"Good, I'm exhausted as are the Horses." Cye looked over his shoulder at Teran who had taken the exhaustion of the journey better than anyone else except Link.
They reached a path and Link jumped off Epona and grabbed her reins and began to walk with the Horse. "Best to walk into to Forest it will be easier." Link commented as Cye and Teran began to dismount from their horses and follow suit.
"You know best here, it's your home after all." Teran smiled as he tugged Luna into a walk.
The trio entered the Forest and Link directed them across to his treehouse at which he directed them to tie their horses at a small fence where a bowl of water sat waiting for the horses and then Link clim bed the ladder and disappeared into the treehouse.
"This forest is weirdly alive." Cye commented to Teran as they soothed their horses into the new environment.
"Yes it is, there's a magic in the air it is as if magic radiates from the air." Teran mused.
"I wonder whether we're destined to be here…" Cye muttered.
"Never thought of you as one to believe in being destined to be somewhere." Teran chuckled as he climbed the ladder as Link had. "C'mon Cye, we'd better rest or we will be dead on our feet come dawn."
Cautious and wary as ever Cye stroked Cyro's mane and climbed the ladder to join the others and the moment he cleared the doorway he saw a cow sitting in the corner of the treehouse.
"There is a cow…" Cye mentioned surprised.
"Yes there is a cow." Link replied smiling as he removed his left boot and placed it beside its brother.
"Why is there a cow?" Cye asked still surprised.
"Because, Cow." Link replied with a smirk as he removed his hat. "We should seek the Great Deku Sprout's guidance and approval of our stay in the morning."
"Yes of course." Cye replied.
"You can set yourself a bed over there," Link said pointing to the side of the hut opposite the cow. "Teran you can make your bed just up from Cye."
Teran nodded and descended the ladder to gather his and Cye's packs from their horses.
"Ter, I could've helped." Cye commented exhaustedly as his friend handed him his pack.
"I know but I didn't see the point in us both going down."
They made their beds from blankets and their cloaks and removed their boots and placed them at where the foot of the beds would've been. Dawn seemed to come too soon and the forest became alive with the Kokiri early with the children of the forest rushing around and playing.
"Good Morning Cy." Teran said as he sat on his make-shift bed.
"Morning Ter." Cye responded before noticing the absence of their green garbed host. "Link went to see the Deku Sprout." Teran informed as if he'd read Cye's mind.
"I thought we were to go with him."
"Apparently not. I believe we'll be summoned."
"I'm going to check on Cyro." Cye said as he gathered his leather boots.
"Eat first." Teran said.
"I haven't fixed anything yet." Cye responded.
"I did. Bowls by the Cow."
"I still don't get why he has a Cow in his hut." Cye laughed as he picked up a travelers bowl from the work surface beside the Cow.
"Maybe he is big on milk?" Teran joked.
As the men joked around a Kokiri girl, Saria arrived to summon them to the Great Deku Sprout.
"I am Saria. The Great Deku Sprout is ready for you two. I will guide you to the clearing, Link awaits you there." Saria said her green hair tucked behind her ears.
"Uh, okay. Sure." Teran responded as he discarded his breakfast and Cye followed suit.
The walked across the forest and down a short path in silence, with the men getting the idea that this child was wiser than they could visually see and her name was familiar to them. It wasn't until they had reached the Sprout's clearing that it dawned on Cye that Saria was the sage of the forest who had helped seal Ganondorf away.
"Young Prince Cye, Guardian Teran Meers." The Sprout reeled off.
"Great Deku Sprout." They both said in greeting.
"A great evil awaits you both and Link too as he has chosen to accompany you in your quest to find your wayward Brother, Desri. I, the guardian deity of the Forest can grant you sanctuary but I will not involve the Kokiri further than this. You may stay here as a safe harbour but remember that the Kokiri have no part in the tensions that have risen from Cuix."
"Of course Great Deku Sprout, we will not endanger the Kokiri." Cye responded.
"A noble response as expected from the son of King Jine, I've heard much of your Kingdom."
"Great Deku Sprout, I wonder if you may give us a place to start our search for Desri." Teran asked politely.
"I would say the Cuixian border. That would be the logical place for a outlawed Prince to hide."
_
Desri sat against the bank of a river turning his damaged sword over again and again while surveying his followers, or as he made them think of themselves his 'friends'. "We're moving again today." Desri announced as he got up using the sword as a prop to help him.
"We moved yesterday." The youngest in Desri's party complained.
"We will move whenever I say so Lixa." Desri spat.
"Yes sir." She responded though she threw a disgusted look at his back as he passed.
"We should move further into Hyrule. Perhaps the desert." Desri pondered aloud.
"The Gerudo Desert sir?" One of his men asked. "Sorry to ask, it's just I've never left Cuix before Sir."
"Yes Loius, the Gerudo Desert." Desri responded. "Its barren I'll admit but we would be able to hide, fortify a base camp, have somewhere we can move from and group together and I'd sleep easier for it. We would not have to wear these cloaks to keep out of view." "I'll prepare the men and horses. We'll be ready whenever you are Sir." Lixa said as she rose from her perch.
"Good, do a perimeter check when you're finished and get some of these lazy ass men to help you." Desri spat into the dirt.
"I'll help." Lixa's sister piped up.
"I want all of you training. Bow, Sword, Hand-to-hand, daggers, chains, shields and duel wielding swords. Cye's men are highly trained highly efficient killers. I do not wish to lose any of you. I'll spar with you all once we've somewhere safe to make camp." Desri announced.
"The Cuixian Army will support us once they realise what Cye and Syen are, Traitors." Loius replied with a smirk. "We won't always have to hide like common rats."
Desri paced after giving Loius a curt nod, he knew that the Army wouldn't join him without proof. Proof he didn't have simply because it did not exist. After gathering his things together he went to a nearby stream to wash.
Lixa was a former Cuixian Knight who served in the main military of Cuix with her sister Jina like their parents before them who had died in the same war that had claimed the lives of Teran Meers' parents. Lixa and Jina had not been as lucky as Tulza and Teran and had been raised in an outlying settlement by their distant Cousin who they seldom knew. Lixa looked like their mother, with a bluish hue to her hair and reddish brown eyes with a athletic air about her whereas Jina was more of a mix of their parents, she had pale white hair and bright red eyes of her Father yet she still had her mother's athletic and petite build. The sisters had not been fortunate before they joined the Cuixian Military but after, they had lived a average and full life with adequate pay and training. They had soon worked their way up to becoming Knights and later became a trusted friends of several of the Cuixian Guardians, Lixa was to be promoted into Desri's Guardian forces a fortnight after she left Cuix to follow Desri and what she thought was the right path - A path she lead her younger sibling down.
"Jina, would you find the whetstone for our swords they'll need sharpening. I have a feeling they'll see use soon." Lixa commented as she walked up to her younger sister her reddish brown eyes filled with concern and worry over their leader's latest idea.
"Of course sister," Jina began before she and her sister began walking away from their temporary Camp. "Lixa I do not think making somewhere permanent to live and train is wise, no matter how far from home it may be. They'll find us."
"I agree Jina but we must do as our Prince tells us, he is the future of the Kingdom." Lixa responded trying to convince herself more than her sister.
"Yes I know he is but he is wrong. To settle somewhere gives the traitors more chance of finding and killing him and us."
"Maybe we can convince him to keep moving but Jina the men are restless they're away from home and their families to settle would give them somewhere to be, somewhere to call home even for a short time."
"I understand that but it is still not wise to indulge our wants and neglect our needs."
"You sound wiser each day." Lixa smiled and took the whetstone from her sister.
"I try." Jina sighed as she watched Lixa stroll back to camp for a moment before turning and going toward the stream to wash.
Teran sat alone in Link's tree house sharpening his sword and thinking of his wife and children as he did so. He already missed them and his home but knew his duty all too well like his father did before him. He looked remarkably like his Father from what the King had told him, Teran didn't know, he was only young when his Father had died in the war then his mother had followed his father just weeks later as the plague that was released by the enemy took her three days before the cure was administered to the population. It still stung him even after all these years it still hurt that if she had been able to hold on just three days more he'd have grown up with his Mother rather than as an Orphan who was a Ward to the King and Queen.
Teran wasn't resentful or ungrateful for the life the King had given him, he just missed his parents greatly and constantly felt the loss of them but he also constantly felt gratitude to the Royal Family for accepting him, Training him, educating and housing him. He could never thank them enough but that didn't stop him trying to.
"Ter," Cye called as he crossed the forest's village with Link. "Ter, are you up there?"
"Yes, yes sorry distracted." Teran replied putting his sword down.
"Impa has arrived, she is on the entrance bridge waiting for us to join her." Cye replied.
"Oh! Coming." Teran said as he clambered around and hit his head off a low hanging lamp after picking up his boots. He quickly shoved them on then strapped his sword to his left hip.
Teran slid down the ladder and turned to see Cye and Link conversing in brief before they turned to greet him.
"Teran, are you alright you look a little pale?" Link asked.
"Yeah Ter, you've a red mark on your forehead did you bump it or something?" Cye asked.
"Oh just tired Link and yeah forgot that things hang lower here is all. Let's not keep Impa waiting. She's doing us a great favour by coming here."
"True." Cye said turning and beginning the short walk to the entry bridge.
Kokiri forest was as beautiful as ever to Link with its particles in the air and lush grass and tree life. The forest always gave him peace for some reason, perhaps it was because he had lived there as a child. He was in the lead as they reached the point where a Kokiri guarded and reminded any child of the forest that they mustn't past this point or terrible things would happen. Link smiled to the Kokiri who grinned back before he walked through and onto the bridge where he saw Impa leaning against the ropes looking down into the woods below.
"Impa." Link greeted.
"Link, Teran, Prince Cye." She said with a curt nod to the former two and a short bow to the latter.
"Please, call me Cye. Thank you for coming here to help us, we all appreciate it."
"Of.. course Pri- Cye." Impa replied taken aback by him.
"Impa, how is Zel?" Link asked.
"She is very well, enjoying time with the young Cuixian children and their mothers. Syen has left to return to your father's side. Here, in this bag is some additional cloaks, swap them with yours, I've some men waiting just past the tree on the side of Hyrule field they'll leave here wearing them and go the long way to the Castle, there they'll store your cloaks. These that Queen Zelda has sent are Hylian in design. Your brother will not expect it. He will expect Cuixian designed clothing on anyone searching for him but this will only work once until he sees your faces - or your weaponry. Wear your shields underneath the cloaks, it will cover the Cuixian designs on them. Queen Zelda wishes you all well, Link would you wait behind a moment." Impa said with haste.
"Sure Impa," Link said simply as the Prince and Teran said their thanks and took the supplies back into the Kokiri Forest when they were out of earshot Impa spoke again.
"I have a note from Queen Zelda for you, she said to keep it private and hand it to you in private. Open it here then store it in your belt when you rejoin the others. I will wait here in case you have a reply to give." Link nodded, took the letter and began to read.
'Dearest Link, I hope you're well and that Impa has found you safe within the Forest with your guests. Things at the castle are going well, my guests have settled in very well and are most helpful toward us all. I've seen a vision of the disgraced one at the Cuixian Border, he is not alone and has many followers, perhaps investigate this as soon as you can for I fear it was a vision of the present and that he may have moved on by the time this note reaches you. He was sparring with an ex-yellow Guardian and there were many ex-red Guardians with him. He is gathering followers.
The most disturbing part of it all is he seems to have deceived them into believing that your Guests are the traitors and not him at times in the vision he even seemed to believe it himself.
I am fine, do not worry for me, be safe.
Love,
Zelda of Hyrule.'
"I see, thank you Impa. Have you got parchment and a pen that I may use?"
"Here." Impa said handing the required materials over.
"Thank you."
'Loving Zelda,
Thank you for the information contained in your note, I will do as requested and set out as soon as I may. I am very glad to hear of your good health and I hope to return to you with haste. My guests are doing as well as they can given the state of things and we have spoken with the Deku Sprout and been advised similar by him as by you.
Love always,
Link'
Link composed himself before turning to Impa.
"You will protect her? I hate being parted from her."
"Of course I will as I always have since she was a baby in arms."
"I can't lose her."
"You won't. I just hope she does not lose you."
Link removed his cloak and handed it to her then the two waited in silence as Cye and Teran rejoined them with their cloaks within the bag she'd brought them.
"Thank you Impa, I will see you soon, very soon I hope."
"As do I, Goodbye Link, Teran and you Cye. Safe travels."
"Goodbye Impa." Link responded as they parted ways, with Impa leaving for Hyrule field and him returning to Kokiri Forest's village.
Teran and Cye led the way back to Link's treehouse with Link trailing behind as thoughts of Zelda washed over him.
_
"We should head for the border, as soon as we can." Link said with impressive authority in his voice.
"I agree, we should leave as soon as we pack." Teran said nodding along.
"I see no reason to stay and every reason to go. Let's pack up." Cye said making their choice unanimous and snatching up his pile of clothes that had been discarded on the wood table. Link rolled up the matt he had taken to sleeping on and gathered up his spare Tunic and pants and his old but still usable boots that he'd used on his quest to defeat Ganondorf.
Teran gathered his whetstone, the provisions they'd acquired, and his three sets of clothes which he'd rinsed in the river the morning they'd met the Deku Sprout. He buckled his boots up and secured his sword before throwing his new Hylian cloak on and running his hands through his shoulder length earthy brown hair to tame its messy state.
Cye left the treehouse to tend to their horses and saddle them for the ride ahead he fed them each a few carrots before returning to the treehouse to see Teran waiting outside a satchel strapped over his left shoulder diagonally to his right hip. Link was still inside.
"How much left to do is there Cy?" Teran called down the ladder.
"I'm just lacking my other spare clothing and the cloth to wrap my sword's sheath in, Impa truly thought of everything to hide our Cuixian heritage."
"She did indeed, she is a very wise woman." Link said emerging from the treehouse with the final pieces of his things in his own satchel and another satchel in his hand that Cye identified as his by the emerald shirt he saw within it. "I added the last of your clothes and your sleeping matt."
"Thank you Link." Cye said as he caught the thrown satchel and took the wrap for his sword out and began covering the sheath. An action Teran and Link copied, when they had all concealed their weapons and any signs of their homeland in the case of Teran and Link, they mounted their horses and cantered to the entry, or in their case exit of Kokiri Forest.