The first thing they noticed when they entered the antechamber of the Temple was the silence. It was deathly quiet; even the pattering noises of small vermin that usually inhabited such dilapidated structures were strangely absent.
"I don't think I particularly like this place," Rayne informed the rest of the group, clutching a glowering Chronos to her breast.
"Anything vaguely sentient would agree with you," the cat grumbled, looking around the room with an air of one anticipating to be pounced upon at any moment. "It's a pity we're obligated to be here anyway."
The young woman's face twisted. "Why do I get the feeling someone's sides are splitting with laughter at our predicament?"
"Probably because it's true," Navi interjected from her customary place above Link's head.
"Quiet," Link's soft baritone voice interrupted, the sound of metal against leather quickly following as he drew the Master Sword from its ornamental scabbard. He squinted, leaning forward slightly while holding the shining blade out before him. Rayne followed his example, squinting at the flickering flames of the torches that were situated in a square formation in the center of the room.
"I do believe you've become paranoid, Link," Chronos informed him dryly, tearing his piercing gaze away from the oddly colored fires. He had to be careful not to choke on his tongue immediately afterwards though, when he saw the air around the torches shimmer with something that had nothing to do with heat.
"Paranoid, huh?" Navi smirked nervously.
"Damn cat jinxed us," Rayne frowned, gently dropping said feline onto the ground as she reached for her dagger.
The blaze within the torches grew, vague shapes forming out of the tongues of fire. Squat bodies appeared, bulbous purple and black torsos with no visible neck or legs. Yellow eyes glowed out of the darkness that made up their faces, filling with malicious glee as they caught sight of the intruders. Each carried a lantern filled with the flames they had been borne of, their clothing differing in shades so as to tell them apart.
"Poes," Link snarled, stepping in front of Rayne and slipping into a defensive battle stance. The four wraiths cackled madly at this action, then began spinning about the room, quickly closing in on the startled group. They whirled like a miniature tornado until the party was in its eye, surrounded by an incorporeal wall of phantasms.
Frightened into action, Rayne struck out wildly with her dagger, aiming for what she hoped was the sensitive area of a Poe within the mad swirl of shapes and colors around her. The searching blade, however, met only air.
Caught off-guard with her balance desperately compromised, the young woman stumbled forward, straight into the arms of the waiting ghost. Rayne cried out as the suddenly substantial blue Poe gripped her with icy fingers, pulling her away from the group. She kicked at it, her dagger having slipped from her grip, leaving her with no other alternative means of defense, but the ghost merely evaded the ill-placed blow.
"Let me go!" she growled, pulling back in an effort to reclaim wrists that were firmly clasped within the creature's nearly invisible clawed hands. She glared at the phantom, her leaf green eyes meeting wicked yellow ones . . .
...the bodies were everywhere; no matter where she turned there was a gruesome sight awaiting her. The ground that was not covered by corpses was soaked in blood, dull brown liquid that had previously dried. Birds of prey had already begun to eat at the carnage, picking out eyes that had long since stopped seeing and plucking at entrails that had been spilled by broad swords. The contents of her stomach rose into her throat and it was through sheer force of will that she did not vomit up her modest breakfast.
A faint cry reached her ears, one that was not of a bird, and with a start she realized someone was still alive. She quickly crossed the killing ground, stopping to listen whenever she feared she had strayed from the correct path. Finally she found him, lying in a growing pool of his own blood. His left arm had been severed just below the shoulder, leaving only a stump where a muscular limb had once connected. He was breathing heavily. A helmet, covered with a coat of arms she did not recognize, was hindering his ability to receive air.
She knew he was aware of her presence; she could sense eyes observing her from within the armor. She raised her hands, showing her weaponless state, and then cautiously approached the dying soldier. Rayne lowered herself down next to him, fighting the urge to stand up and back away when the smell of rot reached her nose. Infection had set into the already fatal wound; he had been alive and in pain for quite some time.
Gently, she reached out to his face and removed the helmet, laying it aside and gasping at what lay underneath.
The boy couldn't have been a day over thirteen. His chin was beardless and his cheeks were still slightly round with baby fat. Tracks in the blood and dirt on his face showed the descent of old tears. His dark hair was plastered to his head with sweat and grease. His brown eyes dark with pain and regret.
"I'm gonna die, aren't I?" His voice was labored, his lips quivering. "Mama always warned me I would, if I kept fighting."
"You won't die," Rayne said firmly, reaching out and resting a hand on the festering shoulder. She knew her limits, she couldn't regenerate the arm he had lost but she could destroy the spreading infection and close up the horrendous wound. She reached for his good hand, wrapping it up in one of her own and smiled at his confused expression. "What's your name?"
He smiled weakly in return. "Faran."
"Well Faran, you don't have to worry. I'm going to heal you, then you can go back to your mom and laugh in her face, okay? Just squeeze my hand if I'm hurting you."
He hesitated, and for a moment she feared he would reject her administrations. But to her relief he nodded slightly, increasing the pressure of his grip. His forehead wrinkled slightly, as though he was trying to recall something and failing, "Do I know you from somewhere?"
The question took her aback. "No, I don't believe so. Now save your breath; this is going to take a lot out of both of us." She concentrated, as she had so many times before, imagining the rotting flesh falling away, the infected angry red area going back to healthy skin. She burned away the unhealthiness that was eating away at his body, and then pulled her magic back into herself, stopping for a moment to survey her handiwork and regain some energy.
But when she opened her eyes the hand in hers was limp and the chocolate brown eyes that met hers were blank in death . . .
...Rayne came back to consciousness with tears in her eyes and a hard, icy lump in her stomach. The Poe seemed surprised when she lashed out angrily with a fist, catching it in the center of one yellow eye. It dropped her, howling in agony as she regained her footing and her dagger.
"Don't look into their eyes!" she shouted at Link and Chronos, "They'll cast some sort of illusion on you!"
"Thanks for the warning, kitten," Chronos hissed, slashing one of the phantoms across its mid-section. "Unfortunately we've already had the privilege of discovering that for ourselves."
Rayne looked around and saw that during her almost comatose state, Link had recovered her bow and was now firing bolt after bolt into the oncoming ghosts. Most of the arrows missed their targets as the ghosts dodged and evaded the deadly steel points, but the ones that connected stuck and appeared to cause the Poes on the receiving end quite a bit of annoyance.
"The arrows hurt them?" she called to Navi who was flitting about the battleground, trying to blind the creatures with her light or, given the chance, poke at the eyes within their hooded faces.
"They can't dodge them as well as they could a sword," the fairy replied, panting from exertion. "If only we had more of them!"
Rayne considered that while she slashed the air to her right in order to discourage a Poe from grabbing her once more. An idea struck her suddenly.
"Link, pass the bow to me!"
He paused, the last arrow already notched and ready to be fired. His face was pale, and Rayne became certain that he too had been captured by a Poe and subjected to visions of the dead and dying. Guilt warred with her initial feelings of surety. If her plan didn't work, or if Link didn't trust her enough to throw the bow, then the Poes would eventually overwhelm their meager defenses and send them slowly into insanity with their atrocious illusions.
To her relief, Link moved quickly, sliding the bow along the mossy ground rather than sending the weapon into the air where the Poes would have a better chance of intercepting it. Rayne caught it up, carelessly discarding the last arrow, much to the bemusement of her fellow travelers. She raised it to eye level, preparing to draw back an empty string.
"What in the name of the Three are you doing?!" Chronos snapped, staring at their last arrow as it rolled to a halt on the ground.
Rayne's face hardened as her eyes became slits of concentration. A spark appeared in the center of the bow, slowly growing in size to become a bluish-orange glow. It lengthened as she pulled back on the bow string, flaming now as it shaped itself, one end becoming pointed, the other sporting four fiery fletches.
With the string now taut and pulled back to her ear, Rayne released the flare arrow, sending it straight into the circling wall of Poes. Link, Chronos, and Navi watched, breathless, as possibly their last hope flew true toward the enemy.
The Poes, however, sensing the imminent danger to their lives, froze in mid-motion, allowing the arrow to whisk harmlessly by.
Rayne's knees gave out. She fell to ground, the bow skidding away from her fingers as she landed on all fours. Her breathing was ragged; her head was hanging wearily, and she let the fall of her hair cover her features. The blue colored Poe, the one who had grabbed her before, broke the ranks and advanced on the exhausted girl, claw-like fingers raised threateningly.
Rayne raised her head at the last moment; smug emerald eyes once again meeting the Poe's own ugly yellow ones. "This time," she whispered as the whizzing of an arrow speeding through the still, musty air reached the apparition's ears, "I got you."
The flare arrow that had missed before returned like a boomerang and now skewered the Poe from behind, instantly setting it ablaze. It cried out, the screaming akin to the sound of metal scraping against metal while it wheeled about, helplessly trying to remove the magical shaft. Its short arms were unhelpful to its plight, and even though it did grasp the magical bolt once, it was forced to quickly release it when the fire blistered the creature's fingers. Finally, the creature collapsed in on itself, leaving only a glowing lantern in its place and the fire, having completed its purpose, extinguished.
"Anyone else?" Rayne asked innocently, watching the three remaining Poes darkly.
Knowing they were defeated for now, the three ghosts silently retreated into unknown portions of the Temple, leaving the intruders to themselves as they vanished into the crumbling walls.
"That was truly amazing kitten, but I sincerely doubt you could pull it off another three times." Chronos walked up casually to where she still balanced on all fours. "In fact, I have my doubts about you even being able to rise from that most embarrassing position. That was quite the bluff you just told."
She shot the black feline a sour look. "You're lucky I can't move without falling on my face, cat."
"Yes, I count my blessings," he smirked as his tail flicked back and forth.
Rayne was sure she could have thought of a suitable insult to that, but she was suddenly drawn into a pair of strong arms. She gulped audibly as Link proceeded to put one arm under her knees and the other against her shoulder blades.
"Wha-what are you doing exactly?" she demanded, squirming uncomfortably.
He looked at her in surprise. "I'm carrying you."
She barely resisted the urge to slap her forehead with the flat of her palm, "Why are you carrying me?"
"You can't walk right?" He shifted his grip on her, smiling slightly when her arms flew around his neck in response, "How else are you supposed to get around?"
She eyed him suspiciously, "You mean you're going to let me come with you now? I thought you were against it before, and now that I'm utterly useless you want me to come along?"
His smile faded, "I would really prefer it if you went back to Kakariko, but seeing as you would kick me the entire way there and then follow me back here anyway–" he sighed when she nodded affirmatively-- "I'm left with the options of carrying you around until you regain your strength, or leaving you alone in this room while we explore the rest of the Temple and search for the Forest Sage. Which would you prefer?"
"Carry on, Captain." She hastily replied, tightening her grip on his neck slightly. "But if you tell anyone at the village about this, I will castrate you."
Chronos laughed pleasantly at Link's stunned expression. "The perfect damsel in distress: you carry her and she threatens to demasculinize you."
"Same goes to you, cat," Rayne growled, casting a dark look over Link's shoulder at the feline's following form. "Chariot deals with animals all the time; I'm sure he would find it beneficial to cats as a species to have you neutered."
"Such low blows kitten; I was only joking."
"Of course you were, Chronos," she shot back as she snatched her bow off the ground when Link bent to retrieve it. "Of course you were."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Wouldn't it have been easier to just wait in the main room until she recovered and then proceed through the rest of the Temple?" Navi questioned as the last Stalfos fell apart, gaping gashes littering the ivory bones that remained.
"If we had stayed there until Rayne recovered then the Poes probably would have attacked again in full force," Chronos replied as he poked at a pile of bones with a small paw, then quickly lost interest. "At least this way we are allowed the chance to catch them unaware and individually."
"However, there is the unfortunate side effect of my slowing down our pace considerably and putting everyone else in needless danger," Rayne grouched, staring blankly at her now useless bow. "Maybe if I could actually shoot something . . . "
"You can't materialize any more flaming arrows," Chronos reported sternly, jumping onto Link's shoulder so that he would have a vantage point to deliver his hard glare. "It wouldn't accomplish anything other than your eventual demise and Link being forced to carry your dead weight around for an even longer period."
Rayne blushed pink. "I don't know if I could do that again, even if I tried."
Link raised an eyebrow. "You mean you've never done that before?"
"Well, no." Her flush deepened, "I'm afraid that was a first."
Chronos puffed to twice his normal size, sinking claws into Link's collarbone, "Are you telling me that you were betting all our lives on something you've never done before? The spell could have backfired! You could have destroyed the Temple and killed us all!"
Rayne considered it for a moment; she had released and controlled the raw power, and was quite certain that the only reason she and her friends hadn't been completely obliterated was due to pure and simple luck. She hadn't only forced an elemental source to accede to her power, she had actually created the fire, combining roiling emotions with magic and pushing it into a physical form.
She wasn't about to admit she had never actually seen anyone do such a thing before, the only reason she had even known to try it was because she had read about similar magical abilities in an old folk story. Rayne credited chance for the success of her rough plan, quite sure she didn't have the talent for such an undertaking. She was nearly certain that if she ever attempted such a feat again, the consequences would be far more severe than her strength being drained. Now that her head had cooled and her thoughts were brought full circle, she became aware of the gravity of the past situation. It frightened her.
"But it worked," Link reminded the cat, picking Rayne up from where he had seated her on the ground when the Stalfos had appeared. "I'm sure we'd still be fighting those phantoms if she hadn't done it." He shuddered suddenly. "I don't think I could have taken much more of those false memories anyway."
Rayne blinked up at him, totally floored. "What do you mean 'false memories'?"
Link's mouth went into a grim, unsmiling line. "They showed me fabricated moments, deaths I had never seen before in ways they couldn't have happened."
"And you knew the people in these moments?" Rayne knew she was pressing him too much, but she remembered that Faran, the boy from her own induced vision, had asked if he knew her.
Link flinched, turning his face from hers. "Most of them were once my friends."
She would have liked to discuss it with him further so that they could make sense of her own odd vision, but the torment it caused him made her bite her tongue. She had prodded enough at his emotional scars, both old and new. They could discuss it later.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
They returned to the first room and made their way to the right, Link playing the Song of Time in order to allow them through. Rayne was about to announce that she felt good enough to walk when a Deku Baba appeared and snapped at her. Link quickly disposed of it, but the picture of an open mouth progressing toward her head was something she was not likely to forget.
Link, tired from fighting and carrying an unhappy young woman, finally called for a break.
"If we keep going at this pace you'll eventually pass out." Rayne agreed, allowing Link to set her gently down on the grassy ground. "Besides, this is the perfect place to take a nap."
"I'll take first watch," Chronos volunteered, pretending to stretch while he actually scratched an itch that he hoped wasn't a flea. "I'll wake up the next person in a couple of hours."
"Sounds good," Link murmured as he sat down heavily next to Rayne and began to sift through his pack. After much clanging and cursing he produced strips of dried beef wrapped in a clean linen cloth and a leather canteen. He swished the canteen around, listening to the amount of water it contained, before frowning. "That's strange. I could have sworn we filled it up before we came in here."
Rayne, who had been picking delicate pink and white flowers from small clusters, turned to look at him. "I told you that stupid thing had a hole."
"It does not have a hole," Link argued, although his voice lacked conviction.
"Hand it to me," Rayne sighed, hand outstretched. "I'll find the leak and fix it."
Link grudgingly passed it to her, interest sparking in the depths of his eyes. He wondered what magic she would employ to mend the troublesome flask.
Rayne squeezed the leather gently, searching for the hole in the sturdy material. When a squirt of water in the eye assured her of its location, she sighed and grabbed her own knapsack. Sorting through the clutter, she retrieved a mortar and pestle. She poured the remaining water from the canteen into the small bowl, shaking it until the last few drops fell, and then set it to the side. Rayne picked the petals off the flowers she had been collecting, casting them onto the surface of the water until they concealed the glistening fluid. She took the pestle and ground the petals and the water, waiting for it to become pasty in consistency. Then she retrieved the dozens of stems that had been left over from the flowers, squeezing them until the sticky innards dripped into the open mouth of the bowl. She then mashed the mixture viciously.
"Okay, I give up," Link stated as he tried to peer into the bowl to see what had become of the flowery water. "What is it that you're doing?"
Rayne glanced up at him, then looked back down, sticking her index finger into the concoction. Smiling, she brought her finger back out of the bowl, now covered in an opaque solution. She touched her index finger to her thumb, showing him how they stuck together. "It's a natural adhesive," she replied with a smirk.
He made a face when she wiped her fingers on his tunic, depositing the paste onto the green material. "Is it waterproof?" he asked as he attempted to wipe off the unwelcome gunk.
She nodded, taking a small square of leather out of her pack and spreading the glue along its edges. "It'll need to dry for a few minutes before you can put more water in though," Rayne replied as she stuck the sticky patch to the hole, before handing the newly-repaired flask back to Link, smiling triumphantly.
He took the offered canteen, examining the patch. The adhesive had done its job; he pulled experimentally at the patch and found that it was sticking nicely. He became slightly distracted when Rayne's small hands gently touched his back, gripping the fabric of his tunic and pulling slightly. He hadn't realized how close she was until he felt her warm breath tickle the back of his neck.
Like a deer caught on an open path with a crossbow aimed at its heart, Link froze. He raised his eyes and looked at her in a stupor. "Huh?" he questioned her intelligently.
Rayne laughed, a pink tinge staining her cheeks as she took her hands away. "You have a rip in your tunic; I was going to fix it."
"Oh," he replied, averting his gaze from hers as his face heated up.
With strangely fumbling fingers, Rayne seized the edge of her own brown tunic, flipping up the edge and removing a small, metal needle. "I don't suppose you have any green thread."
Not trusting his voice, Link simply shook his head.
"Well then, we'll just have to go with what we have." Rayne gripped a strand of her black hair and pulled, flinching when it came away from her scalp. "It won't be pretty, or permanent, but at least you won't feel a draft," she said, before moving back towards Link.
She deftly sewed the rip in the back of his tunic, biting off the slack and then putting the needle back. The whole time, all that could be heard was the chirruping of a trio of crickets, announcing that darkness had fallen inside the Temple.
"Sewing, patching, picking flowers; I never imagined Rayne could display such girlishness," Chronos' humorous statement floated over to the seated teens.
"I would tell you to bite me, but you'd probably take me seriously," Rayne growled, examining the minute scars on her wrist and glaring into the shadows where Chronos was watching for danger.
"I rather doubt it; you don't particularly suit my palate," came the smug reply.
"I loathe you," Rayne spat, although she honestly felt much better. The lack of conversation from before had made her uncomfortable.
"Pardon kitten? You love me?"
"Loathe, damn it. Not love, loathe!"
The good-natured sound of Link's laughter was swallowed by the trading of insults.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Link was amazed at the sight of Rayne producing not one, but two fairly plush blankets from the tiny sack that she dragged along everywhere. Noticing his attention, she spread out the comforters on the ground while explaining, "There is a portal connected to my bag. I coerced, err . . . persuaded, Hierophant to attach it to a different plane so that I could stash essentials into it without having to carry a hundred packs."
"That's a complicated spell," Chronos murmured as he tried to peek into the bag, but even his superb eyesight could see only darkness. "It's also a dangerous one. What if this different level of existence contains lethal monsters?"
"Hierophant already checked everything out," Rayne shot back in a dismissive tone as she lay down on her blanket. "It contains nothing that we need to worry about."
Chronos and Link exchanged questioning glances, but were otherwise silent.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Chronos awakened Rayne after what she deemed to be only a couple of minutes, but the cat assured her that a few hours had actually passed. Distrusting his sincerity but not willing to awaken the slumbering Link to ascertain it, she reluctantly took her place as second watch.
She nearly dozed off twice. Splashing herself with icy water from the stream only kept her alert for so long. The third time she didn't make it to the water. Her eyes drifted shut, and her breath came out deep and even.
In her dream she was surrounded by Poes who were trying to get her to look in their eyes.
They scratched at her arms, attempting to force her hands away from her face. Their breath was unbearably hot against her exposed skin, reeking of carrion and sulfur even as their frigid fingers scraped against her flesh.
With a start, she came back to consciousness. Wondering what it was that had awoken her, she yawned and blinked her eyes into focus, only to see a pair of eyes staring straight into hers.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Link rolled out of his blanket when he heard Rayne scream. His hair, which had loosened from the twisted twine that had before kept it in order, now surrounded his shoulders, glowing a pale white in the blackness. His appearance was disheveled, but the hardness of his face showed his readiness. The naked blade of the Master Sword glittered in the weak moonlight as he fell into a crouch, setting himself up to charge.
The sight that met his eyes, however, was a wide-eyed, cowering little girl holding up what looked to be a stuffed bear in defense against a bewildered Rayne.
His sudden movement had attracted the strange girl's attention, her frightened blue eyes flickered toward him and remained there for a long moment, as though measuring him up. She seemed to make a decision, for she rushed over and hid behind his indecisive form, holding up her stuffed animal to conceal her face. "Protect me from the Mori-baba!" she cried.
Her fear forgotten, Rayne heaved herself off the ground. "Mori-baba?!" she growled indignantly, "Who are you calling a Mori-baba?"
"Save me!" the little female pleaded, tugging on his tunic insistently.
"She won't hurt you," Link assured her, dropping down to one knee so that his eyes were level with hers. "What's your name?"
The little girl sniffled, rubbing her palm across an eye. "Haruko."
He smiled, before replying. "That's a very pretty name. My name is Link."
She stared at him innocently, then grinned, showing pearly white teeth. "That's a funny name."
He nodded. "Yes, it is. Now tell me Haruko, what are you doing here? Don't you know this place is dangerous?"
She nodded as solemnly as she could, her blonde hair bobbing with the motion. "I live in Kokiri Forest, in the aban-aban–" her brow furrowed as she tried to pronounce it.
"Abandoned?" Link suggested.
Her eyes lit up, "Uh-huh, I live in the aban-abandoned hut near the doorway."
Chronos, who had remained quiet throughout the introductions, suddenly spoke up. "So are you a Kokiri then?"
Haruko batted her eyelids and looked around, confused. "Who said that?"
"I did," Chronos replied as he hopped up onto Link's shoulder. "Are you a Kokiri?"
Haruko instantly deserted her old stuffed bear and made a grab for the black cat. "Neko can talk!"
Chronos eluded the little girl's reaching fingers, jumping down and running behind Rayne, where he peeked out from behind her bare legs. "Yes, I can speak."
Haruko took a step toward the hiding cat but then recalled who he was standing behind and stopped. "Neko, come away from the Mori-baba!"
"I am not a–" Rayne began indignantly, but Link held up a hand for silence. Rayne's furious gaze locked onto his beseeching one and she threw up her hands in disgruntlement.
"Haruko," he turned back to the child when he was sure Rayne wasn't going to attack him from behind, "Are you a Kokiri?"
The little female shook her head, reclaiming her lost bear, "Uh-uh, I'm a umm . . . Hylian. My parents died a long time ago so Rumpelstiltskin and I came here."
"Err . . . Rumpelstiltskin?"
"My bear, silly."
"Of course," Rayne muttered, "We should have known that."
"You live here by yourself?" Link's face softened when the little girl reached out and touched his hair. "Why don't you seek out a place where people are?"
She stopped tending to a soft tendril of his hair long enough to give him a cheerless smirk. "I don't know who would hurt me and who wouldn't."
Link spun around to Rayne who jumped slightly at his abrupt change of attention. "Do you think we could bring her to Kakariko? They would care for her there, wouldn't they?"
Rayne absently stroked Chronos while she thought. She had erewhile conceived that Haruko might actually be one of Ganondorf's spies undercover, but she had no proof other than a warning feeling in the pit of her stomach. There was too much about the wild child that, frankly, did not add up. She would have shared her deductions with Link, but she was still perturbed at him for, no matter how inadvertently, taking Haruko's side and permitting the little terror to call her such unflattering things.
Internally, Rayne also admitted that she didn't want to break Link by forcing on him the fact that not everyone was inherently good, and that even those with angelic countenances weren't guaranteed to be what their visages suggested. Regardless, she couldn't bring a possible mole into Arcana; she had already risked the wrath of her fellow rebels when she had let Link accompany her there, and she actually liked him.
"I'm not so sure that's a good idea Link," she murmured, ceasing to pet Chronos as she clarified her statement. " If Impa hadn't come forward about knowing you, the rest of the group would have slit your throat, and possibly mine, before I had the chance to explain your presence. They can't jeopardize their position, precarious at it is."
"But," Link put a hand on Haruko's shoulder, "We can't just leave her here," he said, looking at Rayne imploringly.
"Neither can we bring her with us." Rayne reminded him.
"Rayne... please?" the strain in Link's tone weakened her resolve. "If we leave her out here, she might not survive."
"I–"she faltered, startled at Chronos' silvery voice whispering in her ear, "You could warn Arcana ahead of time that she was suspicious and that she requires close observation."
Rayne sighed. "They won't be pleased," she whispered back.
"No," the black cat replied as his tail flicked against her neck, "But Link will."
"Oh shut up," she said, scowling at the feline for a second before looking back to Link. "Very well, I'll contact the other members of Arcana and try to convince them to consent to her accompanying us. But I can't ensure anything."
Link's eyes lit up and he began beaming at Rayne, who found her face coloring to a nice shade of pink. She promptly turned back to look at Chronos, who was busy snickering to himself about Link being the light of Rayne's world.
Outwardly, Rayne was a little embarrassed, and more than a little irritated at a certain feline's teasing. Inwardly however, her heart was certain that Link's beam was enough of a reward for whatever troubles she might encounter.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Author's Notes: Feel free to criticize Rayne's obvious affections for Link or the Hero of Time's apparent schizophrenia. My sister has already pointed these things out to me, but it's too late to fix them.
Haruko is the last original character I will introduce into Dreamers (I think o.O). For those of you who don't know what the hell she's going on about when she spouts some odd words, it's Japanese, much like her name. Although I'm limited in my knowledge of the language, I'm fairly certain they're translated something like this:
Haruko - Spring Child
Neko - Cat/Kitty
Mori-baba - Forest Hag
I don't know why I did it, Mori-baba just sounds better than writing Forest Hag.
I'm sorry this chapter came so late, to be perfectly honest I wasn't sure it was going to come around at all. I hit rock bottom, I thought my writing was too childish, too obvious, and simply not good enough to compete with the other stories in the Zelda archives. I'm over it now (all the positive reinforcement from friends and family, along with several death threats helped this process along) but it was touch and go for a while there.
Now, onto the reviewers:
In response to Casavenna: Wow, two reviews? In the same day even, I feel so special *Grins*. I hope you're still alive to read this, it took a very long time to kick myself into gear and get this chapter finished.
In response to GuruGuru214: Oh, you think you can joke around with me just because you leave good reviews? I've decided it's a bad idea to let people blurt whatever they're currently thinking into a review, so even if you had guessed all I would say is 'Maybe'.
I never changed my plans for Rayne (although I did change just about everything else), she has remained a constant in an otherwise turbulent story.
By the way, I'm old enough to take you over my knee and spank you (not in the GOOD way), so still those flapping lips and unhinged tongue :P.
In response to Talent Scout: Like I told GuruGuru214, I'm not about to confirm or deny anything. You'll just have to read the next few chapters to find out :). I'm sorry you think the plot is moving too slowly, I like taking my time with these things.
In response to The Pilot: It's good to hear you aren't too disgusted with me, I hope this chapter proved less troublesome. The relationship between Rayne and Chronos is an odd one, they're usually insulting one another but they have their moments.
The week you were gone proved to be of no consequence, my unreasonable crisis lasted much longer than your vacation.
Thank you for correcting chapter twenty, and I liked the little blurb you added at the end (It seemed incomplete when I wrote it, but I couldn't think of anything else to add).
In response to Girl With Many Names: Aww, thank you so much for putting my mind at ease, I almost cried in happiness when I saw your name on a review and what you had written. Those chapters were kind of like an early Christmas present (mainly because I didn't update in December), so this chapter could be taken as... a Valentine's Day gift?
In response to Vegita43: I checked my stats to find your first review and it put a smile on my face. I looked at my reviews a second time and I had to laugh. Thank you very much for saying what you thought. It's nice to hear the work of a misunderstood author is appreciated by some people.
