"An Act to Follow"

Disclaimer: Me Snowsilver. Me no own Zelda. Me talk like caveman. Me must stop writing random broken sentences now.

*****

Author's Notes: Thanks to Yucca, my first reviewer for this story! Thanks, your suggestions were really helpful! Must remember to proofread more carefully in the future! ^_^ Well, this is part 2, and I think it's a little bit longer then part 1, but that's not saying much, as it wasn't that very long anyways. Anyways…I ramble. Hopefully things will get much more interesting in this chapter, though chapter 3's when stuff starts to get really interesting. Enjoy, and as ever, I love your feedback!

*****

Last time on "An Act to Follow:"

Timbre racked his brains for something witty to say as an entrance. Unfortunately he wasn't one for comebacks or smart-aleck phrases, at least not when he intended it. He finally gave up and waved weakly. "Yo!"

Two adults and seven children turned their heads up in his direction.

"Uh," he smirked, suddenly finding himself stared at. "Long time no see…" he finished lamely.

*****

An Act to Follow — Part 2: "Killing time is hard, avoiding sunburns is harder"

"Well, it appears the little guy wasn't trampled flat after all…" Link said airilly. It was hard to say whether he was disappointed or not.

"Hey!" Timbre slid down off the ledge and scampered over to the stage. Eyeing it, he jumped and clambered on the hard way despite the fact there were stairs nearby. "I almost got sat on by a Goron. I'm lucky to be alive! Why'd you leave me behind like that, anyway?"

Link whistled innocently.

Ty elbowed the green hat boy sharply in the ribs. "Honestly, we thought you were right behind us. You saw that crowd. Heck, Kat and Kafei got lost too!"

Timbre shrugged.

Kei chuckled.

Flinching, Timbre looked up. Way up. Kei was easilly more than six feet tall, meaning that this made Timbre feel even smaller then usual. Being the only three-foot kid among a group of taller kids was bad enough, but this was just…unnerving. "Uh," he mumbled. "Hi."

Kat smirked. "Keisou, meet Timbre. Timbre, Keisou."

Kei's hand could have easily engulfed 3 of Tim's hands in his hearty handshake. But he remembered to be gentle. Timbre still felt the soreness in his arm afterwards though. No wonder this man had no problem hefting crates! "Tis a pleasure, Tim."

"And this is Ana Meimu," Kat added.

Ana, the woman Kei had been talking to, had a very calculating gaze. Her brown eyes looked very intelligent as she bent down, smiling, to shake Timbre's hand. "Gloves and a trenchcoat. Isn't it a bit warm out for that sort of thing?"

Timbre glanced down at his hands. The gloves he wore were black and fingerless, and the trenchcoat did seem out of place. He chewed his lip. "Well, the trenchcoat's kind of…er…special, y'see…" he stammered. "And the gloves don't come off." The last sentence was much more solid.

"Really…" Ana said, her gaze becoming even more calculating. Timbre grinned nervously, and Ana suddenly changed the subject. "You all coming to our show tonight?"

Sond oohed. "A play?"

"A play?! Hardly!" Ana laughed. "We're illusionist performers. Slight of hand. Magic tricks. Amazing feats. Part of the fun is trying to figure out how we pull it off. And," she added, looking at Kei. "We don't cheat."

Link stared. "So no real magic, then?" He folded his arms.

"It depends," Ana said mysteriously, "What you consider real magic."

Suddenly, another voice, raised an octave from the background buzz of the crowd, interrupted all further conversation. "Kafei? There you are!!"

Kafei groaned as his mother, Madame Aroma stepped up to the stage. The crowds gave her no trouble at all as she pushed through them like a person might wade through the ocean. Kafei's mother was often politely referred to as being 'large.'

"Hi mom…" Kafei chewed his lip.

Madame Aroma sniffed. "Your brother and I have been looking for you for at least an hour! It's much too warm outside, dear. I would like you to stay in the shade, I don't want you to get sunburned again, remember last time?"

Kat and Sond snickered a little. Last summer, Kafei had returned from their Great Bay beach trip with a healthy glow remensecent of a boiled lobster. Kafei turned a slightly red right now, feeling embarrased. Kat interjected on his behaf.

"If its okay wi' you, ma'am…Perhaps Kafei would like to browse the merchant's tents awhile with me?" Kat smilled innocently as Kafei's eyes widened in panic. Now Chiron and Ty were snickering as well, and failing to totally hide it. Madame Aroma didn't seem to notice.

"M'dear, that sounds like a wonderful idea. I wouldn't have you bothering this nice pair all day, besides. Have fun!" Kafei groaned as his mom planted a kiss on his forehead. "And don't spend all your allowance at once, dear!" She shouted over her shoulder as she merged with the crowd again.

As soon as she left, everybody looked at Kafei, who was now soundly crimson.

At that point, everybody, even the grownups, burst out laughing at once. Finally Chiron spoke up.

"Suppose we'd better go too, I'm not to keen on getting heat stroke either."

Goodbyes were made as the kids promised Kei and Ana that they would see their show that evening. "Be here early, or you might not find room to sit," Kei warned.

Standing in a line on the edge of the stage, all eight kids looked out first at the deadly crowd, then at one another.

"We ready for this?" Chiron murmured, nervously fingering a strand of brown hair.

"After you," Ty said vaguely, pushing Link forward.

"No way, monkey boy!" Link dodged, backing into Nick.

"'Ey!" Nick grunted. "Don' call 'im that!"

"Yeah, Fairy Boy!"

"Mr. Hair!"

"Skunk!"

"Take that back, ya skirt wearin-"

"Guys," Sond said finally. "I hate to break up your wonderful competition here, but that sun isn't cooling down any. In fact, I think you're all starting to look rather red…"

"OKmeetyouatthemerchantstentBYE!!!"

Kat blinked. In the space of an instant, all the boys had vanished into the crowd. "Wow. Either this heat is getting to me, or-"

Sond smirked. "I'm not a fan of this heat much either. Hopefully we'll make it through that infernal mob intact…"

"You'll be fine," Ana said, laughing. She waved as the two girls vanished into the crowd.

"Heh, eight of 'em together. Kind of makes Tee look like a breeze to watch after." Kei said.

Ana raised an eyebrow at Keisou's remark. "Mmm-hmm."

"Well, almost." Kei smirked.

Bustling through the crowd hadn't become any easier. In fact, Chiron thought to himself, he was surprised that nobody had yet passed out. The smell of sweat and dust was everywhere, and one was in constant threat of being trod on. The crowd didn't just consist of Hylians, either. There was an even smattering of Gorons, Zora, and Hylian. Chiron was even sure he'd seen a Deku Scrub or two as well.

As it was, the group had gotten seperated once again. Eight kids, even tightly packed together, were in a great danger of losing each other at every step. Right now, he, Ty, Nick and Timbre were desperately trying to stay together. Kafei and Link had seperated off quickly, after Kafei claimed he knew a shortcut.

"You know, now I kind of wish I HAD taken Kafei's shortcut…" Timbre muttered.

"Mi' agree wi' you there, lobo." Nick said, stretching his arms.

"The thing is," Ty said, "Is that his 'shortcuts' usually end up getting us lost. Remember last t-OUCH!!"

Chiron blinked. "Huh?"

Ty had one eye squeezed shut as he gritted darkly through his teeth. "Somebody…stepped on my tail." The offended appendage lashed from side to side.

"Ouch." Chiron, Nick, and Timbre chimed in unison.

"I'll survive. Besides, there's the merchant's tent now. Ha, we made it there before everyone else, and without taking Kafei's little side route."

From underneath the tent, relaxed slightly due to the shade, two shapes waved.

"Don't hold your breath, Kaii. Looks like 'dey made it b'fore us…" Nick murmured.

But the two shapes weren't Kafei and Link after all. They waved harder grinning, one with the coffee cup in her fist.

"Hi boys!!" Came the yell in perfect unison.

All four boys nearly facefaulted. "How…How did you get here so quickly?" Ty sputtered.

Kat and Sond just looked sly. "That," Kat said finally, "is a secret. Come on in, it's shady and not as abysmally warm! Besides, there's some REALLY neat stuff being sold here."

"And they have milkshakes!" Sond added.

"I'm there! Goodbye cruel sun!" Chiron walked in, followed by Ty, who was still rubbing his injured tail. Timbre was following them in when he stopped suddenly, causing Nick to collide with him.

"Hey Tim! Come on!" Ty raised an eyebrow as he got no response. "Tim?"

"Hey lil guy…heat 'ent getting' to ya, is it?" Nick blinked, waving his hand in front of Tim's eyes.

Timbre shuddered. "Sorry…just got prickles up my spine for a second. I dunno, it felt like we were being…watched."

Nick smirked, suddenly rapping his knuckles on Timbre's head.

"Ouch! What was that for?"

"I dunno Ty…" Nick said, chuckling. "Th' lobo's brains seem to still be in there…Maybe the sun fried 'em."

"Hey, I'm serious here!" Timbre said, rubbing his head. Then he calmed down. "Sorry…it was just kind of weird. Maybe I just need to get outta the sun or something."

Nick snorted. "Tol' ya wearin' tha' trenchcoat was a bad idea."

Timbre made a face. "I just don't like having to leave it behind somewhere. Last time I tried that it almost got stolen." He sighed. "Still wondering about that weird feeling though. Like there's eyes on us or something."

Ty blinked. "Don't let it bother you. Heat plays funny tricks on people. It was probably nothing."

"Lissen' to Kaii 'ere, 'ees th' doctor after all…" Nick laughed.

Timbre smirked. "Yeah, guess you're right…" But he couldn't help but glance behind him once before retreating into the shady merchant's tent.

The day was much more bearable inside the tent. The merchants, picking up on this, only allowed people who were actually shopping to stay inside, otherwise the tents would be too crowded with non-shoppers, hurting their business.

Kafei and Link did eventually arrive, about 10 minutes later. Link was still slightly annoyed.

"A 'shortcut,' he says to me!" Link kept going on, "Not only did we end up in North Clock Town, we ended up in the Great Fairy's Fountain!"

Everybody rolled their eyes.

"Well, she wanted us to stay and chat for awhile, and Kafei had to stammer out something about being on an errand. Some shortcut!"

Kafei was starting to turn red again. "…"

Eventually Link cooled down, though the round of milkshakes the group bought might have helped in that area. Kafei and Kat browsed the merchants' wares for a good hour, but most of the wares on sale were slightly too expensive for a child's budget. It was fun though, Kat thought, to imagine herself in one of those handwoven skirts, especially the ones that were irridescent. The stone carvings that a local Goron was selling were quite handsome (also quite tasty, he claimed). And some of the Zora jewelry, made from seashells and other marine treasures absolutely took her breath away.

Having almost the entire afternoon still to knock off, the kids racked their brains for ideas. Ty rested his chin in his hand. "What else to do until dusk? When did Kei say their show was on?"

"Seven-thirty," Timbre said, yawning.

"An' what time is it now?" Ty asked.

Kafei checked the pocketwatch he normally kept carefully tucked under his shirt. "Uh, a little after two."

The group sighed a collective sigh. "Well, we gotta find something to kill time…" Ty muttered.

Link paused suddenly, just when he was about to pour the rest of his milkshake down the back of Ty's shirt. "What if we played the Song of Double T-"

"No!"

Link shrugged. "Oh, OK. Just a suggestion." He then proceeded with his prank.

Kat groaned, trying hard to think despite the noise caused by Ty, who was now chasing Link madly in circles around the tent. Rubbing her temples, she looked at the remaining five. "Any ideas? Someplace fun."

"…and indoors!" Timbre added.

Nick blinked, watching Ty and Link complete their second lap. "Two…uh…well…um…"

"What about the observatory?" Chiron suggested.

"It's closed down, the old guy doesn't want a crowd in there. Besides, the Bombers wouldn't let us down there right now anyway," Sond said, pulling out a deck of cards and shuffling it.

"Three…" Nick muttered, now counting the laps.

Everybody sighed.

"Well," Chiron said, "We could always go to the Milk Bar…"

"Four…"

"Nah, too boring…" Sond said, not looking up from her game of solitare.

"Well, anywhere else?" Timbre muttered.

"Five…Well…wot 'bout that place wi' th' shooting targets?" Nick said. "Wassit called…six…oh yeah, 'Oney n' Darlin's…they open?"

Kat shrugged. "Worth a try, I say." As she said this, Link and Ty were just completing their seventh circuit.

"You come back 'ere, Fairy Boy! I've got a poundin' with your name on it!" Ty was yelling.

"Gotta catch me first!" Link laughed aloud.

"HEY!" Kat shrieked, sounding eerily like a certain blue fairy.

Link, alarmed, skidded to a halt in his tracks, until Ty crashed into him, knocking them both over. This commotion caused a good amount of dust to fly.

"Quit it with the 'Ring Around the Rosy,' we're going to Honey and Darling's." Chiron said between coughs.

Link and Ty both scowled at each other fiercely as they dusted themselves off. "I'm gonna get you back for the milkshake, Link…" Ty warned. "Even if it takes me until the end of this Festival…"

"Hah, only three days then, monkeyboy. I think I'll survive." Link smirked.

"We'll see…" Ty said calmly. "We'll see…"

*****

Woo! What will Kei and Ana's show be like? Why has Timbre suddenly become so paranoid? Will Ty ever get Link back for the milkshake? Find out next time, in "An Act to Follow" Part 3: It Doesn't Pay to Snoop! In the meantime, why don't you review? It would be much appreciated! Many thanks!