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"So, answer me. If that's Zelgadis, who did I just marry?" Lina said swiveling her head to stare at Xellos.
Luna's voice interrupted the scream building inside Lina, shutting it down from anger to complete bewilderment with the answer. First, Lina was amazed to hear her usually taciturn sister say more than a one-word answer. Second, what she said was about the last thing she'd expected her sister to say. In truth, she decided she'd heard it wrong.
"Um...?" Lina asked as she blinked slowly. "Could you repeat that?"
Normally Luna wouldn't, but for once she cut her little sister some slack. "I said "you're already married to someone else." Luna repeated verbatim (but without the ominous tone) as she tossed Zelgadis head first at Xellos. The chimera-turned-missile hurled towards the Mazokou priest who kept smiling as if nothing were attacking him or at all wrong. Without any perceptible movement on his part, a blue shield formed of transparent trapezoids appeared at the critical moment so that Zel just bounced to the ground instead of hitting Xellos.
"Why are in-laws so hard to please?"Xellos sighed as he winked at Lina. "Shouldn't they just be happy for us? At least til they get the wedding bill?"
Kari gasped as she dove to catch Zel before he smacked into the ground. He groaned but rather than thanking her for the save, he shoved her away and instantly scrambled up to glare at Xellos. If he could have attacked with that glare, the battle would be over. In fact, anyone standing within the same astral plane as Xellos would end up all over that astral plane in tiny useless pieces. But it was just a glare of death, not an attack. Shamanism like other forms of magic required some sort of spell building and mental focussing usually involving one's hands (for some reason) to spin the energy. So a death glare would not work. Of course, Zelgadis knew that, which was why he'd shoved himself off Kari and the ground so that his hands were free.
"Damn You---" He whispered letting the power build up in his hands.
Kari shrieked "Not in the temple!!!" The piercing noise did not deter him in the least, so she tugged at his arms (also to no avail) to try to stop him.
"Its too late..." Zel said easily evading her grasp. "Blast ash"
Xellos laughed as he phased through space to avoid the spell. Instead it struck the temple and was absorbed instantly with no apparent damage. Kari, however, slumped over, and unfortunately for her, Zelgadis did not return the favor of catching her.
In fact, since his back was to her, she crashed into him, which gave her a rather nasty cut at her forehead, staining his white robes a bit green. She groaned a bit, but again tried to stop Zelgadis from attacking. "Stop, you'll destroy the temple"
"Just a scratch." Luna said as she glanced at Kari's forehead.
"Not that temple...this one!!!!" Kari shouted at her fellow follower of Ceipheed.
"Like I said." Luna replied.
"Then stop him before it gets worse." Kari interjected her voice slightly weak. She held a hand to the cut at her head and a small light glowed to repair the damage.
Luna nodded and added dryly. "Why I came."
Xellos saw this, and though he was completely unphased by the attack (or rather had phased to avoid it), raised an eyebrow. There was more to this situation than he knew, but he couldn't quite grasp it. Of course, he couldn't let that out...it was better kept a secret. He'd seen Lina's sister somewhere before, but he couldn't remember. Was it something from the hidden realm of his before-life? A dangerous prospect indeed he thought and dismissed the thought as Zelgadis hurled another spell his way. Considering what he was, and who she was, that was quite an impossibility. The Knight of Ceipheed could not possibly be someone who'd lived 1000 years ago. So, he pushed the question aside to assess what threat her presence created. The analysis did not take long. She was no threat. Rather like two superpowers holding back their nuclear bombs, those with too much firepower can almost never strike. Not unless they want everything to end. So he wasn't afraid of her attacking him full out. In fact, he wasn't even afraid of her attacking. He again focussed on Zelgadis, the only real threat at present--if you were going to be generous enough to call Zelgadis a threat. At least it was fun. A perfect way to start his honeymoon with Lina, he thought.
Jauntily avoiding the latest blast, Xelgadis teased Zelgadis who continued to try to attack. He opened his mouth to say something to Lina, or rather tried to do that but found his neck caught in a very tight vice-like grip.
Apparently, he'd made quite a tactical mistake in underestimating Luna's abilities and motivations.
She actually held him in a one-handed grip, for Luna continued to balance the tray of drinks in her other hand. She didn't even spill a drop of the bright amber ale. Nor did she even appeared to have exerted herself to catch him.
Her hair covered her eyes, but the smile they could see probably did not reflect in her hidden eyes. In fact, it was a rather unpleasant and threatening smile, though her mouth curved smoothly upward, lips pressed lightly together. Not at all like Xellos's cheery, and usually inappropriate, smile. Perhaps it was merely the aura of her anger that clued everyone into the fact that her smile meant anything but a good mood. Luna broke that eerie smile to utter the second longest sentence Lina had ever heard out of her in recent memory, and possibly the first question that long.
"Did you really think I'd let you marry my sister?" Luna said to Xellos as the two disappeared. "Or anyone else?"
Lina didn't understand the sentence any more than she had her sister's first one.
"Already married?" Lina's thoughts wandered in a daze so thick she didn't notice the temple disappear. She was too preoccupied with doing the same to her wedding dress. Within seconds, Lina ditched the beautiful garment in favor of her familiar, though tacky, sorceress/swordswoman attire. "I don't remember getting married before..."
"You don't remember being married? And I thought I was forgetful." Goury laughed as he stood over Lina. At that angle, the afternoon sun just highlighted the gold of his hair and the deep blue of his eyes. The laughter crinkled his face into tiny creases that danced with his emotion. A beautiful face, an open face, one might even say angelic, and alive with the merriment of the moment. "But that's really dumb." He managed at last.
"So are you." Lina swore looking up at him, her temper well past boiled and just about to blow. Beautiful or not, he was an idiot she thought.
"Oh, yeah." He agreed cheerfully. "But not dumb enough to forget that I'm married."
"Yeah, you're worse." Lina spat. Without any real pause she continued "But now's not the time, we've got to find them!" She turned and ray-winged up to the hill toward the bright flashes of light which screamed magical battle. Goury followed closely on her heels, literally, because he'd grabbed on, and was still arguing with her about her possible previous marriage.
"You probably didn't forget...cause who'd marry a flat chested girl like you anyway!?" echoed into the clearing where the temple had stood, long after they'd disappeared.
Apparently, Goury proved Lina's point about his intelligence (that is, his lack thereof) yet again, and the sound of a large object thudding to the ground reverberated through the air.
Ameria helped Kari up from the ground as Nahga hastily discarded the look of stupid astonishment for one of knowing disdain.
Zelgadis looked at the three women, and then stopped himself from asking them what had happened. If he didn't know, he felt sure they didn't. Instead he turned to chase after Lina and Goury.
"The wishes...."Kari said softly, on a breath like a butterfly's wing, so soft he could not ignore it once he noted it. "Did you revoke them all?"
He nodded. "I made the last one, and revoked it too....You're free to go wherever you want now...just leave me alone."
"I didn't grant your last one...how could you have used them all!?" She asked puzzled.
"You didn't summon Luna? I wished something would stop the wedding...and that's what happened." He replied.
"Actually, I finished the wedding...so that wish wasn't met...unless, it was but then revoked....oh its so complicated..." She said shaking her head.
"OH ho ho ho" Nahga laughed. "You are so innocent! It is not complicated at all..."
"What?" Zelgadis asked, as he turned around, and looked up at the tall and arrogant sorceress.
She smiled condescendingly and leaned forward (not a move that would help most men concentrate but Zelgadis managed somehow) "That strange priest is not married to Lina, because he pretended to be you. You are not married to her because you were not there. So she was both married and not married. Your wish, and the unwish."
Triumphantly she gestured and grabbed his arm, ignoring the fact that he'd obviously not understood her twisted logic. Pulling his body at a high speed along the ground, and into rocks, she ran after Lina. "Let's go, we're missing all the fun." Within seconds she too had reached flight velocity and took off up the mountain, completely oblivious to Zelgadis's protests.
Kari sighed and turned to Ameria. "Was she always like that?"
Ameria frowned and straightened her tunic, her bridesmaid dress scrunched under her feet. "Like what?!"
Kari merely blinked at Ameria wide eyed. "You mean you don't know?"
"I'm proud of my older sister...even if she doesn't remember me." Ameria said defensively. "I'm sure she will, if I just have a bit more time."
"That's not what I meant!" Kari complained and then gasped as Ameria grabbed her hand and started tugging with youthful enthusiasm.
"Let's go quickly, the battles of justice are crying for us!" Ameria exclaimed, as she perched up on a rock.
Kari sighed and followed. As they neared the top, Ameria again climbed a rock and began to accuse the "Doers of Evil---" but she stopped.
"I think its over already." Kari said looking up at the little girl. "Those 'battles of justice' did not cry long."
Ameria made an unladylike curse (maybe Lina was influencing her) and jumped down rather gracefully, except for her landing right onto a semi-upright Zelgadis.
At least, he'd been semi-upright before her feet had slammed into him, and now he looked almost as trashed as Xellos or Goury. Unlike Zelgadis or Goury, however, Xellos had a contented silly grin on his face.
Nahga sighed, as she helped Ameria off the prone form of Zelgadis, who twitched occasionally as if still battling some spell.
"What happened, Gracia?!" Ameria pleaded.
"I don't know they were just like----" Nahga blinked, catching herself. "I mean, I don't know why you use that name with me, but I saw nothing."
"Where's Lina?" Kari asked as she looked around. Actually, Luna did not appear to be here either. She regretted that. She'd been waiting to meet her for so long, and when they finally met, they'd barely had a chance to exchange any thoughts about work!
"AH HA HA HA HA HA" Nahga laughed confidently (causing Zel's twitching to increase to a frenetic pace as tiny cracks appeared on his stone-hands). "You mean you cannot tell something as simple as that?"
Ameria and Kari shook their heads and leaned in expectantly. "No, where did she go?"
"Please Gra-- Miss Nagha, tell us?" Ameria pleaded.
"AH HA HA HA HA...why should I tell you?" Nahga replied as she disdainfully brushed a lock of hair. "And my name is not 'Gracia', it is Nahga, the Great White Serpent!" She placed her hands on her hips, and thrust herself into perfect posture to stare down at the small girl as if to intimidate the girl with Nahga's own perfection.
"Please!" Ameria begged again so cutely that it was either give in or kill her, the former option far being the one Nahga preferred. She might have renounced her family, but that did not mean she wanted them dead. Of course that also didn't mean her pride would allow her to give in so easily. "I cannot tell you." She responded, hoping they would leave it at that.
"Why not!" Kari pleaded this time. "Why wouldn't you tell us!?"
"Because I don't know." Nahga admitted.
Kari and Ameria fell backwards in disbelief.
"Then why were you laughing?" Kari asked exasperatedly.
"Because Lina, you have not outsmarted me yet!" Nahga explained to the air of the mountains surrounding them "I will track you down!" Her threat echoed down the sharp rocks, sending more than a few tumbling down.
"I don't think she heard you...there is no sign of her" Kari said looking around. The mop of bright red hair which should have stood out remained conspicuously absent. "Maybe she flew away from here...she could be anywhere!"
Nahga smiled triumphantly out of the corner of her mouth. "Not anywhere...." She said mysteriously. "Wherever she went, she will eventually go somewhere to eat... And knowing where we are, I know where *that* will be!" She threw her head back and laughed.
Kari and Ameria looked at each other and sighed. Nahga apparently would not be much help. Turning away from her, they consulted each other as if she were not present. "Perhaps Gourry or Zel heard something?" Kari suggested after a few seconds.
Ameria nodded. "Its worth a shot...besides we should see if they are ok."
The two men were just starting to stir from where they lay. Kari helped Zel up as Ameria leaned over Goury.
"Zel, are you all right?" Kari prodded him gently on the shoulder with her fingers. Actually, the gentleness was probably not necessary as his stone skin wouldn't know the difference. Luckily she wasn't too gentle, and he noticed her.
His eyes blinked open, and anger filled them. "Where's Xellos!?" He spat, his body going even more rigid.
She pointed at the phasing body of the Mazokou, who'd apparently recovered enough to disappear.
Zelgadis swore and pounded a fist into the ground, creating a small hole, and scattering gravel like rain. "He got away. You just let him get away?!"
"He was punished enough" Kari interjected. "If he'd taken any more, he would not exist."
"I know...but he got away." Zelgadis growled.
Nahga raised an eyebrow. "Interesting Chimera boy? Did you want to kill him?"
Zelgadis tucked his hood over his face and turned around without answering. He'd barely cleared one pass down around the mountain away from the others when he heard a voice behind him.
"Wait, Zelgadis-kun, where are you going?" Kari asked as she followed. "I'm truly sorry how everything turned out, but I know I can do a better job it you just let me try."
"I've forgiven you for what you did. Now leave me alone." He said gruffly, without slowing or facing her or saying goodbye.
"I cannot do that!" She protested. A quick sprint brought her to his side so she could see the scowl covering his profile.
"Can you still read my thoughts?" He asked as he stared out across the mountain range, having reached the curve in the path between two large boulders. The voices of Ameria and Nahga explaining the situation to Goury faded completely as they turned another corner.
She shook her head, but then realizing Zelgadis could not see her, said "No...only for those I am granting wishes."
"Good. Then you can't stop me" He replied as he dove off the mountain into the air.
Sister faced sister across a rather confused Goury. They'd managed to wake him, but he really couldn't understand why Nahga and Ameria were fighting. Maybe it was just something sisters did, like Lina and Luna. Well, he'd never seen the two together. At least, he couldn't remember it. But from what Lina said, they fought too...oh, wait, Goury thought making another inadvertently brilliant observation from reading between the lines--Lina and Luna fought, but Luna always won. So no wonder Lina hadn't mentioned their fighting.
"He *is* a murderer...he wanted to kill that handsome man who'd wanted to marry Lina, and was not content to see him hurt." Nahga lectured. "He must be some kind of monster, even if you say he is your friend. I say let him go."
"Zelgadis is not a monster...Xellos is the monster! Xellos's a Mazokou." Ameria informed Nahga. "So that means Xellos is evil."
Nahga chuckled to herself. "Oh Really?" Her tone implying she didn't quite agree, and indeed thought the other position ludicrous. "That makes it ok to just kill him? So what someone is determines their goodness rather than what they do?" She gestured wildly with one arm, accidently knocking Gourry out again.
Ameria looked confused for a minute. "Er, I think so." Neither noticed Gourry return to unconsciousness immediately.
"Well, you're very very very naive if you think that." Nahga said. She frowned as she noticed Gourry relapse. She bent to investigate, wondering why the spell she'd worked had not revived him completely, utterly unaware that she'd clonked him seconds before.
"What do you mean?" Ameria asked.
"Is a human good just because he is not a Mazokou?" Nahga conjectured.
"...er....no..." Ameria said softly. She'd certainly seen enough bandits to know that...
"And is a good human always good?" Nahga asked pointedly.
"...er ....but a good human must always at least try to be good."
"TRY!? Who cares what one tries..actions are what counts! Just look at Lina--" Nahga started.
"I don't think she's a good person." Ameria protested, cutting her off.
"Well, she isn't a bad one either." Nahga concluded.
Ameria sighed. "I guess that's true."
"Then why should a Mazokou be bad just because he is a Mazokou?" Nahga said with that laugh, which broke through to Goury senses (such as they were) "any more than that Lina is good because she's human?"
"Lina?"He asked slowly perking up at the mention of Lina. "Where is she?"
Ameria sighed as she puzzled her sister's words. She knew Nahga had to be wrong, but she just didn't know why. "But a Mazokou never tries to be good."
"And some humans try and fail to be good...maybe a Mazokou can fail to be bad and be good. Who cares what they try, what matters is what they do." Nahga finished. "And what did Xellos do except try to marry Lina?"
"Where's Lina?" Gourry tried again.
They ignored him.
"But that doesn't count..a Mazokou who fails to be bad isn't trying to be good. He is still not good." Ameria finished.
"And your "friend" Zelgadis, he tried to do a bad thing and failed, so he is not good either?"
"I...I guess not...but I know he fights for justice! He just gets a little selfish sometimes...and it doesn't count if you try to kill a Mazokou. That's good!!"
"Why?"
"WHERE IS LINA!!!!" Gourry yelled finally getting the attention of the bickering sisters.
"She took off..." Nahga explained, somewhat distracted. She too seemed disturbed, because she knew her sister had to be wrong, she just didn't know why. "and so did her sister and Xellos"
"Together!" He exclaimed.
"No..."Ameria said slipping the syllable out slowly. "At least I don't think so."
Gourry turned his head from side to side in the recently blasted clearing, half encircled by rocks from where the mountain had been hollowed out in a bowl shape from the magical attacks. He'd not really had a chance to observe what had happened. One second he'd been hanging onto Lina's heels for dear life and the next he'd been violently dropped right into a huge explosion of some sort.
Gourry counted slowly (the only way he could count). One...Two....Someone else was missing. He didn't know for sure who it was....One, Two....no, something was definitely wrong.
Sometimes clues travel slowly enough for even Gourry to get one.
"Where's Zelgadis?" He asked at last when he figured it out. "And that other girl?"
As if in answer, a scream that sounded rather like Kari's voice cut through the air.
"What was that!" Ameria asked as she stood up. "It sounded like Kari!?"
Nahga became very animated. "Ridiculous. A temple priestess does not scream. That tortured sound could only come from a roc...I know! I, the Great White Serpent will kill it in its lair and take its bounty for myself! AH HA HA HA HA HA" The laugh overpowered the scream and replaced it with an echo creating a semi-endless loop of Nahga-laughter.
"Nahga, rocs are just legendary birds. No one's actually seen one." Ameria argued. "Why would you think that's what you heard?"
"The guide book said they live here..." Nahga waived a hand despairingly at her sister. "So, I shall be the first! They are not legends--" She tugged a book out of her cape (a hidden pocket, for her costume certainly had no hidden pockets), and showed her sister the title: "In between a Roc and the Hard Place they live." "This is the Orihalcon Mountain range--they are said to live here."
Gourry groaned. "And I thought I was stupid...."
Ameria sighed. "I know...believing in Rocs..."
"Yeah..rocks don't scream." Gourry laughed.
"Um, Goury, she meant a Roc, not Rocks."
"Oh..." He said nodding. After barely a blink later, he added. "I don't get it."
"Never mind..." Ameria sighed, as Nahga began to read excitedly from her book about the legendary dwelling places of the Rocs.
Ameria frowned when Nahga finished droning on. "Where did you get that book?"
"In the inn where we stayed...the owner assured me it was accurate."
"And you believed him?" Ameria asked
"Yes...why shouldn't I?" Nahga lowered the book as she leaned over Ameria. "Are you suggesting I, Nahga, have been deceived?"
Ameria sighed. "I just don't believe Rocs exist."
"Oh, really!?" Nahga let loose with her laugh yet again, adding it to the previous loop of sound. "Well, *this* Roc won't after I am through with it!"
Not too far away, on a different mountain peak, in a cave rimmed with gold, a roc collapsed under the weight of that echoed laugh. What thousands of sword-bearing adventure-seeking souls had failed to do, Nahga had done unerringly. The Great White Serpent had truly snared its first bird. Only problem was, she didn't know it.
Under the Roc's body, hidden in mounds of molted feathers, lay a small egg-shaped object. If you looked closely (hard to do given the fact that a huge bird had passed out on top of it) you would notice the egg was not actually an egg. No, it appeared to be made of something shiny and green and, well, scaly. In fact, it was made of several of large scaly panels, vaguely oval or spade shaped, and layered around each other to form the three-dimensional shape of an egg. Actually, again if you could look closely, and see more sharply than the human eye allows, you would realize it was not three-dimensional, that "three" was far too small a number in this case for all the dimensions through which this object travelled.
For this was the legendary Scales of Justice....but I digress..... Hey, I'm an old man...and this tale is taking me a long time to tell....
The old man pauses and blinks. "You know, I heard the tale in one day, but I'd started in the afternoon and not evening. I was a younger old man then too...oh, yes some time has passed. Not much, but at my age you feel every day in a--"
You grow much less patient with every second, at this age or any other. Though word of the tale spread through the village, and your busy doing the best you can to both listen and pour drinks at the same time, you are reaching your limit. "You can't stop now."
"No..." The old man says "but I don't think I can go for much longer."
The growls of the crowd convince him that stopping is by far the worse option and he continues, promising to tell the story he was told.
"But remember, I'm only telling you what the bartender in that village told me...so if I get bits wrong and you find out later, well, you were warned....and if you don't like the way it ended...well, you can go to the village and ask him yourself. If he'll tell you. I have a feeling he wouldn't..."
"Oh, yeah? Then why did he tell you?" Someone asks.
"Oh that...that..." The old man coughs "Is a secret."
"Roc or no roc, we should find Lina." Ameria said, unplugging her ears when the laugh died down.
Nahga frowned, then sighed. "I suppose you are right. I may need her--that is, she might wish to assist me in this quest and I should give her the chance."
Gourry nodded eagerly. "Ok! Lets find Lina. I'm tired of sleeping!"
Nahga looked over at Gourry, whispered some spell before he could react, which made him sink asleep to the ground. At Ameria's gasp of protest Nahga held up one slender finger and said "I think Gourry is one of the last people Lina wants to see right now. Wherever she is, or will be, is where he or the other men are not. We'll have a better chance to find her if she isn't avoiding our travelling companions."
Actually, Nahga was right about that, which actually, was not that unlikely an event. Nahga was not stupid. She just often tried to act as if she knew more than she actually did, which made her seem stupid. One could blame that on her Royal upbringing--Kings and Queens are supposed to be always right. Even when they are not.
Big sisters also like to act like they are right, even when they are not. At least, that is what Lina thought as she waited for her sister to finnish her "shift" in the tiny tavern. Lina drummed her fingers on the table, watching as her sister flit-flirted her away from table to table.
"Haven't seen her in years, I almost get married to a Mazokou, think I'm marrying my friend who I don't think I love, after realizing I'm in love with...well, and then suddenly she shows up, and says I'm already married and she just wants me to sit here AND WAIT!!!" Lina growled, as her hand tapped through the wood of the table, sending shards into her hair. With a shock, she realized she'd destroyed the table.
At her new table, Lina sipped at the beer and barely nibbled on the food her sister had dumped in front of her--a clear sign of the trouble in Lina's mind. Besides the failed wedding to Xellos, Lina still needed to work out this thing with Gourry. Not to mention there was this thing with Zelgadis, and she just didn't feel right about any of it. Why couldn't things be simple? Why couldn't they be the way that had been? And hadn't she forgotten about that stupid Orihalcon Mountain and Scales of Justice quest?
"Ok, I'm off." Her sister said untying the apron around her waist.
She sank down into the chair across the booth from Lina.
"About time...that took forever." Lina complained sullenly.
"You haven't grown." Luna said coolly, her eyes clearly indicating a certain almost absent part of her sister's anatomy...
"Don't rub it in." Lina spat getting a spark of fire back in her eyes.
"I could." Luna threatened, one hand flicking a blue flame into existence as easy as striking a match.
"I've learned a few things since then." Lina said, mentally chanting in her mind that 'am not afraid of Luna, am not afraid of Luna." The chant barely worked, but at least she didn't panic and run. She'd seen her sister wipe the mountain floor with Xellos, not to mention the collateral damage she'd seen Gourry take (after she'd forced him to be her human shield). So apparently her sister had learned a few tricks too since their childhood. As if she hadn't already known enough....
"Don't like doing that sort of thing." Luna murmured, again pulling out another long sentence for her.
Lina didn't really understand why her sister spoke such short sentences. Luna's sparing use of words was a direct contrast to Lina's volubleness. Neither girl knew it, but their village was of the opinion that Luna talked so little because she'd forgotten how. When you live with Lina, it is hard to get a word in edgewise sometimes... Lina herself didn't think that was the problem. Her sister hadn't always been like that, though Lina wasn't sure when the change had occurred.- But how did Luna manage? Surely a waitress needed to chatter with the customers?
< who just ordered everything on the menu and really didn't care about the specials or how the food she was eating was prepared in "a special blend of kale, nettles and a rare grain from the east of Saiiraag.">>
Lina blinked. That thought had intruded into her mind without explanation. Rather than figure that puzzle out, she decided she'd better resolve her first one.
"So what did you mean!?" Lina said shifting gears abruptly
"bout what?" Apparently, Luna hadn't made the turn that Lina had just made. Or maybe she had, and was delaying an inevitable explanation.
"...what did you mean that I'm married already!?"
"Didn't say that."
Lina gripped the table and leaned forward into her sister's face, forgetting for one instant to whom she was talking. "WHAT!?"
"Don't shout." Luna replied.
"So why did you say, "You're already married?!" Lina shouted anyway
"I meant Xellos."Luna said softly.
"Xellos is already married?!" Lina asked eyes wide. She let go of the table and plopped back into her chair. If he was already married, then why was he courting her? Actually she knew that--the legend about Shabranigdo. But how could he be married!? He was a Mazokou..who would marry.... Her sister had to be making this up. "He's married?" She asked again as if she'd not heard right. "You're sure?"
Even though the mop of hair covered her sister's face, Lina looked down and avoided eye contact.
"Yes." came the reply. Luna, for once, did not sound angry, annoyed, or just a shade this side of uninterested. She sounded upset.
"TO WHO!!!" Lina yelled, not sure of that "upset" note in her sister's voice meant. She'd never heard that before actually. Angry, yes, upset, no.
"This is not easy for me either, you know. And if you yell, I'll throw you out." Luna replied with long sentence number three. "But to answer your question...." She held up her hand as she spoke, her palm towards herself, to show the band on her finger. It appeared to be made of some sort of forcefield of tiny blue geometric shapes linked around each other. The band glowed briefly in a silver blue pulse of light. "He's married to me."
Actually, Luna needn't have threatened to throw Lina out, because Lina fainted straight away, her head striking the table, and sending chips of rotting wood flying.