Chapter 17:
Safe and Sound

Rini

Rini cracked some eggs over the skillet, chewing on some bread Wilma had dropped off this afternoon. It was coarse with an odd open texture. Her mother's was better of course—even Alicia's was better—but she wasn't going to be picky.

Ceres hopped around chirping as she tried to peck at the bubbling eggs. Rini shooed the little owl away from the open flame, willing the hot tongue of orange to go in the opposite direction just in case. She still didn't quite like an owl having her mother's name, but she wouldn't lie; the owl was kind of cute.

"I know, I know, hold your horses. I'll feed you in a second," she chided. She had fed the baby earlier, but Rini knew what it was like to be hungry. She didn't want the little thing to suffer like she and brother did.

Slowly her back began to prickle and grow warm. She didn't pay it much mind, however, until the door creaked open. Turning slightly, she saw a dirty Nouka and Ventus in the doorway. What little moonlight was out there shone on Ventus, whose head was bowed downward, but it took a moment for her to notice Nouka until he stepped inside.

It was just them.

"Oh, wow. No Auntie and Uncle?" she drawled, putting a hand on her hip as Ceres flew over to her brother, landing on his shoulder and nuzzling his cheek. "Wow. Who could have called that? If only someone could have warned you beforehand."

Nouka did not smile, not even his sad one. His face was flat, his eyes cold like frozen dirt. He closed the door behind them with a snap in the quiet wake. Rini furrowed her brow at Nouka's attitude and her eyes drifted toward Ventus who she noticed had a rip in his pants around his calf.

"What happened?" she asked slowly, edging closer to her brother on instinct. The last time an adult stopped smiling at them, they wanted to kill them.

"They weren't there, like you said," Ventus mumbled, not looking her in the eyes.

Nouka moved on as he spoke. He hung up their water skins and food pouches, empty now from the day's journey. He drifted over to the stove and started tending the egg Rini forgot about. Rini watched Nouka move and pressed her lips together.

"Something else happened," she said. She wasn't oblivious.

"It's nothing," Ventus muttered, patting her head absentmindedly as he began to walk to the ladder where they slept and climbed up. "I'm going to bed. Good night."

Rini watched him for a moment before turning to Nouka.

"What happened?"

His brown eyes stared at the egg he was cooking; no, they stared through it. His face remained so still. No more sad smiles and warm eyes. Only the wrinkle of his forehead told her he was thinking about how to answer her question. The egg popped and crackled as it cooked in the brief silence.

"We were attacked by two Gerudo." Even his voice sounded distant though calm. "Do not worry. Ventus is fine. I suppose he is just… solemn after what I had to do."

"You were attacked?" Rini yelled, not caring if Ven could hear or if it hurt his ears. When she got his hands on him, a lot more than his ears would be hurting. This was what she was worried about. Everything she said would come to pass, did. "Are you two okay?!"

Nouka nodded but did not look up from the egg, though her voice had raised in volume. "As I said, Ventus is fine. I am healthy as well." He finally paused and looked at her. His lips twitched with a weak smile that died as soon as it was there. "I'm sorry that we have worried you."

"I knew I should have come along," Rini growled under her breath. "When I get my hands on him …"

Her voice trailed off as she looked at Nouka. Rini's stomach twisted slightly as she suddenly didn't feel very hungry.

"Well, I'm glad you're safe. I can finish cooking that. You must be tired."

"Thank you, my dear—just be careful." He left, quietly shutting the door to his room behind him.

Rini watched him go and turned her gaze back to the fire on the stove, watching it for a moment. In the past the dancing flames usually calmed her nerves. This time, however, they didn't.

"Rini, wake up."

Rini groaned and rolled under the blankets, pulling the pillow over her ears. It was still chilly out, and she didn't need to open her eyes to know the sun hadn't peeked over the horizon yet. Their lessons wouldn't start for a couple hours still, and she had stayed up late last night waiting for Ventus and Nouka to get home.

"Rini."

"What?" she asked, lifting her head, squinting her eyes trying to see her brother in the soft glowing light. Ventus was sitting closer to her than normal and was playing awkwardly with the blanket, not quite looking at her.

"We need to talk," he murmured softly, and she had to strain her ears to hear him. Letting out an irritable sigh, she rolled over to glower at him.

"Can't this wait until morning? Maybe during breakfast?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.

"No. It's... Auntie and Uncle are probably in Kakariko," he said softly, still not quite meeting her eyes, finding a piece of frayed fabric more interesting. "Our best chance is to find them there, and with it getting warmer, it'll be easier to start heading that way instead of staying here. It'll probably take a while since we're walking, so we should leave sooner than later."

"Isn't Kakariko full of refugees?" Rini grumbled, although she supposed it's possible some had been lost over the winter like what happened in Sakirven. She wasn't sure how hard the former Sheikah community would have been hit, and she wouldn't be surprised if it was the second place the Gerudo tried to take over after the fall of Castle Town. "Plus walking all that distance is dangerous, especially if we're going across the plains."

"That's what I need to talk to you about," Ventus said, picking at a loose thread he found. "I overheard the lady at the gate. What she said. The actual reason we were turned away."

Rini's heart skipped a beat and her stomach twisted uncomfortably. She had an inkling something was wrong the night they left Kakariko's borders without going in. The way her mother strained to smile at them, but it didn't quite meet her eyes. How just standing next to Ventus during that time felt like she was being dragged into a raging storm.

Uncle Kililan had plans to visit Kakariko before learning Dad had died. She had overheard Mom and Uncle Killian talking about it. If it truly was full of refugees, it wouldn't even cross his mind. No, something was wrong, but it was the first time she had decided to look away from something, deciding perhaps not knowing was better. She didn't say anything to encourage him to go on. At the same time she didn't do anything to stop him, wavering on the edge of if she truly wanted to know or not. Ventus took the choice out of her hands as he continued.

"She said Mom's last name was Kali."

"That's not funny," Rini snapped. Of all the shitty jokes Ventus said, this was probably the worst. How dare he even insinuate their mother had the same last name as the horrid necromancer which killed 50 people in Castle Town in the biggest mass killing outside of war. Mom didn't even like the mention of ghosts.

But why else would Ventus call the little owl—the symbol of the Kali—after Mom? Anna whispered, her gaze piercing. Plus it's not like you haven't noticed the way Ventus seems to know where the dead are. He's the one who takes after Mom the most.

"I'm not joking," Ventus said, looking away. "I mean it makes sense, doesn't it? Mom never told us what Sheikah family we came from. Took on dad's last name. Refused to go to Kakariko with us even though she came from there too. I mean the only family we knew on Mom's side is Aunt Fae and her husband and kid. Ma never talked about her parents—"

"Shut up," Rini interrupted, covering her ears not wanting to hear it anymore.

She knew. It wasn't like she didn't notice those things either. Didn't know their parents were hiding things from them. Still …

Still.

"We can't let Nouka know," Ventus insisted, ignoring her as he continued on. "We can't ask him to help us. Auntie Amaya and Uncle Tori probably know. I mean they've known our parents since they were kids. That and thinking on it, Eli probably can see the dead—I mean he talks to nobody a lot, but he talked to nobody the same way Mom did—"

"You've made your point, so shut up right now!" Rini snapped, not wanting to talk about this anymore. Didn't want to think about it. Not right now.

Ideally not ever, but Ventus ruined that.

"We need to think about what to do," Ventus pushed, not letting it go. "Make a plan."

"Later," Rini grunted, putting her pillow over her ears so she couldn't hear him. She could hear the muffled words of Ventus trying to push the subject, but she screwed her eyes shut and tried to tune him out. That and the look of disappointment Anna was giving her who insisted on having the last word.

You know he's right.

Rini didn't get any more sleep when they went down for breakfast a couple hours later. All she could think about was what Ventus said. About them being Kali. Necromancers. Monsters.

That and the fact Ventus wanted to return to the wolves' den. To where they were exiled from, Kakariko. Especially since there was no guarantee Auntie Amaya and Uncle Tori were there or let alone willing to take them in. If she learned anything these past few months is that you needed to be careful since people weren't always who they said they were.

As she lifted her forkful of egg to her mouth, Anna hissed in her ear, don't eat that!

Rini paused and looked at her, a scowl dancing across her face as her stomach rumbled in protest, begging her to eat something.

"Why not?" she hissed, and she could see Ventus glance at her from the corner of his eye as he pushed his own eggs around the plate.

Nouka could have put something in it…

"What, salt?" she snorted. Nouka wasn't like Ventus who tended to put too much spices into food after Alicia showed him some stuff about cooking.

Anna did not speak again, but Rini knew what she was really implying.

Ever since Nouka had returned yesterday acting weird, she had been particularly insistent in listening to Ventus and just packing up and leaving. Even as she laid in the attic, listening to the sounds of scratching and howls of monsters just outside the walls, Anna was insisting they sneak out of the house before Nouka even knew they were gone.

Rini wasn't the only one picking at his food. Ventus was too, miserably moving his eggs from one side to the plate to the other, not looking at Nouka or herself. Ceres seemed to be the only one who was intent on eating, scarfing down some rats which had been caught in the grain storage.

Nouka had made the meal for them like he often did. Though right now he only had a steaming cup of tea in front of him at the table. His eyes staring down into the cup, taken somewhere else.

The silence between them all was awful. She could see Ventus opening his mouth before closing it again, struggling to push for the thing they all knew he wanted to say. After a moment, she decided to finally be the one to end this stupid stalemate.

"Nouka, do you know how to send messages across great distances?" she asked finally.

Rini knew there was some sort of way the adults were able to send messages to important people from where they were. Dad had to leave more than once in the past to help villages which had sent for help in such a way.

The caster blinked once and lifted his far-off gaze to her instead of his cup. His brown eyes glanced at both of their plates. "Not hungry this morning?"

"Not really," Ventus muttered before looking at Rini. "Are you talking about those stones Dad said were in the castle?"

Of course Ventus would remember that. Dad mentioned it after all.

"Yeah." She turned to Nouka. "Our father said every single village had some sort of stone to allow them to communicate with the outer villages, and there was a push for even the rural ones to have one after the last war. Can we use that to communicate with Kakariko?" She glanced at Ventus. "It would be safer than traveling there by foot."

Nouka's stare returned to his tea cup. "The sending stone for this village was destroyed during the first attacks, unfortunately."

He stood up and circled to the stove. "You both should eat."

"Oh," Rini said as she went back to picking at her food, squinting closer at her eggs to see if it had anything funny about it. Ventus ate some, although Ceres began stealing some of his food. Nouka turned back around and Rini felt his hand touch her shoulder. At first she didn't really notice anything weird but suddenly her head began to swim and darkness closed in on her vision.

The warmth which seemed to permeate her surroundings rapidly left and the last thing she could hear as the darkness completely took her was Ventus calling her name.

"—ni! Rini!"

Rini groaned, squeezing her eye shut and swallowing down what felt like a slug trying to crawl out of her throat. Every part of her body felt like lead and just moving her fingers was a trial all on its own. The last time she felt this awful was when she was dying in Sakirven, and the only reason she knew she wasn't dead was the slow sense of warmth which surrounded her.

That and Ventus yelling in her ear.

"I'm awake," she grunted, squeezing her eyes shut more. Just because she didn't have Ventus' sharp hearing didn't mean him screaming in her ear didn't hurt. "Stop yelling."

"How are you feeling?"

"Like shit, what happened?"

"I don't know! Nouka touched us, I saw you go down—I tried to fight, and next thing I know we're locked up in some underground room straight out of the horror stories Ethan used to tell."

"What are you—" Rini finally opened her eyes to see that her brother wasn't too far off from his description. They were in some sort of cave made out of smooth wood with the same glowing mushrooms from the attic. While there was their bedding, as well as bedding for Ceres, there wasn't much besides the three of them and a bucket.

I knew it, Anna whispered as Rini swore once again, pushing herself up, Ventus immediately at her side to help her. At first she thought it had been something in the food, but Ventus said it happened when Nouka touched them.

"Take it easy," he said, pushing something against her lips which took her a couple of seconds to be water as it dripped into her mouth. She didn't realize how thirsty she was and grabbed at the waterskin, guzzling it for a solid second like her life depended on it.

For all she knew, it might.

"I've been trying to see if there is a way out of here, but I can't find anything. Bastard took my sword and the sack," Ventus scowled before pulling at his hair slightly. "Shit! We should have left!"

The desire to throw up intensified; she wasn't sure though if it was because of her rumbling stomach or the fact Ventus was right. Like he stated, the only way out was a dark tunnel at the mouth of this "cave." It was barred through with wooden poles too tight for them to squeeze through. Mushrooms lined the tunnel walls, but it curved out of sight.

"Why did Nouka do this?" Rini asked, pulling her knees closer to her chest. Even though it was comfortably warm around her, she suddenly felt very cold. "He was so nice." She shot a glance at her brother. "You didn't tell him about the whole Kali thing, did you?"

"No!" Ventus protested before deflating slightly. "Though I did say I could sense spirits, like poes and stuff. He didn't say anything about it though beyond something about don't do death magic."

"You have what now?" Rini asked, looking at him surprised before taking a second to process what else he said. "You told him you could sense spirits?!"

"I wanted to talk to them! I figured he'd know how! Also I don't know what he's going on about this 'death magic' nonsense—I mean it's just a Sheikah thing, Mom has it too—but I do have Wind magic apparently!"

Rini dragged her hand over her face and groaned loudly, wondering what went through her brother's mind sometimes. What made him think it was a good idea to talk about any of this. Did he not pay attention to the stories during the Day of Courage?

"If it was just a Sheikah thing, why can't I sense spirits too?" she hissed, smacking him in the arm, wishing she had more energy to perhaps strangle him as well. Any other time she perhaps would be excited to learn her brother had magic like she did, but right now she was getting a clearer idea of perhaps why they were locked down here.

"I've probably just figured it out faster, since I'm older and stuff," Ventus grunted, rubbing his arm. "Also it doesn't matter why now does it? We need to find a way to get out of here before he eats us or something."

Just as he said that, Ventus cut off suddenly and put a finger on his lips. Ceres began to bounce around as he slid in front of her protectively. A figure appeared in the dimly lit tunnel beyond their cage bars. It was tall and slender, so when he was finally close enough to see in the light, it was unsurprisingly Nouka. His face was still slack and emotionless. He had a tray in his hands that carried two bowls and some slices of bread.

"We're not going to let you eat us," Ven spat.

"We haven't broken any Sheikah laws," Rini protested, thinking Ventus' cannibal theory was probably a bit far-fetched. "Let us out, please."

The caster blinked but otherwise his features did not change, and he tilted his head to the side curiously. He knelt down on the floor by their wooden bars. He set it down in front of himself, and then brought his hands together and gestured. The bars from the bottom drew up enough only to clear the bowls on the tray, and he slid it into their cage. Then the bars lowered back down again. Nouka looked at them.

"I'm not going to eat you, and this has nothing to do with Sheikah law," he said softly in the dark. "This is for your safety."

"Our safety? Keeping us locked up like animals in a cage?" Rini snapped. She thought her brother thought of some really stupid things sometimes, but at least she could follow his line of thought. This, though, was one of the stupidest things she's heard, and from an adult she thought was smart.

"You think we're going to believe that? People are going to notice we're missing!" Ventus pointed out with a sneer.

"What I can't believe is that I took you to Lake Hylia with me," Nouka sighed, his shoulders slumping a little. "Clearly a mistake, as would your attempt to venture to Kakariko during these times. You are children. This is not safe for you."

"We're not helpless!" Ventus snapped. "You can't decide for us what is and isn't safe for us. We've survived through a whole lot worse."

Rini hated going across the plains. She pointed out it was dangerous for obvious reasons. However, the idea of her freedom being taken away insulted her more.

"We know how to take care of ourselves. We have prior to meeting you," she said, trying to be diplomatic, although every part of her nerves felt like it was on fire and not in a good way.

"It's surprising you have survived," agreed Nouka with a nod. His voice remained steady; it just sounded tired. "Perhaps we have luck and Farore to thank for this. Now that you are somewhere safe and protected, you should stay until this war concludes. No need to tempt fate unnecessarily."

He rose from his knees. "I knew you would not understand. This was the only way to keep you safe."

"You're right, we don't understand," Rini said, throwing one last ditch attempt into getting through Nouka's thick skull. "We don't understand why you think children of a decorated war hero and captain of the royal guard, as well as nieces and nephews of a powerful mage wouldn't know how to think or take care of themselves. We're incredibly talented for children our age."

Most of what they've learned was in the last couple months, but Nouka didn't need to know that.

However, he was already turning and walking away as she spoke. "Meditate upon what I have said."

His dark figure disappeared back down the tunnel.

Rini glowered at the dark tunnel before going over to pick up the bowl, glaring down into it.

"We're getting out of here," Ventus promised her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I promise."

"I know," Rini agreed. "And he'll regret the day he ever looked down on us."