Lina yawned and stretched. The ground had been surprisingly comfortable, and she'd allowed herself a chance to sleep in after the hectic days and nights she'd had recently. She'd been exhausted when she finally laid down last night. Unfortunately, her sleep was again cut short when Zelgadis started thrashing about and moaning. She'd woken with a start, feeling very disoriented and confused, with a vague feeling of something being wrong. Then she'd seen the state Zelgadis was in, and had known why she awoke.
The best part was that he'd actually admitted something about himself to her. It was more than she'd gotten in a long time. She was also touched he trusted her enough to tell her. She knew he would have stayed completely silent if he didn't trust.
She blinked once, twice, and looked around. Zelgadis was already up and taking out a large bag that smelled of food. Her stomach growled loudly in response, and Zelgadis glanced briefly over in her direction.
"I managed to pack some food while we were in Seyruun," he explained as he carefully removed the food and set it on top of a clean piece of cloth.
Lina hastily got out of bed and sat down next to Zelgadis. She began to cram food into her mouth with joyful abandonment while Zelgadis calmly nibbled on a piece of bread and some cheese.
As soon as Lina was done, she turned to Zelgadis and demanded, "What else do I need to know about Yume?"
He gave a little "Erk!" of surprise and swallowed the food in his mouth much too fast. Coughing, he tried to get it back up or to go down, while Lina sighed and whacked him helpfully on the back...but just hurt her hand in the process. Still, he managed to swallow his bite.
His eyes watering, he asked, "What do you mean?"
She held her throbbing hand and cast a quick healing spell on it. "What I mean, is...you obviously have secrets, Zel, and I'm guessing a few of them have to do with Yume." She sighed, and continued, "I'd rather know them now then find out when we're already in Yume."
His eyes turned as cold as ice, and his expression revealed nothing as he stated implacably, "My secrets won't matter once we get to Yume." At least, I hope not...
Snort. "Yeah, right!"
He shrugged, but their was steel behind his words. "I've told you a lot already, Lina. I'm not saying anything more."
"Aw, c'mon Zel! What's so terrible that you can't tell me what your secret is?"
He had to swerve her attention away from things like that. "How about a compromise? I'll give you something," Zelgadis conceded.
Her eyes lit up. "A present?"
Oh, her greed level was way up. Otherwise, she might have pressed him further. "Yeah."
It took her all of five seconds to agree. "Okay. I'll stop asking...for now," Lina warned him ominously.
He dug in his cloak, and brought out a red gemstone that was set in a silver base with strange markings on it. Lina gasped, and grabbed it. It was a perfect double of the red gem on his cloak.
"What?! You have another of these things?!"
Zelgadis nodded calmly.
"What do they do?" she asked eagerly, practically jumping up and down in the excitement of getting a new type of toy.
"First, put it on," he requested, and she thought she saw a spark of amusement flicker in his eyes. She blinked, and it was gone.
As soon as she'd attached it to her belt, Zelgadis reached out and hesitantly touched her new jewel. A soothing, tenor voice resounded in her mind. This is what is does. She gasped and automatically clutched at her head. "What the...?" she said, startled.
Zelgadis continued to speak into her mind. The jewels allow two people to talk on a telepathic level.. He gestured to Lina, then to himself. For our purposes, it'll allow us to find each other if we get separated, or to talk if we have to be separated for some reason.
Lina nodded in understanding. "I can see that this might be useful in Yume. But...can you show me how to do it?" Her eyes lit up in excitement.
He chuckled and removed his hand from the jewel on her belt. "To establish the link, you have to touch my jewel and direct your thoughts into it. The person should hear them." He closed his eyes. Once you've done that, you only have to think about the jewel and the person who's wearing it to send thoughts into that person's mind. It doesn't even matter if the person is wearing the jewel after the connection's been made; they'll send no matter if the jewel's being worn or not. But only one link can be established per jewel.
Lina gasped again; she still wasn't used to the mind link. It was rather disconcerting. "Okay..." she nodded cautiously. She had already realized the unspoken implication, one he hadn't needed to say. You have to whole-heartedly trust the person who you give another jewel to, because the link can only be made once, and I doubt you can break the link once it's been made...except through death, probably. Plus, with these jewels, it would be easy to betray the other person, so absolute trust in the other person is essential.
She reached out and touched Zelgadis's jewel. Experimentally, she screamed in as loud a mental voice as she could, CAN YOU HEAR ME?!?!?!?! Zelgadis stumbled and clutched at his head in pain.
"I heard," he muttered.
After removing her hand, Lina laughed and clapped in delight. "I can't believe this! This is great!"
"You don't mind having a permanent telepathic link with me?" he inquired quietly, looking up at the sky, at the leaves, anywhere but her.
She raised an eyebrow and stated quite clearly, "Of course not. You're one of the few people I'd enjoy having a link with." She sighed and shook her head. "I'd never try this with Gourry or Amelia. It's..." she shuttered, and continued, "...It's a very scary thought..."
"...Ah..." Finally, he looked at her again, and she saw he looked very relieved.
She winked and added, "Besides, now I can keep track of you if you leave again."
Zelgadis abruptly switched subjects by asking, "Lina, can you test the jewel out again?"
She nodded. YOU CAN STILL HEAR ME?!?!?!?! Lina asked.
Zelgadis grimaced and held his head. Yes. You don't need to shout, you know.
SOR...er...sorry... Lina laughed in embarrassment, and put her hand on the back of her head.
Much better. Zelgadis smiled slightly, and motioned for her to follow him. "Come on."
Lina nodded cheerfully and trailed after him as they headed outside of the grove.
It was just as they had reached the road again that Lina thought to ask something. "Zelgadis, there was something special about that grove, wasn't there?"
He nodded slowly, as if afraid to reveal his knowledge. "There's a legend surrounding that grove. Once, long ago, a dragon and a mazoku fell in love. They met at that grove every night. But the other dragons heard about the union and tried to kill the two lovers. They met one last time in the grove, and disappeared in a flash of white light. Ever since then, the grove has looked like that, and it's protected lovers who stay there overnight. It's said that every year on the night when the dragon and mazoku lovers disappeared, another bright light flashes."
Lina's eyes widened, and she felt her heart thump curiously as he finished his tale. "That's...interesting..." was her only comment. And...we spent the night there...?
"It is, isn't it?" Zelgadis said contemplatively. Was it just her, or was he grinning? She gulped, and sped up so she was in front of him as they walked to Yume...
Aristos glared in the distance, first down one side of the fork in road, then down the second lane. "Which way did they go, Schnookums?"
The slug wished he could shrug; it settled for silence and no movement.
"Hmm...let's go...to the...LEFT!" Aristos decided at last, and pointed to the right.
The slug sighed inwardly and mentally shook his head. He took off down the right path, deciding to follow where Aristos pointed rather than where he said.
"Now time to get my revenge!!" Aristos gave a loud, glass-cracking laugh as the two faded into the distance...