CHAPTER 3

Kakariko Village

The village was usually quiet in the late afternoon. It had been raining earlier so the ground was wet and the buildings were damp and grey. The trees had begun to change with the end of summer and blossoms and leaves fluttered by on the breeze. Cuccoos could be heard crowing from their pens and the windmill waved fiercely. Because of the rain, villagers were mostly indoors but a few had ventured outdoors once it had subsided.

Mia, the local healer, was walking back to town with her horse. She had left to get supplies from the market in the Castle Town but the guards had not permitted her inside. It seemed there was some sort of commotion in the town and they feared it would not be safe to permit anyone in. She had not joined in on the festivities of the previous evening and that was precisely the reason why. She knew that at those sorts of events, nothing but trouble ensued in the aftermath and as such, here she was, without supplies and sodden. Her strawberry-blonde hair felt like straw as it blew fiercely around her in every direction and her cheeks stung from the brisk wind. She had to admit she was more than a little agitated – as most of the time she couldn't find the herbs and ingredients required for her various concoctions in Kakariko and the trip to the market meant a day where she had to close up shop and people were left untreated.

As she was nearing the corner beside the well, she saw a group of six or seven people standing around a man on a crate. The man was Varilion, a preacher from as far away as Mia had ever heard. He was staying at the Inn owned by her sister so she had already met him. He was some form of new age monk that had come to town preaching doom and apocalypse upon everyone. The people called them "new-age" but he wasn't the first and he certainly wouldn't be the last. Every year, when the storm season approached, the village received visits from these crackpots that insisted the storms were a result of the wrath of some ancient god. Few people listened and even of the ones that did, few remembered once they left. The chore of daily living left little time for theological contemplation it seemed. The people had started calling the preachers the grey men, because of the faded robes they wore and the grim tidings they spoke of; not to mention the fact that they were usually pasty faced and greying themselves.

This Varilion was not their usual sort, though. Mia had actually found him quite charming, and he was at least twenty years younger than their last visitor, with jet black hair which he kept neat and oiled and an adorable crooked smile that made you shudder. He still wore the robes of the grey men when he worked but instead of preaching of doom and destruction, he liked to talk about salvation and learning.

Stopping to watch for a minute, she noticed that people seemed to be listening to him. Usually, after the initial attraction of a stranger yelling in the street had lost its fascination, one or two villagers would decide they had heard enough and walk away laughing, but not today. Varilion certainly knew how to draw people in with his words, Mia decided.

Still, she had no time to watch him. She was cold and tired and wanted to get home. Stabling her horse she removed her saddle bags, fixed him with a nose bag and headed to the inn for some food. Hopefully her sister would still have this evening's dinner menu available. Her husband was a wonderful cook and tended to try out different recipes from throughout the world, but every now and then he prepared a more traditional feast. Mia was in the mood for some home comforts right now.

Link

Link was in his room alone. He had pulled his old saddle bag up from beneath the bed and rested it on top. He ran his fingers along the leather laces that held it shut. Until the day he left, it had remained in his cabin in the Lost Woods for as long as he was there and he still hadn't opened it. He still remembered what was in it, he could never forget. He pulled on the bag until it opened fully. When he reached inside, he pulled out the first thing he could find. The Ocarina of Time was still beautifully decorated and shone in the light. It was cold to the touch as he ran his fingers along it, in and out the holes and to the mouthpiece. He brought it to his lips and blew gently into it, without tune. Its soft, hollow sound pierced his memories and within a few seconds he was playing the familiar song that Impa had taught him the first time he met Zelda.

As if without warning the sound picked up and began to echo endlessly through the castle walls. He was not aware, but the entire castle stopped at that moment and listened and remembered. He did not know, but the princess stopped in the hallways in surprise and turned to her father's arms. He did not see it, but the king, as he held his daughter, remembered seeing his wife cradling their only daughter, humming that song gently to her as she slept. He couldn't tell, but in her chambers below, Impa sat back in her chair and remembered rocking Zelda to sleep after her mother was gone and she could not stop crying. In times past, the people of this castle knew this song and it reminded them of loved ones gone and the happiness they knew. The music was home now that he was.

When he finished playing, he noticed someone was standing behind him, playing along. "I kept it." Adam told him, holding up his old fairy ocarina. "I haven't played it for years, but I kept it."

Link smiled. "I couldn't help myself there. I can't believe I remembered it…one of the first songs I ever really learned."

Adam walked over and looked at the large bag on the bed. "What are you doing?"

Link gestured at it. "It's all my old things. I haven't been able to look at it but if we have to figure out what's going on here, I suppose I should remember what it is I do around here." He pulled out the Goron Mask he got in Termina.

"You kept them?" Adam asked and Link nodded. "All of them?" Link nodded again, this time more slowly. He reached into the bag and pulled out another mask.

It was a pale and carved of the smoothest wood, painted in colours of blue and white and red. When he looked into the empty eyes of the Fierce Deity he felt a shudder pass through his body. Just holding it made him feel sick, taste blood, suffer the power. "Get it away from me." He threw it at Adam and sat down on the bed.

Adam turned it over in his hands. "I can't believe it." He said. "It's infamous. Lost for thousands of years and you wind up with it. What are the odds?" Link shuddered, knowing the answer all too well. Adam gazed into the mask as intently as Link did and ran his fingers along it. "Holy…" he muttered. Link did not like the look in his eyes. "It really calls to you, doesn't it?"

"Adam?" Link muttered, as he turned it upside down in his hands.

"Really…makes you w…want to…just…" The entire colour flashed from his eyes as they became pure white.

"Adam!" Link yelled and snatched the mask from him. He shook and blinked as the colour returned to his eyes. Link stared at him, full of fear.

"What the hell, Link!" He exclaimed. "We need to put that somewhere safe."

Link returned it to his bag, at least to get it out of his sight for the moment. Adam sat beside him and lay back with a groan. Link stared at him, worried, but relaxed when he saw his friend seemed completely unfazed by what had just happened. He threw the other masks and the ocarina back into the bag and pulled it shut. "I hear you've had a busy morning, then?" He asked.

"You would not believe." Adam said from the bed with a laugh.

"Domestics and fires, and what is all this talk of suicides?" Link asked.

Adam sat up with a thoughtful expression on his face. "Yes…" he said, "you know, they all killed themselves at the same time. It was very strange; just when I got that boy down from the roof."

"Boy?" Link asked.

"Oh yes, long story. We found him on top of the blacksmiths getting ready to jump." Adam replied.

Link remembered that Captain Viscen had mentioned it. "Ah yes, gods, that's terrible, what happened? What did you do?"

Adam rolled his eyes and looked out the room. "Oh you know. I pushed him."

Link burst out laughing and then covered his mouth which was wide with shock. "What!?"

Adam smirked as well. "Well, he wasn't coming down any other way," he began. "Oh don't look so worried, I jumped with him."

Link threw his arms up in disbelief and laughed once more. "Again, what!?"

Adam laughed and then explained. "We were fine; I used the wind to cushion our fall."

"The wind…"

"Yes, the wind. I got the idea from a tree." He waved his fingers in front of his mouth and blew. When he did, a gust of wind blew across Links face, blowing off his hat, and he had to shut his eyes. Adam laughed at him.

"Okay, okay, enough I get it, the wind!" And Adam stopped the blowing on his face. Link walked round behind bed, retrieved his hat and jammed it back onto his head. "Dick." Adam laughed as he walked back to where he had been sitting. "So what, they all killed themselves when you got him down, is that what you said?"

"Yes, but that isn't the strangest part." He told him. Now Link was interested. Captain Viscen had explained the strange things the victims and aggressor had said and they had been waiting for Adam's version of events all afternoon. "We were all alone on that roof. I swear to you Link, I swear to every god we know. It was just him and I, but…"

"But what?"

"There was a crowd. It could have been his neighbours or family I'm really not sure but there was definitely a crowd…But they left, Link. They all left as if they did not care. They simply walked away and left that boy to die alone."

Link thought the idea of that was terrible. He knew what it was like to think you were going to die alone. The thought of having no one to mourn you, or even know you had passed away, hit him close to home and he could imagine what that must have felt like. "Well that sounds extremely cruel but I don't understand what is strange about it."

"They were silent, Link. It was…" he searched for a word. "It was disturbing. They all just watched him like they were waiting for him to do it. No one tried to stop him. And when they walked away, they did so all at once. It sent a shiver through me. And they left us alone."

"So do you think there are grounds to the suggestion that these people were possessed?" Link posed.

Adam shrugged and chewed his lip. "Something is definitely going on, I'm certain of that. The second the boy and I hit the ground, he collapsed."

"He collapsed? Do you know why?" Link asked.

"Well, it may have just been from the shock that someone had pushed him from a roof, and normally I would think so…but it wasn't the first time I witnessed it happen today. It happened at a bar I was at and at another brawl on the way back." He explained. "The strangest thing followed after we landed, though." Link continued to listen intently, looking as bewildered as Adam seemed. "Like I said, we were alone but when he collapsed, I bent to catch him and when I looked up, there stood the crowd, the guards and everyone else that had left. Laughing and cheering and definitely more than animated."

Link did not know what to make of that. "What did you do with the boy?" He asked.

"No one seemed to claim him so I brought him back here with the rest of them. He's sleeping downstairs in the infirmary. The doctor insists he will wake up sooner or later." That was good. If the boy was with them they could keep an eye on him. Link did not fancy the idea of letting someone with suicidal tendencies out on his own with no one to watch out for him. "Poor kid," Adam continued. "I was really uninterested earlier but now I almost feel sorry for him. He didn't seem that bad at all. When I look at him, I keep thinking how he could just as easily be me or you."

Link understood, but was just as unsure as to what was responsible. "The Sages think that we might have released something when Amy and I escaped." He told him.

Adam looked at him questioningly. "What? Released something? I suppose it is possible, I mean if you were trapped there, heaven knows what else was."

"Either that or something waited until we were leaving and followed us." Link told him the other side of the theory. "Is that possible?"

Adam considered it. "It would have to be something pretty powerful to hijack magic like that. To be able to see or even feel a rift in dimensions isn't something just anyone can do, you know. Did you know of anything there capable of that?"

Link nodded solemnly, chewing his own lip now. "Maybe…" He could not accept it. He could not cope with the idea of releasing such fear onto the world. He only hoped the Sages were wrong and could come up with a better idea.

Adam sighed and he lay back down on the bed. "They just don't give us a minute to breathe do they? There is always something going on."

"Adam," Zelda called from the doorway, "there you are. What are you doing here, my father wanted to see you as soon as you returned."

Adam sat back up and looked at Link. "See?"

They both stood and headed for the door. As they approached, Zelda slipped her hand into Link's and gave it a squeeze. "Thank you." She said, as he looked at their intertwined hand.

"For what?" He asked, but she just smiled, grabbed Adam's hand and dragged them to the council chambers.

Hyrule Castle

The King is dead. The march on the castle left but few survivors. The princess has fled but shan't escape us for long. We have revolution…

Letter sent by Ganondorf to Nabooru at the Desert Colossus following the surrender of Hyrule to the West.

In the Great Hall, the sages had set up for the ritual they were about to undertake by the time night had fallen. The acolytes of the Order of Light, those charged with the protection of the sacred realm, had prepared the room. A seven pointed star had been etched in the ground in chalk and covered with a fine crystalline powder that was used in spells to invoke the power of the seven sages. The Sages had each placed a medallion, by means of an enchantment spell, at a point on the star, representing their power. This effectively bestowed their power onto the medallion, allowing it to act as a conduit which focused their energy to a single point. Zelda was required to complete the circle and they waited patiently for her to arrive.

Rauru stood in the centre of the star. His eyes were black and he spoke in an ancient tongue. A gentle breeze blew about him, causing his robes to flap lethargically, almost unnaturally. He stood with his hand open, directed at the floor. A purple-black light emanated from the ends of his fingers. When he was finished, and the wind died and light faded, a small black medallion appeared on the floor within the centre. Impa strolled over to him with her arms folded. "Are you alright?" She asked.

The old Sage simply nodded and walked from the star to take a seat at the king's dining table, the only table that could not be removed from the room. "You know I'd swear that gets harder every time."

"Well we need all eight, and if the alternative wasn't a ritual sacrifice then we would do it." Impa told him.

"Yes, well you know, back in my day a small sacrifice or two wasn't frowned upon." The old man laughed, but Impa merely raised an eyebrow.

When he stopped, she finally smirked herself. "Yes, in mine too." And Rauru laughed once again.

The lights from the chandeliers had been left extinguished, save for one directly above the star. It left the room completely changed. You wouldn't have thought that yesterday half the kingdom was present and engaging in merriment at the return of their hero. As the hall was so large, it was almost now shrouded in darkness, the lengths almost merging with the shadows.

Each Sage had two acolytes training under him or her. They wore robes of their respective colours each with the outline of the triforce emblazoned on the front. They attended to the Sage, and trained in the elemental magic of their master, enabling them to assist in protection of both their mentors and the realm. There were more general acolytes that had set up monasteries throughout the kingdom that trained younger pupils in the ways of healing and promoted those most promising to the Sages personally.

The acolytes had lighted rows of candles at either side of the room which cast dancing shadows into every corner. Darunia, in his big hulking mass, only looked larger as he cast shadows upon everyone and Saria looked smaller beneath them. In all of his days, Rauru had not seen such a diverse range of Sages and he had survived the old times and seen two generations before this one. In this way, he felt they had done more good than any before them, as each race seemed to display a willingness to approach them now that one of their own was amongst their numbers. Still they had witnessed unsuccessful ventures as well. Their recent diplomatic tour to the turmoil in the south had proved a failure and they had neglected to share the details with the court as yet, but Rauru knew they could not hide it for long. Zelda was too inquisitive.

As if she knew he was thinking of her, the princess walked into the room with her own acolytes and greeted the Sages. Rauru could tell from her firm, official manner that she was obviously still upset about Nabooru's actions this morning but he knew Zelda was a kind child who would forgive her eventually.

When Zelda had prepared her medallion, the seven prepared to begin the spell. As official leader, Zelda stood at the apex and began the ritual with a prayer of protection. They raised their hands up to the side, so they were touching. "Goddess, protect us here, your faithful servants. As we are connected through each other, so too are we connected through you. Should we walk amongst the purest of the true, bless us and walk with us."

"Bless us and walk with us." The six repeated.

"Should we tread amongst the darkest of shadows, bless us and walk with us."

"Bless us and walk with us." The six repeated and a white light began to shine between their palms.

"Should our path be fruitful and clear, bless us and walk with us."

"Bless us and walk with us." The six repeated once more, the white light growing.

"Should our path be blocked and hopeless, bless us and walk with us, for we are the protectors of your children and protect them we must."

"Protect us as we protect them." The six cited in unison.

And with that, they separated their hands and the light faded. "Who shall be the vessel?" Rauru asked, and one of Zelda's own acolytes stepped forward. She nervously stepped into the circle. "Go forth without fear, child, you are in no danger here." He reassured her. He was of course, lying. There was always some danger in trying to channel or invoke something into the body of someone other than a Sage. But neither of the seven could break the circle or the spell would be redundant. It relied on their unity as a whole, but needed an eight person as the spell was as old as the order itself, and came from a time when their number was once eight. The idea was to channel the essence of whatever was out there and have it manifest itself within the circle. It was simply a beckoning spell that enabled them to identify what they were facing. The girl stepped into the centre and raised her hood.

Rauru and the other Sages placed their right arm across their chest and lay their hand on their shoulder. With the other hand, they made a knife gesture and raised it skyward in unison, before bringing it down in front of their face, resting their fingers on their forehead, and uttering words from ancient times.

Adam

We shall be as shadows. When you walk in the light, we shall be behind you and when cast in darkness, we shall be everywhere. We are yours…

Oath spoken by the Sheikah when first they pledged their service to the royal family.

In the infirmary, a boy lay asleep in a bed. He tossed and turned every few moments as if wracked by disturbing dreams. Adam had returned to wait his wakening and was sitting watching his latest fit when Link walked into the room, pulled a chair across and sat beside him. "Is this him?" He asked and Adam nodded. "What's wrong with him?"

"Dreaming, I think." Adam replied. "He's been pretty restless for the past few hours. The nurse told me there's nothing they can do. They leeched him as much as they dare and their potions to keep the dreams away don't seem to be working. They had a hard time getting them into his system."

"He looks so young." Link said. "I wonder what could have put him on that roof."

"Who knows?" Adam looked at his friend. "Where are Amy and Zelda?"

Link gestured behind him with his head. "Zelda is down doing that ritual thing and Amy wanted to watch the light show. I think Zelda snuck her in as one of her acolytes."

"Is that safe?" Adam was concerned, but Link just shrugged.

"You know more about that stuff than me. Zelda claimed that since she was not actively participating it should be fine. Besides, Zelda is doubtful anything will even happen. I just hope she's right."

Adam felt a shudder. "Link…" he started, just as the boy woke up wildly and sat up in the bed. Link fell backward over his seat and rolled to his feet with a groan.

"What the hell?" The boy in the bed asked. "What's going on?" Link stood and rubbed the back of his head. Adam moved to calm the boy down. It seemed he hadn't truly woken up yet and pulled away from him in fright.

"Whoa, whoa it's okay." He told the boy.

"Maybe for you." Link was saying. Adam gave him a dry look.

"Who…" The boy started, slapping at Adam's hand, before looking at him intently. "What…"

"You're okay." Adam grabbed his arm and reassured him. "You're in the castle; we brought you here from town. Do you remember what happened?"

The boy swallowed and looked around warily. "The castle? Why? I…?" He looked at Adam again. "Wait…" He squinted at him. "You were there…on the roof." Adam nodded. "But, uh, how did we get down, I…" He rubbed his head.

Adam's eyes went wide. He looked at Link who was smirking and obviously waiting to hear his explanation as well. "That is really not important. What's important is that you are safe now, okay, there's no more jumping off roofs."

"Safe…"

Just then some guards came running through the door holding a young girl. They carried her over to one of the beds. She was sobbing uncontrollably. Zelda came through the door, explaining to the nurses what had happened. "Amy!" Link shouted and pushed his way through. Adam, just realising, followed suit but when he gazed at the girl he saw he did not know her. Her white robes had been stained almost completely with blood and her body was twisted and mangled beyond recognition. She was barely conscious and in a state of shock, muttering some indecipherable words.

Adam turned away and found the boy staring at the girl. He immediately pulled him away and took him outside. "Come on, there's nothing we can do here, you shouldn't see this." Zelda immediately ran past him and when he tried to protest that she be there she screamed that it was her fault and pushed the doctors and guards out of her way.

Adam turned round and saw Rauru standing outside. "What the hell happened?" He fumed at him. His robes were stained with blood as were they all. "What did you do?"

Rauru and the Sages looked as confused as everyone else. "I don't understand it," he began, "everything was going fine. The girl was receiving nothing. She was receiving nothing."

Impa stepped up and tried to offer an explanation. "We were in the middle of the channelling. We could see nothing; we felt nothing and the girl complained of nothing."

"Then what happened?" Link asked, joining them in the hallway, obviously as angry as he was.

"We were just blown away," Nabooru interjected. "Boom, whoosh, nothing left. The candles were extinguished and we were floored. Next the girl began screaming and fell to the floor."

"We did nothing wrong!" Rauru added, obviously shaken, for all his years of experience.

"Then get in there and heal her." Link demanded.

"It's too late, boy." Impa said. "We already tried downstairs; she is beyond saving now."

"How could you let this happen?" Link asked.

Rauru spun to look at him again. "I swear to you, son, we felt nothing. That hall was empty. This whole damn town was empty. We did nothing wrong."

"Oh gods, Amy!" Link's expression turned panicked. Adam had almost forgotten and searched the hallway for her with his eyes. He saw her sitting by the wall with Saria, but wasn't entirely sure who was comforting who. Link dashed over to the girl and knelt in front of her.

"I do not believe this." Adam said in frustration. "You were practically only doing a séance…"

"We did nothing wrong." Rauru insisted.

Adam threw the doors open and pointed at the rabble of nurses and guards. "Tell that to her." Zelda was weeping over her bed and trying to ease her pain with her magic, to no avail from what Adam could see. Apparently the Sages had been right about that at least.

Adam saw that the boy had crept back into the room and he ran in to get him again. "Come on…" he told him, and the boy just nodded.

Zelda looked up from the floor and called his name. "Adam, please. Please do something." He looked at the girl. She was so incredibly mangled that it made him sick to behold. She appeared to shiver slightly on the bed as she continued to mumble and wail in agony.

He was speechless and did not know what to tell Zelda. "Zelda, there's nothing I can do; she's far beyond healing now."

"I know," she cried and looked at her with remorse. "But please, help me take away her pain; I owe her that at least. It's all my fault, it was all my fault."

Adam knew Zelda would never be able to forgive herself if the girl suffered unto her last breath. He couldn't bear to think of her torturing herself. It was a tragic waste, he knew, but a mere accident nonetheless. He nodded solemnly to her and then looked at the boy beside him; his eyes wide with fear and misty. "Get out of here." He told him, and swallowed his own fears.

Freeing someone of their pain was no easy task. It was true that pain could be eased using potions or spells such as the ones the princess had been trying. However, it was not something that could simply be flushed away like a potion would cure an illness, and truly freeing a person of their pain meant sharing that pain. Usually that meant some form of discomfort for the caster but since the girl was experiencing more pain than he had ever witnessed a human being to suffer, he did not expect to enjoy the next few moments. He stepped forward. "Stand back." He told everyone but the boy grabbed his arm and stopped him. "I'm Haydn." He told him almost franticly, a look of shock in his eyes. "You wanted to know my name… It's Haydn."

Adam smiled and gave his arm a comforting squeeze. He turned and kneeled in front of the girl. "What is her name?" He asked Zelda.

"M-Melana-" she told him, and then hugged him tightly. "Thank you."

"Just stand back." He ordered.

When he knelt before her he looked into her eyes. Seeing such pain there he couldn't help but almost sob himself. Her eyes were dim and he knew she didn't have long left. Leaning in close, he whispered softly to the girl. "Hello Melana, my name is Adam," he told her. "And I want you to know that we are so, so sorry." He lifted her hand and she croaked a gasp of pain. "We never meant for this to happen to you and we hope that you can forgive us. It will be all over soon, I promise you."

She was still muttering through her gasps of pain, but Adam could hardly understand it. Zelda approached and kneeled at the top of the bed, stroking her hair gently. "No, we do, we do care," she whispered. "We do care."

Adam hesitated a moment and looked at Zelda. She looked up at him and rose before stepping back and smiling. When she was with far enough away he gazed down at Melana once again. "I'm going to take away your pain now. I'm going to take away your pain."

He closed his eyes and placed his other hand around hers as well. There was a brief moment of calm before he felt the rush of pain. He screamed immediately as it took him over and left him stricken. Adam felt as if his head had been split in two. His limbs went weak and he almost lost the ability to remain upright, slumping over her bed. It felt as if his bones had been ground to dust, as if his organs had been beaten to a pulp. He could feel blood pour from every orifice, seep out of every pore and ooze from the battered remnants of his skin. He could hear nothing for his eardrums had burst, his teeth were shattered and he was blind in one eye. He had never experienced such agony and it felt to Adam that he were about to die. Every inch of his body was wracked with pain and he sobbed uncontrollably. It hurt and it hurt and it hurt and it hurt until, all at once, it didn't. And in that moment, Melana was gone.

Adam let go of her hand and slumped to the floor, falling back against the small cabinet beside the bed. Zelda ran over to him and draped a blanket over him. She was speaking, he could see, but his hearing had not returned. Her image was blurred as his eyes struggled to retake control of his vision. Adam could taste blood in his mouth still and his entire body shivered as if he were freezing. "She's gone," he managed to croak out, his voice returning both parched and feeble.

Link was in front of him now and Adam could nearly make out him asking if he were okay. But he was not okay; he had never experienced such torture and would not forget for the rest of his life how that girl suffered. He leaned to his right and fell into Zelda's arms and began to weep uncontrollably.

Kakariko Village

Mia's potion shop was once owned by an old woman with a talented ability for brewing up concoctions to heal all manner of things. She was known by the locals as the magic hag but she had been known to Mia as Grandma. Last year, Mia had moved to Kakariko when her health had begun to deteriorate and nursed her through the worst of it. The old woman had pulled through but now spent most of her days in a cabin near the south, near the lake, where it was warmer. Mia had taken over the running of her potion shop and had even set up a small clinic to be used for healing the townsfolk. She loved her work and hoped the townsfolk were as appreciative of her as she was of them.

As she was spreading a clean blanket across the single bed she kept at the side of the room, there was a knock at the door. She was not expecting any visitors but was always aware that anyone could drop by at any time. Mia opened the door ever so slightly to gaze at her caller. "Oh," she gasped in shock, "Mr Marilion!" She opened the door slightly wider.

The young man smiled bashfully at her. "Sorry to call on you so late, but it was your sister who recommended I come across."

Mia was shocked. Her sister had better not be interfering again. Sometimes she would regret telling her anything. It was Mia's turn to appear bashful. "Oh…and what can I do for you?" The preacher lifted his hands in front of his face. His left one was wrapped in a brown towel that was almost soaked with blood. "Oh!" Mia exclaimed once more, almost relieved this time. "Please, please come in come in, of course," she gestured towards the main part of the room. "What happened to you there?"

Marilion walked into the room and sat down on the bed Mia had just prepared. He was not wearing his usual robes but instead sported a soft grey and black doublet and trousers. It made him look more like a regular person and Mia could not help but notice how refined he looked. She approached him and began to take away the cloth. "I'm afraid I had a rather nasty accident with one of the knives used to cut your sister's steak." He admitted. "Shame really, I was rather enjoying it."

Mia grinned at his quip as she gazed at the wound. Dipping a clean cloth in a bowl of water she cleaned around the cut. "Well it's not too deep, I won't have to stitch you up and the bleeding has all but stopped." She opened a small cupboard that hung on the wall and removed some clean dressing. Carefully cutting it to the correct length she began to wrap it around his hand. "We'll just get you wrapped up here and that should be you."

When she looked up Marilion was smiling at her. "You have a nice touch there." She averted her eyes and smiled. "It's gentle; that's good for a healer. It certainly makes a change from the hard fisted healers of the sect. Perhaps I will be injuring myself more often while I am still in town."

Mia rolled her eyes and walked behind her counter. What was she doing, standing blushing like a child in front of him? She lifted a small green bottle and took it to Marilion. "Take this." She said and stood him up. "Drink it before you go to sleep and it should reduce the risk of infection and fever. I'll come round to the inn in the morning and give you a clean dressing."

"I look forward to it." He said and headed for the door. "Listen, your sister also mentioned that you had been trying to get to Hyrule Castle Town today, correct?"

"Yes, but they refused to allow anyone in due to some disturbance." Mia replied. "All this Hero of Time nonsense; now I am left without the supplies I need."

"Well, I am headed for the town in a few days and I would be honoured if you would join me." Mia still needed to get to those supplies but was wary of accepting his offer. She was not used to the kindness of strangers as most people she met wanted something in return and her surprising affection for him did not aid the matter. Still he was a priest, which at least gave her some comfort. As if sensing her hesitation, Marilion spoke up once more. "There will be others; my assistants with the missionary supplies, scribes and anyone else who may feel the need to join us. We usually begin our journeys alone but seldom ever finish them that way."

Mia considered that. She found it hard to believe that people willingly followed the blustery old windbags that were the other grey men but knew of other missionary groups that boasted similar traits. Marilion smiled down at her. "Very well," she smiled, "that is most kind of you." At any rate, she would at least have some company for the journey.

"Anything to help." He dismissed, and opened the door. "Goodnight." He said and headed into the night.