Lina slowly walked up to the cabin and rapped on the door with the back of her hand. The laughter inside stopped, and everything was silent. Lina was about to knock again, harder this time, when a soft click was heard from the other side of the door. Soon, it opened, and just as Lina thought(feared), Nagha stood before her. But...
It was different. Way different. This Nagha had her hair tied in a long braid, brought over her left shoulder and she was actually dressed in modest clothes! A light blue tunic; tied around the waist with a saphire jeweled, black belt; slightly covered the light grey leggins she wore. Dark grey ankle boots shod her feet and a small, silver bangle adorned her wrist.
The most noticable difference, however, had to be the eyes. No longer were they the cold blue, full of overconfidence, superiority, over-blown self-esteem and haughtiness that Lina was accustomed to. Now they wre soft, moist blue eyes that showed actual appreciation for others. Lina was speechless.
Nagha's eyes sparkled recognition and, with a gentle voice (that took Lina totally by suprise), she smiled. "Ms. Lina Inverse! It's been a long time! Please, come in." Lina just stood dumbfounded, so Nagha took her by the hand and gently led her inside. "It's been a long time," Nagha repeated, then Lina gasped at the sight she saw at the table in the middle of the room. 3 more Naghas were seated along one side, all wearing different outfits and sporting different hairstyles. The nearest had her hair in a ponytail and was wearing a pale yellow dress. The second had a large french braid and was wearing a dark green tunic with black leggings, and the third Nagha was wearing blue overalls and a white shirt. Two braids wrapped above the rest of her hair and made her look like she was wearing a sort of tiara. EAch looked at her with a different expression; as if each had a different personality. And, in unison, said, "Hello."
Lina felt faint.
The Nagha that greeted her by the door must have noticed because she led Lina to a nearby chair to sit.
"This must be hard, but I'll try to explain. You must have forgotten about us, but we remember you." she replied, sitting in a chiar opposited to Lina. Now all four Nagha sat in front of her. This had to be some story....
Zelgadis ran with all his might through the forest. She sure came a long way... he thought destractedly. He had lost Amelia and Gourry sometimes back there, but he didn't really care. He was too focused on where Lina had gone to notice much else.
One minute he's running through the forest, the next he's in a clearing with a large cabin in it. Smoke came out of the chimney and he could hear voices inside...
"So that's who you are! I always wondered what happened to you guys," Lina commented, leaning back in her chair. The memories of her dealings with old man Diol came back to her and she winced at the idea of her head on a monster chimera's body...
The crazy old man made copies of Nagha, hoping to use them against her, but Diol didn't think they would actually bond with the real Nagha. She hadn't seen hide nor hair of them after that. The Nagha that opened the door nodded.
"Nagha had this nice place built for us, then gave us supplies and left. She said something about finding her diminuative partner...I assume she meant you..." The Nagha with the pony-tail said, motioning to the area surrounding them, then Lina. Lina gritted her teeth at the mention of 'diminuative' but decided to let it slide...she was way to confused as to how she was going to tell the Nagha's apart...
Sensing Lina's confusion, the Nagha that answered the door spoke. "I am called Negha (pronounced Nay-gah)." she pointed to the Nagha with the ponytail, "that is Nigha (pronounced N-eye-gah)," she then pointed to the Nagha with the french braid, "that is Neighas (pronounced Nay-gous)," she then points to the last Nagha, "and that is Nogha (pronounced N-oh-gah)." She turned back to Lina with a slightly frown. "There are two more of us. One is in the back; her name is Naghei (pronounced Naw-gay). The other is abroad. Her name is Naghus (pronounced Naw-gus). She is the most like Nagha. But most of us have very differing personalities."
Lina simply nodded, but as an afterthought, added, "I thought there were nine of you..."
Negha sighed. "The process Diol used was not an efficient one...or complete. We are dying..."