Lina felt her heart thumping strangely as she quietly made her way up the stairs, and down the hallway to Zelgadis's room. What would she find out? She thought she had a fairly good idea, but...
She cleared her throat and called tentatively through the door, "Zel?"
"You can come in." She detected absolutely no hint of emotions at all.
Cautiously, as if expecting a fireball to whiz past her ear, she opened up the door and peeked inside. Daylight streamed through the one window in the room, and bathed the bed in white rays. Zelgadis sat underneath the dark blue covers which pooled at his waist. His two belts, his sword, his shoes, and the cloak had been carelessly thrown onto a chair nearby. He looked up dully at Lina, as if she were going to execute him instead of talk to him, but she also detected a small spark of...loneliness...somewhere deep in those dull eyes.
Lina privately railed at the somber mood, but suspected if she tried to dispel it, Zelgadis would retreat even further into his shell. Usually hitting him on the head, or getting angry, knocked him out of it, but she suspected that this time he'd take the excuse to retreat, and then she'd never get the truth out of him.
Zelgadis turned from staring wistfully at her, and instead stared at the covers of his bed, his hands clenching on the fabric. "I... I have something to...tell you...about my past..." he got out. He was choking on his own words, and a muscle jumped nervously in his jaw.
Without responding, she took off her own cloak, sword, belts, and shoes. Then she sat down and edged her way onto the bed so she was sitting right in front of him. She nodded mutely, and placed her hands in front of her, loose and relaxed.
She began to speak, trying to ease the tension by telling him as much as she had been told or had figured out on her own. "In Seyruun at the ball, you knew a lot about nobility and how they acted; their customs, their fashions, how to act like them, what to do and what not to do... I found that strange. I wasn't sure you would have known all that if you'd only been in Seyruun for a little while before to do research."
He winced, and looked away through the window, eyes unreadable and expression blank.
"You also told me that you'd been to Yume before, but were almost killed by the royal family when they wrongly mistook you for a monster. This past experience could explain some of your knowledge about Yume, but not all of it. You knew how to get past the barrier, where the barrier was, and could even see through it. You know Lysandros, and treat him like an old, dear friend. If you were here for just a short amount of time, you wouldn't have formed such a friendship, and I doubt you would have been able to get past the barrier."
Was it just her, or did his eyes flash fearfully at her words? She forged on, determined to try and make this easy for him by forming a few of the right conclusions about his past, and thereby reducing how much he had to tell her.
"Plus, you said before that a stupid tradition doesn't let you learn magic till you're an adult." She paused. "I suspect there's more to it than that."
Now he looked scared. Perhaps she'd better tell him what she thought, before he had a nervous breakdown. "Zelgadis, you were really the eldest son of one of the nobility in Yume, weren't you? All the facts point towards it; you know exactly how to act around nobles, you have extensive knowledge of Yume, you're old friends with Lysandros, who has probably never left the kingdom, and you knew how to get past the barrier without help, which I doubt is common.
"Also, you told me you couldn't learn magic till you were an adult, because of a tradition in your family. That wasn't quite true, was it? Actually, you couldn't learn magic till you took over your father's title."
Lina closed her eyes for a moment, relieved to get some of her suspicions out at last, sure that at least some of it was right. Now all he had to do was nod and agree.
Taking a deep breath, he stammered in a monotone voice, "I...I..."
Lina inhaled air quickly and waited on baited breath, barely aware she was holding it in. Could he finally admit what he had to?
"I..." He lowered his head, and shook it minutely. She could see his resolve to speak his secret out loud collapse, and let her breath out in a disappointed rush. "I'll never be able to say it out loud." He paused, considering, and added, "But...I don't have to..."
Zelgadis leaned forward on his knees and wrapped his arms around her waist. He clutched her as close to his body as he could, and buried his head on her shoulder. Please...close your eyes... he pleaded mentally, the anguish he felt plain in her mind. I can show you my past through the jewels, but it's easiest if we're touching...
Her first reaction was to stiffen, blush, and ask furiously in her mind what the hell he was doing. A fireball automatically began to form on her fingertips before she got her emotions under control, and dispelled the small flames licking at the end of her fingers. Getting mad at him was the last thing she wanted to do right now; pulling away would only cause him to stop talking, and then she'd never find out what happened.
Besides, if he had to resort to this, then she wasn't completely right with her conclusions; this wasn't a simple nod to tell her she was right. She sighed, and relaxed her body into his arms, noting dimly that she felt very comfortable. Her crimson eyes fluttered closed, and new images entered her mind...
Where was she? Let's see... a fancy chamber, thrones... Yume Castle?! Zeladis's voice came to her as she stood there in shock. Shh... Don't worry. I'm showing you one of my memories.
Lina looked around the throne room, amazed at the luxury. She was standing on the sidelines, but had a very good view of the entire court. The walls and floors were made of expensive, white marble shot through with lines of gray and black. Columns of light, bluish-gray marble which had white lines throughout it stood every dozen feet, up till the stairs leading to the thrones. Large, well-kept tapestries hung everywhere, gold torches were on each column, and a thick, plush blue carpet ran down the middle of the room, where it stopped on the steps to the thrones.
The thrones themselves were ornate, carved, wooden masterpieces. On each of the two thrones sat a person. One was a handsome, muscular man with dark green hair that fell straight down to his shoulders, and sapphire blue eyes. The other was a beautiful, slender woman with violet-blue hair that curled up slightly, and kind, amber eyes.
The courtiers, who stood on either side of the throne room whispering to each other, watched the doors avidly. Lina wondered if something was about to happen...
Sure enough, the doors burst open, courtesy of two guards who quickly stood to the side. A little boy in dark blue clothes, embroidered with gold thread, appeared from behind them and strode nervously down the center of the room, as if expecting something to jump out at him at any time. He tried to keep his eyes straight ahead, at the thrones, but failed miserably.
Lina's eyes narrowed as she observed the little boy whom she was sure was named Zelgadis. If he was in the throne room, expected by the King and Queen, then he must be a pretty high ranking noble. But what could the King and Queen want with him?
He reached the stairs, knelt down, and touched his fist to his heart in a well-trained gesture of servitude. Quickly he stood back up and strode up the stairs. The King and Queen smiled at him.
Chibi-Zelgadis leaned over the Queen, kissed her on the cheek, and said warmly, "Good morning, Mother." He looked over at the King and nodded respectfully, "Good morning, Father." The formalities done with, he stood back behind his father, as was customary.
Lina felt her heart stop for one timeless second before starting back up again. He was...
Lina gasped and opened her eyes, pulling slightly away, though Zelgadis kept her locked in an embrace. "You're...You're the eldest son of the King and Queen of the Yume Kingdom?! Wouldn't that make you the heir?!"
Zelgadis nodded, his expression revealing nothing as he studied her face in the light.
"I can't believe this!" she exclaimed. Lina smiled gleefully, eyes sparkling. "You're not just one of the nobles, but the Heir Prince!"
He stared even harder at her face than before, his eyes going from lonely and desolate to hopeful. Did she understand? Did she forgive him for not telling her sooner?
Meanwhile, Lina was thinking hard. Something didn't make sense, as some of his own words came back to her... "Then Rezo came, promising me the power I'd never had, and I took it. When he changed me, though, I didn't dare go back to my home, because I was afraid of their reactions to me, and what my family would think." She frowned distractedly, and wondered, "I thought you said you never went back home after you were changed into a chimera by Rezo. If that's true, then you'll have to explain something to me. You said you came to Yume soon after being turned into a chimera, because you wanted to check out the library in the castle, but when you got there the guards attacked you, and the royal family joined in." Lina shook her head, her confusion obvious. "What you said seems to contradict each other, for the castle is your home, and you came back to it after vowing not to."
To her surprise, he didn't say anything out loud. Words, happier than before, flooded into her mind. The entire royal family leaves for a week every year on a small vacation. That's when I came to the castle. I didn't know they were skipping the vacation that year, and no one had told me they were still here. He shrugged once, and added, I never wanted to come back home because I wanted to avoid my family, so I thought it would be okay to come home if they weren't here.
Lina gave a lopsided, sympathetic grin. "Basically, you didn't think your family was home, so you thought it was safe to come back and find what you needed," she summed up. "Unfortunately, they had decided to stay home that year, and you didn't know."
He nodded. "Basically. Lina, are you..." His words skidded to a halt, and he looked away from her, through the window, eyes again shuttered.
She tilted her head to one side and asked, "What is it?"
"Are you...mad at me...for not revealing my past sooner?" he wondered in a whisper, not daring to look at her. Lina got the impression he was silently asking another question as well. Now that you know, will you treat me differently?
Lina tut-tutted him and grinned. "You should know me better than that by now. Of course I'm not mad! I might have been mad if I'd had to find out on my own, but you were able to tell me before that happened. For you, that's very impressive." Her eyes twinkled as she added in a softer, impish tone, "Zel..." Pulling away slightly, she grabbed a nearby book and bonked him gently on the head with it. "...teach me how you did that memory-trick with the jewel!" Her tone turned mock-chiding. "You still haven't taught me everything about the jewels. Right now is a perfect time to do so."
Zelgadis blinked in surprise, and smiled warmly at her, the relief apparent. She's treating me the same as always. Thank the gods... Nodding slightly, he said, "Okay, here's how I did it..."