Scenes

Chapter 8

Nabooru is your mom

"Hello, and welcome to the Stock Pot Inn!" said the girl at the desk in an unusually cheery voice. "I'm Anju!"

"Hello, I..." Link started.

"Oh, dear! Were you staying the night? I'm terribly sorry, but all our rooms are filled. We're always this busy before the Carnival. I'm so sorry..." she put a hand up to her mouth.

"No, it's okay, I..."Link started again. Just then the door opened and the Postman bounced in up to the desk. He handed a letter to Anju.

"Oh! My! What's this! A letter?" She looked shocked. "Where is this from?"

"From the Postbox."

"No, I mean... from the Postbox where?"

"From the Postbox somewhere."

She sighed. "Please tell me?"

"It's a secret."

The Postman turned around and bounced out without a word.

Anju opened the letter, scanned it quickly, and gasped. Link recognized her expression from when he had seen her crying outside the Laundry Pool on the Second Day. ("Kafei...") He was then reminded of the mask that Madame Aroma had given him... the one that looked like a boy's face...

Tentatively, he put it on and went to talk to her.

"Oh!" She looked up, quite surprised. "You're looking for Kafei, too!"

Link nodded. Whoever Kafei was, he probably needed to be found, and if ever someone needed to be found, Link was probably looking for them.

"Listen... I must ask something of you... will you meet me in the kitchen at 11:30? I have something important I need to ask of you."

Link nodded again. Why must he keep meeting people at certain times? Why couldn't they just tell him whatever it was they needed to tell him? Regardless, he scribbled it down in his notebook and sat outside the upstairs door to wait.

Ten short hours later, he returned to the kitchen where Anju was waiting. She apologized for making him wait and held out a letter for him.

"I need you to find Kafei and deliver this," she said. "I can't talk to him... I'm too afraid to... will you do this for me?"

Link took the letter.

"Thank you so much," she said. As he was about to leave, she adedd, "...Oh, and when you see him... will you please tell me how he looks?"

Link nodded at her and walked out. This was a rather strange quest. What if Kafei was turned into some sort of demon or monster and wouldn't let Link talk to him? What if Kafei was dead? Biting his lip, he stuffed the letter into a Postbox and rested outside the Postman's house to wait.

In the morning, Link followed the Postman around as he checked all the boxes, uncluding the one with Kafei's letter. Then, instead of going back to his house, the Postman instead headed towards the Laundry Pool, seemingly determined to deliver the letter with care. Link followed.

A small boy with shiny violet hair and a Keaton mask opened the door by the pool, took the letter from the Postman, and ran back inside. Noticing the door was now unlocked, Link followed. Maybe this was where Kafei was?

Walking up the stairs, he suddenly ercognized where he was... this was the back door to the Curiosity Shop. Someone was hiding here.

The boy stopped, reading the letter. He looked up at Link.

"Green clothes, green hat..." he commmented. "Anju mentioned you in her letter... well then... I'll tell you.

"Can you keep a secret?"

"Yes, sir."

"Anju must have told you about Kafei... right?"

"He's disappeared."

"As far as they know." The boy pulled off the Keaton mask to reveal a slightly more mature-looking face than Link had imagined. Link recognized his hair now from the mask. "I am Kafei.

"I was turned into a child by an imp with an evil mask..." again, Link recognized the Skullkid... "and my wedding mask that I promised to return to Anju was stolen. I must get it back, I made Anju a promise." His face shifted expressions slightly. Link recognized the expression from what he had seen on Anju's face... and Zelda's, Malon's and Saria's as well. He didn't understand it much at all.

"Here." Kafei reached around his neck and removed the pendant he was wearing. "Give this to Anju. She will know it's from me."

Link took it without a word. He sensed Kafei wanted to be left alone for the moment, so he left quickly and headed back to the Inn.

Anju was standing at the counter looking depressed. Hurridly he ran up to her and held out the pendant.

"Oh! I's from Kafei!" she snatched it and held it tightly to her chest. "Oh, thank you so much!"

"Yes, ma'am." Link bowed and left, one again, for the shop, skipping ahead to the Third Day as he did so.

When he returned, though, Kafei wasn't there...