The two Sheikah were up at dawn, their small amount of belongings packed and meager breakfasts eaten before Izzati and Haytham even woke up.
Quietly, they walked through the sleeping camp. A thick blanket of mist covered the field and made it difficult to see ten feet ahead of them, putting them on edge.
Careful not to disturb the pre-dawn silence, they reached the edge of camp and whistled softly for their horses.
The horses greeted them with quiet whinnies before following them back into camp to get their tack.
"Are you prepared?" Izzati asked, materializing out of the mist a few feet ahead. Sheik nodded.
"Yes, we are prepared," confirmed Raven.
"Good." Raven finished attaching her saddle and swung onto the horse's back. Sheik shifted from her position on her horse beside Raven.
Izzati's usual stern and serious expression softened and she leaned up to whisper in Raven's ear.
"Please take care of Sheik." Raven nodded and Sheik regarded them with mild suspicion, but did not take much interest.
"Be careful!" Izzati said, loud enough for Sheik to hear this time.
"Do not worry," Sheik said, "We will be fine." She turned and walked her horse out of the camp, the mist swallowing her and her storm grey horse in seconds.
"Take care!" Izzati waved as Raven turned her horse and followed Sheik. She raised her hand in farewell, then spurred her horse into a canter to catch up.
-0-0-0-
Silence wasn't a bad thing. But Raven wasn't used to the complete stony silence in which Sheik traveled. It wasn't even companionable silence, it felt to Raven as if she were being ignored. In truth, Sheik had simply forgotten she was there. Tangled up in her own rather dark thoughts, Sheik was trying with little success to come up with a solution to her current problems.
Nearly six years since her deal with the devil was formed, and she had only been called on a few times in all of those years. More than once she had been ordered to assassinate nobles, and had crippled Zelda's army greatly. Sheik had coped with that by pretending she was not the same person and drawing an invisible line between the two Sheiks in her head. But now, there was no way to do that. It was too serious. As a result, she was having trouble coping emotionally. A problem which hadn't arisen since Sheik was very young.
"Why now?" Sheik muttered under her breath.
"What?" Raven asked. Sheik shook her head.
"Nothing." Raven shrugged and returned to mending a tear in her always present hood. This was their second day on the road, and they were both tired, since last night they hadn't stopped. As dusk was fast approaching, Raven raised the issue of taking a few hours of much needed break.
"We need food," Raven began, "We also need to rest. At least, if you do not, our horses deserve a break." She watched as Sheik considered, then nodded. It was the logical option, and the way Raven had approached asking her, with the reasoning first, indicated that she needed a break as well.
"Keep an eye out for a good place," Sheik replied. Raven was glad to have something specific to do, as riding in this uncomfortable silence got boring after the first four hours.
They soon came across a fallen tree that would supply enough shelter from the wind and hide their fire from potential enemies.
With silent consent, the two turned off of the small game trail they had been following and guided their horses around the log.
After rubbing down their horses with a brush and supplying them with food and water, they built a fire and Sheik disappeared into the forest to hunt.
Half an hour went by before Sheik returned.
Dropping the rabbit she had caught and thankfully skinned far away from camp onto a convenient rock, she turned to find Raven tending a small fire.
"I'll cook," Raven offered. Sheik nodded and handed her the rabbit before settling down on the leaf covered ground and leaning back against a tree. Closing her eyes, she went over her plan of action once she got to the fortress. She would have to distract Raven first. Chances are, the Gerudo would recognize Sheik and not harm them, but seeing the other Sheikah with her, they might conclude that Sheik had betrayed them and decide to imprison them. So it all depended on how much Nabooru trusted her.
"Sheik?" Sheik opened her eyes and blinked at Raven.
"You should eat." She waved a stick of meat in front of Sheik's face to make her point.
"Thank you." Sheik took the stick and turned away. Raven was accustomed to Sheik's strange eating habits and considerately turned her back to the other Sheikah so she couldn't see her face.
A few minutes of silence passed, with only the crackling of their fire and the sounds of small animals and bugs to break it.
"Sheik," Raven began hesitantly after a few minutes.
"Yes?"
"If we are to speak with the Gerudo's leader without first getting captured, then we will have to plan our course of action carefully." Sheik nodded in agreement.
"I think I can handle that," Sheik said carefully.
"How?"
"I am not sure if it will work, however, I doubt they will harm me. I once saved their leader's life." As Sheik told the half lie, she felt a little bit of regret and disappointment in herself. The Sheikah believed that one should always tell the truth.
"Well, that certainly gives us an edge," Raven stated. She seemed mildly surprised, and slightly suspicious. Sheik would have to play this carefully.
"I don't know if it will guarantee us free passage," Sheik pointed out.
"It is our best option, I believe. Unless you have a better solution?"
"No."
"Then this will be our plan, if you could call it that." Sheik agreed.
"I have one more question," Raven continued. Sheik looked at her, nodding her permission to continue.
"If I am to assist you until you are at full strength again, then I believe it would be in our best interest if we understood more about each other." Sheik recognized that speech pattern, that tone of voice, it mimicked Zelda when she was about to tell Sheik that she wanted her to do something with her that she new Sheik and Impa would be opposed to.
Sheik growled, those thoughts initiating a chain of memories that quickly connected back to the destruction of her village.
"I do not need assistance. Nor do you or I need to further understand the other," Sheik snapped.
"Sheik, our histories are a touchy subject, but whether you like it or not we will be together for some time. Our survival may depend on this knowledge. You know as well as I that memories and unchecked feelings could cost lives," Raven reasoned.
"I am entirely in control and will make no such mistakes." Raven sighed, and decided to play her trump card.
"I know you have been in contact with the Gerudo on multiple occasions, what more dangerous secret could you possibly hold?" Sheik leapt to her feet and drew a knife, pressing it against Raven's throat barely a second after the words had left the other Sheikah's mouth.
"Does anyone else know?" Sheik hissed into her hear, pressing the knife a little harder to encourage an honest answer.
"Not to my knowledge," Raven answered. Her voice didn't waver and she didn't seem worried at all.
"How much do you know?"
"How much is there to know?" replied Raven. Sheik mentally berated herself for asking a bad question before replying.
"How much?" Raven sighed again, before realizing that brought the ridiculously sharp blade uncomfortably close to breaking skin.
"I know that you met a gerudo in the woods the night of the meeting. I know that you have some sort of connection to their leader. I know that you are terrified of them."
"I am not-" Raven cut her off.
"For the Goddesses' sake, Sheik, I am not blind, nor stupid! Do you think I have not seen you constantly looking over your shoulder and the way you are always looking around? Half of you're face may be covered, but your eyes tell all of your emotions." Sheik took a step back and released the knife. A feeling that she had not felt in years began to invade her carefully controlled thoughts, overrunning all rationality and drowning out her other emotions, such as the anger.
Struggling to control the new emotion, Sheik did her best to look indifferent.
"What will you do now?" Sheik asked quietly. Raven currently held her life in her hands. If she told any of the Sheikah, then Sheik would probably be executed. If she told Zelda, Sheik would probably be imprisoned.
Raven stood up and smiled her strange little half smile.
"I won't do anything." Sheik raised a skeptical eyebrow, temporarily managing to override her fear.
"Your life could help decide the outcome of this war. It is not my place to change the fate of Hyrule."
"How... How can you possibly know what the future holds? You could not possibly know my fate, so why would you stop a criminal from being imprisoned? Even if I can change the future of Hyrule, how do you know that the fate I choose for this country will be the right one?"
"I do not believe there is a right or wrong decision. I do not know what decision it is you will have to make. I do, however, believe you will make the appropriate one. As for how I know all of this..." She trailed off as though she were thinking. "Now is not the time to tell." That irritating smirk returned to her face as she stared at a shocked and frightened Sheik.
"My original answer still stands," Sheik decided, regaining control of herself.
"I will concede this argument, for now, but know that you will have to tell me your reasoning eventually."
"There are some things better left unsaid, Raven," she replied softly. Raven dipped her head in acknowledgement, but said no more.
They finished their now cold meal in silence, split guard duty between them, then laid down to get some rest.
-0-0-0-
Morning came again and the sun's first rays began to appear over the horizon, chasing away the fog that had gathered during the night and waking the two young Sheikah.
The ride that day was long and dull, with only the continuous trees and grassy field to look at. When they stopped for a quick repast, Raven noticed that the ground had become slightly dryer, with less of the wildflowers they had seen on the way and more dry grasses.
"We will reach our destination soon," commented Raven. She watched her companion for a reaction, but gained none. Sheik had been completely silent since their discussion last night. Come to think of it, that was probably the most Sheik had ever said before. Raven suspected that Sheik was still a bit wary of her, and more than slightly nervous, as if she expected something to rise out of the earth and attack her for letting anyone else discover that she had had contact with the Gerudo.
Raven had a hundred explanations for what Sheik had been doing with the desert people, and few of them were very good. Sheik, for her part, was afraid that Gannondorf would appear any moment and kill them both. Although it occurred to her that he probably didn't care one way of the other what her fate would be. She was also slightly frightened of Raven, who appeared to now more about her than she did. More about her future, not her past. Perhaps that was what scared her the most. It was illogical, nobody but the goddesses and their chosen could tell the future. That was why Sheik could keep believing that the Hero would awaken and cleanse the land. It was not possible for Raven to be one of the goddesses' chosen, she had lived her entire life in the Sheikah village and had never met any Hylians outside of those in Kakariko village, and those were the ones who accepted the Sheikah and fought with them in the civil war. Raven probably didn't believe in them as deities, not many Sheikah did. Many still believed that the only great power in the world was science, and Truth. The Sheikah had historically had an obsession with truth. They believed that one must always speak the truth, believe the truth, and follow only what they knew to be true. This did not include goddesses. Sheik herself believed that the truth was very important. Born with eyes that allowed her to see through any kind of mirage was proof to her that the truth was important. However, spending much of her life around Hylians, she had begun to believe in their goddesses as well. Having seen many miracles over the years, coupled with Zelda's ability, she could see no reason why it wasn't acceptable to believe in them as well.
But the fact still remained that Raven knew too much.
-0-0-0-
The following days passed in a exhausting blur, with most hours of the day spent riding, and only stopping to sleep for a few hours when it got dark, before rising again long before dawn and continuing on. Each night during their meal Raven tried to get Sheik to speak, and each night Sheik ignored her or brushed her off with a few curt words.
At last the day arrived when the pass leading to Gerudo Valley came into view. The change was drastic, cool green plants and moist soil changing into burning hot red rock in less than a mile. The river flowed through the canyon, but failed to support more than a few rough grasses.
Raven breathed a muted sigh of relief when the sun finally set that day and they stopped in the shelter of a rock overhand near the river. Both were in dire need of a bath, and so Raven decided to swim, dragging Sheik in with her.
The water was clear and cold, feeling wonderful after hours in the hot sun.
Sheik admitted it felt nice as well, but not until after spitting insults at Raven as she removed her wet weapons and laid them on the shore to dry. Thankfully her bottomless bag was waterproof and had kept her clothes and other valuable not water resistant items safe.
After a long swim, the two of them laid on the red rocks to dry, since they had jumped in with their armor still on.
"We should be on guard," Sheik reminded her companion.
"Our horses will warn us if there is danger," Raven assured her. They both glanced over to where their horses were munching on the meager grass. Raven trusted her horse with her life. She had trained it since both of them were very young, and knew he would warn her should danger arise. Sheik was riding Amur's horse, Basel. She had never gotten the chance to train her own horse, as most Sheikah did, and Anise had agreed to let Sheik borrow him, since if Amur came back, he wouldn't need her for awhile. Sheik felt a pang of guilt, knowing that she had let Amur fall, possibly to his death. She wondered if he had come back yet. Amur was strong, and the distance around the base of the mountain without use of the tunnels was great, and would have taken him months to travel. But until he came back, Sheik could not shake the feeling that he may be dead, and it was her fault.
"Sheik?" She focused on Raven's voice, realizing she had missed something.
"Yes?" Raven offered her some dried meat, which Sheik accepted gratefully.
Raven sat back down next to the fire she had just built, and silently chewed on her own food while watching Sheik carefully. Sheik knew she was waiting for just the right moment to try and pry some information out of her, but Sheik was not going to just sit there and let it happen tonight. It was irritating, and needed to stop. So Sheik asked a question of her own.
"Do you want to spar?" Raven glanced up at her, surprised to hear her initiate the conversation.
"Alright." Raven stood up and slid into a ready position a few feet away from the fire. She looked significantly less intimidating without the hood she nearly always wore, Sheik thought.
Sheik stood across from her, red eyes locking onto Raven's. Without warning, the two launched at each other, attacking, defending, counter attacking all in the space of seconds. They weren't afraid to hurt each other, and both used all of their skill, fighting as though they intended to kill.
As the match wore on, they began to branch out, using less practical and simple maneuvers and adding flips and aerial combat into the mix, not something normally used when fighting a person on the ground, but still something that needed practice. For example, you never use a flying kick in battle except for unseating a mounted opponent, and even then it was risky and if done incorrectly resulted in broken bones.
Half an hour later, they stopped, both panting for breath and extremely thirsty.
"You need to work on your blocking," Raven told her as they kneeled next to the river to get some water. "You use mostly dodges, and your blocks are weak."
Sheik nodded, acknowledging her flaw.
"You need to use your right arm as well as your left," Sheik advised, "You always strike with your left arm, it is very predictable."
They discussed their flaws, strengths and tactics for a bit longer before Raven lay down and rolled herself into her blanket.
"Good night," she muttered. It had long since been decided that Sheik would stand watch for the first four hours and Raven for the next three, so Sheik simply nodded her head and muttered a response before finding a hidden spot on the rocks some distance from the camp fire to keep guard.
She had successfully distracted Raven from the topic of her past, and was now looking forward to a few hours of silence. She glanced toward the stars, watching the clouds drift across the moon and the stars twinkling in the dark sky.
"Please, Hero, wake up soon," she whispered.
A/N
Well... I'm not really sure what that was, but I hope it was okay.
Reviews are greatly appreciated and make me extremely happy. Especially constructive criticism, since I would really like to make my writing better.
Thank you for reading!