Chapter Nineteen: Village of the Blue Maiden: Part Two
"HEADS UP--Oof!"
As soon as she emerged in the Dark World, Faith jumped at Patience's outburst. Sparing a glance at Link to even dare to snicker at her being startled, she walked up to where Hope was standing beside a young girl, one of the missing children no doubt.
The little girl sighed as she looked at Patience, who was somehow stuck inside a bush. "Uh, you may need a bit more practice with them…"
Patience spit out a leaf. "Ya think?" she said dryly, making her way out of the bush while glaring down at her feet. Crimson boots with a white wing design on the sides now adorned her feet instead of the usual brown pair.
"What did we miss?" Link asked.
"You missed me snagging lots of Force Gems while beating Hope in a race and getting these Pegasus Boots as a prize!" Patience said proudly, revving up to try running again. Within a blink, she blurred past the other three and promptly tripped, somersaulted, and smacked into a tree, earning another disgraced sigh from the little girl.
"Patience, I think the boots are too big," Hope said, her tone indicating that she had hinted at the idea a couple of times before. Patience waved off her comment and began to run around the area, many poor bushes getting run over in the process. The eldest shook her head, then turned to Faith and Link curiously. "What took you two so long?"
"We were just talking," Faith responded carelessly. Hope raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything more when Link nodded in agreement with Faith's words.
THUD! "Ow!"
Patience came walking back to the group carrying the Pegasus Boots, the small socks she had on getting a bit of grime on them from the dirt and grass.
"They are too big," the youngest said with an air of resignation. She handed them over to Link and started putting her own boots on again. "Maybe your feet are big enough."
Link took the boots silently, unsure if Patience's comment had been an insult or if her mouth was running without her thinking. Either way, the Pegasus Boots were a comfortable fit and he did a test run around the area.
"He is so much better at those than you were!" the little girl said to Patience. "And he doesn't even look like a little kid!"
Patience glared at the girl. "It's not my fault I have small feet," she muttered. "Hey, are you calling Link old?"
"Well, no," the girl responded, watching Link's blurry form gracefully avoid the rocks that had been so bent on tripping Patience. "He's just not a young kid. Obviously."
"Do you want to go back home now?" Hope asked the girl gently, not letting Patience respond to the girl's previous comment.
"No way," the girl said, surprising Hope. "It's so much fun here without any adults telling us what to do!"
"Enjoy it while you can," Faith said. "You'll be going home soon enough. Hey, Link--Eep!"
Link laughed at Faith's startled look after he had abruptly stopped right in front of her. "You called?"
"Are you finished playing?" the middle sister asked irritably. "Can we go back to the Light World now?"
"If you wish," Link said, actually walking with the boots on. "I didn't know you wanted to be a secret agent so badly, Faith."
Faith's glare at him turned into a look of puzzlement as Patience giggled. "What, we're in the Dark World, so you start acting like a kid?" she asked.
He shrugged, following Hope to the portal. "Why not? All the other kids get to play."
She didn't respond and shook her head as she returned to the Light World first. Patience followed, then Hope after sharing an amused grin with Link.
"I'm off," Faith announced when everyone was in the Light World once more. "I'll go to the southwest corner of the village to see if any of the Seeker's Guild members are around there."
"I call southeast!" Patience claimed.
"What's so special about the southeast?" Faith asked.
Her sister shrugged. "It was just the other side of what you said, that's all."
Hope rolled her eyes in good humor before saying, "I suppose I'll take northeast. I'll go with Patience as far as we can before splitting up."
"You don't trust me to take care of myself," Patience said, a pout forming on her lips.
"I know you can take care of yourself," Hope said. "I just don't trust you to not destroy someone's garden or something while on your own." Patience looked as if she wanted to argue, but Patience gave her eldest sister a crooked smile instead, silently agreeing with Hope's argument.
"I guess I'll stick around this corner of the village, then," Link said, glancing around at all the villagers mingling about, most still in lines for the two larger buildings of the area. "Be careful, you three."
"We'll be fine," Faith said, brushing off his comment. She then gave the other three a wordless wave and went off on her own.
"You be careful as well," Hope said with a smile to Link, leading an enthusiastic Patience away.
Link watched until the three sisters disappeared among the coming-and-going villagers. When they were out of sight, he suddenly felt lost. When the sisters had first appeared when he pulled the Four Sword out of its pedestal, Link hadn't known what to think. They had such different personalities, clashing with each other and him, that he had wished that the adventure was over before it started. Now, however…
He shook his head and turned around to see if he could find any of the Seeker's Guild members. Vaguely, he wondered what the heck members of the Seeker's Guild looked like; did they all resemble pirates?
As if that was a cue, Link's sharp eyes spotted a head wearing a bandana beyond the line of people still waiting to get into the Seeker's Guild. He couldn't recall any stories of pirates who wore green bandanas, but he wasn't going to complain.
"Excuse me, sir," he said to one of the many men standing in the line. "I was wondering if I could just pass in front of you--"
"No cuts!" the ill-tempered man said, his arms crossed while his body stiffened. "I've been waiting in this line for Goddesses-know-how-long, and I'm not moving!"
"I just want to get to the other side of the line--"
"I said no!"
Link mentally counted to ten to keep calm. "I'm not trying to get in the line, I just want to--"
"Try someone else," the man said. "I'm. Not. Moving."
Link rolled his eyes and did as the man suggested, but no one else seemed to believe the young man when he said that he just wanted to go to the other side of the area. He sighed, glaring at no one in the line in particular while he fidgeted from foot to foot, as if the Pegasus Boots had a mind of their own, wanting him to run. A crooked smile twitched on his lips as he chided himself that it wouldn't be nice to run over the people in line. Besides, most of the people were worried relatives of the missing children.
He glanced at the line, looking for any sort of opening that he may be able to slip through if he ran fast enough. Noticing how tightly packed the line was, another sigh escaped the young man. He began to wonder what would happen if one of the girls came back and tried their luck with the irritable citizens in the line. Hope was always polite; she may be able to just slip through with a nicely-worded request and a well-placed smile. Faith could probably intimidate someone to let her by, while Patience could pull off some adorable pout that would compel someone to move for her.
And I would never hear the end of it, Link thought, shaking his head. He had slain hundreds of monsters and explored dangerous dungeons, yet he couldn't get past a line of citizens?
His felt as if the Pegasus Boots had engines revving up in their soles, and without thinking any more of the consequences, Link charged toward the line of people--
--and came to a stop that Patience would have been proud of. Link got up shakily from his collision with the tree, but his pain had been rewarded. Not only did he make it past the line of people (some of whom were trying to stand up after being knocked over by Link's whirlwind), but a couple of fat Force Gems had fallen out of the tree.
Link pocketed the gems and turned around to notice that the Seeker's Guild member was openly staring at him curiously. Link found that he didn't feel like being embarrassed and walked up to the member.
"Hi," the hero said, ignoring the dubious look from the other man. "The, uh, boss sent me to learn the clues that you found out and report everything back to him."
"How do I know you are a true member of the Seeker's Guild?" the other man asked. "Where's your member bandana?"
"Are you saying my hat isn't good enough?" Link asked, exasperation beginning to set in. "Would threatening to tell all these people who are waiting for your guild to take their cases about your building's true entrance be enough to make you believe me?"
The guild member glanced at the line filled with irritated citizens. "I do have something for the boss," he said. Lowering his voice so only Link could hear, the member said, "A mage whispered to me, 'the six.'"
Link blinked and waited, but when the member failed to elaborate any further, Link asked, "That's it?"
"That's what I got," the member said with a shrug. "I'm sure it's connected to the missing children case. Don't you forget it!"
Link's mouth open and closed a few times, his brain racing to figure out how to respond. In the end, he just sighed and muttered, "Right…Thanks…" before shoving his way rather un-hero-like through the line once more. It took him but a few minutes to decide to try to look for the girls rather than wait for them to return.
Going east, Link wandered the village streets, enjoying the normalcy of people going about their businesses. More than once Link almost tripped over a stray cucco, and he even bought a comb at one of the booths in the outdoor market. The absence of children was strange, however, especially since there seemed to be a gloomy air floating above the adults' heads at the children's disappearance.
As Link continued walking, he watched as people bustled past him. He frowned slightly as the crowd seemed to move faster and faster as he went against the traffic flow, and he soon sped up himself to go toward the screams and shouts that he heard as opposed to running away from the sounds like the citizens did. When he got closer, a familiar voice reached his ears.
"All by your lonesome, eh…?" Link scowled and didn't hesitate to unsheathe his sword when he spotted Shadow Link cornering someone by a fence, pinning that someone's hands by her sides.
"I suggest you leave Hope alone." Link, ignoring the gasps and stares of a few of the more nosy citizens, almost growled, his voice dangerous and low as the tip of his sword poised perilously in the middle of Shadow Link's back. Shadow Link stiffened and glanced back at the other male with a glare, but it soon vanished as a grin crossed his face.
"And the hero comes to save the damsel, as always." Shadow Link sounded a bit bored, yet snapped his fingers to make a large green Force Gem appear in the air and narrowly miss Link's head as it fell to the hero's feet. Darkness enveloped Shadow Link, and the dark man teleported a few feet away from Link and Hope, watching as Link stepped closer to the now-relieved girl.
"Now, if the hero is here," Shadow Link said slowly, thoughtfully, "and the younger ones are not, then that must mean they are alone, yes…?" With a laugh as cold as the darkness that he used to warp, Shadow Link disappeared, his shadow in the Dark World dashing away.
Link looked to Hope, about to ask if she was okay, but she only muttered her sisters' names before running toward the southeast. Understanding, Link kept close to the eldest sister as they ran through the crowd.