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[quote="Elesariin]Inariie walked back into the entrance hall and skidded to a stop. "Sila?" she called, incredulous, "What are you doing here?"

((Woooo. Minimalist post of doooom.))

Sila turned with a start.

"Inariie? I'm looking... for the sage Artemis said I have to get..." she said, shocked. Looking at her compass, she swore.

"Whoever it is, they aren't around the castle anymore. I can't believe it!" she snapped, turning on her heels and walking out without another word.

((Eh. His balance was backwards, so I figured his legs would kinda slide forward and land him backwards, since he was trying to catch up with his own point of balance.))

Hyn stopped fighting. The dagger dropped from his hand. "Very well. I'm impressed, but next time we meet and I'm armed, I'll be sure to be ready."

(alright, Ele and serif won't be back till sunday (they're siblings) and I'm bored, so I'll assume all the gerudos are gone already)

Were the sun out, it would have been a simple matter to follow the hoof prints, but in the weak moonlight, Link could barely see Epona, and he was riding her. All they could do was try to stay in the direction he saw the woman take off in and try to avoid running into the fences that lined the paths of Hyrule field. In thier slowed pace, Link noticed something hitting against his leg. Tied to the tunic was a small brown bag. Curiously, Link opened the bag, only to find in the darkness he was unable to see what was inside. Quickly, he dug his hand into the bag, suprised to find that the small bag was much larger then it appeared, infact he was was able to fit his arm in slightly past his elbow. 'It must be enchanted,' Link thought as he at last felt something. As he extracted his arm from the bag, he found the Spiritual Stone of the Forest in his hand.

Tetana heard the call and walked out from the storage room.

"Hello?" she asked, seeing the gerudo. Instantly, she was on guard.

"What do you want? Jasper! Front and center!"

Jasper rushed down the stairs and came to a halt beside his grandmother.

"What is it, Gran?" he asked. Tetana nodded towards Arryl and walked back to where she had come from. Jasper shrugged, and proceeded to the counter.

"Excuse her, please. She does not have a very positive opinion of you Gerudos..." he explained, grinning.

"How may I help you?"

((To make things difficult...)

Jasper watched as she left just as quickly as she had arrived.

"Oh well..."

xoxoxox

Gustaf rolled down the hill, heading for the cave to mine more rocks.

~Just a bit more...~ he thought. When he arrived, he uncurled just in time to see a female ascending.

"Who are you?" he asked gruffly, standing to his full height.

"I asked who you were. Before you pass, you tell me your name!" Gustaf said, angrily. Staring Arryl down, he started to walk slowly towards her.

xoxoxox

Sofia made her way down the mountain. She and Vladimir had decided to test the girl's skills at mining.

"Gustaf?" Sofia asked, seeing the male goron and female gerudo. Vladimir rolled the last few meters and uncurled at his father's feet.

"Who are you?" he mimicked his father, staring at Arryl. Sofia, however, stayed at her position about 10 meters away.

((Hiya! We're back!))

"I'll keep that in mind," replied Nalani in the resigned tone of someone who thinks the interesting part has just ended. Carefully keeping her eyes and sword trained on him, she kicked both his sword and dagger out of reach. "Please turn around, and keep your hands where I can see them as you do so. When you're facing away from me, put them behind your back."

She wasn't actually going to tie him up, at least, not right away; as soon as his hands were behind his back she'd give him a sharp tap on the head with the hilt of her sword. He had given her far too much trouble for her to risk dropping her guard to tie him up. He'd be much harder to get onto the horse unconscious, but that was something she'd just have to deal with.


Inariie blinked. "What does that mean?" she walked stubbornly after the other girl. "You don't understand, Sila. If the Shadow Sage is near the Palace, then he or she is here to protect the royal family. There is only one group of people trusted to do that, and trust me, you do not want to mess around with them. I'm not kidding." Under her natural dark completion, her face was pale.

Her knowledge of the Sheikah was completely made up of scary stories told to her as a child by her mother, but if even one tiny part of any of those stories was true, she needed to get the other girl out of there, fast.

Zelda pulled herself up onto the horse with some effort, and attempted to make herself more comfortable in the saddle; after a few moments she gave up.

She looked back once, to make sure that her belongings weren't popping out of the overfull saddle bags, saddle bags that were unnervingly packed with personal things, things that she didn't even discuss around other people; her mother's ocarina, the one Zelda had played in childhood, and supposedly retired some five years before, lay nestled among more practical items. It disturbed her on a disproportionate level to think that someone had silently watched her playing her lullaby on it, late at night.

She shook her head slightly- it did no good to dwell on it- and turned her horse toward Kakoriko. The ride wasn't a long one, maybe 25 minutes, which was good; she had only ridden a horse on three or four previous times, and wasn't very good. Of course, once she got there, she'd be presented with more problems. Who, exactly, was she supposed to stay with? How would she know?

She didn't realize her eyelids were drooping, or that her head was nodding forward slightly; she was too busy worrying about increasingly nonsensical, half-asleep things.

The horse itself didn't realize anything was amiss until some minutes later, just outside Kakoriko, when the hands directing it went completely limp. The horse swung his head around to get a look at his passenger. It was sitting up, still, but it's head was resting on it's chest.

The horse shifted his feet uncertainly, then snuffled at the air. His home, the one with the wide open spaces, other horses, and, unfortunately, cows, was in a completely different direction. He hesitated for another second, and then turned away from the town and back toward home, only to stop to nibble at some grass. He wasn't in any hurry.

((WOW. LOOONG. Sorry about that.))

(alright, I'm bored so I'm continuing on with both characters, but remember, don't react)

Artemis raced across the field on her way back to Hyrule town. From what she had read while looking for enchantments earlier, that was where she would find the Temple of Light. Before approaching, she took a spare blanket from a bag attached to the saddle and covered the boy's body, 'Last thing I need is witnesses.' Swiftly she made her way around the left side of the Gerudo troupe and across the drawbridge that had been left open for them that night.

She gave a gentle and polite nod to each of the guards standing at the entrance then made her way into the sleeping town. Had Artemis not read from the scroll earlier, It may have been quite difficult for her to have spotted the Temple of Light, but in truth, it took her only five minutes. An ancient language was written across the entrance to the temple, but she paid it no mind as she tossed the heavy boy over her shoulder. Despite this fact, she managed to open the door surprisingly easily, for unbeknown to her the writing read:

"These Doors shalt open only to the sage who protects it's secrets and the hero whom is destined to protect this land,"

The doors of the temple seemed to be wide open, keys still in the locks, and so it took very little effort or time to find the largest door which marked the sage's chamber, over course had Artemis not been carrying the teenager, it would have taken even less time. As she placed the Sage on the floor, he seemed to stir, as if waking up, 'Hmm, I've got to keep him in here somehow,' the Gerudo thought then remembered the large key in the door. After exiting the room, Artemis slammed the door shut and removed the key. Now all she need was a safe place to stash the key. Carefully, she searched the temple and Found many empty boxes. In one of the deepest rooms in the castle, she dumped the Large key. In another, she locked away her compass, not wanting anyone to use it and find the sage before he was awakened.

As she went to leave, another thought occurred too her, 'What if someone finds this place? maybe I should secure it a little more. And so for the next hour, she leaped from room to room, stashing keys throughout the temple. She intended to keep one final key with her just in case, but as she attempted to leave the temple, the key seemed to be trying to stay, and so she was forced to leave it behind.

As Link approached the Castle town, ready to find his friend, he caught something peculiar out of the corner of his eye. It was a buck moving slowly towards him. Link prepared to defend himself but soon realized that it was unnecessary. Not only did he recognized the horse as one they had recently sold, one which he was proud to say he trained himself, but the rider seemed to have fallen asleep. With an unconscious rider it made sense that the horse would be inclined to return home. Steadily, he lead Epona over to the horse and shook the blond haired girl, "Excuse me Miss I..." in the dim light of the moon, the girl's face seemed somehow familiar, "Do I know you?"