Hm, now, how was he supposed to carry Lina and Lina's lunch? Of course! He walked back to the kitchen, Lina all the while looking at him curiously. "Ray Wing!"
The crock pot and utensils Zel had gathered previously now hovered in the air next to his head. Yes, that would work nicely. He looked back down at Lina, who looked vaguely impressed.
Lina was half-way between being embarrassed and being amused by the strange looks they were getting. Well, she supposed it /was/ a rather odd picture they presented: a chimera carrying a redhead still in her nightshirt, being followed by a floating pot of soup.
Zel winced as Amelia literally ran over to them, catching them just as they were about to leave.
"Hi, Zelgadiss-san! Hi, Lina-san! Are you feeling better? Where are you going?" Amelia fairly bounced; she'd been rather bored herself that afternoon and had eaten more sugar than was really healthy.
Zel glanced down at Lina, then said in a nonchalant tone, "We're eloping." Lina went slightly bug-eyed.
Amelia went VERY bug-eyed. "E--el--eloping?!" she stuttered.
Zel nodded solemnly. "Please inform Gourry when he's lucid again. Dewa mata." With that, Zel exited the inn and cast another Ray Wing. He, Lina (who was silently laughing at Amelia's reaction), and Lina's lunch zoomed off in the direction of the meadow Zel had noticed as they entered town.
"Eloping?" Amelia repeated, having great difficulty grasping the concept. Lina didn't love Gourry, she loved Zelgadiss? And Zelgadiss loved Lina?? Baka na!!
"Ano...Amelia, what happened to Lina?" Gourry spotted the young princess and joined her next to the door.
"She...Lina-san and Zelgadiss-san...eloped."
"Oh, okay," Gourry said cheerfully.
She stood stiffly, still shocked. She recovered enough to sigh exasperatedly when Gourry asked, "Amelia? What does 'elope' mean?"

Zel and Lina touched down in the middle of a lush meadow. It was one of those meadows that rarely existed outside of paintings, so picturesque it seemed. The grass was soft and sweet-smelling, a gentle blue-green in colour. The only 'weeds' in sight were fluffy-white dandelions. All in all, a lovely place to spend the afternoon.
Zel gently set the tiny sorceress down, then sat next to her. The crockpot and utensils came to rest on the other side of Lina.
Lina looked at him curiously: why did you say that to Amelia?
Zel shrugged, then motioned away from himself: Not sure, but she let us leave, didn't she?
Lina shrugged also: whatever. Then she smirked at him and tapped his forehead lightly: where'd you get that idea?
Zel blushed a little, then grabbed an invisible something out of the air: the idea came out of nowhere.
Lina shrugged again: if you say so. She looked around and sighed without sound: how beautiful!
Zel nodded: indeed. He, too, looked around him, but his attention turned back to Lina as something soft hit him on the cheek.
Lina grinned at him, still holding the stem of the dandelion whose seeds she'd blown at Zel.
Zel made an exasperated noise as he returned Lina's grin: what was that all about?
Lina gave him a Gaelic shrug: Dunno, just wanted to.
They looked at each other a few moments, both becoming wide-eyed as they realised they'd just had an entire conversation without saying a word.

_______

--Elizabeth, Trickster Priestess ~_~