Zelgadis closed his eyes, sitting cross-legged in the rather plain, yet relaxing room Washu had provided. He had known, however, that he wouldn't have been able to make the tricky passage into the astral plane with the others hovering above him, and had banished them from the room. He gave a faint growl of frustration, opening his eyes. "I told you to leave, Lina."
"I don't trust these people." Lina announced, plopping down on the cushion beside him, nearly tipping the floating thing over. "We don't know anything about the local astral plane, or even if one exists!"
"There is one. I would know if there wasn't one." Lina blinked in surprise at Zel's calm assurance. "And just how would you know that?"
"You do know that demons are Astral life forms, don't you?"
"Yes but what does that ... oh. Because you're part demon, you can feel the Astral Plane, even when you're not there." Zel nodded in confirmation. He gently nudged her, trying to hint that she should sit somewhere else. She ignored him, in fact, scooted closer, to his increased nervousness.
"But how do you know what will be safe there?"
"The Astral Plane is never safe, no more as any spot in our world is safe."
"I'm going with you."
"No!"
"I'll follow you if I can't go with you. Besides, I'm the one who can see her silver trail."
Zel glowered at Lina.
"I can see that you don't want me along. Tough. You need my help Zel, and this time you're not getting out of it."
Rezo's head came up, listening almost, his eyes closing in concentration. "They've entered the Astral Plane."
"All we can do now is wait ... and watch."
"Um ... Rezo, sir?" Amelia asked timidly from where she stood at the door. "I'd like to help."
Imagine a world of shapeless color, of light, darkness, the gentlest hope, and pure savagery. That would only be an echo of the true existence of the Astral plane, young Zelgadis. The Astral plane is both more beautiful, and more primal, then you could ever imagine, grandson.
Rezo's words, from some lecture during Zel's
training in magic, echoed through his mind as he gazed out over the Astral
plane. He knew that after he had passed through this area, it would
resume it's regular pattern of behavior, but while he was here, it would
obey to the set of rules he placed upon it.
However, this was definitely a unusual way
for it to obey. There was no true up or down, as vegetation consisted
of plants clinging within lattice-shaped trees that extended as far as
he could see in all directions. There was a faint tug from the direction
that his mind labeled as 'down', but it was easily ignored, and he floated
easily. Another odd thing that he could see was that when two or
more of the lattice-trees came together, they would weave into a fairly
large hollow ball, with pools of water within them, but not a pool as he
normally thought they would be, but more as a free-floating glob of water.
The 'sky' as it was, was a featureless blue-grey that cast a nondirectional
omnipotent light.
He felt Lina slip through the barrier between
planes behind him, her form coalescing rather shakily. He would have
to help her adjust before they could do anything. Zel turned to help
her, but before he could do anything, sheer surprise stopped him.
<< Li-lina?!? >>
Lina blinked in surprise, looking at handsome young man before her. Her jaw dropped in shock. << Zelgadis?!? >> As she looked at him, she decided that yes, this was indeed Zelgadis, but what a change! While his ears were still pointy and his skin was still blue, the rock-like parts of his skin were gone, and there was a distinctly elf-like look to his face. Another thing that had changed was his height. She wasn't sure, but it looked like he had become a good two feet taller, easily now over seven feet tall. The biggest surprise though, were a pair of large wings sprouting from Zel's back.
And what Zelgadis saw when he looked at Lina,
despite the waviness to her form, the occasional wash of strange color,
was even more a surprise, and yet not so, to anyone who knew her.
She too had gained in height, almost as tall as he was. Her figure
was well-shaped for her height, with firm muscles on a surprisingly slender
frame. And her skin was green.
<< Lina, your skin is green. >>
She looked down. He was right. << Any ideas as to why? >> Lina looked at her hands in shock, turning them over to look at the backs of her hands, then back to look at her palms. She glanced at Zelgadis, who was looking more than a little shaken.
<< Not really .... Let me make a mirror for you so you can see all that's changed. >>
<< More than my skin tone? >> Lina eyed him suspiciously as he took her hands and began leading her over to a nearby pool. There seemed something almost desperate about the way he was acting.
<< Quite a bit more. Other than the fact you're nearly as tall as I am. >> Zel placed his hand within the pool, power spreading from it as the pool's ripples smoothed out to leave a surface as smooth and reflective as glass.
A gasp escaped Lina as she gazed at her reflection. <<I look to be my true age ...>> She frowned. << And Amelia still has a better figure than me. >> Still frowning, Lina began gathering her hair in her hands in preparation of tying it back.
<< What the ... Lina, your ears! >> Zel's hand darted forwards, pulling her hair away from her ear. In the still water, they could see the reflection of her ears quite clearly. No longer shaped like human ears, her ears gracefully curved in a point in an almost cat-like shape. << Does your family have an elf somewhere in it's ancestry? >>
<<I think so ...You think that may be why I look like this? >>
<< Well, it's one reason why you would, especially if that elf was a wood elf, but ...>> Zel's voice trailed off uncertainly, a worried frown creasing his forehead. << You look exactly like you would if you were a wood elf in the astral plane, not as a descendent of a wood elf. >>
<< Well, is this going to interfere with our search for Ryoko? >>
<< No ... though we do need to stabilize your form here before we do anything. Right now your astral form is quite weak, as most of it's energy is being expended in just maintaining it's existence. >>
<< Am I going to develop wings? >>
Zel blinked in surprise, completely taken aback by the unexpected question. << I don't know. Mine were the key to stabilizing my form here, but that's probably not necessary for you. >>
<< Then let's get to it. We can puzzle the rest out later, after we've helped Ryoko and have some time on our hands. >>