Outside the majestic Temple of Nayru, among a group of benches, a woman slowly meanders over to where they are and collapses into one of the seats. She wipes her a bead of sweat that drips from her forehead as her breathing slows back to a controllable rate.

Approaching her, you can hear her muttering. "Din's fire, there goes another lead. Those Hylian Knights really don't seem to know anything about that Wraith fellow." Shada lets out a troubled sigh and closes her eyelids, resting her eyes for a few moments.

OOC Edit: I ask that, if you post here, or in the rest of my storyline, you put some effort into your post. I have asked RG to delete any posts that consist of horrendous grammar, spam, one liners, etc., and I have been informed that he has already gotten rid of one such post.

So guys, just take this seriously. At least, as serious as a game deserves.

Rose sits down beside the Sheikah woman. "I told you I didn't think we would get anywere with it," she said, trying to keep her voice blank, but the "I told you so" air was still there. However, Rose had been spending her rare time in North Castle asking the people if they knew someone who could say something about the mysterious masked assassin, all to no avail herself. Not that she had expected much anyway; common folk rarely knew these sort of things. She had done it more to feel useful to her friends, and a little bit because she really had nothing better to do. Asides from hiding from the Hakiems. She remembered a long time ago being told they would be after her if she had joined with Alpha and Shada. And now this Wraith character was probably after her too. "Any other ideas?" the human asks.

OOC: Heh heh, found it.

OOC: Good work, HNS. You get a gold star.

IC:
Shada glances up as Rose sits down next to her, groaning inwardly. 'Here it comes...' she thinks, just before the Human speaks. 'Well, at least she's trying to not be all in my face about it...' A small smile forms on her face at the thought, although she does hear some of the 'I told you so' tones that she had been expecting.

A sigh escapes her lips. "Yes, yes you did, Rose. I was hoping you'd be wrong." Her hand moves up to cover her eyes from the sun as it comes out from behind a large, fluffy cloud. "I've been following leads on this Wraith guy for days, running from one side of Hyrule to the other. Most of them had nothing to back them up; the last one even led me to a storage room for stocking up Halloween supplies..." She leans back, obviously tired and annoyed at the lack of results.

OOC: Hurray! I get a gold star!

IC:
"Maybe this Wraith will just show up and let us ask him a few questions," Rose said, trying to sound cheerful; she didn't succeed in her eyes. She let out a sigh. "This is insane. Why don't they teach you stuff like this in the academy? It's a hell lot more useful than which woman a general married hundreds of years ago."

"The only reason Wraith would show himself," came a familiar voice from behind Rose and Shada, "would be to kill us." Blank appeared in the Temple Quarter, relieved that some of the other adventurers had arrived in North Castle. After battling with the masked man who emphasized his psuedonym - the ever-terrifying "Wraith" - Blank had disappeared. He had missed the Beast Master battle altogether, and still he did not even know of the existence of those events.

"Not to be interrogated by his targets," he finished. His face bore a solemn expression; it was obvious he knew their plight. Not that he had asked anyone about Wraith. There was only one man he knew who could possibly know an identity so secret, and as far as Blank knew, that man was far away, teaching new-generation mages at a private school in Calatia.

"I can see you've had no luck... What now?"

"Beats me," Shada replies to Blank's query. "I've asked everyone I could think of that could have a chance of knowing anything about him.

"Of course, Keyru hasn't exactly been helping me. He keeps on telling me not to worry about, and to just be ready in case that guy attacks again. I just can't wrap my mind around why he would feel that way..." She shakes her head and closes her eyes again, allowing her head to fall backwards until it is resting on the bench.

* * *

"Are those the ones?"

"Yes sir, they most certainly are."

Fifty yards away, hidden completely in the shadows of an alleyway and a stack of wooden crates, stood two cloaked men. The first one nodded at the second's confirmation. "Odd that people like them would be asking around about a being like Wraith...well, it's about time we found out what exactly they know."

Rose sighs. "You have a point there, Blank," she says. Pushing Wraith out of her mind for now, she turns to Shada. "So, are you the only one who calls Alpha Keyru, or are you the only one allowed to call him Keyru? Because you're the only person I know who call him that."

Shada's exhausted look takes on a slight air of amusement. Without opening her eyes, she turns her head in Rose's direction, showing her the small grin her lips have formed. "Keyru and I knew each other when we were kids," she says, "before Master Zaris came and began teaching him.

"According to the style of fighting that Master and Keyru use, the master is to give his student a new name for the entirety of their training. As long as he's still a student, his name is, in fact, Alpha, but I prefer to call him by his real name. And Master never got angry at me for it, so I assume it's okay for an old friend to call him Keyru."

"So is Shada your real name, or the name Master Zaris gave you?" Rose asks. She then considers to ask Blank go somewhere else so she and the Sheikah can talk in private, but decides against it.

"Yes, my real name is indeed Shada. I'm not a true student of Master Zaris; I traveled with him, and he did teach me many things so that we could fight back against the Hakiems Tribe, but in the end I'm merely a companion of his. So he didn't give me a new name...although I sometimes wonder what name he would have chosen..." She giggles slightly, glad for the reprieve from her search for information. Wraith had given her a real headache, but it was slowly fading away as she forced her mind away from that subject.

OOC: FYI, I'm waiting for one more person to join up with this before continuing. I've talked with several people about joining up with this, but none of them have posted...Post already, people!!!

OOC: Well, ZV does know this part of FoG exists. But he's been doing homework first. There's something wrong with that boy.

IC:
"I keep on hearing about this Calatia," Rose continues. "Have you ever been there?"

OOC: Feel free to interrupt, Blank or whoever's going to post next that isn't Blank. I may make this a girlish discussion soon.

Blank promptly jolted to his feet when hearing Rose mention Calatia, having sat down just a moment ago. His eyes seemed to darken, and his overall posture seemed to decrease as he spoke. To his voice there was an air of disturbance; the topic bothered him, but at least he could relate to the conversation.

"Calatia isn't really the best place to visit. Don't get me wrong, it's absolutely gorgeous as far as geography and tourism goes, but the laws are a bit sketchy. The Queen, Selene, let criminals fight for their right to live after committing a crime, but the King abolished that ancient policy years ago. Even standing on forbidden property is liable to get you killed. I've seen citizens of Hyrule terminated for the smallest of crimes, most of them on vacation. And it just goes on and on like that..."

Blank realized how disturbing a mood he was setting with his negative description of his previous kingdom of servitude. Smiling to lighten the darkened atmosphere, he exhaled and let out a laugh. "But then, reckless girls like you two would fit in just perfectly there.

"I would suggest Trinia or Byrna for a travel destination. But this is hardly the time to discuss... holidays."

OOC: Set me up perfectly for that one, HNS

"If I'm reckless, it's because I met you all," Rose replies, smiling. "I used to make decisions carefully until I came here." Her smile fades. "A lot can change in a short amount of time, can't it?"

"It certainly can," Shada adds with a growing smile. "I think we've all changed, in ways that some of us can't even see. For instance...I'm sure I've changed since coming here, but I can't place my finger on how..." She throws her hands behind her head flippantly, grinning all the while. "Oh well; I always was pretty bad at critiquing myself!"

Blank nodded, but stopped himself instantly. "I haven't changed at all," he lied, ensuring that anything about his own past wouldn't slip out. He berated himself silently for giving out more obvious signs of secrecy, especially recently. "Maybe Alpha can tell us if you've changed at all," spoke the nomad, grinning as he implied that the mage would be the best with deciding just how different his own companion had become over the years.

"Hmm... where did Alpha get off to, anyway?"