Lina stared at the throne room, and fought a sense of deja-vu. It looked exactly the same as Zelgadis's memories. There was only one significant difference, which had nothing to do with the appearance of the room itself; this time, Lina was the one walking down the hallway of the court, whereas before she'd been on the sidelines. Now the eyes and thoughts of the court were trained on both Zelgadis and her. She knew he didn't like being the center of attention, and must be silently grinding his teeth in frustration.
Lina marched as confidently as she could down the center aisle, her chin angled out defiantly, and her posture proud and straight. Behind her, Zelgadis simply concentrated on keeping his head slightly down, so as to keep the nobles from knowing what he looked like. He didn't realize it made him look incredibly mysterious, or that his natural calm enhanced this effect.
Tannec, who had Lina's arm resting on his, smiled at his parents as soon as they'd reached near enough the thrones, and went down briefly on bent knee. Lina curtsied mockingly, using her cape like she would the ends of a dress. Zelgadis gave a small bow, barely within the limit of propriety.
The King's eyebrows raised questioningly, but he didn't say anything just yet. The Queen gazed thoughtfully on Lina and Zelgadis, her amber eyes warm.
Tannec led Lina forward a step or two to draw his parents attention to her, and enunciated in a clear voice, "Father, this young lady would like to visit the royal library."
The King frowned, and asked, "What's your name, my lady?"
"Lina...Lina Inverse," she said proudly. There was an audible, in-drawn breath from the court, and the King and Queen gave startled looks. Even Tannec's eyes had widened, and his jaw dropped. Lina resisted the urge to scowl. I always get that reaction...
The King shook his head, and grinned down at her. "So, the great sorceress Lina Inverse has decided to visit our library." He paused, and asked suspiciously, "How did you get inside the barrier of our kingdom?"
She snorted, and replied with a question. "Did you really think such a trifling thing would stop me?"
Zelgadis hid an amused smile, and thought, She could probably make Shabranigdo doubt himself with that tone of voice.
The King frowned, and tapped his fingers on the wooden throne's armrest. "Hmm..." The Queen studied Lina some more, but didn't deign to comment.
Lina shrugged easily, and commented, "I'm here, aren't I?"
"Hmm..." the King repeated, still frowning. For the first time, he seemed to notice the man standing behind Lina and Tannec. "Who's your companion?"
Zelgadis stepped forward, still keeping his head bowed, and said softly, "My name is Zel."
"Zel..." the King repeated. Zelgadis waited worriedly for some sort of reaction to his name, and was relieved when none came. The King shifted his attention between Lina and Zelgadis. "Why do you need to use the royal library, Lina Inverse and Zel?"
Lina provided the answer after a moment or two of thought. It was always best to tell as much of the truth as possible when creating a deception, because then there was less to remember and potentially screw up. She motioned to Zelgadis and announced grandly, "Zel was transformed into a chimera, and now he seeks a way to reverse the process. We were hoping to find such a cure in your library, which is renown for its books on magic."
"A chimera? May we see?" the Queen said curiously, speaking up for the first time. Lina saw the sympathy in her eyes, and privately agreed with her.
No protest came from the King, so Zelgadis nodded, and lowered the hood of his cloak. Instantly, everyone saw the metallic gleam on his hair. Next, he pulled down the veil covering the lower part of his face, and a gasp rose from the crowd.
Tannec's eyes turned to steel, and he pointed angrily at Zelgadis. "It's you! You were the monster sent to attack us before!" He growled, and stood protectively in front of Lina while she shook her head in frustration and sweatdropped. The King and Queen stood up and got into defensive stances, hands cupped in front of them in readiness of the need for spells. The rest of the court backed away slowly to the outer edges of the room, and a shield appeared before them. Zelgadis crossed his arms and stared at the King, Queen, and Prince Tannec.
Lina glared at the surrounding court, and decided enough was enough. She pushed past Tannec in disgust and stood in front of Zelgadis, scowling at them. Tannec shot her a surprised look.
"Lina? He's a monster! Get away from him!" Tannec tried to explain, sounding worried and angry. "The last time he attacked, the castle almost was destroyed!"
If looks could kill, the King, Queen, and Prince Tannec should all have been roasted corpses by then. "You're all idiots," she said, voice cold. "I thought the royal family would be smarter than this, but I guess I was wrong." Her voice rose as she stated unquestioningly, "If the castle was almost destroyed, it was due to your own spells. He didn't know enough magic by then to do what you claimed."
That stopped them short, for they couldn't deny the truth. Tannec gave Zelgadis a burning glare full of meaning, most of it about his slow and painful death for having Lina at his side.
Zelgadis rest a hand on Lina's shoulder, and shook his head. She stopped talking immediately, and saw the determination in his gaze.
Slowly, softly, yet in a painfully clear voice, he said, "Rezo the Red Priest turned me into a chimera against my wishes." The King's face showed his surprise for just a second before he was able to hide it, and the Queen looked worried. "The last time I was here, I simply wanted to get into the library, but your guards attacked me."
Tannec growled, and argued spitefully, "Liar! The guards told us you were an assassin sent to murder us!"
In the same voice, Zelgadis asked, "Did you ever think THEY might have been the ones who lied?" By their doubtful lances to each other, he surmised they hadn't. He looked the royal family in the eyes. "You never even gave me a chance to defend myself. How would you know whether I was sent to attack you or not?"
"Enough! Father, we have to kill him before he tries to assassinate us again!" Tannec shouted desperately, turning to look at his parents. The King and Queen looked uncertain, and didn't comment.
Lina shouted back at him, furious, "He just wanted to find a way to reverse the chimera transformation!"
The doors to the throne room opened up with another loud creak and groan. The royal family, Lina, and Zelgadis all stopped talking and looked at who dared interrupt them. In walked a little girl, probably only around ten years old. Lina heard Zelgadis whisper under his breath, "Wyna?" The girl had wild, unmanageable-looking violet-blue hair that reached the middle of her back. She kept it back in a braid that dangled over her right shoulder. Wyna wore a plain, well-made, light blue dress, with dark blue ribbon trimming the edges. A purple bodice emphasized her tiny waist, and dark blue slippers were partially hidden underneath the ankle-length dress. It was easy to tell the girl would be a great beauty when she grew up, but that her greatest feature would be her big, sapphire blue eyes. They twinkled cheerfully at the assembly, though Lina could also see the intelligence shimmering there as well.
Tannec smiled in greeting, forgetting his anger for the moment, and embraced her as she walked forward. Lina saw Zelgadis's hand barely reach out before he forcibly made a fist and let it dangle loosely at his side. No one besides Lina saw the gesture, thankfully.
Wyna turned and looked at Lina and Zelgadis, her eyes unreadable as she studied them. Finally, she looked up at Tannec and asked, "What's going on?"
His expression turned angry again. "That...monster...is here to attack us again!" he declared.
Oh, now Lina was mad. "Don't you listen?! We just want to get into the royal library!" Usually, Lina would have dragon slaved everyone to the seas of choas by now, but because the assembled people happened to be spell casters, it was risky to try. That, and she still wanted to stay on their good side. Much more of this, though, and Lina would stop caring they were Zelgadis's family...
Wyna nodded seriously at Lina, and stated, "Since you haven't attacked yet, I'm inclined to believe you."
Again, the Queen spoke up, her battle stance relaxing. "She's right. If they were here to attack us, they would have done so by now instead of arguing."
"They might just be waiting for us to let our guard down," Tannec predicted.
A grim, twisting smile played across Zelgadis's lips. "You think so?" Before anyone could move, Zelgadis used demon speed to get behind Tannec, drawing his sword in the process. Half a second later, Zelgadis's sword rest upon Tannec's throat.
He whispered, "If I was here to murder you, you'd already be dead."
Deliberately, he withdrew the sword and walked back to Lina, who watched his back in case Tannec decided to attack. Wyna sighed in exasperation, and gestured at Zelgadis while she looked at her parents. "You see? He's not here to murder us." She turned back to Zelgadis and asked intelligently, "Were you born that way, or was something done to you?"
"As I told them already, Rezo transformed me into a chimera. I was originally HUMAN," he spoke, while glaring at his parents and Tannec.
"So you came here hoping you could find a way to become human again with a book from the library," she surmised, nodding. "Father, it seems a simple enough request."
The King sighed, and grimaced as he let his stance relax. "Very well. Zel, you have our royal permission to visit the library."
The Queen offered graciously, "As an apology for our rude behavior, please feel welcome to stay at the castle as long as you like."
Zelgadis bowed expertly. "Thank you, Your Majesties."
Lina grinned, and nodded in satisfaction. "It's about time!"
Tannec glared at them one last time before asking hesitantly, "...You really don't want to murder us?" It sounded like he was disappointed.
Lina smirked. "Nope."
"Damn. Then, please accept my apology," he said, bending at the waist and kissing Lina's hand.
Unimpressed, Lina told him, "The one you need to apologize to is Zel."
Tannec looked up at Zelgadis, who was watching coldly. "I...I'm sorry. I guess I jumped to the wrong conclusion."
All he got was a nod in response.
Wyna smiled harder and clapped her hands. "Wonderful! Come; I'll show you to your rooms." Lina and Zelgadis followed closely as she lead them out of the throne room, deliberately not looking back once to see if his family was watching them leave. They weren't important right now; only his cure was. At least, that's what Zelgadis tried to convince himself of...