Please read this: Alright yes it's summer and yes I know this update took forever but the problem is my computer has been swamped with viruses lately and now runs incredibly slow. So updates may take just a little longer than usual. Also Jaderill and I have decided to make this a duo fanfic! (Because she is a much better writer and editor than I am and I can't seem to focus lately) Which means (this should make you happy) more updates over the school year and we will also change some chapter names and be re writing the entire prologue and some of the beginning chapters so please check frequently for those. The re writing of these chapters though might make new chapters come in a bit late but don't worry you will appreciate this. Jaderill might also respond to some of your reviews as well and I'd like to apologize to those of you who had a hard time reviewing that was because I deleted an authors note but that should all be cleared up by now Anyway thanks for your patience and now on with the reviews!

Da marshmallow: You found it funny? That's great! I kept re-writing that chapter over and over again cause I just couldn't seem to get it to be funny! I'm glad you liked it and thanks for your review!

blondie91: Jaderill was the one who suggested the free samples thing I thought that part was hilarious too so I put it in P. Thanks for the review. Yay for summer boo to the heat.

Dark heart: A new reviewer! Oooo! Now D.E.W. is very happy she hasn't gotten a new reviewer in a long time! Thanks for the review!

Fork in the road:

Memory Lane

and Future

Part 2

Auna looked down at Xinrie's stunned face as she stood in the doorway. "Well, are you coming or not?" Xinrie simply nodded and followed the troop leader into the hallway.

Xinrie was, to say the least, confused. Somebody other than the Healer in

Castle Town was accepting her? And it was a group of these white-haired, bandage-wearing people no less. Thus far, they had done nothing but threaten her. None of this was making any sense to her.

Auna led Xinrie past several hallways and eventually into a large, spacious den.

It was full of more white-haired people who were absorbed in their own business of ordering drinks, warming up by the fire and telling stories. Xinrie figured that her brown hair wouldn't distract anyone and she could slip out with Auna unnoticed. (She had become quite accustomed by now to hiding from the "white-haired freaks" purely out of fear that they would beat her with a stick again.) Xinrie stepped into the den; almost instantaneously everyone stopped what they were doing and stared straight at her and Auna. She shoved Isra's hat further down her head and attempted to hide her brown hair. But even if she did that she wouldn't be able to do anything about her strange attire. Quickening her pace, Xinrie walked behind Auna until they were out of the Inn.

Xinrie stepped out and sighed in relief. Being different was hard enough without all these bandaged people gawking at her. But as bad as the inn was, she almost instantly wished she were back inside. Last night's rain had brought the cold season with it. Wind blew past her bare arms, causing her to shiver uncontrollably. She had never really experienced cold like this. Back in the forest, the temperature would drop and sometimes it would even snow, but the trees would always block the wind.

Xinrie mentally kicked herself for not bringing her coat with her when she had left the forest. But she had never expected to be gone this long. After all, it was only the end of summer when she had started her journey. And besides, she was going to a desert...

Looking up, Xinrie saw that Auna was turning her head, as though she were looking for something. Xinrie couldn't get how this woman could stand in this weather without even the slightest hint of discomfort; her coat alone shouldn't have been enough. Xinrie felt small when she was next to this woman (well, smaller than usual). She had never been next to someone who commanded such a strong aura. Even the Deku Tree didn't measure up to her, and he was a freaking tree!

Suddenly, Auna's eyes caught sight of what she was looking for. Amidst a group of carts was one that was being loaded with crates. Auna strode over to the cart with Xinrie in tow. Someone, hidden behind the stack of crates in his hands, was walking towards an open cart. "How long until we can leave?" Auna inquired.

The person dumped the crates into the back of the cart. "If someone hadn't insisted that I reconfigure all of my equations to fit in eight people instead of just seven then we'd already be halfway to Roekin Pass!" Xinrie, who had been hiding behind Auna peeked out and spied an extremely unhappy Jin. "Why in Hyrule would I have to do a thing like that anyway? We only have seven members in our group and unless another little thief comes along we're going to have enough supplies to last us until spring."

Auna gazed back with her usual, serious stare. Reaching behind her she grabbed

Xinrie by the back of her collar and dragged her in front of Jin. "Oh look Jin, another little thief came along. Aren't you glad I had you redo your equations? Now we'll have just enough food to last us until spring."

Jin stared down at Xinrie. Grinning nervously, she raised a small hand up and waved. "Uhh…hi?"

"What in the name of all that is holy is that half-breed thing doing here?" Jin demanded.

"New member." Auna stated.

Jin stood there in silence for a few moments and then, exploded. "What do you mean new member! We're a Shiekah troop! We don't take in little thieving brats, especially not half-breeds! For the love of Farore, she hasn't even paid us back!"

"I had the money!" Xinrie yelled back, "I just…lost it."

"Well that doesn't help us then, does it?"

"Jin! Xinrie! Shut up." Both stopped their fighting and looked at Auna. She was scary when she yelled. "Xinrie's in the troop now, Jin. Deal with it."

Jin curled his hand into a fist but soon turned around and started loading another crate into the cart. "I still don't have to like her!" he yelled from behind the crate.

Looking to the side, Xinrie noticed that a piece of paper had fallen out of Jin's coat pocket. Still rubbing her arms to keep warm, she walked over and examined the note. "Miss Auna," Xinrie asked, "why does the fat head, I mean Jin keep a bunch of number sin his pocket?"

Jin turned around and snatched the paper from Xinrie. "Those, little brat, are my equations. Don't touch them."

"Jin's our stock keeper. He's in charge of all our equipment and funds." Auna said as she walked over to the cart and straightened the crate he had just put in.

"Yeah and when thieves come along and eat my stock I have to refigure everything." He spat at Xinrie.

"You mean all of those numbers were math?"

"Yes," he said as he opened the note to show her, "so don't touch anything or

I'll have to redo it! One mistake and the whole thing needs to be fixed!"

"You can do math?" Xinrie asked again as she looked at the paper more closely.

"I love math," he stated simply, "Always have. That's why I took this job."

"Why would anyone do something like that!" Xinrie asked, shocked. "Every time Saria tried to teach me math, I would sneak out of the house. I hated the stuff."

"And that's the difference between you and me. I have the brain to do this stuff and you don't. I bet you can't even add."

"I can too! Saria eventually found my hiding place and now I can add and subtract and multiply and even divide!"

"Jin, stop harassing her, we're going to start training and tutoring her soon."

"Well find someone else to teach her numbers, 'cause it ain't gonna be me."

As Jin and Auna started to argue, he dropped his paper again. Xinrie bent down and picked it up. Her fingers ached with cold as she held it. Just as she was thinking of going back inside the inn, she noticed something. "Jin…you made a mistake."

Jin whirled around to face her. "No I didn't! And stupid people shouldn't start accusing others of making mistakes!"

"But you did! Right up here at the top. The X means to multiply right? You added here. Three times four is twelve, not seven stupid."

Jin snatched the paper from her hand and looked at it. All of the frustration and pain that Xinrie had endured the past few months was worth it just to see the look on Jin's face. Auna leaned in and looked over his shoulder. "Well," she mused out loud, "that changes everything."

His arms fell to his side as he stared blankly into space. Auna reached out, removed his coat and threw it to Xinrie. "There ya' go kid."

"Hey!" Jin yelled as he snapped back to reality, "That's mine!"

"Yeah, but you have some numbers to redo, don't you? Why don't you fix that and go buy what we're missing. While you're at it, buy Xinrie a coat; you can have yours back afterwards."

Jin glared at Xinrie who stood there in his over-sized coat, grinning back up at him. "Fine!" he huffed as he gripped his calculations and stalked off.

"Don't mind him; he's always in a bad mood when he has to redo things. Come on, we have to talk to Kain and Kladi about getting you trained."

Xinrie trotted along Auna, he coat sleeves flopping dangerously close to her moving feet. "Who are they?" she inquired as they started to walk around the side of the inn.

"They're our weapons experts. I think Kladi might be a good teacher for you to start out with."

"What do you mean weapon's expert? Is Miss Kladi going to teach me to fight or something?"

"Yes," Auna stated simply, "Everyone in the group must learn how to fight. It's not uncommon for traveling Shiekah to be attacked by thieves or wolves. To be in this group you're going to have to face a lot of danger. You simply have to decide if you're up to it or not."

"Of course I am!" Xinrie said in a determined voice, "I've had to deal with those creepy skeleton people and the scary flying things that chase you across the field. As long as it's not an owl, I'm fine!"

"Why are you afraid of owls anyway?" Auna inquired.

For a moment Xinrie thought back to her childhood. "You know what? I don't know.

I've just always been afraid of them. Maybe it's because they can turn their heads all the way around. That's not normal or even cool…it's just creepy."

Auna merely stared at her for a few moments and then began walking again. "You're strange." Once they had rounded the side inn, Xinrie could see a small area covered by a thatched roof. Underneath of it were two people who were readying a pair of horses. Xinrie immediately recognized the girl with the long ponytail and the mark on her wrist as being Kladi. The other was the man whose hair brushed to the side and covered one of his eyes.

Kladi looked up and smiled. "There's our little half-breed!" she chirped, "Hey, Kain, hand me those swords I gave you earlier." Kain pulled a pair of swords from one of the large saddlebags and handed them to her. "So Halfy, have you ever used one of these things before?"

"I've fought with sticks before!" Xinrie beamed. She had always been one of the best stick fighters back home. She was certain that if she tried adjusting her stick-fighting stance just a bit, she'd be able to fight with these blades. She may already be a great fighter!

"Great! That won't help you here!"

Or not.

"Fighting with these is a lot different, Halfy. You're going to have to adjust to the weight and the movement of the blade. Here, you take these and Kain and I will see if we can whip up a pair of wooden training swords for you to practice with."

"Aren't those like sticks?"

"No."

"Darn."

Kladi smiled down at Xinrie. "You're kinda funny, ya' know that Halfy? Come on brother; let's go see what we can do about those training swords."

After Kain and Kladi left, Xinrie looked up at Auna. "Is Miss Kladi really Mr. Kain's sister, or is that just another weird nickname?"

Auna leaned up against one of the support beams. "Kain's her older brother. What do you mean by 'another' weird nickname?"

"She calls me Halfy," Xinrie said looking up at Auna, "Isn't that strange? I mean, I know I'm short and all, but wouldn't something like pipsqueak or shorty or Half-baked-red-eyed-farieless-freak-of-the-wood be better?"

Auna raised an eyebrow. "You had a very happy childhood, didn't you? Kladi calls you Halfy because it's short for half-breed."

"Oooohhhhh…. what's a half-breed?"

For a moment there was silence. Auna stared down at Xinrie, a little shocked and perplexed. "You mean you really don't know?"

Xinrie shook her head. "No, but everyone seems to be calling me that lately."

For a brief moment, Auna looked at Xinrie, first in little bits, then as a whole. "So, you wear forest clothing," she said, indicating to her boots, "you have the strangest shade of brown hair I've ever seen and you have…those eyes….Who were your parents?"

"I don't know," Xinrie answered. "I thought I was a forest child, but it turns out I'm not. And that stupid tree told me to go to the desert, but he forgot to tell me where it was."

"You mean the Wasteland; you're going to have to start calling things by our names. Did the tree not tell you what you were?"

"No…Now what's a half-breed?"

Auna sighed. "You're a half-breed. It means that your parents were from at least two different races. That's extremely uncommon in Hyrule. It's almost a taboo to marry outside your own race, and you're a particularly unusual case."

"Whoa! Back up! What do you mean my parents were different races? And how am I a special case?"

"Well," Auna continued, "You know there are six different races right? As a rule, most don't marry outside of their race. That means that your parents must have been very strange. But you…you're almost considered a crime."

"Are you talking about the rupees again?"

"No. You may not realize it, but do you remember that box I showed you? Anyone else could have looked inside it and seen nothing. But the fact that you saw that, as well as the other tunnel entrances proves that you're part Shiekah."

For a second Xinrie sat on the ground, trying to comprehend all of this. "So…my eyes are red like yours because I'm half Shiekah?"

"Yes and those eyes allow you to see through illusions. Hylians would need some type of special device, like a magic eyeglass, to see the past them."

Suddenly Xinrie jumped up, a huge smile on her face. "So my eyes being red aren't a bad thing? They're actually a really cool, special, secret truth-revealing thingy!" For the first time in her life, Mido seemed like a complete, blue-eyed loser. "But what do you mean by me being a crime?"

"Well, the reason you attract so much attention, aside from being a rare half-breed, is that by Shiekah law, we aren't supposed to have relationships outside the Shiekah race. For you to have been born, would mean that one of your parents went against their race. To be quite honest, I don't even know how you're still alive."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, until just five years ago, it was law that if a Shiekah married outside the race and had a half-breed child, that they and the half-breed they created would be killed. Xinrie, you should be dead."