"An Act to Follow"
Disclaimer: I don't own Zelda, Nintendo does. Original characters are pretty obvious and belong to me and Sond. No touchy.
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Author's Notes: Another big shout out thank you to Yucca, who reviewed again! And another big thank you to Sondilyn! Heck, without you this story wouldn't exist! Whee, this chapter's pretty involving and kind of long. Sorry about that, but it just cut out that way. It also has a lot with just Timbre in it, again with the apologies. Heck, he's a fun little guy. ^_^ I will focus more on the rest of these people eventually. Hope you like! On with the show! In this chapter we finally see Kei and Ana's act, and we learn a few things about certain people…
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An Act to Follow — Part 3: "It doesn't pay to snoop"
It had gotten considerably cooler since the sun had begun its nightly descent into the horizon. The skies glowed a multitude of stark fiery hues, and stars were just beginning to be visible. The nightly chorus of crickets was tentatively beginning to commence.
That is, if one could hear it above the noise of the crowd gathered in South Clock Town.
It was difficult to find a seat in the dark, let alone your way, but luckily the lamps had been lit, leaving at least some light for the audience. On either side of the stage in front of the big clock burned a larger lamp, casting as much light onto the stage as possible.
"Why do y'suppose they wanted to do their act at night? So we couldn't see how their tricks worked?" Kafei murmured to Kat.
"Maybe, but I think this kind of thing just looks better in the dark. Make it seem more spooky, you see?" Kat waggled her fingers for emphasis.
Our little group had spent most of the afternoon at Honey and Darling's shop. Since there was only two people who owned a bow in the group (that being Link and Sond), they were forced to trade off, taking turns. In the end Sond's skills had won her some extra rupees, while everybody else came up short. Around 5 o'clock they had knocked off for a quick and light dinner (the heat tends to lessen one's appetite, after all) and another round of milkshakes. After the last milkshake incident, Ty and Link's glares had become increasingly darker.
In fact, they still were glowering at each other while waiting for the show to begin. The group, heeding the warning of getting seats early, had taken the initiative. Pushing a pair of nearby large crates together, the group had reserved their spot in South Clock Town, far off to the left. This had a few advantages: for one thing, they had a wall to lean against, and second: less people were there, although it had taken a bit of convincing the Deku Salesman nearby that they weren't going to disturb his flower.
So now Kat, Kafei and Nick sat on top of the crate (they'd won at rock paper scissors for the right), while below everybody else sat on the ground around it. Timbre, who was sore he hadn't won a seat up on top of the crate, mumbled to himself. "You know, we could've got good seats on top of the Inn's roof…"
Sond was playing solitaire again. "We'd be behind the stage then, and the clock might be in the way," she said finally. "Or are you just hoping to snoop behind the scenes?"
Timbre chewed his lip. "Eh." He'd expressed a lot of curiosity about Ana and Kei's show, even before he'd seen the act. He wanted to know how they would pull it off without magic.
Chiron tapped a foot impatiently.
"When is it gonna start?"
As if on cue, the huge clock boomed, marking the half-hour.
"Guess that answers my question…" Chiron remarked.
"Shh…" everyone hissed.
The crowd hushed expectantly as all heads turned towards the stage. They were not kept waiting for long.
Ana stepped out onto the stage, her long blue hair tied back in a braid. She wore a dress that was black on top, but faded down into a beautiful midnight blue at the bottom. It sparkled when she moved, look to all a duplicate of the night sky. Keisou followed her. His hair was exactly the same as it had been before, though in the light it resembled less a flame and more a brush. He was wearing a muscle-shirt of the same midnight blue as Ana's dress, with baggy white pants. His boots were huge, and made large 'clump' noises as he walked.
"Wow, I want a dress like that!" Kat breathed.
Sond was about to agree when her head turned towards the stage as another came out on it.
The third member onstage was a little girl, who looked incredibly minute standing up there next to Kei. She had long hair of a lighter blue-gray, tied back like Ana's. She wore a billowing short sleeved green dress that came down slightly past her knees. The girl also wore tiny brown ladies boots.
Timbre blinked. "I didn't know they had a kid…"
"Shh!"
Timbre shrugged and was quiet while Kafei's father, the mayor of Clock Town stood up next to the stage. Mayor Dotour was quite unlike Madam Aroma, his frame thin and frail. Raising his voice seemed to put a strain on the man.
"I would like to welcome you all to our Spring Festival!" The Mayor squeaked in his wobbly voice. "Tonight we are very honored to invite you to a splendid performance that will boggle the mind and dazzle the eye…"
"…blah blah, get on with it, Dad…" Kafei mumbled under his breath, before Kat elbowed him in the ribs.
"…I am pleased to introduce…" Mayor Dotour cleared his throat. "Mr. Keisou and Madam Ana Meimu!" The two performers bowed as the crowd applauded wildly.
"Ahem," Mayor Dotour patiently waited for the crowd to quiet. "I am also pleased to introduce Miss Tejina, Mr. Keisou's young sister." Here the little girl stepped forward shyly and curtsied.
"Okay, so she isn't their kid." Timbre crossed his arms as everybody glared at him to be quiet.
"And now, on with the show!" The Mayor's voice cracked, and he sat down quickly. There was another burst of applause from the crowd, although it wasn't clear whether they were applauding because the show was starting or because the Mayor had finished talking.
The trio started their act simply enough. Rolling up her sleeves, Ana retrieved a yellow handkerchief, seemingly out of nowhere. She handed it to Keisou, while the girl Tejina stood off impassively to one side. Crumpling the handkerchief into a fist, Kei passed his other hand over his fist. Suddenly, he flicked his hand open, and the handkerchief had become a yellow Cucco, which squawked loudly. The applause was polite.
Link blinked, unbelieving. "He didn't even conjure that, I would've felt him using magic!" Ty laughed.
Kei made a motion as if he were going to throw the Cucco into the air, but it had vanished! The man stared at his hands as if confused. Tejina suddenly skipped over to him. Standing on her tiptoes, the little girl tapped him on the shoulder with a smile. Kei turned around, and kneeled down. Tejina made several mysterious passes, cupping her hands into a ball. When she opened them, the yellow Cucco sat there, squawking again. Placing the Cucco on Kei's head, Tejina repeated the passes, producing another Cucco, this time bright green. This one she perched on his left shoulder.
"Wow, where is she getting them from?" Chiron murmured.
Tejina kept producing Cuccos of various colors, until Kei had about 20 of them perched on his head, shoulders, and arms. By this time, the audience was guffawing.
Ana arrived to the rescue. 'Shooing' Tejina, she covered Kei and his Cuccos with a black silk sheet. She held on to two corners of the sheet, biding Tejina to do the same on the other end.
"Now!" Ana shouted, and they pulled the sheet off of Kei. The man stood perplexed, covered in the rainbow of handkerchiefs that had replaced the Cuccos. The crowd roared its approval, and even Link admitted he was impressed.
The rest of the show was just as amazing. At one part, Keisou deftly balanced a 200 pound weight by one finger. Seconds later he tossed the weight down onto the stage, causing the whole stage to shake. The weight was handed off to audience members, who verified it was truly as heavy as was said.
Tejina stood still as a stone with an apple balanced on her head. Ana deftly spun a throwing knife at the girl. The knife thudded to the floor with the apple impaled on it, leaving Tejina unharmed. Other tricks followed, each one more amazing than the last.
And none of them used actual magic, much to Link's amazement. Nick just chuckled. "Slig' o' hand, it might not be magic power, bu' 'tis magic th' same, yes?"
Link sighed. "Suppose so."
Ty guffawed again, causing Link to flinch. Ever since Ty had vowed revenge, Link had become paranoid of anything that seemed to cause the boy amusement, as if it were going to viciously turn on him.
Nearly two hours had passed since the show began, and finally Keisou held up his hands. "And now," he boomed, "We shall make my young sibling here disappear!" A box was brought up on stage by Keisou himself. He juggled the giant thing in one hand, twirling it so the audience saw it all as he spoke. "Note this box has no holes in it, no hinges save this one on the top." Setting the box down, he opened the top.
Tejina stepped forward. She hadn't spoken a word or made a sound throughout the entire performance. She blinked innocently as Kei lifted her into the box, setting her inside as gently as a doll into its bed. Ana closed the box's lid with a resounding boom. She then proceeded to padlock the lid shut.
"No way she's getting out of there…" Kafei murmured.
Kei picked up the box once more and held it over his head. "Now…a girl goes into the box, but no girl exits, behold!" Spinning the box on his finger, he tossed it into the air, allowing it to fall. The audience gasped appropriately. At the last moment, he gently caught it, setting it down upright on the stage.
"She's gonna be dizzy if she's still in there…" Timbre murmured.
Kei twisted the lock off with his bare hands, and flung the lid open for all to see. The audience craned a collective neck. Keisou flipped the box down so that its opening lay visible to the entire audience.
The box was empty.
Timbre stared with wide eyes as the crowd gave a standing ovation. "I have to know how they did that! It's driving me crazy!!" Everybody else was too busy still applauding the performers to take much notice of him, however. "I'm gonna go find out! You hear that?! I'm gonna go find out!" Still no attention. Now the crowd was cheering for an encore. It took a full 2 minutes of cheering before Kei and Ana finally conceded to a few more tricks. Tejina, however, had not reappeared.
Timbre shrugged to himself. Now was his chance to see how their tricks worked! If only he could sneak off… He was just sidling off towards the entrance to West Clock Town when somebody poked him in the shoulder. It was Kafei.
"Wow, you're really fascinated by this stuff, aren't you?"
Timbre froze, then nodded. "Well, I just like to know things sometimes." He continued sidling off towards the alley which would lead him to West Clock Town. Kafei followed him, somewhat to Tim's annoyance.
"You know nothing good will come of snooping." No response. "Well, doesn't part of you not want to know? You know, to keep yourself wondering?" The purple haired boy asked.
Timbre looked back at Kafei, raising an eyebrow. "Um…no. Sorry. Look, just go back to the others, I'll be right back, honest." Tim blinked. "Oh yeah, and would you watch my coat for me? It doesn't change with me." Timbre slipped out of the trenchcoat, leaving him only in his black shirt on top.
Kafei held on to the trenchcoat, staring at it as everything sunk in. "Uh…you're not gonna actually-" He stopped wide-eyed when Timbre nodded. "You know that's dangerous! What if somebody sees you like that?"
"Relax," Timbre said with a slight hint of smugness. "I'm a survivor. Besides, everybody's here watching the show."
"But...but…" Kafei stared down at the coat, unable to think of a retort. He finally sighed. "You're crazy, you know that?" Kafei looked up again.
Timbre was no longer there, although Kafei did catch the white tip of the wolf's tail as he vanished around the corner into the alley.
Timbre the wolf padded purposefully down the dark and deserted strip of West Clock Town, past the Curiosity Shop which was closed down due to the Festival. In fact, all of the stores were empty, even the Bomb Shop and Trading Post. The bank's little niche lay empty of banker and rupees. Despite this, Timbre knew better then to take chances, and kept to the shadows. Sometimes guards might patrol the area, especially during an event such as this.
His general plan was to loop around West Clock Town. Up further, at the end of the strip of stores was a small square. In that square, to the right, was another entrance into South Clock Town, which would lead him almost directly backstage. From there, he could watch Kei and Ana without them noticing him, and maybe figure out their secret.
Hearing a noise, both of Tim's enormous ears perked forward in alarm. He froze in place, one forepaw still in the air. Nothing. Letting himself relax again, he continued onwards.
Wolves were rare. But that wasn't the full reason the race was rarely seen in Hyrule and Termina. That was due to the fact that they spent some of their time looking exactly like normal people, and the rest of their time shrewdly out of sight. The reasoning behind this was that people just didn't know any better, that their idea of a wolf was that of the Wolfos, a large savage snarling (and rather unintelligent) monster. Monsters were evil, and therefore deserved to be killed on the spot. Even if wolves and Wolfos had little to do with each other, people didn't stay their weapons long enough to separate the two before striking. And that was a prejudice set in stone. Nobody was about to convince humans that they were wrong in their presumptions.
Someday, Timbre thought, they'll all know better. I'll prove them all wrong. But until that day, he would just sometimes be that strange little short boy in the trenchcoat and gloves that most people ignored, and sometimes that four-legged shadow that nobody ever fully saw. As it was, only a select few knew about Timbre's, er, talent. Those being his 7 friends, and —
"'Ey Fuzzy!"
Timbre yelped, diving behind a stack of crates in his alarm. Seconds later, a glowing yellow orb with wings flashed in his face. "A bit nervous, are we?"
The wolf growled under his breath, rolling his eyes. It was just Tatl again. Hovering nearby was a smaller, purple fairy. Tael.
Tatl snickered, landing daintily on the tip of Timbre's nose. This tickled Tim's nose and made him really want to sneeze. "What's a nice little puppy like you doing in a place like this?"
"None of your business," Timbre said, but it just came out as a growl.
"Sorry Fuzzy, I don't speak wolf." The incorrigible fairy snickered.
Agitated, Timbre swatted at Tatl with a forepaw. She easily dodged, landing back on his nose immediately after. She was really starting to get on his nerves, not to mention she was driving his poor sensitive nose crazy!
As if to add insult to injury, Tael floated over and landed on top of Timbre's head, right between the ears. "Sis, leave him alone! Timbre's probably busy."
The yellow fairy wouldn't give up though. "Not until he tells me what he's up to!" She uttered, stamping one tiny foot down. The tickling this caused was worse than ever. Timbre shook his head, dislodging Tael. Tatl simply fluttered her wings, keeping her perch with a devilish smirk.
"I'm waaaiting, Fuzzy…" She said, tapping her foot impatiently.
This was too much tickling for one nose to bear.
"ATCHOOO!!"
The sneeze echoed rather loudly through the deserted strip. Tatl, not expecting the sneeze, was launched a fair distance before her wings kicked in again. The fairy was infuriated, to say the least.
"You little fleabag! You did that on purpose!"
This statement was entirely untrue. Timbre did not have fleas, nor had he sneezed with intent on launching the fairy. Still, he thought, with a satisfied wolfy grin, she did deserve it. A second later he ducked as the angered glowing creature tried to dive-bomb him. Still cursing, she zinged up and away above the roofs until she was gone from sight.
"Heh." Tael seemed impressed. "She hates it when someone gets the better of her. You gotta teach me that one."
A muffled eruption of cheers caused Timbre to groan. The fairy's annoyance had cost him his chance at spying on the magic act. He held in a few curses with a sigh as he sunk into a sit. At least the sneeze hadn't attracted any guards. Tael landed on his head again, much to the wolf's exasperation.
"So…I can't help but be curious…what are you up to??"
Timbre quickly shushed the fairy with an upward glance. He was getting that strange feeling again. Something was giving him chills up his spine, as if alerting him to a presence. Taking his instinct as better judgement, he stared up at the stack of crates he had dived behind. There were two stacks of four crates, with a ninth lone crate on top. If he got on top, behind that ninth crate, he might be able to see better, as well as be hidden.
Shaking his head to dislodge the fairy again, he took a deep breath. With a few calculated jumps, he managed to get a perch on the top of the eight stack, his forepaws propped up on the ninth. Peering over the top, he watched the strip of deserted stores for movement.
He wasn't kept waiting for long.
Quiet as silk, a shadowy something was making its way down the strip, coming from the same exact area that Timbre had originally been headed for. Leaning forward, the shape tentatively walked along, cautiously turning its head this way and that.
Although Timbre had good night-vision, it didn't help unless there was a good light source nearby. And there wasn't. The same concealment he had wanted for his own safety was now working against him. Blast, he thought. If only there were some light-
As if on cue, a tentative purple light zigzagged out from behind the crate stack, headed towards the intruder. Timbre's green eyes widened a fraction, but he managed to keep his mouth shut.
Tael! His brain screamed. Tael, no, don't do that, you idiot! He leaned forward in alarm, putting all his weight on the crate.
This was an unfortunate thing to do. The ninth crate, which Timbre had been leaning against as protection, had been slowly inching it's way at the same to the edge of the stack. Timbre's last little push was all it needed to send it teetering, crazily half-balanced at the edge. Then, as the pit in the wolf's stomach grew, it fell.
"Yipe!"
CRASH!
The fragile wooden structure splintered, falling into several pieces. If that wasn't enough of a disaster, the contents of the broken crate happened to be glass bottles, adding to the cacophonous din. Bottles, many of them cracked, rolled crazilly on the ground. Timbre wobbled to keep himself from following the fate of the bottles, and managed to barely keep his balance.
In the meantime, whatever it was had frozen and bolted without a sound. Tael, confused, was circling the pile of splintered wood and cracked glass.
"Tael, get out of here!" Although Tael couldn't directly understand Timbre's frantic barking, he got the gist of the message. An instant later, he had looped up over the roof, probably to find his sister. Safe.
Timbre, on the other hand, was not. He was about ready to panic. Any minute now the Clock Town guard would arrive. The noise had been so loud, he was surprised that they hadn't already arrived. And him barking would just raise the alarm. Jumping down from his perch and cursing himself for being such a fool, he did the first thing that came to his mind.
Run like crazy.
The wolf covered the rest of the strip in a heartbeat, running towards the square that contained the Post Office and the Training Center, he pondered his next move. He had no intention of running over to the big clock, but he remembered that there was also an exit to Termina Field on the far left.
He was just turning the sharp corner when his flight was stopped rather abruptly by a tall silhouette that Timbre literally collided with headfirst. He wasn't a full grown wolf by far, and the impact sent him bouncing back onto his tail with a yelp. Dazed, he stared helplessly up at the huge figure looming over him.
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Bwahahaha! Evil cliffhanger!! Will Tim eek his way out of this one, or is he destined for the sword and pitchfork quarter? Read and Review, maybe I'll post the next chapter sooner! But honestly, I loves the feedback! Love the storyt, hate it, I don't really care as long as you REVIEW!!