Zelgadis appeared in a shower of sparks in front of his employer.
"Damn, I really need to get that checked out," He muttered. He looked at the steaming man. The bunny girls were nowhere to be seen, apparently fleeing to safer climes.
"Yes? You rang?"
His boss grew a small volcano from his head and screamed. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE???"
Zelgadis appeared to think for a moment. "Decked a jerk?"
"NO! You just beat up the charming prince who's supposed to carry the young maiden off into the sunset! You blithering idiot! You utter ignoramus! And you know what happened when you two left the ball?"
"Enlighten me."
"The prince fell in love with her SISTER!!" The man looked like he was trying hard not to explode. Zelgadis smiled.
"Figures. He'd like her type."
His boss was steaming like a teakettle. An old washerwoman walked up, fried an egg on his head, and walked away. As Zelgadis' mind was still trying to compute that, the boss continued berating him and yelling.
"You were supposed to cast the love spell when you had the chance! Now it won't work because he's in love with someone else! Do you have any idea what you've done? You deprived that girl of her happy ending!"
Zelgadis snorted. "Really? I thought I kept her from doing something she'd be very, very sorry for later on." He leaned against the wall. "I think you should be more concerned with giving girls what they really need, not what you think they should want."
The boss gave him a look. "What's that supposed to mean? You've been talking to Hulda, haven't you?"
"Never heard of her."
"She's working as a fortune teller since we fired her."
"I thought she quit."
"Well, technically, of you go back in the records...so you have been talking to her!"
"Never heard of her before in my life."
"But you just said!"
"Lucky guess. Because that's what I'm doing. I quit."
"You can't quit, you're fired!!"
Zelgadis, for the first time in his life, made a weird face and stuck out his tongue. "Find someone else to send little girls off to their doom. I quit first, so you can't fire me. Nyah nyah!"
The boss nearly went up in smoke.
Lina sat at the fireplace kicking her heels against the chair. Her sister was getting married to the prince (not that she cared, he was a total idiot) but her station in life hadn't changed much. She was still stuck doing all these gods-be-damned chores, even with a legion of housekeepers, because her sisters found it so damn funny. Bitches.
But they hadn't gotten married yet. She sighed and stared at the ceiling.
To find a rather catlike Zelgadis sitting up there. She arched an eyebrow.
"What are you doing up there? And why do you have fur?"
He glared. "This is my regular form. I'm a cat demon."
"Figures."
"Shut up." He looked in every direction but her for a while. "You're not...mad, are you?"
"For what?"
He finally looked at her. "I kinda ruined your happily ever after." He scratched his head.
She snorted. "Hardly. Why'd I ever want to marry that idiot, anyway?"
"You're lying."
"So what if I am? I only wanted the money and power. For that reason alone I shouldn't have him." She shrugged. "And besides, after I'd been married to him for a few years the money would definitely not be worth it. I mean really. After twenty minutes, he was starting to grate on my nerves. What would I do about twenty years?"
"I dunno. But...I really screwed it up for you." He struggled for a moment, as if it was hard to say the words. "Sorry. I am...sorry."
"Don't worry about it."
"Well, I gotta go, try to get a job before this screwup gets out." Zel got ready to leave.
"See you later."
"Probably not." He disappeared.
Lina stood at the back of the church, bored out of her skull. The only slightly noteworthy event so far was some weird guy had shown up in a puff of smoke and gave her sister a mirror.