"Now even my Astral vision is failing me," he moaned. "I can't sense anything. It's as if everything in here has been sealed."
"You're tired," Eris cautioned while taking him by the hand. "Sit." The older man did as he was told, and eased himself into a wooden chair that she pulled from a desk. Eris opened the book and drew herself onto his lap. "I'll be your eyes," she said.
"But you don't know what I'm looking for," Rezo protested, unnerved by her sudden closeness.
"A cure, right?"
"Yes… well," he sighed. "I've had another lead on that. But before I even think about it I need to be sure. Search for things to combat high-level Mazoku."
"Oh..okay," Eris murmured quizzically, and began to read out loud. She focused on the words, mentally avoiding the fact that she had been so forward in getting cozy with the respected and legendary Sage.
Hours passed, and finally Eris found something interesting. Rezo could feel her body tense in excitement, and he leaned forward out of curiosity.
"What have you found?" He asked, his cheek brushing against hers.
"It's—ah something about Zannafar," she fumbled, her cheeks growing warmer.
"Oh?"
"I-it says here that the Zannafar armor is a powerful chimeric creation that responds to the commands of the user. If created correctly, it can withstand and damage even the most powerful of Mazoku. Funny thing is, the only Zannafar I've heard of was the white-magic beast that plagued Sairaag hundreds of years ago."
"It must have been an imperfect one," Rezo reasoned.
"It's still sleeping in the city," Eris realized, pounding one fist into her palm. " It says here that we need information from a Claire Bible tablet…if we take the Clair Bible tablet that's somewhere in this library," she noted as she looked over the registry of known items in the library: " I bet you could complete it."
"Oh my dear Eris," Rezo exclaimed, his face lighting up with each moment: "you did it! I could kiss you right now!" He held her tightly with enthusiasm more suited for a school boy than a priest of indeterminate age.
Eris regarded him shyly, and for a few moments the room was filled with a palpable tension that was soon broken: “Why don’t you?”
The Crown Prince and Princess noted that when the Red Priest emerged from the narrow staircase that led to the forbidden library, he was looking much healthier than he had that afternoon.
"--Freeze Arrow!"
When Gracia opened her eyes, the bandit stood before her frozen in solid ice. She looked from her finger to the man, and a frightening grin spread across her face. She stood tall with pride, threw her head back and laughed. She didn't notice the two men racing toward her down the street.
"Miss? Miss are you alright," Zolf asked as he closed in on the trio. Lucky thing his freeze arrow had met its mark: the ruffian's frozen club had been poised to smack the princess down where she stood. Rodimus caught up to the scene, and immediately helped Zelgadis and Amelia to their feet. Zel rubbed the sore spot on his head tentatively, and winced through bleary eyes.
"Looks like you took quite a hit kid," Rodimus noted in his gruff voice. Zel nodded and tried to focus on keeping the world around him from spinning. He found it hard to concentrate, however, because Gracia's laugh only served to make his head hurt even worse.
"Gra-acie! I towd you I hate that raff!" Amelia whined, clamping her hands over her ears. "Stoppit!"
"You don't understand because you're still a little kid," Gracia retorted. "I sure showed that thug not to mess with me," she sniffed before laughing again.
"Hey that was my freeze –" started Zolf, but was interrupted by Rodimus.
"—just let her think what she wants," he insisted and followed in a whisper: "since she's royalty."
Zolf frowned and glared at the girl but said no more. He looked down at the young master and saw that the little princess from earlier that day had a death grip on his hand. In a moment she gave the boy a full-force hug.
"T'ank you for saving me," she burst, squeezing her scrawny savior with all her might.
"It was nothing," Zel insisted as off-handedly as he could. She was bruised, dirty and bleeding from her knee, but didn't appear to be seriously hurt. Zolf sighed with relief; he wouldn't want to be burdened with letting the only two children of Saillune's Crown Prince and Princess go hurt or missing.
"Come on you three troublemakers, it's time to go home." Zolf tugged at Zelgadis' collar.
"But we didn't get to see Rezo," Gracia whined.
"He's probably gone now," Rodimus assured her, and waved her on to the path that led to the palace. Zelgadis trailed along with Amelia in tow. The trek home turned out to be much quieter than the one leading from it. The streets were quiet, and the vendors were closing shop for the evening. After such a full day of adventure, it was no surprise that Amelia soon became tired, and Rodimus took up the task of carrying the sleeping princess. Zelgadis soon followed suit, and by the time they reached the palace gates, Rodimus had a child over each shoulder.
"They're such little kids," Gracia yawned as they approached the gate. "Well, I can't expect them to compare to me, the young self-taught sorcery genius of Saillune!"
"I wouldn't speak so soon," Zolf warned. He caught a glare from Rodimus, but continued: "you know just the other week, the Zephilian Mages guild took in a five year old. Apparently, the child fire-balled a bully who tried to take their snack money."
"You lie!"
"It's in the Scion International, go ahead and ask your father for a copy."
Gracia sniffed indignantly and turned her nose into the air. "Hey," she asked, her tone suddenly changing to one of curiosity. Above her in the red and pink sky, a line of mysterious lights hung in the sky, drifting and weaving their way in a line across the horizon. "What are those lights? Where are they going?"
"Fairy souls," Rodimus answered. "They're heading north-east. To...” he paused, thinking. “Zephilia or possibly Elmekia."
"Pretty," Gracia murmured before yawning again. Rodimus then handed Gracia's younger sister to surprised and sheepish guard. The older princess trotted inside the palace gate, turned briefly and waved. Amelia's eyes fluttered open briefly to see that her friend was also asleep.
"See you wayter," she burbled, and closed her eyes again. Rodimus and Zolf waved back to the princesses, then turned to trek back to the field behind the castle's south wall, where they knew Rezo and Eris would be waiting.
"G'bye, Miwan," Zelgadis muttered in his sleep, and fell silent.
Some time later . . .
Amelia wil Tesla Saillune sat atop an old, over-grown statue in the garden, jotting down notes in her travel journal. She was excited to be having adventures of her own now, and wondered if her mother would be proud of her now that she could take care of herself on her own, and that she had even helped defeat the legendary Demon-Beast Zannafar! She didn’t recall much about her mother, who was killed shortly after she turned six, but Dad had told her that they met "while adventuring." Amelia laughed to herself and wondered if her father had met crazy people like those she had come to know in her travels: Lina Inverse the walking time-bomb, Gourry Gabriev the dim-witted swordsman, Sylphiel nels Rada the white-magic genius, and Zelgadis Greywords the chimera. Her thoughts lingered on the last one; although he first appeared to be a suspicious sort of character, she thought he was an okay guy, if a little abrasive. She dismissed the thought as she leapt to the ground. They probably wouldn't run into each other again; besides she had to learn the ropes of running a kingdom now that Gracia had gone missing four years ago. Amelia stuffed her journal into her pouch and started back to the palace proper.
Her stroll was soon interrupted by a tired messenger. "Highness! We have reports that Zoana is violating peace treaties, and your father has chosen you to head up the negotiation party!"
Amelia balled her fist, melodramatic tears of joy streaming from her eyes. “Prepare the horses! For I, Amelia wil Tesla Saillune shall go forth and proclaim Justice in this world!” With that, she hurried to her room to prepare to venture out on her own.
