A/N: Hello again! My second story is finally completed and ready to be viewed by other humans. At least, I think it is. Massive thanks to everyone who read and reviewed (and hopefully enjoyed) my last story, you have inspired me to keep writing.

This story is going to be quite different to my last one - for one thing, it's set in a modern-day AU. I don't want to give away any more, but if you've read this far, hopefully something about this premise appeals to you.

So, enough from me, and on with the story!

-o-

The salty wind whips the hair out of my eyes as I stare at the horizon. The dark haze of a far-off island, barely visible at this distance, hovers invitingly out of reach. I nod in satisfaction, causing the view through my telescope to oscillate wildly up and down. Destination acquired I slide back down the ladder from the crow's nest to the deck, heading straight for the large man at the wheel.

'Gonzo! More to starboard,' I yell up at him, then glance round at the other members of my crew, scurrying round like a pack of rats.

'Zuko! Get back up into that crow's nest and keep an eye on that island! Nudge! What are those barrels doing out here? Get them below, now! Mako! Your eye's creeping me out again! Nico! Swab the decks!' The men rush around obediently… mostly. The unfortunate Nico, the lowest-ranking member of my crew, complains about always being on swabbie duty. But he has the sense to wait until I'm out of earshot, correctly guessing that I don't want to hear it.

I run up to the bow of the ship, climbing right out over the dragon figurehead, keeping my eyes set on the horizon. I smile to myself, enjoying the feeling of the sun on my back and the breeze in my face. The ship crashes against the waves, the seagulls caw overhead, the car door slams shut… wait, what? Suddenly the open ocean vista ahead of me ripples and fades. I growl under my breath, another perfectly enjoyable dream ruined by some idiot and their car.

I'm still grumbling when I wake up fully, the creaking of the ship replaced by the wind whispering through the grass in my back yard. I frown, and the movement dislodges the book I propped over my eyes to keep the sun out, and also to fool my brother into thinking I'm not having a nap out here. Yeah, as if he'd even look for me anyway. I sit up on the grass, trying to remember what woke me. Ah yes, the car.

I toss the book to one side and rush into my house, straight up to my brother's room. I have to blink a few times as I enter, my eyes unaccustomed to the gloom. Twins we may be, but me and my brother are so different we're frequently assumed to be no relation to each other. While I love nothing more than being outside in the bright sunshine, my brother is a creature of the shadows, always hiding himself away in his dark room. Our different lifestyles show in our appearances; although we share our mother's golden-blonde hair, my skin is tanned brown as a nut while my brother is pale as moonlight. Said brother is now cursing me using a variety of colourful words I didn't know he knew, but I ignore him.

'Tetra! What are you doing? This is my room!' he protests.

'I'll be gone in a minute Sheik, I just need to borrow your window,' I reply, going over to the alcove in one wall. We both have these in our rooms, a seat set back into the wall and surrounded by windows which offer a 180° view of the outside world. But while my windows show only a gnarled tree and the house next door, Sheik's windows offer a view of the street, including everyone's front yards. Perfect for spying. Or at least they would be, if he ever bothered to open the curtains. I wrench them open, making him shriek and fall off his chair as the bright sunlight streams into the room, but I take no notice.

'Stop being such a vampire and get over here,' I order him, and he reluctantly obeys.

'Why are you even up here?' he asks grumpily.

'I told you, I need your window. I need to see who's in the front yard.'

'You know, you could just use the front door.'

'Yes, but then whoever it is would see me, too. And if it's someone I don't want to see, that would be a bad thing. This way if it's someone awful we can just hide and pretend we're not home.' Sheik sighs in resignation. He's used to my antisocial attitude, although I'm nothing compared to him. He refuses to see anyone whatsoever,while I'm more open to the idea of other people, but only a select few. None of whom are likely to be outside my front door in the middle of the day during summer vacation.

'I don't see anyone,' Sheik says, peering out.

'Me neither… no, wait! There! Look!' Sheik looks from side to side, unseeing, until I sigh in frustration, grab his head and position it properly. 'In Mr Faron's front yard! There's a car!' There is indeed a car, next to which stands our neighbour, the reclusive Mr Faron. He's a middle-aged businessman who's very rarely home, so neither me nor Sheik know much about him. And yet here he is, in the flesh.

'What's he doing here?' I ask curiously.

'Well, it is his home. I guess even he has to go back there occasionally.'

'I guess… hey, look at that!' Our neighbour walks round the car to help someone out the other side: a small blonde girl of about eleven, holding a large cardboard box. The car door on the other side also opens to reveal another blond; a boy this time, about the same age as me and Sheik, also holding cardboard boxes.

'Who are they?' I ask, squinting to get a better look while beside me Sheik shakes his head.

'No idea. Relatives?'

'You mean Mr Faron has a family? No way.' But looking at the group I have to admit there is some resemblance between the three of them. Certainly the boy and the girl, who are probably siblings, and I suppose from some angles Mr Faron does look like a much older version of the boy. I watch as our neighbour says a few brief words to boy, gesturing vaguely at his house, then around at the street. The boy nods, then Mr Faron gets back in his car and drives off, leaving the two children on the sidewalk, looking slightly lost.

'We should go say hello,' Sheik says vaguely and I murmur in response, even though neither of us has any intention of leaving the safety of our house. As previously mentioned, Sheik doesn't like people and I'm not exactly friendly. But as I watch the boy try to hold two boxes under his chin, while holding his sister's hand and also fumbling with the house keys, I make up my mind.

'Come on. Let's go.' I stop at the door when I realise Sheik isn't following.

'You mean… really?' I roll my eyes impatiently.

'Yes, really! We're their new neighbours, it's the least we can do!' And when my brother fixes me with a 'yeah, right' look I add, 'Besides, watching that boy try to carry those boxes ought to be good for a laugh!' Sheik sighs, but follows me out of his sanctuary to the house next door, grumbling all the way.

-o-

'Um… hello?' I call into the dark hallway. By the time Sheik and I made it out into Mr Faron's front yard the two new kids were gone, but the door of the house is open, so I assume they're in here somewhere. To be honest, I'm a little bit nervous. Not of the kids, but of Mr Faron. The only conversation I've ever had with him was once when we both happened to be getting the mail at the same time. I said good morning and he grunted. Hardly the basis of a promising acquaintanceship.

But I definitely saw the older man drive off and leave the boy and girl behind, so I suppose there's no danger. Or at least, that's how I see it. My coward of a brother seems disinclined to agree.

'They're not home. Come on, let's go,' he whispers.

'What do you mean, they're not home? Their front door's wide open! That's the universal symbol for "come in"!' And so I walk cautiously into the dark house, hoping the new neighbours also recognise the symbol.

'Anyone home?' I call, going through to the back of the house where I think I can see a kitchen. Suddenly my view is eclipsed by a small figure, who shrieks and runs back into the room. A muffled and hasty conversation is carried out within, and I take the opportunity to walk into the kitchen, which is fortunately more brightly lit. Both kids are here, the boy looking shocked and the girl clutching her brother's hand and trying to hide behind him. Clearly bumping into us terrified her.

'Er… hi,' I say awkwardly, terribly and painfully aware that I've just barged into a stranger's home. 'I'm… I mean, we're from next door. I'm Tetra and this is Sheik.' The boy looks just as stunned as before, but now his brows wrinkle slightly at the mention of my brother. I frown too and turn around, then sigh in annoyance. While the kitchen contains an overabundance of awkwardness, it compensates by having a complete lack of Sheik.

'Sheik! Get in here!' I yell, and my brother slowly pokes his head around the door, hand half-raised in a weak gesture of greeting.

'…Hi.' I sigh, mentally despairing of the Hylian race and the concept of brothers in particular, before turning back to the new kids. The boy seems to realise something is required of him, and clears his throat.

'Uh… hi, I'm… Link. This is my sister, Aryll. Say hello, Aryll.' The latter part of this is directed to the little girl, who squeaks something inaudible and hides even further behind Link. I give him a knowing look.

'Siblings, eh? No matter how hard you try, you just can't convince people they're not related to you.' Link gives me a puzzled look, as if he's not sure if I'm joking or not. Sheik, who knows I'm not, scowls. I clear my throat again in another attempt to dispel the awkwardness, and think frantically of something to say.

'Er… I know cookies are traditional for housewarmings, but I can't bake. Sorry.' Link shrugs and looks like he's about to speak when Sheik interrupts. I turn to my brother, surprised at his forwardness.

'A-actually, I think we've still got some of those cookies Uncle brought us…' At the mention of cookies Aryll pokes her head out from behind her brother.

'Chocolate chip?' she asks in a small voice, making me laugh.

'Yeah, and they're really good. Why don't you go with Sheik to get some, and I'll help your brother with your unpacking, huh?' Aryll suddenly beams at me and runs off out the door. Sheik follows her, but not before giving me a 'I'll get you for this' look. Come to think of it, most of the communication between the two of us is via looks. Given that Sheik's such a silent person, that's hardly surprising.

I'm still thinking about this when I hear Link start to move around behind me. Ah, right, I said I'd help him. I quickly try to look busy, a difficult feat given that I don't know where anything goes so I don't actually want to touch any of the boxes. Eventually Link coughs softly and gestures to a box, then gestures for me to follow him. Wow, this guy's almost as talkative as Sheik.

-o-

'So… you know Mr Faron?' I ask after a while as I follow Link up the stairs.

'Yeah, he's my uncle.'

'Ah, okay.' So I was right about them being related. 'And… why are you moving in with him?' What I'm really asking is, how bad are the alternatives that you and your sister actually want to live with this old grouch?

'We have to. I'm only sixteen, so I can't leave home for another two years, and anyway I don't want to leave Aryll behind. We used to live with our grandma, but we don't anymore.' I nod, wondering about that last part. But considering the range of likely possibilities, I decide not to ask.

'So why did your uncle just leave you here and drive off?'

'He said he had some business meeting. I get the sense we'll be spending a lot of time alone.'

'Yeah, from what I can tell Mr Faron's almost never home. Still, you're always welcome to come over to our house.' I bite my lip as I hear the words coming tumbling out of my mouth. Since when do I invite random people over to our house? Sheik's going to be livid if he finds out. When he finds out. But there's no need to tell Link that just yet.

'Thanks, I might take you up on that. But don't your parents mind?' I shrug.

'Might do. I don't know, I've never met them. Sheik and I also live with our uncle, who's also away on business nearly all the time. Seems like there's an epidemic of that around here!' Link laughs softly.

'Yeah, I guess. I'm… sorry about your parents.' I shrug again.

'Yeah, well… it's just one of those things, isn't it?'

'One of what things?'

'No idea. That's just what adults say, in hushed tones, whenever they're talking about our parents and they think me and Sheik can't hear them. But we can. We've got very keen hearing.'

'Listening at keyholes, you mean?' Link asks, turning to face me with a grin. I arrange my face into an injured expression

'Why, Link, how could you suggest such a thing? We are well brought up children!' Then, in a more normal voice I add, 'And anyway, most doors in our house don't have keyholes. We just put a glass to the floorboards.' Link laughs again, but stops abruptly when he has to juggle the cardboard box he's holding so he can open the door of his room.

'I think this is the room Uncle mentioned. Yes, this looks right.' I follow Link in and raise an eyebrow. It's a smallish room, with a bed on one side a desk on the other. Other than that the room is bare of furnishings. There isn't even a carpet, just cold floorboards.

'Your uncle's really making an effort for you guys, huh?' I ask dryly. Next to the desk is a window which looks out onto a familiar tree. 'Hey, you can see my room from here!' I exclaim, running over to look.

'Really? That's cool,' Link says, joining me.

'Yeah, it's- hey, what's he doing in there?' I say suddenly, seeing Sheik walk into my room with Aryll following. In the absence of a responsible adult in our house, me and Sheik don't have many rules. But that just means that the few we do have are very important, and one of them is that we are not allowed to go into each other's rooms without permission. Our rooms are sacred spaces, not to be trespassed on. Of course, it's a rule I frequently ignore, but that's no reason why my brother shouldn't have to stick to it. Without thinking I throw open Link's window and climb out onto a thick branch of the old tree between our houses.

'Er… should you be doing that, Tetra?' Link asks nervously. I ignore him, crawling steadily over to my window and banging on it as hard as I can, startling Sheik and Aryll.

'You open this window right now, Sheik Nohansen!' I growl, but he can barely hear me through the glass. Fortunately the expression on my face speaks a thousand words and he quickly does as I ask, although he leaps back with cat-like grace when I launch myself through the window. 'What are you doing in my room?' I ask, making him take another step back. I move purposefully towards him, but I'm stopped by a soft tug on the hem of my top. Glancing down I see Aryll, looking very nervous. Immediately I rearrange my expression, making it less murderous and more welcoming.

'Wanted to see if you had books,' Aryll mutters, hiding her mouth behind her hands.

'Oh.' I'm surprised. 'Well, you're welcome to borrow any of my books if you like, but Sheik has way more than I do. He's the bookworm in the family.'

'My books were a bit difficult,' Sheik says, which I understand. He generally reads boring old history books as thick as my arm, or nerdy science books full of technical words. Since I'm sixteen and I can't understand them, I get how little Aryll would struggle. The books I read are far more… approachable. Sheik, snob that he is, refuses to even call them books, because technically they are comics, but I still like them. I lead Aryll over to the small bookshelf by my bed and pull some out.

'Why are they all about pirates?' Aryll asks, and I shrug.

'I like pirates. You know, someone once told me that my mum was a pirate.' Aryll gasps, her eyes wide with childish awe.

'Really? You're the daughter of a pirate? That's so cool!' I laugh.

'Well, I didn't say it was true. There aren't really any pirates left nowadays – at least, not proper pirates, with eyepatches and parrots and big wooden ships.'

'That doesn't stop Tetra from dreaming, though,' Sheik says with a smile. He knows me so well.

'Can I borrow some of these?' Aryll asks, clutching a pile of my comics to her chest as if they're made of gold.

'Of course! I've got plenty,' I assure her.

'Everything alright in here?' a voice from the window asks. We all spin round to see Link perched in the tree. 'You were taking a while, so I thought I'd come see what was going on,' he says by way of explanation.

'Oh, right. No, Aryll just wanted to borrow something to read. I'm coming back to help now,' I reply.

'I'll come too,' Sheik says, taking some of Aryll's new comics so that she can more easily climb back across the tree with us. I must say, I'm surprised that my brother is being so sociable. It certainly doesn't come easily for him. But maybe Aryll is having a transformative effect on him. Wouldn't that be nice.

-o-

'So, you got any advice about the neighbourhood?' Link asks.

'What, other than "don't live here"?' I reply, making Link laugh. We finished unpacking the siblings' meagre belongings, so me and Link are now sitting in the front yard drinking lemonade, while Sheik and Aryll are doing who knows what out back. I vaguely heard mud being mentioned.

'I'm sure it's not that bad here,' Link says.

'No, it's not. It's a nice area, quiet, respectable, all the rest of it. Some of the people are just a bit snobbish, that's all. And they're generally pretty hard on newcomers.'

'Oh, I see. Well, you seem very nice and Aryll's really taken a shine to Sheik, so that's a good start,' Link says optimistically. I stifle a sigh, thinking how little he knows. My brother and I like to think of ourselves as two islands of normality and open-mindedness in an ocean of judgemental idiots. It's not the nicest way to think of our neighbours, but some of them deserve it. Especially the girl across the road.

'Anyone in particular to avoid?' Link asks, as if reading my thoughts.

'Well, there's-' Speak of the devil. Across the road from us the front door opens, and a girl my age steps out. Even though she's just getting the mail she's clearly made an effort, her clothes neat, not a hair out of place. As she leaves her house she looks around, flicking her head and tossing her long brown hair over her shoulder like a model in a shampoo advert. Great Din, is she wearing make-up? She is. Who wears make-up to get the mail?

She walks down the path to the mailbox, swaying her hips slightly. Ugh. She's a good shape for hip-swaying. Tall and elegant to give her the required sweep, slim to make her hips show, and long, slender legs to make even the short walk to the mailbox look like she's on a catwalk. I snort and look away, but I can't help unconsciously comparing myself to her.

Her hair is thick and luxurious, falling to her waist like a dark waterfall, while mine is bright blonde and generally such a hassle that I keep it rolled up in a bun on top of my head. She's… willowy, I think the term is, tall and graceful, while I'm average height and a complete klutz. I'm stockier than her, which doesn't help, although personally I'd rather have a bit of muscle than be completely stick-thin like her. Shame the media view of the perfect woman doesn't agree with me on that one.

This girl is also the traditional idea of the perfect woman in that she's… well, a woman. She always wears stylish dresses which show off her, ahem, assets, while I'm far more comfortable in short pants and a tank top, which may not do much for me as far as appealing to the opposite sex is concerned, but I've never cared about that sort of thing before and I don't intend to start now.

Having concluded my mental rant and lowered my self-esteem a few notches, I watch the girl go back inside before turning to Link. To my surprise he's sitting bolt upright, eyes wide and mouth open. I sigh and mentally lower my opinion of Link a few notches as well. I know that look. I've seen it often enough, when boys are first confronted with a girl like Zelda Harkinian.

-o-

A/N: That's all for today, folks! Hope you liked it! Next chapter will be up tomorrow, so keep an eye out!