After they had managed to clear away some of Ryoko's misconceptions about magic, Lina checked Zelgadis's wound to see how he was doing, as Sylpheel was planning to stitch it up a bit today once she had slept. Ryoko winced upon seeing how much damage her sword had done.
"Don't worry, it's not as bad as it looks." Lina reassured her.
"I'd feel better if I could remember why I cut him so badly, or at least understand why." Ryoko looked worried, almost frightened. "Do you remember my telling you my teleport went wrong?"
At their nods she continued, handing Lina the occasional item as she needed them. "I teleported like normal, but the place I appeared in was not even near the place I had intended to go. I ended up in a room like this one, but no furniture or doors or windows or anything! Even more frightening was I had never been to this place before, but I was there."
She shivered with remembered fright, her hands tightening on the bottle of triple-distilled peach brandy she was holding. lina gently took it from her hands and gave her a rolled up bandage instead, giving Zel the brandy. Ryoko continued her tale without even noticing. "I was alone in there for who knows how long, unable to use any of my powers at all! After a while a door appeared in one of the walls, and a tall man with red hair wearing red robes stepped out. He looked at lot like the guy who attacked me in the hall, but he had blue eyes, not one brown, one green." Behind her back Lina and Zel exchanged startled and horrified glances.
"Could it possibly be ...." Zel murmured thoughtfully, with a tinge of hate to his voice.
"Do you recognize him?" Ryoko asked quickly, noticing his tone of voice.
"He could be Rezo, the red priest ..... My great-grandfather." The accent Zel gave the word was bitter, angry.
"He told me that he'd been able to grab me when I was using my power, that in my passage from place to place, I stop briefly at somewhere else, somewhere where he could reach me...... I still don't understand it. Anyway, the next thing he tells me, after get him in a headlock ... Why are you laughing?" Lina, surprised, had fallen over and Zel had buried his face in his pillow to smother a laugh. He motioned for her to continue, trying to stop laughing. A little peeved at the lack of explanation, Ryoko continued. "He wanted me to take a message to his grandson that the cure is a blend of all three magics and very involved and complex, the first steps being somewhere in the main library. And that he's sorry for what he did, but he can't remember how he did it."
"Good luck that does me now." Zel's voice was highly sarcastic and bitter, causing Lina to rub his shoulder comfortingly. Neither of them noticed she had done it, or that he had relaxed a bit.
"I thought he was your great-grandfather?" Ryoko asked, puzzled.
"There's some confusion as to that, as both my mother's husband and my oldest brother died a few years after I was born, and my other sibs were only a few years older than me at the time. No one really knows anymore, as all the ones between me and Rezo are now dead except for my mother." Zel sounded faintly embarrassed as he explained, as if he was a bit ashamed of his family history.
Lina looked amazed, and a little hurt. "Zel, why didn't you tell us you have a family?"
He looked away, not looking her in the eyes. "The last time I saw any of them was over three years ago, after they had helped me get used to my new body for two years. I haven't seen any sign of them since. The family estate is very isolated, and Rezo teleported me straight to the tower once I was ready. I have no idea how to get there from here." He looked at Ryoko. "Please, continue."
"The next thing I remember is a crack of white light appearing in one of the walls, him being dragged away by some sort of metal beast and someone grabbing me from behind wearing white gloves. It all went black then, but before I woke up on the road, I heard a voice say, 'The rift is now open, bring the others to me, Ryoko'." The bandage in her hands now well shredded, Ryoko began to tremble. "The voice was Kagato's."
Sylpheel walked into the room, chattering about how pretty the day was and how nice the garden looked, set down her equipment, then noticed everyone looking at her.
"What?" She asked, looking innocently puzzled.
About an hour later, Ryoko and Lina were sitting in the dining hall, Amelia was reading a book on how to build a catapult at a window seat, Sylpheel was tending Zel's back, Koppii Rezo was in his study and Firia was watching Lina and Ryoko put away food at a prodigal rate.
"Are you two even bothering to breathe?" Firia asked, curious.
They simply kept eating, down till there was only a single meatball left and they ended up in a stalemate fighting for it. The matter was decided when Firia calmly grabbed it and, CHOMP!, it was gone. The ensueing melee took out a wall and a bit of the ceiling, as well as all the furniture in the room. Amelia sighed and went to tell Koppii Rezo about the damage caused. The next morning found Ryoko, Amelia and Lina just finishing the repairs under the watchful eye of Koppii Rezo.
Zel watched curiously as the trio walked into his room, out of breath, sweaty and obviously exhausted. "Had to repair the damage you caused?"
Lina scowled at his amused expression. She seemed most put out at his amusement about their problem.
"Ha-ha."
You could have painted a dining hall, there was so much sarcasm in those two syllables she uttered. Zel started snickering, saw the expression on Firia's face, and barely managed to choke it down in time. Ryoko stood up and came over to Zel, a question in her eyes. At his wary nod, she carefully lifted the bandage from his back, but despite her care he still blacked out. When he came to, and opened his eyes, it took him a while to realize the blur in front of his eyes was Lina's face from only a few inches away. Feeling a gentle hand on his shoulder, he looked up to see Firia, also concerned.
"The pain's becoming worse, isn't it?" Firia's voice was soft, worried.
"Yes. And it becomes more so with each day." Zel spoke plainly, no longer keeping the pain of his back from his voice.
Ryoko gently put the bandage back in place. "I don't know, but should the edges of the wound be purple?"
"They're PURPLE!?!?!?" Lina shouted the last word, horrified. Lina reached, pulling away the bandage, ignoring Zel's stifled scream, to reveal the wound, swollen and a bilious purple-red.
"SYLPHEEL!!!"