If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There's no use being a damn fool about it.
- W.C. Fields

        Xellos sipped coffee and contemplated what to do with the less-than-useful Gourry Gabriev. The big guy had his face on the table, head turned to the right, and was peacefully blowing snot bubbles and softly snoring. What a lousy day this was turning out to be, Xellos thought. Just when he was making headway with Princess Amelia, Urlich appeared and ruined it. Jessica had spoiled his fun with Zelgadis, and he didn’t even want to think about that problem with the tomb. Worse, he was due at his master’s to have tea with the Lord of Nightmares in four hours, at L-Sama’s request. Undoubtedly, she’d been observing his antics and had decided his chain needed jerking again. That was becoming a habit with her lately.
        "Of all the days to have a clue," he muttered to his slumbering companion, "why’d you have to pick this one? You were much more useful when you still had the Sword of Light. Do you think you need to compensate for not having it anymore by being a wise guy? Hmph!"
        Xellos craned around the table to see the weapon hanging from Gourry’s hip and just about fell straight off his chair when he actually recognized it. "No…it can’t be…" He went over for a closer look. "I don’t believe it…" But there could be no mistaking that ivory scabbard with the gold firedrakes wrapped around its length, nor the slightly curved shape of the blade, itself, and its small, round, gold guard without a crosspiece. The gold filigree guard bore a red enamel firedrake. There was only one sword in the world that was made in that shape and bore those devices: Firedrake, the magical blade Zhara had forged for the warrior-priest Dolgen Feitt more than a thousand years ago. How in the world had Dumdum gotten his hands on Firedrake? Xellos frowned at the legendary blade on Gourry’s hip, then decided it was too good to be in the hands of such an idiot. He was just reaching out to take it, however, when he remembered one thing and realized another: 1) Gourry was a damn good swordsman, and 2) Gourry probably had no idea how to use Firedrake, since he hadn’t had it when Xellos had seen him in Marrigan. Firedrake wasn’t an easy sword to master. Feitt, himself, had taken years to unlock his sword’s secrets and be able to harness and use them effectively. So if Gourry had acquired the sword since he’d seen him last, then there was no way he’d found the time to learn to use its power. Hm. Or would his years of wielding the Sword of Light improve his learning curve?
        Had Zhara given him Firedrake as a parting gift, or something sentimental like that? If so, what had she given the others? He hadn’t noticed anything new on Lina’s person outside the restaurant, nor anything on Zelgadis that he didn’t recognize. Amelia had been in her nightdress, rather than her usual garb, so nothing there. Maybe Gourry had found the thing in that junk pile Zhara called a basement. It wouldn’t be the first time someone had found treasure amidst Zhara’s castoffs. He wondered if his daughter was aware that a valuable piece of her hoard was missing, then remembered she was half-dragon and was sure she did and was obviously letting Gourry keep it for some reason. But why?
        "Hmm…should I take it, or leave it?" The Trickster Priest mused. If Zhara was letting Gourry keep it, then taking it wouldn’t make her happy with him at all. And if he did take it, what use could he possibly have for a fire sword beyond knowing it annoyed his children to know he’d stolen it? Well, the kids hadn’t exactly been Daddy’s Little Helpers these past centuries, so… "If I’m not happy, nobody’s happy!" Xellos giggled and started to unbuckle Gourry’s sword belt.
        Smack! Gourry’s hand wrapped around Xellos’, and his eyes flew open to glare at the thief. "Get your hand off my belt," he growled.
        Xellos was having a rotten day, anyway, so he decided to be uncooperative. "Make me."
        In a flash, Gourry brought his free arm around and planted his fist in Xellos’ face, then kicked the table over and into his opponent, knocking him backward and loosening the Trickster’s grip enough to be pried loose. Once free to move about, Gourry drew Firedrake and put it between himself and Xellos, who was having an argument with the tablecloth. "Send me back to Seyruun!"
        Xellos whipped the table cloth off of his head and flamed it to ashes for annoying him. "Give me that sword!"
        "No."
        "Ok," Xellos sneered. He reached out his hand, and his staff jumped from his chair into his palm with a smack. "Then die!"
        A burst of red energy flew from the jewel in Xellos’ staff and shot toward Gourry with a furious roar. Gourry instinctively moved to parry it, willing his sword out of pure habit to ignite and deflect the magical attack. Just as he remembered he no longer had the Sword of Light and had no idea what Firedrake’s power was, the sword burst into flames that sped out to meet Xellos’ attack head on. Gourry and Xellos watched in shock as Firedrake’s flames strained to push back Xellos’ energy burst, neither adversary gaining or losing any ground. Sparks leapt from the place where the two powers met, sending burning showers onto the men who willed their respective magics to fight harder: The human straining and sweating, the Mazoku hard and determined.
        "You can’t win!" Xellos taunted, but Gourry didn’t so much as flinch. "I have superior strength and power on my side—"
        "Then why aren’t…you winning?" Gourry panted. The truth of it was, he feared Xellos was winning, but he knew that he’d die if the Trickster beat him this time, so he couldn’t lose. He had to absolutely believe in his ability to defeat Xellos using Zhara’s magic sword.
        Xellos bit his lip, then his superior smirk returned. "I’m not trying my hardest yet," he giggled. It was true, but Xellos wasn’t so sure he wanted to go all out against Firedrake while confined to a dimensional pocket. If he screwed it up, and the colliding powers exploded, he’d be sealed in here for who knew how long with nothing but Gourry for company (until he killed him, which would probably happen without much delay).
        That wasn’t the news Gourry wanted to hear. He wasn’t totally sure he understood the extent of Xellos’ power but he was sure the man wasn’t somebody to mess around with. After all, he’d murdered all of those dragons, hadn’t he? And dragons were tough. He just wished Lina was here to add her power to Firedrake’s. Even Zelgadis, part Mazoku that he was these days, would’ve been a welcome ally, as would Amelia or even Urlich and Jessica. Hell, anybody! He’d even take Prince Phil!
        "You can’t keep this up forever, Gourry," Xellos yawned. "Why don’t you just give me Firedrake and die like a nice mortal?"
        "I’m trying to…concentrate…if you don’t…mind!"
        Xellos blinked, then giggled. "Pardon me. I’d forgotten how difficult that is for you. I’ll just be quiet and focus all my energies on defeating you, how’s that?"
        "Man, I hate this guy!" Gourry thought miserably. "I wish Lina was here…"

        Zhara’s pointy ears pricked up and she slapped a speedy gag spell on Naga so she could concentrate. Was that…? No, it couldn’t be! Gourry hadn’t had Firedrake long enough to learn how to activate it! He couldn’t be using it in combat already! But where was he? The source of the power didn’t seem to be coming from Seyruun…not exactly, that is. The other power was most definitely her father’s, which gave her a clue as to why the battlefield wasn’t exactly "in" Seyruun.
        "Mum?" Zellan asked with great concern and lay a gentle hand on her arm. "What is it?"
        Naga pointed meaningfully at her throat and glared at Zhara to lift the spell, but was ignored. So she plopped onto the grass next to the still unconscious Ullan to pout.
        Zhara waved an impatient hand at her son to silence him, and Zellan obediently shut up. A dimensional pocket…yes, that was where they were. An old trick of Daddy’s that he’d so kindly taught his little girl one long ago day. Zhara’s lips twisted into a determined smirk. Time to mess up Daddy’s plans again. "Zellan, take your brother and Naga back to the house. I have business with your grandfather. Shouldn’t take long."
        The look on her face stopped any questions before they even left her son’s mind. Zellan nodded and went to wake up Ullan as Zhara began the spell to tear the fabric of space. Soon, a glowing slit appeared in the air in front of her, and she jumped through it without looking back. It closed behind her with a soft sizzle.
        "What the--?" Zhara gaped at the scene before her. Xellos and Gourry faced each other, about three paces apart. Gourry had Firedrake in his hands, the sword looking like a gigantic flame that reached out and pushed against the energy coming from Xellos’ staff. Judging from the power build-up, the little pocket of space they were standing in would very shortly become a permanent fixture, sealing them and Zhara inside until someone sorted out how to break the seal. That could take centuries, even millennia. She had to act fast. Zhara took a deep breath and sent bursts of energy into the chests of each combatant, knocking them farther apart and breaking their respective spells. She ran and grabbed Gourry, meaning to open a gateway and get him out of there, but Xellos was too fast. She and Gourry dove in opposite directions to avoid Xellos’ spell, which disappeared harmlessly into oblivion upon missing its marks. Zhara rolled to her feet and threw a Bram Blazer at her father, who jumped nimbly out of its path. He brought up his staff and threw a similar spell right back at her before she could ready a defensive shield. Gourry saw what he was doing and dove into the spell’s path, using blazing Firedrake to deflect the spell.
        That was the distraction Zhara needed to open a gateway beneath them, and she and Gourry fell through into her parlor in Marrigan. She hastily closed the gate and reinforced the barriers around her house, hoping with all her might that her father wasn’t pissed enough to want to break them down and finish what he’d started with Gourry. After a few painfully long, breathless minutes, Zhara decided Xellos wasn’t coming and relaxed.
        "Mum?" Ullan asked cautiously and pointed at Gourry who slouched on the divan next to her, panting and thanking all the gods for whatever luck brought her to him at just the right moment. "Don’t you think Lina’s wondering where he is?"
        Zhara and Gourry looked up at Ullan, then at each other. Zhara sighed. "Oh yeah. Bring me my crystal ball."
        Naga sat in a chair and stared at Gourry with predatory eyes. So this was that man who had commandeered all of Lina’s attention these past few years. The infamous Swordsman of Light. Well, she couldn’t fault Lina’s taste in men: He was gorgeous! Tall, blonde, blue-eyed, muscular. Nice job, Lina. She wanted to cackle, then remembered she was still under Zhara’s gag spell. She waved her hand around until Zhara noticed her, then pointed very meaningfully at her throat.
        Zhara gave her a terse apology and lifted the spell with a wave of her hand. "No cackling," she ordered just as Naga opened her mouth and lifted her hand in a pose that had become all too familiar. "I have a headache."
        Naga pouted, then tossed her hair with an indignant huff and decided to try to engage Lina’s pretty boy in conversation instead. "So," she began sweetly (why was Zellan looking at her like that?) "You’re Lina’s new friend? The one who’s been keeping her too busy to take her proper place at my side? What was your name again? I’m Naga. Naga the White Serpent," she held out her hand and batted her eyelashes in what she thought was a very fetching manner. "Charmed!"
        Gourry gulped and shook her hand. The way she held it out, it was obvious she wanted him to kiss it, but there was no way he was doing that. She was scary, sitting there in nothing but her leather underwear, a big cape and all that skull jewelry. Ugh! Creepy! (But check out those hooters!) He hoped she wouldn’t laugh. Lina had told him about Naga’s laugh. "Uh…I’m Gourry Gabriev," he told her weakly. Why was Zellan looking at her like that? He looked almost terrified.
        Ullan returned and handed his mother her crystal ball, which she accepted with a grateful nod, then focused her energies on contacting Lina Inverse. After a few tries, however, she realized Lina wasn’t near her crystal, so she tried the Princess, instead. This time, she scored—sort of. Who she got was a member of the Royal Family, just not Princess Amelia. She’d heard stories about the Crown Prince of Seyruun, but nothing could quite prepare her for the Phileonel Experience. Zhara quickly wished she’d just waited and tried Lina again later.
        The Prince happened to have been sent on a mission to collect his daughter’s crystal ball so she could contact the very woman whose face hovered in said ball at that moment. Amelia reasoned Zhara could find Xellos, since she’d been able to sense him a few times when they were fighting him in Marrigan. If they could find Xellos, they’d likely find Gourry. Phil expressed his gratitude to Zhara all the way from Amelia’s room en route to the library where the Princess awaited him with Zelgadis and Lita Sorez. Fortunately for Zhara, before arriving at his destination, he encountered Jessica and Urlich, who were inbound at high speed. Urlich was carrying Lina, who was still in a faint from imagining someone having her sister Luna’s genetic material in them.
        "YE GODS, URLICH! WHAT HAPPENED TO MISS LINA?!"
        Urlich shook his head and tried to pop his eardrums. Jessica flattened her ears against her skull and was about to explain to Phil what had happened when she noticed Phil was holding a crystal ball with Zhara in it. She grabbed the ball from Phil and started to tell Zhara that Gourry had disappeared, then noticed Gourry was in the room behind Zhara and asked how he got there instead.
        After Naga and Phil, Zhara was relieved to finally be able to deal with someone quiet for a change. "I felt Firedrake being used, traced the source and found Gourry fighting Dad in a dimensional pocket." She looked over at Gourry and added with no small amount of amazement and admiration: "He was able to use Firedrake already, and use it to hold back one of Xellos’ attacks. I must say, I’m impressed, but I don’t think Daddy’s going to just cut his losses and forget about this. I’ll bring Gourry back to Seyruun as soon as we’ve recovered from the fight. Meanwhile, you people stay sharp over there." She suddenly remembered what her father had been doing last time she’d contacted Seyruun and asked after the Princess.
        As she talked, Jessica followed Phil to the library, with Urlich behind them. Miraculously, Phil’s bellow hadn’t awakened Lina, though she was talking in her sleep now. Something about being sorry about the bath thing.
        "Amelia’s fine," Jessica explained, "she says she was able to hold her own against Xellos when he attacked her in her dreams, but Urlich had to intervene when the attacks moved into the waking world. Then Xellos went after Zelgadis, but Urlich and I were able to rescue him and get him to Lara Sorez’ mausoleum—you won’t believe what’s inside that tomb! But the interesting thing is, Xellos can’t seem to get in. I honestly can’t figure it out, since the Life Spell—that’s what’s on the walls—isn’t designed to do that. Did Lina tell you about any of this?"
        Zhara frowned. "She started to tell me about some paintings on the interior walls of the tomb, then Dad’s sleep spell went to work on her. Why would L-Sama’s creation spell be there, of all places? How did it get there?" Jessica opened her mouth to explain, but Zhara held up a hand to stop her. "No, wait. We should talk about this in person. I’ll take the shortcut to Seyruun. Tell Lina I’ll be there in two hours and I’ll have Gourry with me."
        Jessica nodded with a sidelong look at Lina and told Zhara: "She’s a little indisposed right now, but I’ll tell her when she wakes up. See you in two."
        The crystal ball went dark, and Jessica handed it back to Phil as they arrived outside the library doors. Phil pushed them opened and announced loudly as he entered: "We have just spoken to Zhara! She has rescued Gourry Gabriev and will return him to Seyruun! She will arrive in two hours." Then he did the math and asked Jessica where Zhara would be coming from that it would only take two hours to get to Seyruun.
        "Marrigan," Jessica told him casually and giggled when the city’s name had its usual effect on the giant mortal, "Zhara has a shortcut through a dimensional—"
        "MARRIGAN?!" Phil roared in shock. "THAT EVIL PIT OF VILE INFAMY?! THAT DEATHTRAP FOR ALL MORTAL KIND?! THAT—"
        "That’s my home you’re talking about," Urlich growled at him and lay Lina on the couch. She was still soaking wet and shivering, so he took off his coat and lay it over her, then went to build up the fire a little more.
        Phil sputtered: "B-but that’s Marrigan! Decent folk do NOT live in Marrigan!"
        Urlich glared over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow at the horrified Crown Prince. Behind Phil, Amelia and Zelgadis buried their faces in their hands, and Amelia sighed: "Daddy…"
        "Decent people don’t live in Marrigan?" Urlich echoed with a dark chuckle. "Funny, this morning you wanted me to marry your daughter…"
        Sputter.
        Jessica giggled.

        "W-wait! Zhara! Isn’t this that cave where Zel turned into a Dark Lord?!" Gourry shuddered and backed away from the entrance and into Zhara.
        She rolled her eyes and pushed him through. "Don’t be such a wuss! Zel didn’t become a Dark Lord, he almost became one. And it wasn’t because of the cavern."
        Gourry wasn’t so sure about that. Something about the place just didn’t feel right. It made his skin crawl and his hair want to stand on end. "Maybe we should just take the long way…"
        "The long way takes more than a day, you twit!" Zhara growled back irritably.
        "What if Xellos finds us in here?" Gourry complained. "Like he did when Zel and Sylph came through? I don’t think I can fight him again yet. I feel like…like I could sleep for a million years!"
        Time for Firedrake lesson number one. "That’s because Firedrake draws on its user’s life force to create its magical fields. The Sword of Light operated on the same principle, if you recall. You’re just rusty."
        Gourry sighed. "I guess, but it’s only been a few months since I lost the Sword of Light! I don’t think I’d forget that fast."
        "You didn’t forget," Zhara explained. "If you’d forgotten, you wouldn’t have been able to activate Firedrake so easily. The similarity in the way the two swords operate was the main reason I let you keep Firedrake. I figured you could use it, and it’s about time it was back in circulation again. I hate to see such a legendary weapon just sitting in my basement when it could be out there kicking my Dad’s ass again."
        "You made it to fight Xellos?!"
        "Yup!" The darkness was more oppressive than she wanted, so Zhara held out her hand and let a ball of light form in her palm, then she tossed it in the air and commanded it to stay over their heads while they walked. "He was on my last nerve…again, so I decided to try and do something about it this time, instead of letting him push me around. I hate to admit it, but Urlich and I used to be a little intimidated by Daddy and his people. If Dad told us to do something and gave us his ‘I’m the mighty servant of a terrifying Dark Lord’ look, we hopped to it. Of course, that all changed after Ullan and Zellan were sealed, and…everything." She sighed. That wasn’t what she wanted to talk to him about…that day when her whole world had collapsed. Both she and Urlich had lost their children, and she had turned the High Priestess of L-Sama into a near-powerless vampire. She’d done it to save Jessica’s life, of course, and it had turned out ok in the end for all but Urlich and Sylph, whose son was still dead.
        Gourry’s hand on her shoulder startled her out of her thoughts to find a tear on her cheek. She wiped it away and drove a thousand years of pain into the back of her mind, telling herself once again that she’d deal with it later. It helped that Ullan and Zellan had been restored to her from their interdimensional prison, and L-Sama had returned Jessica to her proper form and had given back most of her lost power. But Urlich’s and Sylph’s happy marriage that had lasted centuries was over, and their son was gone forever. Dammit! She was thinking about it again! Firedrake. Right. Tell Gourry about Firedrake.
        "I was just thinking about—"
        He patted her shoulder. "I know. That must’ve been the worst day of your life. I don’t think I could’ve taken it. I mean," he let his hand fall to rest on Firedrake’s hilt and his eyes to drift up to the ball of light over his head as he went on: "there’s been a few times when I thought for sure Lina was dead. The first time it happened, I realized I didn’t want to go on without her. I guess that’s how you felt after that battle, huh?"
        Zhara bit her lip to keep from misting up again and nodded. "That’s it exactly," she managed, then got hold of herself and added: "The way my father’s been acting lately has me worried, Gourry. He’s evil, that’s just the nature of his race, but he’s never used rape, or even the threat of it, to my knowledge. I wonder if he’s trying to make Amelia go ballistic on him again, like she did when she thought he’d killed Zelgadis. And he’s still after him for some reason. I can’t figure that one, since L-Sama removed the part of Zelgadis that would’ve made him a Dark Lord."
        "Lina says monsters collect powerful people, and Zelgadis is powerful sorcerer," Gourry interjected. "That’s why Xellos was always after Lina: He wanted her power. That’s what Lina always said."
        "That, and I think he genuinely feels desire for her," Zhara told him sourly. "She’s better off with you."
        "Thanks," Gourry muttered, not really sure how great a compliment that was. Lina was better off with anybody but Xellos.
        Zhara grinned and patted him on the back. "Don’t worry. I’m sure he doesn’t even rank with her."
        Gourry nodded and shrugged. "I know. I just wish he’d leave her alone." He paused for a moment, then added: "I wish he’d leave all of us alone."
        As if on cue, Xellos appeared in their path, grinning his usual happy grin. "That was terribly rude of you two to leave when we had unfinished business!"
        Gourry drew Firedrake, and Zhara put up a defensive barrier around them. "I told you this was a bad idea," Gourry sighed, "but nobody ever listens to me!"
        Xellos raised his staff and pointed it at them with a smirk. "That’s because you’re usually clueless. How was Zhara supposed to know your brain is having a good day?"
        Firedrake’s blade ignited, and Gourry prepared himself for a fight. "You know, those ‘Gourry’s an idiot’ jokes are really starting to bug me!"
        "Oh?" Xellos sneered. "And what are you going to do about it?"
        Gourry lifted his sword and charged. Xellos giggled. Zhara shook her head and started her own attack. "So much for his brain having a good day."

        Two hours came and went without Zhara and Gourry appearing. Urlich paced behind Lina, who sat in a chair by the fire, still trying to shake the chill. She’d taken the time to change into dry clothes and come back, but just couldn’t seem to get warm. So she sat by the fire with a blanket around her shoulders and sneezed. "Juz whud I need," she complained, "a code! AH-CHEW!" Amelia sighed and handed Urlich another handkerchief from the stack a servant had put on the table in front of her. Urlich passed the hanky to Lina, who blew her nose in it. The only reason Urlich was being so attentive was that he felt a little bit responsible for her current condition, since she’d been fighting him over his cravat when she’d fallen into the fountain. No one had any sympathy for the plight of his neckwear and seemed to categorically think he was a wacko for having a duel over what Lina called "a stupid scarf". She also demanded her gold piece back, but Url wasn’t giving ground on that score, and Lina felt too sick to push him on it just then.
        "She’s late," Zelgadis announced.
        "She didn’t say exactly two hours," Amelia told him indignantly and cast a worried look in Lina’s direction. "Let’s give her a few more minutes."
        Urlich exchanged a meaningful look with Jessica and sighed. "Let’s not." He grabbed his coat off the back of the couch and put it on. "I’m going to the cavern. I got a bad feeling about this."
        "I’ll go with you," Jessica volunteered, but Urlich held up his hand to stop her. "No. You stay here in case Xellos makes another unannounced visit."
        Jessica decided against reminding him that her presence hadn’t prevented Xellos from kidnapping Gourry. Instead, she nodded and watched him disappear. She put a hand on Lina’s shoulder. "I’m sure Url’s just overreacting. He does that sometimes."
        Lina sneezed. "No kidding," she joked but in her heart she knew something very bad had happened to Gourry and Zhara. Still, she wanted to believe Jessica, that Urlich was just overreacting, and Zhara and Gourry would arrive any minute now.
        Urlich used his sister’s life force as a beacon to guide him to her position. Both she and Gourry were on their knees, apparently at the end of their strength. Sylph was with them, along with Ullan and Zellan in Sons of Chaos mode and a bizarre woman in a black bikini. They, too, appeared to be forcing themselves to remain upright and use the last of their strength to maintain the defensive bubble they’d built against Xellos’ power. The Trickster Priest didn’t look too good, either, a testament to his opponents’ stubbornness and collective magical ability. The fact that it was taking so many of them to hold him off told Urlich his father was done jerking around and meant business this time. Xellos was on one knee, his staff just barely upright and spitting out bolts of power that Urlich realized were nothing compared to his father’s usual salvos. He didn’t even have the power to spare to attack Urlich, who shook his head at the scene before him, walked over to his father and kicked him in the head. "What in the hell is your problem this time, Dad?"
        "Url!" Zhara gasped. "Look out for the revenants!"
        Urlich looked around, made a light spell and looked around some more. No revenants. Wait a minute… "Dad, are you making an illusion?" He kicked Xellos in the side and received a gratifying "oof" in return. "Knock it off!"
        Xellos’ staff went dark as he let his spell drop. He plopped down onto his butt and sat there panting and warily watching the group of defenders through narrowed eyes, but they were on no condition to do anything but collapse. He didn’t even have the strength left to knock Url off his feet with his staff but he gave it his best go anyway on principle. Urlich just stepped over it and kicked Xellos in the head again. "You could’ve just left when it got too hot for you, Dad," Urlich grumbled, "but no. I have to come all the way out here from Seyruun to knock some sense into you. You know, I have better things to do with my time than figure out what your problem is. Now get off your ass and come wi—aw shit. I hate it when he does that."
        In the middle of Urlich’s monologue, Xellos decided he’d had quite enough harassment from his impertinent son and disappeared. Yes, indeed, today was turning into a wash. He nicked off to his little dimensional pocket to recover as much of his strength as possible in the two hours he had left before he had to put on a happy face for L-Sama. Fighting Zhara and Sylph, plus the Sons of Chaos and that…whoever she was, plus making illusion spells was very exhausting, especially after he’d had such an active morning, anyway. Bugger all. As he sat sipping coffee and munching on tea sandwiches, he thought about that mysterious mausoleum and its Xellos-repelling contents and considered how he could ask the Lord of Nightmares about them without revealing that he couldn’t go inside and see them for himself. He realized with a heavy sigh, that at the rate he was going, no matter how well he planned ahead, everything would get screwed up, anyway, so why waste his energy? It was just that kind of a day.