An Act to Follow — Part 12 — Last-minute entrants
Chiron looked up sharply at Kat's exclamation. "Really? What song?"
Kat smiled. "I'd just remembered, that Kokiri song about the Lost Woods. Remember that one?"
Sond and Link quickly nodded, but Nick's eyes traveled upwards from his chili bowl, in thought. He attempted to hum a few bars. "Eh, can' ge' th' melody rig' cause I dun sing."
"Twist and turn, evermore, listen to the song of the sacred woods…" Timbre sang the first few bars quietly. Several heads turned, and Tejina's eyes flickered wonderingly for a moment.
"Yes! That's the one!" Kat exclaimed.
"And not many people from Termina will have heard it before, so there's less of a chance someone else is already playing it tonight," Sond added, retrieving her flute between bites of her sandwich, noting the lost look on Ty's face. "It's the one with the flute solo and the big drum beat."
"Oh yeah," Ty agreed quietly, nibbling on some cheese. "I like that song."
"I say we go for it…'course we'll be down one voice…" Link trailed off awkwardly, shot a glance at Timbre, and suddenly paid closer attention to his sandwich. "Uh, it might be difficult, but we could do it still."
Kei looked down at his sister. "You still haven't eaten anything."
"M'not hungry," Tejina answered.
Kneeling down, Kei looked concerned. "You're always hungry, Come on, squirt, you need to eat something…are you feeling okay?"
"I'm just fine," the girl replied, not looking it at all as Kei felt her forehead. She refused to move her head at all, staring at the wall, and only flinched marginally when Kei's fingers suddenly ran over the red scratches on her arms.
Ana and Kei looked at each other, concerned. "Look, we know you're upset that you've had to stay in here, but-"
"They locked the door," Tejina said, accusingly.
Kei scratched his ear. "Because you two have gotten into enough trouble already. Kafei and his friends did it for your own good. Just a little longer, alright?"
The girl's eyes roved over towards Timbre, who was currently pretending she didn't exist, and she him.
"I…I guess…" Tejina said slowly, her mind working quietly. She idly took a sandwich from Kei.
"We'll, we do have to get practicing…the first act starts at seven-thirty, and it is currently…a little past five…" Kafei said, making use of his pocketwatch. He looked around. "But where we gonna go?"
"Well, the acoustics in here aren't perfect…" Kat murmured, looking around the small shack. "But it'll have to do. Unless we wanna practice out in the open-"
"We'd give our song away!" Ty protested, as he stood to help put the leftovers of dinner out of the way. Behind him, Tejina suddenly jumped up as Kafei struggled with and dropped a fruit basket.
"An' besides, here we already have an audience!" Link said, pointing at Kei, Ana, and Kasumi, who'd remained silent for quite some time.
"Oof!" In the background, Tejina collided with Kafei as they both scrambled to gather the fruit rolling about on the floor.
"Whoops, be careful, alright?" Kafei said.
"Sorry, just trying to help…" Tejina blushed.
"Do y'think they min'?" Nick looked hopeful, undistracted.
"Hey, not at all, right squirt?" Kei grinned, sitting down and pulling Tejina onto his lap as she passed. The girl squeaked in protest, but then giggled a little. Timbre looked up from his corner, brow furrowed. Kasumi just leaned impassively in the back.
"You too Tim, you know our music firsthand, so you can be the critic." Kat called.
"Gee thanks," Timbre grumbled, turning their way. For a moment, he caught Tejina's eyes as she laughed with her brother. Both blinked and looked away quickly.
"Right," Kat said. "Hope we all remember the words. One and a-two, and a…"
-;O;-
The owner of the Curiosity Shop held his head as more dust rattled from the roof. Takkuri squawked loudly, flapping its wings and jarring its injury. The disgruntled avian snapped its beak at the nearest object, a cheap vase, and sent it crashing to the floor. The cause of the disturbance was coming from the back of the store:
The Curiosity Shop man groaned as the words to a song rang clearly through the wall. Not that it was bad music, per say, but it was rather eerie.
"Ruddy kids, probably entered that contest tonight," The man grunted, putting things back up on their shelves. "They're certainly making a racket, I kid you not…"
"Squawk!" Takkuri apparently agreed.
-;O;-
Tejina could still hear the song in her mind. An hour and a bit had passed since the dinnertime practice session, and everybody had left, leaving her and Timbre back to their uncomfortable silence. She sighed, looking over at him, still reluctant to talk to him, but knowing they simply couldn't leave things how they stood. It had been simple enough to put it off and ignore each other when there were other people to talk to, but without company, the silence was becoming almost solid. The room felt as if it was slowly shrinking, and soon she wouldn't be able to move at all. The very thought of staying silent and immobile for much longer was driving her mad-
"Stop staring," Timbre snapped suddenly, and Tejina realized she had been staring at him. His green eyes were intense, nearly glowing with ire despite the fact she wasn't shining any light in them.
"Sorry," she replied, gloomily, quickly looking away. "I didn't-"
"What is wrong with you?" Timbre demanded, venomously.
Tejina withered slightly. "That hurt, you know."
"Well it hurt when you nailed me in the stomach, but you didn't really mind that too much, did you?" Timbre snapped.
"I panicked. Veneer was there, and-"
"Why."
"What?"
"Why do you keep bothering me? If you have to say anything, at least answer me that much."
"I-I…" She looked over at him, quickly looked away, and bit her lip fretfully. "I don't know why, alright? There's…no words. I just wanted to get to know you. That's all."
"You can't simply force someone to acknowledge you, no matter how hard you try," Timbre said somewhat bitterly, his eyes hard. "It just brings out the worst in you."
"I didn't mean for it…I just…I can't…look, I'm sorry…" Tejina's voice quivered slightly.
"Now don't start crying," Timbre said contemptuously, although he was frowning. "It's…just don't," he finished, the bitterness suddenly turning to misery. He stared down at his boots guiltily.
Tejina busily wiped her eyes.
"Besides, you don't want to get to know me," Timbre said hoarsely. "I'm nobody. I've been nothing but terrible to you."
"You weren't terrible enough to leave me to the hunter," Tejina pointed out quietly. "Thank you, by the way."
Timbre mumbled something and looked away.
"I didn't enjoy hurting you earlier," Tejina added, sniffling. "But if Veneer found us…well, he wouldn't care what it looked like, he'd have killed us both. I had to do something."
Timbre scratched at the back of his head. "I know," he said quietly. "I kind of lost my head back there. We'd have been in big trouble if you hadn't. And I am sorry for scratching and yelling at you for it. You didn't deserve that."
That was the only thing said for a few minutes, leaving instead the self-conscious quiet that always hangs about after a fight has lost its momentum.
"Hey Tejina."
"What?"
"Make conversation," Timbre said awkwardly, and they both laughed timidly.
After she sobered, Tejina asked apprehensively, "May we start over? I mean, put what's happened behind us? No hard feelings?"
Timbre nodded willingly. "Okay. I've had enough of being a jerk. Truce."
"So, now what?" Tejina finally said.
"I dunno," Timbre said quickly.
"Well, I for one feel we need to address the issue of the door," Tejina said.
Her companion twisted his head to one side, confusion in his expression. "Not much to address. It's locked, and we're stuck on the wrong side of it."
"Well, let's say hypothetically, it wasn't locked. Then what would you do?"
"Well, I'd be awfully tempted to leave," Timbre admitted. "Go to the talent competition, see my friends, even if I could only watch. I know, I'm an idiot, but there you are. Why do you ask?"
Tejina fumbled with something in her pocket. "No real reason," she said dubiously.
Timbre frowned. "Hold on. What do you know that I don't?"
"Nothing…"
"Last time I tried that line, you beat it out of me!" Timbre protested.
"No, actually I just stated a fact, and then you verified it," Tejina smirked widely.
"Would you just tell me already?" Timbre said in exasperation, although there was something different about it this time.
"Why?"
"Well, why would you mention anything if you didn't plan to tell?"
"Your logic baffles me. But I suppose…" Tejina was beginning to enjoy this. It wasn't fun to actually fight, but it was fun to pretend to.
"Fine then," Timbre said, crossing his arms, smirking slightly. "Maybe I don't want to know."
Tejina mock-frowned. "Well, if you don't want to know, then too bad for you, I'm telling you anyway."
" Please share. I look eagerly forward to ignoring you."
"Well," Tejina said, trying hard not to smile, "The first trick was finding out who had it. My brother accidentally let that info slip. As for the second trick-"
Tejina flipped something small from her pocket. It was a small key, made of brass. Timbre blinked and looked from it to the door with a slack jaw, and then back at the girl. There was a sudden respect in his eyes.
"But…how? Wh-"
"Well, I'm not exactly sloppy. If someone's distracted it's pretty easy to filch something small, like a key. Or a headband-"
"Ahem."
"Hehe. I did it when Kafei and I were gathering all that fruit," Tejina explained. "Slight of hand comes in handy now and again. The world should be lucky I didn't decide to become a professional pickpocket."
Timbre would have hugged her if he didn't detest such acts of random exuberance. "Well, I guess the problem of the door has just been solved." He grinned. "At least we can watch my friends, if we stay out of sight."
"We?" Tejina looked surprised.
"Aren't you coming too?"
"Well, you want me to?"
"Seems only fair, you got the key after all. Anyhow, if we stay part of the crowd-"
"And human," Tejina added.
"Right," Timbre agreed. "I just wish we could do something more…you know, so we weren't so recognizable…"
"That can be arranged, we've got some stuff stored back at the Inn. Also, I'd leave the overcoat behind if I were you."
"Why?"
"Cause, its kind of obvious and I haven't seen many other people with one. Where did you get that thing from, anyway? And why won't it change with you?"
"A long story…but it isn't important right now," Timbre added, slipping out of the coat. He folded it carefully and tucked it in the corner.
Tejina scrutinized him. He looked a great deal smaller without the coat, small enough to be considered scrawny, especially around the shoulders. He blinked at her, confused, and then accepted the key as she handed it to him. Sucking in a deep breath, he tried it in the lock. It turned, and the all but musical sound of a door's hinges echoed through the stuffy room. Next moment, the door had opened into the twilight, dousing both of them in the cool air of the day's end.
"After you," Timbre genuinely smiled at her for the first time.
-;O;-
The stage in front of the Clock Tower was dramatically lit, utilizing the tower that the carpenters had built earlier in the year during the Carnival of Time. The giant mirrored lanterns that had originally been on either side of the stage were now situated upon the structure. This meant they could be focused towards the stage in a beam, creating a spotlight. Shadows danced around as the clock's colorful face slowly rotated. The grounds were nearly completely covered by the crowd; apparently word had gotten around about the show. A nearby poster listed many of the acts to come.
"Aww man," Kat groaned as she stared at said poster. "We're last on the kids' division, right after the Bombers, see?"
"Well, it's better than going first," Ty said sagely. "We'll be fresher in the judges' minds. And following the Bombers…won't be a tough act to follow. It could be a lot worse…"
"Yeah, we'll blow those judges away, an' have our reward money before we can blink twice! Oops, sorry!" Sond had waved her flute in the air exuberantly. In her excitement, she'd accidentally whacked Chiron on the back of the head. Unfortunately this had occurred right when he was tuning his guitar, causing the offended instrument to let out a tuneless twang in protest.
"Ack! Sond!" Chiron chewed his lip, readjusting the offending string. He strummed it a few times, then nodded, seemingly satisfied. "Okay, I'm definitely in tune this time."
"Good," Link said, pocketing his ocarina.
"Aren't you gonna warm up?" Chiron looked confused.
"Warm up? With the sacred relic that is the Ocarina of Time?" Link asked, as if outraged. "This thing's magical, it couldn't play a sour note if I tried!"
"Actually…" Tatl piped up suddenly. "Remember that time you missed a high D, and you somehow ended up teleporting twenty feet in the air above the Southern Swamp? What a glorious sound that made, the pitiful wail of a young boy beautifully harmonizing with the unerring SPLAT of said boy hitting the bog below…"
Everyone chortled, remembering that.
Tatl pressed, "I'm just saying, you never know with these magical relics-"
"There's a time when a fairy needs to be seen and not heard," Link said darkly. Tael snickered behind his sister, until he caught the boy's expression. He fell silent rather quickly.
"Just let me see that thing for a second," Tatl offered. "If there's any dirt clogging the mouthpiece…"
"No way, we're gonna be playing soon. You keep you little fairy paws off!" Link warned, cradling the ocarina as if it were made of eggshell.
"Playing soon?" Kat scoffed. "Maybe, if everyone else's songs are two seconds long…"
"Yeah, no 'urries, ri'? We're las', no' firs', y'know…" Nick idly tapped at the drum under his right arm.
Kafei cracked his knuckles. "Well, better safe than sorry. What if people didn't show up and we had to play earlier than we thought? It could happen…Oh great, Dad's up for another one of his speeches again…" Sure enough, Mayor Dotour was making an appearance on the stage.
"Good evening," said the Mayor, coughing.
"And there's Mom…" Kafei groaned.
The stage bowed slightly as Madame Aroma walked onto it. Since her voice carried more, her greeting was much more audible. "Hello everyone! Welcome to the last night of the Midsummer Festival!"
A loud cheer greeted her words.
"Now, as tradition, we end our Festival with a talent show. We have a good dozen acts to get through tonight, so it should prove most entertaining. Our judges this evening…"
Madame Aroma made a great sweep with her hand, gesturing towards the right of the stage. A small raised podium seated three figures.
"First, representing Clock Town's administration, my and Mayor Dotour's son, Kafei Dotour!" Big Kafei grinned a little, waving as the crowd politely applauded.
"Hey, my big brother's a judge?!" Kafei smirked. "This might be easier to win than I thought…"
Kei and Ana walked up, smiling. "You kids ready for your act?"
"Yeah!" Came the chorus of voices.
"Next," Madame Aroma continued, "Representing the Clock Town Guard, none other than Captain Viscen!"
Kat's jaw dropped as the crowd applauded again. "Now I'm really glad that we locked that door, look who's standing behind Viscen…" Sure enough, Veneer's scowl was just visible beyond Viscen's helmet.
Kafei smiled, sticking a hand in his pocket. "Yep, glad I had that key-" He stopped in mid sentence, fumbling wildly.
"…our special guest Tito, manager of the world famous Indigo-Gos!"
The audience cheered passionately, and a few catcalls split the square. Kafei, however, was madly squirming, checking both his pockets. "That's weird…"
"What?" Link blinked. Tatl was about to try and poke the Ocarina of Time when Link idly waved her away. "It's still there, right?"
"Uh…" Kafei's voice didn't sound very optimistic.
"The key's gone?"
Kafei nodded. "Just this thing…" He pulled out a small brass-colored object.
Kei squinted. "That's one of Tee's earrings, it was part of her costume the other day."
Chiron raised an eyebrow. "Does that mean that…"
Kei looked furious. "That little brat! She knows she not supposed to steal from people's pockets!"
"…and now she's got…the key…to the door…" Chiron pointed out.
A group consisting of two adults and seven kids hurried with great alacrity in the direction of the Laundry Pool, as behind them the show started to tumultuous cheers.
-;O;-
The small room was empty. Kei's voice was livid, and his fists clenched, though even this expression couldn't dull the worried look in his eyes.
"She's gone! They're both gone!"
"Except for Tim's coat, you mean. Check it out." Link lifted the object in question.
"So, they're loose somewhere in the city right now," Chiron started hesitantly.
"Unfortunately," Ana said wearily. "We should have left someone here with them."
Kafei tried his best to put a positive spin on the events. "Well, if they're smart and keep their heads down-"
"Smart? If they'd been smart they would've stayed here." Kat grumbled.
"But if they were clever enough to get out, then I think they're smart enough to be alright," Chiron said. "Hopefully-"
"If th' Vene'r dud' dun fin' 'em, y'mean…" Nick chewed his lip. "Well, there's th' crow'd an' all…it's unlikely, ri'?"
"Yeah, they'll stay human and in the crowd somewhere, so he won't find them…" Link said, sounding like he were trying to convince himself as much as the others. Then he suddenly brightened, as if he'd just had a brilliant idea. He took off his cap and shook it upside down forcefully.
Two irate glowing balls shot out, narrowly missing the floor.
Ignoring the high pitched curses, Link asked them both a favor. "Tatl…and Tael, you too…Timbre and Tejina took off. They're somewhere in Clock Town, problem is, so is that hunter guy."
Tatl said something that sounded like "Razzlesnort."
Ignoring this, Link continued. "So, do you think you could find the terrible two for us? Keep an eye out on them, y'know?"
The yellow glow that was Tatl yawned. "Why should we?"
Tael looked exasperated, if not as sleepy as his sister. "Not very tactful of you, making demands on us poor fairies all the time."
"And since when are you so concerned for Timbre's safety?" Tatl added snidely.
Link scowled. "Come on, this is serious! You know he's our friend! That hunter's around, and well, do you want to see them dead or captured or worse? You two can fly, so you could spot them faster than we can on the ground."
"And if you can't find them, at least try and find my brother," Ty added. "He'll know what to do."
"Oh…alright…" Tatl said grudgingly. "Fuzzy might be a little fleabag, but I guess seeing him as a rug would be kind of gross. And that girl, she's alright too, she doesn't deserve that."
"We'll find 'em, both of 'em." Tael promised. "We'll find 'em in no time!"
"Speaking of time…" Kafei said distractedly, as Tatl and Tael both zoomed out the doorway (Tael with a miniscule salute). "I think that we should get back to the stage, if anything, to find those two…"
Ana frowned. "You're not thinking of missing your act?"
The seven kids fidgeted.
Ana smiled. "In show business, we have a saying: 'The show must go on.'"
Kat fidgeted nervously. "But what about-"
Kei smiled too, though a bit ruefully. "We'll be searching…And you did practice so well. I think you're in good league to win that competition."
Ana nodded at this. "Go ahead. We have another saying in show business as well: break a leg," she said, smiling.
As the children left the Laundry Pool, they gave puzzled looks to one another.
"Break our legs? What good would that do?" Link murmured, chewing a hangnail.
"I could think of a lot of good it would do." Ty said darkly, his eyes slightly narrower than usual.
"Not until after the show, please!" Kat and Sond said together, desperately.
"Yeah, it's a little difficult to perform with your kneecaps ripped off," Chiron added. This gruesome statement rewarded him with several horrified facial expressions from the others.
"Ick, there's something I didn't need to envision..." Kafei looked slightly nauseated.
As they stepped back into South Clock Town, the unmistakable sound of Goron drumming and singing came slowly into existence. Sond grinned, tilting her head to the beat. She'd always taken a liking to Goron music, something about the yelping quality of the stone people's voices was just very appealing.
"Well, mebbe th' competition won' be as easy as w' though' 'twould be…" Nick murmured, leaning against the wall. "'Ope we're tuned."
Kat ticked off on her fingers. "Right, the act before us is supposed to be th' Bombers, right? And they come four acts after these guys're done," she finished. "So there we go."
"That's a lot of talent before us," Chiron said. "We could lose our nerve."
"Lose our nerve? What kind of talk is that? We've never failed at anything once we've put ourselves up to it," Ty said.
"You failed to get revenge on me," Link pointed out, smugly.
"As you may recall," Ty said grinning, "the time limit for that revenge isn't up until tomorrow. You aren't off the hook yet, Fairy Boy."
"Don't call me that! And what're you grinning at?" The boy said hastily.
"Nothing…" Ty replied in a singsong tone of voice. He was now rocking back and forth on his heels, and his eyes were twinkling.
"You know, you're creepy when you grin like that," Chiron pointed out.
"I know…" Ty agreed vaguely, still smiling.
"Wassup, Kaii?" Nick added.
"You'll see…" Ty murmured. "You'll see…"
-;O;-
The crowd they were mired in was heavy, and fortunately too involved in the Bombers' act to notice two more children. Timbre lifted the dark glasses from in front of his eyes a moment so he could peer properly. A quick trip back to the Stock Pot Inn had gained him and Tejina some new accessories: a pair of dark glasses each, which hid their eyes from any bright lights.
Tejina had explained hastily, when they'd been back at her room in the Inn. "The glasses are for when I do backstage stuff, they're dark so I don't go off advertising someone's fixing the props behind the real performers, you see. Lucky for us I've got a spare. So these glasses-"
"There's nothing wrong with my vision," Timbre had said, annoyed.
"I know that, dummy," she had replied, shoving them onto his face so quickly he didn't even have time to flinch. "It's not to help you see, it's to help others not to see you. Or your wolfy eyes, anyway. They'll keep the light from reflecting off them, you see? Just in case Veneer or Viscen's being observant."
Timbre had nodded as Tejina donned her own pair.
The sharp dig of his companion elbowing him roughly in the ribs brought Timbre abruptly back to the present.
"Ouch! What?!"
"The act's over, you're supposed to applaud," she reminded him. The act in question had been the Bombers, who had attempted (key word being 'attempted') to sing an acapella version of a sacred song called the Oath to Order.
"If the four giants had heard that coming from the Clock Tower when we battled Skull Kid, I think they would have let the moon drop." Timbre grumbled.
"So, what?" You think you could do better?" Tejina said, raising an eyebrow.
"We did do it a lot better, if you'll recall. I think my friends will win this competition, even without me!" Timbre said.
"Speaking of, there they are now…" Tejina pointed as Timbre's friends emerged onto the stage, light glinting off of their instruments.
Timbre looked just a little wistful as the song began wafting from the stage, sounding just as it had during practice:
"Twist and turn, evermore, listen to the song of the sacred woods,
Forevermore,
If you're lost, listen well, and you'll hear the path open up to you,
Into the woods…"
"Hmm," Timbre murmured gloomily.
Tejina sighed as if this disappointed her. "I thought you'd be happy to hear your friends sing."
"Well, I am…It's just…"
"Just what?"
The boy sighed again.
Tejina was about to ask what he meant, but decided to hold her tongue. It wasn't the time for levity.
Timbre struggled to find the right words. "It's just…I haven't felt like this since-" Timbre's face suddenly fell with sudden understanding.
"Tim? What's wrong?"
"…this is what you meant, isn't it?"
"What?"
"You mentioned it earlier, that feeling like the world moves around you, but you 're not a part of it. Like you're on the outside, looking in. It was driving you mad, wasn't it? It's why you won't – you couldn't - leave me alone. It's why you were so desperate to be involved, even though your life could be in danger. It's the same reason you stole the key, but waited until we weren't fighting to use it."
Tejina said nothing, even as through the dark glasses, Timbre's stricken eyes met her own. Green stared into blue in wordless acknowledgement.
"You see Kei and Ana as your family, but-"
"Tim-"
"-you've spent your entire life never knowing if you were truly alone in the world or not-"
"Tim-"
"-with concepts and feelings that you just…had no words for-"
Then it hit him. The reason that it was hard to explain was that they'd both been looking for words in the human tongue, and there just weren't any for this. So Timbre spoke instead in lupine, the sound barely audible above the song and roaring crowd, though his eyes made the meaning clear.
The words hit Tejina like a blow to the stomach. Before she could stop herself, she choked back a strangled sob, turning quickly away from him.
Timbre watched her helplessly. "I'm…I'm sorry..."
The next thing the startled boy knew, she had spun and thrown her arms about him in a tight embrace, burying her face in his right shoulder. Timbre braced himself awkwardly as he was nearly knocked over in a cloud of rosemary-scented hair.
A moment later, as if suddenly recalling where they were, Tejina pulled herself away. The girl regarded him dolorously, her eyes shining. "I…I…I want to dance," she abruptly demanded.
Before he could make any reply, before he even realized what was happening, she'd grabbed him by both hands. The world flew past in a sudden dizzy blur as she led him along to the wild forest song. The roar and presence of the crowd around them seemed to fade away. A woozy feeling grew in Timbre's gut as they spun wildly, but he forced himself to quiet his complaints. At least he decided he wouldn't protest until the double trails of tears on her cheeks were dry…
Both of them were so absorbed in the moment that they didn't even realize the crowd had begun parting to give them room to dance.
-;O;-
Cheers erupted all around the stage as the last strains of the Kokiri melody floated away into the summer evening. Grinning wildly, the kids bowed, Link with a swordsman's flourish (at least until Ty's tail 'accidentally' tripped him up). Walking offstage, they all gabbled excitedly, though they were both warm and exhausted from their efforts.
"That was great!" Kat exclaimed happily. "The crowd loved us!"
"And it was fun, besides…" Sond smirked. "Though we could've gone without that skipped measure in verse three, Link."
"Wasn't my fault, I inhaled a fly!" The Hylian swatted around, frustrated. Nearly falling down, he ambled over to their huddle.
"Yeah, let's find a seat or two, the judges might take a while to decide that we've won," Kafei said confidently. Offstage, they found several crates that were yet out of use.
"Tha' takes a lo' outta yeh, playin' li' tha," Nick said, flopping down with a whoosh.
"Yeah, didn't help with those hot spotlights in our eyes. It was like they were trying to blind and bake us, or something." Chiron flopped similarly, and Kafei leaned, letting out a long sigh.
"Well I for one wasn't bothered by the lights too much," Link bragged, swatting away another fly. "Argh, why aren't these things bugging you guys?!"
"Dunno," Ty said, with an enigmatic smirk. "Maybe they're attracted to your sweet, sugary personality."
"Or not," Link retorted. "Say, where are Tatl and Tael? You'd think they'd found those two by now…Unless they fell asleep on the job."
"They're still looking," said a calm voice behind them.
"Hey Kas," More than half a dozen voices rang in unison.
"How do you know that?" Link half-demanded.
"Because, they found me and I talked with them," Kasumi said patiently, as if all questions had an obvious answer.
"Oh." Ty smirked a little. "They'll be alright, right?" He looked up at his big brother hopefully.
Kas didn't say anything, but that didn't matter much because Link had just sat down.
Normally, a person sitting down wouldn't be such a momentous occasion, but in this case, a small exception was in order. For when the green-clad Hylian sat down, something squelched. Loudly. Link's eyes crossed.
"Ack, what did I just sit in?!"
"Nothing," Chiron said. "There wasn't anything on the crate at all. You just sat down."
Link jumped up quickly, his eyes slightly wide. His gaze traveled slowly back to the seat of his pants, which were now sporting a dark stain of some kind.
Sond and Kat giggled, quickly joined by the rest of the children.
"Oh dear, that is funny…" Kat snickered.
"Did someone have an accident?" Chiron ask, then fell to laughing.
Even Kas seemed to be fighting a smirk from emerging. Link, on the other hand, looked furious.
"This isn't any laughing matter!" He half-shouted, causing several onlookers to glance over in alarm. "These are my only shorts! And now they're wet with…something…eww…" Fishing in his pockets, Link withdrew a mushy bag. "I never had this! What is this stuff? Glop?"
"Smells like lemons," Kafei remarked, giggling.
"Lemon goo'," Nick agreed, sanguinely.
"Lemon gelatin," Ty said matter of factly.
Link turned an angry eye on the boy with the tail. "You!"
"Me." Ty said, smiling a bit.
"It was you, wasn't it?!"
"Intelligent, aren't you?" Ty smirked. "Told you I'd get back at you, Fairy Boy. And now that my revenge is complete, I have something to say."
"What's that?" Link said, starting to flush.
"That lemony-fresh victory is mine," Ty said, leaning in and looking incredibly pleased with himself.
"So help me I'll strangle you!" Link growled, hands clenching and unclenching.
"Bring it," Ty said calmly.
"Please stop." Kasumi deftly placed himself between the two boys. "Both of you." Both children did so. "Thank you. At the moment there are other things that are more important."
"What could be worse than this?" Link wailed, pointing at his stained shorts.
Kasumi pointed wordlessly at the two glowing lights descending upon the group.
"Hi there!" Tael squeaked.
"We're back." Tatl called. She suddenly sniffed. "Hey, does anybody else smell lemons?"
"Never mind that!" Link snapped. "Did you find them?"
The siblings exchanged a look. "Well…" Tael began.
"We've got good news and bad news…" Tatl added.
"The good news is that we know where they are right now." Tael said.
"Well that's fortunate," Sond said.
"Wait. What's the bad news?" Kat said.
"Uh, that." Tatl said, gesturing towards the stage, where Kafei's father was currently standing.
"Well, originally," Mayor Dotour wheezed, "That was to have been our last for the child competition. However, we have just received word of two last minute entrants. By popular demand, the judges and I have deemed that they be allowed to perform."
"What? But we were the last act!" Chiron cried, indignantly.
"Yeh! Oo'd be crazy enou' t'enter at th' las' min'te?" Nick asked, his eyes wider than usual.
That question really didn't need to be answered: two small figures were herded onto stage, the light glinting brilliantly off of the sunglasses they both were wearing.
"Oh dear," Kat said.
"We tried to stop them," Tael said. "Honestly, but the crowd wouldn't hear any of it. They'd even paid for their entrance fee and everything."
"Wonderful. Why don't they just change forms up there while they're at it?" Kafei grumbled, fortunately at a level that wouldn't be overheard.
"Calm down, everyone." Sond said. "The guards aren't reacting…See, even Veneer's not too interested…" Veneer was still sitting behind Viscen, looking completely bored.
"Well, what can we do?" Chiron said.
"Sit back, watch, and hope for the best. If we interrupt them now it'll draw too much attention."
A chorus of 'ayes' agreed with Kat's statement.
"But I wonder what they got pulled up there for." Kat wondered.
Tejina said something to the Zora band set up in front of the stage. Not many of the acts had yet requested musical accompaniment, so they nodded eager animated agreement at her request.
Within moments, a lively song called 'The Twin Witches' Heelstep' began.
And then…
"Wow," Sond said after a moment. "Timbre's...dancing."
There was a second chorus of 'ayes.'
-;O;-
Behind Viscen, Veneer yawned.
Viscen was smiling and tapping a foot along to the music. "Oh dear, going to be hard to choose between these kids' acts. I never knew our city's youth had so much talent."
Veneer just rolled his eyes. Idiot, he thought to himself. He's supposed to be here to keep a lookout, instead he's taking this judging thing seriously. Annoyed, Veneer grunted.
"Enjoying ourselves, are we?" Viscen said, somewhat just to spite the grouchy hunter.
Veneer grunted again. Letting his eyes rove listlessly over the crowd, he let his vision finally rest on the two small figures currently dancing on stage. It was a boy and a girl, though peculiarly the girl seemed to be leading.
Both were wearing dark glasses. Almost as if they wished themselves to be slightly disguised-
"No," Veneer said more to himself than anyone else. "It couldn't be…"
"What's that?" Viscen said sharply.
"Nevermind." Veneer rolled his eyes.
On Viscen's right, one of the judges - the Mayor's older son - chuckled, and then murmured to his wife seated next to him. "I know that boy. He's a friend of my little brother. Odd though, usually that little group of friends of his sticks together like glue. He must've taken a real shine to that illusionist girl."
Something was echoing in Veneer's mind as he overheard.
Hangs around with the Mayor's younger son and a whole bunch of other kids…Veneer's eyes flickered towards the black-haired boy on stage. He wasn't wearing the overcoat, but that made it easier for Veneer to note something even more interesting.
He was wearing black fingerless gloves.
Veneer quietly fumbled in his pockets for the Sheikah lens he'd purchased that afternoon, keenly curious as to what exactly he would see. Holding it up to one eye, he ignored the sudden stab of pain in his forehead and let the disorienting glass focus itself on the dancing children.
At first all he saw was the boy's bright green aura swirling around the girl's blue one. But then, as he focused more intently, he became acutely aware of something that was very odd about both of them. As it focused upon the boy, his shape through the lens was slightly out of focus, and seemed continually in flux with a second, ghostlyshape swirling in tandem with his movements. It flickered faintly in and out of existence with his every movement, almost like a fish hovering just below the surface of a still pond.
Or like a wolf hiding under a human skin…Gently kicking the back of Viscen's chair, Veneer smiled despite his headache as he mumbled softly to himself. "Aha."