In case you haven't guessed, Rusl, who we all thought was the great, kind warrior, is sort of against girls and women as leaders and warriors. And now that both Tina and Link have disobeyed him, can you guess what's in store for them?


Tina dropped her sword as if it had burned her. Her shoulders dropped a little and she didn't look into Rusl's eyes, thought she wasn't exactly staring at her shoes.

"Tina, we've put up with your other-worldly antics for long enough now, and you don't seem to have had the consideration to respect our wishes about your well-being. If you're going to insist on this behaviour, then I can do nothing other than insist that you leave us, and our children, in Kakariko village, alone. I give you a choice now: Either stay and rest, or go and do what you want. Make your decision," he said icily. Link looked from the man who'd been like a father to him, to the girl. What would she do?

Tina visibly deflated. This was obviously a decision she didn't want to make. She mouthed the words, "Tell the others," to Link, made sure he understood and then turned and ran down the path opposite the village.

"She's made her decision," Rusl bowed his head. "What about you?" He asked.

"I'm staying here," Link answered resolutely. "And I'm sorry about encouraging her," he added, even if it was mostly a lie. She was a very good opponent, and he would find her again, mostly to help her out with that man who'd brought her here, and perhaps she'd help him in return…he could only be hopeful. With his head bowed, so Rusl couldn't see, a sly smile spread across Link's face.

*-*-*

I ran away from him, who had seemed to be a friend. But, I rethought that thought and changed it. He didn't know how to be my friend. That sounded better. I ran on for a little while, but snuck back a bit to leave a visible trail for anyone who wanted to follow, meaning Link and the Storm Hawks. Before long, I found myself at a clean, blue pool. I would have waded in, but I didn't want to soak my shoes and jeans. It turned out, I didn't have to. My toes touched the edge of the water, and a golden, seemingly cross between a bull, the head and front legs, and a wolf, the body, back legs, and tail. Its voice rang out through the clearing, though I had a feeling only I could actually hear it.

"Little one, you do not belong here, though you come not by your own choosing. I know who brought you here, as well as why and how, but those either you know or you will find out. No spirits are able to help you on your way because you are not of either this world, or the world of the Twili, both of which you will soon find out much. Help those you travel with, and you will in turn help yourself." After it said this, it disappeared, and I closed my eyes. No supernatural help would come to me this time. And it knew me…what did that mean? I could only wonder, and wait, until not long after, the Storm Hawks and Link came to find me.

*-*-*

She looked confused, Aerrow thought. Link and the others saw this as well, but only the guy in green could piece together even remotely what had happened. Before anyone else could ask what had happened, Link said to her,

"I'm sorry for Rusl's outburst. I really have no explanation besides that he really likes to help, but only if everybody does exactly what he says."

"Don't worry about it. Worse has happened," she said, fluttering a hand to show that it was of no importance. "What we should be worrying about it how to get us all home."

The clearing around the pool was silent for several seconds.

"Seeing as you all have no idea what to do, I think we should go to the major metropolis here, and see if my captor is there. He may be able to do something for us, and I find that the most likely place for him to be. Unless any of you have a better idea," Tina said.

"Well," Link looked upwards, thinking. "There are other places that he might be. If you guys head to Hyrule Castle Town, then I'll go to the other places and check them out."

"How would you do that without leaving us waiting for weeks?" Finn and Piper asked at the same time, though with slightly different wordings. Link, of course, didn't want to reveal how he could warp and said that he had his secrets. He pulled a folded map from a pouch at his waist and laid it on the ground.

"This is the road you'll be taking to the Castle Town," he moved his finger along a relatively straight path. "And I'll be going to these spots." He now pointed towards six spots on the map, before saying their names, "Kakariko village, Goron Mountain, the Zora's Domain, Lake Hylia, Snowpeak, and Gerudo Desert. The last two are unlikely, seeing as there is no way to get there by foot, but I wouldn't rule this out as a possibility for him." Tina nodded her agreement.

"Sounds good. So as long as we follow the path, we should get to the Castle Town in good time?" She asked.

"A day and a half," Link confirmed. "And the only time the path gets somewhat twisty is in this tunnel," he moved his finger along a short section on the map, "And it'd dark in there, but as long as you know where the walls are, you should be fine."

"As long as the foreign-eating monswraths don't get us first," Stork warned in a fit of paranoia.

"Who says that the monsters here are the same as on Atmos?" Piper laughed.

"Just to be safe, we should all spray down with my special monster-repelling spray," Stork revealed a small spray can and offered it to everyone, but they politely declined, as did Link and Tina, deciding if the Merb's friends knew better than to take it, then so should they.

"Let's go," Aerrow stood and waited for us all to get up, before we headed in the direction that would eventually lead us to the city.

The Storm Hawks and I stood to go, but Junko remembered that we'd need some provisions. Link handed us some bread and cheese, and I made a pack out of my inside-out hoodie, mentally rationing it so we'd have enough for two days, in case we encountered anything unpleasant that held us up for a while.

Once I had slung the pack over my shoulder, finding that it was surprisingly comfy, the seven of us set off, leaving Link at the pool. I suspected that he'd get around to all the places as quickly as he would, would have to do with something supernatural. I just didn't know what yet.

I fell into step beside Finn and Aerrow, who had Radarr on his shoulder were in front, with Piper just a little bit behind us. Junko and Stork walked behind her, with the former seeming to be kind of protective over us, and the Merb's eyes darting all around us for any signs of gut-wrenching terror. To tell you the truth, I was almost as scared, but more in a more cautious and wary way. Not only did we not have one person among us who knew about the land, but we barely even knew where we were going. I'd give just about anything for a photocopier, right now, I thought, wishing that we could somehow copy the map. Not that I was an amazing navigator, of course. I had trouble with maps.

*-*-*

They walked in relative silence for a long time. When the sun was high in the sky, they got out the food to eat, Tina making sure everyone had proper rations to make the food last, and they ate as they walked. Of course, Finn didn't chew his bread enough and nearly started to choke, but with a few whallops on the back by the largest member of our company, he was fine and until night fall, our trip had gone rather smoothly.

We were most of the way across a field and could see the city – finally – but it was too dark to go on, and we settled down on a slight hill of long grass to sleep under the stars.