Repaying a Debt

Disclaimer: Please refer to previous chapters. You fool.

And, well, the guys have willingly agreed to being put into dresses. [Holds up a hand before they protest]. If they hadn't, I would have had to write a rather amusing scene in which they were forced into the damn things. [Grins as the guys sit down and look defeated].

Well, basically, they're still in Xenia's house, and Link, Sheik and Navi are sleeping off all their injuries from the Shadow Temple. Alexis (Blaise, remember, the alias which has been running since chapter two?) is with them. Xenia knows who she really is, and thus is willing to help a fellow outcast; therefore, the whole plans and preparations to go to the Gerudo fortress.

And - uh - I've been blabbering on too much in my intros I've noticed, so I'm gonna shut up and write the story now...

Readers: At f*cking last!

Soda: O.o eep - you guys can get in here?

Readers: [Nod menacingly]

Soda: [Backs away] OK, OK, I'm typing already [squeak]

~/*\~/*\~/*\~

The next morning, I awoke to find myself in a familiar position - stuck on a sofa in between Link and Sheik, serving as a leaning post. Navi was already awake, darting here and there on her gossamer wings. Looking down, I could see Xenia's poor cat watching her hungrily, pacing up and down to follow her path. "Navi," I hissed, "stop teasing the poor thing!" She stopped in midair, giggling guiltily. It was then that the cat pounced, rising up from the ground in a twist of sinewy fur.

"Aiyee!" she screeched, wheeling out of the way and flying over to land on my head. I just scolded,

"That's what you get for teasing it!"

Navi's scream had bought at least one of the others back into consciousness. Link had opened his eyes and was blinking sleepily. On the other side, Sheik lifted his head from my shoulder, and returned in what must have been a more comfortable position (for him at least!) "Mornin' Blaise," Link said, bringing up a hand to stifle a yawn. The other arm (the one in the sling) he used to push himself away from leaning on my shoulder. "Sorry 'bout that. You just make a comfortable pillow," he smiled a little, and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Sheik seems to think so too," I used my now free hand to gesture towards the still slumbering Sheikah.

"It's the second time we've done this to you," Link exclaimed. "Just know that we appreciate the use of your shoulders to lean on." I more than caught the double meaning in that one.

"Hey, I don't mind. It's an interesting experience." He nodded, and I looked down at Sheik. Quietly, I said, "I feel somewhat tree-like," at that he snorted as he hoisted himself off the sofa. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Navi flying up to land on his bare shoulder. [Don't tease the cat again] I warned her as Link moved to the shuttered windows.

{Don't worry, I won't!} she thought back, obviously still a little shaken up by the cat incident a few minutes earlier.

"I'll just let a whee bit of light in," Link said, reaching up with his good arm to lift the latch on the shutters. Then, he tried to push them open, but they were of the kind that don't budge unless you open both sides at once. "Or not - damn..." he muttered after a few more futile attempts. He turned around.

"Hey, don't look at me!" I whispered, and he smiled, eyes twinkling. Then, he slumped into the armchair across from the sofa.

"I guess the light'll have to wait."

"Yeah." I glimpsed the cat jump onto the arm of the chair behind him, and called a warning to Navi. "Watch out." Navi turned around, and with a squeak, moved to hide behind Link's shoulder. He looked down at the cowering Navi in bemusement. "Look behind you," I advised, and twisted around to see the cat slinking away, tail held high in the air.

"Oh...right...I get it now..." he said, and his face betrayed that he had no idea what was going on. A sudden thought seemed to hit him, and he jumped up from the chair. "Hey, I'm gonna go for a walk or something - will you be all right here?" He was already halfway out the door, raring to go.

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

"Great!"

"But-" he came back from where he'd been rushing out of the door and waited expectantly. "You may want to get dressed first, that's all." He looked down at his pyjama trousers, and blushed.

"Oh - yeah - so I might. Uh - thanks for the tip."

"No worries," in a semi-Australian accent. He blushed again and backed out of the room to go up the stairs. The door slowly swung shut behind him - after one last raspberry blown at the cat, Navi followed Link out. As soon as the door came to, the room fell into relative darkness. Sheik was still leaning on my shoulder. "Looks like it's just you and me buddy." He sneezed quietly, and slept on. A hand had crept up to his mouth at some point, and he was sucking his thumb. [Interesting...]

The rest of the house was quiet, and I guessed by the fierce light coming through the thin gap between the shutters that it must be about midday. Everyone was out apart from Link and Navi upstairs, and Sheik and me in the lounge.

"You look kinda sweet when you're asleep, you know that?" I said under my breath, looking down at the dozing man. The urge to twist my fingers in that hair was difficult to suppress but somehow I managed. His face was in repose, features completely relaxed in a deep sleep. The contrast to his usual strained expression was astonishing.

A few violet/black bruises peeked out from the bandages on his torso, striking against the otherwise perfect pale skin. I could feel myself wince just to look at them. "If only I could have helped you. You wouldn't be hurt now..." my voice was musing without permission from my mind. "I wish you trusted me; I know it's hard for you though. All those extra senses must be hard to cope with."

Footsteps on the stairs jerked me out of my confessional reverie. Link pushed the door open; he was clad in his Goron tunic now, and the hat was lopsided on his sandy hair. "If you guys need me, I'll probably be near the graveyard or something."

"OK. We'll find you if anything crops up," I reassured him. He made a sound of assent in his throat and turned to leave, Navi following him. I noticed Link had the Master Sword and Hylian shield back upon his back. [Make sure he doesn't get himself hurt] I told Navi.

{That I will. He had me so worried, I don't want him hurt like that again!}

[Good. Look out for him, OK?]

{I will.} The front door banged shut and the sound resonated loudly around the house.

Sheik twitched and groaned, stretching languorously. Then he collapsed again onto my suffering shoulder heavily. I let out a squeak of protest. Even so, he *still* managed to sleep on. When he'd settled down again, I wondered aloud, "How the hell do you stay asleep so long?" I thought I saw a small smirk appear. It was gone almost instantly in a yawn though. Another stretch followed, and finally he opened his scarlet eyes.

"Good morning!" he said brightly, not making any attempt to move from my shoulder. "What's for eating?"

"Good question," I answered, accompanied by a growl from his stomach. "I suppose I could try and cook up some grub."

"You can cook?" he seemed surprised. I would have thought he'd suspect I could cook, seeing how the women were here.

"Yes, of course I can cook! Why would you think I couldn't?"

"Well...you just don't really seem the type..." he said lamely.

"The type?"

"You know...all girly. And boring. And giggly, and all that."

"Oh, so you're saying I'm not boring then?" I said into the ear which was so close to my mouth I could have kissed it if I had the inclination. There was a gold hoop there - I'd never noticed that before. He stumbled over his words, a hot flush creeping over the previously paper white cheeks. I just patted him on the shoulder, and he shut up. Then exploded into embarrassed laughter. I stood up, and his head fell onto the cushioned seat of the sofa.

In an instant, he had jumped up and stormed into the kitchen. When I got there, he was sitting at the wooden table expectantly. "I'm hungry," he whined in a voice akin to that of his child self.

"Well, you'll just have to wait for me to cook something then, won't you?" I answered back exasperatedly. I began searching for some pans and likely looking foodstuffs. I was in luck. On the shelf was a basket with eggs in, and hanging on a hook in the larder were some cutlets of beefsteak. In the oven was a still-warm piece of bread - however, the oven itself was cold and the fire in it had gone out. "Think you could light this?" I asked Sheik, who sighed and galloped up the stairs.

In two minutes, he was back again holding a flint and stone in his hands. "This better mean I get some good food."

"Of course!"

"Good," he began to light the fire and stoke it up. Whilst he did that, I poured some water from a water jug into a pan, and placed four eggs in it. The cutlets I placed into a frying pan with a tiny amount of butter from the dish on the table. Lastly, I cut a few steaming slices from the bread loaf, and speared them on the toasting fork.

And thus began the interesting task of cooking when a Sheikah keeps stumbling about underfoot.

*

Link and Navi managed to reappear just as Sheik and I were sitting down to eat our (slightly burnt) meal. "Yours is on the side," I said, pointing to the two plates I'd left for them. Navi whooped and in a flash was human sized. She picked up both plates and scooted over to the table. Link followed; he looked a little flushed in the cheeks. "Where did you go?" I asked, slicing up the steak on my plate.

"Just for a walk," he answered guardedly, sitting down on his seat and running a hand through his ruffled hair.

"Where exactly?" Sheik asked, pressing him.

"Just to the - you know - just the Well. To see - to check. Make sure *it's* gone." His eyes narrowed, and he brushed his broken arm, a pissed off expression fluttering across his features. There was a glitter of fury there - then Navi dove into her food, and he smiled fondly at her. "Man I'm hungry." It was a lame attempt to start the conversation, which petered out almost immediately afterwards.

At last, I had the chance to order my thoughts a little. I was able to focus on how I was going to defend myself in court when I got back. The physical trials I knew I could pull off without a hitch. But those fight allegations...I couldn't contend a free warrior - she, the spiteful bitch - had more credibility than I ever would.

"Blaise?" Sheik waved a hand in front of my face, and I was bought plummeting back to the real world.

"Sorry, I was miles away," I said, shaking my head a little to bring the focus back.

"That's all right. I was just saying how Eloise will probably need us again for those dratted clothes when she gets back."

"What?! You mean we have to stand on those stools again?" Link's face was the picture of absolute horror.

"Yes, I'm afraid so buddy," Sheik smirked, clapping a consoling arm on his back. "Our disguises will have to look convincing after all!"

"Talking of convincing," Navi broke in. "You two," she looked at the boys, "really need a shave before you even think of putting those dresses on. Unless you want to go for the bearded lady look and say you're part of the circus, that is." Both of them reached up to their chins, and felt the stubble there. I hadn't noticed it before, but now Navi mentioned it, they both had distinct shadows. I'd never seen either of them shave, but obviously, from the growth of a couple of days ill, they did when I wasn't around.

"Good point," Link nodded, still stroking his chin. "Damn - I'm never gonna get to grow this, am I?"

"You can grow it to your bloody knees for all I care, when this is over. But for now, you," she pointed at the door. "Go. Shave. Now." He bounded out before the angry Navi could bear down on him. "And you as well!" she barked at Sheik, who had been trying to slink out of the back door into the garden.

"Damn it..." he threw a wink my way, and slouched over to the sink, above which was a small square of mirror. He flipped out a tiny knife, and in a few deft swipes removed the hair from his face. "Will this do?" his eyes shifted to look at Navi in the mirror. She nodded approvingly and then shrunk back down to her usual size.

"It's great being able to scare those guys," she said in a satisfied tone, landing gracefully on the lid of the butter dish.

"Aye - if only I could do the same sometimes," I growled at Sheik, who was making faces at me in the mirror.

"Oh, trust me - you're damned terrifying," Sheik called dryly. "Completely petrifying." He had strolled over and helped himself to the last piece of toast. He reached over Navi's head, and lifted the lid that she was sitting on. "Excuse me," he said suavely, scraping some butter from the block and then putting the lid, with Navi still sitting on it, back down again.

"See what I mean?" Navi grinned up at me. "They're afraid of me."

~*~*~*~

"Hmm...I'm still not sure..." both Xenia and Eloise were looking at me critically. I was wearing my Gerudo disguise, midriff showing under a band of jaunty red gauze. The top had silk over the chest, and the gauze reached down like a tunic to my thigh, as well as trailing into sleeves down my arms. The desert trousers were huge, and in the same bright red. They flared out to the bottom, and were bought back in again at the ankle with bandages of the gauze. Eloise had even managed to find some Gerudo boots to complete the ensemble.

"What?" I asked, holding my arms up helplessly. From the other room, I could hear Navi shrieking with laughter at Link and Sheik. Xenia walked around me again, her auburn hair swinging from side to side as she went. The dying candle on the shelf sent sputtering highlights of blood red through her hair. Eloise just carried on looking me up and down, her brow furrowed in concentration.

"That's it!" she had suddenly snapped her fingers and moved forwards to grab a fistful of my hair.

"YOUCH!"

"Sorry dear," she let go of my hair. "It's too short, isn't it?" she looked over to my shoulder to where Xenia was standing behind me. "Black isn't a common colour by any standards, and if she at least blends in a little, it'll help them, won't it?"

"That it will. And I know exactly what to do. I'll be right back!" Xenia rushed around me and out of the door.

"What's she doing?" I asked Eloise, who just shrugged. I hopped down off the stool I'd been standing on, and padded into the other room, where Sheik and Link had been getting ready.

My jaw dropped. Dumbly, I thought [wow, it really *can* drop.] The room looked like a hurricane had passed through it. And the guys didn't look much better. "What have you two done?" I asked, looking at them both.

"We were just getting ready," Sheik said defensively.

"And we're ready now!" Link beamed proudly. I shook my head in disbelief.

The scene was something like this. Link was wearing the dress Eloise had made for him back to front *and* inside out. This meant that the white part was showing instead of the green. And, he had gotten hold of some of the stage make-up I'd purchased from one of the stalls in the out skirts. His eyes were painted a sickening green, and he had two spots of rouge on each cheek.

Sheik hadn't done much better. He *had* at least managed to put the dress on correctly, but his hair, which he'd obviously tried to braid, was sticking straight up. He'd painted his lips so clumsily that he looked like a clown, and the less said about the whiteness of his face due to powder, the better. Navi was laughing weakly, trying to draw breath, but failing, as every time she looked at them, a new tide of giggles took over. I picked her up, and set her down outside the door to calm down.

"Right - you two - go wash *all* of that stuff off your faces, and then I'll see if I can sort you out." They did as I suggested, and came back with faces scrubbed of all traces of the abominable make-up. "Now. This is going to prove interesting. First things first; Link, you have your dress on both back to front and inside out." He looked down, and seemed to realise that the stitching was on the wrong side.

"So I have. Whoops!" he retreated behind the fold out screen in the centre of the room to put it the right way round.

"And Sheik, just take your hair out of those braids. You look just a little silly to be honest." He nodded, and began to pick at his hair, untangling the silver-blond mess. I picked up the makeup set, and three different sized paintbrushes. I hadn't had the time to be fussy over getting the right equipment, and these would do. There was a large one for rouge, a small flat tipped one for lip colour, and a sponge-ended one for the eye colours.

When Link had at last figured out how to put his dress on the right way, and sorted out the extra appendages he needed to make the disguise believable, he came back out from the screen. "That better?" he asked.

"Much. Sheik, do you need any help with that?" he was staring into the mirror, and wrestling with his hair.

"Nope - I'll be fine thanks," he said, fiddling with a ribbon that was stuck in his hair.

"Well. If you're sure..."

"Positive."

"Good. Now, Link, you sit down here, and I'll see what I can do with this makeup." He sat down obediently, and I set about adding a few hints of subtle colour to his eyes. I drew out a small line of the light green to his eyebrow, and then used the dark tan across his eyelids. Then, a quick sweep of the darker pink rouge across his cheekbones. "Pout."

"What?" he opened his eyes looking startled.

"Pout, so I can put the lip colour on dummy!"

"OH!" he closed his eyes again, and pouted his lips.

"You look like a fish," I commented as I dabbed the flat tipped brush into the burgundy lipstick. His lips quirked in a smile, and I had to wait until it left before I could apply the colour to his lips. "And you're done. Sheik, you finished with your hair yet?"

"Yeah."

"Come over here then." Link stood up, and went to take up a place in front of the mirror so recently vacated by Sheik.

"It's uncanny!" he exclaimed, turning his face from side to side. I had to admit - he did look rather girlish at that moment. "Thanks Blaise."

"No problem. You two had absolutely no clue, so I thought it would be wise to step in."

"You're right there. Generally I don't wear makeup," Sheik said as he sat down in front of me.

"Generally?" I raised an eyebrow, and he glared at me. "Sorry," I sniggered. "Close your eyes please." He closed his eyes, and I went about the same process as I had with Link. On the eyes, I used lilac and dark blue for him, and the lighter rouge. And for his lips, I used a pale pink. When he opened his eyes, I knew that if I hadn't already known him, I might have thought he really was a woman. It was amazing what could be done with new clothes and some makeup.

"Blaise!" Xenia was standing in the doorway, clutching a paper bag in her hand. "I got you this for your hair," she dug her hand into the bag, and pulled out a wig. My jaw dropped again. Navi had scooted back in sometime in the last few minutes, and was complementing the lads on their disguises. I reached out and took the wig from Xenia. "I hope it'll do. As long as you put a few pins in it, it'll stay on your head all right."

She leaned forward to whisper into my ear. "I got this from the same place as I used to get the wigs from when I was pretending to be Hylian."

"Oh. Thank you - I'll put it on straight away." I lifted it to my head, and took a couple of hairpins from the table to jam them through. Xenia just nodded approvingly, before moving back into the other room, where Eloise was putting together our travelling packs. We'd rented out a horse and cart to get to Gerudo valley, so we were able to take quite a lot.

"Excuse me," I squeezed past Link and Sheik to have a look at my new image in the mirror.

"Wow..." Link was looking at me in the mirror. "You look like the Princess!" I ran a hand through the golden strands of the wig, pulling a couple of the curls away from my face so that I could apply a touch up to my own make up. (Grey and dark brown on the eyes, and a rose tint on my lips. I hadn't bothered with any rouge - I never could apply it on myself).

Sheik turned to look as well. "So you do! Just the eyes are different really..."

"It's uncanny," Link was openly staring at me now, and I blushed.

"The horse and cart's here!" Eloise put her head round the door. "Looks like you're to be off. We've put all your stuff in the cart already, so you can go straight away." We followed her through the house and out of the huge front doors, to see a large canvas covered cart, pulled by a sturdy ruddy brown horse. Xenia was holding the reins of the creature, and patting it's mane happily.

"You be careful," she said to all of us. "I know from experience that the Gerudo aren't easily fooled." Her twinkling eyes fell on me at that particular comment, and a spark of understanding flew between us. "Here, I'll help you up - young ladies should always be assisted." Link and Sheik grinned, half annoyed, and half glad that their disguises were superior.

I clambered into the driver's seat, and took the reins that were passed to me. "Farewell for now," I said to our sending off party of two. "Are you two comfortable back there?" I didn't wait for an answer, and whipped the reins down. "Hyahh!" The horse began to plod forwards at a slow gallop, and I turned to wave at the two women on the steps. A few drops of rain fell from the dark skies overhead, and drummed against the canvas. "And here we go," I mumbled.

~/*\~/*\~/*\~

And, here ends the chapter! It's a whee bit short, but the next one will make up for that, I promise. We get to see Link, Sheik and Blaise being travelling bards, and prancing around on a stage. I think that's worth waiting for, don't you?

Readers: -_- not really

Soda: Tough - I say it is, so you just have to wait. Nyahh!

Readers: stupid Soda...

Soda: Don't start that, or I might not update at all!

Sheik: Carry on being horrible!

Link: We don't wanna do the next chapter!

Soda: [Growls] Everyone, back in the cupboard now!

Everyone else: O.O [slink away]

Soda: [sighs] It's a hard life...

Anyway, next chapter, they will be getting to the Gerudo hideout, and well, I'm not quite sure what will happen. You'll have to read and see - and I've got to be off to write it... Or go to a jam session. Hmm - write - jam - write - jam - write - jam.

JAM dammit! My guitar's been gathering dust I've been writing so much recently!

Tata for now, and I'll write more soon, I promise!

Soda out.