Lina rubbed her eyes and yawned. It was very late she should have gone to bed a long time ago. But because of her newly acquired book and what Zelgadis had done earlier Lina felt like staying up knowing that if she tried she wouldn't have been able to sleep. What she had been doing that whole time since Zelgadis left her room was reading Aria's Dream. Lina had only ever had the chance to actually read the story from a book only once before. Like most fairytales and other fables they were passed down orally from generation to generation. But still Lina was a bit surprised when she started to read the story from the book. They way that her family had told it to her compared to what the book read out was very different.
She marked her place in her book and placed it down. She was at the point in the book where Aria and Edwin are just about to have their first dream together. Lina sighed as she got ready for bed knowing very well what awaited her in the morning. The continued search through the endless books for a chimera's cure. Not that she minded to much helping Zelgadis out but it was going to be a challenge to find anything useful. Lina paused on the thought of Zelgadis. That kiss had sure been unexpected but how was it going to affect things? Is it going to be awkward or are things going to go on like nothing happened? Lina mused thoughtfully. Wait what am I thinking?! It was just one kiss nothing too major. Lina shook her head and blew out the candles. She absentmindedly hummed a song as she lay down on her bed.
Zelgadis was laying on his own bed but he wasn't sleeping. He was just laying there staring at the ceiling. He couldn't sleep no matter how hard he tried. He just kept thinking of what happened earlier. Why did I do that? Why did I kiss her? It confused him quite a bit. He had never before even thought of kissing Lina before tonight and after many hours of brooding thought he hadn't come up with one answer yet. Even right before Zelgadis had kissed Lina he hadn't been thinking of kissing Lina. It was like something had taken over his body and caused that kiss. Because Zelgadis only became aware what he was doing when he was already right in the middle of the kiss. Now he could have broken it off right then and there but he wasn't sure why he didn't. Or at least he didn't believe the possible reason that he came up as being true. So where did that leave him? Still laying on his bed deep in thought and unable to sleep. I need to get some sleep or otherwise I'm going to be a walking zombie tomorrow when go back to the library with -- Zelgadis stopped mid thought. Will Lina still want to come with me? Or is this going to be awkward? He sighed the uncertainty was bugging him. I guess I wont know till tomorrow. And with that he vowed to stop thinking about Lina and the kiss and try to force himself to sleep.
A man walked an unknown forest. He had no idea where he was or where he was going. All he knew was that he had to keep going, that he had a place he needed to be. The land was bright yet misty. Like the world had been colored with watercolors and soft pastels. It was all quite beautiful that the wandering man stopped a few time dazzled by the scenery. But then he'd snap out of it and start walking again knowing that he had a limited amount of time and that he needed to get a place that he needed to be in.
The wandering man whom had been guided before but a gut feeling on where to go stopped at a tree. He was disoriented and lost but now he didn't have his gut feeling to guide him. He had no idea where to go now. The man still questioned why he was here and what he was doing but he couldn't remember the reason. He was starting to get frustrated until he heard a soft faint melody gently being carried by the wind. He couldn't make out much of it but somehow he felt drawn to the music and the man followed the direction of the music.
By following the music the wandering man ended up clearing the forest and stumbling upon a small meadow. What he found there was the source of the music.
A woman sat at a piano playing it with her slender hands. She was a petite woman with long wavy red hair that was left loose hanging on her shoulders. At first glance the women looked like a heavenly angel but as he neared closer he saw that she was in fact an elf. Her emerald green looked down at the keys while she played and her hair was neatly tucked behind her pointed elf ears.
Despite the man's attempts to be quiet the woman was aware of the man. She mentally grinned knowing very well that it was her music that had drawn him to her. She dared not look his way, instead she started a new song this time singing along with it.
The man blinked a few times. Her voice was beautiful just like her appearance, and the song had a soothing melody to it. But as the man soon discovered the song was sung in an elf dialect that he couldn't understand. He didn't care though the song was still beautiful and he was enjoying it very much.
She finished the final cords with her eyes closed. She smiled quite pleased with the way that the song sounded and she opened her eyes and looked at the man that stood behind her in the face. He was a somewhat tall man with bluish lavender hair and red eyes.
When the red haired elf turned to look the man in the eyes he had been taken back a bit. He blushed a bit in embarrassment. "I-I'm sorry to intrude. I just heard the music and I had to come and see where it was coming from."
"That's quite alright. Tell me were you pleased with what you heard?"
"Oh yes I did! You both play and sing beautifully."
She smiled at his complement and a bit of an awkward silence passed the two of them.
"So what's your name?" She asked breaking the spell of silence.
The man was going to respond only upon having that question asked he couldn't remember what his name was. In fact there was very little that he could remember about himself at all. "I...don't know..."
She looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Can't remember his own name? Now that's weird. I've never had that problem -- wait a minute I can't remember mine either. Her eyes went wide upon that realization. Like the man the elf woman couldn't remember anything about herself. What she was doing here, why she was here, who she was, nothing came to mind. "Well it seems that we both have the same problem..." The woman frowned as well as the man.
"Perhaps it has something to do with this area, or this is someone else's doing."
"Maybe."
Again another spell of silence passed over the two strangers.
"Well we can't go on like this without having any idea of what to call the other. So tell me, what can I call you?" She asked him, her emerald green eyes meeting once again with his ruby red ones.
"I suppose you could call me..." The man thought for a moment but no name came to mind. "...Regan..." He finally said. The weird thing is that he wasn't thinking of anything when he said that. He just blurted it out. Not that he minded being called Regan, it sounded fine enough to him.
"Regan huh? Well then I guess you could call me Celine."
"Celine..." Regan let the name roll off his tongue. He looked at her. Yes Celine is a good name for her. "So tell me Celine that song you just played, what is it?"
Celine tried to remember the name of the song and what it was about only like many missing parts of her memory the answer eluded her. "I'm sorry I can't remember. My this is pretty frustrating not being able to remember much."
"Well it could be worse."
"How so?"
"We could have forgotten how to talk too."
Celine laughed at that and flashed him another smile. "I suppose you're right about that."
The two sat in the meadow talking for hours about practically nothing. But there was no much else they could talk about without having their memories to relate about things.
Zelgadis woke up that morning to the sound of a song that he heard faintly. But as he woke up the song faded away. It puzzled him because not only could he not remember the tune but he also couldn't figure out where the music had come from. But he just shook it off and got ready to go downstairs to eat.
To his surprise it wasn't morning but late in the afternoon. He had for once slept in late. But that wasn't too surprising considering how late he was up the night before. It had taken a long time to fall asleep.
As Zelgadis sat down at a table ready to order his breakfast/lunch the innkeeper came and handed him a message.
"I was told to give this to you when you came down to eat." The innkeeper said handing Zel the folded up note.
"Thank you."
"No problem."
After the innkeeper had left Zelgadis, Zel opened up the note. It was a message from Amelia. What she said was that she was sorry and that she wouldn't be helping Zel search for his cure today. And that she was going to check out some of the sites or Rufell with Gourry. While fine enough they weren't really doing much yesterday. Gourry kept falling asleep and Amelia knows very little about any ancient languages.
Zelgadis' waitress came and he ordered his food. Once he was left alone to wait for his food to come Zel's mind drifted back to last night. He still hadn't come up with a logical explanation to explain his odd behaviors yesterday. And another thing that was bothering him was hearing that song that woke him up and odd dream he had. He couldn't remember much of the dream. All he knew was that he enjoyed it. His trail of thought was interrupted though once his food was brought to him. It kinda surprised him a bit. He didn't think that the food would be ready that quick. It made him wonder if the chef was really quick or that he had been so lost in his own thoughts that he hadn't been aware of the passage of time around him.
Just as he was about to dive into his food Lina came busting down and sat right next to Zelgadis.
"Good morning Zel! Oh wait it's the afternoon now isn't it?"
Zelgadis nodded deftly taking a sip of his coffee.
"Oh well whatever. Hey waitress! Can I get everything on the menu please?!" Lina yelled across the room and the waitress facefaulted.
"Everything? She couldn't eat all that now could she?" The waitress said in a daze and she went off to tell the cook.
"So Zel how about go to the library right after we finish eating?" Lina said with a normal large grin.
Zelgadis looked at her with a bit of confusion. She's not acting any different then usual...
Lina's grin turned to a nervous one. Zelgadis wasn't answering her, all he was doing was staring at her with this intense gaze. "Um Zel?"
Zelgadis snapped himself back to reality. He blushed in embarrassment. "Um yeah sure, after we eat." He mumbled now avoiding her eyes, which he felt staring at him.
Lina had decided that morning that she wasn't going to let one kiss get in the way of how things normally were between her and Zelgadis, because she figured that he wasn't going think much of the kiss anyway. But when she came down to sit with Zelgadis she had to strain to let him not see how awkward this was for her. Of Zelgadis didn't see because Lina was very good at hiding how she felt about things. In a way she had her own mask that she hide behind but unlike Zel's it wasn't an obvious mask of indifference. But then she had to admit it the kiss wasn't exactly a little peck on the cheek.
Luckily for Lina she was saved by the bell or in this case saved by the waitress because she brought Lina's food. Zelgadis surmised that the chef was just fast at what he or she did.
Lina dived into her food with more of her regular feeding frenzy while started on his food. But he knew that Lina was eating like she was to avoid talking with him. From what he found yesterday Lina would defiantly eat slower since Gourry or anyone else wasn't there to steal her food. She didn't have much reason to so quickly. Well maybe she just wants to get to the library quick to get back to searching. He thought sourly. He didn't believe that was pretty sure that he just didn't want to talk to him. On a normal basis Zelgadis wouldn't have cared at all if someone was avoiding talking to him, even if it was one of his friends. It was bugging him but he kept telling himself that this was a different situation then most that it wasn't odd if he found this annoying only his logical thinking mind couldn't come up with a difference.
It hadn't occurred to Lina that her fast eating would alert Zelgadis that she was trying to avoid talking to him. She hadn't thought of that but that's just exactly what she was doing. She didn't think that it would be this weird and she was a bit uncomfortable and even if she did slow down her eating to talk what would she say? She couldn't think of anything that she could say for a conversational item. So alas the two ate not saying a word to each other.
After eating their breakfast/lunch Lina and Zelgadis both headed out for Rufell's library to resume the search for a cure for Zelgadis' chimera curse. What the two didn't realize was that a ghostly pair walked the street near them.
Zelgadis heard the same song that he heard that woke him up. It was just as faint as it had been that morning but he still couldn't tell where it was coming from. It seemed like it was coming from all around him but it was quiet just the same. Zelgadis spun himself around catching a glimpse of the couple that he had seen in the restaurant that he had thought he had imagined.
"Zelgadis what's wrong?" Lina asked frowning a bit tapping on his shoulder. As she tapped on his shoulder the music that Zelgadis had been hearing suddenly came to a stop.
He turned to face her with confusion very evident in his eyes. "Did you hear something? Like some music just a moment ago?"
She gave him a weird look. "No I didn't hear any music. Gee yesterday you were seeing things now you're hearing things too." Lina shook her head and continued walking.
Zelgadis in his dazed state turned his head back in the direction of the couple he had seen only when he looked they had vanished. He shook his head at his behavior and went to catch up with Lina.
The library staff of Rufell's library wasn't surprised to see that Zelgadis had come back again. They quietly snickered as Zelgadis and Lina walked by and it irritated Zel. He had never seen such a bitter and unhelpful bunch of library workers. To add onto it they weren't being any more helpful then yesterday. But it's not likely that the library staff would have been able to help anyway. None of them had any knowledge of ancient languages and most of the books there weren't in ones that they could read. So why were they hired to do this job and not someone more qualified? Because the owner squandered most of his money in acquiring all these old books that he doesn't have much left to hire half decent staff. Lina and Zelgadis went to separate sides of the library and went to work.
Hours later both Lina and Zelgadis were up to their eyeballs in books. They were both getting quite irritated, they hadn't even found a single hint about fixing Zel's condition. Most of the books there were ones that they couldn't read others just had information about stuff they already knew. But the worst was when they found books which look like they are what they are looking for only when they sit down to read them they find that they book isn't what's true to the cover. Basically either the source from which the books had been acquired or the library staff themselves had taken some of the older books and replaced their covers with ones from different books. So one book that might really read Koppi Creation and Chimeras would actually be a cookbook for like trolls or something. So in this situation Lina and Zelgadis had to take the saying you can't judge a book by its cover seriously.
As annoying as it all was it was a good distraction from what had happened earlier. Neither was sure how to act in front of each other. Zelgadis himself was starting to wonder if he was losing it, temporarily going crazy or being controlled or something. He didn't know but with everything he had to think about and all the annoying research through all the books was giving him one large headache.
Lina got up from her seat and Zelgadis watched her from the corner of his eye. Lina decided that she was now going to take the random book approach. Basically all it is is just randomly grabbing any book hoping that it might be what you are looking for. She went to one of the shelves that she had not looked at yet and blindly grabbed four books. Getting back to her seat she placed the books in front of her to see what she had chosen. The first was a book that appeared to be one of mythical creatures. Well maybe it has something about chimeras in it. Lina opened it to find that most of the book was missing. All that was left was a section on dragons and three different types of golems. She wasn't disappointed because figured as much. The second appeared to be a language that she recognized. But guessing that maybe there was a part of it that maybe she could understand she opened the book. What she discovered was the book was done in about three different languages that she had never even heard off. The third seemed to be just the same as the second in languages that she didn't know off. She briefly flipped through it and nothing readable caught her eye. And the last book had very its title very clearly printed on the front. It read 'Id', curious Lina opened the book to find that it contain nothing more then blank pages. She chuckled softy in defeat while shaking her head. She just stared off into space when her eyes fell upon the third book. It was still open but it was facing upside-down to Lina. That's when she noticed that what she originally thought were just designs on the page were actually words. She flipped through the whole book, it was like that the whole way through. What the upside down words read something about a spell that answers all questions asked of it. It gave very detailed instructions on how to set up for proper casting of the spell but the spell itself had been scrambled in some sort of code. I guess this to make sure that not just anyone gets a hold of this spell. Lina mused in her thoughts. But still if we can get this to work then this just might be what Zelgadis has been looking for.
Zelgadis was a bit concerned about something when Lina came over to him with a mischievous smile.
"Hey Zel take a look at this." Lina whispered handing him the book. Zelgadis the book from Lina's hands and went and looked through it. What he saw was that he couldn't understand a word of it. It was all in few didn't languages that he didn't know of.
"You can read this?" Zelgadis whispered to Lina motioning at the book with a bit skepticism.
"Nope can't understand that."
Zelgadis looked back at the book then at Lina. He gave her a weird look. "If you can't understand it then why are you showing it to me to look at?"
"Because of this." Lina said while turning the book around. Zelgadis saw what she was talking about.
After a few minutes when Zelgadis had finished reading the whole thing he looked up at Lina with a surprised look. "Is this what I think it is?"
"Maybe. If this isn't a fake thing and if we can figure out the proper incantation for the spell then maybe this might be a way to get your cure. But this could be a long shot you know."
"I know." Zelgadis said thoughtfully.
"Well how about we take this book -- "
"Shhh!" One of the library workers shushed them.
"Yeah let's take the book out and get out of here."
A few hours later Lina and Zelgadis were still mulling over the spell. They hadn't figured what the spell exactly was. They were sitting in Lina's room sprawled over the floor with numerous pieces of paper with different possible decodes for the spell. They were about ready to give up for now and try later.
"Lina?"
"Hmm?"
"You want to take a break?" He looked at Lina in her eyes.
"And do what?"
"I don't know get something to eat or something?"
At the mention of food Lina's eyes sparkled and she was already ready to go out the door. "Come on let's get some food!" Lina pulled him to his feet and dragged him out of the inn. Zel laughed all the way.
Technically it was too late for lunch and too early for dinner but that didn't really matter. They decided on a nice little restaurant not too far from the inn. It didn't seem to crowded so it was perfect since Zelgadis being Zelgadis didn't want to go to a very crowded places.
As the two of them walked in they were assaulted by loud sounds and confetti.
"What the?"
"Congratulations! You two are our special winners!" One of the restaurant workers said with big smile.
"Winners? What did we win?"
"You two won our lovers couple special contest! You are the 100th couple to come into our restaurant. Meaning you get a free meal on us."
Both Lina and Zelgadis blushed bright red.
"Um we aren't a c -- " Zelgadis started but Lina jabbed him in the ribs.
"Wow what a surprise! So what table do we get?" Lina said with a large sugary smile holding Zel's arm.
"Oh walk this way."
The restaurant owner lead them to a table and they sat down to look at their menus.
"Lina why did you do that?" Zelgadis said in a half whisper.
"Do what?" Lina asked not even looking up from the menu.
"Stop me from telling them we aren't a couple."
"What and miss out on a free meal?! No way! Now shut up and look at your menu and make sure you order so that we get our money out of this."
"But Lina we are getting this for free."
"Shut up."
Zelgadis gave her a half smile as he chuckled and shook his head.
Once they had ordered their food the made the waiter's eyes almost pop up. But the waiter took it all down on his notepad and went off to place the order. Now the two of them we left to sit there alone. They had nothing else to do but sit there and talk. They avoided eye contact with a bit a awkwardness. That's what the whole day had been, awkward. But luckily the restaurant workers saved them from having to talk only in a way making things worse. What the workers had done was sent a group of musicians over to their table to start playing love songs for them. Again both of them were blushing like mad. It wasn't as if there was many people there to watch them but it was still embarrassing. But both Lina and Zelgadis just figured that the musicians were just going to play songs for them until their food arrived. They were proven wrong though because when their food came the musicians didn't leave but still continued to play songs. In-between one of the songs Zel asked them how long they were planning to play before. To Lina and Zelgadis' surprise the musicians were going to be playing for as long they were going to stay in the restaurant. Both of them facefaulted.
About an hour and a half later Lina and Zelgadis had finished there meal and were heading out of the restaurant. Both of them were thoroughly embarrassed by the people in the restaurant. Especially when they had forced Lina and Zelgadis to sing a karaoke love song.
Neither one said anything as they headed back to the inn. Neither of them could even look at each other. They had decided that they would continue their work on the spell later. When they got to their rooms there was an uncomfortable silence among the two.
"So I guess I think that we'll work on that spell later huh?"
"Sure Zel, see you later."
"Yeah bye."
Lina walked into her room closing the door as Zel went to go into his room he heard that song again. Only it wasn't coming from all around him it was coming from Lina's room. That's Lina...? Wow... He had already been amazed with Lina's singing voice in the restaurant later only now he heard her voice without any tension in it. She wasn't being put under pressure like she had before when he heard her. What is that song anyway? Zelgadis thought as he went back into his room.
Back in Lina's room Lina went to pick back up her book and she continued to read on.