........“Don’t do that, you idiot!”
........“What I choose to do is none of your concern. If I wish to leave, I will.”
........“But aren’t we looking for the same thing?”
........“I’m looking for Amelia. You’re looking for a chance to make money. You would just get in my way and foul up the trail.”
........“Hey! Why you—trail?”
........“Of course. How else would I track someone?” Zelgadis paused. “Don’t tell me you two just went off in a random direction.”
........“Uh, well, actually—”
........“Good grief.” He sweatdropped.
........“Well, Lina said that we should—”
........“Shut up, you moron! It was YOUR idea!”
........“It was?”
........The three sat by the little pit of flame, arguing. Zelgadis was in favor of leaving and looking for Amelia by himself, without Lina’s meddling, and the flat-chested girl was of course averse to this notion. Gourry could swing either way, but he favored Lina, as he always did. It was safer for him that way.
........“Look, Zel, we won’t interfere with your tracking, but wouldn’t it be better to have all of us together?” Lina tried to affect a reasoning tone, something she had never been very proficient at. “Now that we know about this Mazoku thing, it might be safer if we stick with each other in case something comes up.”
........His face soured considerably, as though he had just swallowed a lemon, but he had to concede to her logic. It was wise to do so, under the circumstances, and with much grumbling, he gave in. “Fine. I just ask that you stay out of my way.”
........“That isn’t the first time you’ve said that, Zel. We won’t screw you up.”
........“Fair enough. So let’s go.”

........They spent more time arguing than looking, as a general rule, but they did get a fair distance on the first leg of their trek. The trail was warmer now, a sure sign that they were in no peril of losing Martina, but the going was several knots slower with the smart-ass girl and the dumb-ass guy along.
........That pair sure is something. What, I’m not entirely sure, but definitely something, Zelgadis thought. It’s amazing what fate brings about.
........It was twilight, and the sky was fading, its first brilliant burst of gold and crimson becoming a dusky rose colour. Birdsong stilled, and the lyrically rhythmic chirr of the crickets and the spring peepers took over, filling the quiet yet not disturbing it. The high, sorrowful call of a loon signalled the presence of the quiet lake nearby as the three entered the tiny village.
........It was a quiet little town, with fewer than thirty small houses lining the dusty packed-dirt street, and one inn where weary travelers like them could stay the night in safety. It was here in that inn that the serene calm was shattered by a voice that was anything but placid.
........“What do you mean, you only have two rooms?”
........“I’m sorry, Miss,” explained the innkeeper, cowed, “but this is only a three-room inn, and one room is already rented out for the night.”
........Lina slumped her shoulders. “I can’t share a room! Hey,” she said, a lightbulb giving a brief, bright flash a foot above her head, “you two can share a room, then! You’re both guys!”
........“Not a chance,” said Zelgadis. “I am renting my own room, separately. One room, please,” he told the burly man.
........Without haggling the price, he paid the money and went straight up the wooden staircase, adjusting his balance to accomodate a very inconveniently truant support beam, and gave no indication if he was aware or not that Lina was sputtering her lungs out, still trying to say a sentence that never managed to get past her teeth.
........In the end, Lina ended up rooming with Gourry, insisting on a makeshift curtain separating the room in half, and Zelgadis roomed alone with only the rats for company. He liked it that way. But yet he didn’t. He felt absurdly cheated, out of what he was not certain, but the feeling would not leave him no matter how arduously he informed it that it had no logical basis. It’s that argument I lost to Lina. I hate losing to her.
........Laboriously reiterating this to himself, he dropped off to sleep.
........His subconscious was not satisfied, and scolded him efficiently by sending him a dream, a dream during which he tossed and turned, and was trying to say something to someone but could not, a dream which he woke from in blind terror but did not remember at all.