'In Which' was a dreamscape, one of those mental storybooks we could open and read, switching back and forth between the chapters as we wanted.
This was the Very Last Mental picture in the dreamscape. We don't know what happens next, so it's as annoying to you as it is to me.

CLIFFHANGER

"Greeeeyyyyyyyy-kuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun..." Lina called softly, creeping through one of the smaller libraries of the castle. Scroll piled in large stacks around her. "Oh, Greeyyyyyy-kuuuuuuunnn...."

A small scurrying shadow caught her eye and she dove for it, grabbing it in a tackle that would make most pro football players jealous. "Gotcha!"

She held the small bundle of skin, rock and wire by the scruff of his neck. "Hello, Grey-kun." She said smugly.

The cat glared at her. He did not look happy. She smirked. "And here you thought you could fool your old friend Lina, didja?" She sing-sang, a pleasant expression on her face. "Well guess what?"

Lina brought the cat in close. "You were wrong. Change back, Zelgadiss. We need to talk."

The cat seemed to be less than impressed by this.

"Now." She said with false good cheer. "Or we find out just how Dragon-slave resistant your hide is."

The cat gave a sigh and closed his eyes. There was a slight pause, then the cat -grew-, his form melting like a candle wax into a larger, humanoid shape. Zelgadiss opened his eyes. "You mind letting go?"

Lina eeped as the realisation that she was holding a nekked Zelgadiss by the back of his neck hit. She blushed and released him, quickly turning around. "Thanks." He muttered dryly. She could hear him get up, and the rustle of cloth behind her. "You're just lucky it was time for me to change back or you would have really been out of luck." He commented.

"Ha!" She crossed her arms, half sulking. "You mean you would have."

"Whatever." He dismissed it.

"What's the big idea anyway? Turning into a cat and not telling us? Does Amelia know?" She demanded, her temper rising as she remembered her reason for tracking him down.

"It's not, didn't mean to and yes, respectively." Zelgadiss informed her. "And you can turn around now."

She turned around in time to see him pull a simple tunic on over his head. He was already dressed in a pair of pants, a simple woven cloth belt holding them up.

"Why do you have clothes stashed in a library?" She asked, momentarily side-tracked.

He shrugged. "I have clothes hidden all over the castle. That way it doesn't matter where I am when I change back from Grey-kun."

"Speaking of which." Her gaze turned predatory. "Just how -did- Grey-kun come about?"

He sighed, motioned her to a chair, then took one himself and explained the entire situation to her. The Kami, protecting Amelia, the split mind and the multiple forms. She paused him occasionally, asking questions and clarifying points until she was satisfied with the information she had.

"Geez, Zel." She gave him a concerned look. "You sure got into it deep this time."

Zel shrugged it off. "I know. But everything seems to be working it's way out."

She flashed him a smile before turning serious again. He was a lot more laid back and casual now than the last time she had seen him, and she approved of it. "But what about Amelia?" She pressed. "She is the Princess after all. One of these days that means she's going to have to get married."

"I know." He looked somber for a moment. From what everything he had just told her, his 'cat side' would allow him to leave anyway, but to see her married to someone else would probably tear up what was left of his human mind, much less his heart. He shrugged the melancholy mood off. "But I'll deal with that when it happens. It probably won't even be for a few years. With any luck, maybe I'll have figured out how to be human by then!"

She smiled at the optimism in his voice, until a shout from outside distracted them. Both of them hurried to the door, looking out side.

A courtier ran by. "Good news! Good news! The Princess is to be engaged!!! The Princess is to be ENGAGED!!!"

Lina glanced up at Zel, catching the momentary flash of pain before covered it up with a blank expression. 

-fin-

No Killie! No Killie! *runs and hides*