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Tell the Northern Lights to Keep Shining	By : QueenHimiko Category: +S to Z > Slayers Views: 3352 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the Slayers, I make no profit.

Chapter List
- 8
- 9
AN: Chapter title is from "Past the Mission" by Tori Amos. Thanks to the one who has left reviews. This was difficult to write and I appreciate the support.

Lina pressed her hands against her chest, taking comfort from the crinkle of the paper that resulted. Give them hell! She told herself, repeating the directive her folks had given her. Gourry squeezed her shoulders gently. Any minute she would be called in to testify on her behalf. After months of waiting the inquiry was in full swing.

The first day had been devoted to going over the testimony of most of the other twenty-three women who had stepped forward. Rainclaff had them testify in chronological order. Something about the development of the modus operandi the group had used. Naturally this meant that Lina, as the last survivor, would be the last to testify. After spending the first day and most of the second one pacing in the waiting room she was ready to just get it over with.

The door opened and the bailiff said, “Miss Inverse, they’re ready.”

Give them hell! she reminded herself, feeling for the letter once more and gaining comfort and strength from it. Gourry planted a kiss on the crown of her head. “I love you.” He whispered.

“Love you.” She mumbled, and then she took a deep breath to steel herself. She was not going to let this Council of Twelve see just how scared she was.

Shoulder to shoulder they walked into the courtroom. Lina glanced over to her right at the twelve nobles who would determine whether or not she acted in self-defense. At the head of the table was Queen Myra, who looked like a force in her own right with her untamed, fiery red curls. Lina reminded herself that she would be gunning for her and tried not to pay too much attention to the others as she and Gourry separated. He took a seat in the audience, which was composed mostly of the other survivors and their families along with Amelia and Phil. Unfortunately the family members of the men she had slain were also there. They were segregated from the survivors and their families sat on the east side. Lina resolved not to give them a second glance.

Karen sat at a desk nearby, quill at the ready to transcribe the proceedings. Rainclaff and Melynda sat at a table opposite where the council sat. Steadily Lina made her way to the witness chair, repeating her parents’ directive to herself as she tried to shake the feeling of all of the eyes boring into her. She took another deep, calming breath. After today it would all be over, one way or another.

She finally made it to the chair and sat in it, crossing her legs and folding her hands in her lap. Rainclaff walked up to her and smiled at her encouragingly. She reminded herself that he was doing his best to get her out of this mess and worked to set any lingering resentment aside as he had her state her name for the record. The first questions were easy and mundane, but in a matter of minutes he was asking the painful questions about the events of that night.

She was amazed at how composed she was for a change as she answered his questions. For one thing everything that had been done to her that night had already been done to most of the other women in the room and described by them as well. It wasn’t anything the Council of Twelve hadn’t heard before. For some strange reason it made it easier, as if she wasn’t some deviant by having it performed on her. For another she knew it was the last time she would ever have to talk about it.

She answered his questions as briefly as possible, giving them a good picture of the brutality of the crime, of how close she had come to having her head severed from her neck, of how close she had come to dying that night. Her hands were sweating, but other than that she doubted she betrayed any of the anxiety she was feeling.

“Miss Inverse, would you care to tell us how you escaped such a perilous situation.” Rainclaff said.

Lina took a breath. This was the crucial part, the part she had gone over with Melynda repeatedly. “Mr. Skiro was holding the ax to my neck.” She began, “He was drunk. It was so bad that his grip slipped and he cut even deeper into my neck before he passed out from too much whiskey. When he did I grabbed the ax and attacked Officer Brody, who was currently violating me. I then hit Mr. Semaj with an uppercut to knock him out.”

“So in the space of a minute you had subdued all three of your attackers.”

“Yes.”

“Can you describe your frame of mind at the time?”

Yes.” She said, “I was in shock. The attack lasted for over two hours and I was still scared. It was hard for me to believe that I was safe after undergoing more than two hours of their brutality.”

“What did you do next?”

“I worked to secure the scene.”

“Meaning?”

“I found my sword and slit their throats.”

“Did it not occur to you to go to the police?”

“No.” Lina replied honestly.

“Why not?”

“I’m in the business of fighting Dark Lords, mazoku and demons and other such beings. When they attack it’s not as if I can go to the police for help, because they police can’t defend themselves against them. Going to the police and getting help would mean more people dead.” She smiled wryly as she added, “It wasn’t as if when Shabranigdo was reborn I could tell him to wait right there while I went down to the police station after all.”

Rainclaff smiled, “Of course not.”

“So when there’s danger, I’m used to having to take care of it myself. If I didn’t I would be dead.”

“So it would make sense that after undergoing such a trauma you would instinctively do what had helped you survive for the past six years as a traveling sorceress.”

“Exactly.” Lina said as she glanced at the Council of Twelve, “When you’re fighting monsters, you either flee or fight to the death. Wounding a monster won’t get it off your back, it will just attack while you have your guard down. I was in no condition to flee, so I had to make sure they were dead.”

“But Miss Inverse, there is a crucial difference. The men who attacked you were mere humans, and not monsters.”

Lina nodded, “At the time I did not see that much of a difference. Monsters like to inflict pain and suffering because they feed off of it. Because I wouldn’t cooperate, Mr. Skiro, Officer Brody and Mr. Semaj went out of their way to make sure I felt as much pain and humiliation as possible, just like a monster does. They may not have had the power a monster possesses, but they shared their depravity.”

“How did that affect how you dealt with them?”

“It made it hard for me to view them as human.” Lina replied, “I thought, and still think, of them as monsters. So I slayed them like one.”

“You depraved bitch!” someone from the crowd called. In an instant pandemonium was unleashed as the side of the room with the survivors found themselves in a shouting match against the side of the room that contained relatives of the attackers.

“Order!” Queen Myra demanded as she rang a bell.

It was a tense few minutes, but eventually both sides calmed down, and the guard escorted the person who had original spoken out of turn from the courtroom. “Let me remind the audience to be silent.” Queen Myra said menacingly.

No one needed to be told twice. Lina wondered if this was the first time an outburst happened as Queen Myra held the audience’s gaze. Finally she looked at Rainclaff, “You may resume.”

He nodded, “So Miss Inverse, would it be safe to say that after experiencing hours of cruelty you saw Mr. Semaj, Mr. Skiro, and Officer Brody as another monster and fell back on your years as a monster killer and dealt with them as such.”

“It is.”

He nodded. “No more questions.”

Lina took a deep breath as he went to sit at the table and waited for the questions from the Council of Twelve. “Miss Inverse.” A blond woman dressed from head to toe in jewels began, “You say that your actions that night were guided by the belief that these men were just as cruel as the monsters you have dealt with and had nothing to do with a desire for vigilante justice. Yet you are also known for slaying bandits. How do you explain this?”

Lina grinned to herself. She still didn’t like Rainclaff, but she did have to admit that he did see that question coming. “Bandits stick to small towns and attack areas where people travel, not big established cities with police departments. Often these towns are at their mercy and there is no law to go to. You don’t know how many mayors and townspeople have thanked me for ridding them of a menace to their population.”

More questions followed, and Rainclaff proved his mettle again and again. He had not only anticipated them, but he had had Melynda spend hours with Lina practicing a polished reply to each of them. Lina felt her confidence grow as they had finally run out of questions and she was dismissed.

Feeling as though a great burden had been removed from her shoulders, she went to sit between Gourry and Camilla. Gourry wrapped her into a hug and kissed her forehead, “You did great.” He said encouragingly as she squeezed his hand.

She looked up to notice the bailiff talking to Rainclaff and Melynda. “We would now like to call Mr. Zelgadis Greywards to testify.”

Lina and Gourry exchanged a confused glance. “When did Zel get back?” she whispered.

He shrugged. Lina looked over at Amelia and found that she seemed just as surprised as they were when Zel walked in, his clothes still dusty from his latest travels. He carried a stack of documents with him as he made his way over to the witness chair and took a seat. Rainclaff stood up and had Zel state his name and occupation for the record before asking. “Now Mr. Greywards, what brings you here to speak to us today?”

“I am here to speak on behalf of Polly Lancaster, Opal Worth, Mary Westword, Olivia Green, and three other unidentified women who are no longer able to.”

Lina felt her jaw drop as a whispered hush rang through the crowd. Gourry’s hand dug into her knee as Queen Myra rang the bell, “Order!”

Silence permeated the room and Rainclaff continued, “And how do you come to speak for them?”

“A few months ago I was in a town ten miles south of Anilorac when the family of Polly Lancaster approached me. Miss Lancaster had been missing for six months. She was traveling from Lerner to Grimke, and never made it to Grimke. She had last been spotted in Anilorac, and then her trail went cold. After hearing about the attack on Miss Inverse, they wondered if there might be a connection and they enlisted my help to find it.”

Lina started to tremble as Camilla put a hand on her shoulder. They exchanged a glance. They hadn’t been the only ones to fight. They had been the only ones who fought and survived.

“What happened next?”

“I accompanied the Lancaster family to Anilorac, where I met the Worth and Westword families. I secured the register from the Ant’s Head Inn and found that Polly Lancaster, Opal Worth and Mary Westword had all stayed there.” He gave the dates that each woman had written by her name on the register before continuing, “I sent parties out in a fifty mile radius of Anilorac to search the registers of each inn. None of the woman had signed in at any of them after the date recorded at the Ant’s Head Inn.

“While waiting to hear word from the parties, I started searching the area using magic. Eventually I found the bodies of seven women buried in the woods not five miles away from the Ant’s Head Inn.”

Gourry wrapped an arm around her protectively as a sick feeling grew within her stomach. Zel steadily continued, “Each of them was decapitated. The Lancasters’ identified a bracelet on one of the skeletons as belonging to Polly. A ring helped us to positively identify the remains of Miss Opal Worth, and a pink hair ribbon helped us to identify Miss Mary Westword.

“We sent out notices of the discovery of female remains, along with descriptions of items found with them. That was how we identified the remains of Miss Olivia Green. We are still working to positively identify the remaining three.”

“What other evidence do you have that Miss Green stayed at the Ant’s Head Inn?”

“We have her signature on the register. Like the others she never made it to any other inn after staying at the Ant’s Head Inn and was never seen again after being spotted in Anilorac.”

Rainclaff nodded, “What other evidence do you have for us today?”

“The sworn testimony of Maude Hubbard, a maid at the Ant’s Head Inn. In it she details being paid extra by Mr. Pollan Skiro to clean rooms that had been drenched in blood and to stay silent about it.”

“Mr. Greywards, what conclusion do you draw from this evidence?”

“That Polly Lancaster, Opal Worth, Mary Westword, Olivia Green, and three others were decapitated while staying at the Ant’s Head Inn and buried. And that Pollan Skiro was aware of it.”

Rainclaff turned to face the twelve. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have heard the testimony of twenty-four woman who related the horrible ordeal of being raped by Pollan Skiro, Chris Brody, and Regis Semaj. Twenty of them also relate being raped by Captain Henry Brody before he was transferred to Rolat, and the dates that the four identified women were staying at the Ant’s Head Inn overlap the time that Captain Brody was there.

“Two report putting up a fight and being threatened with rape with an ax to their throats. And let me remind you that both Miss Camilla Perkins and Miss Lina Inverse report that they barely survived that night. Based on these facts, Mr. Greywards, what do you believe would be reasonable to conclude?”

“That Pollan Skiro, Regis Semaj, and the Brody brothers were involved in the rape and murder of those seven women.”

Pandemonium broke loose once again as members of the Skiro, Semaj, and Brody families started yelling. Camilla grabbed Lina’s hand as their side of the room also erupted and Queen Myra struggled to reign in the chaos. Gourry continued to hold her possessively as he stroked her knee while she wondered if they had continued to fight even after the ax had been brought out, choosing death over violation. Or, if like she had nearly been, they had been decapitated while struggling to survive as their tormentors became careless under the influence of too much to drink.

Survival. It had been her sole goal that night. After words she had questioned the wisdom of her narrow focus. Living with the memories of that night had caused so much pain and shame. The tangled web she had found herself in during the aftermath seemed to emphasize how much easier it would have been had she died.

But if she hadn’t have submitted and endured until an opening for an attack presented itself, how many more women would have died? How many more would have been raped? That she had made the right decision seeped into her bones. It had brought untold agony and pain to her, but it had also enabled her to end the reign of terror they had conducted. For the first time she felt as though she could forgive herself for not choosing death over violation. She had survived, and that was a good thing.

She found herself hoping that the other women had fought for survival just as fiercely as she had. For while it had left her torn and feeling impure and unclean, she still had the opportunity to live and enjoy life. And as hard as the past six months had been there had been moments of joy, sweetness and bliss.

The moment she had won and given the Blast Sword to Gourry. The exhilaration as they explored their mutual feelings of affection towards each other for the first time. The joy they found with each other. The humbleness of learning about the kindness of strangers who would risk their lives to stand beside her. The security that came with knowing that her family would back her, that her friends would support her. The outpouring of love she felt for each of them. She would never have known these things had she chosen death.

That night was torturous. But it had not ruined her. She was learning to draw strength from it. She would be stronger. Notions that women were better off dead than violated be damned.

Queen Myra eventually got the room under control. Rainclaff asked Zel if he had any further testimony and then he was turned over to the Council of Twelve for questioning. None of them had any, so after handing over the evidence he was dismissed and went to sit beside Amelia and Phil.

Rainclaff stood up and addressed the Council of Twelve, “You have now heard from twenty-five witnesses. Twenty-four of them have relayed the horrible ordeal of being raped at the Ant’s Head Inn. One spoke on behalf of seven women who have been forever silenced.”

He folded his arms across himself as he continued, “Through their testimony we have established that the Brody brothers, Skiro Pollan, and Regis Semaj had spent the past year and a half raping and at times killing women who sought shelter at the Ant’s Head Inn. Some were single, others were married. Some were mothers, others were maidens. Some traveled for a living, for others it was the first time they had left home. Some were young, others older. All that mattered to them was that they could be found alone in a room that they had paid for to shelter them.

“Eight of the women report attempting to contact the police only to find that the Brody brothers were the police. They detailed the ‘punishments’ they received for breaking their silence. They reached out for help, only to find themselves further brutalized.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you, how many more women would have suffered at their hands had Miss Lina Inverse not put a stop to it? This had already gone on for a year and a half. Reaching out to the authorities was useless. The men who were entrusted to protect the population were the very ones preying on it.

“Of course, there is no way Miss Inverse knew this at the time. What she did know was that her life was in danger. The discovery of the brutal murder of seven women confirms Miss Inverse’s fears. And as a trained and accomplished monster slayer, she did what came naturally as soon as an opportunity presented itself. She took down three men who, while not monsters, their actions were certainly monstrous.

“Had she not acted, how many more women would have been brutalized at their hands? How many more would have died?

“Ladies and gentlemen, Miss Inverse has already suffered greatly for taking down three men who were a menace to their town. I ask that the judgment of her end, and that she be allowed to live her life in peace so that she may move on and heal.”

Quiet fell through the courtroom as Rainclaff took his seat. Queen Myra rang the bell. “The council will now adjourn for deliberations.”

***

Gourry held Lina close to him as they waited with the other survivors and their loved ones in the banquet room. The mood was decidedly grim as everyone processed the news of the deaths of the seven women who had stayed there. The knowledge that each other the survivors was lucky to be there weighed on everyone’s mind.

Gourry’s mind worked overtime to not imagine what it would have been like to have walked into her room that morning only to find bloody sheets with no trace of her presence. He held her a little tighter, taking comfort in the feel of her warm body against his, thanking his lucky stars that it had not been the case.

Eventually people started talking in low whispered hushes. About how cruel the families of the rapists had been. About how gut wrenching listening to the testimony was. About an insensitive question that one of the nobles asked. About how chilling Zel’s testimony was. About what was taking the Council of Twelve so long.

He noticed Lina looking at the clock nervously. He glanced at it. Two hours. They had been deliberating for two hours! After hearing Zel’s testimony it seemed like it would be a no-brainer that they would let Lina walk, but if they were taking this long did it mean that they were seriously considering handing her over to the Duke of Semaj?

He took a deep breath. Panicking would not do them any good. “May be they just want to go over the evidence that Zel brought real well.” He whispered to her.

She nodded as she continued to stare at the clock, watching as the time moved agonizingly slow. Around them people started wondering what was taking so long and how this could be anything other than a simple decision. Three hours passed, and then four. Dinner was brought in. They ate without really tasting it. If they had to go on the run who knew the next time they would be able to stop and enjoy a good meal after all?

After six hours of waiting she exchanged a nervous glance with Gourry. “I can’t sit here waiting any longer.”

He nodded, and together they stood up to head to her chambers when the door burst open. “They’ve reached a decision.” A guard said.

***

The mood in the courtroom was tense as people filed in and found a seat. Lina scanned the crowd for any sign of Amelia, but the princess was nowhere to be found. She took a seat at the front row as Gourry sat beside her and grabbed her hand. Finally the crowd settled down and the Council of Twelve filed in, along with Amelia and Phil.

Lina ignored the twelve nobles, and focused on making eye contact with Amelia, who smiled encouragingly when she saw her. Lina felt a weight lit off of her as the nobles seated themselves and Queen Myra rang for order. Without pomp or preamble she said, “It is the decision of this inquiry that Miss Lina Inverse did justly act in self defense when she killed Officer Brody, Mr. Semaj and Mr. Skiro. The bounty on her is hereby nullified, and she is free to travel as she pleases.”

The sound of her ringing the bell was drowned in a roar of cheers from the side of the room with the survivors and jeers from the families of the rapists. Lina paid little attention to them as Gourry lifted her up to twirl her into the air, before lowering her down to draw a kiss from her lips before swinging her around again. She laughed breathily as she clung to him while people offered their congratulations.

“Party in the banquet hall!” someone said.

Lina ignored her as Gourry set her down and she reached up to kiss him again as relief washed over her. She pulled away to look him in the eyes as people started leaving the courtroom to head to the banquet hall. “This isn’t over, slut!” someone called.

“Eat my fireball!” she said sardonically.

Gourry held her hand, desperate to get her to a safe place where none of the families members of the rapists were, “I guess we’d best get the guest of honor to the party.”

***

Lina sat down across from Zel, “I can’t thank you enough for the leg work you did there.” She said.

He smiled at her, pleased that her earlier reticence to talk with him had vanished. “That’s what friends are for. Besides, once I got involved and met with the families of the missing women, it was hard to turn my back.”

Lina took a sip of wine. She decided she was going to indulge a little and to hell with what anyone thought, even if she wasn’t going to allow herself more than one glass. “You’re not the heartless mystical swordsman you paint yourself to be.”

“He’s mellowed out.” Amelia said as she sat beside him.

“And what was your role in that?” Lina asked slyly.

“Princess Amelia, why did the deliberations take so long?” Celia asked as she sat down beside Lina.

Amelia groaned. “Well, the Duke of Semaj wields considerable influence, and money. And several weren’t comfortable with a commoner killing a noble under any circumstances. But news of the murders has already started to spread. People are already calling for the blood of Captain Brody, and the people under the duke are wondering if he knew anything or not. It took some convincing, but finally Queen Myra got a majority to agree to clear Miss Lina.”

Lina did not want to ask how large that majority was. “And the bounty has been rescinded?”

“It has. The Duke is not too happy about it, but he has a caseload of his own problems. Namely that some former chambermaids have stepped forward with their own allegations against him. I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

“But would they really prosecute a Duke?” Lina asked incredulously.

“He’ll likely get a slap on the wrist in all honesty. But the important thing is that if Queen Myra catches a whiff that he’s offering money for your head she can seize his assets.”

Lina wasn’t firmly convinced that would stop someone bound and determined to have her head, but it would have to do. “So, now that you’ve been cleared, what are you going to do?” Celia asked.

Lina shrugged. “Haven’t given much thought to it. Maybe I’ll visit the folks back home. Or maybe not.”

Celia smiled warily, “I’d like to go home. But I’m going down with the others to Rolat to testify against Captain Brody.”

“And now that he’s got murder charges, it’s likely that the next time he sets foot outside of a jail it will be to go to the gallows.” Zel said.

“You can come with us.” Celia said as she looked at Lina.

Lina smiled tiredly. There were many good reasons to go to Rolat. To give support to those that had supported her. To see Pearl and congratulate her on sending Det Ybund to jail for many years. And to witness her at her debutante ball that she couldn’t stop writing about. At the same time she felt a strange pull towards home. In all the years she had been gone she’d not once been asked to come home. Maybe it was time to go there.

“You have to come with us!” Sefonie said, “None of this would have been possible without you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Lina asked.

“First you killed three of the monsters, then you went to Seyruun and told the truth about what happened.” Sefonie explained, “If you hadn’t have done that, none of us would have met each other. We’d be grappling with this alone.”

Lina shifted uncomfortably as Gloria said, “Exactly! None of them would ever have been brought to justice if you hadn’t have been brave enough…”

“Now hold on!” Lina said as she blushed uncharacteristically, “I just did it to slip the noose. It wasn’t like I thought any of this would happen.”

“You could have kept running, though.” Celia insisted. “But you took a stand, you said you’d done nothing wrong and you proved it and brought all of us together.”

“Do you know what a relief it was to learn that I wasn’t the only one?” Gloria asked.

“And just to meet everyone, to have someone to talk to about all of this.” Sefonie added.

“None of this was what I set out to do.” Lina protested.

“That doesn’t matter. What mattered is that you did!” Celia said with conviction and the others nodded in agreement.

For some strange reason she felt irritated, “You should be clapping yourselves on the back. You’re the ones who put a lot on the line to come and speak for someone you’d never met.” Lina pointed out, and in a flash she knew what she had to do. “Dammit, that settles it. I guess I do owe it to you to cheer you on in Rolat.”

***

“When will we be leaving?” Gourry asked as she lay nestled in his arms, one hand between her legs manipulating her clit.

“You…” she breathed huskily, “You want to talk business while you’re, oh…keep doing that.”

He grinned as he leaned forward slightly and started to suckle on a rosy pink nipple. While she had quickly become a pro at giving pleasure, receiving had been difficult. But tonight they were making headway. He swirled his fingers faster around her nub as he pulled away from her breast to say, “I’d just like to know how much longer we have to hang around here.”

She opened her eyes drowsily as he put his lips back to her nipple and then closed them again as she started to move her hips rhythmically. “Ask…ask me in the morning.” She said quickly as his free hand started to massage her unattended breast.

He focused on pleasuring her, encouraged by the soft moans of ecstasy that escaped her lips. He pulled his lips back as he whispered, “Do you know how long I’ve wanted to make you feel this good?”

Her eyes shot open as she grabbed his arm, his words combined with his hand on her most sensitive area was doing something strange but delectable to her body. She breathed deeply as she teetered on the edge of control. Suddenly he moved, taking his mouth and hand away from her breast as he did. She cried out in protest as he settled himself between her legs. She looked at him curiously, wondering what he was going to do, focusing on the sky blue color of his eyes and the love that radiated from them to distract herself from the fact that he was staring at her most private area as he suddenly traded the hand he had there for his mouth.

Lina grabbed the bed sheets as she cried out his name in delight. He swirled his tongue around her clit as she buckled her hips to his lips, desperate for more. After months of hard work she was finally able to let herself experience the pleasures of lovemaking to its fullest.

She had never experienced waves of pleasure so rapturous before. And as they swelled in intensity she found that she was insatiable. She wanted more, she wanted to feel him move within her. But how, when it would mean that he would have to remove his lips from her clit?

Without having to be asked, he seemed to pick up on her need. Gently he slipped a finger into her entrance, circling it in a slow manner that was so deliciously delectable that she felt herself loose herself to the feelings he was arousing within her. Her back arched, and a scream tore through her throat as bliss radiated throughout her body. Gourry pulled away and started to prep himself as he watched her, satisfied that he had finally gotten her to the pleasure point.

He lumbered over her and entered her as she was coming down, and leaned to whisper in her ear, “I love you.”

She ground her hips against him as she struggled to get her bearings, and then wondered why she was trying to do so. Instead she raised her hips to meet his in a welcome greeting, taking him home within her as she lost herself in lovemaking. She squeezed him, the most intimate form of a hug imaginable and he cried her name as he brought his lips down to hers to kiss her deeply. She could taste herself on his lips as she drank him deeply while he moved within her.

She ran her fingers down his spine to cup his buttocks, focusing on what felt nice as they worked to love each other.

***

Lina studied Gourry’s face as his slept. She was on her back, his head nestled against her chest as they held each other. This was the man she had battled hell with and won back. And now he was the man who had walked with her through hell. She stroked his hair gently as she reflected on all that they had been through. She had never asked him to be her protector, but she was never more grateful that he had wanted the job so desperately that he had appointed himself as so.

He sighed in his sleep as he held her a little tighter. She smiled. Not only had he stayed by her side and saw her through some of her darkest of nights, but he had shown her the difference between what those men had done to her and lovemaking. The idiot had been right. Rape and lovemaking were two completely different things.

One was about power, dominance, pain and humiliation. The other was about mutual pleasure, giving and receiving, and the physical manifestation of affection. And Gourry was the first man to touch her so tenderly and to awaken a cavern of pleasure she had not known existed.

She kissed the crown of his head and held him a little tighter and resolved to never let him go.

***

Lina, Gourry and Zel were unused to traveling in such a large group, and truthfully it was a relief when they made it safely to Rolat. They accepted Pearl’s offer to stay with them, enabling them to spend the week of Captain Brody’s trial in comfortable quarters. It did not take the jury long to convict him and sentence him to the gallows. The group was divided into those who wanted to stay to see him hang and those who did not.

“As for me, I don’t need to see it.” Lina said as she leaned back against him.

“You’re ready to get back on the road again, aren’t you?” Gourry asked as he tussled her hair.

“Actually I’m ready to go back home.” Lina said. “Mom keeps pestering me.”

“And then what?”

Lina shrugged, “I haven’t thought that far ahead.”

“Don’t tell me you’re thinking of settling down?” he teased.

“Well, it would seem a waste now that we have the Blast Sword.” She conceded, “And there’s still plenty of things to see and do. But people are still talking about me. It’s different now. I’m the hero of the Ant’s Head Inn attacks. And while it’s better than being the slut or the rape victim, I’m still not sure how I feel about it. I’d just like some time to lie low, let it blow over. Eventually people will find something else to talk about.”

He put his hands on her shoulders and squeezed them gently, “Whatever you want, I’ll be by your side.”

She smiled at him. After the attack had happened, keeping everything the same and forgetting had been her driving forces. But life was change. She was not the same person she had been before. She was more understanding and less quick to judge other’s weaknesses. She was stronger. And rather than focusing on forgetting she was working on acceptance. Something horrific had happened, but she was not going to stay trapped by it.

“Damn straight.” She said. She thought back to all of the support he had given, all that he had shared of his past with her. At first she was baffled by how someone could have experienced such a tragedy and found the strength to move on and be happy with their life. But now she understood.

Life was too short to remain stuck on one bad day. Before it had happened she chased happiness like it was money. And now, wherever she ended up, she would do it once more.
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Tell the Northern Lights to Keep Shining