It had been four days. Sheik had successfully ridden at a trot and gallop around the track and today he'd brought his bow. He had kept his word and continued to deliver letters between Malon and her father, but Malon had been suspiciously quiet this week. Sheik had no doubt she was up to something but didn't have time to figure out what it was. Her letters didn't reveal anything, so Talon must not be involved and he very much doubted Ingo would willingly try anything. He'd told the ranch owner about Naoku and the Horsemaster's visit, and Ingo had gone white before shuffling off to his office to mutter to himself and make sure all his figures were in order.

Sheik watched Malon as she set some milk bottles on the fence posts as targets. What was going on in her head? She avoided looking him in the eyes and spoke to him as little as possible. He would have taken that as a sign that his role as villain was intact and he'd broken her, but her posture was still upright and defiant. She still moved with purpose.

As she stepped back, Sheik gave Marla a kick and they took off. He raised the bow, guided Marla with his legs, and loosed an arrow. He missed by about a foot. He pulled the next arrow from the quiver tied to the saddle and aimed. Sheik had been so focused on Malon's behavior and his bow that he'd forgotten to make sure Marla was leading with the correct leg and the jarring extra beat as they rounded the corner make Sheik loose his arrow early. It flew off up in an arch and Sheik looked to where it would land. The light was quickly dying and so he couldn't follow the arrow but he guessed it was headed towards the house. Sure enough there was the sound of breaking glass and a squawk as the arrow crashed into Ingo's office.

Sheik cursed and ran Marla in a circle until her step was right. Then he took off again, determined to make up for his blunder. Carefully regulating his breathing and timing with Marla's movements, Sheik aimed at his next target, a bucket hanging from the corral's entrance. He held back a crow of triumph as the bucket knocked against the corral beam when the arrow slammed into it.

By the end of the night Sheik was able to hit about thirty percent of the targets. He had allowed Malon to go to bed and he'd kept practicing until Marla was too irritable and tired to continue.

As he walked back into the castle, an hour or two early for his dawn deadline, he noticed the guards seemed extra nervous. They stood in perfect form, upright and facing ahead. Normally they couldn't resist eyeing Sheik and they hardly ever stood up straight. Walking by like everything was normal, Sheik sharpened his senses, trying to pick up what was happening. As soon as he was out of the guards' sights, he took a turn into the courtyard and snuck to a window from which he could see one of the guards. After a minute or two, the man's eyes begin to occasionally flick upwards to the top of the wall. When the looks ceased, after about fifteen minutes, he seemed to relax. It was like...like he was relieved. He didn't seem scared. More anxious.

Sheik snuck away with a hard look in his eyes. The guards had let someone out of the castle, someone who shouldn't have been there in the first place. As the Kings spy and informant, this was his job. He would need more information before bringing it to Captain Knuckle since, technically, it was just a suspicion. But a Sheikah instinct was to be trusted.

As the early morning rolled on and Sheik awoke from his short dawn rest, he decided the best thing to do would be to trail the guards. After eating his breakfast quickly, he stepped out of his room. Down the hall he had found a good place where he could climb to the roof without anyone spotting him. From there it was fairly simple to get around without much risk of detection.

Making his way to the Hylian mess hall he found a spot to stake out. It was an irritably long four hours before one of the guards appeared. He was a well-built man, not old enough to have been one of the original Hylian soldiers, but still in good fighting form. Probably an ex-laborer, convinced by Fera to join the troops upon the destruction of Castletown. Sure enough, he sat with other Fera loyal troops. He seemed reserved, only responding to his friend's comments and questions with short phrases. He ate his food silently, his chatting friends continuing their conversation around him. Clearly this man was usually very social. Now he had this far off look of thought on his face. He'd only eaten a few bites before he excused himself and left.

Sheik did his best to follow, staying out of sight and tracking him through corridor windows as the man passed by them. There was a pause in his speed between two windows and for a moment Sheik thought he'd lost him. But the man reappeared, not having paused long enough to do much more than maybe say a few words to someone. Sheik ran through the castle layout in his mind. Captain Fera's door was between those windows. Sheik had been frustrated that he couldn't get a clear view of it from any good hiding spot. He cursed his luck again but continued his tracking. For the next three hours, Sheik watched the man go through his daily lot as a soldier. He continued to do so with the same distracted look on his face. Putting in enough effort for his slack not to be noticed, but little enough that Sheik could tell that whatever was on his mind mattered more to him than his efforts. Satisfied that the man was indeed up to something and having found where his room was, Sheik left his target and broke into his room.

It was rather bare. It was definitely a soldier's room even though he had it to himself. This was not uncommon considering the troops had the whole castle to dwell in, rather than just the barracks. It didn't take much rank to acquire a room like this one. There weren't many papers in the room. A few receipts, old orders, and a schedule or two were all Sheik could find. However, he did notice that the room was tidy. Not the pristine condition made by someone who can't stand disorder. Places where things that were used every day were just a bit askew. This man was not a naturally tidy person, he'd flipped through this guard schedule that morning or the night before, no doubt checking when he was free, when his meals were, etc. Those papers weren't neatly stacked or replaced in their envelope.

This made the fact that every other part of the room was carefully put together odd. The chest at the end of the bed was dutifully locked, when many would leave the lock open since it often didn't contain valuables and was accessed frequently. The window latch was secured, though at this time of year it was common to open the window during the hottest part of the day so no one really latched it. Sheik opened the chest lock but there was nothing of interest inside. A few personal effects and a dagger. This man was being careful. Not only that, he was trying too hard not to seem careful. Sheik could see the mindset of the man written on this room. Something was important, something secret. It was something he had gone into willingly and was carefully handling. However, the stress of it was leaking out. It occupied his mind, not enough to make him crack but enough that he couldn't forget about it when he needed to. There was a contained impatience in this room. A struggle between caution and panic. Sheik left no trace of his presence but also left with no evidence.

He would keep an eye on this man, but for now he only had two more nights before the Horsemaster's visit. There was one more thing to do today.

Sheik had waited until the hall was deserted before he approached the door, but he still knew there was a good chance his visit to Captain Ruba's office would not go unnoticed. He reached up and rapped swiftly on the door.

"Come in," came Ruba's always slightly irritable voice.

Sheik entered the office, shut the door behind him, and gave the Sheikah salute. He'd doubted Captain Ruba's office would have a desk and be a place of study, but he hadn't expected it to be filled with Gerudo statuary. There was a large figure of a multi-armed goddess taking up the back half of the room, one of its hands holding Ruba's halberd. The walls were lined with tapestries depicting red haired women fighting, riding, and generally living life. A few depicted a man's face, Ganondorf's face, not perfect but close enough. The tapestries were clearly older than the King and Sheik was intrigued. However, his attention was busy being grabbed by Ruba who was in a sitting position but in the air, holding herself up on two rings hanging from thick rope from the ceiling. The exercise obviously took a lot of muscle strength but Ruba seemed unaffected. She did a half flip backwards and landed gracefully on her feet.

"What do you want, boy?"

"I have a favor to ask."

Ruba's eyebrow arched and she raised her chin suspiciously. Sheik continued.

"I would like to make a visit to the Gerudo homeland."

"Why?"

"I want to undertake the Gerudo Test. I suspect completing it would gain me some respectability among your people."

Captain Ruba thought about that for a moment. The fact that she didn't laugh outright was encouraging.

"An interesting idea. I hope you are not underestimating the trials. I don't even know how you knew about them."

A few hints from you and a lot of lucky guesswork.

"Why should I do you this favor? Bringing you there would seem as if I had trust in your abilities, which I don't, and thus put myself at risk"

Sheik heard the anger returning to Ruba's voice. Whatever calming exercise she had just done was wearing off.

"I am aware of that fact. Thus I propose that I pass a preliminary test to your satisfaction before we go. That and we make a bet."

"A bet?" Ruba scoffed. "I am not the gaming sort. Besides what do you have that I would want?"

"I am sure you wonder what I did to convince the King to spare me and my village. If you take me to the trials and I fail, I will tell you everything that happened at Kakariko."

Sheik could see Ruba's eyes calculating and before she could ask he continued.

"And if I succeed, the prize I ask is simple. I understand it was your warriors who dragged me off that day in Kakariko. They took from me a harp. It is a Sheikah artifact that I would like back."

He had been worried that Ruba would mock him for his request, but after seeing her decor he felt lucky. There was a pause as Ruba thought about the offer. He knew her reputation was already on shaky grounds for some reason, and it was a big risk for her to, in a sense, sponsor him in her homeland. Honestly, if he was in her position he would probably refuse.

"I accept. Tomorrow meet me at Lon Lon ranch at noon for your preliminary test."

Sheik was surprised at the location but then for Ruba it was quite logical. It was away from the castle and its spies, it had plenty of room, and it had horses. Sheik would have to warn Malon not to do anything stupid. Whatever she was scheming, it would end up with her dead if Ruba got wind of it.

Sheik nodded and left.