"Excuse me? They're here, finally."
"I know." Blind eyes, filled with power, closed. "Send message to her companion."
"Send message to Lina?" Confusion.
"No. To Blue."
"Wow," Lina whistled, looking around. "Almost complete. Syphiel and Gourry have done a good job on this town."
Blue laughed, running her hand through her hair. "I know! Every time a messenger comes from Sairaag, I always have to ask how it's going. It's always staggering!"
"Blue?"
The woman looked like she was inwardly groaning. "Yes? Hello, Orange."
Orange was, Lina realized, just old enough to be considered a teenager. She looked to be barely thirteen. Red hair fell down her back in a single braid as her brown eyes sparkled mischievously. As usual, she wore an orange bikini, and had an orange dragon curled around her stomach.
"White-sama has a message for you. Bring Lina Inverse to her as soon as possible." Orange bowed, and skipped off, her braid swinging.
Blue blinked. Then blinked again. "Well." She pulled the sheath off her back, and fixed her hair up in a ponytail. "Do you wanna eat first, or meet White-sama?"
Lina thought about it. Her stomach WAS demanding some attention, but it was rather weak. However, to meet one of the leaders of the Dragon Sisters...
"I'll see White first."
"White Dragon Sister-sama," Orange started, bowing, "the warrior, Blue Dragon Sister, and the sorceress, sister to the Knight of Cepheed, Lina Inverse wish to have audience with you."
White sighed. So many rules, regulations, proper behavior... "I will accept them now."
"Hey'a, White-sama!" Blue said, waving her hand in greeting. Most people found the fact Blue would treat the Dragon Sister leader like an equal appalling.
In all truth, if White could, she would have Blue answer directly to her, instead of to the absent Black. "Hello, Blue. And this is Lina-chan?"
Lina blinked. "Uh, yeah." It was discerning how those blind eyes focused on her, the girl realized uncomfortably.
"Welcome, sister of the Knight." Her lips curved in irony. "So, you're here to see Gourry and Syphiel, correct?"
The sorceress blink-blinked again. "Correct. How do you know so much?"
She waved her hand. "Trade secret."
Lina rolled her eyes. White looked very strange for a Dragon Sister. The only thing about her that wasn't white was her lightly tanned skin, and she wore a sheer, unbuttoned shirt (white, of course) over her bikini.
Very strange.
"So, Lina-chan, have you seen your sister recently?" White wanted to know.
She shivered at the thought of her older sister. "No. Is... is she here?"
"No." White sat back in her chair. "Knight-sama has been in Zelphilia for the last few years. I was just wondering if you had visited her."
"No, I haven't," she said unsteadily.
The Blue Dragon Sister coughed. "This is nice and all, but I would rather get to my room."
White nodded. "Of course, I'm sorry. Thank you for the visit, though, Lina. I hope to see you again. Blue, I wish to talk to you alone."
Blue rolled her eyes, and waved to Lina as she left. "What is it that you wanna talk to me about?" she asked as soon as they were alone.
"Did you ever get a chance to look for the dragon on Lina?" White asked bluntly.
Blink-blink. "Yeah. She has a few scars in the place that we have our dragons, but that's about it."
White sighed, frustrated. "I could swear I felt the same power from her that I feel from the others..."
"Hm..." Lina looked into the jar, and made a face. Jewel dust. She could make that, and for less than what they were selling it for.
Sairaag's magic shop wasn't very big, but it didn't have to be in order to find something interesting. Or, that's what Lina kept telling herself.
Charms that don't work, cheaply magicked weapons... sheesh, I'm surprised they even allowed this place to stay open, she mused. The sorceress examined another jar, and made a face when she realized it wasn't anything useful.
Alarms went off in her head, and she ducked as a wind current started. Lina held her arm up as various objects started to fly around her. It could be anything, she thought as the jar filled with jewel dust slammed into the wall behind her. A bandit with magic, a sorcerer... She caught sight of her opponent, and grit her teeth. A Mazoku that's probably looking to kill someone, and doesn't care who...
Alright then. "Elmekia Lance!"
The Mazoku turned to her as it dodged the Elmekia Lance. Maybe one of the freelance Mazoku... it was vaguely human shaped. The features, however were more suited to a troll/berserker mix. The empty eye sockets widened as it obviously 'saw' her.
Lina knew most curses, as she used them. She ached for a piece of paper to take notes with as the Mazoku started a phrase she didn't know. The girl was powering up for another spell when the Mazoku phased out, surprised that she was there.
"Ow!" She started a healing spell on her torso, wincing as the tiny nicks from flying pottery healed. Her shirt was close to ruined, she thought with a wince. With a sigh, she pulled out her dagger and cut off the ragged bottom. "That'll do for now."
After paying for the damage done to the shop, Lina started directly for the inn. She passed by a mirror, and stopped.
A dragon.
A RED dragon, to be precise.
Curling up on her stomach.
Oh, life really hated her.
"Lina, hey... what is it?" Blue asked, surprised. The redhead sorceress spun around, and crossed her arms over her stomach.
"It's nothing. A Mazoku was just in town looking for something to scare," she said lightly. "I attacked it, and it ran off. Nothing much."
Blue's eyebrow rose. "Yeah, and I'm the Lord of Nightmares. What happened to your shirt?"
Lina shrugged. "Flying pottery."
"Yeah. And does flying pottery usually leave the image of a red dragon head on your stomach?"
Lina looked down, and realized she hadn't covered up the dragon completely. "Shit."
Blue sighed. "Shit from me too. I would NOT of guessed you would be the Red Dragon Sister."
The girl glared at her, but did nothing more. "Can you just forget that you saw that?"
The Dragon Sister shook her head. "Nope. Duty and all that. And I don't care how much you're afraid of your sister," she said, seeing Lina's mouth open, "you have to go back to White and start your training."
She winced. "And I have to?"
"Training's long and hard."
"No! Left leg forward, shoulder's square!"
"And you will be forced to do things you don't want to do."
"Get up there. WITHOUT a Levitation."
"But I know ya can do it.
She was so excited. Today would be the day she would become a real Dragon Sister. And she had spent only...
That was strange. She couldn't remember the first day she came here. Or how she got there. Oh, well. She was to become a Dragon Sister. It didn't matter that she couldn't remember little details like that.
Hey, maybe she would even be able to meet the Knight of Cepheed! That would be great! She smiled, her red eyes sparkling.
It was rumored that the Knight was the older sister of one Lina Inverse. The name was familiar. Had she heard it before? Oh, that's right! Her studies. Lina saved the world several times, if she remembered correctly. She would love to meet the two powerful sisters.
The new Red Dragon Sister snapped the straps to her bikini nervously. The ceremony was today. Then she would get her first orders.
She hoped she could carry them out correctly.