Disclaimer: The Legend of Zelda series do not, repeat, not belong to me. They rightfully belong to Miyamoto. (May he continue to make excellent games for the rest of his days.) What does belong to me are Cleo, Finn, Syrilla and Okam (sorta).

Chapter 15

Cleo's mind was furiously buzzing with questions. Who was the one Dreadfuse mentioned? Was there really someone else besides Veran that she had to worry about? And if so, was she in collaboration or did she have competition?

When they arrived back at the Palace of Twilight, no one beside the refugees was around, no Midna or Okam to greet them. "I wonder where they might be?" Jack asked.

"They're probably busy," Cleo guessed. She decided to go look for them. After some wandering around and asking some Twilis, she came to a room Okam was said to be in.

As she approached, she overheard his voice and it sounded irritated. "...I gave you the information needed, just do it!" Cleo went in. She could see Okam talking to a light blue stone she recognized as a gossip stone. For a brief moment she thought she heard Midna's voice coming from the stone, but the tone didn't sound right, it sounded harsh. The elder Twili suddenly realized Cleo was there and he quickly threw it in a drawer which fused into the wall. He turned to her looking aggravated. "Don't you knock?"

"Well... I'm back and I'm just wondering where I can find-"

"Green Flash, Midnight Hollow," he said shortly. "And I'm busy right now."

"What's eating you?"

"Why, does he have fleas?" Jack wondered.

Okam gave them a glare to rival that of a charging bull's. "Both of you, out!"

"Whoa! If you stare at me any harder, your eyebrows will catch on fire again!"

"I SAID GET OUT!" Okam grabbed a vase and both Cleo and Jack ran for it, the pot thrown at her narrowly missed her head.

They ran as fast as they could to get away from the angry Twili, he got real scary fast. They nearly crashed into Midna. "Cleo, what's going on?"

"Mid... tell me, were you talking to Okam with a gossip stone just now?"

"No... why?"

Cleo didn't answer, she was now thinking deeply. "...Midna, can you do me a favor?"

"Sure, what is it Cleo?"

Cleo quickly looked around the corner where she had come from. She lowered her voice. "I'm going to get the next essence. While I'm away, I need you to keep a close eye on Okam."

Midna looked confused. "That's a very odd request. What are you getting at?"

"...I had this suspicion for awhile, but... I wasn't sure at first... Listen, I think... I think it's possible that Okam might be a traitor... and he's secretly working for Veran."

"Cleo, that's a very serious accusation," Midna gasped. "Are you sure?"

"Not entirely... I just have this gut feeling... That's why I'm asking you to spy on him."

"...All right... I trust your judgment. I'll keep an eye on him for you and send a messenger to let you know first hand if I find anything suspicious."

"Thank you."

"Allow me to escort you to the last warp."

"...The last? I thought I was going for the second to last Essence of Light."

"The last two destinations are actually on the same floating island. I looked at the scroll myself, it said the Green Flash is in Midnight Hollow and the Eclipse Ring is in the Blue Crater Volcano. Since those places happen to be close to one another, it would be faster to get both of the Essences on the same roundabout trip."

"That's great, Midna. I'm really looking forward to ending it."

After appearing from the warp, they found themselves in a forest that strongly reminded Cleo of Boggly Woods from another game she had played. They strolled on through until they noticed that some of the trees were not as full of life as the ones farther out. These trees were withering, losing their natural bioluminescent light, some were completely dead and bare. They found more and more of them the further they traveled, until they were completely surrounded by dead or dying trees.

"Something is wrong here... I sense some kind of evil taking life from this forest," Jack said.

"I wonder what's causing this?" Cleo said. "Is this a disease... or something else?" She heard something ahead, a choked voice. It sounded like coughing. "There's someone over there!" She ran toward the sound with Jack closely following.

They soon arrived at some kind of hut village in a wide, hollow. The inhabitants were the most interesting she'd seen so far, they were raptor-like, in shape, but they seemed to be more flora than fauna. Their bodies looked to be made of a wooden pith covered in thin bark, the exterior of them were twigs, leaves, maybe flowers (but they were all sadly drooping). The entire atmosphere was grimly morbid, almost all of them were weak, moving slowly and shakily, there was an occasional cough. The mood hanging over them was so grave that they seemed to be devoid of hope.

Cleo watched on as she got closer, she saw a very young one on the ground, crying. Its parent came and picked it up, trying to tend to it, calm it down, but to no avail. This made her feel like crying herself. The parent saw her and, looking afraid, ran off with the child into a hut, slamming the door behind her.

Now the inhabitants were realizing they had an unexpected visitor and they were looking at her as though she was some very naughty child who had completely ruined a party. "I do not like this," Jack observed.

"They've never seen a human before. You can't blame them for being afraid." But she quickly realized exactly what Jack meant. They were more angry than afraid, in fact, they didn't seem to want her there at all.

"What are you doing back here?" said an angry voice. The oldest looking one of the village (must be the chief she thought) stepped out of the crowd. "How dare you show your face again!"

"What are you talking about? I wasn't here before!" Cleo explained.

"Don't lie to us! We are not fools, you're the one who brought this terrible plague upon the Drabokos and all of Midnight Hollow!"

"What?! How could you think such a thing?!"

"Because you told us so yourself. When we suddenly fell ill with a sickness that spread and killed so many trees and some of my people, you came and confessed to us of your horrid crime, laughing so cruelly as we were slowly dying! You're a vile monster, dooming us all to rot away just because it amuses you!"

Cleo was at a loss for words. She'd never felt so wrongly accused so unexpectedly. Nothing he said made any sense.

"Cleo is not the culprit!" Jack defended. "She did not do anything wrong!"

"Liar!" Someone shouted and then others took up the cry in their wheezing voices. "Monster!" "Drive her away!" "She's a witch!"

"Please, listen to me! I'm not here to hurt you, I'm just here for the essence and I want to hel-"

"Oh, is that it?" the chief interrupted. "So you cursed us so we would hand over the Essence of Light in payment of ransom? We will never let you have the essence as long as we all live!"

"No! You don't understand! I-" a rock hit her on the head, knocking her down. Blood trickled down her face from where it had struck. They began to throw more rocks at her.

"Kill her!" "She's the cause of this!" "Don't let her escape!" She quickly got up and tried to run. She needed to get away and make a plan before returning here with a proper defense. But the Drabokos had blocked her path and, despite their weakened state, were able to seize her by the wrists and pin her down. Jack was buried in the angry mob. "Stop! You are making a mistake!" But his shouts were drowned by their outcries.

Cleo struggled as hard as she could. She knew they were getting desperate, thinking her death would end their problem. But what could she say to prove her innocence? Then, out of nowhere, there was an even louder, angrier cry. Someone was charging toward the mob and the Drabokos cleared away in a panic. "Avast ye, the lot of you!"

Scervo had arrived, waving his sword threateningly at them. "Wait, don't Scervo! They're just very scared, confused people!"

He turn right around and hoisted her up. "C'mon, lass!" All three bolted from the scene, thankfully the Drabokos didn't give chase as they ran through the trees into another part of the forest.

They stopped in a grove of still living trees, Cleo was trying to catch her breath. "Are you still... following me?" she asked between breaths.

"Had ter, in case ya needed me help. Ye were bound ter run into more trouble, still not quite finished with yer treasure huntin'. Next time, ya should keep yer wits about ye! I can't keep bailing ye out like this, ya know!"

"But I didn't actually expect that! How am I supposed to find the next essence if I can't even get near the village without them trying to murder me?"

"Aye, a tricky situation, that. From what I overheard, there be someone else posing as ye."

"You mean someone's framing me! It has nothing to do with self-portraits!" she cut off Jack, who uttered something, knowing exactly what he was about to say.

"Actually, I was about to ask who might have the sorcery to take on your appearance. But I am guessing now that it is Veran again."

"Duh! Of course she can take on someone else's appearance, I saw Midna do that once to amuse herself." Cleo turned back to Scervo. "So, can you tell me something about Midnight Hollow and the Drabokos? I might be able to figure something out if I know a little more about this place."

"Did... didn't yer boss tell ye already?"

"Okam isn't my boss and no, he didn't. He was in a bad mood. And I didn't ask Midna 'cause it slipped my mind."

"Well, I'll tell ye as much as me own memory banks have about this place. Ya see, there is a tree in the very center of Midnight Hollow called the Tree of Dusk. It was the very first tree ter grow here. It had spread its seeds all over the hollow and a forest grew around it. Over many moons, a race descended from deku tribes, that were banished into the Twilight Realm, took refuge in the forest and revered the tree as their haven. The Drabokos are the most reclusive race in the whole realm, mostly keeping ter themselves and rarely making contact with others. They have remained undisturbed for a long time."

"Until Veran decided to mess with their lives!" Cleo blurted out in anger. "After they've done nothing!"

"Aye and that not be all. Veran, most likely has put a black spot on the tree itself as well."

"The tree's dying too?"

"I'd bet me bottom rupee she did!"

"So what can I do about it?"

"There be a simple solution. The fertile volcanic soil from Subrosia."