With the rise of sun, Shikashi finally put his quill down and stepped away from his telescope. He arched his back followed by a series of cracking sounds. Rousing his stiff body into movement, he grabbed his empty mug and returned to the kitchen for yet another serving of coffee. Pierre had departed hours ago as the scarecrow knew never to distract an astronomer at night. In his half dazed state, Shikashi scratched at his beard and narrowly missed tripping over a creatively balanced stack of books. His work seemed to grow within his observatory like stalagmites.
As he passed the kitchen table he saw Sable was curled up beneath it. Tightly hugging her legs as her wide eyes blankly stared at the wall. Abandoning his quest for coffee, he sat down on the floor opposite her and said "What happened now?"
Sable responded "You'll think I'm insane if I told you."
"Let me be the judge of that."
She nervously looked around, then held up her pendant "A ghost called Midna came out of this pendant and told me I can do magic so now I need to find Koume and Kotake to teach me how to shape shift and…" she paused for breath "And if I don't, I'm going to be cursed for the rest of my life! I don't know what to do. I'm no traveller! But I can't just do nothing!" Her hands clawed at her face as she continued shaking.
Shikashi remained blank faced, he was expecting a problem with adults bullying her or the Bombers being a nuisance. He was not expecting this in any way. "I don't understand what you're getting at but there is one thing I do know, you need someone trained in magic to look at that pendant." He let out a hollow laugh "I mean, this is your chance to see the world a little, isn't it? Koume and Kotake live on the outskirts of the Southern Swamp so it's a safer journey to take."
"You mean you believe me?"
"Not fully, but if this is some kind of curse it's best if you went to see people who know about magic. I'll get my old map for you, the roads haven't changed since I last travelled." He began to rummage through a nearby pile "Get your things together, this is not going to be an overnight visit. I suspect you'll be leaving home now."
"Really? I know I wanted to travel but-"
"It doesn't mean you have to leave forever, it's just you may find it easier if you relocated for a while." Shikashi smiled back to her "Regardless of what happens, you will always have a home here."
Sable finally crawled out from under the table, feeling a bit braver thanks to Shikashi's calm demeanour. An old travelling pack was placed before her makeshift room where she packed in her few belongings. After rolling up her hammock, placing her few notebooks, pencils and pillow in the bag she realised just how little she owned. Finally she folded up her mother's shawl and added it to the bag. It was a stretch of fabric stitched with various metal hoops that most likely started Sable's obsession with sewing them to her clothes. The hoops on the tattered ends of her vest jingled softly as she climbed a pile of books to reach her grappling hook. A few years ago she had learnt how to use it effectively in order to reach the top of the walls in Clock Town. With enough rope she knew she could probably get over that wall without the guards even noticing.
Securing the hook to the side of her bag, she finished tying it up and slinging it on her back. By then Shikashi was standing by the door with a folded parchment in his hand. He gave it to her and warned "Just follow the southern road to reach the swamp, no detours at all and no wandering off." He then remembered, bringing a palm to his forehead as he cried "The guards, they'd never let you pass on your own. But I don't have the money to hire you a chaperone."
"Relax Gramps, I got this." Sable gestured to her grappling hook.
"Don't break your neck!"
"I won't," she hugged him "Be safe and take care of yourself."
"I wish you a safe journey child, I'm sure Koume and Kotake will keep me well informed."
Sable exited the observatory and headed back through the tunnels towards Clock Town.
The early hours of the morning were ideal for sorting out the laundry. Anju went onto the second storey patio of the Stock Pot Inn. She reached up and pulled the various lines to the supporting pillar on the far side of the balcony. The mechanisms locked together to create a makeshift clothes line. Sorting through the various baskets of wet linen, she hummed a song to herself as she hung out the washing.
At the same time the major's son, Kafei, was just leaving the Milk Bar with his friends. Anju saw him from her vantage point on the second floor and felt her cheeks blush. He was a very handsome young man with gentle red eyes that always put a smile on her face. His purple hair was worn long and curved above his shoulder that she always found dashing. She froze for a second as he looked up at her, he waved happily and called out "Good morning Anju!"
Kafei realised he was going to cop his fair share of jokes from his friends for that. However he had to admit Anju was the most beautiful woman in all of Termina. He had timidly attempted to court her for the past few months, feeling that being childhood friends would make her more comfortable with the idea. However her busy schedule of running the inn kept them from becoming anything serious at the moment. Amongst the ruckus of his friends, he did not even notice the jester girl currently leaping from roof top to the roof top.
The buildings of East Clock Town were packed together making it easy to leap between them, with the right training. Sable often found herself climbing up to the tops of the walls to get a better view of Termina. Today would deviate from the plan as she would be abseiling down the wall as well. Running along the wooden walkways reserved for carpenters, Sable looped around to the wall near the southern gate and climbed atop a stack of old crates left over from carnival decorations. Amidst the abandoned crates, she also acquired more rope in the form decorative strings of flags.
First she threw her grappling hook upward and latched it onto the top of the wall with ease. She then proceeded the scale the wall while keeping a vigilant eye out for any carpenters needing to start work early for the day. Upon reaching the top of the wall without any problems, Sable then went ahead to knot together more rope. She knew she did not have time to enjoy the panoramic views as the first watch of the guard was due in fifteen minutes. Securing the hook on a partition of the brickwork, she nervously gazed over the side and panicked a little from the sheer height of the drop.
'Am I really doing this? I must have gone insane overnight.' Her body moved on its own as she started to abseil down, answering herself with "Guess I really am crazy, huh?" She thanked the Giants that there was not much of a breeze today making the journey down rather easy.
With her feet securely on the ground she tugged the rope with all her strength to dislodge the hook. It only came loose because a guard had knocked it out of place while making his rounds for the morning. He assumed it was a misplaced carpenter tool after a feud erupted and simply kicked it out with the end of his spear. It was only until he saw the length of rope attached to it that he realised a girl was at the bottom of the wall.
"Sable! Get back here! The field aren't safe!" he cried down to her.
"Tell the captain this will be the last time! I promise!" Sable yelled back then simply ran after collecting her grappling hook.
The young guard cursed to himself "The captain's gonna have my hide for this!" as he sprinted back down into the wall in order to officially report the incident.
The trail of festive flags was cut with Sable's boot knife as she sprinted down the main southern road. That guard would wreck everything she had planned. She frantically gathered the grappling hook's tail as best she could to wrap it around her left forearm. The dark trees and vividly chromatic flowers of the Swampland beckoned to her from the distance. Clock Town was left in her dust.
The main road was a mix of compressed dirt and cobblestone, although the stone thinned out as she ventured away from the Clock Town. A sea of verdant fields surrounded her, the wind whistled in her ears and the sun shone on what would be a glorious day. Termina Field eventually retreated into the horizon the closer she travelled south. The wide open meadows fled from the thick jungles that engulfed the road. The path resembling a trail that someone had simply cut through with wild flails of a machete. The sky was partly obscured by the treetops making the air heavy and humid. Sable felt the ground squelch beneath her boots as water limited her path to higher, more secure footing.
A shiver of fear quivered her spine. Sable began to feel apprehensive as the tall ominous trees of the swampland trail towered around her. The cry of crows echoed in the dismal swamp which only puzzled her further. The hollow remains of trees blackened with age stood out amongst the forest. The change in flora suggested that tropical plants flourished in this area. Mangroves with root systems stretched over land and river like an octopus' tentacles. Palm trees rose like giants from the clear water. The shortest native wild grass and shrubs easily came up to Sable's waist as she trekked onwards. The path appeared to be somewhat used frequently with the tracks of caravans and carts set in the dirt. Large pink flowers dotted the swampy earth, adding splashes of warm colours to the greenery.
She knew something was amiss as the crows had stopped chatting loudly in the background. Her eyes carefully darted around the area as her pace quickened. The path led out to a slight clearing and a fork in the road. An old sign jutted crookedly out of the earth with two notices, one labelled 'Shooting Gallery' the other as 'Swamp Tourist Centre'. While Sable raked her brain as to which path to take, she was oblivious to the Wolfos stalking her.
Wolfos were a larger variation of wolf that were native to the north and south. They were cunning and used the natural surroundings to their advantage to hunt. Standing on their hind legs they were almost as tall as a Goron and their claws could easily end the life of a grown man with one swipe. Quietly it moved towards the unsuspecting teenager, however the sound of branches cracking nearby alerted its prey.
Sable wildly turned at what sounded like a tree falling. To her horror she found herself face to face with Wolfos, a dead also fell to the ground behind the beast. Valuing her life over discovering what exactly was going on she ran from the beast as fast as she could. The Wolfos was about to pursue her until it noticed a shadow over its head, quickly diving out of the way to narrowly evade the spiked steel ball of a large flail. Sable skidded into the mossy hollow of an old tree, hiding herself beneath various branches and shrubs. Her eyes focused on the fight unfolding before her.
The Wolfos lunged at the burly youth as he side stepped to avoid the beast. He moved methodically through the fight, evading every attack of the Wolfos while regaining momentum by swinging his two handed flail. His actions proved that he was competent with his weapon and had obviously dealt with Wolfos many times before today. The spike steel lashed out as fierce as a serpent's strike. It connected with beast's head and crushed its skull beneath its weight. The Wolfos let out a final cry as it fell lifelessly to the ground.
From her vantage point within the tree, Sable got a good look at the hunter. He was a little older than her with filthy hair that might actually be blonde if he washed it. A series of faded scars marked the right side of his face and he also appeared to be missing a tooth on that same side as he smiled over his kill. A cuirass of iron with leather stretched over it covered his chest while mail pauldrons decorated with fearsome eyes protected his shoulders. Beneath it was a long leather duster however the sleeves had been torn off to show off his muscular arms. Oddly his clunky boots curved upwards at the tips to look a little bit like a pixie did not match the rest of his outfit.
He looked over his shoulder, listening to a voice murmured by the distance. Without acknowledging her, he gathered his flail around him and then grabbed a leg of the dead Wolfos. Satisfied with his cull and leaving a trail of destruction behind him, he disappeared down the path leading to the tourist centre. Sable emerged from her hiding place trembling from the encounter. Driven by fear, she followed the same path, hoping that the hunter's presence would deter any more attackers.