An Act to Follow - Part 5: One can run, but one can't always hide
He really hated these meetings.
Mayor Dotour shifted uneasily on his official chair. He'd never known just why a Mayor would have use for such a fancy thronelike seating arrangement, especially one that was so uncomfortable. Unfortunately, the chair was an inheritance and Mayoral tradition. With a sigh, he turned his eyes on Captain Viscen of the Clock Town Guard.
"Captain, are you sure such measures are necessary?"
The Captain nodded gravely, stroking his moustache. He wasn't wearing his helmet at the moment, but he still cut an impressive figure. "Your Honor, for the safety of those in the city and for the good of the Festival, it is my belief that we must take all measures with extreme caution. For safety reasons, sir, it would be in our best interest-"
The Mayor sighed. "This is all very uninformative, Captain. What makes you so sure this wasn't just a skulker making a bad move or just some wayward child poking things that shouldn't be touched? I refuse to authorize any hasty decisions just because you have a hunch."
As Dotour stared meaningfully at his Captain, he was sharply reminded of the incident three months ago. Viscen had always been a meticulous soldier, with a strong urge to protect the innocent. The Mayor had hoped that the lessons learned from the Carnival of Time would temper the more paranoid side of his Captain's tendencies, but it seemed to have only made them stronger than ever.
Clearing his throat, the Captain stated simply, "Your Honor, we found evidence that whatever was in West Clock Town that night wasn't human. There were tracks found-"
Raising an eyebrow, the Mayor's normally tacit expression turned slightly concerned as the Captain continued.
"This evidence is only the latest in a series of reports and claims from the past few months of…something possibly roaming Clock Town-"
"Hearsay and rumors are not supportable evidence, Viscen."
"The tracks, sir. We've cordoned the area. They are Wolfos tracks, sir. I believe there may be cause for alarm."
The Mayor stroked his chin, agitated.
"There are many people in this town, many here for the Festival. If something were to happen-"
Mayor Dotour closed his eyes, nodding. "Yes, yes of course. But what can we do about…well…"
Viscen nodded. "I have an…acquaintance who deals with these sorts of things all the time. As he happened to be in the area, his summons was sent as a precaution. I need your authorization to commission him."
Mayor Dotour blinked. "Are you sure this…contact of yours is trustworthy? He isn't going to, uh, work blatantly, is he?" The Mayor had an unpleasant vision of a man dragging a bloodied Wolfos corpse though the festival-laden streets in broad daylight.
"Well," the Captain said, "He certainly does his job, if that's what you mean. And he's very discreet about…disposals."
"Well, thank the fates for that," the Mayor said. "Just as long as nobody gets hurt."
-;O;-
"Come back here!"
Timbre was hardly discreet with his temper at the moment. As soon as Tejina heard him yelling, she'd taken off into the crowd like an arrow. No way you're going to lose me that easily, the boy thought angrily, running after her.
She was incredibly quick; he'd give her that. How she managed to so easily navigate the crowd was beyond him, maybe it was another magic trick. Stumbling awkwardly through the crowd, he saw the hem of her green skirt as it whipped around a corner and down a small side street, which led to a subdistrict of South Clock Town called the Laundry Pool.
Good. There's no other way out of there. She'll be cornered, Timbre thought. Rounding the corner, he nearly fell flat on his face going down the incline as he tripped over his own feet. "I'm so gonna get you for this-huh?"
He stared down the empty alleyway leading to the Laundry Pool. Timbre glanced around hastily as he gritted his teeth.
The Laundry Pool was one of the only surface evidences of the river that ran underneath Clock Town. In the spring, the rushing water pressure got so high that a small trickle diverted to the surface, filling the pool. The water dwindled during the summer, but usually lingered in part throughout the rest of the year, supplying the walled settlement with fresh water. Normally town residents could be found visiting the small park to do their washing or just to relax. Today, with the festival in full swing, the area was completely empty save for some stray sparrows and the sound of the odd frog croaking from the pool's shallows.
"I know you're in here!" Timbre yelled aloud. "I don't know why you decided to steal from me, but I'm not gonna leave you alone until you give it back, d'you hear me?!"
There was no reply. Incensed, Timbre stared around. Then, something jabbed him in the back.
"Aaah!" The furious boy whirled to stare into the grinning young girl's face. She was wearing Timbre' headband.
"Hello!"
"Give it back. Now." Timbre grated between his teeth, growling despite himself.
Tejina's eyes sparkled merrily. "Tell you what: you catch me before I make it back to the Stock Pot Inn, and I'll give it back."
"You-" Timbre lunged for her, but the girl nimbly dodged away, running back up the pathway to South Clock Town.
"I'll see you there, Timbre!"
Holding back a dozen curse words, the infuriated boy followed, yelling threats the entire way as he headed back up the incline.
"Ooh, you'll be sorry you messed with me, I'll make sure y-oof!"
He turned the corner so abruptly that he didn't have time to stop before colliding with the person who had been unlucky enough to be in his path. For the second time since the Festival began, Timbre bounced backwards, sitting down hard. Whoever he'd collided with, the boy thought, looking up, they must be huge.
And he was right. A tall, large-shouldered man who could have given Kei a run for his money stood impassively before Timbre. Looking up slowly, Timbre's eyes remained riveted on the glassy dark stare of the stranger. Timbre's eyes widened and he suppressed a shudder as he realized something.
The man smelled strongly of the dead animal skins his clothes were made from, especially the furs that trimmed those clothes. The boy shivered nervously as he slowly stood. The man's dark eyes narrowed ever so slightly. He had a hunter's stare.
Taking a step backwards, Timbre stammered an apology. "M'sorry mister, uh, bye!" Before he could stop himself, he'd slipped back down the incline towards the Laundry Pool, heart hammering in his chest. Something about that guy would give anybody the creeps, but those furs...he was almost sure that they were…
He shook his head, suppressed another shudder, and chased the thought from his mind. He still had a thief to catch. With her agility and his delay, there was no way he was going to catch her now. Unless…
The small grassy Laundry Pool area was surrounded on three sides by tall, thick stone walls, while the fourth side consisted of the backs of several buildings from the Western District. Several piles of wood and a discarded carpenter's ladder leaned against the easternmost wall, likely leftovers from the mainstage construction.
Looking both ways to make sure he wasn't being watched, Timbre clumsily climbed up the ladder, slipping a few times. Soon he stood on the thatched roof of what he was pretty sure was the Curiosity Shop. The clock was easily visible in the distance, now that he was above the roofline.
Well, if I'm going to catch her now, Timbre thought, I'll need to go on the rooftops, and be quick about it, too. Can't afford to be clumsy either, that's a long fall.
Removing his overcoat, Timbre kneeled on the scratchy thatch, still on the lookout. Nobody in the crowd was actually looking up, as they were too busy with what was in front of their noses. Good. Quickly, Timbre folded his coat, rolled it into a small, neat bundle, and placed it carefully on the thatch.
The sensible part of him was desperately arguing that he should be careful after what had happened last night, that he should just give up and ignore this girl completely.
Or go ask Kei or Ana to make her give it back. But the boy shook his head angrily as the memory of those blue eyes staring challengingly into his own struck him. Without fully realizing it, he abruptly changed forms, picked up the bundle in his mouth, and gauged his first roof jump. The world suddenly smelled overpoweringly of oil, old hay, angry cats, and sparrow feathers.
Caution will just have to wait. If I'm quick about it, I can get away with this, the wolf reassured himself. All I need to do is jump along the roofs on the perimeter of town until I reach East Clock Town, then it's just a big jump to the Milk Bar's roof, then another jump and I'm on top of the Stock Pot Inn, long before that thief makes it back.
The wolf took off purposefully, trotting along the highway of golden thatch.
Moments after Timbre left, the large man he had collided with stepped into the Laundry Pool area. Glancing around, he rubbed his large stubbly chin thoughtfully. He hadn't bothered to shave this morning. But he kind of liked that. It gave him a discouraging air. It was to his mild surprise that the young child who had bumped into him was nowhere to be seen. Those eyes…
"Kids," he grunted slightly. But no matter about disappearing brats, he thought, turning to leave. I've bigger fish to fry. He had an appointment to keep.
-;O;-
"So, where do you think Tim went?" Kat chewed her lip fretfully as Link shrugged, prodding gingerly at his bruised cheek. He'd fished a small bottle out of his belt pouch that contained some healing potion and was quietly dabbing some on the bruise, hoping Ty wouldn't notice.
"Well, he was yelling like crazy. Then he ran off after that girl from the magic show. Good luck finding 'em in that crowd now," Link snickered, and then winced.
"The fact that he was actually on the dance floor is weird enough. And since when does he chase after girls?" Ty asked, tail twitching. "That's not like him at all."
"Yeah," Kat smirked. "He leaves that to you two."
Link and Ty blushed and laughed nervously, looking over at Sond, who grinned ruefully and rolled her eyes.
"Seems unlikely to me," Sond remarked, "But…she's trained in slight of hand, we all saw her at that show last night. Wouldn't take much to go from slight of hand to pickpocket, really."
Nick nodded. "Righ'. So th' lobo's not girl chasin', 'ees… thief chasin'?"
"So it would seem," Chiron remarked.
"Gosh," Kafei said. "How can you tell the difference?"
-;O;-
So far, so good.
There hadn't been any shouts of 'monster,' there had been no screams from the crowd below (save for the normal festive revelry) and no arrows or projectiles had come flying at him. As he had thought, the festival-goers were just too wrapped up in the day's events to pay any notice to one small black and white creature running rooftop to rooftop.
Because the outer perimeter of Clock Town was heavily fortified, the houses along that perimeter were literally built into each other. This meant that their roofs ran flush with little to no gaps. This made it an easy task to simply sprint across, and Timbre was barely even breathing heavily before he'd circled completely around the South and East districts. Now came the tricky part. Gauging the distance between his current roof and the Milk Bar's, he gathered himself up for the leap.
"Oof!" He landed with a grunt, on top of the Milk Bar. His legs were better suited for long jumps in this form, but he was still young; it was with a good deal of scrabbling that he pulled himself upright, with the smell of sweet cream wafting from below. At the moment, Timbre cared little about clumsiness or cream. He just wanted to get back at Tejina for stealing from him. He'd teach that little showoff a lesson…
Still nobody watching? Good. He slid carefully across the Milk Bar's roof, gauging his final jump, which would take him to the Stock Pot Inn's roof. The gap between was slightly wider than his previous jump, so it looked like he'd need a running start. Taking as much leeway as he possibly could, Timbre bounded forward and jumped again.
This time his landing was much more graceful. He quickly slid down to the southern side of the roof, away from the large veranda that adorned the eastern side. Fortunately nobody had been up there to spot him, so it looked like he was in the clear.
Given the crowds and Tejina's talent at slipping through them so easily, he'd mentally figured it would take her at least five minutes to get here on foot. It had taken him about four due to his delay and subsequent shortcut. Now it was just a matter of watching and waiting.
And looking human, a sensible voice hurriedly reminded him. Timbre had courted a moment's idea of giving the girl a real scare, but then very quickly figured better of it. Changing back before he could revisit that idea, the boy opened the bundle and shook the coat a few times to get the wrinkles out. He was just shrugging back into it when something out of the corner of his eye made him turn his head.
A small girl in a green dress was just visible sneaking amongst the crowd. As she saw the Stock Pot Inn, she broke into a triumphant grin and headed for the building like an arrow.
Aha, the boy thought. Right on schedule.
Tejina thought she was home free as she ran towards the Inn's door. But mere feet from the doorknob, something suddenly dropped down in front of her, grabbing for her outstretched right hand.
She yelped in surprise as Timbre suddenly held her fast by her gloved wrist. The green-eyed boy smirked at her wide-eyed expression of shock.
"Got you," he growled.
Moments later he yelped in surprise; suddenly he found himself suspended upside down, dangling six feet in the air by one foot. He stared, wide-eyed, at the upside down and bemused face of Keisou. He wriggled helplessly, frantically fighting the instinct to start madly snapping at anything within reach.
"Hoy there," Kei grunted dangerously. "What have you got against my little sister? She doesn't have cooties, you know."
"Uh…" Timbre stammered. "Hi Kei…it uh…wasn't like that." The boy grinned out of sheer nervousness. His heart was racing, and he felt lightheaded and flushed as all the blood rushed to his head.
Kei coughed in surprise when he heard his name. "Wait a second, you're one of those kids that me 'n Ana met yesterday noon." He squinted. "Kid with th' coat…Timbre, wasn't it?"
"Uh, yeah." Glancing down (or up, from his perspective), Timbre noticed Tejina peering from behind Keisou's leg. So that was her game, to act the victim in front of her older brother? He frowned. She was still wearing his headband too. "Um, Kei. Do you mind putting me down, please?"
"First you answer a few questions," Keisou replied, opening the inn's door and stepping inside. "You're coming too, Tee."
Tejina looked like she was about to argue, but then followed meekly.
Inside the Stock Pot Inn's lobby, Keisou and his prisoner turned several heads. Anju the innkeeper (and Kafei's older brother's wife) stood at the counter and made a small confused sound. A scruffy-haired blonde boy turned his head from his plant-watering job, also wearing a perplexed expression. Several other nearby patrons coughed politely, as if this scene was unpleasant to them. Kei paid them no heed.
"Alright," Kei said. "Question number one: why are you after Tee?"
Swinging slightly from side to side, Timbre stammered out in a loud voice, "She stole my headband! See, she's wearing it!"
Blinking, Kei glared down at his sister, who smirked guiltily. "Question number two: How in blazes did you manage to catch her?" Kei said in a bewildered, almost respectful tone.
"Uh," Timbre stammered. He didn't want to lie, but there was no way he was going to tell the truth. Not in front of all of these people! "Uh, I knew a shortcut," he said finally. There. Not a lie at all.
"Hmm…" Keisou smiled, letting Timbre down gently with a bump. "Have to admit, I'm pretty impressed. Tejina's a real squirt. I've never seen anyone get the better of her like that."
Timbre brushed himself off smugly, and looked over at Tejina. To his satisfaction, her face was flushed with livid embarrassment.
Now, Tee…" Keisou kneeled down to his sister's level and looked stern. "Stealing's wrong, you know that. I want you to apologize, and return what you stole."
Tejina nodded curtly. Removing the headband, she held it out at arm's length in Timbre's direction. Drawing herself to her full height with primly closed eyes, she spoke without sympathy. "I apologize for stealing, Timbre."
"Apology accepted," Timbre replied in the same tone, snatching the headband back and hastily tying his hair back up. And serves you right, he thought.
Turning her back on him with crossed arms, Tejina stuck her nose up in the air. "Why you even cared about that dumb old thing I'll never know," she said boldly. "I would've given it back."
Without thinking, Timbre found himself fiercely retorting, "It's special. It belonged to my mother!" It was suddenly his turn to flush, and he clapped a hand over his mouth, stunned. Why on earth had he said that?
"Well, she ought to make you a new one, that one's wearing out." The girl sneered, refusing to turn.
Timbre stiffened. "My mother died a long time ago," he said fixedly, his throat tight and his voice forced. Turning on his heel, he ran quickly for the door. The girl blinked as if stunned. She turned her head a tiny fraction as she heard the door slam behind her.
-;O;-
Frustrated, Timbre sat down heavily against the Inn's south wall and hung his head. His first urge had been to run, though town, through the east gate, across the fields and possibly just on forever. He'd stifled that urge, and then realized how exhausted he really felt. He'd been dancing, chasing, running, jumping, and arguing, and to top it all off, he now had no idea where his friends were. Gulping heavily, he held back several frustrated tears, fumbling in his coat pockets as he had the impulsive urge to bite something. He was out of jerky, but quickly found a strip of thin leather that smelled waxy, like it had been used to wrap a bundle of Sond's arrows at some point.
"Why'd she have to say that?!" Timbre bit down furiously on the leather. "She had no right to! None at all! First she embarrasses me, then steals from me, and then gets mad when she doesn't win her little game!"
The leather strip snapped unceremoniously in half, and Timbre stared guiltily about. He'd been involuntarily growling the whole time. Fortunately, it didn't appear that anyone had noticed. They were all too busy being happy to notice one small boy huddled miserably against the wall of the Inn. Sighing, chin in hands, Timbre stared resolutely out at the world.
A few minutes later, the Inn's door opened, and Keisou stepped out. Glancing down at Timbre, the blue-haired Hylian greeted him. "Hey. You're still here?"
Timbre just shrugged gloomily as Kei sat down beside him with a grunt.
There was a brief awkward silence, then Kei spoke. "I want to apologize for Tee's behavior. She's really slow to warm up to people. She's…well, just like that. It isn't you."
Timbre sniffed. "She didn't need to s-say those things."
"I agree, and I did speak to her about that. I think she said those things because she was embarrassed that somebody got the better of her. She doesn't like losing."
"Neither do I," Timbre remarked.
"Actually, I think she was secretly impressed. "
"Huh?"
"That look on her face when you dropped down in front of her, if only I'd had a pictograph box with me! She's impressed that you managed to catch her, though she'll never admit it." Kei smirked. "Actually, I think that was quite good for her. Going through life thinking you're invincible isn't a good thing, especially for someone like her."
"…Mmm."
"Tell you what, Timbre. To make up for Tee stealing your headband, and to celebrate its recovery, how about I treat you and your friends to some ice cream this afternoon? I heard there's an excellent vendor down by the merchant's tent all the way from Holodrum."
"My friends? But where-"
As if summoned on cue, Timbre looked up to see his friends approaching in a muddle out of the crowd. They waved and yelled out random greetings.
"Hey there Tim!"
"You ran off rather quickly!"
"Where's that girl?"
"Didja catch th' vixae, lobo?"
Kei blinked, looking at Timbre. "Do your friends always talk like that?"
"It's kind of a dialect thing. Hi!" Timbre waved, cheering up a bit. "Kei says he's going to buy us ice cream!"
"Hey, great! Just so long as Fairy Boy doesn't pour any down the back of my shirt!" Ty whooped.
"Don't worry, I'd never do that again…" Link grinned craftily.
The door to the Inn cracked open an inch and one blue eye looked out at everyone. "Kei," a small voice intoned. "May I please come too?"
Kei looked back at the door. "I don't think that's up to me." Turning to Timbre, Kei asked him a question. "Is it alright if Tee comes with us?"
Timbre looked from the crack in the door to Keisou. He chewed his lip, staring at the ground. She'd said some nasty things…but still, maybe Kei was right about her. Besides if he said no, she might just do something even worse to him later to get revenge. She seemed like the type who would retaliate.
Besides, I can always just ignore her, he concluded. And doesn't everyone deserve ice cream? Not that I care what she deserves or anything.
Finally, Timbre just shrugged. "Sure, whatever."
Kei looked to the eye in the door. "Alright Tee, you can come with us. Just be glad Tim's such a nice guy."
Tejina squealed, running out of the doorway. She jumped into her brother's lap, throwing herself around his neck. "Thank you Kei!" Kei inclined his head slightly and cleared his throat meaningfully. Tejina spun around, glancing guiltily at Timbre. "And thank you too, Timbre," she said, sounding quiet and withdrawn, completely opposite from their last conversation.
"You're welcome," Timbre said weakly. He wasn't sure if he'd done the right thing or not.
-;O;-
All ten of them lounged on crates outside the merchant's tent as the afternoon passed them by. For a while, nobody said much at all because everyone was too busy with their ice creams. Timbre stared forward and said nothing, though his ice cream was long gone. Timbre wasn't one for revenge, but he was quite good at holding silent grudges. Ultimately, Tejina broke the silence, looking at Nick, who was making mildly agonized faces as he licked his ice cream.
"Are you okay?" she asked, sounding concerned.
Ty smirked, his tail twitching. "Nick is just fine. He and I are Volcanians you know, so we're naturally able to withstand lots of heat. Even open fire can't hurt us. The downside of that is we're very vulnerable to cold, even if it's just ice cream."
"Then why eat it?" Tejina asked, perplexed.
"The same reason everyone else eats spicy food, even though it burns their mouths. We like the taste. Of course, Nick can handle anything spicy they can dish out. But even show him an ice cream cone and he gets a headache."
"I still eatn' it, Ty." Nick retorted.
Kei blinked. "Hmm, Volcania. The land of dragons? Never been there myself, heard stories though. Way off the beaten path. Up a mountain. Hotsprings and jungles."
"That's the one," Ty said, nodding.
"I've also heard legends that the people there have dragon's blood in their veins," Kei said, smiling indulgently.
Ty and Nick shrugged at each other wordlessly, then looked back at Kei.
"So do all Volcanians have tails?" Tejina suddenly asked, curious.
It was Nick's turn to laugh. "Nah, tha'n be Ty's own 'lil quirk." Sond quietly elbowed Link in the side before he could add any extra comment.
Tejina smiled. "That sure would be useful to have, wouldn't it, Kei? It'd make some of our tricks a lot easier to do."
Kei looked thoughtful for a moment. "I suppose. But then it would be hard to find pants that fit."
Link's snigger turned into a grunt of pain as Sond's elbow dug sharply into his ribs for a second time.
"So," Kei said, "are you kids from around here? Never did find out before you ran off yesterday."
"Well…" Kat murmured. "Kafei's dad is the Mayor, as you know. We're all staying at his house right now. I'm originally from Kakariko Village in Hyrule."
Tejina smiled. "I've heard of Hyrule." Kei just nodded as Kat continued.
"Well, you already know Nick and Ty are from Volcania, but actually a lot of us are from Hyrule. Link and Sond here grew up in the Lost Woods, and Chiron grew up near Gerudo Valley."
"What about Timbre?" Tejina asked, looking at the boy in question, who flinched moodily.
Kat looked at Timbre, as if willing him to answer. When Timbre just glared at her in response, she rolled her eyes. "Uh, Tim's from up north," Kat finished, glaring back.
Kei blinked. "I see. So where are all your parents, then?"
Everybody shuffled uncomfortably. Kei frowned.
"You aren't here by yourselves, are you?"
"Well," Link said finally, "kind of."
"I mean, I'd heard Hyrule had a little trouble a while back-"
"Uh, well…" Link began awkwardly. "It's kind of a long story…"
-;O;-
"And then what happened?" Tejina sat, wide eyed next to her brother.
"Well, the Four Guardian Giants of Termina stood foursquare over Clock Town, stretched their arms high in into the sky, and caught the moon as it fell," Link said.
"Wow!"
"And then, " Sond continued, "The Skull Kid wearing Majora's Mask collapsed. But that wasn't the end of it. The mask itself came to life, for it was behind the curse all along!"
"And then what?"
Sond looked over at Link, who shuffled anxiously, rubbing at his left hand. "Well," she said in his stead, "Link here's an amazing swordsman. You wouldn't believe some of the things we've seen him do. He's fought that kind of thing before, so it wasn't that big of a deal for him."
"So you fought it? And won? Wow!" Tejina seemed really impressed.
Link finally smiled a little. "Yeah, I guess it was pretty great. But it really wasn't fun or great feeling at the time. It's pretty exhausting, saving the world. Now that it's over, I'd much rather move on and get back to being just a normal kid, you know?"
Kei hadn't said much during Link's story. He leaned back a little, grinning. "Hmm…Ana and I'd heard something about a crisis in Termina this spring. You kids do tell a good a tall tale."
"Don't worry, mister, nobody in town really believes us either. To be honest, I'd rather it stay that way. The only thing that really matters is that the town didn't explode, but since you asked-" Here Link switched his ice cream cone into his right hand, and fumbled in a side pouch with his left. He withdrew a beautiful pearlescent blue object and held it up for both of them to see.
"This," Link declared, "is the Ocarina of Time, sacred treasure of the Royal Family of Hyrule. I was asked by Princess Zelda herself to hang onto it for a while. If it weren't for this, all of Clock Town would've been destroyed, and maybe all of Termina too."
Tejina and Kei stared.
"So yeah, that's why we're here. We've been taking it easy in Clock Town for a few months. Actually, I wouldn't mind staying here even longer, but sooner or later I'll need to bring this back to Hyrule for good." Link remarked, stowing the ocarina back in his pocket.
Kei stared at the green clad Hylian boy as if seeing him for the first time. Shaking his head, he finally stood up. "Well, I hope you all enjoy the ice creams. I've got to get back to Ana before she starts wondering. Tee, if you want to stay for a while longer that's fine, but don't stay too late. We have a show tonight."
"Alright!" Tejina said. "I'll remember!"
As Kei wandered off, Link smirked as he bit off the pointed bottom of his ice cream cone. "It's kinda fun to completely blow someone's mind like that."
"It'll spill all over you now, you know, now that you took the bottom off," Kafei remarked to Link.
"Oh, don't worry. Watch!" Tilting the cone, Link blew sharply into the end of it like a blowpipe, launching his last scoop of ice cream (cherry flavored). It flew through the air and landed with a resounding splat on the top of Ty's head.
"Yeow!" Ty jumped up, clutching his head.
"Nice aim," Tejina said, giggling.
Ty whirled on Link, his odd eyes flashing dangerously. "I am going to kill you," he said in a deceptively calm manner.
Sond shook her head and breathed a frustrated sigh as Link sped off, Ty hot on his heels. "There they go again."
"I take it that's pretty normal for them?" Tejina said, gaining several nods in response. "Why?"
"Well, they've just been like that ever since they first met," Kat said delicately. Sond sighed gloomily.
"I like them both," she said finally. "But honestly, they each act as if I can only be friends with one of them."
Kat leaned reassuringly on her shoulder. "It's flattering that they care so much."
"Yeah, I guess. And the dancing this morning was fun, but…" Sond looked almost anguished for a moment. "Well, I mean…we're just kids. I just wish they weren't so set on being enemies."
"Ah, Ty 'n Link ain' enemies," Nick reassured her. "They'n jus' dun know 'ow else t'show bu' by bein' rivals. Th' been a Volcanian word fer it: acerkaiis. Acer meanin' sour, an kaii meanin' frien', yeh see?"
Sond smiled faintly. "Sour friends. That sure describes them all right."
"Point is," Kafei cut in, "we've all been through too much together to be enemies."
"And if they didn't really care, they wouldn't try so hard to outdo each other," Chiron added seriously.
Timbre wished he hadn't eaten his ice cream so quickly. Now he was stuck staring blankly down at the cobblestone street, listening to his friends talk about people who didn't like each other when they actually did, while Tejina waited for an excuse to make conversation with him.
Fat chance of that, he thought dourly.
Then, a gray figure stood quietly behind Timbre and Tejina and said nothing. Both noticed him and turned their heads at the exact same time.
It was Kasumi, of course.
"Oh, hi Kas," Timbre remarked casually. Looking at Tejina's confused gaze, he simply said, "He's Ty's brother," then proceeded to ignore her again.
Kasumi looked down at Tejina, regarding her for a moment. "Afternoon," he said finally. After another moment of contemplation, he said, "Timbre, I need to talk to you for a moment."
"Ah. Okay." As Kasumi moved away, Timbre stood and followed him, confused. Tejina looked at them questioningly, as if she wanted to follow. Stopping, Timbre turned his head and gave her a sharp look that plainly said 'stay.' Then he followed Kasumi, finding him leaning passively against a wall behind the merchants' tent. There were people shopping around, but if they spoke in low voices, nobody would care to overhear.
"The Guard is on alert." Kasumi said simply.
"What?" Timbre was still confused.
"They think there's a rogue Wolfos loose in town. They're afraid it might attack someone."
Timbre swallowed guiltily.
Kasumi continued. "I thought you should be informed. Don't get into trouble."
Timbre flinched, and felt like sinking into the ground. Even though Ty's brother rarely raised his voice, his quiet admonishment was enough that he might as well have. The boy hung his head.
"M'sorry…"
A bright yellow light suddenly popped out from under Kasumi's cloak. It hovered directly in front of Timbre face, bopping him lightly on the forehead.
"Yeah, you should be! Next time think before you sneeze!"
Timbre sighed. "Hello Tatl. That was an accident. Wol-er, I have a sensitive nose. It tickles like crazy when you poke at it."
Tael appeared next, hovering next to his sister. "I apologize. She's working on her poking habit…"
"But it's so fun!" Tatl whined.
Kasumi blinked. Running a hand through gray hair, he looked at Timbre. "I spoke to these two about last night. They had a lot to say."
The overcoated boy frowned. "Like what?"
"You saw something else besides you, the guards, and the fairies in West Clock Town, yes?"
"Yeah…bu-"
"I told the Captain I saw no Wolfos, but I too saw something right before you showed up last night."
Timbre looked on with wide eyes. "Why did you lie to him?"
"I did not lie," Kasumi said, and paused, leaning in close so that not even the fairies could overhear, his voice a dry murmur. "There is another wolf in Clock Town."
The words struck home like a swiftly kicked hornets' nest.
"Take care, Timbre. Tell Ty and everyone else I said hello." Having said this, Kasumi turned and walked mysteriously away.
Timbre wandered back to the group in a mild daze, the two fairies tagging along behind him. At the moment they were arguing over the best ice cream flavors, but the boy wasn't really listening. He sat down automatically. Tejina gave him a weird look.
"He didn't stay for long," she remarked idly.
Timbre didn't answer, staring off into the distance where Ty and Link were still engaged in their chase. The fairies orbited slowly over Tejina's head, much to her delight and surprise.
"Oh, you're fairies! Hello!"
Tael hovered in front of her face, and as Tejina turned her head curiously to one side, Tael mirrored the gesture. "Hello, who're you? Are you friends with Timbre?"
As Timbre peered at her out of the corner of his eye, Tejina carefully said, "Uh…not yet." Timbre grunted and looked away again. "My name's Tejina, but people call me Tee for short."
"I'm Tael, and that's my sister Tatl. Hey, wait a second, I know you!" Tael crowed suddenly, causing the girl to flinch. "You were in that magic show last night! You gotta tell me, how did you disappear out of that box?"
"Sorry, I can't tell. It's a secret to everybody." The girl grinned.
"Not even a tiny hint?" Tael begged.
"Nope." Tejina crossed her arms. "And don't even think about snooping on our act either."
"Ahaha. we'd never do that!" Tatl said unconvincingly. The fairy bobbed over Timbre's head. "Ain' that right, Fuzz-aack!"
Without warning, Timbre had aimed an angry swat in her direction.
The fairy deftly dodged, grinning. "Oh you are so fun when I can aggravate you! C'mon, try and hit me again!"
Timbre rolled his eyes. "No. Go away."
Tatl breathed a dramatic sigh. "You really need to lighten up, kid!"
"Don't want to."
"C'mon Tatl, just leave him be," Tael pleaded.
"Don't you two have somewhere else to be?" Timbre snapped. "Go bother Skull Kid or the Bombers or something."
"Skull Kid's gone off to Hyrule for the week, and the Bombers aren't nearly as fun as you guys," Tatl replied swiftly. "Guess you're just stuck with us."
"So I take it you all know each other pretty well," Tejina said.
"Oh yes, Tael and I are always up for aggravating young Fuz-" Tatl paused as Timbre glared meaningfully at her. "Er, Tim."
"How do you go about that?" Tejina asked.
"Well for one, he hates it when you poke him, like this!" Tatl demonstrated on the girl, poking her in the nose.
"Atchoo!"
Tatl whooped as she was sent flying.
Timbre looked up.
"Woo," Tejina pulled a wry face as she rubbed her nose. "Ticklish."
Link sprinted by, well into his twentieth lap around East Clock Town. Following like a wraith was the vengeful Ty, sporting a lumpy pink stain on his white streak of hair. Ty's voice was loud and accusatory. "That's it Fairy Boy, now my revenge will be doubly as horrible!"
"Only one day left, Monkey Boy!" Link yelled back at his rival.
"One day's a long time! Enjoy the time you have left! I'll teach you to hit me with ice cream! You'll be sorry!"
"It was worth it!" Link's voice faded away as they both ran out of view, Ty now screaming curses in Volcanian at the Hylian.