Disclaimer: I do not own the legend of Zelda game series or the characters.

Hello folks! Thanks again for reading! :DDDD Where we last left off, Curtis was apparently about to tell Sally about the wolf's true identity. What will happen next? Read on!

And as always, please send me a review! :DDDD I'd love to hear from you! :)

Chapter 4: The Drama before Drama Rehearsal

"First off…" Curtis began, looking at me. "Can you transform? You are fine; no need to worry about identities and such." I just looked at him and shook my head.

Sally raised a brow. "Okay…now I'm really confused."

Curtis looked at me again. "Can you not transform?" I used magic to make the lone shard of the shadow crystal materialize. I showed him the shard, his reaction that of a worried façade. "It…shattered? How?"

Sally looked at the shard, her mouth slightly open in wonder. "What is that? Can someone please explain what's going on?"

"That is a magical trinket." Curtis replied calmly.

"Why would a wolf have a magical trinket?" She questioned.

"Because he is not a normal wolf." He said while smiling at me and then turned to Sally. "Changing the subject a little, have I ever told you that I've been on a mission with the hero?"

"No…" She elongated the word as her eyes widened. "You really have?"

"I have." He said with a nod. "I've never told you because of Eleanor…" He chuckled. "Anyway, the hero told me once about this magical trinket…giving whoever possesses it the ability to transform from a human into a wolf through dark magic…" There was a short moment of silence. "Seems unreal, doesn't it?"

"Very unreal." She said, still dumbfounded.

"My point is…" He hesitated. "I…it's hard to explain." He sighed out of his inability to make sense of it all. "Sally, meet the hero." He gestured towards me with his hands.

"Huh?" Sally said as she looked at me. "You are the hero; a human?" I slowly nodded. "No wonder you could understand me this whole time!"

Curtis looked at my stomach wound that had fresh new bandages from when Sally changed them around 2 hours ago. He then looked back at Sally, who noticed and looked at him in return. "You tended to his wounds?"

"Yeah, I did." She reacted.

"Do you realize the importance of what you've done?" He said, looking at me and then back at Sally. "You saved his life." He took a deep breath, noticing a couple of bluebirds flying from tree to tree. "You've done an incredible thing. Obviously I've raised you well." He simpered.

Sally beamed and blushed out of flattery. "Thanks papa…I only did what I thought was right."

"And it was very right." He grinned as he patted me on the head. "Good thing she was here to take care of you!"

Sally turned to Curtis. "Is there something we could do for the hero? I feel bad about his little dilemma."

He frowned. "I'm not sure what we could do…" He casually pointed towards the shard in my possession. "This whole issue with that trinket is very unfortunate for all of us because we need his swordsmanship skills."

Sally faced me. "Do you know where the other pieces may be?"

I shook my head, feeling despair at the thought. I honestly didn't even know where to start. I suppose I could find the shards on my own, but it will be difficult as hell.

Sally spoke again. "That's not good…" She looked at me with sympathy, and then her gaze trailed back to Curtis.

Curtis' eyes focused on Sally. "What has your mother said about him? Does she know you've been taking care of him?"

"N-no…" Sally said with hesitation. "When I showed her his injuries, she repulsed and insisted that I leave him alone." She paused to take a breath as she looked towards the house and then back at Curtis. "But I couldn't. He was hurt."

"I'll have a talk with her." He said with a smile as he looked at me. "I will tell her the truth, if you don't mind. That way you can have a proper place to stay."

I nodded in response. Sally beamed as she looked at Curtis. "Thank you so much, Papa!"

He grinned. "Don't mention it, sweetheart." The three of us walked back to the house, the early afternoon sun warming the air and giving us all renewed energy.

Sally turned her head and looked at me as we walked. "I'm glad that we can give you a better place to stay."

I nodded again, thinking in my head, "I honestly don't mind either way, but something closer to an actual bed besides hay would be nice."

We came up to the house, Marcus leaning against the side of the house and waiting awkwardly. "I will go inside and talk to her right now." Curtis said as he started to walk away. He then turned around when he was standing in front of the front door and gave us both a toothy smile and thumbs up, going inside of the house right after.

Sally let out a giggle. "He's goofy."

Marcus sauntered over to the two of us. "What's the news, Sally?" His expression was filled with eagerness for an answer.

She looked at him and smirked. "Wouldn't you like to know?!"

His jaw dropped and then he clenched his fists by his sides. "Sally!" He shouted. "That's not funny! C'mon! Tell me!"

"Nope." Sally tittered with her hand to her mouth. "You aren't privileged enough to know!"

He huffed, crossing his arms. "So…'miss important'…how do I go about becoming privileged enough to know?"

Sally put her thumb and forefinger to her chin. "Hmmm…lemme see…" Her eyes widened and she snickered. "You have to kiss someone!"

"WHAT?!" His voice raised in pitch as he tugged at his collar, his face reddening. "W-who in p-particular?"

"You have two choices…either choice A or choice B." She smiled. "I won't tell you who they are; you just have to pick!"

He gulped. "Ch-choice B…"

"You have to kiss the wolf." She said calmly, her mouth twitching in attempt to try and suppress her sneer.

Marcus looked at me confoundedly. "I…have to kiss…" His mouth was wide open in an idiotic manner. "…wha…" He shook his head to get rid of the displeasing thought. "That doesn't make sense! That should be against the laws of nature!"

I looked at Sally and whined. She laughed. "What, you don't want Marcus to kiss you?"

Marcus gulped. "C-can't you just tell me? I don't think the wolf wants me to kiss him, and I really don't want to kiss him."

"Nope. You still have to kiss someone." Sally sighed. "Choice A is my horse. Kiss him."

"I really have to kiss your horse?" He asked. She nodded as he complained with "Goddesses, you're stubborn!"

"Why are you so intent on knowing about the conversation I had with my father? That's a conversation that was meant for my father and me only!" Sally pointed out.

He started to march over to the horse stables. "Fine!" He threw his hands up in the air. "I'll kiss your stupid horse!" He shouted, the aggravation rising in his voice. "Would I rather kiss you; yes, but I'll kiss your horse!" He stopped in his tracks and covered his mouth. "Shit; I…I-I didn't mean to say that!" He waved his hands side to side in the split second that he faced Sally and then continued to walk towards the horse stables, this time with greater haste.

Sally frowned. "Hold up, mister!" She grabbed his hand. I lied down near the two of them to watch the scene unfold. She yanked his hand to get him to stop walking. He kept on going towards the stables, not looking at her. She grunted and pulled his arm with enough force to make him stumble. He turned around clumsily on one foot and met her eyes with his. "You said you wanted to kiss me?" She queried.

"No…j-just that if I had to pick between you and—" He broke himself off as she leaned towards him, the corner of her mouth rising into a crooked smile. "H-huh? What do you think you're doing?" She didn't respond, but instead leaned a little closer. "Y-your dad isn't nearby, is he? Um, uh, ummm!" He panicked as he looked from side to side. "Curtis! Where are you? I think your daughter's gone nuts!" He looked from side to side again and then into her eyes, biting his lip in nervousness as his eyes enlarged in alarm.

"I totally should have found some popcorn!" I chuckled to myself.

Sally kissed Marcus lightly on the lips and then turned and walked away, not uttering a single word more. Marcus was as red as a ripened strawberry. "Huh? After all of that you're still not going to tell me?! It was just a simple question!" He groaned loudly. "So now I'm assuming I don't have to kiss the horse, or do I still have to for your enjoyment?!" Sally still didn't respond. "Sally! I'm talking to you! SALLY!" He screamed. "You've just made things uncomfortable, you know that?!" After letting out another exasperated groan he gave up and came up to me, patting my head as he sighed. "If only she knew how much I like her…" he whispered, giving me a wink. "But you didn't hear that from me!"

I watched Marcus go into another barn to finish the rest of the outside chores. I'm inclined to think there's a potential romance between those two! Only time will tell…

My thoughts were cut short by Sally walking towards me. "My father convinced my mother to let you stay in the house tonight." She said with a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness for my father; I was afraid that she still wouldn't let you stay with us." She headed over to the barn where Marcus was, turning around to face me. "You can follow." Her head tilted to the side as she smiled with her lips. I followed her as she tiptoed to Marcus and poked him on the shoulder.

He jumped. "What!? Who goes there?!" He twisted to face her. "Oh, it's you…" The heat rose to his cheeks as he tried to distract himself by filling a trough with water.

"You can stop now. My father said that I can go to rehearsal."

He looked up in surprise and faced her again. "Really?"

"Yes." She said with a grin and a nod. "Thanks again for all of your help!"

His expression changed to content. "You're welcome." He looked at her for a second, bashfulness overpowering his ability to speak.

"What's wrong?" She inquired.

"Um…I…um…y-you have a huge pimple on your forehead, and it's distracting!" He said quickly.

If I was in my human form, I would have face-palmed. "Smooth, Marcus!"

"Oh." She grimaced. "That wasn't very nice of you to point out…but okay…so my complexion isn't perfect."

He let out a breath of distemper. "Sorry. My bad. Let's just go to rehearsal…"

"I'll go get my journal and knapsack real quick." She walked back to the house and met us by the barn a minute later. She glanced at me as I sat next to them, thinking about whether I am supposed to follow them or not. "You can come with us, but you'll just have to stay covert."

I nodded. "Well, I guess I have that issue figured out now!" Sally saddled her horse and got onto him. I got onto her horse with her, sort of lying on the horse in a strange position, but it worked! We took a short ride to Marcus' house so he could get onto his horse, and then we headed out of Eldinaire and were on our way to Castle Town.