Here, in the depths of the North Forest, the war has not reached. The trees are still bare from the winter, but the air is suprisingly warm for a day so soon after the colder season of the land. In this isolated portion of the woods, sat one of the Generals that lead the Dark Army, the seemingly ever youthful, and somewhat unstable Tempest, Sovelis Liadon. Why was one of Hyrule's hero-turned-villian sitting here alone in the woods? Is he waiting for one of his fellow generals to meet him here? Is he preparing to cast some devistatingly evil spell or copy himself? Is he simply lost, like he used to when he adventured across the lands of Hyrule?

Sovelis stops his walking and sets a large... picnic basket down? Is that all that the mighty Dark General is out here for? Is he out for a relaxing strole and a picnic?!?! It seems so...

"I guess I'm early... Or Arrika is hiding from me." he mumbles to himself, pulling a red blanket from under his billowing cloak. He spreads it out and on the ground so that the ground would be easier to sit on when eating. Sovelis unclasps his cloak and folds it up, setting it on top of the picnin basket. "And now I play the waiting game..."

"The minstrel boy to the war is gone,
In the ranks of death you'll find him;
His father's sword he hath girded on,
And his wild harp slung behind him!"

A clear voice rang through the shadowy woods, followed by a high laugh. It seems as if there were 10 girls, instead of one Sheikah thief, surrounding the Tempest.

"Land of Song!" cried the warrior bard,
"Though all the world betrays thee,
One sword, at least, thy rights shall guard,
One faithful harp shall praise thee!

The Minstrel fell! But the foeman's chain
Could not bring that proud soul under;
The harp he loved ne'er spoke again,
For he tore its chords asunder"

Arrika seemed to appear as if from nowhere from the darkness created by the dense forest, creeping up behind Sovelis as she finished the song.

"And said No chains shall sully thee,
Thou soul of love and bravery
Thy songs were made for the pure and free
They shall never sound in slavery!"

His head turned to see the young Sheikah girl rise up from one of the shadows of the forest. "That was a beautiful song, Arrika." Sovelis said, standing up and wrapping his arms around the girl's waist, lifting Arrika off the ground. "Its good to see you again. Did your mission go as planned?" he asked, kissing her lightly on the cheek and setting the sheikah back down. " I brought some food and a bottle of wine so that we can have a nice picnic. Will you join me, m'dear?"

Sovelis offered his hand to Arrika, his smile the opposite of what it had been in Rauru, warm and carring instead of insane and murderous. "Theirs some fried cucco, some ham, a salad, and a loaf of freash bread." he told her, pulling the food from the basket and setting it on the red wool blanket. "And for desert, an apple pie..."

Sovelis seemed calm, almost too calm. Or maybe it was such a significant change from the way he had been acting during the battle. Here, the two could get a few hours of rest before partaking in the slaughter again...

"The kid died in the song!" Arrika said as she sat on the blanket, leaning over to kiss him back. "But whatever floats your boat, I guess." The savory smell of the food wafted towards her from the open basket, her mouth starting to water. "Sorry I'm late again- you know, I keep forgetting to ask Kobas to open that watch. I have to guess what time it is by the sun. But when it's cloudy..." She trailed off and laughed. It felt exhilarating to be so carefree, to be away from the demonic, undead Generals for even a moment.

Sovelis smiled and held out his hand. "If you let me see the watch, I could open it for you, Arrika. It doesn't take an alchemist to open something, you know." he indeed was calmer than he had been a few days ago, at the Battle of Rauru. The day before, Sovelis had spoken to Zaboorak, and then Jormund Gobi. If what the 'Golden' zora had told him was accurate, then Sovelis only had another day before he would be needed to assist the Hakiem Tribe, so perhaps this was only the calm before yet another storm?

"I know that you don't want to keep this up. The blood and death isn't something that you should have to deal with... And I also know that you and Sakiko got into it over this entire ordeal." Sovelis looked into those dark, deep eyes that he had once lost himself in, in what seemed like years ago before the wa had started. " Arrika... I'm sorry that I've dragged you into this war... you and Seth, and Kobas...even Rhyss and Mirielle... If I had stood up for what I used to stand for... we might still be able to wander around he Castle Town together like we used too..."

"Sakiko... Screw her. I fight for you, and no one else. I told you I'd follow you, didn't I? One little battle is nothing. Like Seth says, it's just the first of many..." Inside she was still hurting over losing her greatest friend. If Sakiko ever really did care about her in the first place.

"The rest of them have nothing to do with you. Seth could have easily hidden in the Tantari in Saber's shelter. Rhyss is hungry for the power he believes the other Generals will give him... And Kobas... He has his own motives. Mirielle, she's on Hyrule's side just to be annoying. All the more reason to kill her." Arrika stared back into Sovelis's green eyes. He seemed different. Distant. Cold. Her hand slid towards his real one, her fingers entwining with his. "Let's not talk about the war... tell me something normal." A thought struck her. What would there be to discuss? The war had become their lives. They couldn't escape it, save for small chances like today. Like Sovelis had said, being a traitor to your own country didn't have many perks.

The Sheikah dug in her pocket for the pocketwatch, admiring it as it glinted in the sun as she handed it to him.

"Something normal... Well... I found something that I thought you'd like." Sovelis squeezed Arrika's hand, then his mechanical hand rose up to be next to her ear. As he pulled it away, he pulled one of the oldest tricks in the book: A flower for the pretty lady. A single, red rose was clutched gently between the metal fingers, holding the flower by its thorn covered stem. "I guess not having an arm made of fleash-and-blood can come in handy when handling something like this."

Sovelis held the rose, offering it to Arrika with a smile that belonged on the face of someone who didn't kill, or make war like the Tempest had. Will my life ever be normal? Can I ever give Arrika a life worth living?

Arrika smiled back, wondering if the look on his face was forced or not. She took the rose, holding it delicately between her fingers and avoiding the thorns as well as possible. She untied her hair so it tumbled loosely over her shoulders before entwining the beautiful flower in her hair. "Hah. You could be a little more original than that," she joked, but appreciated his attempt at diverting their thoughts anyway. "So, are we going to eat or not?" Her stomach rumbled loudly. Constant fighting had even made her forget to eat sometimes. She opened the basket on her own, ripping off two legs for herself and the Tempest. The cucco was hot and crisp, and it made her think of they days long ago when life seemed so perfect and carefree. Oh, wait, that was just last week...

"Sorry... I'm not very creative when it comes to this kind of thing..." he smiled, reading the thoughts coming out of Arrika's mind like a small piece of paper. "And no. I'm not forcing myself to be calm and kind. I wanted to be myself for you... so we could enjoy some time together and alone." He accepted the leg that she had torn off for him, and sank his teeth into it greedily. The crisply battered meat was like a feast to Sovelis, since he had been fasting for about a week now, trying to starve himself for dragging so many people into the war.

"Arrika... Why did you follow me though?" he asked after he swallowed what was in his mouth. "Why didn't you just run and hide? I.. I wouldn't have been mad at you if you had."

"I told you-" Arrika said, swallowing a huge bite. "-I don't care. Do I have to say it again? I love you. I'm not going to run away. I couldn't live with myself if I ever did that."

"You haven't- when was the last time you ate?!" Arrika demanded. She could see the ravenous way he ripped at the food. It was different than her hunger, which was induced by lack of food. His was obviously intentional. "Please don't- don't end up like Kobas. You'll end up doing worse to yourself."

"I'm fine... I can't kill myself anyways." Sovelis spoke with his mouth half-full, some of the juices from the cucco drippling down his chin and onto his robes. "I've survived longer without eating... My body just shuts down until I put something into it. I don't need to eat, but it helps to keep the pains of hunger away. I'm immortal, but still human." He finished off the last of his leg, and tossed the bone into the tall, dry grass. "Want some wine? I brought some of my secret stash..." the basket had two metal tankards, and a chilled, unopened bottle of some red, fruity wine. Sovelis pulled the cups out, popped the cork, and filled the tankards with the sweet-smelling liquid.

"Here... Now. Lets toast to something. Can you think of anything?" he asked, handing on of the metl cups to Arrika, then shoving the cork back into the bottle's neck. "We can toast ot us... or something else."

"What's left to toast to..?" Arrika murmured to herself as she ripped of a chunk of bread. "You're all I have left- you and Kobas, and Rhyss when he's in a good mood." She raised her cup anyway. "To ending this war as soon as possible, and forgetting it ever happened..." She took a long gulp, emptying her cup in a second.

The Sheikah settled herself in the crook of Sovelis's arm, watching the breeze gently sway the branches of the trees surrounding them. "I tried to go home," she said quietly. "Someone recognized me, and the guards chased me out of town. I barely got away... I've been hiding out here ever since. What are we supposed to do, when this is all over, if it ever is? Where are we going to go? Rauru Town's overrun with monsters, half the people I know are dead, dying, or waiting their turn dance with Death."

A dry leaf fluttered down and landed on her hair, and she turned it over in her fingers pensively before crushing it. "I hope everyone dies-" She said suddenly. "Aurel, Worru, Saber, Zeze, Sakiko... everyone. Because I don't think I could take it if I ever had to look at them again."

"This isn't the end, Arrika. We can still fix everything if we try... At least you can go back if they all forgive you." Sovelis said, snuggling the Shiekah closer to him. "But for me, its too late. I'd have to leave or go into hiding for a hundred years or so... Until there would be no one left alive who would remember my name or face. Then I could come back, change my name, and we could start over again."

Sovelis chugged the last of the wine in his cup, and set the tankard down. "We could go away... Leave Hyrule and travel to some other land. We could go to Teminia or Holodrum, or one of the other countries."

"I don't think they'll ever forgive me," Arrika said, and it hurt when she realized that truth in those words.

"We could go even farther than that, couldn't we?" Arrika asked. "We could go to one of the Earths. Time flows a lot differently every where. If we stayed on Earth for a month, it would be like 50 years passed in Hyrule... But... whatever you do... don't leave me behind."

She was beginning to understand how Kobas felt; sometimes things were just so overwhelming the only thing to do was get away from it all completely.

"I've given up on leaving this world, Arrika. It would take more power than I have to leave this world anymore." he looked up at the pale blue sky, and smiled. "And the way that Rhyss discovered isn't how I want to travel. I'd rather still be me when I get somewhere, and not someone else like Kobas did when he used those portals..."

Sovelis looked back down at Arrika, and kissed her forehead lightly. "But if we leave before this war is over, the other Generals will see me as a traitor, just like the rest of the world. I don't need anymore enemies on my case... We'll have to wait out the war until the end. Then we can leave, no matter the outcome..."

"But if the Dark wins, then nowhere will be free of war. They won't stop until this entire world is covered in shadows... Either they loose, or we all pay the price." the mage sighed, and closed his green eyes. "And I feel as though I could have done something to stop all of this from happening. I guess that Seth and his sister where right... This world will be burned and the light will be snuffed out because of me..."