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*Insert Standard Disclaimer*
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Chapter 5:
Shilfiel was fitting a dress for Lina when Filia and Val dropped by. Zelas has requested that Lina join Zelas, Xelloss, and Lin for dinner that night. Shilfiel was making a big fuss over it and saying that Lina had to look perfect for that night.
"Still makes a big fuss over anything and everything." Val commented as he leaned against the door frame of the house. Gaury was getting some thing out for him to drink and Filia went over to help Shilfiel and Amelia.
"Shilfiel’s always been like that I heard." Gaury replied as he found the cups. "Besides, it’s not everyday that Zelas, out of all people asks some one to join them for dinner." Gaury grabbed the juice as the two talked.
"Yeah…true. Hey, what are you going to do about um…what’s her name, Alimeia?" Val asked as he tried to think up of the name of the brunette girl that was also found with Filia and Lina.
"Amelia you mean? Don’t know, she’s been pretty into Zel lately so I was thinking of sending her over there." Gaury speculated.
"Zel’s gonna love you for that." Val said sarcastically. It was already common knowledge that the chimera that was their main engineer disliked being around the young brunette who claimed to love him and since the return hadn’t gone closer than 20 feet from Gaury’s house.
"Well…she’s a little too much for me." Gaury replied as he bought the drink over to Val. "I know Zel’s not going to be happy but she can improve." Gaury said. "The other day I found out that she’s actually a fairly good cook…although she makes a mess. Of course not as good as Lin-chan but you know, good is good."
"Well…true, Zelgadiss can’t cook to save his life. I swear if there weren’t any restaurants around here he would starve because he’s too proud to ask for food and he can’t cook."
"Look who’s talking Val. I’ve never seen you cook. Since I can remember you were eating at the restaurants." Gaury teased and Val slightly blushed.
"Okay, okay. So I can’t cook, happy?" Val admitted and Gaury laughed.
"Filia makes excellent tea and cookies."
"That’s all she can make." Val sighed and walked in. "Is she still helping Shilfiel with Lina?"
"Um…don’t know yet. We’ll have to wait I guess." Gaury said with a sigh. "Oh well, lucky Lina she gets Lin-chan’s cooking."
"Yeah…lucky her."

"Shilfiel-san, all you have is purple and blue dresses." Amelia informed as she opened Shilfiel’s closet and looked through the contents.
"Isn’t there a black one Amelia-chan?" Shilfiel asked as she brushed Lina’s hair till it shined. "I think I got one from the raid a few months ago." Amelia picked up a black dress that would look great on Shilfiel but a dress that was too long for Lina and was too big around the chest. Come to think of it all of Shilfiel’s clothes were like that.
"It’s too long for Lina-san." Amelia informed them and stepped out of the closet. "Besides, red looks better on Lina-san."
"But that’s all I have…the only place that will have a bright color such as red and that lives in this town is the whore house." Shilfiel muttered.
"I’m NOT wearing a whore’s dress!!!" Lina argued and sighed. "I owned some red dresses…were those torn up?"
"Actually some of the other maids and I looked through the dresses but we didn’t find anything we liked…so we threw them away." Shilfiel replied. "I found a few red dresses but they were too small and tight in the chest area…" Shilfiel stopped when she noticed Lina glaring at her. "Um…they also weren’t really our style so…I’m sorry Lina-san." Shilfiel apologized.
"Guess I’ll have to go in my everyday clothes than." Lina sighed and stood up.
"No Lina-san. You mustn’t. I will go buy you a nice dress, we still have an hour and a half till you have to be at Zelas-san’s so please let me do that." Shilfiel offered.
"But Shilfiel I won’t feel right with you paying for the dress." Lina scratched the back of her head and told her.
"Than let me do it as a form or apology for ruining your dresses Lina-san. It is the least I can do. I can’t buy you a silk dress or anything but the dress should still look nice." Shilfiel explained. "Please, I will be quick so wait here." Lina sighed and shook her head.

"WHAT IS GOING ON MISS LUNA!!!!!!!" A man with short black hair and piercing black eyes screamed and demanded. "I DEMAND AN EXPLANATION!!!!!!!"
Luna just sighed and shook her head. "I said that while you were on duty Lina left to Lakuteria." Luna sighed and laid back in her chair as she tried to ignore one of Lina’s most persistent suitors. "She was really looking forward to getting away from here." Luna picked up a fan and covered her mouth, as if to cover her smile. If anyone who knew Luna well saw that smile, they would know she was up to something.
The most respected lawman of the country had taken exceptional interest in her sister. Luna speculated that if Lina by any chance ever settled down it would be him. Graushelaa Dynast. The most respected lawman in the country, rich, and most of all had intelligence and strength that would match Lina’s.
"I understand that part. What I am talking about is that Lina’s ship was attacked by pirates and Lina, the second daughter of the Seyluun family, and the only child of the Copt family, are missing. Do you know that if word gets out about this there will be a huge scandal"
"Takes a genius to guess that." Luna muttered sarcastically. "Besides, so what if they were kidnapped by pirates. Do you honestly think that those three will be killed off by pirates?"
"This is not just any pirates." Graushelaa replied. "I have met with them due to my job in the past. Surely you have heard of Xelloss. The bounty for his head now can easily buy you land better than all of the Inverse estates combined."
"Yeah…heard of him before." Luna replied. "But trust my instincts Graushelaa, Lina’s safe and there’s no need to worry."
"Miss Luna. My ‘fiancee’ could be in deep trouble right now. Possibly raped…or even killed!!!" Graushelaa screamed hysterically. In the background Luna sighed.
"Lina isn’t your fiancee Graushelaa." Luna pointed out but it seemed as if he didn’t hear. "Besides…do you honestly think that rumors about the Inverse and Seyluun clan are not known to the pirates. Get real. Anyone would fear having me after them and any sane person would do anything to avoid Glacier coming after them."
"…you do have a point there miss. But I am going to hunt down Xelloss and demand the release of dear Lina!! If I rescue her she would surely accept my hand in marriage!!!"
This guy’s sense of drama can easily rival Amelia’s… Luna thought to herself. Of course if what Zelas told her was correct Lina would probably kill Graushelaa for taking her from Lin’s great cooking before accepting to marry him.
Well Luna will just relax and enjoy the interesting plot that would surely occur if Graushelaa and Xelloss will meet and fight over Lina. Luna bought a fan to her face and tried to conceal her smile from Graushelaa.

"Neesan…do we have to dress up?" Lin whined as she took off her apron and put it on the chair. She had just finished cooking a full course meal for when Lina came over and was now being shooed over to her room to go ‘dress up’.
"Yes. We are having a guest come and we certainly would want to look nice." Zelas replied as she finished brushing her hair. "Besides, I have told you that Lina-chan is the second daughter of the Inverse clan. Surely we must look presentable."
"Lina isn’t the type to care on what another looks like or not." Lin sulked as she left the room.
"I know…but what if Luna finds out that we dressed as usual when we were with Lina-chan?" Zelas asked.
"Are you going to tell Lina that you and miss Luna are friends?" Lin asked as she reached the door.
"No. She’s better off not knowing." Zelas replied. "She’ll just freak out. Plus, from what I heard she really didn’t enjoy her life back home, we don’t want her thinking we’ll send her back now do we. Go get dressed Lin. I want you to look nice."
"Hai." Lin replied with a sigh and walked towards her room. When she got there she picked up her blue dress and tossed off her tank top and slid on the dress. It was a plain slip dress that came down to her knees. Not too fancy but fancy enough. Lin grabbed the black jacket that came with the dress and put that on to keep her warm from the cold night air.
The blue dress had actually been a birthday present from Shilfiel about a year ago and was the only formal looking dress Lin owned. Lin, from the day she could remember had been tagging behind Xelloss, Valtierra, and Zelgadiss. No matter how many times Shilfiel tried to keep her still and dress her in cute girl dresses she would quickly get them dirty from the rough playing she did with the three boys. Shilfiel hadn’t given up on the idea of making Lin transform into a cute towns girl, the dress was one example. Others would be the make up and jewelry Shilfiel got her. Lin didn’t mind the make up as much, but the jewelry always got in her way when she was playing that she just put them away in an old box she had found in a raid.
Lin wondered if Lina was receiving the exact same treatment that Lin had received all those years by Shilfiel. Being ‘dressed up’ to look like a lady.
Lina WAS a lady though. The second daughter to the wealthy Inverse clan, she must have attended parties where she got stuck wearing dresses that were suffocating. Lin felt sorry for her. Lina must’ve never known how great it was to look down from the top of a tree, or run barefoot on the summer grass.
Some people of the village did say that the only good thing about living here is pirating but Lin disagreed. She would choose living in this secluded village over living in the town any day. Besides, where was the joy in life if you weren’t even allowed to climb a tree!

"There!! It looks perfect!!" Amelia exclaimed as she finished putting Lina’s hair up in a bun. Filia and Shilfiel nodded in the back. Lina wore a red china dress top with a long flowing red skirt. In her hand she had a fan that Shilfiel had given her and her hair was in two buns.
"Lina-san you look beautiful!!" Filia exclaimed. "But…" Filia took out a little pouch. "Some make up will always look better!" Lina sighed.
"I can apply my own makeup. I was drilled by mother on the ways of it." Lina grabbed the pouch and rummaged through it for some lipstick, eye shadow, foundation, blush and mascara. "I had to look more than presentable when I went to parties and Lina the second daughter of the Inverse Clan." She shooed the three out and sighed.
She carefully started applying the lipstick and smiled at her reflection. Those three did do a good job since she would not have recognized herself if she looked into any reflector. Although she still thought that having red eyes was ugly, the rest of her face looked attractive, if not beautiful. Amelia was right, red was a color that was made for her.
She wasn’t the best looking person in the world but she did look good when she put her mind to it. Added to the handsome inheritance she had before she threw it away, Lina had a lot of suitors, until most of them found out her true personality. Most were fantasizing about the image of ‘Lady Lina of the Inverse Clan’, not ‘Lina Inverse’. True, she had a few serious, or who seemed serious, suitors, but she never really cared for any of them.
Except for one. Graushelaa Dynast. The most well known law man of the country and fairly wealthy. Lina actually considered him more than decent, if she was only talking about friends and nothing more.
"Lina-san, are you ready?" Filia popped her head in through the door. Lina had just finished applying the lipstick when she turned around. "AH!! You look beautiful Lina-san!! It’s a shame you don’t spend so much time on dressing up when you go to ‘real’ parties"
"You think I look nice enough?" Lina asked a little unsure.
"Better than nice enough!!" Amelia, Filia, and Shilfiel replied in unison.
"Now Lina-san, you must get going." Shilfiel grabbed a small white satin purse and handed it to Lina. "You do know the directions to Xelloss-san’s house…right?"
"Yeah. You told me them less than an hour ago." Lina replied sarcastically.
"Well, when you’re living with Gaury dear you get in the habit of making sure. I didn’t mean to offend you."
"It’s understandable.." Lina replied with a sigh. "Anyway, I’ll just get going. See you three later on." She said good bye to Valtierra and Gaury just as she left. She laughed to herself when she heard Valtierra mutter finally.

"Lin-chan, Xel-kun!! You two look cute!!" Zelas exclaimed as she walked into the dining room where Xelloss and Lin had finished setting the table. "You two really should dress up more often!! Especially you Lin-chan. It’s going to be soon that you are going to have to learn the ways of a ‘lady’."
"I don’t want to!!" Lin whined at the sheer thought of such a thing.
"Stop whining. It’s useful when men think of you as a useless lady. You get more information that way, plus the look on their faces when they find out you aren’t a helpless lady is priceless!!"
"Well…I’m not a helpless lady." Lin pouted. "Besides, it’s more fun running around in jeans than having to wear annoying dresses."
Zelas sighed and smiled. "Fine Lin, if you insist."
"Neesan, I’ll be waiting outside." Xelloss said as he left the room. Zelas just waved the fan Luna had given her with smile.

As Xelloss walked out of the house he looked up at the sky. The vivid violet in the upper sky showed that the end of the day was near. Soon the night would come, the night that would never hurt. In the day light everything evil was uncovered, nothing could be hidden, but in the night it was concealed.
The night was there for protection, everything could be hidden from it, he had no fear of being exposed to the world. Everything was secluded and hidden.
Xelloss preferred the night to the day for many reason. For one thing he was more nocturnal, preferred the soft glow of the moon to sun glare. He never understood why one would rather be in the blazing heat of the day to the cool air of the night. Everything had a mysterious and sacred glow around them in the night.
Only did one look more beautiful and sacred under the glaring sun more than under the moon. Hair with the color dyed in the sun, eyes that hold the beauty of a rising sun. Under the sun she looked like a goddess that is merely allowing herself to be seen by them.
Xelloss had never thought that females other than his sisters were of much significance, they blended in with others, if you see one you see them all. Until he saw Lina. Even when she was dragged to him by Lin she still held the dignity and pride, looking at him straight in the eye with out fear. He was mesmerized by her, never had he wanted something as much as he wanted her. His only wish was to keep her at a place where he could see her, day in day out.
The sunset lingered at the horizon line for just a second, and then vanished, allowing darkness to reign. He smiled as he stared up at the crescent moon.