Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
"Zel, will you stop that incessant tapping? It's driving me crazy!" Lina snapped at her companion, who ignored her. Tap. Tap. Tap.... WHAM! Setting the remains of the chair back onto the floor, Lina turned back to contemplating the situation, ignoring the scalding glare from the affronted chimera. Lina had long ago learned not to hit Zelgadis with her bare hand and to use something as large and solid as possible. For one thing, Lina always managed to hurt herself more than her victim when she attacked him, so she switched to objects from chairs, trays, to even the odd table or two. The result was much more satisfactory. The heavier the better, since the man had skin made completely of blue stone with the odd pebble, it was harder for him to feel through it. Or so Lina had concluded, since her other attacks had virtually no effect.
"You're going to have to pay for that, miss." Said a waitress, uncomfortable from under the scarlet-eyed stare of the sorceress.
"No." Corrected Lina, "He is." She pointed at the shaman who was still rubbing his head, muttering darkly to himself. He jerked at her addressing him and glowered as he realized what she'd just said.
"Lina..." Amelia said soothingly, trying to calm her friend. Zelgadis made no move to argue with the sentiment, however, apparently thinking wiser of it under the gaze of the fuming female.
"Right!" Lina changed gears quickly, all anger forgotten under the prospect of almost certain treasure, "Now, are you listening, Gourry, I don't want to repeat this more than once." She turned toward the last figure at the table, blonde, blue-eyed and as thickheaded as you can get. Getting him to understand was like swimming through Jell-O. The blonde head nodded meekly, "Good." Lina turned back to the map spread out in front of her, "We are here, the Island of Poroa, one of the biggest Islands in the whole world, in fact, this island is so big that in some circles it is referred to as a continent."
"And just why are we here, exactly?" Zelgadis asked in his usual apathetic tone.
"I know!" Gourry said proudly, "We all got letters from someone telling us to go to the Yellowhead shrine!"
"That's Yelowed, and yes, very good Gourry." Lina said and Gourry beamed.
"That wasn't what I meant." Was the dry reply. Lina sighed and pointed to another location on the map, nearly on the other side,
"Yelowed is a shrine dedicated to the Chaos god, Zanilphrid, it is said to hold many items left over from wars long passed, and in that collection, a special talisman or amulet that can reverse any spell!"
"So, Zelgadis-sama could become human again!" Amelia said, starry-eyed.
"The only problem," the voice was, if possible, even dryer, "is finding the shrine. It is said to have disappeared after the time of Shabranigdo's rebirth over a thousand years ago."
"But we have this map." Gourry protested.
"If that map is real, it could be a fake."
Amelia rose from her seat and banged tiny hands onto the table, her dark blue eyes shining, "As long as we hold true to Justice, we will not fail, Zelgadis-sama!" Zelgadis rolled his eyes at this pronouncement. Lina sided with Amelia, "We will find this shrine, because I am Lina Inverse, sorcery genius! And if this map is a fake," her eyes snapped with death, "Than that guy is going to pay."
'That guy' was at that moment hovering over the inn, giggling happily to himself before vanishing in a flash of purple.