"You want these inside, Filia-san?" Jiras asked, his tail lashing back and forth around his feet in a gesture of anxiety. The sky was covered in clouds the color of dust.
Filia straightened up, brushing some hair out of her eyes. Val crouched at her feet, mumbling to Draga, and bashing him against the floor once in a while. "Yes, over by the cellar door. Everything needs to be brought inside."
Behind the house, Grabos grunted and wrestled with Filia's pride and joy, a six hundred year old vase from an ancient temple that had long since disappeared into the sand that had surrounded it. The vase was over seven feet tall, and much cracked around the edges.
"Careful, careful, careful!!" Filia yelped to Grabos, waving her arms around frantically. "That's a Cie-Reng vase! If it breaks...." she finished menacingly. Jiras and Grabos both stiffened, the tone of her words just as bad if she had taken her mace out and swung it at them. Behind Filia, Val came up to her and tugged on the hem of her yellow work dress, and Filia looked back at him, her stern expression softening at the sight of Val's round face. "What's wrong Val-chan?"
"I hafta go," he said urgently, clutching himself, Draga dangling at his side. Filia nearly laughed, but restrained herself. "Come on then, we'll go to the bathroom." She took his hand and the two of them started off at a trot for the house.
Once they were in the house, Jiras sighed, and looked over at Grabos.
"Why are we doing this stuff?" he wondered, bringing another load of pottery over to the back of the house. "Filia always has a reason for doing stuff, but she didn't say anything to me about this. How are the customers gonna see this stuff, if it's all down in the cellar?"
"Beats me," Grabos said, finally succeeding in getting the Cie-Reng vase wrapped up so it could be moved. "She said something about a storm coming, so maybe there won't be any customers coming around."
The two continued to work as the sky steadily darkened until it was the color of old blood.
One of Zelgadis' ears twitched, and he slowly opened his eyes, to see....
"Urk!" he yelled, bolting upright. "You were licking me? What's wrong with you?"
The wolf folded her paws neatly. I just wanted to see if you tasted the same way you smelled. Like earth.
"Well, do I?" he snapped, rubbing his damp ear. The wolf chuffed something that might have been a laugh.
No, more like moss actually.
"I don't believe you!" Zelgadis finally blurted after a minute. "Why the hell are you like that anyway? Why'd you go off by yourself?"
To hunt, stupid. I am a beast primarily. Plus, I wanted a smoke, and since either you or Miss Princess opened your mouth to complain every time I lit up....
"Okay, okay," Zel muttered. "Change back to your human form, will you? It's complicated enough around here already without you running around in heels one minute and fur the next."
Pardonne.
There was a brief tingling at his back, like lightning tapping his spine, and Zel looked back to see Xelas loughing on the ground in a posistion he considered entirely too provacative for the situation they were in. Especially since the posistion was composed mostly of cleavege, and...legs, he noted with a sudden gulp.
Xelas grinned at him, and stretched..."Stop that!" he howled, covering his eyes. "You're sick! SICK!"
"Oh, give me a break," she replied, getting up and readjusting her rose colored dress around her hips. "Most men and some women would die for the view you just got."
"I figured you for the type that devours your partner after sex," he snapped back.
Xelas giggled. "Only the lousy ones."
Zel turned his back on her. "I'm not speaking to you until you start acting normal."
"What's normal, Zel-kun? Let's see, we have a brain-dead swordsman, a justice-obsessed princess who's been having freaky dreams, me, the most beautiful preadator in existence, and the chimeric granchild of a famous priest who ended up being the reincarnation of Shabby the Great. Which one's the normal one, Zel-kun?"
He folded his arms, and stared at her. "Now you're just being annoying," Zel said icily. "Stop the nonsense and tell me where we're going."
"Well," Xelas began, plumping down on the ground, which forced Zel to look down her dress every time he glanced at her, "have you ever heard of the Aleithometer of Erenna?"
Zel scowled and sat down next to her. "Very funny. And no, I haven't."
"Erenna," she began in a kind of sing-song, "was a princess of the now defunct empire of Celius. She was a great mage and scholar, and she created things. Magical things."
"I gathered." Zel said dryly.
"Well, she had a brother, who fought as a soldier in numerous wars. And after one of those wars, he disappeared, rumored to be dead or captured." Xelas sighed. "Poor thing." Zel snorted.
"Since when was a Mazoku such a font of sympathy?"
Xelas scowled. "Oh come on you creep, it's a beautiful story! It's touching, such love and devotion..." she rambled off.
"Excuse me, but can we get back to the main point here?" Zel broke in. "I'm not getting any younger."
"Fine," Xelas snapped. Then she took a deep breath and launched back into her sing-song.
"Erenna was heartbroken, but resolved to do something about it. She decided to create an object, that when asked a question, would reveal the truth. That was the Aleithometer. She labored for many days and many nights..."
"And she used it to find her brother?" Zel asked, impatient.
Xelas glared at him. "Yes, wit, she did."
Zelgadis couldn't help himself. "And where was he?"
"Shacking up with his girlfriend in the kingdom of Rolante," she muttered.
Zelgadis snickered, and Xelas pushed him into a tree.
"So," Zel said after he recovered from the push, "I assume we're after the Aleithometer. Is it far?"
"No, not far. It's in the town of Aeilia..." she said, trailing off.
Zel rolled his eyes. "I'm sensing a catch here."
"Weeeeeellll," Xelas began, "it's in the ruins of a temple that only appears when the moon is full, the wind blows from the north, and it's the second Tuesday of the month."
Zelgadis groaned, and buried his head in his arms.
"Protection spell," Xelas explained.
Zel groaned in deep pain.
"Cheer up," Xelas said, putting a sisterly arm around his shoulders. "Guess what tomorrow is..?"
Zel lifted his head slightly. "And what direction is the wind going to be blowing from..?"
Xelas produced a weather vane from under her dress as Zel tried very hard not to look. "That can be arranged..."
"Full moon?"
Xelas pointed to the ghostly circle floating above them, just visible through the golden light of dawn. "Full as can be."
Zel remained slumped. "Are you sure this will work?"
Xelas jumped up, fingers held in a victory pose. "Of course! With me and you, and even Dumbo and the princess along, who's going to be able to stop us?"
Zel groaned again. "There you go tempting Fate again..." he muttered, but Xelas didn't pay any attention as she was busy tugging on his arm.
"Come on! Let's rally the troops and march onward! Victory is in sight, yadda yadda, the show must go on..."
Xelas marched off, dragging Zel with her. "Chin up Zel, you really need to smile sometimes."
Zelgadis let himself be pulled all the way back to camp.
"Is that Aeilia?" Ameria wondered from behind Xelas. The little group stood on top of a hill overlooking the town. "It seems peaceful enough."
"Well," Zel said, studying the town, "we have a day to kill before we can get to the temple. I guess we should go eat..."
"FOOD??" Gourry yelled suddenly, startling everyone. He'd barely said a word since Lina had vanished, and the sound of his voice made them all jump. "I'm starving! Yeah!" He took off at a breakneck run towards the town. "Food! Food!"
"Gourry-san!" Ameria yelped. "Wait!" She began to chase after him, while Zel and Xelas watched silently from above.
"Hmmm...treat you to coffee?" Xelas finally said.
"Okay."
They started down the hill towards the others.
"ARGGGGGGGHHHHH!"
Sherra burst through the last of the bushes on top of the hill. "I did it! I'm here! No more bushes!"
She pulled various twigs off her and shook out her hair, shudderly violently at the bright sunlight that greeted her. Duofolger vibrated at her side.
"Huh? No, we can't yet. Tomorrow is the Tuesday," Sherra answered while surveying the town. Small. A hill like the one she was standing on rose from the other side of town. No sign of the temple, but that was to be expected. "No trouble, Dynast-sama said. We have to be quiet."
Duofolger vibrated again. "Who's gonna bother us? Easy mission. Dynast-sama will have that Aleithometer by Wednesday morning. C'mon, let's go."