves on, and on her feet she wore a pair of red boots. The dress had a belt tied around it, and the dress ended in the middle of her thighs. The elf came around the side of the bar to greet the travelers. She put her hand out to shake Lina's hand.

With hesitation, Lina took the elf's hand and shook it. The sorceress couldn't help but notice the elf's pointed ears that fascinated her. "My name is Lina Inverse. We were wondering if maybe you had four available rooms that we could stay in."

From the side, Sasheem watched how the meeting was going. Melendil smiled. " Nice ta' meet you. My name is Melendil Redwood. You need rooms? Yeah, I got some free. Let me see if they are ready." The elf took a quick look behind Lina. "Four of you? What are your names?"

Gourry gave a smile. "I'm Gourry Gabriev."

Zelgadiss nodded his head. "Zelgadiss Graywords."

Amelia shook the elf's hand. "Amelia Wil Telsa Saillune."

The elf jumped. "What?!" She reached behind her and yanked Sasheem up by her. "The princess is here?! The princess of Saillune?! Saillune, as in the city of white magic?! Ow, I really shouldn't yell that loud.Hang over. My head hurts."

Sasheem pushed her arm out of Melendil's grip. "It's all gonna' be sorted out soon. I swear."

Amelia looked puzzled. "Why is it such a big deal?"

The gypsy and the elf eyed Amelia. Sasheem gave off one of her slick smiles. "Look, Melendil will get you set up the rooms?" She turned her body and looked at the travelers. "What if I came back here in about half an hour and we can sort everything out? I can tell you about the war that is going on and you can tell me why you are here. I promise to do everything I can to help."

"Hold it." Lina stepped up in front and looked at the gypsy. "If Cymbalien is placing a war on Saillune, and you and Melendil are form Cymbalien, then why would you help us out and tell us about the war?!"

At first the gypsy didn't say anything. She then sighed and scratched her head. "Because it isn't exactly Cymbalien that is placing the war. It is a group that was once from Cymbalien but has moved out of the city. Almost like they rebelled. However, the group that is placing the war is still, nevertheless, from Cymbalien."

Melendil nodded. "It's true. The Gypsy King left Cymbalien. However, the bastard is still our king. Not like we can really do anything about that. But the people here don't want the war."

Melendil and Sasheem stopped talking. They waited for any answer form the group. Gourry whispered to Lina. "Can we trust them?"

"Hmm." Lina thought for a moment. "You are honest. All right, I'll trust you. But if you manipulate us I'm gonna' Dragon Slave you!"

Melendil and Sasheem exchanged looks for a moment. Sasheem then looked back. "Dragon Slave?"

Lina got a big smile. "That's right! I, the beautiful and talented Lina Inverse, the Bandit Killer, can cast the Dragon Slave!"

The two exchanged looks again. The second they burst into laughter and hung on each other's shoulders. Melendil spoke through laughing. "A DRAGON SLAVE?!"

Lina twitched. She couldn't believe they were laughing at her. Amelia, Gourry and Zelgadiss didn't understand what was so funny.

Gourry felt a cold chill run up his back. "T-they're laughing?"

"At the Dragon Slave?" Amelia added. The group had always feared the horrible Dragon Slave.

Lina screamed. "What the hell is so funny?!"

Sasheem waved her hand at Lina and stopped laughing for a moment. "N-never mind. Never mind. I'll tell you later!"

"No! Tell me now!" Lina shouted.

Melendil shook her head. "No, I think we'll tell you later." The elf then looked behind her. "Oh, um. Please wait one moment. I have to go take care of a customer." The elf then ran off.

Lina folded her arms. "I'll show them a reason to laugh." The sorceress began to mumble to herself.

Amelia sighed. She looked around the room and then over to Melendil. The princess squinted her eyes and tried to look past the elf. Zelgadiss looked down at the princess. "What are you looking at?"

"Well," she started. "I think that the person sitting at that table." She trailed off.

Zelgadiss looked over to Melendil. The elf finally left and revealed the person sitting at the table. Zelgadiss got a disgusted look on his face. "Xellos."

Lina turned her head quickly. "What did you say, Zel?" The chimera sighed and pointed over to the table. Lina turned and saw the purple haired mazoku waving at her.

Xellos smiled. "Hello, Lina!"

The sorceress felt her blood boil. "Xellos, what are you doing here?!"

Sasheem wasn't to sure what was going on anymore. She watched the sorceress run over and grab Xellos in a headlock. "What are you doing?!" The gypsy yelled.

"Don't worry, this happens all the time. " Zelgadiss sighed.

"Lina, is this really necessary?" Gourry asked.

Amelia ran over and tried to pull Lina off of Xellos. The mazoku gasped for air. "Well, it's nice to see you to."

Sasheem turned to Gourry and Zelgadiss. "What's going on?"

"He's a fruitcake." Zel answered.

"I'm not to sure." Gourry scratched his head.

Melendil came out of the kitchen. "Alright, one slice of cake for you si- waaah! What the hell is going on?!"

Lina was still holding Xellos in the grip and Amelia was shouting. "Lina- san, stop! This is unjust!"

"Yeah! It's pretty unjust for Xellos here, to not be telling us what he knows!"

Melendil's face went red with rage. "Get. Off. My. Customer! He has to pay me! Stop fighting!"

Lina looked over to Melendil. "Look elf girl! I got some business to deal with here! I know elves hate violence, but really! Can't you elves get some courage in your souls!"

Sasheem suddenly felt her heart pound. "Wait! Melendil, don't do it!"

The elf drew back her hands. "Get off him you flat chested punk!"

Lina felt her head pound. "What did you say you stupid, drunk, elf?!"

"Don't insult my people, you wench!" Before Lina could react something hit her in the face. She felt her body go flying back and onto the floor.

Amelia, who had been attempting to pull Lina off, went flying back with Lina. Sasheem smacked Melendil over the head. "You idiot!"

Gourry and Zelgadiss both reacted on impulse. Gourry got to Lina's side. "Lina! Lina, get up!"

Lina put her hand on her pounding head. She looked up and first saw Gourry. "Thanks, Gourry."

Zelgadiss helped Amelia up. "Amelia! Amelia say something!"

The princess opened her eyes slowly. She looked up to Zelgadiss. The chimera felt his heart settle back down and beat at a normal pace. Amelia smiled up to him. "Thanks, Zelgadiss-san."

Lina got up and began pacing over to Melendil. "Why you little-"

"Whoa, Lina!" Gourry grabbed Lina and held her back.

"Let me go, Gourry!"

Amelia jumped in. "Lina-san, just hold on!"

"All of you! Shut up!" Sasheem held back Melendil, who started to charge in.

"Filthy human! Let me go!" Melendil pouted.

"Stupid elf! You can't go around and hurt everyone who insults a elf!"

"Why not?!"

"Because it's unjust!" Amelia shouted.

Zelgadiss then pulled back Amelia, who was now charging over to Melendil. "Amelia, this is something you shouldn't get into." He stated.

"Zelgadiss-san, I have to help Lina-san!"

Sasheem shot back over the fighting. "All of you, stop! Melendil!" Sasheem shot a look down at the raging elf. "You apologize to Lina! And Lina!" The sorceress was becoming scared of the gypsy. She looked over to Sasheem. "You shouldn't have insulted Melendil like that for any reason! An elf is very sensitive about their people, and if you just even insult them they will go into a bloody rage! Understand that! Have you never crossed an elf before? " Lina shook her head. The gypsy sighed. "Well, then now you know." Sasheem released her grip on Melendil. She kept an eye on the elf.

Melendil looked back at Sasheem. "Stop it! I won't kill her!" The gypsy glared at her. "Hey! I said I wouldn't!" The elf brushed herself off and walked over to Lina.

Gourry slowly let Lina go and watched the sorceress. Everyone in the room was watching the elf and the sorceress. Lina gave a long sigh and then put her hand out. She then looked at the elf. "Forgive and forget?"

Melendil gave a little smile. "Sure." She got a tight grip on Lina's hand and shook. "Alright, alright! I'll got get those rooms." She let go of the sorceress's hand and walked upstairs.

Lina's mouth fell open and heaved in pain looking at her crushed hand. "Oh man, she's got a grip!"

"Bravo! Bravo!" The sound of clapping hands came over from the table where Xellos sat. Everyone turned around and looked at the mazoku. He gave off a smile and opened one of his eyes. "A nice show, Lina."

"Oh shut up." The sorceress snapped.

"I'm not to sure what's going on here." The gypsy sighed.

"Nothing out of the ordinary." Gourry added.

"I'll believe that." The gypsy began to walk out the door. Before she left she turned around and looked at the travelers. "Melendil will get you set up here. How about I come back in half a hour and we can sit down and sort this out?"

Lina nodded. "Sounds good."

A voice came from up above. "Hey, why don't you four come up here! I'll show you your rooms!"

Sasheem turned around and left the Inn. Before Lina and her friends went up, the sorceress paid one more visit to the smiling mazoku. She growled. "Xellos, what are you doing here?"

"That's a secret."

"And how did you get here?"

"That's a secret."

"Alright, that's all I needed to know." And with that, Lina headed upstairs with her friends following.

Suddenly Melendil peeked over the stairs. "Oh! I can answer one of those for you! Xellos said he followed some idiots here through the Forest of Spirits!" She looked over to the shocked mazoku. "Right, Xellos?"

Xellos felt all eyes on him. "Y-yeah. That would be correct, Melendil."

Lina's smile curled into a cynical grin. "Idiots, huh?"

"Wow! They must have been really stupid idiots!" Gourry laughed.

Xellos suddenly smiled again. "They sure were, Gourry!"

"Quiet, Xellos!" Lina hit the mazoku over the head and onto the floor, then trudged upstairs to see her room.

Melendil was waiting at the top of the steps. When Lina and the others reached the top of the stairs, she looked at the m surprised. "What was that loud thump?"

"Nothing." Lina groaned.

~*~

The group of four sat at a round table. Lina and Gourry had been served some snacks to eat, they had been yelled at wait off for dinner. Zelgadiss drank his coffee and Amelia got a cup of tea.

Sasheem took a sip of her tea and then set the cup down. "Well, who would like to start?"

"Well out story is rather short." Lina started. She turned to Amelia. "Maybe you should tell the story."

Amelia nodded. She put down her teacup and looked at Sasheem. "As you seem to already know, I am the princess of Saillune. We got word that a war was being placed on our city a few days ago. Then a mysterious women, who I guess we can call a gypsy now, came and-"

"Oh good! She reached you." Sasheem smiled.

Amelia had stopped, and stuttered for a moment. "W-what?"

"Yeah, I guess it would be my turn to say something, huh?"

Lina pounded her fist on the table. "You knew all along?"

"So you sent out for us?" Zelgadiss asked.

"Not really." The gypsy continued. She looked to Amelia. "To make things short, it was my friend Niennafal who came to you. Of course, I sent her. But it was my choice and hers."

Lina was getting frustrated. "So are you saying, that you want us to fight you? It is your city that is-"

"No, it is not our city. I told you before, it is a gang that was from our city. Yes, the Gypsy King, Lestophel, does rule our city. But he is gone now with his gang and plans to fight for us. But Cymbalien does not want to attack! This is his war, not ours!"

Amelia was listening to her. Zelgadiss spoke up. "So you are saying, that we go and fight this man. And this m-Lestophel, has his own gang to fight?"

Sasheem nodded. "Gang makes it sound very small. It is much bigger then any 'gang'."

"But he is the king of Cymbalien?" Lina asked.

Sasheem nodded. Amelia was thinking the whole time about how this came about. "Sasheem?" The gypsy turned to Amelia. "Why is he attacking Saillune."

Sasheem put her head down. She stayed quiet for a moment as if she was in deep thought. "It's hard to say." The four friends stared at her for a moment.

"What do you mean?" The princess asked.

"I mean that I don't really know." She raised her head and looked at the travelers. "I know that there will be a point when you shall meet him. Then you can ask him yourself. As far as our city knows, he appears to be power hungry and wants revenge for something."

Amelia stood up from the table. "Revenge? For what?! Saillune never did-"

"Amelia calm down!" Lina pulled her friend back down into her chair.

"I'm sorry, I can't give you any more information on the reason why. I don't anymore then what I have told you." The gypsy spoke.

Amelia didn't say anything. She sat down and nodded. Gourry was becoming concerned. "Amelia, you OK?"

The princess smiled at the swordsmen. "I'm fine Gourry, thanks.

Zelgadiss looked to the gypsy. "Well, can you at least tell us where he may be; and what kind of people are we dealing with?"

"Yes, I can." Sasheem took one more sip from her teacup. "Lestophel is running with a band of many gypsies. He took them into the Alyfur Desert, it's almost right next to Cymbalien."

"Easy!" Lina bragged. "This is going to be like killing those bandit gangs! Don't worry Amelia, I can handle this."

Sasheem butted in. "No, I don't think you can. Because as far as I'm concerned, at your current state, you are good as dead."

Lina's eyes widened. "What?!"

"Well you do have too much confidence in yourself, Lina." Zelgadiss mumbled.

Lina shot a cold glare at the chimera. "No one asked you, Zel."

Sasheem remained in her content sate. "Look, I wouldn't have sent for you if I thought you didn't have a chance. Of course, I was only expecting the Princess to come. Not her friends too."

"What? You expected Amelia to fight on her own? She would die!" Lina screamed.

Amelia was getting annoyed with her friend. "Gee, thanks, Lina-san."

The gypsy made no attempt to look at the enraged red head. "No, the gypsies would have helped her of course. But this makes things much easier I guess." She put her cup down and looked up. "We didn't want to go into war with Lestophel. We wanted to try a compromise."

Amelia nodded. "That sounds like a good idea to me."

The gypsy hung her head. "But if that doesn't seem to work, then we have no other option but to fight and kill him. Amelia, your city is the target. And the people of Cymbalien want to help you not just for your city, but for ours too. Once we get into a war, we will not be getting out of any others. And the people and creatures of Cymbalien just wanted to stay away from the common ground of all the other cities and towns. The gypsies ran here because they were not welcomed. If Lestophel starts a war, our city will be known of and attacked. Can you see where I am going with this? Any of you? The city that I live in is being forced into a war by one man's selfish needs."

Amelia got off of her chair and faced Sasheem. "Sasheem-san! For your city! And for my city! And for the sake of love and justice, I will go to Lestophel and stop this war! I will bring a stop to this unjust act and make sure that Cymbalien can stay in peace forever!"

The gypsy stayed stunned for a moment. "Love and justice?" She smiled and jabbed her finger in the air. "Ah yes! For love and justice!"

"For love and justice!" Amelia said getting in one of her justice stances.

The last three friends froze. Lina was almost in shock. "Another justice freak?!"

"It can't be!" Zelgadiss couldn't believe his eyes.

"Another follower of justice!" Amelia felt like she was on top of the world.

Sasheem smirked. "Ah yes, love and justice." She then went back to just standing and pushed her chair back to move from the table. "But alas, I can't believe in it all."

"Huh?" Amelia watched as the gypsy moved away from the table.

The gypsy smiled at the princess. "Good to see someone who believes in such morals! Keep love and justice in your heart, Amelia. But I can't be one to go around preaching it like you do. You have a strong will."

Amelia hopped down from the table. "I will make sure that this problem is sorted out."

"Well, at least we know there is a ray of hope." The gypsy added.

Amelia smiled. Lina had given a sigh of relief. "Oh man. I thought there was another justice freak in the world. I don't know if I could have handled two people always going on about justice."

Zelgadiss had already realized that the gypsy was just playing along. It mad him smile somehow.

"So, you don't believe in justice?" Amelia asked.

"Oh I never said that." Sasheem replied. "I believe in what I want."

"And one of those things is not justice."

"Alas, no. But if justice can be served to an evil deed of foul play, then I will accept it."

"So you do believe in justice!"

The gypsy folded her arms and thought. "Define 'Justice'."

The princess groaned. "I give up."

The gypsy gave a small chuckle and patted Amelia on the back. "As long as you are alive, we all know that there is justice in the world." She turned around and looked at the travelers. "Why don't you come to dinner with me tonight?"

"Dinner?!" Lina and Gourry yelled in unison.

"Um.Heh.Yeah." The gypsy stuttered. "Every night me and other gypsies have dinner together. It's a whole lot of fun. Why don't you join us tonight. That way you can also meet everyone."

"Sounds like a plan!" Lina boomed.

"Then this would be a party?" Amelia asked. Sasheem nodded. A smile crossed the princess's face. "Alright! Sounds fun!"

Sasheem passed her eyes behind Lina, and looked to the violet haired man sitting alone at the table. "How about you bring you other friend."

"What? No!" Before Lina could tell Sasheem to not invite Xellos, the gypsy had made her way over to the mazoku.

She took a seat at the table with Xellos. For a few seconds she looked at him. Xellos wasn't too sure what to think. He then gave her a smile. "You like my face?"

"Oh boy. He's a mazoku." The gypsy got up from the chair.

Once again, the gypsy shocked Lina. "H-how did you know he was a mazoku."

Melendil's voice entered the room. "Oh damn! One of those trashy mazoku?!"

The elf came down next to Sasheem and they both looked at Xellos. The mazoku was becoming a little nervous as he waited for one of the girls to make a move. Sasheem was t he first to say something. "Huh, well then. Why don't we invite him for dinner tonight, Melendil."

"Yeah, OK."

"Are you insane?!" Lina screeched. "You are inviting a mazoku to dinner?! And out of all of them, Xellos?!"

"I'm going to have much trouble understanding these people. " Zelgadiss sighed.

The gypsy and elf gave off a long sigh. "We can handle a mazoku, Lina." Melendil bragged.

"Quit your bragging." The gypsy shot back. "The point is, he hasn't done anything to us."

"But he will do something to you." Zelgadiss added.

Sasheem wasn't too sure what to say. "Well, they can be fun sometimes."

"Fun?!" The sorceress screamed.

Melendil ignored the chimera and the sorceress. She looked back to Xellos. "So, you wanna' come tonight? It's at the bar in the bath house, across the street"

The mazoku smiled. "Well thank you for the invitation, ladies. I'll surely come." He kissed Sasheem's hand. "Good by fair gypsy, and gentle elf." With his last words, Xellos teleported away.

Lina huffed. "What's with the flattery?"

Melendil chuckled. She then turned back around to the four friends. "Now come on, you can handle this guy. Seems like you have before." They didn't say anything.

"Oh well. Nevertheless, let me show you to my house so you an get washed up." Sasheem began to walk out the door.

"Wait, wash up?" Lina asked.

"In your house?" Gourry added.

The gypsy pointed across the street. "Yes, I live in a bath house. And from the looks and smells of it, I would think you guys may want to take a bath."

"Well, that would be nice." Amelia began to think of a nice hot bath. All the steam surrounding her, and the smells of all the soaps. "A nice hot bath." She sighed in relief.

Gourry went over to Sasheem. "You live in a bath house?"

"Yeah," she stated. "I work there with my grandmother."

"What about your family?" The chimera asked.

"Well we are both 18." Melendil said butting into the conversation. "We could go live on our own. See, I'm here running a bar and Inn on my own. Sasheem is living with her grandmother in a bath-house. Now she can tell you her life story on why she's off without her family, but mine is-"

"Save the life story for later, Melendil. Go drink an ale or something." The gypsy snapped.

"Well I might just go do that!" The elf went back into the Inn.

The gypsy began to push the group across the street to the bath house. "Come on, I'm getting you some new clothing and giving you hot baths. Especially Lina and Gourry. They smell like a dirty river, and it's making me sick!"