Otays! So with Jaderill's wonderful help I was finally able to update! Don't you people love me! Okay so Yea it was late! But I had Finals and Karate exams and Volunteer work and a whole lot of other junk. But that doesn't matter anymore Cause now its summer! And that means a whole lot more needed updates!

So I only got two reviews but that understandable considering the fact that I never really updated during the school year. But I'd like to thank Da Marshmallow and AncientDirgeDragon for their wonderful reviews! But without any further ado here is Xinrie!

Fork in the Road:

Memory Lane and Future

Part 1

It is common knowledge to most of Hyrule's inhabitants that the Shiekah are a dead race. It is uncommon knowledge to most of Hyrule's inhabitants that they are wrong. The truth is that, while still small in numbers, the Shiekah are thriving. They are the Royal family's secret weapons, called out in times of war to snatch victory from the jaws of the enemy. After the fighting is over, they disappear from the villages and fields of Hyrule as if they had never been there. They keep from being seen by living in secluded villages hidden in the mountains just beyond Kakariko and traveling in underground tunnels.

Yet, despite their being hidden by illusions there will be the occasional finding. But that only happens when some idiot has no idea where they're going and stumbles past all of the gates that were set up to keep people out.

This is how Xinrie found the Shiekah. And this is how the course of her pathetic life was changed.

It had been three weeks since Xinrie had encountered the Shiekah troop inside the tunnel. And only one week since Jin had stopped complaining about letting her go. While the troop had had their set backs, they had managed to make it to the festival on time. Auna had thought for a long time that the trip wasn't worth the effort. They hadn't been for nearly three years and the troop had gained two small, orphaned children since that time. But despite the whining, the complaining and the practical jokes everything had gone well. They had earned enough money by selling their special skills and talents to get them through the year.

But at the rate the others were spending their money, Auna was starting to have her doubts. Jin and Kain were once again celebrating by buying everyone drinks at the local inn.

"Come on," Jin whined to Auna, "You know you want another drink."

"As the leader of this troop I need to have a clear head at all times, Jin. You know that."

"So that means you can't have even a little bit of fun? Come on you know you want it!"

"No, I don't. In fact it's too stuffy in here. I'm going to take a quick walk. Kladi, will you look after the twins while I'm gone?"

The young Shiekah girl with the double swords looked up. "Sure boss, no problem."

Auna rose from her seat and walked towards the door. For a second she stopped and thought about whom she was leaving in charge of the money. "Kladi, take the money from Jin." The last thing she heard was Jin complaining that he was twice as responsible as anyone in the group.

The cold night air nipped at Auna's skin. Shivering, she pulled her coat around her shoulders. Autumn was in full swing at this point and each night seemed colder than the last. A cold drizzle began to fall, wetting the dirt roads of the town. Auna always thought of the twins on nights like this. She couldn't help but wonder what would have happened to them had she not been there to help them after their parents' death.

Soon she found herself thinking of the small girl she had run into in the tunnels. Jin may have brought her story about living at the windmill but she didn't. She wondered if she had found a place to stay.

If the child had any brains she'd have returned to the forest by now. We could never find her there so she wouldn't have to pay us ba-

Thud. Auna raised her head up, cursing. As luck would have it, she had managed to trip face first into a mud puddle. Turning over Auna saw the culprit. Someone had left sack full what looked like potatoes in the middle of the road.

"Idiots!" Auna spat as she kicked the bag. But something was wrong. The bag didn't feel as light as it should have. And it squeaked. Bending down, Auna untied the top of the sack and looked inside. "Aw Hell."

Huddled in the bottom of the sack was a beaten, bruised and unconscious Xinrie.

When Xinrie awoke the first thing she noticed was that her head hurt. A lot. Slowly turning her head, the red-eyed girl took in her surroundings. She was vaguely aware that they did not match her life for the past few weeks. There was what looked like a bedpost to either side of her as well as a door on the opposite wall. Her hands felt around her sides, where she discovered that she was actually in a bed. A real bed! Suddenly she remembered everything that had happened to her since she had encountered the Shiekah.

I shouldn't be in a bed…I should be in a potato sack or something like that…

"Hey Auna! The little thieving half-breed's awake!"

Xinrie's eyes widened in shock. At the foot of her bed was the small Shiekah girl with the two braids, as well as the girl with the double swords. The door creaked open and Auna walked into the room, her large curved blade resting on her hip.

"It's about time," she sighed, "I've never seen anyone who could sleep as much as you before. We were about to get a –"

"AHHHHHHHHH!" Xinrie leaped out of the bed and onto one of the bedposts, her arms and legs wrapping around the top and latching together. "The demon red-eyed people have found me and now they're gonna' kill me!"

All three stared at her in shock. Never before had they seen someone go from half asleep and dead to awake and in panic mode in such a short period of time.

"You do realize you're injured," The woman with the twin blades said.

"Eeep!" Xinrie grabbed her ribs and doubled over. "Crap…that hurts…"

The Shiekah began to close in on Xinrie, the two oldest reaching out to grab her. "No! Don't touch me!" Xinrie shouted. Without even realizing it she curled her hand into a tiny fist and punched. She felt it connect with something hard. When she opened her eyes she saw the double blade woman touching her cheek.

"Hey," she said turning to Auna, "She's not half bad." Xinrie sat there, unable to comprehend what had just happened. This girl should be mad at her. After all, she had just punched her in the face, but instead she sounded happy, impressed even.

Auna turned her head and looked at the girl's cheek. "You think so Kladi?"

Kladi nodded. "Yep, she hits almost as good as I did at her age."

Auna thought for a few moments, then reached out and grabbed hold of Xinrie's collar, lifting her up and dumping her back onto the bed. "Kladi, you and Haiku go tell the others that we're pulling out of here in two hours so they better get ready."

After the other two had left Auna turned her attention back to Xinrie. "So," she began, "what did you do?" She would be asking that question for the rest of her life.

Xinrie went back into panic mode again. "Nothin'Iswear!Itwastheboyswiththatstupidstickandthedeafpotatoguywiththestupidsackandthatdemoncatwiththewaterbarrelpleasedon'tkillmeeeeeeeee!"

"I…wasn't going to kill you."

Xinrie peeked out from behind the pillow she was hiding behind. "Ya' weren't?"

"No, I was just going to ask you what you did to get yourself into that position."

"Are you talking about the potato sack thing?" Xinrie asked as she plopped down on the bed once again.

"Sure," Auna replied, "And if you tell me I won't charge you for all the bandages we had to waste fixing you up."

For the first time that day Xinrie noticed that she was in fact wearing several bandages on her arms and legs as well as a giant one on her forehead. "Oh, um…sure." Auna sat at the end of her bed and gave the sign that she was ready.

"Well," Xinrie began, "I lied…before…when I said that I understood how to get back out of the tunnel."

"I figured as much."

"Yeah, so I took a different path and when I got out I was completely lost and there were a bunch of other people with hair like yours and they all had really weird clothing so I sorta stood out. But anyway I knew that if I didn't earn the money to pay you back your friends in 'intelligence' were going to hunt me down and torture me with drops of water and stretching me out until my little legs got way longer and broke but that might be kind of good because then I'd be taller than Mido and he couldn't make fun of me anymore for being a faireless freak with red eyes but you probably don't…care about that…. so anyway I started to earn the money back." Xinrie stopped to take her first breath at this point.

"And then there were these boys who accused me of being a Hylian spy when I offered to sell them my boots for five rupees. So they started to beat me with stick and I ran away, and kinda got just a little really lost. So I walked on this dirt road but I got hungry and I saw this cart with an apple in it but it happened to belong to one of those boys and he hit me with rock and I hit him back with my boot. And then I ran away again and soon I was really lost again but then saw an Owl and it was gonna eat me so I kept running." Second breath.

"So after that I went to another town and I told this one boy that he had a really funny haircut but that's when I found out he was actually a girl and her big brother had a bunch of friends who tied me up and sold me to this one guy for twenty rupees and they threw me in the back of this cart but then the guy got sort of drunk and he crashed the cart into a ditch so I hopped away 'cause I was still tied up. But I got out by rubbing the rope up against a rock for three hours. But then it started to rain." Third breath.

"After that I started hunting for money again but I had a lot of trouble getting it so I applied for a job and the guy at the counter said that I should expect a big job for someone who's more talented than me. So I got all depressed and ate all of the free samples that this one woman was giving out at this bakery and she got mad told me to leave. So Then I started looking for some way to get food without spending money or stealing free samples." Fourth breath.

"Anyway, I ended up running into these kids who didn't like me 'cause my hair was brown and they called me a half-breed thingy and so I ran away from them but they were way faster and they caught me and beat me up and put me in a sack and gave me to this guy with potatoes. And I guess he gets a lot of sacks that are really heavy 'cause he didn't notice that I was in there. He must also get a lot of sacks that scream and yell at him too 'cause he really wasn't paying attention to me." Fifth breath.

"And then he hit a bump and I fell off the cart and I really got hurt but I had to get up and move on but this cat started to mew when I got near it because I guess it's never really seen a potato sack hop on its own and this girl screamed something about a demon potato sack and beat me with a stick…again…and then they ran off and I slipped because it had started to rain and then I passed out. And when I woke up you guys were here and you scared me and then you asked me to explain how I got here and I started to tell you my story and I finished and now I'm here!"

For a moment Auna just sat there, her mouth hanging open. After a few moments she finally spoke. "What?"

"Well," Xinrie said as she started to play with the corner of the pillow, "I had a really rough time and now I have no idea where I am." Suddenly her mood shifted from slightly depressed to happy. "But guess what! Even with all of those set backs I still earned all of the money!" Xinrie dove for the bag on the side of her belt and started to untie it. "It was really hard because all of these people told me that the stuff I was selling was junk but one guy took my sock for three rupees. And there was this locksmith who wouldn't open the chest I found unless I gave him half of what was in there and when he did there were only twenty rupees and he gave me five. I really don't see how that works. But anyway it's all here so now your friends don't have to kill me or the nice healer people back in Castle Town!"

Xinrie thrust her hands out, the sack held firmly between her fingers and a proud look on her face. Auna looked at her hands for a second. "Umm…little girl…sweetie, the sack's empty, but it does have a hole in the bottom."

Xinrie's face shifted into a blank, uncomprehending smile and a small pathetic squeak accompanied it. The bag fell from her hands and her arms dropped back to her side. "That's it, I'm gonna go throw myself off a cliff," She whimpered as she hopped from the bed.

Auna sighed and stopped her. "I wouldn't do that just yet, umm…what is your name?"

"Xinrie," She answered, her eyes staring at the floor.

"Right, Xinrie. We still have another hour before I have to start getting ready to leave. I'd love to hear about where you're from."

Xinrie looked back at her. "Why?"

"I haven't really been there since I was a little girl. Has it changed much?"

"I guess…but still, why would you want to hear about it?"

"Well," Auna said after a few moments, "I just think that it's probably changed a lot. When I was young it was a beautiful place with lots of flowers. I imagine it had to be pretty awful for you to have just left without any place to go."

"I didn't leave because I wanted to!" Xinrie shouted as she turned around, "Stupid Bark-For-Brains told me I had to 'cause I wasn't a forest kid. It was nice for him to wait eight years to tell me. Now I have to travel to some stupid desert! I don't want to but there's nowhere else I can go!"

Auna looked at Xinrie for a moment, trying to take in everything about her. Here she was, some small, brown haired, red-eyed girl who had no home and no family but was still willing to walk across Hyrule to find some place she can call home.

Then, suddenly, Auna began to laugh.

"It's not funny!" Xinrie yelled.

"You're right," Auna said once she was done, "You can tell me about your home later then. We have to get ready to leave soon."

Xinrie cocked her head to the side. "What do you mean 'we'?"

Auna stood up and smiled at her. "I mean we – as in you, me and the rest of the troop – have to make it to the next town by tomorrow morning, or we're going to miss the sale they're having, and if that happens we won't be able to buy enough food to support an extra member."

"What extra member…?" Xinrie asked.

"You," Auna stated simply as she walked towards the door. "Sort of strange really. We've never had someone who wasn't a full-blooded Shiekah in the group before. You should be quite interesting."

To be Continued…..