An Act to Follow - Part 7: Let's hear it for bright viridian eye reflections
"But Mom, it's gonna get stuffy in here!"
Madame Aroma would hear nothing of it. "You leave that window closed, d'you hear me? Goodness knows what could come in if you leave it wide open. Keep it closed tonight, dear."
Kafei sighed and cracked his neck, frustrated. His room had one south-facing window, but due to his mother's wishes, the window would only remain open a crack for the time being. With more than half a dozen occupants, it was bound to get rather warm, and quickly.
"If this is about that thing with the Wol-"
"Hush dear. Don't listen to silly rumors. Just do as I ask, please."
"Sorry about this, you guys," Kafei said to everyone later up in his room, over their latest card game. They had been forced to re-name the card game 'Liar' after Madame Aroma declared that cursing, even during a card game, was not permitted.
"S'okay, Kaf. Not your fault. Three fours." Ty put down three cards facedown.
"Liar." Link muttered.
"Take 'em then, Fairy Boy." Ty looked rather pleased with himself as the Hylian looked flustered.
"You know…two fives…Doesn't anyone else think the Mayor's getting rather uppity about such a small thing, the whole 'crate and bottle' business…?" Chiron blinked, looking around.
Nick appeared cross-eyed as he stared at his hand. "Was won'rin that mesel', I mean…s'not like anyone was hurt las' ni'. Y'don't think?…one six…Y'don't think-"
"He knows what really happened?" Sond finished. "I hope not. But if he did, he wouldn't act like he doesn't, would he? Four sevens."
"But there's those rumors we heard on the way here," Kat added in a low tone. "They think there's a Wolfos sneaking around town. That's a little too close to the truth for comfort. If I'd known that I wouldn't have told Tim to stay at the Inn for a while longer."
"Feh," Link said, picking cards out of his hand. "But if anyone but us knew who it was, Captain Viscen would already have a new furry wall hanging." He was subject to several glares. "What?!"
"Just play," Kat said, feeling unpleasant.
"Oh come on, Tim's a lot smarter than some dumb hairy monster. He's knows better than to do anything stupi-"
"Link."
"What?"
"It's your turn!"
"Oh. Four eights."
"Liar!"
"Take 'em, Monkey Boy. Take 'em all."
"Rrrgh…" Ty said, pulling the entire pile towards him, his tail bristling. Flipping through them, he scowled. "Hey, everyone else was lying!"
His indignation was met by many guffaws and innocent looks.
Suddenly, there was a tapping at the nearly-closed window, and everybody instantly sobered. "Did you hear that?" Kat asked. "Maybe it's Tim."
"Let's see…" Kafei crept up to the window. Peering out, he shook his head. "No, it's just Tatl and Tael."
"What do they want?" Link snorted.
"Dunno, but maybe they've got some news for us." Kafei opened the window ever so slightly wider, enough to allow the two fairies in. "There." The two glowing balls of light hovered around the group a moment, then Tatl landed on Link's head.
"Do you mind?" Link looked annoyed.
"Not at all," Tatl smirked. "Ooh, nice hand. You should play that Ace of Hylians next."
"Hey, for one thing, you're giving my cards away, and for another, we're not even playing that game!" Link scowled, putting his cards facedown. "What do you want, anyway?"
"Not much going on around town at the moment. The place is mostly deserted, and you're more interesting than a bunch of Guards and street sweepers wandering around."
Tael decided to perch on the upper bunk and watch the card game. After a moment of silent counting, he noticed something unusual. "You're one person short."
"Ooh, observant, isn't he?" Chiron muttered.
"Yeah, we're short one short person," Link punned. Then he blinked. "So where do you think Timbe's got to?"
"I just said, he stayed back at the Inn. Tee wanted to talk to him." Kat shuffled the deck. "Who's up for another round?" She said quickly.
"He's with that girl?" Link choked with laughter. "That should be interesting." Several other masculine snickers meant the boys agreed with him.
"Good grief, the poor girl's been trying to apologize to him all day that's all." Kat rolled her eyes, shifting her weight off of her elbows. If she leaned on them for too long they started to get sore.
"Well, she's been apologizing to him for currently two hours now, then." Kafei looked at his watch. It was a small wind-up contraption that featured the same face as the Clock Tower's mural.
Kat looked up. "It's been that long? Time flies…" She tapped a foot in amazement.
"I suppose someone'd better go find him and hurry him back…" Ty remarked. "Problem is, we're not allowed out…"
"And he wouldn't be allowed in, or he'd get in big trouble." Chiron finished.
Kafei shuffled. "Or at least I would be. Mom's a bit cranky because of the festival, she's won't be easy on anybody, especially me."
Nick muttered to himself incoherently, garnering several stares. After a moment, he spoke up. "S'pose…s'pose we had just one of us go?" He thumbed over his shoulder at the window. "Out th' window onto the roof, y'see, sa' way they got in. Tell 'im to get back 'ere through th' window or jus' t' lie low f' th' night. Or sumthin'…"
Everyone let Nick's highly accented speech sink in a moment. "I guess that might work…" Ty said finally. Sond nodded as if making a decision.
"I'll go fetch him back," she said, walking over to the window and opening it with a quick upward movement. "And before any of you argue," she glared at the multitude of open mouths as she quickly strung her bow and retrieved her quiver of arrows, "Might I remind you I am the one with a bow and a heavy ceramic mug here." She glared menacingly about, just daring anybody to speak up.
All the mouths stayed shut. "No arguments? Thought so," Sond said, backing out of the window one foot at a time. She kept talking quietly as she disappeared from view. "I think I can get onto the roof from here…yes!" Sond's head reappeared in the window, upside down this time. "I'm gonna go take a peek around, be right back." Her head hastily zipped out of view.
Ty craned his neck as he leaned out of the window. "I can't see anything, it's too dark." he said finally. Seconds later, a purple flash blinded him.
"Is this better?" Tael asked, totally oblivious to the fact he was inches from Ty's nose.
"Ack! Shoo!" Ty waved his hand and accidentally backhanded the hapless fairy. Tael gave a whoop as he tumbled out of the window and dropped out of sight.
"KAFEI!"
Madame Aroma's yell from downstairs caused everyone to start. In Ty's case, he clouted his skull on the window while hastily pulling himself back inside. "Oww…" Link snickered, but was quickly quieted when Kat threw a pillow in his face.
"Shh, listen!"
Heavy footfalls meant somebody was coming up the stairs. And by the nature of them, it sounded like somebody large.
"Ack, it's my Mom!" Kafei hissed urgently, his eyes wide. "Quick, pretend you're asleep!"
A massive panicky melee ensued. Everybody flung themselves into their beds and sleeping bags, and Kafei fumbled to extinguish the lamp. Chiron had the good thought to close the window. It shut with a rattling bang. Seconds later he threw himself under the covers as Madame Aroma's bulky silhouette (complete with nightcap) appeared in the doorway, lit by the small candle she held.
"Something's making noise up here," she began in a no-nonsense voice.
Several exaggerated snores answered her, and she huffed slightly. Waggling a finger, she nodded fiercely. "Good idea, all of you. You keep those eyes closed, I don't want to hear any more noise tonight. And keep that window shut, I can tell when it's open. If you don't believe me, just try your luck at being grounded for a week!" She turned to leave, stifling a mammoth yawn. "Kids these days," she grumbled, heading back downstairs.
Everything was quiet for several minutes. Then the sound of someone sitting up drifted from the left-hand corner of the room.
"Well, that went smoothly," a sarcastic male voice muttered.
"You didn't exactly help, Fairy Boy," Ty muttered, rubbing his head. It felt bruised and tender. "So now what? We can't exactly let Sond back in, now she's stuck out there too."
"And Tael too," Chiron added.
Tatl jingled moodily from underneath Link's hat. "My brother's out there? How'd that happen?"
Ty swallowed. "Uh, I kind of swatted him out the window." Ty yelped as a yellow orb suddenly hovered in front of his nose. "It was an accident!" He hissed angrily.
Tatl harrumphed and retreated back under Link's hat.
"''Ow we gonna 'xplain this un in th' morning?" Nick whispered.
"Yeah," Chiron added. "I think anybody'd notice we'd suddenly lost two people walking downstairs."
"Easy. We'll just 'sleep in.'" Kafei's voice whispered. "Both my Dad and Mom have to be up early tomorrow. We'll just wait until they've gone to leave, that way they'll never know we've got two missing."
"Sounds like a plan," Kat said from the top bunk. She yawned. "I was feeling kind of tired anyways. Goodnight."
"Yeah," Chiron agreed.
"Sleep tight."
"Nighty-night."
"G'nigh'…"
"Don't let the bed bugs bite!"
"Hey Link?" Kat said sleepily.
"Yeah?"
"Shush!" Six voices hissed.
"Oh, right-o. Goodnight!"
Link was knocked flat by six pillows.
-;O;-
Tejina snorted faintly, the scent of faint exhilaration and new green rosemary curling about her like a mantle.
Timbre glanced sidelong at the wolf pup sitting next to him on the thatched roof of the Stock Pot Inn. "What's so funny?!" He asked her.
"You are," Tejina said (or rather, growled) with a hint of amusement, "you are black and white, just like a magpie's feathers."
Timbre gave an exasperated grunt as he scratched at one ear with a hind leg. A few loose hairs floated away on the breeze. "I can't help it," he growled.
This time Tejina really did grin, her jaws opened in silent amusement. Her fur color was the same grayish-blue as it had been as a human, with a lighter underbelly and darker gray patches over both blue eyes. Her left forepaw was black, looking all the world like she's accidentally stepped in tar.
Timbre's fur, on the other hand, did indeed look like a magpie, the black traveling down his back and the white along his face, muzzle and underside. His paws were black with white toes, so he still appeared to be wearing fingerless gloves. A final black mark – a birthmark – played like a slash across his left eye.
Timbre gave up on his grooming, and lay down with a lofty sigh, the scent of bombpowder still thick in the air around them. They could smell the color of each individual burst firework, making the air heavy with the sharp iron fragrance of violet and gold, the dusty coppery tang of cerulean and green, and the cloying calcium weight of orange.
Tejina was perplexed. She'd thought this revelation would change everything with them, but Timbre still persisted with his moody and pensive demeanor. "Something is still on your mind."
Timbre's ears twitched at her slightly stilted words. She had the wolf equivalent of a slight accent, as her syntax was overly formal and occasionally clumsy, as if she were unused to speaking in this form. He quickly changed the subject. "How'd you figure me out?" His white-tipped tail thumped the roof thatch, which released a dry odor of summer heat to join the bombpowder.
"I think I smelled you last night in that alleyway after the show. You almost got the drop on me, until I got spooked and you knocked over that crate. That was you, right?"
"…yeah."
"Clumsy. I thought you knew this town."
"I do," he growled. "I just made a mistake."
"You were trying to spy on me and Kei and Ana, weren't you?"
"Anyway! So that was you that Kas saw."
"Kas?"
"Remember this afternoon? He's Ty's older brother."
"Oh, that weird man!"
"He's not weird!" The white tipped tail thumped the thatch again as he looked at her. "He just actually thinks before he starts talking."
Tejina stared at him, one ear standing straight up, the other down.
Her companion stared forwards again, wishing she'd look away from him. Wolves weren't supposed to stare at each other like that. "Well, don't worry, he'll keep his mouth shut. He knows about me, and now he most certainly knows about you too."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing."
"You are thinking I would tell someone what you are." Both of Tejina's ears went back.
"Well…uh…"
"Why would I ever do that?!" She sounded incredulous. "If I did, they would certainly have a few questions for me as well."
Timbre just growled gently. "Whatever."
"So…do your friends know about you?"
"Them? Oh yeah, they sure do."
"And they're okay with it?" Tejina sounded almost jealous at the idea.
"They're pretty okay with it. We've run into enough strange stuff by now that nothing really bothers us anymore. I mean, Link is an amazing swordsman and carries holy relics around in his pockets, and Sond is a dead shot with magic arrows – or just regular ones, for that matter. Chiron studies magic theory for fun. Kat casts magic; once she melted a forty foot long mechanical goat out of a block of solid ice. Kafei's the Mayor's son, sure, but I once saw him argue with a centuries-dead skeleton king, and win the argument. Nick and Ty can stick their hands in fire and laugh about how much it tickles. And Kas - I won't even get started on him - he's a whole enigma unto himself. Next to them, I'm boring."
He almost smiled just then, Tejina thought wistfully.
But as her companion lapsed back into silence, Tejina felt a minor wave of frustration. She tried changing the subject. "It was no- er, wasn't just that accident that tipped me off, you should know. Your eyes gave you away. Haven't you noticed this before?"
Timbre had heard people comment on his bright green eyes before, but it had never actually led anyone to conclude his true nature. "In what way?"
Tejina fidgeted and her ears twitched. "Well, mine do this too, you see. Last night on this roof, you were walking below and you looked up at me. For just a moment, your eyes reflected the light- like two bright viridian stars."
"Oh." Timbre stared forwards.
"You are still in a mood."
"It's nothing."
"And I thought you would be excited, happy to meet another of your kind. You do not see other wolves very often, do you?"
"No."
"So what is bothering you so much?"
"Nothing."
"Is this the kind of nothing where there is something wrong but you just don't want to admit it?"
"I feel guilty, alright?" Timbre suddenly snapped, his hackles raised. "About knocking that dumb crate over. I don't like to do things like that. But I did, and now it's a mess, some honey merchant down there somewhere's losing business, and now on top of it, I've got the whole town scared over nothing because they think there's a monster running loose. That's what's been bothering me, okay?"
Tejina stared, nonplussed at her bristling companion. "So, go confess."
"Yeah right! The Captain of the Clock Town Guard was there, and he didn't find boot tracks, he found pawprints. My pawprints. I don't want there to be any connection between me and well…me. There's a big difference between some friends knowing that and the whole town. I'd probably get skinned alive or something."
"Then do not worry about it. If they don't find you then all the fear will fade."
"Except I do worry. I can't help being what I am, but does that mean I'll have to act like some criminal for the rest of my life to fit in, hiding around in shadows and alleyways? Everywhere I go it'll be the same thing otherwise. I did something dumb, and now it's become everyone's problem!" The black and white wolf paced back and forth, kicking up in his wake the scent of old wheat and ashes.
Tejina watched him pensively. "So then, what are you going to do? Repay them somehow?"
Timbre stopped pacing suddenly and shook himself. He ambled over to his coat, which had been cast aside neatly. Blinking, he stuck his muzzle in one of the pockets, which smelled of stale bread, his own sweat, and sand.
Tejina laughed silently, as her companion cut a comical figure at the moment, though he was largely unaware of it. She sobered as he withdrew from the coat, with several bright objects clenched in his teeth. Letting them drop gently onto the thatch, he nodded at them. "See?"
"Two blue Rupees. But that's-"
"Actually they're purple ones. I think. Worth one hundred all together. I dug them out of a sinkhole outside town last week and pocketed them. I'd forgot I had them until just now. Maybe I could leave them to be found around where the crate was, like you said, compensation for the stuff I broke."
"That sounds reasonable. But you should leave a note too."
"What? Why?"
"So they'll know it's for compensation, otherwise someone might think they were just dropped there by mistake. Have you got any paper and something to write with in one of those pockets?"
"Rmm…" Timbre retreated into another pocket, this one smelling sharply of ink and old wood. "Yeah, I do…it's one of Tingle's fountain pens. He dropped it with some paper once when Link shot his balloon down."
"Tingle? Balloon?" Tejina looked confused.
"Uh, I'll explain later. How good are you at writing?"
"Nah-uh, you write this yourself. You did the deed, after all."
"…but I'm not very good at writing Hylian. My spelling-"
Tejina yawned widely. "It does not need to be a peace treaty, you know."
"I s'pose..." Timbre shifted back to human form so he could pick up the pen. One thing wolves lacked was an opposable thumb, which meant they had a hard time with things like writing and doorknobs. He sat cross-legged in front of the paper. Chewing on the end of the pen, he looked skyward. "Let's see if I can spell it…ugh, this pen's going dry!" He shook the pen a few times and was rewarded with a few drops of ink. "There." His tongue stuck out of the corner of his mouth as he concentrated on the words. Two minutes and a lot of pen shaking later, he sat back. "Howzat?"
Scrawled in shaky Hylian were the words: 'PAYMANT FOR THE KRAYT AND HUNNEY JARS' in all capitals. Since the pen had been acting up, there were several inky blotches as well. Tejina squinted, then looked at Timbre, her nose wrinkled in amusement.
Timbre glowered. "Hey, I told you my spelling's bad. And it isn't so bad considering I haven't had much practice. I'm still learning written Hylian, anyway. Now to tie it up."
He dug in another coat pocket and found another strip of leather from Sond's arrows. Laying the two Rupees flat on the parchment, he carefully rolled them up, tucking the ends in so they wouldn't drop out. He then tied the bundle neatly with the string.
Changing forms again, he carefully picked up the little bundle in his teeth and grunted. Loosely translated, he meant, 'See you later.'
Tejina blinked. "I'm going with you."
Timbre dropped the load for a moment so he could glare properly. "Who said you could? This is my business, not yours."
Tejina's tail waved aggressively, her ears forward. "It is a free city. I'm going with you."
"It'll be dangerous enough trying to deliver this apology. I could get caught."
"Then you will need someone along to rescue you," she replied, matter of factly.
"You could be in danger."
"I didn't know you cared." Her nose wrinkled again in a half-smile.
After a moment's contemplation and a bout of staring at his forepaws, he looked at her. Or rather, glowered.
"You are so annoying, you know that?" he accused finally, carefully lifting the bundle in his teeth and trotting back a ways for the jump to the Milk Bar's roof. With all the practice he'd had that afternoon, he was feeling rather confident with roof jumping. With an easy bound, he made it across to the soft cream-scented thatched roof.
A second later, Tejina crashed into him when she jumped, almost sending both him and his bundle toppling off of the roof. He glared again and snarled around the bundle.
"Well, you should have moved out of the way," she growled back. Timbre just rolled his eyes and harrumphed. If she wanted to tag along just to spite him, fine. But if she got into any trouble because of that, it would be her own fault, and her own business to get out.
-;O;-
Sond peered around from her perch on top of the Mayor's roof. After hearing the commotion downstairs, she'd wisely decided against tapping on the window to be let back in. If need be, she could stand watch for a while outside. It wasn't unpleasant outside, for a warm summer's night.
It was very clear and starry now that the clouds were gone, but very dark. The moon was at half phase, and there were only a few streetlamps offering soft illumination on the myriad of tents below. The town appeared deserted. The rumor had obviously spread. Not many wanted to tangle with a monster, it would seem.
Boy, if they only knew their 'monster' is ten years old, snores in his sleep, and thinks bacon is a gift from the Goddesses themselves! Sond stifled a smirk at the thought. Taking a deep breath, she turned her head towards the Stock Pot Inn's roof. Because of the dark, she couldn't tell if there was actually anybody on the veranda, not unless they stood up. She would have yelled over, save that so much noise would have alerted the Guard.
Then she would be in trouble with not only the Guard, but also with the Mayor and his wife. Sond shuddered at the thought.
Suddenly, a small dark silhouette, barely distinguishable from the night sky, leapt from the roof of the Stock Pot Inn, landing on top of the Milk Bar's roof. Sond blinked twice, as seconds later, a second shape mirrored that move and collided with the first. There was a brief scuffling and a couple of faint growls. Furrowing a brow, Sond fumbled for her quiver. Her fingers closed on an arrow.
Closing her eyes, she concentrated on the words to activate a spell. Silver arrow, fill up with light, turn back the night. There was a brief flare as the newly charged Light Arrow shone brightly, chasing away shadows. Crossing her eyes, Sond concentrated on focusing the light.
It was a trick she'd learned while adventuring few months previously; she and her friends had been trying to find their way down some particularly dark corridors. Instead of ambient light, she learned she could focus a concentrated beam in whatever direction she chose, illuminating distant objects.
Sond squinted, aiming the arrow's light directly at whatever was on the Milk Bar. They - there seemed to be two things - shrank back in surprise, a couple of shadows halting just out of the range of the light.
At first she was greeted by what appeared to be four glowing sparks hovering slightly above the roof. Then she realized something odd about the sparks. For one thing, they moved in groups of two, as if they were attached to each other. Several times, a pair would wink out of existence for an instant, then reappear. Then it hit her.
Eyes! Those are the reflections off of eyes! That meant there were two things on that roof. Sond frowned a little bit, remembering eyes down dark corridors that were not always friendly. She slowly reached behind her and unslung her bow from her back. Nocking the arrow, she drew it back and aimed at the Milk Bar's roof.
Hesitantly, one of the things stepped forward into the beam of light. Sond squinted in recognition, letting the bow slacken slightly. There was no way that thing was a stray cat, for one thing it was too big. For another thing, it had winked at her.
Tim.
Sond unnocked the arrow and waved, grinning.
The wolf answered with a friendly wag of his tail. Suddenly a quiet scraping, metal upon metal reached their ears. Peering downwards, Sond watched as a Guard on his patrol goose-stepped between the Milk Bar and the Stock Pot Inn, headed towards the tents.
Not wanting to make any more noise to alert the Guard, she beckoned with her unarmed hand. Come on over already, where in Hyrule have you been, you dope?
But the wolf deliberately shook his head from side to side. No. Sond then noticed there was something in his mouth. She beckoned again, confused, and he shook his head again. No.
What is he up to? She wondered, feeling a bit annoyed.
Timbre threw himself into a bizarre and exaggerated pantomime, which might of baffled any casual observer. He went through the act several times, looking at her as he pointed towards West Clock Town with a forepaw.
He needed to go somewhere? Why? Sond furrowed her brow. After a moment, she replied with her own pantomime. She pointed at the huge distant shadow that was the big clock. She tapped her wrist with one finger, then pointed at him. She then pointed to the roof where she sat. One hour, then you're to come straight here, you got that?
Timbre nodded agreement. A moment later, he was gone. With a sigh, Sond let the Light Arrow extinguish. Just lucky for them that Guard hadn't had the thought to look up tonight!
The clock, turned the half-hour in the distance. That makes the time eleven-thirty, then. Leaning back, Sond allowed her mind to wander. She'd have to last another hour without falling asleep, lucky for her she'd brought along an extra pack of cards. With a sigh, she suddenly wondered what that other shadow had been. She hadn't had time to ask. Maybe it had just been her imagination. Then again, how could she have imagined another pair of eyes?
-;O;-
"That was well done." Tejina remarked. Timbre just growled. "No, I am being serious! You know how hard it is to communicate with humans when you cannot speak their language? I can't get Kei to understand me half the time!" she continued, while Timbre feverishly wished she would just go away and leave him alone. Why was she so insistent on following him like a shadow?
He was retracing the route he had taken around the city's southern roofs earlier that day, which meant, unfortunately, she was as well. Still, he tried his best to keep his nose forward. Maybe if he ignored her, she would get bored and go away.
No such luck, as he would find. Rounding the corner, the dimly-lit South Clock Town square resembled a ghost town, completely deserted. Wow, Timbre thought in amazement. People really must be scared. Still, just because there was no one around in sight didn't mean that there wasn't anybody around. Any of the tents around were bound to be occupied.
He glanced sidelong at Tejina. She yawned.
"Paranoia runs deep for these people, doesn't it?"
Timbre put the bundle down for a moment. If he held it all the time he was bound to start drooling and then the ink would run. "Well, Wolfos are generally a respectable thing to be scared of. I'd be afraid."
"How are we going to get to West Clock Town from here?"
"You mean, how am I. I'm going to have to get down off these roofs to do that. West Clock Town's a narrow avenue, but the buildings are tall, you see. Maybe if I get down by the Laundry Pool, and just hug the wall…that would probably work…" Timbre galloped off suddenly, the Rupees and parchment back in his mouth. Maybe he'd be able to lose her if he hurried…
Jumping down the thatching into the Laundry Pool area was a delicate exercise, and Timbre shook himself off as his nose was suddenly filled with the smell of damp moments before his paws hit cold muddy ground. He was just contemplating the next leg of his route when a furry object hit him from above, squashing him snout first into the wet ground.
"Whoops." Tejina said. "You really need to learn to move out of the way."
Timbre disentangled himself with a wet squelch. "You did that on purpose!" Timbre accused, shoving her roughly aside. She pushed back. For a moment, the two faced off, eyes locked challengingly. Then Timbre seemed to come back to himself, shook the heavier clods of dirt out of his coat, and stalked away, still snorting out bits of mud. He shifted his grip on the bundle (he'd bit down on it rather hard when she'd hit him) and sped down the inclined alley, Tejina following easily in his wake.
Exiting into South Clock Town's main square, Timbre kept his left side close to the wall, as if willing himself to meld with it. He grunted in annoyance.
There was a Guard standing at the entrance to West Clock Town. Timbre peered around the corner leading towards the district. Dropping the bundle again, he exhaled. "All this way for nothing."
"He is bound to move sometime…" Tejina sat down next to him.
The minutes ticked by, and the Guard continued to stand at attention. He yawned once, but never once moved from his post.
"Great, it's like they expected us or something," Timbre growled.
The gray wolf yawned, stretching herself out on the ground.
Timbre tried once again to rid himself of his annoying companion. "Hey, aren't Kei and Ana going to be worried about you? Maybe you should go back."
"No, they are used to me being out, actually. They would be worried if I actually came home on time, they'd think there was something wrong with me. For humans, they really do understand." She rolled onto her back, all four paws waving in the air.
"Huh." He was about to ask her something else when Tejina's ears suddenly flicked forwards.
"Hey, do you hear that?"
Timbre copied her. "Yeah, I do…it's-"
"Bells?" The two looked at each other, confused. The jingling was very faint, so much so that the Guard wasn't alarmed. It was coming from their right. From behind a tent, a small dim light weaved dazedly along the street. The light was flickering, like a dying ember, and it occasionally bumped into walls.
"Tael!" Timbre whined, alarmed.
Tael seemed to realize where they were, and he changed course, zigzagging his way over to the Laundry Pool entrance. He looked relieved as he dropped to the cobblestones in front of them, his light fizzling out completely.
Tejina rolled upright and batted curiously at the fairy with a forepaw like she might a dead bug, but he didn't respond. Timbre roughly shouldered her away. "Don't do that!"
"Is he…" Tejina started. She'd never seen a dead fairy before. Not that she wanted to.
"No, no, he's fine, he's just stunned."
To their left, the Guard shifted from one foot to the other, his armor complaining with a metallic whine. Both wolves winced at the high-pitched noise.
"Uggh…I'm glad he takes good care of his armor…" Tejina grumbled. She looked over at Timbre, who had retreated back around the corner. He was back in human form, with the fairy held carefully in his cupped hands. The gray wolf followed suit, remembering at the last second the bundle of Rupees. She batted it into the entrance, then also retreated.
Tejina leaned against the wall with a sigh. "Your hour is going to be over and you will not have finished the job," she warned, with a low whimper.
Timbre glanced up and nodded in agreement. "Unless that Guard goes away soon, I'm gonna give up. I can always come back tomorrow, you know." As he spoke, Tael groaned loudly and his purple glow re-lit.
"Ouch…" The fairy sat up, rubbing his forehead. "Where am I?"
"Near the Laundry Pool. You got knocked out again."
"Again?" Tejina scoffed silently.
"Oh. Yeah, I fell out of Kafei's window. Must've hit the ground." The miniscule figure stood gingerly in Timbre's hand, flexing gossamer wings. "Ugh, I'm okay now…" He concentrated a little, and his wings moved in a blur. Soon he was hovering again.
Tejina stared in amazement. She'd heard fairies recovered from injuries quickly, but she'd never seen a living creature come out of total unconsciousness that quickly.
"That's good, your sister would murder us otherwise," Timbre said, not joking in the slightest.
The purple fairy finally noticed Tejina. "Who's this? Wait…is it…oh no way!" He exclaimed suddenly. "You're that girl from the show!"
Tejina looked mildly shocked as she suddenly reverted to human form. "How'd you know it was me?"
Tael grinned. "Just a hunch. Speaking of, what're you both doing down here at night? You're supposed to be at Kafei's, Tim! Everyone's wondering about you!"
Timbre smirked guiltily. "Uh, I'm on a secret mission." Tael scoffed at the lame excuse. "Okay, okay, I'm delivering some money as compensation for knocking that crate over, okay? Trouble is, that Guard's in the way, so I can't sneak by."
All three peered around the corner again. The Guard hadn't moved an inch.
"If only we could get him to go away…" Tejina mused. Then she blinked, and she and Timbre exchanged knowing glances. Tael rolled his eyes.
"Alright, I'll go distract the guy so you can do whatever…Just as long as I don't get swatted…" Tael had an irritable streak, but it wasn't half as long as his sister's.
-;O;-
Shiro the guard blinked in sudden shock as something purple flashed directly in his eyes, jingling loudly. "What the-" He grunted loudly, armor clanking. Tael dodged as a hand swiped at him, slowed down as it was by the metallic gauntlet it wore.
"Woop, missed me!" He crowed, divebombing Shiro's helmeted head.
"Ack! Stay still, you little-" The man yelled as the fairy suddenly bopped him on the nose. Angrily, he did a little dance of frustration as the fairy made a rude noise at him. "Ugh, I hate fairies!"
So distracted was the guard by the fairy, he didn't notice the two four-legged shadows that slipped behind him and into the entrance to West Clock Town. As they did so, the Clock Tower boomed twelve times.
Across town, on the Mayor's roof, Sond yawned a little. "Twelve o'clock," she murmured to herself.
Midnight.