Impa ate the last bite of her lukewarm, clumpy mushroom stew. No one could have said that it was a good example of Hylian cuisine, but it was just a tavern. She looked over at Nabooru, but the other woman was still eating her grilled dodongo.

"I shall go ahead and get us a room while you finish up." Standing up from the table, Impa made her way through the noisy eating hall. Several loud, drunk Gorons broke into a rowdy ballad about a dragon slayer. A thin Hylian woman in a low-cut dress staggered near their table, loaded down with tankards of Deku ale.

"A room for two people."

The burly man behind the counter, who could have been the weapon shop owner's twin, grunted. "Fifty rupees."

Nabooru had finished her meal and she came up behind Impa, just overhearing the innkeeper's price. "For one night? You must be kidding."

"Non-negotiable." He pointed a hairy finger at Nabooru. "And she can't stay."

Impa looked at him questioningly. "Why not?"

"No Gerudos." He glared at the exotic sage. "She probably already took some of the silverware."

"You're refusing her entrance simply because of her race?" Impa asked, her voice dangerously low. "Are you aware that the great war ended almost twenty years ago?

"The Gerudos are still thieves and liars. After all, Ganondorf was a Gerudo," he finished smugly. "But you can stay, I got nothin' against Sheikah. Grudes on the other hand..."

Impa's eyes narrowed at the slur she hadn't heard in at least a decade.

"It's all right, Impa," Nabooru spoke up. "You can stay here and I'll find somewhere else. I wouldn't give my money to this moron anyway."

"No. I don't think I'll be staying here tonight." With that, the white-haired Sage turned on her heel and walked out of the inn.

****

"Wonderful." Nabooru looked around the dark alley. "Now we'll have to find another inn."

"There is no other inn. We'll have to camp."

"Camp!" The redhead screeched. "Where?"

"Right by the moat would be nice, I think."

"You have a funny concept of nice then. What about the walking skeletons that pop out of the ground during the night?" The two women began walking towards the town entrance. At the drawbridge, the guard nodded to them and spoke:

"You're lucky. I was just about to close 'er up."

True to his word, the moment they had crossed the bridge, the chains began to creak and the drawbridge started to rise, finally closing with a shudder.

"Just great," Nabooru muttered.

"I have a magical charm which will erect a temporary barrier around the campground," Impa said smoothly. "We will be quite safe from the 'walking skeletons.'"

She left Nabooru's side and began to walk along the moat, looking for a place to set up the tent. After a while, she stopped and took the compactly folded tent out of her satchel. She unfurled it underneath a tree and started to attach the corners to strings which she then attached to pegs.

"All right, so you have a charm. You know, Impa," Nabooru said, glaring at the Sheikah as she unrolled her silk pack. "It wasn't a problem. You could have just taken the room, and I could have sneaked in later."

"I prefer to not associate with people who are ignorant." The Sheikah didn't look up from where she was nailing in the tent pegs.

"I prefer to sleep indoors," Nabooru said mockingly, matching Impa's self-righteous pitch.

"It wasn't me he was insulting. Shouldn't you be upset?"

The redhead finished laying out her weapons and glanced at Impa. "Not really. I hear it all the time. There's a reason we all stay in the valley. Well, many reasons..." she trailed off, looking uncertain. "Anyway, it doesn't matter."

Impa nodded. "As you say." She lifted the tent flap and went inside. Some time later, Nabooru entered the tent. She had changed her flowing pants and bandeau for a long, embroidered tunic. The glittering gold jewelry that usually adorned her was gone, and she had scrubbed her face free of makeup. Impa gasped softly.

"You look so different." And the Gerudo did. With her hard, metallic trappings gone she looked younger, more open. Her long red hair fell freely around her face.

"I look the same as I always do," she snapped back irritably.

Impa simply walked out of the tent and knelt by the river, scooping water up and splashing her face with it. Perhaps she had been foolish to refuse the room. But to refuse someone simply because of their race... It reminded Impa all too much of the war years, when being the wrong type of being could get you killed.

She pinched the bridge of her nose as the beginnings of a headache manifested. It would be nice if she was sleeping on a soft bed right now, but it wouldn't have been fair to Nabooru. Nabooru...she flashed back to the way the other woman had looked in the tent. She'd seemed so much more vulnerable. Clamping down on her musings, Impa finished washing her face. She checked on the magical defense circle surrounding the tent one more time before she ducked back inside. Nabooru was already wrapped in her sleeping roll. Impa quickly unrolled her own and slipped inside of it.

The two women lay in silence for a while until Nabooru spoke up suddenly. "You're good with kids."

"Excuse me?"

"Children. You're good with them." Impa could hear rustling in the darkness as Nabooru turned to face her. "Like with Saria this morning."

"Saria is not a child."

"I know, I know. But she really is like a kid in a lot of ways. And today with Zelda...before you say anything, I know she's not a kid anymore. But it was obvious that you had done well with her when she still was." She sighed. "I personally don't understand kids. They're good for squeezing into small spaces, but..."

"There's nothing to understand. Children are very much like adults, only more open to things. More willing to take on new things." Impa shifted onto her side as well, trying to make out Nabooru's face in the dim light.

"Those marks on your face, Impa, do they come off?"

"No," Impa said shortly, turning onto her back again. There was a long silence.

"Sorry," Nabooru said huffily, turning away from the Sheikah. It appeared their first real conversation had been a disaster.

****

In the morning, the two Sages dismantled and packed away the tent without a word between them. Nabooru had put on all of her jewelry and makeup again shortly after waking up and Impa was a little disappointed to see the old, flashier version of the Gerudo.

They began to walk across the gently rolling hills of Hyrule Field, quickly giving up all hope of actually staying on the marked path.

"Do you think we'll reach Gerudo Valley today?"

Impa was slightly startled by the first spoken words she'd heard that day. "Shouldn't you know that better than I?"

Nabooru shrugged. "I think we will. In fact, I'm positive. I was wondering if we had time to make a detour."

"A detour?" Impa arched an eyebrow. "To where?"

"LonLon Ranch." The other woman pointed towards the large fenced in area on their left. "They have the best milk, and I'd like to bring some home. It's sort of a delicacy among my people."

Impa, who had drank the LonLon milk that was delivered to the castle for almost all of her adult life, smiled. "A *delicacy*?"

"There's one cow in all of Gerudo fortress. A stupid Gerudo was supposed to bring it to the main building, but managed to get stuck in a ledge halfway down the cliff. Many of the Gerudo have never had milk. So, if it isn't *too* much trouble-"

"I think it would be acceptable." Impa changed her direction and began walking towards the entrance to the Ranch. A large shade tree towered over the entrance. The two Sages walked past it and into the ranch proper, where nearly a dozen horses were running free in a fenced corral.

Nabooru immediately went up to the fence, clicking her tongue to call the horses. A pretty chestnut horse trotted up and presented its nose, which the Gerudo patted. "Hey, cara."

Impa stopped several feet away from the corral and looked around for any other people. She spotted a red-headed young woman on a horse in the middle of the corral and waved. The teenager waved back and urged her horse towards Impa. She pulled on the reins as she drew near and dismounted.

"Hey, Impa!"

Impa backed away from the horse. "Hello, Malon."

"Have you come to pick up the milk for the castle?" She wrinkled her nose. "I know that Dad's not always prompt..."

"No, I'm not. Actually, my..." She deliberated over what to call Nabooru. "My traveling companion wanted to buy some milk."

"Oh, ok!" Malon clapped her hands happily. "I'll just get Dad to sell it to you." She skipped towards the farmhouse and opened the door. "Dad! Someone wants to buy milk!"

After a few moments, a large, plump man with a big nose ambled out of the farmhouse and made his way to Impa. "Hello...so you want to buy milk?" The Sheikah nodded. "Good, good! Yes, I'll just go get you some."

He waddled off towards the barn while Malon stood humming nearby. Nabooru finally joined them.

"You have some beautiful horses here, Miss..?."

"My name's Malon." She smiled at the older woman. "What's your name?"

"Nabooru."

"I like it. Would you and Impa like to ride some of the horses while you're here? I've been working with them all week and I want to see how well they're doing."

"Sure. Which one should I ride?'

Impa paled. "I...no, that's all right. I'll just watch you two ride."

"What's the matter, Impa?" Nabooru smirked. "Can't you ride a horse?"

"I'm perfectly capable of riding a horse if it is absolutely necessary. I...just prefer not to." She sat down on one of the crates littering the field. "Like I said, I'll just watch."

With a toss of her long ponytail, Nabooru mounted the handsome spotted horse that Malon had picked out for her. Malon mounted too and the pair took off, galloping across the corral.

Impa watched the two riders, impressed with their skill and confidence. Although she had proved that she could ride a horse well enough to outrun a rampaging traitor, she knew she didn't have the bond with horse that these two did. They seemed to guide their horses telepathically as they raced through the obstacle course, jumping fences with a flurrying of dust and a stamping of hooves. The pair's red hair streamed out behind them, the long strands tangling in the wind. After they had ridden around the obstacle course three times, they reined in their horses and dismounted.

"You're a wonderful rider, Nabooru!" Malon complimented as they made their way over to where Impa was sitting.

"With such well-trained horses, it's easy," the older woman replied as she reached out and shook Malon's hand. "You're a good trainer." The teenager blushed prettily, then recovered as her father walked out of the barn.

"Here you go, one bottle of delicious LonLon milk, ten rupees."

Nabooru's eyes narrowed, but before she could even think about haggling, Impa had pressed two blue rupees into Talon's hands and taken the bottle of milk.

"We have to go. Thank you for all your trouble. It was nice seeing you again, Malon."

******

"I could have gotten the price down."

"Ten rupees is a perfectly good price for a bottle of milk." Impa smirked, then continued, "though since you buy it so infrequently you might not know that."

"It's nice to see you're not as afraid of humor as you are of horses." Nabooru said as she walked along, swinging her bag by her side.

Impa sighed and concentrated on walking. The sun beat down on them as they passed by Lake Hylia's entrance. Suddenly, Impa stopped. "Did you hear something?" She listened: there was a soft patter of footsteps and a huge whoosh as someone ran by them, very fast. Grabbing for her staff, which was strapped to her back, Impa dropped into a defensive position.

Nabooru pulled a Deku nut out of her bag and glanced around the seemingly empty field. "What was that?"

"I don't know. But it's very fast."

Impa whirled as she heard the footsteps nearing them again. Sticking her staff out, she caught the feet of the runner and whatever it was went sprawling in a cloud of dust.

Loud coughing came from the cloud of dust and the pair approached it cautiously, weapons still at the ready. The dust cleared and they saw a Hylian man, wearing what looked to be...yellow bunny ears?

"Impa *cough*, just the person I've been looking *cough* for!"

"How do you know my name?" She still held her staff at ready.

"*cough* I'm from Kakariko *cough* Village." He sprang to his feet and bowed to them, causing the bunny ears to flop over his face rather comically. "Naniro, otherwise known as the Running Man, at your service!"

Impa put away her staff and nodded to the man. "Why were you looking for me?"

"Well...we seem to have a little problem in the Village. Since I am the fastest of all the villagers," he puffed up with pride, "I was taking a message to Queen Zelda about it, but then I saw you."

"What kind of problem?" Nabooru said, impatient with the man's arrogance.

"The carpenter boss' son has gone missing in the Lost Woods."

"I thought he was recovered after Ganondorf was defeated."

Naniro looked sheepish. "He _was_, but it didn't improve his mood...he ran away a few days ago and no one's seen him since. A business scrub said he saw him in the Lost Woods not too long ago."

Impa pondered this information for a while. "I'm on a mission right now, Naniro, but I'd like to help you." She looked at Nabooru.

"Nabooru, I think we should help. After Link defeated Ganondorf, people came forward and told Zelda about how that brave lad had helped them even while he was on his quest." The redhead shrugged. "Naniro, we'll come to the village and see if we can help find the boy."

"Great! Follow me!" Naniro did a few jumping jacks, then took off at lightning speed, quickly disappearing across the field. A few seconds later, he came screeching to a stop behind them. "On second thought, why don't you just meet me in the village?"

****

"Wait a minute, this is your house?"

Impa nodded absentmindedly.

"So, we could have stayed here last night instead of on the cold, hard ground?"

"No. Last night, this would have been out of our way." Impa sighed as she tried to concentrate on the situation the villagers had presented her with.

"Just because some stupid boy ran away..."

"These walls are thin, Nabooru, and the young man's sister is just outside."

The redhead flopped down in a chair and put her feet up on the table. "I feel bad for her, but I also feel bad for my back having to sleep on that cold hard ground last night."

"Then you can sleep on the bed tonight and I shall sleep on the floor." Impa walked to the bookshelf and took down a book. She set it down in front of Nabooru, saying, "This is a map of the Lost Woods."

Nabooru flipped through the book. "'Any person of normal blood who ventures into the Lost Woods will become a Skull Kid and shall remain so all their lives.'"

"Only a legend. The true dangers of the Lost Woods are the tunnels and the Wolfos."

Whatever reply Nabooru might have made was cut short by a knock on the door. Impa opened the door cautiously and an extremely old woman dressed in long pink robes entered the room. Her large face was dominated by a long, hooked nose.

"I don't think you know me...I like to keep to myself." She scuttled further into the room. "I run the potions shop. The young man missing is my grandson...or is he my great-grandson, I always forget..."

She waved dismissively. "It doesn't matter. If he has gone into the Lost Woods, he may already be changed...you'll need this to restore him." She gestured and a bag of purple powder appeared in her hands. She set it on the table. "If the magic of the Lost Woods has stripped away his skin and made him mindless, this will cure him."

Impa frowned. "The legend about the Skull Kid is true?"

The witch nodded. "The Lost Woods, the magic is very strong there. It steals souls. But you two, as Sages, should have no trouble." Nabooru glanced at Impa, shocked that the witch knew of their status. "Oh, it was easy to tell. I warn you, do not be fooled by the Lost Woods. I wish you luck." She threw up a handful of powder and disappeared. The Gerudo gasped, but Impa shrugged, unimpressed.

"A simple bit of Sheikah magic." She picked up the bag. "I wonder how this works..."

"Are we supposed to have him eat it?"

Impa shook her head and dipped her finger into the powder. The purple dust fizzed and she pulled her finger out quickly. She gasped. "Look!"

The skin of her finger...it gleamed almost. In comparison to the Sheikah's other's fingers, which were callused and scarred, the skin of this finger was smooth and supple, soft and unblemished.

"So, we just have to throw it on him."

"It appears so."

"Wonderful. Now that we've got that figured out, can we go to sleep?"

****

Sometime during the night, Nabooru woke up. Pushing aside the covers on Impa's bed, she blinked sleepily. What had woken her up?

She looked down at the floor, where the other woman had been sleeping. The floor was empty and the door was slightly ajar. Impa must have left the house and the door opening had woken her up.

Nabooru yawned and walked across the room, slipping through the door and closing it behind her. The guard nodded to her as she passed him.

She looked out over the village. There was no sign of Impa. A few Cuccos who had fled their pen were pecking idly at the ground. The windmill turned slowly, creaking...

She looked up at the wind vane and a glint of metal caught her eye. Turning her head, she saw Impa. She had somehow gotten on top of the roof of one of the houses and was polishing her dagger.

Running swiftly across the village, Nabooru climbed up the ladder to the lookout platform. She gauged her position, then threw herself off the top, somersaulting three times and landing with a barely audible thump behind Impa.

"The stars are beautiful tonight."

"I could have been an enemy, you know."

"Yes, you could have, but this village is protected from evil. It has only been violated once," she frowned, then added, "since the war ended, of course. Before that..."

She trailed off, giving her dagger one last swipe and then tucking it back inside her boot. "My dagger didn't really need to be polished." She sighed and turned her gaze back up to the stars.

Nabooru rubbed her arms against the slight chill in the air. "Then why are you out here instead of inside, asleep?"

"All of these houses used to be filled with Sheikah, Nabooru, and now I'm the last of them." Impa rubbed her eyes wearily. "I don't know why I'm telling you this, of all people..."

Nabooru narrowed her eyes. "I do know something about being alone. I'm not called the Lone Wolf for nothing."

"I realise that. All the Sages know something about being alone, but I've just been alone for so long." She shook her head. "I thought opening the village to everyone would help heal the wounds. I thought I would be able to return to the village without the memories coming back."

Nabooru waited for the other Sage to continue, but whatever odd mood had made Impa open up to her was obviously gone. She stood and stretched. "I'm going back inside."

"I'll go with you."

Impa stood up and jumped lightly down from the roof, landing with her knees bent to soften the impact. Nabooru followed behind her.

"You're wearing your hair down again. I like it like that."

Nabooru laughed. "You don't have to deal with it, though."

"No, I suppose not." Impa turned to the guard and spoke, "We've been making your job easy, haven't we?"

The guard yawned and smiled, shaking his head. "I don't mind. Night, ladies."

****

A heavy canopy of bright green leaves filtered the sunlight into dappled patterns on the ground outside the entrance to the Kokiri Village.

Nabooru shifted her pack onto her other shoulder as she perched on the railing of the bridge waiting for Impa. The Sheikah had left a note for her saying she'd meet her here at noon. Impa had written that she had "matters to attend to." Whatever those were, they had made her late.

She muttered under her breath and reached into her bag, looking for the drawing Saria had done of the Sages. She and little Kokiri weren't the closest of friends, but she thought the kid was cute...and her signature on the drawing was sure to get her in with the Kokiri villagers. The drawing had wound up in her bag by accident, but hopefully it would prove to be useful.

Slinging her bag back across her shoulder, she started across the bridge and into the large hollowed out tree trunk.

****

"No outsiders!" The small blonde boy glared at her arrogantly.

"Listen, you..." Nabooru bit her lip. "I'm here on official Sacred Realm business."

He shook his head. "Nuh-uh. The Great Mido says there are to be no outsiders in the village."

"The Great Mido, huh? And who's that?"

He crossed his arms and puffed up his chest. "That would be me. I'm the leader of the Kokiri."

"Oh, is that so? Well, Mido, do you know who Saria is?"

Mido nodded proudly. "Saria is a shining example of how my leadership has inspired the Kokiri! A Sage!"

"Hmmm..." Nabooru rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm a Sage too. In fact, I even know Saria."

The little Kokiri peered at her. "Prove it."

She whipped the sketch out her bag and showed it to him, pointing out Saria's signature. "This was a present to me from her especially."

"All right, you can come in. But..I'm keeping an eye on you."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Nabooru followed the sullen little leader into the village, taking in all the treehouses and people. They were all so...short. She wasn't too tall herself, but no one in the village could have been taller than her waist.

"You are all so short..."

Mido scowled. "Well, at least we don't have ugly red hair like you. And you don't even have a fairy!"

"Like straw yellow is so much better."

Stamping his foot, Mido ran off, leaving Nabooru smirking...and wondering just where Impa was.

****

Nabooru drummed her feet idly against the bluff overlooking the village. The sun was setting and if she'd been the worrying kind...fortunately, she wasn't, and was just incredibly angry and annoyed.

She looked out on the village, enjoying a sight that very few outsiders had ever been priveleged enough to see. The Kokiri treehouses were bathed in radiant orange rays, and the villagers skipped to and fro in the early dusk, the small bright lights of their fairies following behind them with faint shimmering trails.

Nabooru looked up a the beautiful-but then, Hyrulian sunsets always were-sunset and wished she weren't watching it alone. If only Impa were here...they'd be done with this stupid humanitarian mission and on the way to the desert.

"You don't look happy!" She whirled around at the sound of the high-pitched voices, coming face to face with three blonde female Kokiri villagers. All of them tilted their heads to the side and smiled at her.

"I'm not."

"Oh!" The one in the middle shook her head. "That's not good." The other two nodded. "I'm Fado...and these are my friends Redo and Tila." We saw you come in this afternoon and we want to cheer you up."

Nabooru smiled. "Unless you three have a spare Sheikah lying around..."

"Nooooo..." the little girl said slowly, "but we do have this!" She reached into her pocket and pulled out a handcarved ocarina. "It's a welcoming present."

"I don't know how to play the ocarina."

"I do." A strong hand took the ocarina from Fado and all four females looked up at the new arrival.

"Impa!"

"A Sheikah!" The three Kokiri squealed. "Could you talk to our Gossip Stone?"

to be continued

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