"If she does anything funny, I've got a Dragon Slave with her name on it," Lina had threatened. Zelgadis had nonverbally backed her up on that one.

Amelia was hesitant to leave her duty as the commander of the Seyruun Relief Squad of Justice, but then decided that the squad was competent enough to function without her. So, she tagged along with the group as well; all in the name of justice, of course.

The first day out of the city was a day of uneasy silence. No one talked, or even really looked at each other for that matter. Even Amelia, whose mouth was usually going a mile a minute, was rather subdued. Sonjia stuck fairly close to Gourry most of the time, since he was the only one she'd come in contact with as of yet who hadn't threatened to kill her. She still hadn't tried her luck with Amelia yet, so there was still hope.

That night, they set up camp in the middle of a forest.

"I'll take first watch," Sonjia suggested. "Then maybe you'll trust me a little better."

Lina and Zelgadis both looked at her in shock. Lina snorted. "Yeah, right," she muttered. "I'd rather have Xellos watch over me than you." Well, maybe she wasn't quite that desperate, but she was close.

"Well, then I'll stay up with her," Gourry offered. "I don't think she's that bad."

"Whatever," said Lina, pulling the bedroll cover over her head. "But if she tries to kill you, don't blame me. And don't say I didn't warn you." Within another two seconds, she could be heard snoring.

"I guess that went well," said Sonjia. "She trusts me enough to fall asleep that fast.... Or maybe she just trusts you enough to skewer me if I breathe the wrong way."

"Actually, she always falls asleep that fast," said Gourry. "But maybe she'll have a change of heart in the morning."

"I hope so," said Sonjia, pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around her legs. "The last thing I need is another enemy."

"Oh, so you did some other stuff before that made other people not like you?" asked Gourry.

Sonjia shook her head. "It's more about what my sister and I didn't do that made others mad at us. I don't really know what happened to my sister while I was sealed up, other than she got herself killed. And probably because of what we didn't do."

"What didn't you do?" asked Gourry.

"It's not important anymore, okay?" she shot at him. "Hopefully after a few thousand years, everyone's forgotten about it." She sighed, resting her head on her knees. "I just wish I knew what's been going on all this time. Things have probably changed so much, I don't even know who my enemies and allies are anymore. I'd probably share a lot more about what happened if I knew who I could trust."

Sonjia looked back over at Gourry, but realized that he'd fallen asleep. "Hmph. Sorry for boring you," she muttered. She quickly put two and two together and realized that that meant she was the only one left awake. An interesting development.

Sonjia stood up and looked at the ribbon still tied to her wrist, which glinted silver in the moonlight filtering through the trees. "Guard duty, huh?" she said to herself. "And what exactly could I do if a monster came tearing through here? Real smart." She took a deep breath. "Still..."

Lina was sprawled out in her disheveled bedroll, snoring like an idiot. Sonjia glanced at her as she walked past. Pathetic. She found Lina's supplies and began rummaging around. After a few minutes, she came across what she was looking for.

"Aha!" she whispered triumphantly, so as not to disturb anyone. It was a small dagger from Lina's swordbelt. Sonjia unsheathed it and looked it over, nodding. "This should do nicely," she commented to herself.

She sheathed the dagger and was about to get up, but felt something sharp and cold pressing against her back.

"I thought you'd try something," said Zelgadis. "I don't believe killing us in our sleep will earn our trust for you."

Sonjia, at swordpoint, raised her hands and dropped the dagger. "You just don't trust anyone, do you? Sorry if you misinterpreted this..."

Zelgadis pressed the sword harder against her back. "What is there to misinterpret? You're stealing one of Lina's weapons."

"I'm not stealing it! Just borrowing it," Sonjia explained. "Look, I decided that I'd make a pretty lousy guard if I was unarmed. And since I don't have any weapons of my own, I thought I should borrow one just for tonight."

"Uh huh," said Zel, not believing a word of it. "Is that the best excuse you can think up?"

"It's not an excuse! It's the truth!" Sonjia growled. "Jeez, isn't there anything I can say that would make you believe me?"

"Nothing comes to mind," Zelgadis replied flatly. "Lina won't mind if I kill you, though. You being near her supplies with the dagger out is proof enough that you were up to something."

Sonjia's shoulders shook with anger. There was just no way of talking reason to this guy! And if she hit him before to get away, she could do it again....

She swung her arm around for a punch to his stomach. She hit him dead on, but this time, it felt like she'd just punched a wall. As she recoiled, Zelgadis brought his sword down, giving her a rather nasty cut on her arm.

"Owwww... Gods, do you keep rocks in your shirt or something?" she said, shaking her injured hand.

"In a manner of speaking," said Zelgadis, putting his sword away. "Haven't you noticed that I look quite a bit different from everyone else?"

"Everyone looks a little different from each other," said Sonjia, rubbing her hand. "What makes you so special?"

Zelgadis fell over. "If you're trying to get on my good side by claiming you don't notice it, don't try. It doesn't help to claim not to see something that's obviously there."

"And what would that be?" she asked, looking for something to be used as a bandage. She looked back up to see Zel slowly pounding his head against a nearby tree.

"Are you really that much of an idiot?" he grumbled. "Can't you see that I have blue skin, rocks all over my face, and wire hair?"

"No," said Sonjia flatly.

Zelgadis growled and drew his sword again, pointing it at her. "And you say we mock you! You're revolting!"

"Sorry you feel that way," said Sonjia indifferently, wrapping a bandage around her bleeding arm. "I don't know what you see, but I'm just saying what I see."

He sheathed his sword and crossed his arms. "So, what do you see?"

Sonjia glared up at him. "I see a stubborn boy living in his own little reality, completely absorbed in himself, without giving the slightest attention to those surrounding him. He takes his own interpretations as the gospel truth, and won't listen to the reason of others. And before you ask, his skin is the same color as mine, and his hair, although it looks like he got electrocuted, does not appear to be made of wire."

Zel's expression didn't change. "So, to you, I'm just a normal person. I guess that means that if you punch anyone, you'll break your hand."

Sonjia looked at her hand and spread it, hearing the joints crack. She winced. "Hey, it didn't hurt when I hit you before. I don't know why it did this time. Unless your stomach's different from your face."

"Stone skin all around," he sighed. "No soft spots, no spots particularly harder than others. I don't particularly feel like standing here all night explaining my physiological characteristics to you, so would you mind dropping this conversation?"

She got up and glared at him straight in the face. And then she brought her good hand up and flicked his nose. Withdrawing her hand triumphantly, she exclaimed, "Ha! That didn't hurt! I knew I wasn't going crazy!"

"I beg to differ," said Zelgadis, holding his nose. "I thought you were crazy from the moment I saw you. You're nothing but a lunatic who was probably sealed away so she wouldn't wreak havoc on the world."

"Ah ah ah," she said, waving a finger in his face. "That's just your opinion of me. And, since I pride myself in not being like you, I respect your opinion. But just because you think it's true doesn't make it true." She brought her arm down, but realized it was still bleeding. "Drat. I need a bandage."

Zelgadis pulled the ribbon off her wrist. "Why don't you just use this thing? Or are you too attached to it to get it soiled?"

"Hey hey," she warned, grabbing the end of it quickly. "Don't ever take this from me, got it?"

"What's so special about it?" Zel asked. "You've had it off for a while before, and it hasn't killed you, so it can't be that important."

"It won't kill me," said Sonjia, trying to yank it out of his hand, "But it could kill you."

"Oh yes," said Zel sarcastically. "I'm dying. The very touch of this little ribbon is killing me. It's burning my hand, and I'm wasting away to nothingness. Oh, what a cruel fate it is to be defeated by a little piece of fabric."

Sonjia finally pried the ribbon out of his hand and tied it around the injury on her arm, having some difficulty, considering her right hand was badly bruised. "It's not like that," she explained. "The ribbon itself won't kill you. Just someone who knows how to use it will."

"Oh, so the ribbon is a weapon, then?" Zelgadis reasoned.

Sonjia let out a huff. "No, it's not a weapon! It's.... Urrrgh!" she yelled, frustrated out of her mind. "Just.... Go away!" she said, turning her back on him.

"I still need to kill you for stealing Lina's weapons," he stated.

Sonjia yawned and lay on the ground. "Do it in the morning. All this arguing has left me completely exhausted. Good night."

Zelgadis fumed. He thought about just drawing his sword and impaling her right there, but he decided he was above killing someone in their sleep. Unlike her, he mused.

Everyone awoke early the next morning, fully rested. The first thing on Lina's mind was breakfast, so she ordered everyone to gather up all the supplies as quickly as possible so they could get a move on.

Amelia noticed the bandage on Sonjia's arm and asked, "Hey, when did that happen?"

Sonjia nervously turned away, hoping that Zelgadis hadn't told them his version of the story yet. "Um, I just got in a little accident last night. That's all."

Amelia examined the cut. "That's okay. I specialize in white magic, so this shouldn't be a problem to fix up."

"Oh, you don't need to bother yourself with me. I'm fine!" Sonjia tried in vain to pull her arm away.

"Don't worry, this wont hurt," said Amelia, charging up a healing spell. She held a glowing white light over Sonjia's arm.... and nothing happened. "Hm, that's odd," said Amelia, holding her hand closer. "The wound should be closing up." She touched her hand to the cut, and the healing spell evaporated completely. Amelia blinked. "I've never seen that happen before."

Sonjia pulled her arm away. "I guess my arm just doesn't feel like getting healed today."

"Hell-ooo!" Lina interrupted. "Would you two quit standing around? I'm hungry! And if we don't get to a restaurant fast, I'll eat you!"

Realizing she probably wasn't kidding, Sonjia and Amelia jogged up to join the rest of the group in their quest for food.

The map had indicated a town on the other side of the forest. It would take about two hours to get there, and everyone hoped that Lina didn't resort to cannibalism along the way. Thankfully, due to Lina's hunger-induced speed, they made it through the forest in an hour. Just as the map had said, a small town lay just down the hill.

"Food!" Lina exclaimed, taking off at lightning speed. Gourry was hot in pursuit, trying to get to town before Lina did to get first dibs on the menu.

"Are those two always like this around food?" Sonjia asked Amelia.

"Yup!" said Amelia cheerily. "You get used to it after a while."

"I haven't" said Zelgadis, slowly making his way down the hill, pulling his hood and mask over his face. "I don't understand why I even bother hanging around with those two."

Amelia shrugged. "Well, while Lina-san and Gourry-san are eating, we can ask the townspeople about any unjust deeds that have been going on around here, and help purge the area of injustice!"

"That's..... nice...." said Sonjia slowly. What a strange girl. But at least she was a little less judgmental than Lina or Zelgadis. "By the way," she said, whispering to Amelia, "Why does Zelgadis wear that hood and mask?"

"Oh, he's really self-conscious about his looks," said Amelia. "He's worried about people looking at him funny when he goes into town."

But Zelgadis didn't have to worry about any strange looks, because everyone in town was dead.