Krista: About a year since my last update. I apologize for that, but, unfortunately, fanfiction must take the back seat when one is in college. I thank everyone who continued to give me positive reviews for my story since my previous update, and I hope you all enjoy these next chapters.

Chapter Eighteen: Village of the Blue Maiden: Part One

"Village of the Blue Maiden," Patience read off of a small plaque hanging on a tree near the village gates. She blinked. "Wait…That lady-turned-fairy that we saved in the castle? That Blue Maiden?"

"Do you know of any other?" Faith asked dryly. Patience just shrugged before glancing over at Hope.

"And what are you reading?" she asked casually as she slid up beside her eldest sister in an effort to read a sign over Hope's shoulder.

Hope gave a wry shake of her head. "The 'Tingle Times'," she responded.

"The what?" Link joined the two, followed quickly by Faith. "You've got to be kidding me…"

"What's it say, Hope?" Faith asked. "Anything good? Link's big head is in my way." Link would have glared at the middle sister, but Hope's gasp interrupted his actions.

"That's awful!" she said. The other three glanced at each other, all unable to see the 'Tingle Times.'

"Hello?" Faith said, poking her older sister's shoulder. "Care to elaborate?" Hope appeared not to have heard her as she continued to scan the sign while reading to herself. With a sigh, Faith pushed Hope over so she could also see.

"Kids disappearing?" she said skeptically. "That's--HEY!"

"And Balloon-Boy thinks they're ditching school while playing a game," Patience said after she had shoved Faith out of the way. "I would if I could get away with that."

"I doubt they are, though," Faith said, going closer to the village. "Why else would the Blue Maiden have us go this way if there wasn't some sort of trouble she wanted us to solve…? Link must be used to this kind of stuff; I'm sure this isn't his first adventure. Right, Link?"

There was no response. Faith and Hope blinked and looked around until Patience pointed toward the village gates, and there right on the inside of them was Link speaking to Kaepora Gaebora. Faith rolled her eyes, but followed her sisters to the inside of the gates to catch up.

"What'd he say?" Hope asked as they went next to Link and watched the owl fly off.

The Hyulian's eyes were narrowed in thought to accompany the frown that was on his lips. "He spoke of the disappearing villagers," he said as Patience apparently grew bored and wandered around the area. "Kaepora Gaebora thinks that they're being drawn into the Dark World."

"That sounds fun," Faith said, her voice keeping its dry tone. She glanced over at Patience, who had suddenly began giggling behind the perch that the owl had landed on. "What's so funny?"

"I-I don't know," the youngest said, backing up toward her sisters and Link. Her giggles soon died down, and with a deep breath, she added, "That spot over there tickled me!"

Her sisters exchanged doubtful looks. Hope said, "You must be joking. What really caused your giggles?"

"I'm not lying!" Patience protested, her eyes darting to each of the other three's skeptical faces in turn. She walked back toward the spot, pulling Hope along with her. "Seriously, the air tickled me--Hee, hee, hee…!"

The eldest sighed as she followed Patience, but was soon caught under the same spell as the youngest.

"Hope…?" Faith dragged the eldest away from the spot, asking, "Please tell me you have a better explanation as to why you just laughed than Patience's claim…?"

Taking deep breaths to calm herself, Hope shook her head. "I'm afraid not," she said.

"I don't feel a thing," Link said, standing beside the giggling Patience.

"Are you ticklish at all?" Patience asked between fits of laughter, poking the young man in the stomach. His recoil and small smile at the touch gave the sisters a positive answer.

"I can't feel anything either," Faith said, her eyes staring at the ground below her. After an instance, they snapped back up at Patience, and the middle sister pushed the youngest back from the area. "For the love of chocolate, go over there and breathe before you pass out!"

Patience did as she was told, and began to sober up. "Well, discovering the fickle tickling spot was fun! Can we go find some food--"

"Excuse me." An elderly man stood behind Hope and Patience, one of his hands anxiously twisting his white beard around. "Did I hear you correctly? Can you sense the Moon Gates?"

"The what-now?" Patience blinked.

"The Moon Gates," the man repeated. "They are the mystical doors that link our world with the Dark World. Someone opened one recently, and then mages and whirlwinds were brought upon our fair village. My heart leapt at the thought of one of you being able to sense them…"

"Two of us can, actually," Hope said, her smile growing at the excited and relieved expression that she got from the elderly man.

However, that expression faded and a worried frown presented itself on the man's face instead. "But you are all so young…I wouldn't want to place this burden on you--"

"What's one more burden?" Faith asked casually, her fingers tapping on her sword's hilt. "We're tougher than we look. I'm sure we'll be fine."

For a moment, it seemed as if the old man was inwardly wrestling with the decision he had to make. Yet, the idea of regaining the village's peace soon reigned victor.

"Very well." Gingerly, the man reached into one of his overlarge pockets and presented Hope with a gleaming orb swirling with blues and violets with just a hint of goldenrod. "Then take this Moon Pearl and help our village."

"You can count on us," Hope said.

"Oooooo…!" Patience poked the orb, almost causing Hope to drop it and earning herself a glare from the eldest. "I couldn't help it! It's shiny!"

Hope rolled her eyes, and made her way back to the spot that caused her to giggle. Faith and Link moved aside for her, until the orb gave a soft pop and dissipated from her grasp, only to have a glowing circular portal appear.

"Ladies first," Link said, gesturing to the portal.

Faith rolled her eyes while wearing a crooked smile. "Such a gentleman," she said dryly, before being the first to step into the portal. A flash of light enveloped her body, and she was gone.

"Uhh…She is okay, right?" Patience said, peering at the portal as if Faith would magically reappear again.

"Of course," Link said easily. "She's right there." The remaining sisters followed to where Link pointed and, sure enough, there was what looked like Faith's shadow moving freely on the ground.

"…The portal makes us invisible? Cool!"

Link's palm connected with his head. "No, Patience…! She's in the Dark World. That's something that Kaepora told me. With these swords, apparently we have the ability to see into the Dark World."

"Which is why we were always able to see Shadow Link run away," Hope added.

Link grinned at her. "Exactly."

One by one, those three stepped into the portal to enter the Dark World.

"Well…This looks boring," was Patience's first remark. "Why is the 'Dark World' brighter than the real one?"

"Maybe for irony?" Faith's voice sounded from the center of the clearing.

Hope looked around warily. "And I have a bad feeling about this place nonetheless…"

"You're not the only one," Link assured her, looking ready to unsheathe his sword.

"What's the problem?" Faith asked, gesturing to a second portal right beside her. "We're returning to the Light World now anyway. There's nothing to do in this little section of the Dark World."

It was true; the area, although seemingly a mirror of the land they just left, appeared to have no land off to the side of it. It was like a floating island with a hazy blank sky over it. Since there was nothing else to do, the quartet returned to the Light World…

…And were greeted with a scream.

"Where'd you come from?!" the woman yelled, staring at the four in wide-eyed alarm and wonder. "Kids aren't supposed to appear out of nowhere! No, around here they just disappear…! Blasted mages…" She left them on that note, shaking her head and muttering about how the Seeker's Guild should get a move on with that case.

"Case?" Patience perked up at that. "It sounds like a secret agent organization!"

"It's not so secret anymore," Faith said. Patience apparently didn't understand Faith's reference to how loud the youngest was, or didn't care.

"Can we go see them?" Patience asked, bouncing down the path in front of Hope and Link. "Please? I wanna be a secret agent!"

With that, the youngest began to hum a James Bond-like theme song, and charged down the path, occasionally rolling here or there and scaring villagers passing by.

"Do you even know where you're going?" Faith called out to her.

Patience halted, then pointed in a seemingly random direction. "That way!" she said eagerly and began rolling once again.

It took the quartet a little while to fully explore the village, with Link, Hope, and Faith taking a few cues from Patience's 'secret agent' idea and asking villagers about their disappearing neighbors. Most looked at the quartet oddly, some even remarking about how their clothes matched (Hope had to restrain Faith from attacking a guy mocking them about it at one point), but they still got some responses about the subject. Almost all of the villagers they spoke to pointed the four in the direction of the Seeker's Guild in the northwest part of town.

"Do we really have to wait in line?" Patience voiced everyone's thoughts as the four stared at the enormous crowd of people standing around in front of one of the buildings in the area.

"We shouldn't have to," Faith murmured, looking around the area.

"I know, we're the heroes!" Patience said. "We should get special little I.D. cards with benefits like being able to cut in lines."

"There should be another way," Faith said, her voice barely a whisper. However, Link's ears caught her statement.

"One of your hunches?" he asked, his voice dry. Faith just glanced at him -- he swore a flicker of uneasiness had flashed through her dark brown eyes for an instant -- before continuing to look around.

"There's a pathway," Hope suddenly said. Link's attention turned to the eldest sister and the other two girls followed suit. Hope's voice dropped, either just so as to not attract the grumbling people in the lines or out of a sudden shyness at having everyone's attention on her. Pointing to the side of the Seeker's Guild's building, she said, "The grass is browner and scarcer over there, as if many people walk on that patch of ground frequently. It looks as if it leads somewhere."

"Well," Patience said cheerfully, "let's go find out!" With that, the youngest was off like a rocket through the crowd of people, and the other three had to hurry to keep her in their sights.

"Slow down," Faith said as the quartet made it to the alleyway beside the building. She took a cautious glance over her shoulder. "We don't want everyone finding out about this pathway..."

Patience didn't seem to hear her. Instead, she was watching Hope and Link inspect a large part of the wall that didn't seem to belong.

"It looks like a door," the youngest piped up.

"That it does," Link said easily, frowning at the part of the building. "Except that this doesn't seem to have any handles…"

"Maybe we should knock," Patience said, squeezing herself in between Link and Hope to get close enough to the door.

"Knock?" Link echoed in disbelief as Patience rapped her small knuckles on the door a few times. "I don't think it'll be that--"

The door slid open soundlessly.

"…Easy…" Link shook his head with a shrug at Hope's chuckle and Patience's proud pose. Faith blinked, apparently sharing Link's feelings on the subject, unsure if she should believe it or not. The middle sister didn't say a word, however, as she led the way into the place.

"You have keen eyes to spot our entrance," an older gentleman said as soon as the quartet stepped into the building. He had a bandana wrapped around his head that was dark gray in hue and matched the rest of his monotone outfit. A black patch also covered his left eye.

"I am the Guild Leader, and this is the office of the legendary Seeker's Guild," he said. "We're investigating the sudden appearance of those suspicious mages."

"We heard that you were trying to figure out why the children disappeared," Hope said, obviously more worried for young kids than magic users.

The leader's eye narrowed at her for interrupting, but nodded to her words. "We've reason to believe that the mages are connected to the vanishing children." His eye roamed over the quartet, seemingly studying them while choosing his next words carefully.

"Why are you all dressed alike?"

Link rolled his eyes at the question, and he distinctly heard Hope groan. Patience muttered something about how it wasn't their choice, yet Faith glared at the Guild Leader and retorted, "Why are you dressed like a shipwrecked pirate?"

The Guild Leader seemed taken aback at the question and mumbled something incoherent before clearing his throat. "We're a bit shorthanded at the moment," he said. "Care to help us out?"

"We'd love to," Hope said before any of the other three could speak.

"Excellent," the Guild Leader said. "There's something I need you to do for me right away…"

"Four members of the Seeker's Guild, and four of us," Faith began saying as the quartet exited the building after the Guild Leader gave them the assignment. "Anyone else think it will be quicker if we split up to find one each?"

"Split up?" Hope echoed as they walked toward a semi-secluded spot in the area. "Wouldn't it be safer to stick together?"

"Our swords have stayed in their hilts the entire time we've been here," Faith said, "and I don't expect to have to take mine out for a while yet. The portions of the Dark World we had been in didn't seem to have anything exciting to fight either."

Hope still looked doubtful. "Well…"

"We're all in the same village," Patience pointed out, apparently eager to explore on her own. "And it would be quicker, wouldn't it?"

"Not unless one of you gets lost," the eldest said dryly, making Link suddenly wonder how good Faith's and Patience's sense of directions were. "What do you think?"

Link stopped himself from shrugging as a response to Hope; a shrug wouldn't help them reach a decision any faster! "Well, it is a small village," he ventured to say. "We probably won't be separated for that long. And there are lots of villagers around; if anything was to happen to any of us, I'm sure there would be witnesses."

Hope sighed, her way of admitting defeat after Link's words. "Alright, fine," she said, "but don't go too--" A fit of giggles, accompanied by Patience's own, interrupted Hope.

"Another portal, I'm presuming?" Faith asked as she pulled Patience away from the spot while Link did the same for Hope.

"Duh," Patience said, looking around, after regaining her breath. "Wonder where there's a Moon Orb around here."

"Moon Pearl," Hope said.

"Or one of those too," Patience said easily. "It probably doesn't matter which we use." Before any of the other three could correct the youngest, Patience had bounded toward the other large building in the area, one that had a much shorter line than the Seeker's Guild. Her sisters and Link watched as she chatted with the rather plump lady standing in the doorway, and then vanished into the building when the lady allowed her through. Link was about to voice a question regarding what Patience thought she was doing when the purple-clad girl came darting back to the three, a precious Moon Pearl in her hands.

"I found one!" she said, her smile directed at Faith as if something unspoken was being said between the two. Link idly wondered if Patience was starting to get hunches like the middle sister as the youngest went close enough to the spot to allow the Moon Pearl to vanish and be replaced by a portal to the Dark World. "Let's go!"

Patience disappeared first and Hope was right behind her. Link glanced at the middle sister about to follow.

"Hey…Faith?"

She paused from entering the portal, one foot frozen in mid-step and turned to look at him curiously.

"Why do you think that Hope and Patience can sense the portals but we can't?" Link asked. Faith stepped back from the portal, giving him a lopsided smile.

"Because they're young and innocent," she said with such certainty that he thought it was like one of her 'hunches.'

"You're younger than Hope," the young man pointed out.

Faith scoffed. "What, you think I was calling Patience innocent? No, that's Hope's job. She'd rather have a healing staff than a sword."

Link couldn't tell if he was surprised or not. "Myself I can understand. But you're saying that you're not innocent, Faith?"

She shook her head, a faint, bitter smile on her lips. "Think about it, Hero," she said. "I'm always the one ready for a fight, the one who always has her sword out first. I'd rather do all the killing than let those two get blood on their hands."

Link stared at her, wondering what had happened in her world to make a girl as young as Faith have such an outlook on life. Faith should be innocent. Faith should not know what it's like to kill, much less be willing to drive a sword through someone.

There were so many things he didn't know about his companions, so many questions unanswered.

"Are we ready to go now?" Faith's voice interrupted his thoughts, and he forced his eyes to focus back on her. Her head was tilted slightly to the side as she stared at him, puzzled.

Link gave her a crooked smile as he stepped closer to her and the portal. "I shouldn't be so surprised, I suppose, to learn that you are not so pure," he said teasingly.

A smirk was all he got as a response before she disappeared into the Dark World.

And as he stepped in after her, he figured that there would be plenty of time to ask all of his questions. After all, the journey seemed to have barely begun.