........Lina was getting tired of wandering around with no one but Gourry to talk with. It wasn’t often nowadays that she was traveling alone with him, and it was a strain on her brain. She could almost feel the little arrow on her Boredom Meter™ getting ready to snap from overexertion.
........“Gourry,” she began.
........“What is it, Lina?”
........“I’ve been thinking. What if we’re going about this all wrong?”
........“Huh?”
........“I think we should head back the way we came. Then, when we get back to where we started, we should look for clues and then go back to looking.”
........“Uh, sure, Lina, whatever you say.”
........“Then let’s—”
........“That, I’m afraid, would be a tragic waste of your time.”
........Lina nearly jumped out of her skin as the flat, tinny voice spoke right into her ear.
........“Xelloss! Don’t DO that!”
........“Do what?” the trickster priest asked innocently, leaning on his jeweled staff. Lina snorted. The maddening Mazoku was as cheerful as ever, his eyes, if not his mouth, in a state of perpetual merriment. Unless, of course, he got angry, in which case the world had better watch out. When his dangerous, mesmerizing violet pupils flashed, Hell tended to ascend for no discernible reason and eat people.
........Now, however, he was regarding them with a half-expression; halfway smirking, halfway laughing. He seemed to be waiting for them to make a move.
........Lina sighed. “What do you want, Xelloss?”
........He raised his eyebrows, eyebrows that were deep purple to match his eyes and hair. “Why, what makes you think I want something?” Lina resisted an overwhelming urge to collapse in disgust, answering him, “You always want something, you little—”
........“Now, now, no need to get violent. I merely need you both to come with me.”
........“Hey, we’re in the middle of an important mission here! We’re looking for Amelia and Zelgadis!”
........“Why,” said Xelloss, cocking his finger rakishly, “that’s just where I’m going, Lina.”
........And he grabbed them both by the hair and *pzhoot* they fizzled out of sight.

........Zelgadis stared into his fire, thinking intensely. And he did indeed have much to think about.
........That girl was clearly not a real person. Even in this land and this age, where magic of a high order was commonplace, coincidences like that just didn’t happen. So, he concluded, it was a setup. Or he was going insane. Either or, just so long as it was an answer.
........But who would be trying to trap him? Not Lord Beastmaster Zelas; subtlety was something she had evidenced, far better than this lousy attempt at entrapment. In fact, he doubted it was any of the more powerful Mazoku Lords. And if it was Xelloss, he made himself a silent pledge, he would deliver exactly what the priest had coming to him.
........As if the thought had been a silent summons, who should appear but the object of his current cogitation. The zany monster materialized right above the little campfire, and Zelgadis was momentarily startled to see that he held Lina and Gourry by their long tresses. He was not, however, surprised by the string of epithets and expletives that Lina voiced, nor the dumb hurt look on the swordsman’s face.
........“Fancy meeting you here, Zelgadis,” Xelloss said conversationally as he dumped his burdens on their rumps. Gourry landed half in the flames and ran around, flailing about the clearing with his pants afire. Lina smacked him and made him sit, whereupon the fire was doused.
........“Yes, at my own campsite, imagine that.” Xelloss raised an eyebrow at him.
........“So, it seems you’ve developed a sense of humor after all,” he commented, and was tackled from behind by Lina. She held him in a fierce headlock, snarling.
........“I’m gonna kill you!” she shrieked, spraying his face with spittle. He cocked the same aggravating brow at her, and she smacked him on the head.
........Zelgadis was looking bored. “If you killed him now, Lina, you would deprive me of the pleasure of doing it personally, and he would be unable to answer my questions to boot. Put him down.” Lina shot him a death glare, which he ignored, having patented it himself. She sighed and put Xelloss back on his feet.
........“My, my, you certainly like to get right to the point, don’t you, Zelgadis? I suppose my fun will have to wait.”
........Gourry scratched his head. “Fun?”
........“You see,” the priest continued on, “I must explain something to you. You are involved in a Mazoku conflict of epic proportions.”
........“WHAT?!”
........“Let me tell you, Lina. My Lord Beastmaster’s power is being threatened by someone we believe to be a rogue Mazoku Lord, and it somehow has quite a lot to do with the Seirun princess you seek.”
........There was a long pause.
........“What, that’s it?” said Zelgadis.
........“It’s far more that that, Zelgadis. But you see, that’s all I’m allowed to tell you.” There was a collective face-fault/crash.
........Instead of grabbing Xelloss by the collar in frustration, the chimera sat back with a pensive look. “A rogue Mazoku Lord....hmmm.”
........Picking herself up, Lina regarded him with naked curiosity. “Got an idea?”
........He blinked. “No, not exactly, just a theory as to just how we figure into all this.”
........Slowly, almost haltingly at first, he outlined his strange dream. He did not include his instant attraction to the girl, though a faint red splotch on his cheekbones betrayed him yet again, and skipped the last part of the dream, the part in which the two girls had told him they—
........He blushed even harder, causing Lina to smirk in that knowing way that told him she knew he was deliberately leaving certain things out, and that she knew what kind of things they might be. To cover his embarrassment, he hurried to detail the visit of the girl, and his persisting feeling that something was very wrong.
........When he was through, they both looked at him appraisingly (Gourry was examining his pants) and with some surprise, even, to his great discomfort, Xelloss. If I can surprise Xelloss, this is bigger than we thought. Much bigger.
........“This is quite interesting. My Lord Beastmaster will be piqued to hear of it.” The Mazoku stood as if to pop out.
........“Oh no you don’t, Xelloss! You aren’t leaving until you tell us why you told us this in the first place!” Lina sounded impatient, which did not bode well for Xelloss’s safety and everybody else’s sanity (with the possible exception of Gourry), but she managed to keep it in check to a reasonably safe degree.
........And then it snapped like a faulty lute string. “Now that is a secret.” His finger waggled at her in that annoying and familiar way, and the air shimmered with his departure.