Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ Gypsy Moon ❯ Chapter 9: Hic et Ubique (here and everywhere) ( Chapter 9 )

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

Gypsy Moon

"Sacred and sweet was all I saw in her"

Taming of the Shrew, Act i, Sc.1



Chapter 9: Hic Et Ubique (Here and Everywhere)



Another night passed by, but for them it was just another sleepless night. At least it almost was, but they eventually fell asleep, except for Zelgadiss. The Chimera wouldn't fall asleep thanks to the disturbing encounter Amelia and Melendil told their friends they had, having Amelia or any of his companions slaughtered and hung up on the roof was the last thing he planned to have happen. Okay, maybe he got a few hours of sleep; after he went through the painful thought of the possibility of having the same thing that happened to Niennafal happen to Amelia.

The assassin had came for Amelia that night and tried to slash her to bits. What if he had come back to this Inn and found Amelia lying on the roof with her blood dripping on his face? He didn't want to think about it, but the thought wouldn't leave the tortured Chimera. Why would Amelia want to come here and end this grudge knowing her life was in danger? She must have been strangled, or beaten. She did have that bruise on her neck. These were the questions and thoughts that the Chimera fell asleep to. Yet his dreams weren't of those thoughts.

Zelgadiss was the first to wake up, this time not to singing. This morning he woke up to a certain smell close to him; it was right by his nose. Coffee. Coffee and something else, he didn't know what it was. Slowly the Chimera's eyes opened to the look at the old Inn being lit up by a vague sunrise. He turned his head on the table and stared blankly at the mug of coffee and plate of food. Looking passed the setup he saw Sasheem sitting at the table with her own plate of food.

Sasheem flashed the Chimera one of her mysterious smiles to greet him. "Good morning, Zelgadiss," she whispered.

"Mmh," was all Zelgadiss decided to reply with. 'What the hell is she doing waking me up this early?' he thought. "What are doing waking me up this early?"

"We have to get an early move on," Sasheem whispered into her teacup.

The Chimera finally lifted his lazy head to look at his plate. Bacon, eggs, and toast. To top it off they had even given him a cup of coffee. Zelgadiss would have dubbed this a bad morning just because of the fact that Sasheem had woken him up early, but he couldn't. The breakfast was too welcoming, the coffee looked and smelled good, and the sunrise shining into the Inn gave off beautiful morning light. Even a Lark gave a nice call outside, putting him in the mood. And Zelgadiss hadn't even had bacon for the longest time. 'When was the last time I had bacon?' he had to ask himself.

Zelgadiss heard a soft moan and a yawn coming from next to him. He turned his head and saw Amelia stretching her arms out above her head and yawn. She rubbed her eyes and looked down in front of her. "Oh! What a nice way to wake up!" she beamed, looking at her own plate of food.

Sasheem let out a chuckle when she saw Amelia's reaction. "Well, I'm glad you like it! All of you had such a rough night and-"

"Justice will be served," Amelia said as she swallowed her food. "I will not deny that last night happened, but I don't want to dwell upon it. Besides, I'm fine! And we're leaving soon aren't we?"

Sasheem giggled and took a sip of her tea. "Looks like you got everything down, Amelia."

"Yep! Oh Good morning, Zelgadiss-san!"

"Amelia," the Chimera spoke giving a slight nod. He leaned one arm on the table propping his head up and used his free hand to hold his coffee mug. It bothered him that the morning seemed good so far, just when last night had just been a total disaster. Maybe even more, Amelia had a completely optimistic attitude after almost being murdered.

"BAAACON! L-samaL-samaL-sama! When was the last time I had bacon?!" The serene atmosphere was broken as Lina made her presence known. She gave no 'good mornings' to her companions before she dove at her plate greeting it with a fork and knife.

"Look at that, Lina-san's awake," Amelia said in a semi-sarcastic manner.

"Um, Amelia," Sasheem mumbled. The Princess averted her little show that Lina was giving off to look at Sasheem.

"Sasheem-san?"

The Gypsy seemed more tense then usual, something that Amelia was not used to seeing in her. "I want to thank you for trusting me."

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Well," she sighed. "Melendil told me what you said to everyone last night. About Christophery and Rozendor. I-I just cannot believe that you would even bother to come around to the gypsies after all that. Aren't you even afraid that someone in this town might kill you?"

The question caught the attention of the Chimera and he listened carefully to what Amelia had to say. "No," the Princess said with a smile. "I know that most of the Gypsies are very caring people. The ones that would attack are only the selected army. Besides, you have been so kind to us, Sasheem- san. And not a single person hurt any of us at the party! So."

Nothing was heard in the room except the sound of Lina going at her food. Finally, the Gypsy let out a sigh and a lazy smile spread across her face. "All right," she whispered. Zelgadiss couldn't figure out why, but then Sasheem then started to giggle and her smile grew bigger.

Zelgadiss started to drink his coffee once again. It was still funny that he felt so good. The morning was, well, great. He could suddenly imagine Amelia singing her 'Life is Wonderful' song.

Suddenly the sound of someone walking down the stairs was added to the room. "Good morning, sunshine!" Sasheem chirped.

"Well it was," Xellos groaned as he walked down the stairs with a disgusted look on his face.

"How about this instead. 'What a disgusting day, I wish I could crawl under a rock.'?"

"Well that's a bit better," Xellos smiled. The Mazoku Priest took a seat at the table next to Sasheem. "Ah, Amelia. I have meant to thank you for healing me last night."

"Good thing he was knocked out, otherwise that white magic would have hurt him," the Gypsy added.

"Oh it's nothing," said Amelia, blushing as she pulled into her seat.

"Hey, Xellos," said Gourry, suddenly making himself known in the room. "Why could Melendil beat you?"

Xellos raised an eyebrow. "Beat me?"

"Yeah, I wanna' know the answer to that question too." Lina wagged her fork in the Mazoku's face. "Melendil seemed to have a great advantage over you last night. Usually you just teleport away like a cheat."

Xellos grinned and sipped his cup of tea he had found on the table. "What are you talking about, Lina?"

"Melendil cast a certain Elven spell that translated to 'Hold Monster'. It stopped Xellos from being able to use his Mazoku powers and teleporting away. The spell only works for a few minutes, but it was time enough. Therefore, Xellos was as weak as a kitten and Melendil could beat the crap out of him." Sasheem continued eating her food leaving everyone to share looks at Xellos.

".Heh." Said Xellos, scratching his head and trying to act like nothing had just happened.

"Aw, Xellos was weak as a kitten, huh?" Lina grinned at the Mazoku and pulled him in a headlock. "So this is a little weak point for our Mazoku here, eh?!"

Xellos yanked on Lina's arm, pulling her off. "It-it's no.thing." the Mazoku gagged, finally getting the redhead off of him.

"Good thing she can't use it often," Sasheem grinned as she sat up from the table.

Zelgadiss finished off the last of his coffee and put the mug down. "Perhaps we should get going," he proposed.

"That seems like a good idea," Amelia added.

Before the friends had decided to relax last night, they came to the conclusion that leaving for the Alyfur Desert early the next morning would be the best choice. Sasheem had said that she could get some wagons for them to travel in because the desert was over ninety miles long.

Melendil burst in through the door letting the sunshine in. "Melendil has got the Ale! Lets go!"

"What about the wagons?" Lina glared.

"Wagons?" Melendil thought for a moment while she received six glares. "Oh yeah, I got them too. Okay lets go!"

"I'll go up and get my things!" Amelia chirped.

"I suppose we all should," said Zelgadiss.

In a matter of minutes everyone was outside. In front of the Inn were four wagons as colorful and decorative as the one Niennafal had come in, but all were different. Each had a horse, ready and tacked, to pull the wagon from the front.

"If it isn't my three favorite tomb robbers!" a voice boomed.

"Tybolt?!" Lina screeched, spinning around only to see the gravedigger with his shovel in hand.

The gravedigger shoved his shovel out at Lina. "Give back Garridan's broach, thief! I hope you know that I have gotten grave robbers like you all the time and beat them with the spade of my shovel!" Lina turned white as a ghost and shivered.

"You stole Garridan's broach from the tomb?" Sasheem questioned, but her voice made it seem as if she could care less. "Xellos, do you know the story about Garridan?"

"Why yes I do, Sasheem," the Trickster grinned. "And if I am correct, that is the very broach he wore when he was cursed!" Xellos chirped, wagging his finger.

Amelia had to get into the conversation with some form of justice. "See, Lina-san! This is what you get for stealing!!"

"I thought we only stole from bandits, Lina?" Gourry said, poking his head around.

"You stole from a tomb?" Zelgadiss was disgusted that Lina would even take from a place full of dead people.

The sorceress shivered as she pulled the gold shining broach out of her pocket and watched the jewels buried within it, shimmering in the rising sun. "G-G-G-Garridan? H-his broach was in that tomb?!"

Tybolt nodded and glared at Lina with his sharp eyes. "Yep."

Silence.

".AIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!!!" Lina heaved the broach across her path and smacked Tybolt in the face with the clunky object.

"Wow, I'm glad I didn't listen to that story that night," Amelia commented as she watched Lina squeeze the nearest thing she got at to death. The nearest thing happened to be Gourry and the poor swordsman began to turn blue in the face.

"Lina..can't..breath." Gourry gagged for breath and felt the world around him spin.

"Uh, yeah. Real glad if it even scares 'Lina The Dragon Spooker'," the Princess finished. A low growl rolled over a blowing wind and sent chills straight up Amelia's spine. "W-what was that?"

"I think that was Lina hearing you," the Chimera whispered.

"Ehe. Sasheem-san, why don't we get going? Hahaha!" Amelia tossed her things in the back of the first wagon she saw and hopped up on the seat in the front. "Well, shouldn't waist time! Got a long way to go!" Amelia was not looking forward to talking with Lina.

"DON'T TRY TO CHANGE THE SUBJECT, AMELIA!" Lina screamed, and stomped over to the shivering Princess sitting on the wagon.

"Wahahah! Lina scares dragons?!" A certain elf had to hold her self up on the wagon from laughing to hard and falling down.

"SHUT UP-I'M NOT IN THE MOOD!" Lina snapped around to the gawking blond man. "Gourry!"

"L-Lina?" he shivered.

"Get on the wagon! NOW!"

"Yes, Lina!" Gourry dashed on a different wagon, threw his sword and bags in the back, hopped on the front, and motioned to Lina he was ready.

"Lets go!" Lina stomped over to the wagon Gourry was on and opened the door in the back to put her things in. "WHAAAT?!" The inside of the wagon was more like a portable home. "I didn't know they were this big!" In the middle there was a small table, on the left wall was one bed and the second bed was buried in the back. A shelf was on the right and the entire little room was decorated with hanging cloths and other outrageous things that gave it a mystical feeling; even the inside had a light scent and smelled like sage and other invigorating herbs. "A-are all of the wagons like this?!"

Sasheem nodded and pointed her finger in the air. "This is Gypsy wagon! If we are going to be traveling for a few days, did you really expect some cheap old wagon?"

Lina got up next to Gourry and took the horses reins. "I'm driving. Last time Xellos had to rescue you from a runaway horse."

"Lina, is it that 'time of the month'?"

Twitch. "Gourry, as the driver, I am the one in charge. So shut up!"

Amelia shined a smile over to the Chimera. "Zelgadiss-san, do you want come sit with me?"

Zelgadiss turned behind him to see Amelia sitting on top of the wagon smiling down to him. The sun shone behind her and made it look as if she was glowing. "Uh," Zelgadiss shrugged. "Why not," he said, throwing his things in the back and climbing up next to Amelia. The Princess blushed as Zelgadiss got up next to her and took the horses reins in hand. "Mind if I steer?"

"Go ahead," she chirped. Amelia turned to her left and saw Sasheem and Melendil climb on their own wagon. "Melendil-san, why do we need four wagons?"

"Huh?" The elf looked over to Amelia. "Because," she yelled across. "One for you and Zel, one for Gourry and Lina, another for me and Sasheem here, and the other for Tybolt and Xellos!"

"Tybolt and Xellos?!" Lina screeched. "They're coming with us?!"

"Hiya!" Xellos and Tybolt chirped in unison from the last wagon.

"Great," Lina groaned.

"We're so unloved," Tybolt moaned.

"Isn't it great?" Xellos added.

Lina shook the thought off and turned behind her to look at the three other groups. "Do we have everything we need? Clothes? Supplies? Drink? And above all, food?"

"Yes, yes, yes, and no!" Melendil answered.

"What?! No food? What are you thinking you stupid elf!"

"Filthy human! I lie! Lie, lie, lie! Hahaha! (I'm so drunk)."

"This is going to be a very disturbing and long trip, isn't it?" Zelgadiss groaned

"Maybe it will be more amusing!" Amelia said, trying to look on a brighter side.

"Aren't our adventures always amusing?"

"That's for sure," Amelia smiled.

Lina swirled around in her seat. "All right, Sasheem! Get us out of this Gypsy hole!"

" 'Gypsy hole'?"

"Cymbalien, Gypsy hole, it's all the same."

"If you don't like gypsies then you can get out of here right now!"

"Okay! I'll find our way out of here! Forward ho'!"

"Are you listening to me?!"

~)*(~

"Well, this is the end of the line," Sasheem stated, looking around. In front of the travelers was a large wooden gate with a symbol carved in the middle.

"A gate?" Amelia looked over the side of the wagon at the gate blocking their way. "A gate is the end of Cymbalien?"

"No, this is just the way to the Alyfur desert," Tybolt stated. The gravedigger drew out a long sigh and looked up to the sky above him. The sky that went over the gate to the desert began to turn more of a gray shade. "I wish I said bye to my grave yard. No digging for," Tybolt began to count on his fingers. "Um, well too long, that's all I know. I'm going to miss burying that woman tomorrow." Everyone excluding Xellos and Sasheem gave the shovel baring man a disgusted look.

"There, there," the Mazoku spoke patting the man on his back. "We all know your pain."

"No we don't!" Lina screeched.

Zelgadiss began to run over in his mind why he was doing this again. Melendil decided to starts things up. She stood up on the front of the wagon and looked over to a tower nestled in the corner of the gate. "Hey, Bendle! Bendle you old drunk, wake up! We need the gate open!"

Inside the top of the tower an old man grumbled and rubbed his eyes. "What in the name of." The rest of his words droned off as he raised himself off on the floor and looked out the window. The light hit his eyes and stung them like a sharp needle. "Nrrrgggaaahhh." He shrunk back into the tower like a turtle into his shell.

The group watched as the hideous old hermit crawled back in the tower after he hit the light. Lina raised an eyebrow when she saw the man go back in after he made his weird cranky sound. "What the hell? You! Get back here! We need the gate open!!"

Bendle slowly pushed himself up and shuffled back to the window. "Nregh.What in the name of L-sama d'you kids want?"

"Bendle!" Melendil waved her arms frantiquly at the old man and hopped up and down shaking the wagon.

"Sit down, Melendil!" Sasheem said, trying to push the Elf down.

"Melendil.Mmmmelendil! 'At you, elf?" Bendle pushed his head slightly out the window and saw the blond Elf waving at him. "Good Gods, it is you! Hehehe, what can I do for you, old friend?"

"How about paying your tab and opening the gate for us?"

"Uhh," Bendle opened a door and walked out on the stone balcony with a bottle of red wine in one hand. He took a sip from the bottle and hiccupped before he even got his mind back to what was happening in the 'real world'. "Well, I can't do the first one.B-but I can open the gate, yeah I can do that."

The elf began to swing her fist in the air and stomp on the wagon. "Damn, drunk, over-the-hill, fogy! Pay you stupid beer tab once in a while!"

"For the love of Cephied, someone restrain that elf." The Chimera grunted, getting rather sick of Melendil over reacting to everything.

"Melendil-san, can't he pay his tab after we come back from the desert?" Amelia politely asked.

"This crabby man hasn't paid his tab for two years!"

"Two years? I would have Dragon Slaved him long ago!" Lina chirped. She waved to the old man. "Yoohoo! Bendle!" Lina put on her most seductive smile and giggled as she scrunched her fists under her chin and winked at the old man. "Can you please open the gate for a cute little girl? Hmm?"

The man didn't respond at first till he hiccupped once again. "Uhh. Yousa' girl? Good grief, I couldn't tell from 'at flat chest of yours."

Lina's once sparkling eyes grew teary with water. "You.stupid. DALE BRAN-"

"Oi, Lina! Calm down!" Gourry pulled Lina back in her seat.

"Bendle-san, can you please open the gate for us?" Amelia said with her eyes shining like stars.

"The Princess of Saillune? Are you the Princess?!" The old man drew a long look at the group. "Well why didn't you say so?" Bendle walked over the lever and put down his bottle. "I mean the Princess of Saillune, why sure. Now any flat-chested girl who wants to bite my head off, no way I says." The old man continued his line of words as he pulled down the lever that opened the two doors.

The wooden doors creaked open and scrapped across the sand revealing the open wide desert and the gray sky above it.

Xellos grinned. "Well, well, well."

"It's like a long, fresh, graveyard!" Tybolt beamed.

Zelgadiss groaned and turned his head to the side. 'Why a psychotic gravedigger?' The Chimera snapped out of his thought when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head to see Amelia smiling at him. She squeezed his shoulder lightly and giggled. "Oh come on, he's an interesting person."

"Did you know he plays with skulls while he digs graves?"

The Princess's eyes opened wider. "H-huh?"

"He sings while he tosses the skull around on his shove,l too."

"Zelgadiss-san, are you making this up?" Amelia really didn't want to believe a man would do that to a dead person.

Zelgadiss snapped. "Would I lie to you?" The question that he suddenly asked hit him. He looked at Amelia and her wide eyes staring at him in shock. He quickly pulled back and wished he could take back what he just asked. One part of him wanted to know what she would say while the other repeatedly damned himself. Just as the Chimera was about to apologize and take back what he said Amelia cut in.

"I'm sorry, Zelgadiss-san. You wouldn't lie."

Zelgadiss turned red in the face. "N-no, Amelia! I'm sorry. You don't have to apologize.Uh." The two remained silent for a moment not looking at one another. "I wouldn't lie to you," he said and low as he could. 'Why did I say that?' he asked himself. But his mind told him that he wouldn't lie to her at all.

Amelia blushed in return and smiled with joy. Not knowing what to say, she giggled instead. The Princess couldn't help but think that Zelgadiss was cute in the way he wouldn't look at her in the face and his blush was rather obvious.

"Hey! Are you two coming, or is your wagon broken?" Zelgadiss and Amelia turned in front of them to see everyone ahead of them.

"Coming, Lina-san!" Amelia chirped. "Zelgadiss-san, do you have the horses reins?"

The Chimera nodded and snapped the horse's reins. The wagon jolted and began to roll along through the opened gate.



~)*(~



Miles and miles of endless sand. Hey, if they were lucky once in a while they might see a shrub or maybe a desert flower growing up randomly in the endless sand dunes. Lina had removed her armor and cape to keep a little cool. The sun wasn't as bad as they had thought it might be. Once again Lina had been stereotypical, thinking that this desert would be long, hot, and most of all, agonizing. Well the desert was long and may get agonizing soon, but it wasn't that hot. Sasheem had stated that they may run into a sand storm at some point, but lucky for them they hadn't yet. Of course, they still did have a few more days to go.

Lina and Gourry were doing all right. Lina decided to tell Gourry a few interesting stories about her getting valuable treasure from bandit gangs and Gourry did his part and listened. Every once in a while if Lina found herself trying to think of another story to tell, Gourry would hop in with some bold story of his mercenary days and fighting some odd monster that Lina would have a hard time imagining.

Melendil and Sasheem were, as usual, an odd couple. Sasheem was never one much for words; if she ever said anything a person would either not understand, or it would be something deep and wise. Well that is how it was imagined most of the time, but she could be talkative if she wanted to be, maybe if she got into something. However, getting into something at this point was a little hard. Melendil was deep into a story and the Gypsy did what she usually did; lend her ears and attention. But naturally she always found a point to through a wise crack in and see Melendil pout.

Xellos and Tybolt were 'bright and dandy' as one would say. Xellos was actually finding himself and Tybolt to have much in commen. Each exchanged their odd stories and would get intrigued in talking about their different experiences with likings that other people would usually hate.

"Who says it's wrong to sing and dig a grave all at once? I've been doing it for more than half my life! They don't even know the amount of bodies I have buried at once! There is nothing wrong with the way I treat the dead!"

"I absolutely agree!"

Zelgadiss and Amelia hadn't exactly engaged in much conversation. Most of the time they were silent and Amelia would end up staring out into the desert daydreaming while Zelgadiss concentrated on following the group and keeping the horse at the right pace.

Amelia leaned her head in her hand and seemed to become hypnotized by the desert. She naturally got the feeling that she should say something again. The Princess stole a gaze at the concentrated Chimera.

Zelgadiss didn't look at Amelia but he was aware of her staring at him for a moment. He drew in a breath and let it out, then adjusted the horse's reins and the black stead neighed and shook his head.

"Oh," Amelia sat up. "Is the horse all right?"

"Yeah. I guess she just need to shake out." Zelgadiss decided to sit up himself and adjust in his seat.

Amelia felt this was a good time to maybe start a conversation. "So, what do you think of the desert?" Zelgadiss turned to Amelia with a strange look in his eyes. 'That was a random question, wasn't it?' Amelia told herself. "Well, uh-"

"It's.very.um, sandy," he said.

"I just wanted to start a conversation," Amelia giggled. "Sorry, it was the first thing that came to mind."

"Oh," Zelgadiss shrugged. "It's all right."

Amelia placed her fists in her lap and rubbed her shoe on the floor. She began to realize the wind blowing and the sun was shining in her eyes. "Hm," Amelia turned around behind the wooden seat and reached in through the front of the wagon and grabbed her bag.

The wagon rocked slightly as Amelia turned and Zelgadiss saw the Princess rummaging through the back. "Amelia, what are you doing?" The Chimera peeked behind and saw Amelia come back with a smile and a blue sash in her hands.

Amelia pulled the deep blue sash over her head and the little gold tassels on the ends blew in a soft passing breeze. Amelia used the sash as a hood to cover her head from the sun. She turned to Zelgadiss with a smile on her shaded face and a gleam in her eyes. "Does it look okay?"

"Yeah, it looks good," he commented. Zelgadiss felt like he never knew the right things to say, but he was rewarded with small laugh and a 'thank you' coming from Amelia.

"You know," the Princess started. "That vest you are wearing does look good on you. I think you look nice in shades of bl-uhh." Amelia stopped when she realized what she was saying. 'He probably doesn't want to hear that he looks good in blue,' she thought.

As much as Zelgadiss may have not wanted to hear it, he knew what she was going to say. "In shades of blue?" he questioned in a dull tone.

Amelia stuttered. "W-well," she began, but she then pouted. "Whether you like it or not, Zelgadiss-san, a shade of blue is a good color for you! And that vest looks very nice, so there!" She huffed, folded her arms, and faced in the direction the wagon was going.

The Chimera just stared at the girl in shock for a moment. 'Wh.what did I do?' he kept asking himself. He drew out a sigh and turned to the front again, but before he went back to concentrating on the way they were going he looked down at the open vest he wore. "Do you really think blues look good on a guy who is already blue enough as it is?"

"Hm?" Amelia turned back around to Zelgadiss and watched him pull at the vest he was wearing. "Zelgadiss-san, the vest looks very nice! See, it even has other colors in it. The yellow border, and look at these little tassels hanging on the end! It looks so nice on you!"

Zelgadiss ignored Amelia poking at the vest. He put the reins down on his lap and began to tie the vest up. Amelia froze for a moment before she grabbed the Chimera's vest. "What are you doing?"

"I don't really think this vest is right for me," Zelgadiss grunted.

"Well why not?"

The Chimera tried to not blush at the fact that Amelia was still holding his vest and that he was complaining about his clothes. 'Out of all the other things I could have complained about.' Zelgadiss let go of the vest and folded his arms. "Well, it." He stole at glance at Amelia to see what she was doing. She was staring up at him with her wide blue eyes and still holding her small grip on his vest. "It.um.sh-shows.I'm blue Amelia! I'm blue!"

Amelia blinked and showed no reaction to his voice rising. "Yes, Zelgadiss- san, you are blue. I have been aware of that for about four years now, but it does not bother me at all."

At first Zelgadiss didn't say anything and just stared at her for the moment thinking about what she said. 'It doesn't bother he-' he shook his head. "That's not the point!"

"Then why did you say it?" She asked raising an eyebrow.

"Fine, I'll say it," he blushed. "I do not like the vest because I think it shows too much.of, well.me. And I'm blue. And have stones.so I want it closed!" With that Zelgadiss grabbed the vest and pulled it closed, taking Amelia with it.

"Zelgadiss-san!" Amelia stumbled onto his lap and grabbed his neck pulling his head down slightly. Zelgadiss blushed even more as he looked into Amelia's face. He eyes were shining bright and her cheeks turned the color of a red rose. He felt his heart beating even faster and her one hand that had grabbed the back of his head moved along leaving a tingling path.

Amelia found herself in another moment with the one man she had wanted for a long time now, and waited for anything to happen. Well the next thing that happened was the Chimera suddenly trying his best to not chuckle but it didn't work. And for the first time, even with all the years she had known Zelgadiss, he was there up above her giving a light laugh.

Amelia suddenly felt the moment break as she gave her friend a confused look. "Wh-why are you laughing?"

Zelgadiss shook his head and pulled Amelia's hand that was by his ear, off of his head. "It's nothing," he said with a kind smile on his face.

"No! It's something!" Amelia released the Chimera's neck and sat up in his lap staring him in the face. "What's so funny? That's the first time I have ever heard you laugh!"

"What are you talking about? I've la-" Zelgadiss stopped as he remembered the only time he had really laughed was around Lina the one time she tried to pat his stone back and hurt her hand. "Well, I guess it was."

Instead of being mad at him, he found Amelia beaming a smile at him. "Zelgadiss-san! What made you laugh?! I want to know!" She bounced in his lap and got up in his face and waited for an answer.

"Uh," he felt his heart racing again. "Er, it.was," he asked ever God why everything had to be so embarrassing for him today. "Y..you tickled...me- that's all!" He pushed Amelia back to sitting upright in his lap and watched as her deep blue eyes widened.

"Ah! I tickled you? Where, where, where, where, where?!" She raised her head and began to look all over him.

"A-Amelia, what are you doing?" He got the same weird feeling that he had gotten when that lady in the shop was scanning his body.

"I know where!"

"Amelia, sto-" Zelgadiss was cut off by a tingling sensation running through him up by his head as he jumped in his seat. Amelia's fingers were like a fire of joy running over him behind his ear. Zelgadiss quickly pushed the Princess back by the seat she had started and caught his breath.

She sat there giggling in her seat. "Your ticklish behind your ear! I should have known!"

"I-well, hey everyone is somewhere! It's not my fault!" He said in as much defense as he could. He still was trying to have his mind catch up on what had just happened. Everything seemed too be moving to fast for him to even take a moment to realize what had happened.

Amelia crawled over again. "No! You closed your vest!"

"Huh?"

"It should be open!" Amelia quickly untied the vest and pulled the flaps open as far as she could.

"No! Amelia! It should be closed!" Zelgadiss pulled the vest back in throwing Amelia on his lap once more.

This time the Princess didn't bother pushing herself up and grabbed the vest. "Open!"

"No, CLOSED!"

"It looks better open!"

"Well I think closed!"

Amelia struggled against the man's strength and tried her best to pull it open. "Open!"

"Closed!"

"OPEN!"

"CLOSED!"

"Go t your ear."

"What-haha! Stop!"

Zelgadiss weakened and let go of the vest when the Princess tickled him behind his ear and threw open his vest while she gave off great smile. "Open!"

"Closed!" he shouted with a coy grin. The Chimera made a come back by grabbing Amelia's hand and holding it while he decided to tickle her in return for what she had done to him.

"Zelgadiss-san, no fair!" She laughed while she squirmed in his lap.

"Why not?" he grinned.

Amelia couldn't answer. She was out of breath and still laughing as Zelgadiss moved his hand around each time trying to find a new place to see where she would laugh even more.

Finally Amelia found a moment where she could get a breath of air. "I give up! Okay! Okay!" Amelia still rolled around on the Chimera's lap trying her best to avoid his moving hands.

Zelgadiss grinned down at the laughing girl. "Are you sure?" he taunted.

"Yes, yes!"

Zelgadiss put his face down a little closer. "Sorry, what did you say? I didn't hear you."

"Zelgadiss-san! You meanie!" Amelia found her other hand free and reached up behind the Chimera's ear and heard him give a soft laugh that he couldn't contain.

"All right, all right, I'll stop." Zelgadiss smiled and pulled back from tickling the Princess who was spread out on his lap and gasping for air, but the whole time she kept smiling and now and then still laughed slightly.

After Amelia caught her breath, she looked up and Zelgadiss with lazy eyes and a happy smile. "I think," she took in one last breath. "That you won."

"I think so too," Zelgadiss smiled back down at Amelia. It finally occurred to him that the whole time he had not been steering the horse. When he looked up he saw that the horse was still slowly trotting behind the rest of the group. He shifted position in his seat and took the reins in his hands again. With a quick snap, he ordered the horse to move fast and catch up.

Amelia still found herself smiling and loving ever moment of the day so far. Still lying on the Chimera's lap, she turned her head slowly and looked in the desert that the horse followed. She turned back to see what was on her right side and found that it was the Chimera's stomach. 'He's got a pretty good body,' she thought to herself. Dangling above her was one of the little tassels that fell from the corner of the Zelgadiss's vest.

Amelia smiled to herself and lifted a finger to play at the tassel that hung from the vest. Zelgadiss felt her movement and looked down at her playing at the tassel. When she felt his eyes on her she looked up. "It's kinda' amusing, like a cat toy almost."

Zelgadiss just smiled and looked back up at the way they were going. Everything seemed quiet all the sudden, but in a good way. It gave him a calm but comforting feeling that he could have sworn he had never felt before. Zelgadiss couldn't tell how much time had passed, but it couldn't have been that long. The next time he looked down at Amelia she was in a peaceful sleep on his lap, curled up against him and breathing in a soft motion.

He couldn't figure out why such a thing made him feel so good inside and even make him smile. As he thought about that, he began to then think about what had just happened between him and Amelia. He had never gotten that close to a person before, even shown that much affection to anyone. Was it affection? He liked what happened, he even felt comfortable doing that.

'Forget about it,' his mind told him. Zelgadiss looked down at Amelia again and unconsciously smiled.

~)*(~

Sasheem looked over to Melendil, who was slumped against the wooden seat and dozing off. Knowing that she was ignored, she climbed into the back of the wagon and into the room. In the back she opened the top half of the door to look out into the desert. She could Zelgadiss and Amelia's wagon close behind them.

The Gypsy yawned and folded her arms resting on the door's edge. 'Can't doze off. Melendil's already asleep,' she thought. "Oh weary days," she groaned. The sun was setting in shades of red and the sky was slowly turning to night.

Lina and Gourry had gone back and forth trading the reins to get some sleep. Lina was the one controlling the horse now. "Invading some bandits sounds like a good activity right now," she said to no one in particular. Finally she saw some action up ahead. 'Bandits? Oh please say bandits!' she wished. Coming fast were two more wagons up ahead. "Damn." Lina turned around and saw Sasheem crawling back to the front of the wagon.

Lina pulled back on the reins and stopped the horse. "Hey, I think someone's coming!"

"Eh?" The Gypsy took the reins from Melendil and pulled the wagon up besides Lina. "Where?" She watched Lina point her finger and followed it to see the two wagons coming closer. "Lets see who they are."

Lina stood up in her seat. "Hey! Everyone stop, we got company!"

The last two wagons pulled up beside Lina's and Sasheem's. "Ah, more friends for our journey," Xellos exclaimed.

The two wagons got closer and closer. They halted a few feet away from the four wagons and were still. Each was drawn by a single horse and the wagons were not so different from the four the friends had. From one wagon a tall man in a blue vest and puffy pants came out of a wagon. His long black hair held a few braids and blew easily in a passing breeze. From the last wagon, a man with shoulder length shaggy blue hair came out and escorted a blond woman in a dress with many layers and a bandana tied around her head.

Gourry had woken when the wagon came to a stop and watched as the three people came out. He blinked at first. "Hey, that's Aksin. Aksin!" Gourry jumped off the wagon and waved to the man with long black hair.

"Gourry, hi!" he waved back.

Lina bent over the side of the wagon and hissed at the swordsman. "Gourry, how do you this guy?!"

"He was my knife throwing partner at that party two nights ago!"

Zelgadiss had nudged Amelia to wake her up and see the new people they have met. The group soon had come together to greet the three travelers. The blond woman looked puzzled. "Oh, you are travelers from two nights ago! Oh, and you are Sasheem, correct? You and your grandmother-"

"Run the bath house?"

"Yes, that's right. I believe I have seen you in town before," she exclaimed while getting rather excited. "You are Lina, right?" she asked the sorceress.

"Lina Inverse!" the read-head beamed, shaking her hand.

Amelia had come beside Lina. "My name is Amelia Wil Telsa Saillune."

"Really? Oh the Princess of Saillune! I saw you at the dinner two nights ago with Lina here, but I had no idea you were the Princess!" The woman smiled. "My name is Ida, it's nice to meet you. Well, again perhaps," she laughed. The man with shaggy blue hair came up beside Ida. "Oh, get over here! Come on, come on!"

"What? I'm here! Calm down!" The man straightened out his peasant shirt and shook Lina's hand, Gourry's, and Amelia's. He saw Zelgadiss behind the Princess and waved at the Chimera, who responded with a nod. "The name's Dadan." He quickly turned to his right and saw the Gravedigger talking with Aksin. "Tybolt, my friend! How are you?"

"Huh? Dadan!" Tybolt shoved his shovel into Xellos's hands and gave Dadan such a hug, the Gypsy thought for sure his guts would pop out. "You didn't come to dinner two nights ago? Where were you?!"

"B.busy." Dadan gasped for air. When Tybolt let him go he fell onto the sand like a limp noodle.

"I believe you have just killed him, Tybolt," Xellos spoke. "Now you can bury someone out here!"

Tybolt took his shovel and poked Dadan, lying on the ground. "Nah, he's alive and quick."

Ida clapped her hands together. "We were just about to set up camp and sit down and eat! Please join us tonight! I want to know what you are doing out here!"

"We could ask the same," Lina said. "That sounds like a good idea!"

Gourry nudged the sorceress in the shoulder. "Lina, should we really stop?"

Sasheem came up and put a hand on Gourry's shoulder. "We still have many miles, lets just camp for the night. Is that okay with everyone?" The group gave their approval and it was set.

"Oh this will be so much fun!" Ida chirped.

Aksin huffed and looked over at the giddy woman. "Well aren't you happy," he mocked.

"Well it's just pure luck that we would meet other people out here in the desert!"

Amelia was giggling at the excited woman when she could have sworn she heard a tingling like a small bell from behind her. When she turned around she could have almost sworn she saw a little blue sparkle fly out from one of the wagons. 'Is that a fairy?' she thought. The Princess almost jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

Sasheem smiled to Amelia. "I see Queen Mab has been with you," she whispered.

"Queen Mab?" Amelia asked.

"It's nothing to worry about," Sasheem said putting a finger up. "She's just a fairy. I will explain at dinner."

"Sounds like a new story," said Amelia.

"Indeed," Sasheem whispered.