Dawn had just broken, and so, unfortunately, had the compass.

Even with a protection spell on it, to keep it from getting thrown off or misdirected by anyone or anything, it wasn't strong enough to counter the effects of a boot-heel--in short, it was now magically intact but physically an embarrassing mess.

At that hour of the morning, the five travellers were too tired to bicker over exactly whose heel had gone through the thing. So Lina, as usual, decided on a solution.

"We'll have to put it back together," she declared, trying to disguise the fact that she was still groggy. "It's the only compass we've got and we're days from a village."

"But Miss Lina, I'm not sure healing spells will work on something that doesn't have Life," Amelia pointed out.

"But it has magic--doesn't that count for something?" yawned Gourry.

Lina shook her head. "Not really. I mean, technically it binds all the pieces together, which is good because it means we're not going to lose any, but a protection spell doesn't really count as a life-force."

"Oh. Bummer."

She wasn't awake enough to pummel him yet, so she settled for a dirty look. "I'm going to go have a nap, and when I get up, we're gonna put it back together."

There were a few grunts of acknowledgement, and then drowsiness won out over the group. Except for Zelgadis, who hadn't actually emerged from his tent.

Halfway back to her tent, Lina remembered he hadn't showed up when the compass discussion had started, and turned around to go check on him. There was a weak light showing through the thin material of his tent, but if he was awake, why hadn't he come out yet?

"Zel?" she called, softly. "Hey, Zel?"

No response. She lifted the tent-flap.

The light wasn't magic. It was a candle, which had almost completely burned down, and whose flame was dimly reflected off the chimera's silvery hair. Balanced on a few spell-books, it was just bright enough to illuminate Zel's sleeping form: his cloak was tightly wrapped around his body, and his thin frame was curled into a ball. For someone so tall, he looked... little.

Lina bit her lip. I hope he's feeling all right. He didn't look all right--he wasn't pale, but he definitely didn't look peaceful. His features were knotted into a frown, and his eyelids twitched a bit, as if he were having a bad dream.

Poor Zel, she thought, frowning. I'll have to remember to go easy on him when he gets up.

She let the flap fall closed and then went back to her own tent; when she dozed off again she dreamt of fixing the compass with Zel's wire hair, and smiled in her sleep.



Sylfiel woke with a start outside her tent. The campfire had gone out, but there was light on her face--the sun! It was past ten, judging by the shadows on the ground. Oh, merciful earth, had she nodded off? That was embarrassing, but then again, she did feel more refreshed. And Miss Lina wasn't yelling at her, which meant she probably didn't have to worry about being accused of shirking.

And now that her head was clear, of course, she could think about how to solve the compass problem. Miss Lina had said someone had put a foot through it; the needle was probably bent, and it had probably come loose of the other pieces. If they could get it anchored again it wouldn't be a problem... maybe an adhesive spell would do it? But if that worked like glue, the needle wouldn't move at all.

Suddenly she heard someone swearing.

"Miss Lina?" Sylfiel sat up, then managed to get to her feet. "Miss Lina, are you all right?"

A mass of red hair crested out of one of the tents. "I'm fine, Sylfiel. I just need to be alone with this damn compass."

"It's that bad?"

"Yeah." Lina wriggled all the way out of her tent, holding up something twinkly. "It's worse than 'that bad'. I've tried every spell I could think of to hold it together, and it still won't work. Right now I just wish it would look good."

She turned her hand a little, to look at it from a different angle; for a moment Sylfiel thought it flashed a bit brighter, but Lina didn't seem to notice it.

"Would you like me to help you?"

"No, that's okay." She heaved a sigh. "I'll get it eventually. I usually do."



Back to the "Nothing" index