Chapter 6: Friends and Rivals

"And there's the gallery," Natasha pointed into a room, with Link and Aryll following her. "Humans call them 'kitchens'. But why would you call it a kitchen if we're practically a quarter talon from the sea?"

Natasha was giving Link and Aryll a tour around Forsaken Fortress. The Crowhen tribe had officially renamed it "Feather Flats" but the place was nowhere close to the name, except for an occasional feather.

"And that is the armoury," Natasha said, pointing into another room. This one had no door, so Link casually peeked in.

"That's sure is a lot of armour and weapons," he noted.

"Yes," Natasha replied. "But because of the peace we have been having lately, we don't really have a large need for it. More like small, since you never know when someone may try to drive us out. On to the next room..." she started walking again. Aryll yawned.

"Getting tired?" Link asked her. "Don't worry. You'll get used to being up this late soon."

"Alright," Aryll sleepily answered, and rubbed her eyes.

"'Hoy, 'tasha." A human with a folded paper in his hand stepped out into the hallway in front of the Rito girl. "This note is for the guy in bunk 64. Could you give it to him?"

"Aye," she replied, took the note, and put it in a delivery bag identical to the Rito tribe's bags. "I'm on the way there, anyway."

"Thank you 'tasha," the man replied, and went back into the room he was in.

Natasha, Link, and Aryll were walking down a long hallway, when Aryll asked the question: "What was that about?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I guess I never mentioned this to you," Natasha said. "I am the delivery gal for Feather Flats. Sort of like a Rito postman, but I stay in this one area, delivering messages from one part of the flats to the other."

"Oh." Aryll and Link said in unison, and they continued to walk in the silence.

"Where are we going?" Aryll spoke up again.

"We're going back to the peak where Uncle is, after the tour," Natasha replied. "And on the way there, I'll have to deliver this message. Oh, and the room we're going to just happens to be right..." The trio walked up to a door, with the number 64 on it.

"...here." She knocked on the door, and a Rito with plain clothes answered it.

"Message for you, sir," Natasha said curtly, and handed it to him.

"Thanks 'tasha," the Rito said. "Say, who are your friends here?"

"This is Link and his younger sister Aryll."

"Hello, Link and Aryll. Welcome to Feather Flats. Well, thank you for the message."

"You're welcome."

"G'night." the Rito closed the door, and Natasha started walking again, with Link and Aryll trying to keep up.

"Are they all like that?" Aryll started asking questions again. "All kinda straight-ahead?"

"You're asking a lot of questions today, Aryll." Link teased.

"Well, yes," Natasha answered. "We plan to... well, one way to put it is that once we decide on something, we stay to it. No ifs, and's or but's. And we aren't forced to do it, I guess. It's the Crowhen's personality."

The trio turned a corner and they kept walking. Finally, they came to the familiar doorway that led to outside, and Natasha pushed it open.

"...What the he-...?"

War had broken out on the platform! Grunts and cries were filling the night air, and torches blazed, casting a red glow over the scene. Swords clashed, and Link was sure he saw a small explosion on the far corner. Rito guards and Crowhens were in battle with fearsome looking pirates. The pirates had long swords drawn out, and were muscular...

"I thought you said the pirates you were with were nice," Natasha said dryly. "I can't believe this is happening." Natasha turned to face Link, who was standing next to her.

"They're not the pirate crew I know!" Link cried.

"I can't see Tetra," Aryll announced, squinting at the battle and flurry. "I can't see her at all."

"Okay, so it's not them," Natasha replied. Now that her anger was passed, she was feeling anxious. "What do we do now?"

One single pirate noticed the trio standing at the doorway, the door closed behind them without noticing. Link, noticing that the pirate noticed them, turned around to open the door. It wouldn't budge.

"The door won't move!" Link yelled over the noise. The pirate drew his sword and ran towards them.

"RUN!"

Natasha, Aryll, and Link ran off in different directions. But the pirate was following Link! Link ran straight into the battle and dodged between the fighting and flurry. As he reached the other side of the platform, he slowed down and put one hand on the wall to steady his breathing. He looked around and saw that the pirate wasn't chasing him anymore. He sighed and said:

"Whew."

"YOU'RE DEAD MEAT!"

Link jumped and looked forward to see the pirate running toward him at full speed! Link pulled out his sword and shield, ready to battle, and was keeping an eye out for Aryll and Natasha.

The pirate pulled a low swing and Link dodged it, then he tried a vertical slice, but the pirate blocked it with his own sword. Their swords clanged as both tried to pull tricks but were unsuccessful.

"Too evenly matched, eh?" the pirate growled in a deep voice. "Let's see how you'll do with... this!"

He swung the flat blade of his sword low to the ground toward Link. Link didn't know what happened next until he saw the ground rise up to him, and he felt intense pain in his forehead. The pirate laughed as Link slowly came to a crouching position, then rose.

"LINK!" He heard Aryll's voice scream. "Help me!"

"Aryll!" he spun around in place, looking for the source of the yell.

"Say bye-bye," the pirate laughed, and he hit the top of Link's head with the hilt of his sword...

...and everything went black.