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Zelgadis lay under the giant oak and stared up at the evening sky aglow with stars.
"It feels good, doesn't it," someone whispered.
"Very," he smiled, looking over at Amelia lying beside him on the cool, thick grass.
"Winning usually does," she smiled
"Tomorrow we have dinner with the Kahuna. I wonder what will happen," he mused quietly.
"I don't know, but you'll have the answers you've been working so hard for."
"You'll have answers, too."
"But is it that important to me to have them?" she asked.
"What?" he asked surprised. It had never occurred to him that maybe this quest could be one-sided. "It's important for us to know what really happened."
"Extremely so, for you - why?"
"Because I can't stand wondering if I, if we . . . if what happened was real or a dream."
"Because part of you felt like it was real," she whispered holding him close.
"Yes," he whispered in a shaky voice.
"Maybe we should have a little chat before going to dinner," she said. "But remember if you know who you are and how you feel inside, nothing else matters unless you let it," she ended, kissing him.
Zelgadis woke up slowly, letting his eyes adjust to the now sun-filled room. He sat up and looked around aimlessly, frowning. "Leave it to me to find a way to make things more complicated then they already are," he huffed, thinking about the question posed in his dream.
"We have to meet before dinner anyway so I guess we can talk then, and here - I can't go back to her room," he said firmly. Every time he'd been in the princess's room or thought about it in general, the thought of what transpired between them always came crashing back into his mind.
He decided to put on his robe and grab his things and head for the baths. "A long hot soak will do me good before this crazy day gets started."
On his way down the hall he heard a yawn and stopped as someone bumped into him from behind. "Whoops, sorry I -- morning, Zelgadis."
"Morning, Amelia. What are you doing up so early?"
"I thought I'd take some extra time in the bath today; since we have so much to do, I figured I wouldn't be able too later."
"Oh," he said, noticing her bathrobe and slippers. "Your robe and slippers match," he finally said taking in the star patterns on both.
"Oh yeah, I found it at this really nice little place back home that has lots of cool pajama sets, lingerie and other neat things," she blushed at mentioning lingerie. Zelgadis nodded and continued walking with the princess beside him, trying not to think about lingerie.
When they got to the doors of the baths, they stopped. "Amelia, before we have to go to dinner tonight, I'd like it if we . . ."
"Got together and talked. How about I stop by your room before we leave?"
"All right, but how did you know I wanted to talk?"
"Because we've been friends long enough for me to know how you think," she smiled. "I'll stop by after I get changed; see you later," she said then entered the ladies' bath.
"I guess the rest of what needs to be said will be done tonight before dinner," he thought, then entered the men's bath.
Lina was exhausted, more than she thought she would be considering the days activities. The press conference seemed never-ending as the press fired question after question at Gourry and Zelgadis. The reporters laughed at Gourry's adorable nature and sighed as Zelgadis gave his now well known slight smile whenever answering a question. After the press conference the parade began with the four of them sharing a float, heading down the main street of Briseral.
Lina also noticed something new in Zelgadis. He was smiling just so, like he had been most of their time in Briseral, but today there was something different about his eyes. "If you look at him quickly you wouldn't notice it," the redhead thought, but it seemed to her that he was less troubled. His eyes had a warm little crinkle around them that made them seem brighter. It made Lina glad to see her friend look so peaceful; - however, she wasn't the only one who noticed the change. If the women of the city liked the chimera before they loved him now. They noticed the new look in his eyes from staring at him so intently and found the combination of it and his smile so captivating they screamed and shouted for him to look in their direction all along the parade route.
"I think our time in Briseral has done him a world of good," the redhead thought as she and Amelia sat alongside Gourry and Zelgadis, waving to the crowds. "This parade stuff is pretty cool," Lina thought as a little boy tossed her a bundle of fresh daisies.
"Hey, Daisy, here's some daisies," Lina smiled at the lavender dragon fluttering behind as she placed a flower behind her ear and handed her part of the bouquet. Daisy blushed and smiled sweetly as she smelled the flowers.
Amelia was having a great time. "It isn't everyday you're part of a parade ," she thought, waving to the bystanders. She looked over at Zelgadis as he caught a bundle of flowers someone had thrown and blushed as he read the little note attached, making the women in the crowd even more excited. He continued smiling and waving to everyone, but she noticed a new warmth in his eyes that pleased her. "I wonder what it means," she thought as something in the crowd caught her attention.
In a building window about two stories above the parade crowds a banner opened that read, "Amelia we love you" signed by the Amelia worshipers. Lina noticed the sign and looked at the princess in surprise.
"The Amelia Worshipers," they said in unison.
"They're a bunch of guys who have major crushes on you," a flower girl on their float explained.
"How come we've never heard of them?" Lina asked.
"They're not as fanatical as the Zelgadis Storm-troopers or as cheery as the Gabriev Girls. They figured it was more romantic to worship you from afar."
"I guess I should wave hello," Amelia said, blushing as she waved to the guys in the window who stared back at her dreamily.
"Speaking of the Zelgadis Storm-troopers, where are they? I expected them to be here," Lina asked, looking about.
"Well, they all had to pay visits to the new clinic and the Z & G Healing Center."
"What for?"
"Apparently watching your friend Zelgadis fight at the Sword & Stone arena was too much for them. They suffered dehydration from drooling so much and the doctors thought some counseling would help them get over their fixations," the girl shrugged.
"Okay," Lina nodded slowly, "So how many Amelia Worshipers are there?" the redhead asked.
"About sixty I think."
"You mean sixty guys have a crush on Amelia," Gourry said getting into the conversation. Zelgadis turned around at Gourry's outburst and found Amelia blushing a deeper shade of red.
"Yes, they're a bunch of nice guys that just really like you."
"Wow," the princess whispered still surprised. Lina looked at her friend and sighed inwardly. "I guess everyone's got a fan club except me. Not that I need one, being the sorcery genius that I am," she added quickly.
"But they're nothing compared to those guys," the flower girl said, pointing upwards as the float rode under a huge banner that read "Lina Inverse Rules" signed by the Loyal Knights of Inverse. "Those guys have it bad for you, Ms. Inverse."
"They do?"
"Hey, Lina, you've got a cool banner, too," Gourry cheered.
"I noticed," she smiled.
"They tell anyone who'll listen how cool they think you are. In fact they got together with the Amelia Worshipers to start the letter writing campaign to the Briseral Pageant executives to give you and Ms. Sailunne recognition for all your hard work."
"That's so sweet," Amelia said.
"Yeah, that's pretty cool. Thanks, guys," Lina yelled waving to the Loyal Knights, who waved back enthusiastically.
"So all these guys have a thing for Lina, too?" Gourry asked.
"She's just their favorite person, although I'm sure a lot of them do have a crush on her," the flower girl ended and continued waving to the crowds and tossing them flowers.
"All of these guys like me," Amelia thought as she continued waving to the Amelia Worshipers. It was really flattering, Amelia couldn't stop blushing as they started throwing her flowers and blowing kisses.
"You seem to be enjoying the attention," Zelgadis said as Amelia studied a cluster of flowers she'd just caught.
"Well . . .it's really something: that they like me enough to go through all this," she smiled, "Didn't you feel a little flattered when you found out that all those girls liked you so much that they formed the Zelgadis Storm-troopers?"
"Maybe a little," he murmured and continued waving as the parade moved along.
Amelia stood in front of her mirror, studying herself as the sounds of laughter and music filled the air outside.
After the parade the closing festival parties began all over Briseral. The group attended one or two of them until they had to get ready for their respective dinners. Gourry and Lina were invited to a People's Choice Award Banquet while Zelgadis and Amelia had dinner with the Big Kahuna. Lina wanted to come along with them to get some answers but the others tried to convince her that the initial plan of playing along would be best. "Otherwise they'll know we think something's up, right?" Gourry had said. Lina finally decided to follow along with the original plan but also thought that developing a plan in case something happened would be a good idea.
"Besides I don't think Zelgadis would want Lina there when we find out the truth about that dream," Amelia thought as she checked the clasp on her necklace and straightened her dress.
Tonight she had taken special care with her clothes, choosing a satiny lavender gown for dinner. She wanted to look good not just for dinner but mostly for herself. She had picked the dress because it seemed daring with its long slits up the sides and the criss-cross straps that revealed her back, and it seemed adventurous too, something she'd been feeling a lot of lately.
"I wonder what Zelgadis will think," she mused as she continued to get ready. She would have to go meet him soon, to talk about things before leaving. "But how will things go? Well, I hope," she thought as she left her room. She smoothed out her dress, then knocked on the chimera's door.
Zelgadis was in the middle of putting on his cufflinks when he heard a knock at the door. "That's probably Amelia," he thought as he set the cufflinks back down on the dresser, took a deep breath, then went to open the door. "Hello, Amelia," he said, stepping aside for her to enter.
"Hello, Zelgadis," she smiled as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "You look wonderful."
"As do you," he nodded looking at her satin lavender ensemble. "Have a seat."
The princess sat down on the edge of his bed and laughed slightly. "This is ridiculous, why do I feel so nervous?" she sighed, shaking her head. "Okay, you wanted to talk about some things, and so do I, so sit down and let's talk."
Zelgadis went and stood back at his dresser and continued messing with his cufflinks. "It's about the purpose of us going to this dinner: finding out what happened. It occurred to me that finding that out may be more important to me then it is to you; is it?"
"I think the weight of importance varies for the both of us, but you seem to have a more openly . . . aggressive mindset regarding this," she answered, carefully choosing her words. "Why? I know you don't like not knowing, but I get the feeling that there's something else."
"We have the right to know what really happened, not be toyed with or used for someone else's amusement, especially not when it comes to . . . you know." He looked down at the floor and ran his fingers through his violet, wire hair and sighed.
"Now I understand," she whispered, making him look up again. "Making love to someone is something you don't want to be manipulated into, it's something you want to walk into freely with someone you care for and respect . . . especially if it's your first time," she said, making him blush. "I'm sorry, it didn't occur to me that was the main reason, because you'd never . . ."
"It's all right," though he still felt embarrassed. This wasn't something he talked about, but was grateful the she had come to the conclusion on her own instead of him revealing something so personal himself. "But what about you? You think I've been too adamant about this, I don't think you've been adamant enough, why?"
"I don't like being manipulated. I mean, we think it's this Nephillo but we really don't have anything solid to base that on. I do want to find out who did this and why, dream or otherwise, but there's something you have to understand. When I woke up the morning after, I wasn't in shock or disbelief about it, like I can assume you might've been. I was exhilarated; I saw it as another side of myself coming out. When we found out we'd both had the same dream and the question of what really happened came up, I was . . . a little shocked," she said, standing up and began pacing. "I mean up until that point it had just been my naughty little dream and now it was possible that I really did those things. It also meant that I forced you into a situation that you otherwise wouldn't be in," she ended.
"What do you - ," he started then realized her meaning. "Why didn't I see this earlier?" he thought. In the dream she had been the one to come to him and tie him up. "You thought you were responsible, that you'd taken advantage of me in some way?"
"If the shoe fits," she laughed feebly." I decided to keep my head down and focus on being your Image Coordinator and try not to think about it, but now that I know it could have been your first time, I . . . I'm so sorry," she whispered, looking away.
"This is why we need to know exactly what happened, so we don't blame ourselves for something we had no control over."
"But I . ."
"You're doing the same thing you accused me of a few days ago," he said, sitting her back down on his bed and taking a seat next to her, "About taking sole responsibility . That's why you told me not to blame myself when we first found out, isn't it?" She nodded.
"There are other factors to be considered that outweigh any role you or I have played in this. You're not responsible, Amelia," he said firmly.
"Part of me understands that, but then another part of me just can't shake the feeling of being the one to blame," the princess said, trying to fight back tears.
"I know how you felt about putting someone else in an awkward position and I understand how you felt when you thought it was just a dream, but that couldn't have been the only feelings you've had about this, could it?" From his personal experience he had been feeling all kinds of different emotions about this - from frustration to enjoyment at thought of what he'd felt in the middle of the moment; when everything seemed real and the only thoughts were those of pleasure, giving and receiving it. A moment when true identity was a thought that lingered in the back of his mind, and it made him wonder if she at anytime felt the same.
"You should be with someone you care about, respect and trust your first time. I feel all those things about you, I'm glad to be going through this with you and not someone else. I'd be more of a wreck if this had happened with Gourry," she laughed.
"We should have had this talk a lot sooner."
"We still weren't really comfortable talking about it until now. We've had some really heated conversations over last few days not entirely related to this. The only thing we've been concrete on throughout all this is that no matter what, we're still friends. Does that still apply?"
"Yes, it does, Amelia. That's not something you had to question," he said as she reached out and hugged him.
"You don't know how glad I am to hear you say that," she murmured. They sat on the bed for a few minutes as she continued to hug him and he held her slightly in reassurance. She slowly loosened her grip and looked up at him, composing herself. "Better now?" he asked.
"Fine thanks. Why are you doing this?"
"Doing what?"
"Normally, you don't let me do this kind of thing, like hug you or even get this close, like we have been over the last few days. "Why now, here in Briseral?"
"My usual way of doing thing doesn't seem appropriate for our current situation," he answered.
"I understand," she nodded. "Now that this is all cleared up, are you ready to go?" the princess asked.
"I think so."
"Well, stand up and let me see how you look with the jacket on." He got up and put on his jacket so she could see the complete picture. Amelia applauded her approval. "You look great."
"Now let's see," he said, eyeing her intently. Amelia stood up to give him a better view, doing a little twirl. "You need something extra," he mused after a minute.
"I-I do?" She asked, suddenly feeling self-conscious
"Yes, I have just the thing," he said and went to the vase that held his victory bouquet from the night before and pulled out a rose and a few sprigs of Babies Breath. Then began arranging them in her hair.
"Zelgadis, what are you doing?"
"Just a second," he said as he pulled his fingers gently through her hair. The sensation reminded the princess of how soothing it had been when her mother would brush her hair when she was little.
"There all done; take a look."
Amelia walked over to the full length mirror near the dresser and studied her reflection. The little dots of Babies Breath were woven into her hair with a closed rose tucked quaintly behind her ear.
"It's perfect," she smiled, raising a hand to her hair. "I never would have thought of this, thank you."
"You're welcome. Now let's get to dinner," he said, offering her his arm. She accepted and the two made their way out of the tavern.
As the two made their way to the dining hall, the laughter and music in the streets seemed even louder then before.
"I knew the Palisades was a large building, but to have a Theater, conference rooms and a Banquet Hall all in one place is really amazing," Amelia said.
"It is," the chimera nodded as a group of Fairy Musicians flew by playing flutes and sprinkling Fairy dust on festival-goers. "It seems like everyone's having a good time."
"And we're having even more fun now that you're here," someone shouted above the excitement. The two turned and were greeted by Evette wearing a party hat. "You guys are really dressed up."
"We're on our way to dinner," Amelia explained.
"Oh, that's right. You have that dinner with the Kahuna tonight. Well maybe you can join us afterward," Evette said, staring directly at Zelgadis.
"We'll try; see you later," the princess smiled and pulled Zelgadis away as Evette went back to dancing to the music, waving goodbye.
"I didn't expect to see her tonight," Zelgadis said.
"Well, you never know who you'll run into," Amelia shrugged, taking one last look back at the taller girl. "Why does she have to like Zelgadis, too," the princess thought. "What if he actually likes her and . . . no, there's no way: she's nice but so - so obvious about faulting her 'assets'. He wouldn't find that attractive. Would he?"
"Hello Amelia, anybody home?" The princess blinked and found Zelgadis staring at her, waving a hand in front of her face. "Are you all right?"
"Oh, I was just thinking; sorry about that."
"Well, we're here," he said as they went inside. After a few minutes they stopped outside of two tall, decorated doors that led inside to the Banquet Hall.
"Are you ready?" Amelia whispered.
"As I'll ever be."
"Remember, Lina and Gourry's dinner is only a few blocks from here, so we'll be fine."
They both stood quietly staring at the door for several long minutes.
"I guess we should go in now," Amelia said. Zelgadis took a deep breath and grabbed the door handle.
"Look Amelia . . ."
"Zelgadis I . . ."
"What were you going to say?" they asked in unison, then giving a little laugh.
"Look, Amelia, I just wanted to say thanks for this week, for being a good friend," the chimera said blushing slightly. "What did you want to say?"
"Pretty much the same, and you're welcome," she smiled as he pulled the door open and they walked through together. They looked down a long banquet table filled with succulent dishes, to the figure sitting at the other end in a grand, high-backed chair and stopped as the doors closed with a deafening boom.
"I-I don't believe this," Amelia whispered.
"It can't be," Zelgadis said.
The chimera and the princess looked at each other than back to the table.
"YOU'RE THE BIG KAHUNA!"