OoC: Wow, you're leveling up fast Arrika. Either I've been slacking, or I have competition

IC: "Are you alright?" Aureliano asked with concern showing. He had no idea what was going on beyond this point. " And what's with the note, chain sickle and rupees?" asked Aureliano, "If it isn't too personal, of course." he added, not wanting to offend or coerce the Sheikah into giving him in explanation she may not want to.

Sakiko leaned against the wall of the tree, her eyes squinting at the filtered sunlight coming through. The atmosphere left her feeling serene and all traces of her anger had gone. She knelt a little ways behind the Sheikah teen as she glanced at the note.

Her hands trembled as she read the parchment. Opegaria, her aunt, who used to care for had gone long ago, but the memories lived vividly in her mind...the smell of fire...screaming of her name... She unconsciously found herself hoarsely whispering,

"I've been trying to live his motto for years... to stitch up the bleeding wounds of the past..."

Sakiko quickly brushed away the tear, which was creating a burning streak down her cheeks. The young mage had no reason to feel sympathetic to this young teen, but to see her suffer from her past as she did, made her feel an invisible string of understanding connecting to the Sheikah. She turned to Arrika and said softly,

"Sorry if I'm digging up at your past, but I think that this person, who left this note for you must've wanted you to forgive him for what he has done... I think he wants you to remember him as a happy being of your memories, and stop...longing for what was in the past."

She paused, staring at the dust particles floating gently in the air. Her gray eyes were cast down as she sat in the silence, deep in her thoughts.

OoC: Sorry, Azador. If that is your real name.
Can we end the catfight now, Sakiko-chan? I know it's fake but as I said at school today it's getting to me

IC: "How can I stop? He just... he just left. Just like that. He didn't give a reason, and no one saw him disappear. We just know he left because Seth sensed it." She said to Aureliano, "It's alright. The chain sickle and rupees were actually mine, but my friend Seth stole them from me. He's Sovelis's new apprentice too, so you may see him tagging along. I didn't even know the note would be here... he didn't say a word about it."

Arrika wiped away the last of her tears. She hadn't cried for so long, and she wasn't about to break her resolve now. It did astound her though that the once arrogant mage could display such emotions... it was like she was a completely different person now. Someone Arrika could probably relate to. "How can I just accept it? Even if I see Kobas just one more time, I'll only be content if he gives a reason...." Arrika held the thin, crackly paper in her hand. "He couldn't have written it recently," she muttered to herself. "Not in a year... Kobas must have done this a long time ago... and the edge, it looks like it was torn out of another piece of paper." She ran her finger along the shorn edge that revealed the layers of the paper. Maybe this was a letter? And just this part was torn out? Seth has some explaining to do...

All of a sudden the parchment burst into flames, leaving Arrika to stare confused at the black, curling paper in her hand. "I didn't do that.... Sakiko? Did you...? No, you don't seem like the fire type. Aureliano's only a grunt, and I don't think that creep outside is powerful enough to do that."

ooc: I know, Arrika-chan, the cat fight has gone on long enough.

IC: Sakiko was silent, pondering upon Arrika's words. It was so strange how a single note as that could bring two of them together, when just one moment ago they had been practically enemies. The young mage blinked slowly as she quietly said,

"That fire... I think it's a dormant power you have... like earlier, how you created the fire. I think, I don't know, but when emotions take control of you, you can unleash that fire. It's just a guess."

Sakiko shrugged and got up slowly from the ground. She brushed away the dust from her knees.

"Opegaria, my aunt, would've really liked you if she was alive. She had respect for people with surprising powers in them."

Sakiko smiled, recalling her rather eccentric aunt. If only I wasn't so naiive back then...

Aureliano was startled by the flame, and put his hand to the hilt of his sword almost instantly, only to realize that it was not an enemy attack. "That Kobas guy and your aunt, Sakiko, sound like a great people, the way you both describe him," Aureliano said, after his adrenaline rush died down. "I may not know where they are, or what happened to them, but I hope you two meet them again." he added. "I guess both of you have several things in common." Aureliano said speaking to both ladies. "And only a grunt, eh? I guess all that training I did with Quartermaster Hithos and my oath to the Royal Family was rather pointless then, right omnipotent Thief?" He asked in a half sarcastic, half playful tone as he tried to cheer up Arrika who he had seen wiping her eyes a few times, and Sakiko who looked rather shakened.

Sakiko chuckled and said to Aureliano,

"My aunt died a long time ago... but yes, I would like to meet her again."

She paused and muttered,

"She died by a fire that I have made. It was an accident, of course, but how could I ever forget such a thing?"

Sakiko smiled, trying to ease the gloomy mood.

She sighed and stretched, suddenly feeling restless. It had been a long day. The tree was beginning to shake itself again, waving its branches to and fro. Sakiko turned to Arrika and pointed outside.

"I am going to go outside for a moment. I'm kind of curious to meet that mage outside. The fumes of his bread are making me hungry, anyway..."

She yawned and stepped outside the tree, squinting at the bright sunlight outside.

"hmmmm.. It seems she does have a heart, just like everyone.
Maybe she isn't such a bad person at all, we all have our problems."
Said azador after hearing Arrika cry....

He sighed
" She also seems knows Sovelis, what would he want from her?
.........an interesting group, they are."

He took a bottle of orange juice out of the leather bag beside him,
and he took a sip.
Eating dry bread makes me thursty.

OOC: hehe no Azador isn't my real name , I rather keep that secret.
And please don't underestimate Azador he can easilly burn a letter or two.

"You know what I meant, and I'm sure you'll be a great hero soon and save many a damsel in distress," said Arrika, trying to smile. "You're nice, you know? You and that strange accent of yours..." Arrika followed after Sakiko as she stepped outside. "I can hear your thoughts, just as if you had screamed them, whoever you are. That much I learned from the Tempest after just a day."

Arrika put the sack of money into one of the pockets of her black cargo pants and swung the sickle above her head in the air, enjoying the old familar whirring sound. She let it go, watching it wrap around a branch. She gave a light tug, and it sliced it down with ease. "I've missed this... when I was younger I used to pretend it was the old Hero's Hookshot. I used to be better at this than with a dagger... I always wanted to wield a great broadsword like the Hero too, but could never lift one. We all had dreams as kids, didn't we? Hey, Aureliano, Sakiko, what did you want to be when you were younger?"

Sakiko plopped down on the grass, feeling the cool brush on her neck as she did so. She poked her finger into the soil, letting the calm spirit of the earth soothe her. The young mage closed her eyes as she listened the soft bristling of the tree.

"Me? To be honest, I never did have any dreams... but I knew one thing: I wasn't going to be a mage."

She snorted softly, shaking her head at her childhood.

"But you see what I have become. I don't think I could've done anything else than to become a mage, anyways."

"I wanted to be like my grandfather, Colonel Aureliano Buendia. All wanted to do was be a military colonel and retire to make golden fish, but the leaf storn kinda ruined that..." Aureliano said in a solemn tone. "Now, my new dream has come true. I protect people in need and the Royal Family." He added, cheering up. "I can be my own person and try to be the best, so that my children can say proudly, that's my father." He said, now with a smile.

Sakiko studied Aureliano carefully, her gray eyes unusually light. She repeated slowly,

"Leaf storm? That sounds...horrible."

She grew silent, staring at the sky.

"Whoa, you're already thinking about having a family? I have never really thought about it...sounds...strange at this point."

Aureliano chuckled. "I'm sorry. I forgot everything is not the same in Hyrule as it was in Macondo. In my village, boys were considered men a seventeen. They were usually married by then, and had children not long after. Enough about me though" he said, "what happened to your aunt, Sakiko, and what happened to Kobas, Arrika?"

"I don't know what happened to him," said Arrika with a sigh. "He was there one day, then gone the next. He was acting sort of odd the last few days though; I would catch him staring off at nothing until he realized I was looking at him. Then he would put a fake smile on his face and say, "What's up?" Like nothing was wrong. I think I was the last person to talk to Kobas though. The sun was setting, and he was sitting on the roof of his friend Rhyss's house. I climbed up there too, and I got worried because he had that phased out look on his face again. I asked him if there was something bothering him... He just took out a silver pocket watch and tossed it to me, all without meeting my eyes once. I was kind of struck by the fact Kobas was giving it to me, because in the years I'd spent with him he made sure it was always with him.

'Keep it,' he said, and he still didn't look at me.

'Why? This is... this is yours! I can't-'

'Yes you can," he said, cutting me off. 'Keep it safe like I have, and maybe one day you'll meet its true owner. Maybe one day... one of us will find a way to leave this land forever...' That last bit was barely more than a whisper, but I'd always had hints of his wanting to get away from Hyrule. 'Don't forget your past, but don't cling to it either....'

I wasn't sure what he meant at the time, and was preocupied with trying to pry the watch open, which of course didn't work. He laughed at that, then closed his hand over mine and the watch. 'Someone will open it for you one day. I can feel it. And because of him, you'll have to decide whether your heart really belongs to Chaos. Will you follow him? Or Order like the Hero? Because after that, there will be no neutral ground. That will be your decision...'"

At this Arrika laughed. "I used to think he was psychic like Seth too. I didn't understand what he meant at all... maybe if I'd paid more attention, I would have had clues to where he'd gone."

Sakiko withdrew her finger from the soil and stared at it blankly. The brown stain contrasted strangely with her pale skin, similar to how her past actions had stained her memories...

"Well... My aunt..."

What could she say? She had killed her own aunt? It was an accident? Was it really her fault after all? With a deep breath, Sakiko let out her torturous memories for the first time,

"My parents left me to my aunt's care when I was very young. My aunt was a mage, and she wanted me to get interested in that field, but I just wasn't interested. She gave me a lot of lectures, and I was growing so sick of it that I decided to show her I didn't need any of her training. I was waiting for that one moment when such a chance would come to me... and then..."

Sakiko trailed off, her mind lost in thought.

Sakiko sat on the grass, smiling, as she felt the warm breeze tickling her cheeks. This life was much better than learning to become a mage! She was about to weave a grass necklace for herself when she smelled smoke. It was only a faint scent, but she could easily identify that it was coming from her house.

Sakiko ran, her silver hair fluttering behind her. Her heart raced as she calculated in her mind how she could put the fire out. FInally, a chance to prove herself capable, without all those lectures!

She shoved the wooden doors open. Faint layers of smoke coiled around her as she slowly found her way to the fire. It was small, not dangerous at all, but it would grow. It had be to put out now, and her aunt was nowhere to be seen. Sakiko bit her lips as she clenched her fists together, forming a pale green light around her hand. Closing her eyes, she was about to throw the beam of light unto the fire when she heard her name being called.

"Sakiko! Where are you?"

Sakiko hesitated. Should she ask her aunt? The calls were becoming closer, and Sakiko could almost see Opegaria's silhoutte looming behind her.

The young girl thrust her arm forward, towards the fire. The green beam of light pierced through the fiery red flames. The green curled up around the burning red, reaching up higher and higher. Sakiko's heart almost stopped as a roar came from the fire, almost shaking the house.

"No!"

Opegaria suddenly grabbed Sakiko's shoulders. Her aunt gasped for air as she shoved her niece to the entrace. She choked,

"Go, Sakiko! Go!"

The fire was soon devouring the wooden house, crackling madly. Sakiko could feel the tingling heat drawing closer as she ran towards the door. She was about to turn around to see where Opegaria was when she felt two pair of hands pushing her forward.

The doors shut behind her with a loud bang. Sakiko crawled to a safe distance as she called out for her aunt.

"Opegaria! Ope--"

The wooden house creaked, and through the thick, gray smoke, Sakiko could see a large, blue beam of light. Her aunt! She was trying to put out the fire! Sakiko laughed and got up, watching as the smoke slowly dimished. She was about to run towards the house again, when a loud, breaking noise grumbled through the air.

The house.

It had collapsed, taking down everything inside it.

Opegaria was lost forever.

Sakiko sunk down to her knees, staring blankly at the devastation. It had happened because of her conceited pride, her overly large confidence in herself. No tears fell to her eyes, not one broken sob.

Sakiko bit her trembling lips as she came back to the present. She was suddenly aware of the waiting silence of Arrika and Aureliano.

"Sorry, where was I? Well, anyways, my aunt was killed in a fire, a long time ago...the fire was created by me. It was an accident, but...it was because of my lack of training and abundance of conceited pride."

"a pity, losing a family member in such a way.
Why do the gods torture us mortals in such a barbaric way?"
Asked azador himself

"hmmm... all the people I have met where either scared for life or are thugs without any conscience at all."