Sorry this took such a long time for me to post! I participated in NaNoWriMo all of last month and things got really hectic. Things should get back on track soon though, and the next few chapters should be longer and more action-packed. Thanks for sticking with me! :)


Night of the First Day
60 Hours Remain

Anju didn't remove the letter from her pocket again until after the sun had set. She took her time with the end of the day chores, putting unusual care into filing away the reservation book and closing up the kitchen. She checked on her grandmother (who was still awake, surprisingly) before she took the steps up to the second floor slowly, one at a time, listening to their gentle, wooden creaks in the nighttime silence. The clock downstairs inched its way closer to midnight. Closer to her meeting.

But she had to read Kafei's letter first. She had to come up with a clue to give that blue-eyed boy.

Her and her mother's room was blessedly empty. Anju shut the door behind her and sat on the edge of her bed. Crickets chirped outside her window as she pulled the envelope from her dress with shaky fingers.

She took a quiet breath. There it was again, in the palms of her hands. His handwriting. His. He'd written this, just for her. He was still alive, and he was still thinking of her. Anju's fingers curled around the envelope, held it closer.

The news in this letter could still be bad, the voice in the back of her head chided. But Anju pushed it away. Those were things she didn't want to hear. Not right now, when he seemed so close. Closer than he'd been in weeks.

She curled her fingertips around the envelope's seal. No more fear. No more apprehension. Without really thinking about it, she ran her nails beneath the seal, breaking it before she had a chance to stop herself.

Folded paper poked out of the envelope. Anju's breath caught in the back of her throat. She took it gingerly and held it in the palms of her hands.

She only had to glance over the handwriting to know it was from him. There was no doubt about it. She traced a finger over the symbols, imagined him scrawling them out by weak candlelight.

She read the letter, hungrily taking in each sentence, each word. It confirmed that he was still alive. He was okay. That alone filled with a strange sort of peace that she hadn't felt in over a month.

But it also said he couldn't come back home yet; not until he'd completed one last task before the wedding.

Still. He wasn't dead. Only missing. She set the letter on her lap and breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

But there was something else in his letter. He'd mentioned a change - he didn't say what specifically - but it was enough to put him in hiding for over a month. What could have happened that scared him that badly? Kafei was never scared... He was always the brave one, the one willing to smash the spiders and walk her home in the dark of night.

Anju wanted desperately to write a response, to tell him how happy she was and that she wanted to see him. That everything would be okay, and they could put the wedding off for another year if he needed. But, thanks to the postman, she had no address, nowhere to send it. So she stared down at the letter, willing her good intentions to Kafei, wherever he might be.

No. Wait. Maybe that blue-eyed boy knew something. Maybe that was why he showed up when he did - right after the postman. Maybe he knew something that she didn't...

Anju immediately jumped from her bed, grabbed a pen and slip of paper from her desk. She wrote fervently, pouring everything she wanted to say out onto the paper, pausing only to re-read a few passages and cross others out. She made sure to mention the boy as well; perhaps Kafei would be more willing to meet with him, a stranger, than her.

But, mostly, she didn't want to admit that she was afraid to meet with him. Afraid to see what he'd become. Afraid to see who he might be with.

In the end, her own letter was a complete mess of scribbles and cucco-scratch; but it didn't matter. Not anymore. All that mattered now was that he'd get her response. She set the pen aside and folded her note into squares.

Someone was pounding up the stairs. At first Anju dismissed it as a patron returning late to their room - but she knew those steps.

Mother.

She was still sliding her own envelope and Kafei's back in her dress pocket when Mother came through the door.

"Good evening," Anju managed with a weak smile.

But Mother was having none of it. She nodded to Anju's hands, still poised over the pocket. "What are you hiding?"

"Nothing."

"Don't lie to your mother."

"I..." But Mother's gaze was too hard. Too demanding. She stepped forward and took Kafei's envelope from Anju's hands.

"Mother, please, that's mine-"

But she'd already seen the signature. Her brow furrowed and she made a noise crossed somewhere between a growl and a snarl.

"This had better be an apology," she said, furious. "Is he finally apologizing to you? Did he tell you where he's run off to?"

"No, but-"

"Then ignore it. Don't respond to it. Don't go looking for him."

Anju's hands tightened into fists. "I have to. I'm...I can't give up on him. Mother, I-"

"You love him. I know."

Her mother seemed to weaken then. Something inside her folded, and her anger began to subside. She lowered herself to the bed across from Anju's, her gaze focused on the cracks in the floor.

"I understand how you feel, Anju," she said, slowly. "Your father...he did the same thing to me, don't you remember? He just up and left. And I waited for him, fool I was. I waited and kept loving him. But he didn't come back." She looked up at her daughter then, and her gaze was hard. Determined. "I don't want you to go through the same thing."

He's not like that. Kafei would never do that. Anju almost said it, but the words caught in her throat. She couldn't. So she nodded.

"I know, Mother. It's just..."

Her mother stood up then and put a gentle hand to her cheek. "I understand. But you need to let him go. Don't be the fool I was."

"You're...you're not a fool, Mother."

"This is probably just like the last time. When he ran off to the ranch with that-"

"I don't want to talk about that."

Anju spoke with such finality that Mother almost snapped away. But instead she stroked her daughter's cheek and returned to her bed.

"We have a lot of preparations to make for the next few days. Make sure you get plenty of rest," she said.

"I will, Mother," Anju said. "I just...have to go downstairs and take care of a few things. Clean the kitchen."

"You haven't taken care of that already?" But her tone wasn't admonishing; only tired. "Don't be too long."

Anju left the room and closed the door behind her with a sigh. The inn was silent at that time of night, save for the heavy tick-tock of the clock in the lobby. She knew she was probably late for her meeting with the boy - and she wouldn't have blamed him for leaving or ignoring the ravings of a heartbroken girl - but, when she entered the kitchen, he was waiting for her beside the stove. His fairy fluttered beside him in lazy circles.

Gratitude welled up in her chest.

"Thank you for coming," she said immediately. "I understand that you're probably busy with your own things, but... this really means a lot to me."

The boy only nodded. Anju took her own letter from her pocket and clasped it in her hands, like a security blanket. Her heart was thudding in her chest, so loud that she was sure the boy and his fairy could hear it.

"I'm sorry for troubling you so late at night, but this is about...him. I...I got a letter from...him...earlier today." She suddenly laughed, but she could feel tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. "Strange, isn't it? Getting a letter from a missing person... But there's absolutely no mistaking it's from him! It's clear...to me..."

The boy was still watching her, absolutely patient, but she realized she was rambling and needed to get back on track. Anju thrust out her hand, the letter nearly crumpled in her palm.

"Please! I wrote this letter to him, and if you could...I would appreciate it so much if you put it in the postbox. When he reads this, you should be able to meet him. And please...tell him that Anju is waiting for him. And..." She paused then, her breath hitching in the back of her throat. "Tell me how he looked. I'm scared. I...I can't go."

She waited for the boy to reject her. To take his fairy and simply walk away. But he took the letter from her hand, cradling it gently in his, as if he could sense its importance. Anju's heart soared.

"Thank you...very much," she said, clasping her hands together at her front. "This means more to me than I can say."


It was nearly midnight, and it was unseasonably cold. Kafei huddled beneath one of the scraggly trees in the northern district of town, rubbing his hands together for warmth. One of the Bombers was out playing with a balloon, and the local guard was keeping watch (though, truth be told, he seemed to be dozing) at his post. Still, no one seemed to take notice of the purple-haired boy with the mask, and he was perfectly fine with that.

Tak's words that morning struck a chord. They spurred him to North Clock Town, the same place where he'd run into the thief that took his mask and the Skull Kid who changed him back into a child. The chances of seeing them again were painfully slim, but he was tired of holing himself up in the Curiosity Shop's back room, surrounded by lost and stolen items.

A commotion from the gate interrupted his thoughts. The old woman from the bomb shop was talking quietly to the guard; she seemed to have woken him from his sleep. Kafei ignored them and turned his attention back to his frigid hands.

It had been around this time when he first met the thief - a pitch black night, though it had been cloudier and close to raining. He'd walked dejectedly through the mud and the soggy grass, making his way to the Great Fairy's Fountain (though she had been split apart by the Skull Kid at that time, and he hadn't known it yet).

Someone shoved him hard in the back before he reached the fountain. And then he was facedown in the dirt, his forehead was bleeding, his arm had been wrenched, and his precious wedding mask was gone.

He'd chased after the thief, of course; though it was difficult to keep up when there was mud in his eyes and his shoes were stuck in the squelching grass, and before he knew it, the man was long gone. He hated himself for carrying the mask that day, but keeping it close was like keeping a part of Anju with him. It had given him the courage he needed to wake up and face each day in this small body.

The next time he saw the thief, though... things would be much, much different.

If he ever saw the thief again.

No. Kafei shook his head. He was going to fix this. Somehow, someway.

The old woman was passing by him then. She didn't even glance in his direction. Probably mistook him for one of the Bomber boys, still out playing despite the unreasonable hour. The one trying to pop the balloon still hadn't let up, after all.

He wasn't used to staying up this late anymore - not since the accident. He leaned back against the brick of the wall, breathing in the cold night air. If the Skull Kid hadn't gotten to him, he most likely would have spent the entirety of his evening at the milk bar with a group of friends. Though, this close to the wedding, he probably would have spent it with Anju... He wondered if the letter had gotten to her, if she'd already read it-

A loud crack filled the air. Then the thud of a body hitting the dirt. Kafei's eyes snapped open just in time to see the old woman on the ground.

"Stop! Thief!" she was saying.

Kafei's heart lurched into his chest.

There, only feet away from his scraggly little tree, was the same bald, prancing man who'd taken his mask.

Kafei jumped up without a second thought. His anger lent him the adrenaline rush he needed to chase after him.

"Stop!" he shouted, but the thief was far too fast. He scampered past the dazed guard and out into the night.

Kafei raced after him, arms and legs swinging, his breath escaping him in huge bursts. He was mere inches away from the gate when the guard suddenly threw out his spear to block the way.

"It's unsafe for children to leave-"

Kafei ignored his warning and vaulted neatly over the spear. He could hear the guard shouting after him, but by then he was already out in the fields, far enough away that the guard probably wouldn't give chase.

The thief was just ahead, running in the direction of the canyon. Kafei took another deep breath and shot after him.

"Stop!" he shouted again. "Get back here!"

The thief risked a glance over his shoulder.

He was grinning, teeth bared. And he cackled.

Kafei bit back a growl and forced himself to run just a bit faster.

The thief was frighteningly fast. He crossed the field, dodging bombchus with ease and skirting between the stone columns. Kafei found himself struggling to keep up with these shorter, stubbier legs.

He kept after the thief, but before he knew it, the man had disappeared into the darkness of the canyon. Kafei skidded to a halt at its entrance, breathing so hard that his lungs felt as though they were on fire.

When he calmed, he could hear the distant screech of the canyon birds, of the bombchus skittering about behind him. No more footfalls, no more of the thief's irritatingly high laughter. The man was gone, and Kafei knew how dangerous the canyon was after dark. Now wasn't the time to risk going in.

He couldn't follow the thief any further.

But at least now he finally knew where the man lived.