A few years beforehand...

She emerged from the gloomy cave at last, gulping in the evening air as if was her first breath after a long submersion in water. Next time, I'll just take the Rauru Pass, Sheila thought, hating the stale air of the underground passageway. Damn how much longer it'll take.

As soon as light broke over the mountains, the young woman was on her way again. Her destination: Ruto Town, where her mother's brother lived. And a few distant cousins, if memory served her correctly. Aestas was definitely a familiar name. Seth not so much. All she knew was that he was a sergeant in the Hylian Knights. But he wasn't one of the few distant cousins in Ruto; he was stationed down in North Castle.

North Castle. Her eventual goal. But first, she was going to train at her uncle's house. And she had quite a bit of training to do; she had no experience with weapons whatsoever. A large majority of her teenage years were spent in her father's greenhouse learning about plants. But as she finished up with school, she had picked up a fascination with the Sheikah. And just about a hundred degree turn, she decided she wanted to get into the Hylian Knights to train under a Sheikah in an attempt to emulate them. She was quite confident that a Sheikah would indeed take her on as an apprentice of sort; she had met one of the Shadow People before leaving Saria Town and he had told her they would have no problem with such an arrangement, given that it didn't interfere with their work too much.

Of course, getting into the Hylian Knights would be a bit of a problem; the Knights have never had a woman recruited in before. Well, at least a woman that wasn't a Sheikah. But Miss Rantil planned on changing that, glad that she had her family's support.

By the time night fell, Sheila had found her uncle's house. She knocked and waited for the answer. "Can I help you?" the man who answered the door asked.

"Tiberius Sinai?" Sheila asked, nervous; the bearded man nodded. "It's me, Sheila Rantil."

"Sheila!" Tiberius nearly boomed, pulling his niece into an almost crushing hug. "I haven't seen you since you were a little girl. How's your mother doing?"

"She's doing fine," the youth replied with a smile.

"And that oddball she married?"

"Still has his nose buried in plants."

"I heard he and some woman down in Holodrum invented something. What was it?"

"A greenhouse. It's a building made out of glass. It helps the plants inside absorb more sunlight."

"I don't know anything about agriculture, but that sounds dead useful."

Sheila nodded. "It is. Anyway, I hope you got my letter?"

"Yes, I did. Come on in and rest up tonight. We'll start training tomorrow."

Back in the present...

Sheila made her way back to the cave, grasping the hilt of the sword tightly. She was extremely nervous; not only was she about to go fight a giant spider, she was about to go fight a giant spider after being told not to fight a giant spider. Tiberius said there was no logic in it, but she saw the logic perfectly. If she could do what the Hylian Knights have failed at, she would get in for sure.

At the cave entrance, she looked back in the direction of Ruto Town as the sun began to rise. "I'm sorry, Uncle," she whispered. And with a deep breath, she plunged into the cave, steeling her nerves to fight the gohma somewhere inside the tunnel.

OOC: This is a narrative post only. DO NOT POST HERE!

Continued in <a href=viewtopic.php?t=2186>A Life Saved</a>