~Part 4-3~
 
 

    In the quiet of the afternoon and the low hum of normal street traffic, a very worried golden dragon in human form nervously paced around the central square. She was looking for someone, someone to confide in. She looked absolutely spooked. A normal person would never notice this in a dragon's face (nor be able to identify her a dragon), but she was definitely disturbed in a major way.
    "Lina!" Filia called without relief.
    The red-headed, compact sorceress exited a small diner, followed by the swords man commonly known as Gourry, who lacked something most people had been born with called common sense. Shortly after him, an even shorter girl (with electrocuted, short, black hair) came out, holding her belly, sighing: the princess of Saillune, Amelia. Inhaling deeply, Naga the Serpent stretched from a meal well eaten and Kitty felt too stuffed to move in any extensive way- such as walking beyond a shuffle. Kagemi sighed with satisfaction, appreciating the invigorating effect of fresh air right after the ingestion of a great, great quantity of food.
    "Hi, Filia, you missed something special!" Lina expressed a huge smile, indicating her own satisfaction.
    "Lina, please! I must talk with you..." Filia said in tones only Lina was close enough to hear.
    Lina turned to see if anyone had a problem with it, but saw none. Gourry had already been distracted by a man in a stall moving thimbles randomly with a small bead beneath one of them. Amelia was already herding both Kagemi and the near-exploding Kitty in some direction, possibly toward a dessert outlet and Naga seemed to have decided it was a good idea as well... helping Amelia in the task of moving Kitty, "Should I get a wheel barrow??" she suggested just as Lina turned back to face Filia, "I don't see any problems."
    Filia clasped her hands neatly below her waist as she walked with Lina, who was looking at her with curiosity. She wasn't sure she should be telling Lina what the Council of Dragons had felt earlier, "Lina-san..."
    Laughing to herself, Lina felt like sharing, "You should've seen the tug-of-war Gourry, Naga, and Kagemi had over the last leg of ginger crab! Ha! I've never seen Amelia so frightened! I'm glad I kindly solved the problem by plucking it out of harm's way before someone undeserving (like them) could rip it apart. Crab is a delicate food to eat... unless, of course, everyone else is being just as messy as you are!" Lina laughed again as Filia stared coldly ahead of herself, listening to Lina, but only catching the last sentence ot so after she finished thinking briefly over the potential situation at hand.
    Lina took note of the priestess' seriousness, "Ne, Filia-san, what happened? Something wrong?"
    Filia stopped suddenly and looked down at Lina, forming an unbreakable eye contact, "Lina, this 'Kage' is far more dangerous than what seems to have been described by lore and legend... the true reason I'm here with you again is because the Council of Dragons sensed a force. A magical shock wave that appeared over the ocean about a week ago."
    "An explosion?" Lina's eyes widened, "Powerful enough to alert the Council?"
    Filia nodded, quickly glancing around the area, checking for possible eavesdroppers.
    "Do they know what it was?" Lina asked while Filia led her off the main flow of the street.
    "I, myself don't know. I felt the shock. It didn't feel like any powerful spell I've seen before (and I've seen plenty), but I have a feeling the Council knows, or at least has an idea. They asked me to accompany you to figure this out. They only told me that Shadow may have been involved, and it would have some lasting effect because of the nature of the explosion... of course, they didn't tell me that either."
    Lina lowered her head in thought, "Hm... why did the Gold Dragon Council want you to find me?"
    "I don't know... perhaps they felt you would have something to do with it at some point. I don't think they suspect you of being the cause... we've already somehow become involved. Kage has been revealed to us totally by coincidence."
    Silence...
    Like a library at its busiest. People lightly chatting below the 'Quiet Please' sign. A little more of that stuff we call silence...
    "Could the shock wave have been  an after shock of an explosion that may have been a break in reality?"
    Filia shot a look at the young sorceress, "Lina-san... what makes you think-"
    "If the explosion was powerful enough to send out a dragon-alert, it could have been a momentary hiccup of a really strong teleportation spell- I mean, not just a hop, skip, and a jump over an ocean or a continent, but maybe a jump between worlds..."
    "That's... that's something we've never encountered before... but it did feel like the back wind of teleportation, really amplified tho'... what do you think came through?"
    "Maybe something left, but more likely something came here. There's no way to know what entered unless we find it."
    Filia gave a nod of agreement, smiling in fulfilled relief. Lina knew the situation and even brought up a valid point. The young dragon priestess prepared, in her mind, a plan for the fateful encounter. That was what the council had known... Lina Inverse was the most likely individual on this side of the broken barrier to have such luck... to find herself caught up in such an important event. She knew it. The Dragon Council knew it.