Rayne seated herself, grabbing necessary tools out of her knapsack and piling them in a small collection of odds and ends at her side. First, she selected several modest bottles filled with various colored liquids. Then she gathered to her an ivory bowel, a long feather of russet shade, a mahogany-backed hand mirror, and two tapering green candles.

At the edges of her vision, she saw Haruko stealthily picking up the items she had chosen, examining them and placing them carefully pack into their original locations. Rayne resisted the urge to slap the little girl's hands away from the precious objects, knowing it would be a petty course of action. Instead she flatly informed the child, "If you break anything, you shall have to compensate me for it."

Haruko paid Rayne's warning no heed as she picked up the feather and ran it across her face, giggling.

Rayne looked heavenward in irritation, and then caught Link watching her.

"What?" the word came out with an unintentional snap. She sighed internally, knowing very well that she was overstepping the bounds of civility. She needed to concentrate in order to unleash the appropriate amount of magical power, but it was hard when all her nerves felt like they had been charged with an amount of electricity that had been strictly regulated to thunder storms.

Link shrugged uneasily, "I was just wondering what you were planning on accomplishing with all that-" he trailed off upon not being able to find the proper word, and gestured mutely to her accumulated pile.

"Junk." Haruko supplied willfully, placing the feather back in its place, balancing it precariously on the edges of the pale bowel.

Rayne's eyes darkened dangerously, "It is not junk, it is important magical equipment.

"Junk." Haruko disagreed brightly, "Fun junk though."

Rayne counted mentally to ten, allowing her fingers to clench and unclench with each ascending number. She was never going to procreate, little Haruko had convinced her what an unwise course of action it would be.

Link, realizing her temper was beyond the point of frayed, stepped up. "Haruko, why don't we wash in the stream? You've gotten dirt on your face."

Haruko seemed to consider the offer seriously while she fidgeted with the stuffed arms of her teddy bear. "I suppose, but only if you bathe with me!"

Rayne blushed hotly as the thought of Link in an unclothed state flashed, unbidden, through her mind. Beside her, Navi made a disgusted noise. "Now I'm going to have to burn out the part of my brain that provides mental images." the fairy grumbled.

"Here, here." Chronos agreed, licking a paw clean.

"Could I please have some quiet?" Rayne snarled, giving each person and magical creature in her humble assembly an annoyed glance. "I'm trying to contact Empress."

"Are we interrupting your fragile concentration, kitten? If so, we are so very--" he was forced to cut off his taunt midway to avoid the flat throwing stone that Rayne had conjured up from seemingly nowhere.

"Mori-baba's trying to hurt neko!" Haruko cried.

Rayne's eye twitched as she turned her stony expression on Link. "If you do not shut both of them up at this immediate time, I will teleport them to the nearest monster infested dimension and leave them to fend for themselves!"

Link sighed; he was becoming tired of playing mediator. "Haruko; her name is Rayne and she doesn't appreciate being called a Mori-baba." He turned to the scowling black cat, "Chronos, if you don't have anything productive to add to the conversation, then keep your mouth shut."

"Thank-" Rayne began, but started when Link's stern gaze was also turned upon her.

"Rayne, could you try to be a little less temperamental? Haruko's just a kid and Chronos is... well inexcusably Chronos."

Rayne pursed her lips, finding her flaring anger suddenly evanescing. "Very well."

"Good." Link's customary smile had returned. "Now about that bath."

Rayne pointedly banged her head against the nearest object, her knapsack, in a feeble attempt to force inappropriate images into oblivion. A slight tug on her shirt made her raise her head to a suddenly diffident Haruko.

"Would mori... err... Rayne, like to take a bath with me?"

"Umm..." Rayne looked pleadingly to Link, who had conveniently turned his back on her to examine the magical objects on the grass. She cursed him mentally, knowing full well that he had been the one to suggest her company rather than his own to Haruko.

"Please?" Haruko insisted, giving the material of her shirt another light pull. "Link-kun said he wouldn't watch."

Rayne groaned, lifting herself up off the ground. If she disagreed, she would be spitting in the face of the rules Link had inadvertently established; it was a hateful ultimatum. "Alright, I guess a bath would be nice."

"Oh yay! Girl time." Navi cheered, "Let's get away from those icky boys and talk."

Haruko's eyes lit up, "Yeah! Icky boys."

Chronos sneezed in disapproval, "I disfavor being lumped into the 'icky' category."

"Too bad, neko." Rayne purred. "And no peeping."

"I have neither a wish for blindness, nor premature death." Chronos replied easily.

"Chronos..." Link warned, his back still turned away.

"Oh very well... I promise not to peek at you." the cat spit out distastefully. "I'm currently of a completely different species anyway, it's not like I would think anything of your nakedness. Do you make your house cat wear a blindfold when you shed your clothing?"

Rayne turned, affronted. She ticked off reasons on her fingers. "First of all, you're only currently a cat; your true form is most likely not. Secondly, I don't have a house cat; they aren't exactly a commodity today. And thirdly, even if I did have a cat, it couldn't make lecherous or insulting comments while I'm in an unadorned state."

"... Oh go on," the cat grumbled, "I can smell you from here..."

Haruko's perplexed, tinkling laughter made Chronos' ears lay horizontal against his head.

………………………………………………………………………………………………..

"Done." Rayne informed the two males, wringing excess water out of her hair. "You can turn around now."

Link did as she had bid, grinning at her in a way that, had any other man done it, would have made her suspicious. "Are you going to contact Impa about Haruko now?"

"Yes." Rayne seated herself next to the blonde swordsman, reaching for the bowel and the glass containers. She carefully released several measured drops into the pale bowel from the assorted bottles, eyes tiny slits in somber application and her tongue sticking out ever so slightly while she worked. When all of the fluids had been poured in, she inspected the resulting brew, and then nodded satisfactorily.

"I'm not even going to ask." Chronos muttered, eyes following the path of a lone butterfly fluttering through the air.

Rayne pinched the wicks of the two green candles, igniting them without a second thought. A grin pulled at the edges of her mouth, she was growing out of her novice sorceress stage with more haste than she could have imagined.

She grabbed the feather and, using its quill, carved an archaic character into the ground, a roughly B-shaped symbol.

"What's that?" Haruko questioned, peering at the character.

"It's a rune." Rayne supplied, continuing the magical process while she spoke, "It is the symbol of the person I'm trying to contact. When I etch it below the tools I'm using to communicate with, it makes sure that no one can interrupt or listen in on the conversation. It can only be heard by myself and my friend."

"Unless a mage stronger than you and your friend, breaks the seal of the rune." Chronos interjected, his green eyes introspective. "It is quite possible, considering Ganondorf has probably already been alerted of our presence within the Temple, and is more than likely searching for a way to watch our movements."

Rayne twisted her neck to look at the cat. "Are you saying using magic would give away our location?"

The cat's face was grim, "I'm saying that it's a plausible theory. If Ganondorf is seeking a way to spy on us, you're opening up a window and waving a flag."

Rayne worried at her chapped lips, glancing at Link for instruction. He was chewing on a blade of grass thoughtfully, watching Haruko who had lost interest in the adult dialogue and was now chasing after the ghostly figures of airborne dandelion seeds.

"How long would it take him to tap into Rayne's magical channel?" Link asked finally, a suggestion of discomfort in his voice.

"It depends." Chronos informed him, licking the pad of a small paw while thinking. "If he knows Rayne's magical signature, it might only take a few seconds for him to lock on, breaking the seal would take mere minutes."

"Magical signature?" Rayne asked the obvious question and ignored the slight burn in her cheeks. "You mean he might be able to recognize my particular brand of magic?"

"You used a high level magical spell in the main chamber of the Temple." The black cat reminded her, "It's feasible that he felt it and imprinted it into his memory, that's how he's caught mages for years, if you'll recall. Once he has it impressed in his mind, he'll be able to track you whenever you use a spell."

Rayne sighed, "So what you're telling me is it's no longer safe to use my powers?"

"No, all I'm saying is he will discern our location, what he does with that information could turn dangerous. Chances are he won't take us as much of a threat at the moment. We've only destroyed a few of his guard-dogs, and we haven't begun to solve any of the puzzles in this place, so perhaps he'll just leave us alone."

"But there's still a chance that he'll send his minions after us." Rayne returned, "This is becoming awfully troublesome…"

Haruko jumped into Rayne's lap suddenly, startling the young woman. "I can help!" she insisted, tugging on her tunic, "I'm good at helping!"

"Help how?" Rayne asked. It was strange how comfortable she felt around the little girl now; their 'girl time' had drained her of tension. She sincerely hoped the young girl's innocence wasn't a ruse, or a well cast spell, but there was frankly no way she could ascertain that it was not. The thought made her uneasiness rise again and a bitter taste entered her mouth. She could handle a betrayal, Link could not.

"I could tell you if he's trying to find us." The little girl made a face at Rayne, as though the young woman should have known her answer all along. "I know how to do that."

Chronos spoke up before Rayne had managed to find a suitable reaction. "You possess magical talent?"

The little girl nodded, "Uh-huh. Lots."

"Truly…" Chronos looked at the girl for a long moment before continuing his thoughts, "Very well, tell us if you feel anything."

Rayne looked at the cat incredulously, "Are you sure, Chronos?"

"Quite." The cat was still watching Haruko, "Perform your spell."

Rayne hesitated, feeling the underlying current of realization that she wasn't privy to. She didn't believe Chronos would put them all in such danger just to prove a point; that Haruko, in fact, had no magical aptitude. Still, there were some very strange happenings occurring right under her nose, she just couldn't seem to cross her eyes and look at them yet.

There was also the minor detail of her not completely trusting the little girl. Yes, she was less wary of her, but that didn't mean she was willing to rely on her, considering the gravity of the current circumstances. She looked at Chronos, attempting to find some hidden message in his feline expression, but there was no apparent warning, no implication that she should beware placing faith on this possible spy. His face was as readable as stone.

"Fine." Rayne agreed huffily, placing the mirror atop the rune on the ground and situating the two candles on the left and right sides of it so that their light touched the edges of the reflective surface. "But don't blame me if we find ourselves in an unfortunate situation."

She grasped the feather, dipping it lightly into the solution she had concocted inside the ivory bowel. When she had surmised that it had absorbed as much of the liquid as it could, she removed it and gently wiped the plume against the surface of the mirror. The effect was instantaneous and discernible; the mirror darkened and the flames of the candles turned a scorching white color. At first, all that could be seen were faint, shifting shadows and imprecise shapes, but they quickly solidified into a startled Impa's face.

'Goddess!' the warrior sheikah cried, her face disappearing momentarily, a loud thump echoing oddly through the mirror only moments afterward.

"Empress?" Rayne put her face closer to the mirror, cautiously using Impa's title rather than her true name. She knew it made no real difference, Link had, unthinkingly, used the sheikah's name when he had asked her permission to bring along Haruko. Still, using the pseudonym made her feel better. "Are you alright?"

Impa's face reappeared, looking slightly disheveled, 'Yes, you just gave me a fright is all.'

"How so?"

'Well,' Impa smoothed her hair back from her face, 'If a face appeared in your cup of coffee, you'd be reasonably stunned as well.'

"Sorry." Rayne giggled. "I didn't realize it would do that."

'Well it did, but no real harm done.' The female sheikah's face turned serious, 'Why are you contacting me? Are you in trouble?'

"Not really," Rayne had enough sense to look sheepish; she was only supposed to contact Kakariko if something crucial was taking place. "You see, we met a young girl here, and I was just curious to know if it would be safe to bring her back to Kakariko…"

'You met a girl in the Temple?' Impa's tone was colored with disbelief, 'How in the Goddesses' names did she end up there?'

"Apparently, she's an orphan, and she's been living in Kokiri Forest for quite some time alone." Rayne glanced at the young girl who seemed oblivious to what was going on around her. Haruko's eyes were glassy and vague; her breathing coming out so evenly that it was almost like she had fallen asleep sitting up. Her bear, Rumpelstiltskin was tucked securely under one arm while the other trailed loosely over the surrounding grass. Her focus was elsewhere; perhaps she hadn't lied about her prowess in the magical area after all. "Anyway, Link and I think it would be beneficial if she came to Kakariko."

'Beneficial how?' Impa growled, 'Listen to me, Rayne. Don't let your affections influence your judgment. We can not take any risks. You believe this child is dangerous; your using my arcane name is proof enough of that. If you do not think it safe enough to speak my name around her, why would you bring her straight into our base of operations?'

Rayne paused, glancing at Link and hoping he hadn't overheard Impa. "I don't trust her." She admitted in a whisper, "But what if I'm just suffering from paranoia like everyone else in Kakariko? I refuse to leave a child to rough it out in the wild, Empress, even if that child is a spy."

'Rayne…'

"Just watch her, Empress." Rayne pleaded, "If she does anything even remotely shifty, we can get rid of her. Moon can even read her mind and see if she has any hidden agendas."

Impa sighed, closing her eyes as she cogitated. When she opened them again, they were grave. 'You know this is chancy, you were never like this before he came.'

"Empress-!" Rayne began, but Impa's swift gesture for quiet silenced her.

'I understand, calm yourself.' Impa massaged her temples, and Rayne felt a stab of guilt when she realized that she was giving the female warrior a headache. 'You may return with the child in tow.'

Rayne smiled. "Thank you."

'Don't thank me yet.' Impa warned her, 'the others will not like this, so don't expect a warm welcome when you return.'

"I know." Rayne ran a hand through her hair to relieve accumulated tangles. "Trust me, I know."

'You'll need more arrows as well, I assume.' Impa stated, 'I'll tell Hierophant to send more bolts into that parallel dimension of yours; you should get them fairly soon, Chariot made them last night.'

"He's found us." Haruko's small voice interrupted Rayne's reply. The young woman turned to see the strange child frowning in consternation. "He's trying to break in."

Rayne's eyes narrowed and she expanded her magical senses to find another presence threatening her seal. It was like the magical equivalent of someone attempting to bang down her locked door, and not even bothering to be stealthy about it.

"Shit." Rayne snapped whole-heartedly.

'Rayne?' Impa's face warped into one of worry, 'What is it?'

"Five seconds." Haruko guessed aloud, "Hayaikoto."

"I've got to go." Rayne said hastily, and, without waiting for a reply, severed the link by snuffing out the candles.

Haruko's brow furrowed, "He's trying to follow the trail."

"He can still find them." Chronos' fur bristled, his needle sharp teeth bared in feral fear. "You opened up a gateway in the magical barrier around Kakariko when you used the Empress' sigil."

"What do I do?" Rayne cried. If he tracked the signal, he might be able to open his own scrying pool inside Kakariko. From there, the possibilities were endless. "Damn, damn, damn!"

Haruko rose from her sitting position, picked up the mirror, and, without a trace of emotion, hit it against the ground where the rune was sketched. The mirror shattered from the force, pieces of glass flying out of its mahogany prison and tinkling out onto the ground in silvery shards. The sigil of the Empress flickered once and then vanished.

Rayne blinked, recognizing that the opening in the barrier had just been effectively closed. The mirror and rune, the only artifacts that had left a residual trail, were now destroyed. The thought to break the object over the symbol hadn't entered her panicking mind, but how had Haruko known to do such a thing?

The young girl smiled at Rayne. "Did I do good?" she asked, placing the broken item carefully onto the ground, as though suddenly recognizing its fragility when it was ruined.

"Yes." Rayne relaxed, returning her easy smile. She was finding it increasingly difficult to be guarded around Haruko, she just wasn't sure if that would be advantageous in the long run. "You did very good."

Haruko frowned suddenly, a pout overtaking her expression. "Do I have to pay for it?"

Rayne looked at her, perplexed before she remembered what she had said about compensation for broken items. It was strange, the little girl was wise one moment and childish the next without a pause in between. "No." she laughed, "You don't have to pay me for it."

The little girl beamed, hugging her teddy bear tightly. "I do good." She giggled, "I do good."

Rayne turned to Link, who had barely spoken during the proceedings. She was surprised to see a forbidding look on his face as the Master Sword sang out of its sheath. "Trouble." He growled.

Chronos nodded in concurrence, "Ganondorf knows where we are, he's sending one of his underlings after us."

Rayne nodded, instinctively grabbing Haruko and putting the little girl behind herself. "Stay." She instructed her, drawing her dagger and falling into a fighting stance.

For a long moment nothing happen, Rayne became acutely aware of the sound of her heart, pounding a frightened rhythm inside her chest. Her bow was strapped securely to her back, but her quiver was empty of projectiles. There was little chance that she could repeat her flare arrow trick, not with the way it had affected her before. The likelihood of coming out of this fight unscathed was beginning to look less and less probable.

She glanced at Haruko, wondering if the little girl would be helpful in the encroaching fight, then immediately dismissed the idea. There was simply no way she would let her fight Poes, the monsters were too hazardous for a girl her age to deal with.

The silence was broken suddenly as Poe with yellow colorings erupted out of the nearby well, spraying them all with droplets of crystal clear water.

"Get down!" Chronos yelled as the Poe made a beeline toward Rayne and Haruko, black claws outstretched and seeking flesh.

Rayne dived down after Haruko, claws grazing the top of her scalp and extracting blood. She blinked as it dribbled into her eyes, wiping the liquid away with the back of her hand and sitting up just in time to see the Poe returning for another swipe at her. She gritted her teeth, diving to the side and avoiding a fatal blow to the throat.

She uttered a foul oath, forced to dodge once more as the creature dive-bombed her. Link was at her side, a precise blow to the middle of the Poe going unnoticed as it turned its abdomen insubstantial. The hero was required to fall back in order to escape a swipe at his chest, giving as little ground as possible and allowing Rayne and Haruko to flee to a safe distance.

"It's after me." Rayne panted, "I killed the other Poe and this one's seeking revenge."

Haruko's eyes widened, "Can you kill this one too?"

"Doubtful." Rayne pulled her bow out of its strap, drawing back the string, "But I can try…"

Chronos was there in an instant, sinking his sharp teeth into her ankle to catch her attention. "Don't." He growled, "It would kill you."

"And if I don't, it'll kill everyone else." She snarled, kicking her foot out in an effort to dislodge the angry feline. "Now let go!"

The cat obliged, freeing her captured limb, "Forget the bow," he hissed, displaying teeth stained with her blood. "Use your dagger."

"It won't work." Rayne was taking careful aim, butterflies the size of hawks fluttering around in her stomach. "It didn't work before, it won't work now."

"Focus your magical energy into the dagger, you idiot." Chronos was observably considering biting her once more, "You haven't tried that before, it doesn't use nearly as much magic as materialization does."

Rayne gnawed on the inside of her lip and tasted blood. She wondered briefly how many miniscule wounds it would take for her to bleed to death; she certainly had enough of them by now. She dropped the bow, flinching as the spry wood hit the ground and bent at an unnatural angle before taking its original arching form. She recovered her dagger, concentrating on the blade fiercely. The knife made a screeching sound of protest, and Rayne eased up, terrified that it would break into pieces and she would be left with no weapon.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Link desperately trying to hold the attention of the yellow Poe while she spelled her knife. He was covered with cuts and bruises, visibly tiring as he continued to jump out of the Poe's attack range, only to have to dart forward and slash at it to regain its notice.

The blade lengthened slightly, runes flitting across the silver sheen of the surface before disappearing into the now semi-translucent metal. Several inches longer and glowing faintly with wind magic, Rayne stared at her accomplishment with disbelief. Had she meant to instill her dagger with such a mischievous element?

"Rayne!" Link's shout brought her back just in time to see the Poe's enraged form coming directly at her.

She hefted the blade into one hand, noting its lightness with some surprise. Rayne drew the hand with the dagger closer to her body then whipped it outward, letting the knife fly at high speed toward the oncoming Poe.

The dagger hit the yellow Poe high on its forehead, the blade, unhampered by worldly laws, soaring through the back of the fiend's head with no visible loss of velocity. The creature collapsed, a shriek escaping its jagged lips and it reached toward the sky as though seeking redemption. But none was forth coming, the Poe dissipated, transforming into a lantern that burned with a sickly yellow flame that quickly went out, leaving only an empty glass vessel.

Rayne sat down, hard, her breathing harsh as she examined the wall that her dagger had literally flown through, a perfectly circular hole in the stone clearly showing its departure. She pondered how many obstacles it would take to even initiate slowing the pace of the enchanted blade. "Is everyone okay?"

"I feel like I waded through a room filled with unsheathed swords." Link remarked, sitting next to her. "But I'll be alright."

"That was awesome!" Haruko remarked, jumping around with all the energy of a rambunctious child. "Can you do it again?"

"No." Rayne fell onto her back, rewarded by painful sunlight streaming into her eyes. "Lovely."

"A little pain let's you know you're alive." Chronos settled himself on Rayne's stomach, trying in vain to make his fur lay flat once more. "We probably shouldn't be resting like this; another Poe may be on the way."

"Let it kill me." Rayne grouched, throwing a hand over her eyes and wincing when she hit the sensitive wound on her head. "Ow…"

"Good attitude to have about it, kitten."

"Yes," she didn't seem to realize that Chronos' words had been of the sarcastic variety. She was much too tired for such things.

Someone yawned, and everyone turned to see Navi coming out of Link's hat. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and blinked blurrily, "Did I miss anything?" she slurred.

Replies were scarce through fits of laughter.

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

"How close do you think we are to finding the Forest Sage?" Navi asked Rayne conversationally while Link climbed up an old wall coated in glossy green vines.

"You want an estimate?" Rayne asked, holding one of Haruko's arms to dissuade her from following the blonde warrior on his perilous ascent. "Never."

"That's the spirit, kitten." Chronos' tail was twitching nervously as he watched Link. "Have you ever heard of the word 'jinx'?"

"There's a door up here." Link called down to the others, "I'll check it out, then come back down."

"I don't like the thought of leaving him to his own devices." Rayne confessed to the rest of the grounded group. "Maybe someone should go up there with him."

"I'll go." Navi volunteered, standing up on Rayne's shoulders and, with a flick of her tiny, transparent wings, propelling herself into the air.

"Why don't I feel any better…?" Chronos questioned Rayne unenthusiastically when the blue fairy had disappeared from view.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

Link landed the killing blow to the skull creature, shifting his shield onto his muscled back and slipping the Master Sword in its decorated scabbard. He wiped perspiration from his brow, snorting in disgust at how out of shape he felt. He had discovered a map of the Temple in the hallway, misplaced and dusty with age, but there was nothing else worthwhile.

He exited, surprised by the affronted plant on the other side of the doorway that attempted to take his face off. He disposed of it swiftly, glancing around from his vantage point and seeing what looked to be a switch on a balcony opposite him. However, there seemed to be no way to progress across.

"Rayne!" he called down to her, hauling himself up onto the railing and balancing so that he could just make out the top of her head. "Do you have anything that I could use to get over there?"

Rayne looked up, a horrified air about her. "You moron! Get off of there!"

Link frowned, why was she always so worried? He knew what he was doing, to a point anyway. "Do you have anything or not?"

She grumbled something he knew was a derogatory statement about his intelligence before opening her pack and fumbling around with its contents. Several minutes of searching and Rayne produced a strange looking item that had Link squinting in bemusement.

"It's a hookshot." Rayne explained, "Hanged Man invented it a while ago, it's kind of like a spring loaded grappling hook."

"Toss it up." Link shouted, eager to see for himself what this peculiar tool was capable of.

Rayne shook her head negatively, "Are you nuts? What if you lose your equilibrium?"

"I won't." he assured her, taking one foot off the rusty railing to show her just how stable he was. "See?"

"Don't!" she cried, "I'll throw it up, just don't do that again!"

He smiled, placing his foot back down on the metal balustrade. She frightened easily, at least she seemed to whenever he was involved. That last thought made him grimace, maybe he should have been a little kinder to her; Rayne was only looking out for his well-being and he couldn't begrudge her that. Perhaps he wouldn't take as many risks from now on.

"Link!" Navi warned him hastily.

He blinked out of his train of thought, and was promptly gifted for it by a metallic item hitting him full in the face. Link plummeted backward onto the floor, dust spiraling up from around him as he tried to figure out what had just happened. His head ached intensely, and a tentative touch to his forehead assured him that there was a knot forming around an already bruising area. He sat up slowly, clenching his teeth as nausea assaulted him.

"Link!? Link, can you hear me!?" Rayne's desperate yelling echoed painfully in his hurting head, "Oh Goddesses, I've killed him!"

"I'm alright." He said weakly, hoping she had heard him. He looked around to find the hookshot next to him, polished blue and silver metal shining mockingly. "But I think I hate you."

"I thought you were going to catch it!" Rayne shouted back, all guilt gone from her tone, "What were you doing? Daydreaming?"

"Not even close." He picked himself up, leaning down and grabbing the hookshot while holding a hand to his wound. "Were you planning on doing the same thing to me that you did to that Poe?"

Stony silence was the only answer to his query. The idea of being more pleasant toward Rayne had taken a dive.

He aimed for a roughly hewn patch of stonework, pulling the trigger-like device on the handle and watching in fascination as the razor sharp hook gripped onto the target he had chosen. He pulled on the trigger again and was lifted off his feet and sent through the air, his shins hitting both railings as he was pulled from one balcony to the other.

"See?" Chronos said accusingly to Rayne as they watched the blonde hero's excruciating flight. "We've been jinxed."

But Rayne's interest wasn't with the cat, "Does anyone hear that?"

Haruko glanced up at Rayne, ceasing to chew on the damp ear of her stuffed bear long enough to ask, "Hear what?"

Chronos' ears were twitching forward and back, his superior hearing identifying the sound that eluded Rayne. "It sounds like water draining."

"That's the well that the Poe came out of." Link clarified, dropping off the wall to land gracefully next to them. "There was a switch on the balcony that opened the drain pipe."

Rayne's hand flew to her mouth when she saw the damage she had dispensed. "Oh… that's quite a lump I gave you."

He touched the injury self-consciously, "And whose fault is that?"

She proffered him a guilty grin. "I am sorry, I didn't mention it before, but I am."

Link smirked and a delightfully warm sensation assailed her insides. She was beginning to dislike that smile, the way his eyes crinkled at the corners made her weak in the knees. Rayne solemnly vowed to quash her feelings for the hero, knowing full well that they would go unrequited.

"It's fine." Link assured her, "The excruciating agony has subsided into a dull ache and the spots in front of my eyes are appreciably smaller."

Rayne shook her head, "He can handle phantoms; he can take slay possessed plants and livid monsters with ease. But one measly knock to the head by a woman and the hero gets all weepy."

"Not weepy." Link disagreed, "Just whiny."

The young woman sighed in faux aggravation, reaching up and touching two fingers to Link's swollen brow. Colorless light sprung from her fingertips, intense enough to make the blonde male shut his eyes against the radiance.

The process was slow, mainly due to her waned magical energy. Her manifestation of a fiery arrow from before was still weighing heavily on her. She knew that conservation of her remaining power would have been more prudent, but Rayne couldn't seem to make her hand disconnect. She had begun to mend the miniscule wound; there was no sense in discontinuing the procedure.

After several minutes of stretching to meet Link's superior height, her muscles gave an objective twinge of discomfort. Her mouth pursed, "You're too tall." She complained, stepping up onto the tips of her toes and leaning forward.

Unfortunately, Link had assumed that her grunted protest insinuated that he should take action. He inclined himself to better accommodate the cranky Rayne, eyes still closed against her mage light. Their noses met in a clumsy crash, causing Link's eyelids to shoot open and Rayne to make a small noise of shock. Their lips were inches apart, so near that she could catch the scent of sweet grass on his breath. She sincerely wanted to close the gap and call it an accident. Kiss him, then blush and stutter and claim that she had tripped. The thought was exceptionally enticing.

She sighed, her own warm inhalation coming back to tease against her already hot skin; she wasn't bold enough to attempt the feat that ran a circular marathon in her head. Her nerve retreating in banishment, she began to back away, only to have a rush of vertigo make her head spin.

It was another of the visions; the bile rising in the back of her throat confirmed it. She had thought herself rid of the cursed things, the recollections that were not her own but still managed to plague her. Spots of color pranced across her line of sight; distorting Link's nearby face. She registered a weak amount of mystification when the scene did not radically alter. There was a soft pressure against her lips in the visualization, undemanding but not perceptibly inadvertent.

Again, it was a younger version of the man who had become her traveling companion, his countenance relaxed while he placed a harmless kiss on her lips. Rayne suddenly had no doubts as to whose memories she was subject to; Malon had been Link's first love, it was unadulterated idiocy to assume that she hadn't also been his first kiss.

He concluded the contact, stepping back to give her an affection glance. "Goodnight." He murmured distractedly, walking toward a building her limited sight could not distinguish before fading out into the background.

Malon's perception faded away, leaving only Rayne to deal with the images she had witnessed.

"Was it another of those visions?" Chronos asked once the young woman had situated her mind into proper working order.

"Yes, I thought they had withdrawn, but it seems that they were just lying in wait for me to drop my guard." There was bitterness in the words; she could hear it as well as the others. She didn't want to channel the memoir of a girl who had been dead for seven years, but it didn't appear to be optional to decline.

"What was it?" Link asked, hopeful as ever. "What did you see?"

Rayne had expected that query and had been scouring her brain for a credible lie. Admittance to kissing him, however indirectly, was not something she was approaching divulging.

"Oh honestly, what kind of gentleman are you?" Chronos' intrusive voice made her blood turn to ice; the cat was unsettlingly perceptive. Her brain suspended all function, leaving her to watch him jump onto the lip of the well with rising dread. "It is prominently clear, what with the manner in which she's been studying you, that the vision was very much intimate. Gentlemen simply do not ask after matters of intimacy."

Link's face was mercifully blank, allowing Rayne the chance to fill her lungs with air. If he wasn't immediately angered at Chronos' habit of blowing instances out of proportion, then there was no grounds for her to tear the cat's unhinged tongue out of his maw.

Haruko pouted, "What's 'intimacy'?"

"Ah, well you see-" Chronos started, his tone purposefully sagacious.

"And down the well we go!" Rayne cheered, pushing Chronos off the edge and into the gaping abyss, satisfied that the black cat yowled all the way down.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

"It's dark down here." Haruko sulked after tripping over an inconspicuous rock protrusion in the ground. "I can't see anything."

Navi flitted onto the young girl's shoulder, her fairy body shedding adequate light to see the path ahead.

Haruko smiled, "Arigatou, yousei."

"Umm… you're welcome?" the fairy hazarded.

The little girl's elated giggles assured Navi that her choice of words hadn't been entirely erroneous.

"There's something sparkling in the corner, over there." Rayne pointed out, holding out her index finger to guide Link against the swelling darkness. "Do you see it?"

The hero's steps quickened until he made it to the end of the dripping corridor. He bent over; picking up the glittering object Rayne had informed them of. "It's a key." He held it up to Navi so that the others could inspect it. "A really worn key from the looks of it."

"There was a door in the main chamber that was locked, the one to the right when we entered, do you think this is its key?"

"It looks about the right size." Chronos ventured, launching himself onto Link's shoulder and sniffing it curiously. He sneezed, "We'll be lucky, however, if it doesn't crumble the second we place it into the lock; it reeks of rust."

"It'll hold." Rayne assured the cat, "I can halt the corrosive process."

"I'm becoming tired of repeating myself." The cat pounced back down onto the slick walkway, swiveling his head to look disdainfully at Rayne. "An overuse of your magic could, and will, result in a fatality. You've materialized, infused, healed, and scryed, all in the past forty-eight hours; that's more than most mages do in months. It's remarkable that you can still string together coherent sentences."

Rayne ground her teeth to keep a nasty retort from Haruko's virgin ears. Chronos seemed to have taken insulting her even more seriously after his brief trip down the well.

"It'll be fine, Rayne." Link cut in, "I'll just have to be careful with it."

She felt proficiently deflated; Link had the uncanny ability to do that: dispel the hostility before it had been breached. "Do what you want." She said noncommittally.

"Ghosty coming." Haruko reported, hugging her stuffed animal closer to herself protectively.

Rayne frowned severely, adrenaline pumping through her veins when she reached for the dagger she no longer possessed. She was unarmed, only her bow remained out of her previous arsenal, and she had no bolts for it. The young woman knew her limitations in the magic sector as well, although the pretentious Chronos seemed to doubt her erudition in the subject.

"Do you have any hidden weapons?" Link asked her when he noticed her panicking features.

"No…" She trailed off, ripping her knapsack off of her back and delving into it. Her seeking fingers met feathery fletches and she sighed in relief. Impa had not forgotten her promise to send more arrows. "Never mind, I was just supplied with some ammo."

She pulled out a bolt and notched it, watching Link as he drew the Master Sword and a shield. Rayne nodded in approval when Chronos and Navi took up places around Haruko, prepared to shield the girl from harm.

"Where is it coming from?" Rayne whispered the question, watching one end of the tunnel while Link surveyed the other.

Haruko appeared to think. "I can't tell." She confessed.

"Move toward the center." Link ordered, putting his back to Rayne's and walking.

It was a clever move; standing in the center would give them the time to react, regardless of which side the Poe decided to appear in. Rayne considered what would happen if the phantom phased straight through the walls instead and her stomach did a flip; she began studying the surrounding ramparts, praying the ghost wasn't that intelligent.

"Above." Haruko's forewarning gave the two enough time to duck as the orange Poe sprang out of the ceiling, its attention fixated on decapitating them. Link rolled into a crouch, Rayne following his suit less stylishly. The warrior leapt up, his sword swipe coinciding with Rayne's bolt thudding into the creature's semi-flesh. Both blows connected, startling the teenagers who had assumed their efforts would be in vain, but the Poe didn't even bat a glowing eye. It lashed out once more, its razor-sharp fingers scraping across Link's face and drawing crimson droplets. The young man fell back, wincing and striking blindly in retribution. Rayne fired again, hitting the ghoul in the center of its engorged body.

The creature turned its aggravation on the second attacker, catching Rayne unaware. She brought her bow up in defense, skittering back on her heels when the Poe hit her with its gathered momentum. Rayne hopped back, her fingers fumbling around her quiver for an arrow while she evaded the Poe's angry assault.

Her foot caught on a rocky outcropping and she tumbled onto the floor with a cry. The Poe charged her, snapping the bow that she put up against it as though it were a twig. Rayne threw the remnants of the bow into the phantom's face, scrambling on her hands and knees to get away. She clamped down on a scream and spun to the side when the Poe's claws rent three fresh bloody stripes across her back. Her arrows flew out of her quiver as she reeled to safety, and she grasped at them in flustered desperation.

She hit a wall, grabbed an arrow, and raised it like a pike. It was pathetic, she was going to die, even if the Poe was stupid enough to spear itself on her weapon, it would still have ample time to slash her to pieces.

A projectile hit the Poe, followed by several others that diverted its awareness. Haruko picked up another loose stone, throwing it at the Poe with vehemence. Navi and Chronos were supplying her with ammunition, heaping them in a small mountain at the child's feet.

"Over here you stupid ghosty!" the young girl called, hurling another rock at the indecisive Poe. "Leave Rayne-chan alone!"

The Poe turned, flying toward Haruko and the two ethereal creatures. "No!" Rayne shouted, plunging the arrow deep into the Poe's retreating back.

But the phantom saw an uncomplicated kill and ignored the shooting pain the young woman had delivered unto it. It proceeded toward Haruko, a wispy, silent killer.

Link stepped in front of the young girl, and fired the hookshot at the phantom. Caught unaware, the hook caught the ghost and held, rending the ghost unable to become intangible. With his other hand, he severed the ghost into two pieces, then quickly adjusted his handle on the hilt and sliced it into quarters.

The Poe made no noise, even as its life burned out it was quiet, observing its own death dispassionately. Again, a lantern appeared, the orange flame caged within giving one last flare before the lack of oxygen suffocated it.

"Is everyone still in one piece?" Navi asked, wings fluttering nervously.

"Debatably." Rayne responded, sickened by the feeling of wetness running down her back. "How the hell did you kill it, Link?"

"Your arrows hit it at such fast speeds, that it doesn't have a chance to becoming insubstantial, right? I noticed that when we both hit it at around the same time, my sword didn't phase through." Link examined Haruko for injuries before walking over to her. "I figured if I hit it with the hookshot and then with my sword fast enough, it wouldn't have a chance to get away."

"So you used the hookshot to keep it in the material realm long enough to use your sword…?" Chronos was looking at Link in a new light. "That's genius…"

"I wasn't sure if it would work." Link shrugged off a rare compliment, sucking air between his teeth when he saw the wounds on Rayne's back. "We need ointment and gauze for this."

"In my knapsack." Rayne instructed, a pained sweat breaking out on her brow when she had half an opportunity to consider her injuries. "Think of what you need and it'll provide."

Link did as Rayne said, picking out a length of cottony wrap and a jar filled with some pasty concoction. "Is this okay?" He asked, pointing to the container doubtfully.

She picked it up, sniffing the contents. "Comfrey, Elder, and Self-Heal, all of the herbs have astringent properties and are commonly used on small wounds."

"So… how do I apply this stuff exactly?" Link asked, awkwardly touching the tissue around the abrasions.

"You'll have to put it directly on the gashes." Rayne stood, disregarding the hurt it caused her. "Let's get out of the well first; I'd rather lie down on grass."

"I have to put it directly on the gashes?" Link yelped, "But, your tunic…"

"Will have to be removed." Chronos finished for him wickedly.

Both teenagers blushed hotly in realization, glancing at one another through the edges of their respective vision to see how the other was affected. Rayne cursed her unthinking words, wishing to pull them back into her mouth and stiffly walk away.

"Oh this will be glorious fun." Chronos whispered conspiratorially to Haruko and Navi as they awaited the comical scene to play itself out.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

Author's Notes: Holy crap, I finally finished it. I apologize for how overdue this chapter is; but because of some personal issues and a sudden death in the family, my writing abilities have just begun to curl out of a fetal position. I must also ask for forgiveness concerning the poor quality of this chapter. It will get better folks, I just need to get back into the writing groove.

Sincere thanks to all who reviewed:

GuruGuru214

Poetrim

Emerald6

Casavenna

Saria-Emerald

Grrr666

Romani

Wierdboy2008

Girl With Many Names

The Pilot

Linkolas

I'm not going to respond individually to everyone at the moment, not because I don't appreciate the constructive criticism and the compliments, but simply since I would like to post this chapter as quickly as possible to be read.

Also, I will be putting fun little blurbs of information concerning the other members of Arcana who won't get much air-time. I wrote descriptions a while back and figured I'd share. Enjoy.

Alias: The Fool

Real Name: Omi

Origin of Name: Old Norse

Meaning of Name: boomer/resounder

Pronounced: OH-mee

Race: Hylian

Runic alignment: Hagal

Eye color: Brown

Hair color: Pale blonde

Age: 16

Description: A tricky youth who often acts before he thinks. He has had a crush on Rayne from when he first laid eyes on her, unfortunately she doesn't seem to notice his affections. Faced with this problem, he reacts adversely to her mere presence. He is a messy magician and a terrible swordsman but Hierophant is sure he will someday tap into a strength that will outclass even Bri.

"Genius might be described as a supreme capacity for getting its possessors into trouble of all kinds."- Samuel Butler

Alias: The Magician

Real Name: Bri

Origin of Name: Modern Irish

Meaning of Name: strength/energy/force

Pronounced: BREE

Race: Hylian

Runic Alignment: Mann

Eye color: Green

Hair color: Brown

Age: 34

Description: A middle aged woman who is a very adept magical worker, which may be why she seems slightly eccentric at times. She loves to pick on Omi, who often sets himself up for such verbal abuse. Her ability is to change the inanimate into living breathing creatures, or vice versa.

"So you see, imagination needs moodling – long, inefficient, happy idling, dawdling, and puttering." – Brenda Ueland