Xeon sat on the desert sand peacefully. Sand was clean – it was sun bleached, and washed up by water every night, when the tides were high. And besides, no one walked here, anyway. He sat cross legged, staring at the waves of the water with a thoughtful look. He hummed a tune of his childhood, adding in bits here and there where he had forgotten the melody. But his mind was occupied elsewhere – finding his father.

The Necromancer studied his fingernails carefully, knowing that the last words before his mother said before she died were, “Find him in Hyrule.” He snorted, a small smile forming on the corner of his lips. It wasn’t as easy as he had anticipated. There were no clues first of all. And secondly, this place was huge. The mage flopped onto his back, heaving a great sigh as he did so.

Sakiko fanned herself with her hand, looking bothered and hot. She tugged on the strap of her medical bag with a sharp sigh, trying to ignore the chattering bard who was jogging beside her in small steps. Zapheta twirled her finger around her bright red hair, smiling widely.

“Goddesses, it’s a wonder I wasn’t born a Zora. I love the water. If I knew you came here a lot, then I would’ve followed you around a long time ago. Who knew?
You’re actually fun to hang around with.”

The mage stopped in her tracks, and rolled her eyes at the bard.

“Will you please just shut. Up?”

Zeze shrugged, and wiped her hot lips with her equally hot hand. She began to run, wanting to jump in the cool water asap. She cartwheeled and skipped along, and turned around to wave at Sakiko. Running backwards now, she yelled,

“Come on, slowpoke! Let’s go swimmin’!”

Sakiko was a distant figure now as Zeze ran speedily. Suddenly, her foot caught on something, and she tripped. Sprawled on the sand, she lifted her head, wondering if it was a giant rock she had clambered over. No, it was a young man, with a strangely dark appearance about him. She studied his face for a while, and jumped up to her feet.

“Helloa, strange-ah. M’name’s Zeh Zeh!”

Saber was stanging outside his new cabana, sighing as he tilted his head this way and that, trying to work out just what he was going to do with the place. It wasn't as though he had anything to store in there; he had no posessions. It was completely bare as it was, and he would need some way to make it feel...home-y. Why Ryk had pushed this upon him despite his wishes was a mystery to the mercenary, but he just heaved another great sigh and brushed his hair aside, turning to walk away. Then he caught a strange sight--Sakiko, the mage, was walking out by the beach. That wasn't something he would expect of her. Judging by her pale skin, the chances of her hanging around such a hot place were minimal. Then again, he spent all his time in the desert, yet was almost as pale as her. He knew there was probably some reason, but just shrugged it off as something in his diet. He looked back at the cabana once more and ran after Sakiko, now seeing Zapheta and a stranger up ahead. "That would explain where she's going..." He mumbled to himself. When he got within ten feet of Sakiko, he slowed a bit. "Hello there!" He said somewhat loudly, not thinking about the possibility that he could startle her.

“Oh, godde-“

Sakiko stumbled, the loud voice suddenly throwing her off track. The mage turned around with a swerve, not expecting anyone to be here. She squinted – the desert sun was much too bright for her liking – and saw to her surprise that it was Saber.

“ Saber, what are you doing here?”

She waited, to see if Saber would join her, and began to walk towards the stranger and the bard. Sakiko frowned,

“I know you’re probably wondering the same thing about me: I’m here because I needed to stock up on the seaweed. Herbs, you know.”

Coughing slightly, she reached Xeon and Zeze. The stranger was strange. He had this haunted look about him, as if he didn’t sleep at all. His aura did no help to disprove that, either. Sakiko raised her eyebrows,

“Who might you be?”

“Ugh!”

Xeon stood up quickly, disgusted that Zeze’s foot had just touched him. He shoved his hands in his pockets and glared, his dark irises turning even darker. However, his muscles relaxed, and he even offered a small smile. Apologetic now, Xeon rubbed his hands together, as if abashed.

“Forgive me, I was merely surprised. You seem to have caught me on my rather moody days, if you will accept my poor excuse.”

He darted a glance at Sakiko.

“Good afternoon, my pale friend. My name is Xeon. The Necromancer, if you will.”

Turning his gaze even further down the road, he spotted Sabertache.

“My, my, I seem to meet a lot of young friends today. What luck!”

He said his last phrase in a rather overly enthusiastic manner that might’ve raised questions about its sincerity.

Sakiko raised her eyebrows, her lips curled in a bemused grimace.

"Pale friend, did you say?"

Zeze shrugged this off with a wave of her hand, and clapped the mage on the back in a good natured way. She winked at Xeon,

"Forgive her, she's always cranky on errands. Say, what brings you here? I mean, we're here to collect kelp-"

She grimaced, and pointed a thumb at Sakiko,

"-and swim."

"Oh..."

Xeon shrugged, really uninterested in exactly why the red haired and white haired girls were here. He gazed back at the water, scratching at his fingernails in a dazed manner. They were perfectly polished, a little grown and a bit sharp. The Necromancer sat down on the sand, reveling in the bright sun and hot sand. He gazed at Sakiko, then Zeze, then Saber, then back at the water.

"Would you like to know why I am here?"

He emphasized the word 'I', as if it was the most important thing in the world. Without their answers, he replied,

"Because I am in search of my father, who was last seen here. And I must go underwater to search... he might be anywhere. I searched everywhere and he isn't to be seen. How is that even possible? It's not fair!"

He ranted, his eyes glowing maliciously. He seemed to have forgotten his fellow adventurers as he hissed,

"But mark my words, I'll find him, and then I'll kill him.. that is the only way I can gain more power... to drink his soul..."

He smiled in a crazed manner, holding up a small, glass vile that was attached to a thin cord of chain on his neck. The gold glinted in the sun, blinding any who looked. He whispered,

"And his soul, I'll keep it here... here, where I will keep and devour..."

Suddenly, his eyes widened. He seemed to notice Sakiko and Zeze. Smiling ruefully, he apologized gallantly,

"I apologize. But my point is that I must go beaneath the water's surface... will you join me? It will be a great amount of fun, you know."

Sakiko backed away, her eyes narrowed. She did not trust this Xeon at all. He was maniac, crazed, hungry for power... it did not suit her in the least. And on top of that, who would go udnerwater with him? Any crazed fool...

"Why, I'd love to join ya!"

Her gray eyes widened as she saw Zeze do a handstand, her fiery locks swinging across the sand playfully.

"I was dying to swim...so, how do we breathe underwater? Eh? Eh?"

Sakiko shot down the bard with a cold glare.

"We do not have any business with this man here."

She pointedly did not say his name - this fool, this crazed soul did not have a right to bear the honor of having a name. He would murder his own father...!

"Let's go, Zapheta. Come on."

The bard got up to her feet, and scowled.

"Come on, Saki. We don't have any battles to fight in at the moment, and I'm bored. An underwater expedition, we'll call it."

Saber stood back slightly, cocking an eyebrow at this Xeon fellow. He didn't seem quite...sane, to be honest. The mercenary supposed that was what happened when power took hold of you. He felt like leaving, but he couldn't make himself do it--to do so would be to leave Zeze and Sakiko with a potentially dangerous man. He didn't consider this a pleasant option, and wasn't about to follow up on it anytime soon. If he couldn't convince them to stay...well, he would just have to join them, he supposed. How else was he to ensure their safety. "Do you even know where you're going?" he spoke up for the first time, tilting his head a little and brushing his hair out of his eye. "The ocean...it's pretty big. You could spend your entire life searching and never explore all of it. Just how do you expect him to hide under there for any length of time anyways? I don't suppose your father was amphibious..." Hopefully, the use of sarcasm would make Xeon's motives seem less desirable, and discourage Zeze from dragging Sakiko--and by extension, Saber--on this suicidal errand.