"An Act to Follow"
Disclaimer: I don't own most of this stuff. Let's leave it at that.
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Author's Notes: O, I'm back at school, which is good in that I am no longer going insane with packing and such, but it also means classes have started…Chemistry will be the death of me, seriously. If I don't manage to blow myself up during a lab I think I'll drown in lists of common cations and anions. Blech. Anyway, I'm still managing to eek out these chapters. The way it's going, I think that there's gonna be two/three more chapters, and maybe an epilogue. But, like I said before, I don't actually have an outline for this, so things could change. But do expect sequels/prequels and the such. *gnaws on Chemistry book* Chapter 12. And "The Ol' Beggar's Bush" is definitely not my song, it is © to a band known as Flogging Molly. Cool song, go look it up. Oh, and Super Smash Brothers Melee is insanely addicting, especially if you're with a large group of friends. Handle with care.
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An Act to Follow — Part 12 — Last-minute entrants
Chiron looked up sharply at Kat's exclamation. "Really? What song?"
Kat smirked a little, whipping out her trumpet. "The Ol' Beggar's Bush. Remember that one?"
Nick's eyes traveled upwards from his chili bowl, in thought. "Oh yeah, I sort of remember that song…" He attempted to hum a few bars. "Eh, can' ge' th' melody rig' cause I dun sing."
"Stuck on limbo bridge, where below me ol' Nick grins…" Timbre sang the first few bars quietly. Several heads turned, and even Tee's eyes flickered a moment.
"Yes! Somebody remembers it!" Kat exclaimed, jumping up and down in excitement.
"Now I'm beginning to remember it too!" Sond said, tuning her flute between bites of her sandwich. "It was the one with the flute solo, right? And the big drum beat!"
"Oh yeah," Ty agreed quietly, nibbling on some cheese. "That was a good song."
"I say we go for it…'course we'll be down one vocalist…" Link shot a glance at Timbre, who had launched back into silence. Feeling a little awkward after saying this, Link paid close attention to his sandwich. "Uh, it might be difficult, but we could do it still."
Kei looked down at his sister. "How 'come you haven't eaten anything yet?"
"M'not hungry," Tejina answered.
Kneeling down, Kei looked concerned. "Come on, squirt, you gotta eat something…are you feeling okay?"
"I'm just fine," the girl replied, neither looking or feeling fine at all. She refused to move her head at all, staring at the wall.
Ana and Kei looked at each other, concerned. "Look, I know you're upset that you've been put through this, but…" Kei scratched his ear. "Well…we'd let you stay at the Inn but Veneer knows what room we're in. Just one more day, alright?"
Tee's eyes roved over towards Timbre, whom she was currently pretending didn't exist. "I…I guess…" Tee said. Her mind was working quietly, even as she idly took a sandwich from Kei.
"We'll, we do have to get practicing…the first act starts at 7:30, and it is currently…5:35…" Kafei said, making use of his pocketwatch." He looked around. "But where we gonna go?"
"Well, the acoustics in here aren't perfect…" Kat murmured, looking around the small shack. "But it'll have to do. Unless we wanna practice out in the open-"
"We'd give our song away!" Ty protested, as he helped to put the leftovers of dinner away. Behind him, Tee jumped up, apparently to help Kafei with some of the fruit baskets.
"An' besides, here we already have an audience!" Link said, pointing at Tee, Kei, Ana, and Kasumi, who'd remained silent for quite some time.
"Oof!" In the background, Tee had collided with Kafei.
"Watch where you're going, alright?" Kafei raised an eyebrow.
"Sorry, jus' trying to help…" Tejina blushed.
"Do they min'?" Nick looked hopeful, undistracted.
"Hey, not at all, right squirt?" Kei grinned, sitting down and pulling Tee onto his lap. The girl squeaked in protest, but then smiled a little. Timbre looked up from his corner, one eyebrow raised. Kasumi just leaned impassively in the back.
"You too Tim, you know our music firsthand, so you can be the critic." Kat quipped, blowing through her instrument to warm it up.
"Gee thanks," Timbre grumbled, turning their way. For a moment, he caught Tee's eyes as she laughed with her brother. Both blinked and turned away quickly.
"Right," Kat said. "Hope everyone remembers the words. One and a-two, and a…"
The owner of the Curiosity Shop held his head as dust rattled from the roof. Takkuri squawked loudly, flapping its wings and jarring its injury. The disgruntled avian snapped it's beak at the nearest object, a cheap vase, and sent it crashing to the floor. The cause of the disturbance was coming from the back of the store:
Suck on limbo bridge,
Where below me ol' Nick grins,
And laughs through the chaos of it all.
Gets up off his chair,
Spins a jig to my despair,
He can't wait to count the times where I went wrong…
The Curiosity Shop man groaned as the words to The Ol' Beggar's Bush rang clearly through the wall. Not that it was bad music, per say, but it was rather loud. Loud enough to make the metal wares rattle.
"Ruddy kids, probably entered that contest tonight," The man grunted, putting things back up on their shelves. "Hope they lose spectacularly, I do…"
"Squawk!" Takkuri apparently agreed.
Tee hummed the song under her breath. An hour and a bit had passed since their dinnertime concert, and everybody had left, leaving her and Timbre alone. Again. She sighed, still refusing to talk to him. Why did he have to be such a mean-spirited creature? Looking over at him, she blinked. It had been easy enough to ignore him when there were other people to talk to, but without company, it was becoming slightly more straining. This room, it was like it was slowly shrinking, and soon she wouldn't be able to move at all. She just wasn't built for idle sitting around. The very thought of staying immobile, even for one day, was driving her crazy-
"What?" Timbre snapped suddenly, and Tee realized she had been staring at him. His green eyes were almost glowing with ire, despite the fact she wasn't shining any light in them.
"What what?" She retorted, sneering a little.
"I don't have anything to say to you, so you might as well just leave me alone!" Timbre said, venomously.
Tee softened slightly. "That hurt, you know."
"Well it hurt when you nailed me in the stomach, but you didn't really mind that too much, did you?" He snapped, going against his prior statement.
"I panicked. Veneer was there, and…look I'm sorry. But you don't know what Veneer's like, really…" Tejina quivered a little, looking upset.
"Now don't start crying," Tim said contemptuously, although a lump was forming in his throat. "It's…dumb," he finished, feeling suddenly horribly guilty. He stared at his boots, feeling like a total jerk.
"I didn't want to have to do that, you know…" Tee said, sniffling. "But you were yelling…and if Veneer found us…well, he wouldn't care what it looked like, he'd have killed us both."
Timbre scratched the back of his head. He was feeling very awkward now. "I believe you…" he said quietly. "And I guess I am sorry for yelling at you, and calling you a bossy know-it-all…"
Tejina almost looked stunned. "You're apologizing? To me?"
"Yeah," the normally stubborn boy retorted, though there was no venom in his voice now. "That's allowed, isn't it?"
"Yeah, of course…" Tee looked at the floor. "Then I'll apologize too, for hurting you and for calling you a stubborn jerk. You're stubborn, but I guess you aren't a jerk."
Tim raised an eyebrow. That has almost been a compliment.
That almost-compliment was the only thing said for a few minutes.
"So, now what?" Tee said, breaking the awkward silence that always hung after a fight had ended.
"I dunno," Timbre said quickly. They weren't angry anymore, and that was what mattered most at the moment Tejina smirked a little at the thought, and went back to humming.
Timbre cleared his throat suddenly.
"What? Don't like my voice?" Tee asked.
"No, you're actually one of the few people I know who can carry a tune. Besides my other friends, of course." Had he just said, 'other friends?' Tim blinked several times before Tejina was able to reply.
"Well, I try."
The boy quickly changed the subject. "That door's still there…" Timbre sighed, looking at the offending portal with the utmost look of revulsion. "And I'm missing the competition," He grumbled.
Tee fumbled with something in her pocket. "Yeah," she said dubiously, "Too bad we can't leave…at least then we could watch…"
"But I thought you were against that, too dangerous and all,' Timbre argued.
"Yeah, well…things change. As long as nobody saw us-"
Timbre raised an eyebrow. "What, do you know something I don't know?"
"Maybe." Tee smirked.
"Tell me!"
"No way, I'm allowed secrets…"
"Last time I tried that line, you beat it out of me!" Timbre protested.
"No, actually I just stated a fact, an you verified it," Tejina smirked widely.
"Just tell me already!" Some of that ire was returning to Timbre's eyes.
"Why?"
"Well, you wouldn't mention anything if you didn't plan to tell!"
"Your logic baffles me. But despite that, I suppose I could tell…" Tejina was enjoying this slightly. It wasn't fun to actually fight, but it was fun to pretend to.
"Fine then," Timbre said, crossing his arms. "Do share with the rest of us."
Tejina flipped something small from her pocket. It was a small key, made of brass. Timbre blinked, and looked at Tee with a slack jaw. There was a new respect in his eyes.
"But…how? Wh-"
"I lifted if off of Kafei while we were putting dinner away," Tejina explained. "Slight of hand comes in handy now and again. The world should be lucky I didn't decide to become a professional pickpocket."
Timbre could have hugged her, if he weren't a stubborn ten-year-old boy who reviled such acts of random exuberance. "Well, I guess the problem of the door has just been solved." He grinned. "At least we can watch, if we stay out of sight."
"And human," Tee added. "Too much of a crowd…"
"Right," Timbre agreed. "I just wish we had something…you know, so we weren't so conspicuous…"
"That can be arranged, we've got tons of stuff back at the Inn. Also, I'd leave the trenchcoat if I were you."
"Why?"
"Cause, its kind of obvious, haven't seen many people with those. Where did you get that thing from, anyway?"
"An old man, he was a laundry guy, never did get his name…but that isn't important right now," Timbre added, slipping out of the trenchcoat. He folded it carefully and tucked it in the corner.
Tee scrutinized him. He did look a great deal smaller without the coat, small enough to be considered scrawny, especially around the shoulders. He blinked at her, looked confused, then picked up the key. Sucking in a deep breath, he tried the key. It worked, and the musical sound of a lock opening echoed through the stuffy room. Next moment, the door had opened into the twilight, dousing both of them in the cool air of the day's end.
"After you," Timbre grinned genuinely at Tee for the first time.
The stage in front of the giant clock was lit up dramatically, utilizing the tower that the carpenters had built early last year, during the Carnival of Time. Using mirrors, the giant lanterns upon the structure were able to be focused towards the stage in a direct beam. Shadows danced around as the clock's colorful face slowly rotated. The grounds were nearly completely covered in the crowd; apparently people were excited about the show. A poster listed many of the acts to come.
"Aww man," Kat groaned as she stared at said poster. "We're last, right after the Goron band, see?"
"Well, it's better than going first," Ty said sagely. "Th' judges might remember us more. And following a Goron band…it could be worse. It could be a lot worse…" He went back to adjusting the mouthpiece on his saxophone.
"Yeah, we'll blow those judges away, an' have our reward money before we can blink twice!" Sond did so, waving her flute in the air exuberantly. In her excitement, she accidently whacked Chiron on the back of the head. Unfortunately this occurred right when he was tuning his guitar, causing the offended instrument to let out a tuneless *TWANG* in protest.
"Ack!" Chiron chewed his lip, readjusting the offending string. He strummed it a few times, then nodded, seemingly satisfied. "Okay, I'm definitely in tune this time."
"Good," Link said, twirling his own instrument.
"Aren't you gonna tune?" Chiron looked confused.
"Tune? Tune the sacred relic that is the Ocarina of Time?" Link asked, as if outraged. "This thing's magical, it doesn't need to be tuned! It couldn't play a sour note if I tried to!"
"Actually…" Tatl piped up suddenly. "Remember that time you missed that high D during the Song of Soaring, and you ended up twenty feet in the air above the Southern Swamp? What a glorious sound that made, first the pitiful wail of a young boy, then the unerring SPLAT of said young boy hitting the bog below."
Everyone chortled, remembering that.
"There's a time when a fairy needs to be seen and not heard," Link said darkly. Tael snickered behind his sister, until he caught the boy's expression. He fell silent rather quickly.
"Just let me see that thing for a second," Tatl offered. "If there's dirt clogging the mouthpiece…"
"No way, we're gonna be playing soon. You keep you little fairy paws off!" Link warned, crading the Ocarina as if it were made of eggshell.
"Playing soon?" Kat scoffed. "Maybe, if everyone else's songs are like 2 seconds long each…"
"Yeah, no 'urries, ri'? We're las', no' firs', y'know…" Nick idly twirled his dirk in one hand, a pair of drumsticks in the other.
Kafei cracked his knuckles. "Well, better safe than sorry. What if people didn't show up and we had to play earlier than we thought? It could happen…Oh great, Dad's up for another one of his speeches again…" Sure enough, Mayor Dotour was making an appearance on the stage.
"Hello," he said, coughing.
"And there's Mom…" Kafei groaned.
The stage, too, was groaning slightly as Madame Aroma walked onto stage. Since her voice carried more, her greeting was much more audible. "Hello everyone! Welcome to the last night of the Spring Festival!"
A ragged cheer greeted her words.
"Now, as tradition, we end our Festival with a singing competition. We have a good dozen acts to get through tonight, so it should prove most entertaining. Our judges this evening…"
Madame Aroma made a great sweep with her hand, gesturing towards the right of the stage. A small raised podium seated three figures.
"First, representing Clock Town's administration, Mayor Dotour's son, Kafei Dotour!" B.K. grinned a little, waving as the crowd politely applauded.
"Hey, my big brother's a judge?!" Kafei smirked. "This might be easier to win than I thought…"
"Next," Madame Aroma continued, "Representing the Clock Town Guard, none other than Captain Viscen!"
Kat's jaw dropped as the crowd applauded again. "Now I'm kind of glad that we locked that door, look who's standing behind Viscen…" Sure enough, Veneer's scowl was just visible beyond Viscen's helmet.
Kafei smiled, sticking a hand in his pocket. "Yep, glad I had that key-" He blinked wildly several times.
"…our special guest Tito, manager of the famous Indigo-Gos!"
The audience clapped passionately, and a few cheers split the square. Kafei, however, was madly squirming, checking both his pockets. "That's weird…"
"What?" Link blinked. Tatl was about to try and poke the Ocarina of Time when Link idly waved her away. "It's still there, right?"
"Uh…" Kafei's voice didn't sound very optimistic.
"The key's gone?"
Kafei nodded. "Just this thing…" He pulled out a small brass-colored object.
Kei squinted. "But that's one of Tee's earrings, it was part of her costume the other day."
Chiron raised an eyebrow. "Does that mean that…"
Kei looked slightly furious. "That little brat of a sister! She knows she not supposed to steal from people's pockets…and now she's got…the key…to the door…"
"OH NO!"
A large group consisting of two adults and seven kids sped with great alacrity in the direction of the Laundry Pool, as behind them the show began.
Sure enough, the small room was empty. Kei's voice was furious, and his fists clenched a little, though even this expression couldn't dull the worried look in his eyes.
"Great…she's gone, they're both gone."
"Except for Timbe's trenchcoat, you mean. Check it out." Link lifted the object in question with an eyebrow raised.
Everybody looked mildly confused.
"So, they're somewhere out in the city right now?" Chiron started hesitantly.
"Should hope so," Ana said wearily. "I mean, if they're smart and keep their heads down-"
"Smart? Hardly, if they knew what was good for them they would've stayed here." Kat grumbled.
"Well, wo- I mean, types like them, I don't think they're made to just be shut up like that, you know?" Kafei said suddenly. "Instinct, or something. Kind of like how I'd protest if someone tried to tie me up. Can't be helped. And if they were able to get out, then I think they're smart enough to be alright."
"If th' Vene'r dud' dun fin' 'em, y'mean…" Nick chewed his lip. "Well, there's th' crow'd an' all…it's unlikely, ri'?"
"Yeah, they'll stay in the crowd somewhere, and he won't find them…" Link said, trying to convince himself. Then he suddenly brightened, as if he'd just had a brilliant idea. He took off his cap and shook it upside down forcefully.
Two irate glowing balls shot out, narrowly missing the floor.
Ignoring the high pitched curses, Link asked them both a favor. "Tatl…an' Tael too…Timbre and Tejina took off. They're probably somewhere in Clock Town, problem is, so is that psycho hunter guy."
Tatl said something that sounded like "Razzlesnort."
Ignoring this, Link continued. "So, do you think you could find the Terrible Two for us? Keep an eye out on them, y'know?"
The yellow glow that was Tatl yawned. "Why should we?"
Tael looked concerned, if not as sleepy as his sister. "Not very tactful of you, making demands on us poor fairies all the time."
"And since when are you so concerned for Timbre's safety?" Tatl added snidely.
"Come on guys, this is serious! That hunter's around, and well, do you want to see them dead or captured or worse? You two can fly, so it would take less time."
"Oh…alright…" Tatl said grudgingly. "Fuzzy might be a stubborn little fleabag, but I guess seeing him as a welcome mat or a rug would be kind of gross. An that girl, she was alright too, she doesn't deserve that."
"We'll find 'em, both of 'em." Tael promised. "We'll find them in no time!"
"Speaking of time…" Kafei said distractedly, as Tatl and Tael both zoomed out of the doorway (Tael with a miniscule salute). "I think that we should get back to the stage, if we wanna make our act's time…"
Kei sighed. "We'll keep an eye out for Veneer while you all go. He's not after you guys, after all…And you did practice so well. I think you're in good league to win that competition." Ana nodded at this.
"Break a leg," she said, smiling.
As the children left the Laundry Pool, they gave puzzled looks to one another.
"Break our legs? What good would that do?" Link murmured, chewing a hangnail.
"I could think of a lot of good it would do." Ty said, his eyes slightly darker than usual.
"Not until after the show, please!" Kat and Sond said together, desperately.
"Yeah, it's a little difficult to play any instrument with your bloody kneecaps ripped off," Chiron added. This graphic statement rewarded him with several gruesome facial expressions from the others.
"Ick, there's something I didn't need to envision…yuck." Kafei looked slightly green.
As they stepped back into South Clock Town, the unmistakable sound of Goron drumming and singing came slowly into existence. Sond grinned, tilting her head to the beat. She'd always taken a liking to Goron music, something about the yelping quality of the stone people's voices was just very appealing.
"Well, mebbe th' competition won' be as easy as w' though' 'twould be…" Nick murmured, leaning against the wall. "'Ope we're tuned goo', we're on deck pract'lly."
Kat ticked off on her fingers. "Right, the act before us is supposed to be th' Bombers, right? And they come on right after these guys're done," she finished. "So there we go."
Ty looked unusually triumphant, he hadn't said a word since his leg-breaking comment. But the way about his smirk and the way his tail was twitching betrayed the face he was awfully pleased about something. Link backed away nervously.
"What're you grinning at?" The boy said hastily. The vow of revenge had not been forgotten.
"Nothing…" Ty replied in a singsong tone of voice. He was now rocking back and forth on his heels, and his eyes were twinkling.
"You know, you're creepy when you grin like that," Chiron pointed out.
"I know…" Ty said vaguely, still smiling.
"Wassup?" Nick added.
"You'll see…" Ty murmured. "You'll see…"
The crowd they were currently in was thick, and fortunately too involved in the Bomber's act to notice the two of them. Timbre lifted the dark glasses from in front of his eyes a moment so he could blink properly. A quick trip back to the Stock Pot Inn had gained him and Tee some new rainments: a pair of dark glasses each, as well as a pair of small, dark green cloaks, which they could pull over their heads if Veneer decided to show up in front of them.
Tee had explained hastily, back at the Inn. "Th' cloaks are for when I do backstage stuff, they're dark so that you don't go off advertising you're fixing the props behind the real performers, you see. Lucky for us I've got a spare. And the glasses-"
"There's nothing wrong with my vision," Timbre had said, annoyed.
"I know that, dummy," she had replied, shoving them onto his face so quickly he didn't even have time to flinch. "It's not to help you see, it's to help others not to see you. Or your eyes, anyway. Usually they're used for keeping the sun out of the eyes, but they'll keep the light from reflecting as well, you see?"
Timbre had nodded as Tejina donned her own pair.
The sharp pain of Tee elbowing him roughly in the ribs brought Timbre out of his flashback.
"Ouch! What?!"
"The act's over, you're supposed to applaud," she ordered. The act in question had been the Bombers, who had attempted (key word there) to sing an a-capella version of the Oath to Order.
"If the four giants had heard that coming from the clock tower that time we battled Majora, I think their ears would've ruptured from the tunelessness." Timbre grumbled.
"So, what?" You think you could do better?" Tee said, raising an eyebrow.
"A lot better. In fact, I think I could win this competition!" Timbre said in retribution.
"By yourself? Against all your friends?" Tejina snorted. "And speaking of, there they are now…" Tee pointed as Timbre friends emerged onto the stage, light glinting off of their instruments.
Timbre looked just a little sad and disappointed as The Ol' Beggar's Bush began wafting from the stage, sounding just as good as it had during practice:
So go and bow your head and weep
For your world won't change while you sleep
Yeah, go and bow your head and weep
For the summer that was lost, now is gone
Tee sighed. "I thought you'd be happy to hear your friends sing."
"Well, I am and all…It's just…" His face suddenly went resolute. "You know what, I don't care if there's an army of hunters out there, I'm gonna go see if I can-"
"What? Enter? By yourself? There's no way you can win by yourself."
"Yes I can," Timbre argued
"No you can't!"
"Yes I can!"
"No you can't!"
"Yes I can!"
Tee suddenly laughed. "So you've heard of that song too…"
"Right. That's not gonna stop me, though."
"Fine. Enter if you want, but only on one condition."
"What's that?"
"You let me in on it too."
For a moment, all the sound around them became suddenly unimportant. Timbre's scrutinizing expression deepened, and one eyebrow furrowed. They were standing rather close now, nearly forehead to forehead. Tee looked similarly serious. After a moment, Timbre held out his hand.
"Deal."
They shook on it, nodded curtly, and headed towards the stage.
Yeah, go and bow your head and weep
For the summer that was lost, now is gon,
Yeah the summer that was lost now is gone…
Cheers erupted all around them as the last strains of the melody floated away into the spring evening. Grinning wildly, the kids bowed, Link with a swordsman's flourish (at least until Ty's tail accidentally tripped him up). Walking offstage, they all gabbled excitedly, though they were both warm and exhausted from their efforts.
"That was great!" Kat exclaimed happily. "The crowd loved us!"
"And it was fun, besides…" Sond smirked. "Though we could've gone without that sour note in verse 3, Link."
"Wasn't my fault, I got attacked by mosquitos! I still am, actually!" The Hylian swatted around himself, frustrated. Nearly falling down, he ambled over to the side of the stage.
"Yeah, let's find a seat or two, the judges might take a while to decide we've won," Kafei said confidently. Backstage, they found several crates which were yet out of use.
"Tha' takes a lo' outta yeh, playin' li' tha," Nick said, flopping down with a huff.
"Yeah, didn't help with those lights all over us, in our eyes. It was like they were trying to blind us, or something." Chiron flopped similarly, and Kafei leaned, letting out a long sigh.
"Well I for one wasn't bothered by the lights too much," Link bragged, swatting away another mosquito. "Dangit, why aren't they bugging you guys?!"
"Dunno," Ty said, with an enigmatic smirk. "Maybe they're attracted to your sweet, sugary personality."
"Or not," Link retorted. "Say, where are Tatl and Tael? You'd think they'd found those two by now…Unless they fell asleep on the job."
"They're still looking," said a voice behind them.
"Hey Kas," More than half a dozen voices rang in a monotone.
"How do you know that?" Link half-demanded.
"Because, I talked with them," Kas said patiently, as if this question had an obvious answer.
"Oh." Ty smirked a little. "They'll be alright, right?" He looked up at his big brother hopefully.
Kas didn't say anything, but that didn't matter too much because Link had just sat down.
Now normally, a person sitting down wouldn't be such a momentuous act, but in this case, a small exception was in order. For when the green-clad Hylian sat down, something squelched. Loudly. Link's eyes crossed.
"Ack, what did I just sit on?!"
"Nothing," Chiron said. "There wasn't anything on the crate at all. You just sat down…"
Link jumped up quickly, his eyes slightly wide. His eyes traveled slowly back to the seat of his pants, which were now sporting a dark stain of some kind.
Sond and Kat giggled, quickly joined by the rest of the children.
"Oh dear, that's funny…" Kat snickered.
"Did baby have an accident?" Chiron quipped, then fell over laughing.
Even Kas was fighting to keep a smirk from emerging. Link, on the other hand, looked furious.
"This isn't any laughing matter!" He half-shouted, causing several onlookers to pay attention. "These are my best shorts! And now they're wet with…something…eww…" Fishing in his pocket, Link withdrew a mushy bag. "I never had this! What is this stuff? Glop?"
"Smells like lemons," Kafei remarked, giggling.
"Lemon goo'," Nick agreed, still sanguine.
"Lemon gelatin," Ty said matter of factly.
Link turned an angry eye on the boy with the tail. "You!"
"Hello." Ty said, smiling a bit.
"It was you, wasn't it?!"
"Intelligent, aren't you?" Ty smirked a little. "Told ya I'd get back at you, fairy boy. And now that my revenge is complete, I have something to say."
"What's that?" Link said, quickly turning an unnatural shade of purple.
"That lemony fresh victory is mine," Ty said, looking awfully pleased with himself.
"So help me I'll strangle you!" Link growled, hands clenching and unclenching.
"Bring it on, then." Ty said calmly.
"Excuse me." Kasumi deftly placed himself between the two fighting boys. "Down, both of you." Both children did so. "Thank you. At the moment we have larger problems."
"What could be worse than this?" Link wailed, pointing at his stained shorts.
Kasumi pointed wordlessly at the two glowing balls descending upon the group.
"Hi there!" Tael squeaked.
"We're back." Tatl called. She sniffed. "Does anybody else smell lemons?"
"Never mind that!" Link snapped. "Did you find them?"
The siblings exchanged a look. "Well…" Tael began.
"We've got good news and bad news…" Tatl added.
"The good news is that we know where they are currently." Tael said.
"Well that's fortunate," Sond said.
"Wait. What's the bad news?" Kat said.
"Uh, that." Tatl said, pointing towards the stage, where Kafei's father was currently standing.
"Well, originally," Mayor Dotour wheezed, "That was to have been our last act. However, we have just received word of two last minute entrants. Seeing as everyone deserves a chance at exhibiting talent, the judges and I have decided that they be allowed to perform."
"What? But we were the last act!" Chiron cried, indignant.
"Yeh! Oo'd be crazy enou' t'enter at th' las' min'te?" Nick quipped, his eyes wider than usual.
That question really didn't need to be answered as two small figures, cloaked, stepped onto stage, the light glinting brilliantly off of the glasses they both were wearing.
"Oh…dear…"
"We tried to talk 'em out of it," Tael said. "Honestly, but they wouldn't have any of it."
"Wonderful. Why don't they just change form up there while they're at it?" Kafei grumbled, fortunately at a level that wouldn't be overheard.
"Calm down, everyone." Sond said. "They are in disguise, at least there's that. The glasses and everything…See, Veneer's not too suspicious looking…" Veneer was still standing behind Viscen, though his face did wear a puzzled expression.
"Well what can we do?" Chiron said.
"Sit back and watch and hope for the best. Dunno what they'll sing. I didn't even know that Tee sang." Kat said. "Bad form to interrupt players, we should know that well enough."
There was a chorus of 'ayes,' which immediately quieted as the two last minute entrants broke out into a rather intricate duet, starting with the girl:
Anything you can do, I can do better.
I can do any thing better than you.
No you can't.
Yes I can.
No you can't.
Yes I can.
No you can't.
Yes I can, yes I can.
Anything you can be, I can be greater.
sooner or later, I'm greater than you…
"Wow," Sond said after a moment. "The girl can sing."
There was a second chorus of 'ayes.'
Behind Viscen, Veneer squinted.
Viscen was tapping his foot to the youngster's duet. "Oh dear, going to be hard to choose between these kid's acts. I never knew our youth had so much talent."
Veneer just rolled his eyes. Idiot, he thought to himself. He's just here to keep a lookout, instead he's taking this judge thing seriously. Annoyed, Veneer grunted.
"Oh, enjoying ourselves, are we?" Viscen said, somewhat just to spite the grouchy hunter.
Veneer grunted again. Something, a big something, was just screaming at his brain, as if he were missing the totally obvious. Whatever it was, it was slowly getting on his nerves. Letting his eyes rove over the crowd, he let his vision rest on the last entrants. Both were in what appeared to be some sort of ridiculous costume, as if they wished themselves to be slightly invisible.
"No," Veneer said more to himself than anyone else. "It can't be…"
"Whassat?" Viscen said sharply.
"Nothing." Veneer rolled his eyes.
Next to them, a gangly adult with purple hair laughed a little. "I know that boy. He's a friend of my little brother. Odd though, usually that group of friends of his sticks together. How 'come he didn't compete with th' rest of the group?"
Something was echoing in Veneer's mind as he overheard.
"Hangs around wi' a whole bunch o' kids, I seen 'im around th' festival a bit."
Veneer's eyes flickered towards the boy on stage. He wasn't wearing a trenchcoat, but as Veneer squinted, he noted something even better.
He was wearing black fingerless gloves. AHA!
Gently kicking the back of Viscen's chair, Veneer smiled as he mumbled softly to himself. "Gotcha."
*****
Oh no, it's the cliffhanger of doom! *runs away screaming* Eheheheh. Yeah, the song Tim and Tee are singing is from Annie Get Your Gun, 'Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better,' maybe a slight anachronistic, but it just fits their relationship so well at the moment. Anyhow, that song is © to Irving Berlin, not me. And for those that are confused, Timbre's singing the stuff on the left and Timbre's singing the stuff on the right. Hopefully the formatting will still work in html. *crosses fingers* Now. Review! Please?