A/n: I'm sorry, but I might have to wait longer in between postings, now that school has started. I really should be working on homework right now but… o well. Sorry this took longer than expected, but any one who still has time to read this might want to know that I will probably be posting every three or four weeks. Sorry for the delayed time, but maybe I can get back on track during the holidays. Please R&R.

Chapter 11: Oddly Convenient Encounters

Hiding in the shadows, they slipped unnoticeably through the crowds. Fear and Devoren had been slinking through the backstreets of castle town all afternoon, gathering the bearings of their new environment, and their new time. After laying down some ground rules with the fairy, she had agreed to either quietly hide in Devoren's hat until further notice, or be stuffed back into the tin can. They paused and silently watched a disturbance in the crowd. An elderly man was on his knees, begging to the guards, and causing quite a scene.

"I beg you, help me find my daughter." He cried, but the guards turned away at his pleas. "I sent her to be rid of a murderer from my country. She must have followed him here. If you find her you may find him, he is a threat to your kingdom too!"

His words were of no use. The guards continued to pay no attention to the man. He sullenly backed away from the stone soldiers, and stepped out of the crowd.

"Won't anyone help a man from Minirith?" He mumbled to himself, thinking no one had heard him. An unexpected response caused him to jerk.

"I am sure we can help you, if you help us."

The man turned rapidly to see the two dark figures of Devoren and Fear standing in the background. Their expressions were mysterious, in an almost sinister sort of way, but the man was not afraid. The promise of their help kept him from using his senses, senses which had actually been out of order for quite a long time.

"I will do anything you ask. My daughter is all I have. If you can help me find her, I would be forever in your debt."

Fear and Devoren smiled deviously.

"Accompany us, and teach us the ways of this place. We are not from these parts and are having difficulty getting around."

"Of course. I would gladly, if you can find my daughter in one piece." The man replied without question. Devoren was pleased, for he knew that it would be easier to get things done with his aid. Devoren's intentions however were not to aid the man in return. This Minrithian meant as much to him as the lowly thief Sakon did. He was merely a vessel in which he could grow and nurture his schemes. But the girl sounded like she would make for good use. Her father had sent her to hunt down a murderer, a bounty hunter would make very good company.

"Come with us." Devoren commanded. "And we shall first take care of finding your little one. Show us a picture, and give us something that belonged to her." He put his arm around the concerned father and led him into a small inn. The man walked along side of him and began digging through his bag for the items requested. Devoren directed Fear to the counter to get them a room key in which he could work his magic without interruption.

"You are in luck." He continued to say to the man. "You have fallen in favor of a very powerful wizard. I will be able to track down the whereabouts of your daughter very easily." The man smiled.

"O' thank-you… and pardon me." He said suddenly. "I am Jabono, a slave trader and merchant of Minirith. I was so excited that you were willing to help me that I nearly forgot my common courtesy."

"I am the wizard Devoren, and that is my companion… Vereor." Devoren stumbled to remember the word for Fear in his ancient language. Jabono didn't seem to understand his old tongue and continued to smile.

"And I'm!…" The little voice of the black fairy sounded as she came out of Devoren's hat. "Oh… I don't have a name, do I…" She became saddened. Devoren put a hand on his head as he tried to hide his exasperation. Vereor came creeping up to them, holding the room key he had taken from the counter.

"Shut up you nitwit…" Vereor grumbled under his breath.

"Yes!" The fairy exclaimed. "Call me… Nit!!" Jabono laughed while Vereor and Devoren fought back a grimace. When Nit received a rather harsh look from Devoren, she went quiet. It was then that Jabono handed Devoren the picture of his daughter.

"I have my daughter's necklace in the room. If you wait right here, I can run and get it for you." Jabono said excitedly. Devoren smiled and sat himself down in a chair, still holding the picture. Vereor crept by his side and glimpsed at the girl. When Jabono had left to retrieve the necklace, Vereor leaned in to whisper to his master.

"This body has seen that girl. She was in the caves with the one who freed you." He hissed quietly. Devoren smiled.

"I didn't realize how easy this was going to be…"

Arian drooled as he looked over the items on the menu. Naomi, Aura, and Amy also silently reviewed their choices, but Link sat and scanned their surroundings. Much had changed since he had last been there, and he wasn't sure if anyone would recognize him or not. Their table was getting an awful lot of glances, but that could have been because he was sitting with three girls who were as armed as the pirates were of this world.

"Are you guys ready to order?" Naomi asked in her friendly tone. Arian vigorously nodded without taking his eyes off the menu. "Do we have enough rupees to order what you want?" Naomi asked when she saw Arian's incredibly lustful gaze at the menu. Arian frowned and shook his head.

"Don't worry." Link interrupted. "I should still have an account at the local bank. We can put it on a tab and I'll pay them later." Arian's smile grew back on his face. The waitress came and they ordered their food. Link glanced nervously at the tall, scrawny waitress that seemed to be eyeing him as she wrote their orders down. Many of the women of this town had always seemed very flirtatious, and it was unwanted by Link. She left, and Link found this waiting period to be a very good time to discuss them leaving.

"Naomi." He said, breaking up a quiet conversation between the girls. The little copper haired girl looked up in acknowledgement of her name. "Is there anything behind the iron gateway to Hyrule that we need to worry about?"

"Huh?"

"The portal in the Clock Tower? You know, the one you went through to get to Hyrule?"

Naomi looked down with a slight blush.

"Yea, about that… umm… I don't think I can get through it…"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I'm not sure if it's open, or if I could get it open."

"But you got it open before?"

"…Not exactly…" Naomi whined. She desperately looked for something to change the subject. Her wish was granted. "O look! Our food's here." Unfortunately the conversation had also alarmed it's other listeners.

"Wait, so Link is going to be stuck here?!" Amy asked with disgust.

"Can't talk now… eating…" Naomi replied as she scoffed a whole roll. "Mmph.. Mmph mmph…" She mumbled to indicate that she really couldn't talk. Link rolled his eyes and grabbed the part of the roll jutting from her mouth. Naomi squealed and quickly pulled up her hand to keep chewed pieces of her roll from flying out.

"Swallow and tell me what the hell you mean by 'not exactly'." Link ordered. Naomi did as she was told and somberly looked down while she tried to figure out how to answer.

"I went through a portal… somewhere else…"

"Where?"

Naomi racked her brains to find something that could excuse her from this hounding investigation, or maybe something near the truth that she could tell him that wouldn't give away her controversial identity. Link did not seem like the kind of guy who had boded very well with the pirates, and now that Naomi thought of it, there had been lore of a little boy in green who had wreaked havoc upon them before the Pirate-Zoran wars, but that was before Naomi was allowed out of captivity. It was also hard to make such a connection. Many people walked around wearing green. Finally a good idea for the half-truth came to her.

"I was fishing…" Naomi said, catching everyone by surprise. "I caught a big one that pulled me under water, where I was sucked into a portal that took me to your lake Hylia." Naomi smiled and laughed uneasily, she silenced herself by taking her roll back from Link and nibbling on the edges.

Link was unsure of what to think. Naomi's reaction made it seem like she was embarrassed that she had gone fishing. He knew that there was either something more to this story, or Naomi was very odd. It could have been both, but he wasn't able to investigate any further. A rather loud and excited greeting interrupted their meal.

"LINK!!!" A little yellow fairy dropped a tray that had seemed to hover over her small body and quickly flew over to their table. After circling Link twice, the fairy spoke again. "My you've grown! I thought you would be a runt your whole life. Man, is this a relief!" Link blinked.

"Yes, Tatl. It is a big relief…" Link said, much less enthusiastically than Tatl. Navi realized what was happening and gave Link her suspicious fairy stare.

"Link?! You know this fairy? Whose fairy is she?" Navi asked, slowly closing in on Link's face. Tatl answered for Link.

"I don't belong to anyone, but I let Link help me save Termina the last time he was here." The little yellow fairy bragged. Navi grew red.

"Link!! You… you fairy cheated!"

"Is there even such a--"

"YES!!!" Navi interrupted Link's statement very quickly. An awkward silence followed. Everyone was relieved when it was interrupted by another little fairy.

"Tatl? What are you-- Link! I almost didn't recognize you." The little purple fairy said.

"Hello Tael…" Link said with a sigh.

"TWO FAIRIES!!?" Navi squeaked. The little purple fairy flew over to the stressing Navi.

"Hi, I'm Tael. Who are you?" Navi quickly lost her attention span.

"I'm Navi. THE fairy of Link. Yeah, we travel together. He's not too bright." Navi said, whispering the last part. However, it was a very audible whisper and Link rolled his eyes. Amy nodded her head in agreement, making Link glare at her. Unfortunately she wasn't the only one to agree.

"You're telling me" Tatl cut in. "I only helped him so that I could get the skull kid to snap out of being a bum, but Link landed us in all sorts of troubles. And it came to no avail, that skull kid is a bum again. Link's good at getting rid of trouble, but he can never keep it away." Link bit his tongue to keep from saying anything. Amy tried not to laugh too hard, but made sure that her enjoyment of this "Link-bashing" by the fairies was very obvious. Naomi noticed the tension, and while she found it amusing, she knew that it should end before Link's ego got too damaged. Aura silently sipped on her soup, amused that the fairies were getting along so quickly and felt that it was none of her business to cut in. Naomi, however, did not have a problem with getting into other people's business.

"What's wrong with the skull kid?" Naomi interrupted, trying to change the subject. The little Tatl seemed happy to tell of the troubles with the skull kid, which was a relief to Link, but he refused to show any gratitude. Instead he pretended to listen intently while he sipped on his drink.

"Well, this isn't the only new restaurant. One opened in the Clock Tower, called the Shrub Club. It's a place where the deku shrubs work, and now the skull kid does, and he's always trying to put our fairy restaurant out of business."

Naomi nodded, but it was very obvious that she did not find this to be a very important dilemma. Link also tried to keep an interested face, even though rivaling restaurants was the last thing on his mind.

"And the worst part is that they won't let you visit the downstairs anymore, so we can't go see your forest, Link. That's why we haven't visited yet." Tatl finished.

"This means we definitely can't go through that way…" Link said in a growl. "I suppose we'll have to get a little wet and get back to Hyrule through your way Naomi."

"You mean you aren't going to help me Link?? That's not fair!!! I helped you!" Tatl fussed. Link sighed, he hated the guilt trips… and the pleading people. For some reason he could never refuse to help someone who asked, and everyone seemed to ask him for help.

"Fine Tatl…" Link sighed. "I will help you, but we have to be quick about it. No offense to you, but I want to get out of here as quickly as possible." He glared at Amy and she smiled dumbly. "Let's go."

Arian began to sadly depart from his bowl of soup to follow Link, as was the rest of the group, but Link turned around sharply.

"I can handle this one on my own. It shouldn't take very long." Aura and Naomi sat down quickly, Link had taken on a sharp tone that they did not want to mess with. Arian didn't seem to care, he went back to eating anything left on the table. Amy stood for a moment and then shrugged.

"I don't want to be stuck with you alone." She snapped and then joined Aura and Naomi. Link turned and left with Tatl and Navi following him, the two fairies now talked and reminisced with one another about their adventures with Link.

A/n: Remember to R&R Please!