Xalan flinched and stopped in mid stride. He had known that Xina was in battle, but she had been handling herself well enough by the feel of it. Now she'd been hit hard again.
"Is something wrong, Xalan-san?" Celina asked nervously.
"My sister is in trouble," he said without doubt.
"You can tell when she's hurt?" Tinuviel asked. "How very interesting, I wonder if the reverse is true." Xalan cringed at that phrase, he reached into his pouch and idly began playing some red jeweled amulet.
"Excuse me, where'd you get that?" the one that looked like his mother asked. Xalan looked down.
"Something Val brought from my mother," he said idly. "Its for sorcerers but Amethyst said something about not knowing the proper spells, I've been holding them since then." Gracia and Celina started whispering at each other and then turned smiling faces toward him.
"Perhaps you should wear it." They suggested. "It enhances black magic, you're half-mazoku."
"Hadn't thought of that," he shrugged. "Well, thanks for the food and the claws." Xalan said gesturing with the gauntlet over his right hand. "But now we definitely have to be going."
"Of course, but come again some time, maybe bring your mother." Xalan sweatdropped at his mother's probable reaction to a passive copy of herself, unaware of exactly how accurate that thought was.
"Maybe," he said, walking away. He turned to wave politely once before clipping one of the jeweled bracelets to his wrist. A series of black and silver energy bands passed over it as he fastened it, and the kage-kitsune felt a surge of power. "Whoah. They were right."
He fastened the remaining amulets on and felt the same rush of power with each of them. As the rushes finally passed he noticed that his senses had suddenly sharpened, all of them. Xalan had to clear his head before his mind adapted and assimulated the new information, and then he knew in which direction Xina was.
"Do you mind a piggy back ride, Tinu?" he asked. She looked him briefly for a moment and he knew she embarrassed before the blush even started to rise. "We can move faster that way."
"H..hai," she stammered.
"Good," he kneeled down and let her climb on his back. Then he stood up and started running. Fast. Then he had to jump over a person that had suddenly appeared in his way, and he didn't come down for nearly half a mile.
Throughout the run Tinuviel hung tightly to his back, and he could tell what she was feeling. He would have expected blank terror, but, typical of Tinuviel, there was merely a sense of wonder and intense curiousity.
He wouldn't get there for another couple of days, but he would get there quickly. And he knew that Xina was alive. All of his senses were primed and directed for the task he had always been best at. Hunting.
"Why does my head still hurt?" Xina asked as she came to.
"Because you keep passing out," Amethyst answered. "And I don't think your brother would like it if you died because I tried to cast recovery when I shouldn't have."
"Was that sarcasm coming from you?" Xina asked. "I think I hit my head harder than I thought."
"Then its a catching condition," Jol shrugged. "Because I heard it too."
"I've been working on that line since we sat down," Amethyst complained. "Can't you at least pretend to be stumped for a response?" Jol and Xina stared at her in wide-eyed surprise, she sweatdropped.
"Uh...where's that..." Luna appeared at their table and handed Xina a menu. She looked up at the sorceress in confusion.
"And what will you be having today?" Xina's mouth hung open. Luna's eyes narrowed. "Seeing that your my sister's daughter, I assume you eat like your friend here." Xina continued to stare, Luna hmphed in frustration. She then reached forward and put a hand on her forhead, frowning. "How are you feeling? I have no gift for healing magic."
"My head hurts," Xina whimpered as if she were eight years old again. The shock of seeing the powerful sorceress actually serving tables had been a little much.
"I could try to heal her again," Amethyst suggested.
"No, I want to talk to her," Luna said. She turned and walked to the obvious owner of the inn or tavern they were inside. "I'm taking my break."
"Fine, go ahead," the man answered nervously.
"This shouldn't take long," Luna pulled up a chair and placed it at the head of the slayers' table. "I am given to understand that you came here looking..." Xellos's staff flew across the room into her hand. "...for this."
"That's mine," Xina reached for it across the table. Luna took the staff's tip and pushed her back into her seat and against the wall.
"Please wait for me to ask you a question," Luna said. Then she twirled the staff and handed it to the irritated kage-kitsune. "I would like know...."
"Well the staff was..." Amethyst found that her stone skin was suddenly inflexible as well as hard.
"I know about Roquen, thank you," Luna said, then released her spell. "As I was saying, I would like to understand how YOU can be my niece."
"What do you mean?" Xina asked.
"But Luna-sama, you heard the...." Luna rolled her eyes as Val's head was smashed against the wall. Heard enough to daze, but nothing else.
"I was talking to....Xina."
"What do you mean how can I be your niece?" Jol looked like he was about to say something, Luna looked at him and he snapped his mouth shut.
"Your sister and my dad met, fell in love..." she found her mouth forced closed. Luna reminded herself that the girl was still injured and that her normal methods of chastizement could result in something serious.
"That is not what I meant," Luna explained patiently and tightly. "In case you have failed to notice, I am human, Lina was...is my full sister. When last I heard, your father at least looked human. So please explain why you don't."
"You're not a shape changer?" Xina asked confused as the spell released her.
"Shape changer?" Luna repeated. "One moment," She reached into her pocket and pulled out a coin. The sorceress turned it over in her hand and then it lifted up and drifted to Xina. The fox girl felt her arm pulled out and watched as her hand was pulled open. The coin dropped into her palm and then her hand closed.
"What are you doing?" Xina asked, Luna just kept her spell's grip on Xina's hand. "That's starting to hurt. Quit it. Ouch, please, Luna-san, please LET GO OF MY HAND!!" She was really struggling by this point, and her friends were starting to move. Luna shrugged and released Xina's hand, letting the silver coin fall to the table. Xina snatched back her head, giving Luna only the barest glimpse of the angry red burn on her hand.
"My sister is a werecreature?" Xina held back tears, glaring angrily at her aunt.
"Lina-sama is a were-fox," Luna looked at Amethyst, who shifted nervously and added. "Luna-sama."
"That explains why you can use the moon's power," Luna said. "And why your abilities are....unusual. Lucky girl."
"I'm always getting beaten to a pulp," Xina grumbled. "How lucky can I be?"
"I doubt that you would have survived with a father of any other race," Luna explained coldly. "Lycanthropy kills children."
"Is there anything else you want to know?"
"Not really," Luna said. "Though I suppose I should pay my sister a visit sometime soon."
"Then we can go destroy the undead horde now?" Jolrael asked.
"Of course," Luna said, standing up and checking her uniform.
"Aren't you going to help?" Val asked.
"Depends on whether its my day off or not," Luna answered. "Or if they come here." She shrugged.
"I don't get it," Amethyst said. "You're the Knight of Ceipheed, shouldn't you be interested in saving the world?"
"Are you demanding an explanation?" Luna asked through narrowed eyes.
"No, never mind," Amethyst stammered. Luna nodded and walked to her boss.
"I'll be back from my break in a moment."
"H-hai." Luna walked into the hallway towards the kitchen. Unnoticed to everyone else she shimmered away. Holding the soul of the dragon god gave her access to powers usually closed to humans, such as teleporting. The sorceress appeared on the fields, on her own. She scanned about for a moment and then released her facade. The sorceress dropped to her knees and gasped.
"Thank the HEAVENS, she's alive," she cried. She sobbed from the release of pent up emotions and repeated the pertinent thought. Quietly, almost as if she could make it true by saying it. "She's. Alive."
Then Luna stoof up and recovered herself before teleporting back to the inn.
"I'm back," she said coldly.