Sakiko grimaced, imagining the pain of the energy strikes. Her eyes wandered back to Worru's hand, and thought to herself that the mark was more evident than before. The mage nodded slowly, and loosened her grip on the staff, glad that she never had to use it. She said witha heavy sigh,

"It's unfortunate that this happened, but I guess all's well that ends well. Or something like that."

She was about to leave, but swerved around, another question looming in her mind. The mage muttered her question,

"Ryokiden? Who's that?"

Worru turned to her, about to answer, when a gruff voice did it for him, having lost that demonic tone, but still the same English accent.

"I'm Ryokiden, love. Call me Ryk." he said, thumbing his nose with a metal claw. He stood at 5'6, with very spikey red hair, that had two long bangs on the front, red eyes, metal claws, heavy boots, red and black clothing under a leatherish cloak, fangs, and three whisker marks on each cheek. "Guardian of this here boy until t'day I die, which has yet to repeat itself, and let me tell you, I don't want it to." he said, as Worru came up to him, and the taller of the two patted and ruffled the younger's hair. It was a rare display of brotherly affection the demon had for the boy.

Sakiko blinked, examining the strange demon standing before her. Feeling bit weary at so many strange occurrences that happened in a short amount of time, the mage felt no surprise or shock washing over her. Sakiko said dryly,

"Well, you don't exactly look the guardian type, but if you say so. So tell me, are you wanted? It seems that someone wanted to kill you. Not to mention that this boy here was tortured most mercilessly to resist your murder."

Ryk looked at the pale mage, grinning for no apparent reason. "Girlie, I'm not wanted, that's the problem. You see, I was given to this boy by the sworn enemies of the Goddesses, a group called the 'Three Kings'. Those guys who were here are not agents of either the Three Queens, Goddesses to you, or the Three Kings. They're physical manifestations of the...what d'you people call it again, Triumph Forks?" he said, scratching his head. "Anyways, now that he has half of one, he is in line to recieve the actual Triforce of Courage. Now, iffin' I'm right, there's gonna' be one for the Goddesses half as well."

Sakiko played the explanations around in her head, and understanding somewhat. There were so many pieces to this puzzle, so many questions to be asked. The mage glanced over at Worru, and her gray eyes lingered on the flaming red hair of the demon as her gaze shifted.

"Why would the enemies of the goddesses give you to the boy as a protector? And why is he,"

The mage made a swift motion to the boy,

"given the triforce? What has he done? Or what hasn't he done to deserve it?"

"Because the Kings knew the boy wouldn't be ready to actually fight for himself. I'm here to make sure he stays alive. As for the Triforce, the King who chose him for it is known as the 'King of Empty Courage', as opposed to Farore, 'Goddess of Steadfast Courage'." the demon said, just grinning all the while.

Sakiko narrowed her eyes at the overly friendly demon. He was a demon, after all. And she had never really met an amiable demon. The mage tipped her head to one side, and said somewhat irritably,

"Is smiling a habit for you or something?"

The Hylian quickly brushed away the question with a wave of her hand. She didn't want to be rude, but she wasn't unfamiliar to being impolite to smiling strangers. The mage gravely added,

"I didn't get to introduce myself, and yet I know about you two with quite detail. My name is Sakiko."

Sakiko muttered,

"I sort of guessed I should introduce myself after being called 'girlie' and 'love.'"

Ryk chuckled a bit, pointing at her with one of his metal claws, his other arm still crossed over his chest. "I don't call people by their names until they have earned some respect. And, girlie, you have yet to do that. As for me smiling," he took a pause to walk up to her, lift one claw above her head, and flick something that was on there away, "There's been a skulltula on your head for five minutes now."

Sakiko rolled her eyes. She wasn't really one who had fear of insects, skulltulas or not. The mage said,

"Thanks for telling me. But you know, if it didn't do any harm, there's no need to scream and hop around in circles, right?"

She frowned at Ryk's reasoning. The Hylian scolded,

"You know, names are there for a reason. But fine, if that's your philosophy, at least call me something nicer, like.."

She paused, a pale finger on her lips.

"...well, you chose not to call me by Sakiko, so it's your burden to think up a nicer name. If you call me girlie again..."

The mage wagged the staff threateningly, her gray eyes stern and frowning.

"Ok, now that I've made my point clear on your philosophy, I think I'll borrow your idea. I'm not going to call you by your name until you start calling me by mine, or do something absolutely amazing. And swiping off a skultulla certainly doesn't prove anything."

Ryk held his hands up in mock defense, still smiling. "Oh, no. The girl has a stick. Oh worry. Oh cry. Oh agony. All I have is metal claws and daggers. O deary me, she might just be able to beat me. he said, all in more than obvious sarcasm. His hand moved back down, one quickly dissapearing and reappearing as a dagger found itself in the upside-down skulltula that was still next to the mage.

"I'll give you a nickname once I see something I can use." he said, lifting a claw to his chin as he circled the mage, studying her closely. "So, anything else you need, Icy?" he said, testing out one nickname.

Sakiko scowled, noticing how he was studying her carefully. This action reminded herself of how she studied herbs and plants. Frowning, Sakiko complained,

"I'm not some study material, thank you very much."

The mage fell into silence, staring at the demon.

"You know, Icy does fit me, as well as Ego would fit you. Actually, to carry across my point, Big Ego would fit you perfectly."

She clasped her hands around her staff, smiling.

"You have to agree, being conceited is way too stressful, and bad for your health. You did mention your aversion to death, am I correct?"

Ryk grinned, seemingly okay with the name. "And being as pale as that while out here in the sun can cause skin problems. And, I'd know about having an adversion to death. Lived through two of them, and neither were very comfortable." he said, stretching out. "Now, tell me, what lead you to helping m'boy?"

Sakiko glanced at her pale skin, which were tinted pink with the heat. She sighed, just noticing the discomfort of it right after Big Ego had mentioned it. Reaching into her robes, the mage took out a piece of cloth, which she flattened out. Muttering to herself, Sakiko put it over her head, and had it suspend in the air. Simple.

A small shade engulfing her, Sakiko focused her mind back to the demon's question.

"You know, a bleeding boy who appears mentally unstable is hard to miss. Espcecially out here. I was trying to cross the desert in time to reach the shores...I wanted to study some sea plants."

She took out a thin book, which was worn out and wrinkled, with some blood stains on it. Having it with her all the time, it went through her battles as well.

"See? My book of herbs."

Ryokiden looked at the book, bringing himself closer to take a whiff of it. After doing that, his head shot back, clawed hands covering his nose as he began to yell. "Yow! Have you ever tried to clean that book!? I've been around decayed corpses that smelled better!" he yelled, and after a moment, he released his nose, a look of disgust on his face before wiping it away.

"Anyway...uhm...Sakiko, was it? I thank you for finding m'boy, and...whatever the 'ell it was you did to help him. And, seeing as that is my job, I owe you one." he said, using her name for the first time. "Remember that if you ever, and I hope you don't, need my help."

Worru stood up, legs wobbly as he did so, as he smiled at Sakiko. "Erm...Thanks, ma'am." he said, before his was picked up, and sat piggy-back style on Ryk's back.

Sakiko grinned, and tucked the book away again. She had never met someone who took such an eager interest in scent. Smiling, she pointed out,

"Yes, if I clean it, the ink would all blur and be gone, right? Personally, I don't mind...the smell..."

The mage raised her eyebrows, and muttered to Ryk,

"What's with the sudden change of attitude...? It's kind of scary..."

Sakiko smiled back at Worru, although it was short lived and faint. The mage stood up, and said with a side glance the two,

"I didn't do much to help, really. Just stood around and watched."