FSE

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"OI, WAKE UP!"

She had hoped the past night had just been a vivid nightmare. But there she was lying on the floor of a prison cell carved into the rock of an underground cavern, staring at the ceiling as the raspy sound of her jailer taunted her out of her dreams.

"The boss wants to give ya a li'l talk," said a green Lizalfos with brazen spear jabbing through the bars, "so you better be all bright-eyed an' bushy-tailed eh?! ...oi, you deaf or what?!"

Chihlo said nothing, turning her back towards him in insult as he tried to thrust at her spine but she was well out of reach. Snarling he tried to push as far as he could repeatedly jabbing at the unmoving prisoner to no avail until deciding to just open the cage door itself.

"You, listen, NOW! Get UP, or I'll make ya wish that ya-DHHHF!"

The rito waited until he was close enough in his anger before swiftly kicking her manacled legs out from underneath, tripping the jailer fast before she rolled on top of him and wrapped the chain of her handcuffs round his throat. His shrieking hiss was stifled as she crushed his throat, spit frothing from his gasping chokes to puddle out beside him as the bird snarled and strangled tighter. Then something slammed the back of her head, the sound of a heaving cough from the lizalfos underneath as she was kicked off of him, straddled by another reptilian who drove his fist into her face.

"YOU LITTLE PRICK!"

"GUHH!"

"YOU THINK WE AIN'T GONNA KILL YA WHEN WE'RE DONE WITH YOU?!"

"[i]GAARGH![/i]"

"A-AAAAAAGH!"

She snapped her beak hard upon his wrist and pulled him down to headbutt him straight in the jaw as she tried to roll on top of him, but the jailer had recovered his breath and grabbed at her leg chains to drag her across the floor and out of her cell. The second lizard followed behind with his own spear as she struggled and ranted with vicious gleaming eyes, trying to slow them down with sudden lunges to the side.

"COME, HERE!"

"[i]N-NOOOO![/i]"

"KEEP YOUR HANDS TO YOURSELF OR YOU WILL [i]NEVER FLY AGAIN![/i]"

"[i]LET ME GOOOOO![/i]"

"Maybe we oughta take his feet!" taunted the lizard behind them. "Don't need those when yer flyin' right?"

"Touch me again and I will [i]strangle you[/i] with your own TONGUE!" barked Chihlo.

"You do that and I'll turn your corpse into a winter coat!"

The bird did not relent, kicking and raving to either frustrate or tire out her captors enough as they dragged her squawking shrieking body throughout their underground base. She saw the faces of slavering beasts, cackling bokoblins that yammered away of ballsy conquests, moblins with deep-throated laughs that crammed fingers into nostrils and lizalfos catching flies in the air with their snap-shooting tongues. Various rooms she saw to her sides ranging from barracks with carved stone beds in the walls to training halls where the beasts clashed rather ruthlessly with their weapons.

Striking hard with swords and spears, scrapes and bloody spatters littered across the floor along with the stench of battle heat. Then there was the main mess hall itself where the foot soldiers bantered and tore into food with meaty chunks spraying out between tables, chortling raw voices and shrieking chitters as they noticed the hostage being hauled towards their master's den. There also was a medium-sized kitchen in the back where a single moblin wore an apron, wandering between steaming pots as the sounds of cackling came from the dinner hall.

"HEY LOOK, IT'S THE MAIN COURSE!"

"HOHHHH YEAH, EY MOHBERRA GET THE BIG POT, WE GOT A LIVE ONE 'ERE!"

"You gonna sing a song fer us li'l birdy?!"

"The way yer dressed I bet we can make you sing!"

"I got you a nice fat flute you can whistle on RIGHT HERE birdy!"

"HEY!" The lizalfos behind her swung his spear at the last bokoblin who spoke. "WHAT did we tell you about that kinda talk?!"

"Wh-what, aw come on-"

"NO, you KNOW the Yiga don't like that crap, you talk like that again an' we put you in the pit cuz your attitude affects your unit!"

"It's a JOKE, oh, I'm sorry is the HOSTAGE gonna put in a complaint?!"

"I don't give a damn about the hostage, I give a damn about having 'damaged goods' to trade cuz the POINT of a hostage is to have 'em in good condition!"

"A-alright jeez whatever keep yer feathered bitch!"

The lizardmen rolled their chameleon eyes and kept on dragging the now-confused rito who kicked up a fuss again until they reached the master's sanctum behind a large iron door. Standing guard were two lithe humanoid figures with large sickles in their hands, dressed in full-red with black sleeves and ceramic masks on their faces showing an eye beneath a thick red blur.

"Is this how you treat your hostages?" asked one guard.

"The ones that choke the shit outta me yeah," snarled the lizalfos in front, "is master decent?"

"Wait here."

As one guard went inside the door which slid upwards like a portcullis, the other waited scrutinising the bird on her back. A female voice came from the mask as she gestured her sickle vaguely at Chihlo.

"Is THAT how rito dress? Really?"

"Better than you," retorted she, "you look like a doll made by the kid who burns animals."

"What?! Ahaha, ohhh I see, you're trying to be ballsy with your tough talk, that won't work here."

"Look at your lizard friend and ask him why his neck is blue, THEN tell me it doesn't work."

"I thought you birds were about grace and dignity," mocked the ninja guard with a mocking sway of her hips.

"And I thought your master didn't dump his trash outside his door like the lazy fatass he is but here you are."

"SHUT UP!" snarled the lizard behind her with a spear stabbing the air above her head. "Do NOT insult our master, If you don't wanna be here then you shouldn'ta tried to mess with us!"

"Ohhh I'm SOOOO sorry," she replied with hands clasped to her chest, "pwease forgive dis widdle girl fer trying to stop yer big bad pwan!"

"Oh don't you worry, we'll find a way to make you repay yer debt."

The second guard returned and left the iron door open to let them through where they entered the fiend's lair. A room shaped like a rectangle with a giant flag of the eye symbol from their masks draped along the back wall. A wooden beaten desk stood out amongst the various nooks and crannies in the walls where various artifacts sat from small statues and relics of forbidden lore, to bloodied knives with the names of their victims scrawled in the Sheikah language. Sitting behind the desk was the master himself.

"Ahhhh, at last we meet."

The leader of this motley crew was a fearsome sight with torches flickering either side of him. A broad-shouldered human at least 6'8'' in the same red clothes of his guards with thick barrel chest, long black pants of his bulky legs and the same ceramic mask covering his face. A spurious flock of white hair covered both sides of his head luxurious and flowing like snow on the mountain cliffs, the hostage noticing the handle of a samurai sword gleaming past his shoulder.

"So you are the little sparrow that tried to sneak into my base hmmm?"

He walked around his desk with hands behind his back, strutting with chest even further out than it already was like a rooster. Chihlo was propped up before him but said nothing and turned her head from his gaze. The leader cocked his head at this and started to pace back and forth in front of the hostage, calmly placing his hands in a soft prayer motion as she ignored him. The guards said nothing out of fear for the silence that came down upon them, weighing on their heads like a stone press that threatened to crush their bones as the rito and the yiga clansman engaged in a quiet battle of fortitude. Nothing was said for the next five minutes as the lizalfos became increasingly impatient, tapping their claws nervously until their leader suddenly swung his hand towards Chihlo's unmoving face, glimmering with sharp pointed steel from the tip of his fingers. Three inches from her eye was a small shuriken between his knuckles, the wind rustling her feathers briefly.

"...hm. Impressive." He pulled his hand back with a bow of respect. "The legends of rito confidence were not exaggerated it seems. Now would you like to explain why you tried to infiltrate our domain?"

"Only if you take off that stupid eggshell off your face," was her reply.

"I cannot do that, it is against my principles."

"Hm. Fine, but I still won't tell you."

"You are hardly in a position to refuse, boy."

"Really?" The falcon pressed her hands underneath her pits in a cross-armed gesture. "If you won't even bother to address me properly then you're not getting shit from me."

"And how would you like me to address you hmmm?" asked the Yiga boss leaning back against his desk with equally crossed arms.

"You call me ma'am, or miss, cuz otherwise we are done here, so just drag me back to my cell unless you'd rather waste BOTH our time."

"What!? ...KHHHHHmhmhah, HMHMHAHAHAHA!"

His bass laugh disturbed his subordinates who looked at each other nervously in taking a step back. Chihlo stared at him straight with chest out and puffed as the leader grabbed her throat with a threatening thumb over her larynx.

"I will [i]address you[/i] however I please you little guttersnipe, when you break into my lair you have lost ANY right for me to dignify whatever fantasy you wish me to enable on you."

"GHRK...f-fantasy...like tryin' to bring back Ganon-GUHH!"

He responded with a powerful backfist across her face knocking her hard to the floor.

"Until YOU learn to speak to me properly, you are not worthy of speaking our lord and master's name, child."

"Pfft...child, says the guy with his little playhouse full o' gross snotty morons trying to revive some weak-ass cloud monster that a PRINCESS kept trapped in her castle, FOR A HUNDRED YEARS!"

The yiga clansman responded by grabbing the scruff of her neck and hoisting her up back to her feet. His hand slid towards the blade handle behind his back much to her derisive snort.

"Pffft ohoho look at you with your cheap-ass blade, I know you're not gonna kill me, and your boy back there was nice enough to tell me that you at least have SOME dignity to not let your creeps get all touchy on me."

"Really?" asked the leader. "Which one of my guards said this?"

"He did." She pointed back towards the second lizalfos. "One of your jerkwad punks tried to make a pass at me."

"I see. Did you appreciate him chastising his fellow grunt for such comments?"

"Yes, actually," she said with wavering head in a patronising fashion, "it's the one tiiiiiny inch of respect I have for you-"

[b][i]WHHHHHFFF[/i][/b]

His blade came out with a supersonic speed, casting a brutal wind as thin as the eyes of a snake through the room and shivering past Chihlo's face. She saw one of her feathers from her cheek gently sever itself in half and slip softly to the floor, dancing on the breeze like the seed of dandelions. But then she heard the lizard's breathing.

"[b][i]GHH-H-HHHHRRRHK![/i][/b]"

Turning her head she saw the lizalfos she had noted now carved in half from the waist up by an unseen force, his head separating finely along with his ribcage, throat and stomach to bleed a thick bilious puddle between his legs. He could not even scream before falling into his own fluids as the rito shuddered with a cold gasp rattling from her throat. Her expression mirrored the other remaining lizalfos whose hands shook between horror and rage until the leader grabbed Chihlo's shoulder firmly.

"Do you see what happens when kindness comes to you? It dies. THAT is your lesson here, little bird, you will receive none of that here, no compassion, no love and NO help whatsoever."

"You...y-you think that's gonna scare me?" she said tensing her jaw hard with a seething quell.

"I believe it will yes." He walked over towards the slain lizalfos and wettened his glove with glistening blood. "Because while I can promise you that I myself will not harm you, I cannot account for my companions. I will warn them not to leave any wounds showing upon you...but..."

The clan leader walked behind her and slipped his fingers across the rito's cheeks to stain her feathers with blood, much to her slightest flinching disgust from the rich ichorous fluid.

"There are always wounds that none can see, ones that are never physical and I surmise that you are so [b][i]very[/i][/b] used to such wounds, aren't you...'madame'?"

"I don't...NEED help from anyone," she snarled with leering beak.

"Well that is good to hear, because if I hear of anyone trying to help you, anything, even trying to give courtesy to you, then they will die all because of YOU. And goodness knows how angry that will make the rest of them who aren't so nice-"

"Okay you know what?"

She turned towards him with cold flinted eyes before punching a finger against his chest.

"I don't CARE what toxic crap you wanna make up with your troops to torture me cuz, you're gonna have to do a lot better than that to frighten me you pathetic little wannabe king. YOU don't wanna hurt me cuz you wanna get money from my people to fund your little cult, that's ALL you are, a worthless thief that doesn't have the balls OR the brains to steal from us. And I know you won't do anything to hurt me for REAL cuz you need me intact so stop trying to make me your damsel in distress, cuz buddy..."

She pressed her beak to his mask until the blood of her cheek dripped onto his head with eyes staring into his beneath his cover.

"[i]I'm gonna be the biggest and [b]last[/b] mistake of your life.[/i]"

The rito walked over back towards the remaining lizalfos and handed her cuffed arms to him with the dignified look of a countess at the gallows.

"I think we're done here. Could you take me back to my cell please?"

"Hmph...no actually." The yiga boss rubbed a hand on his mask to clean the blood off. "Put her in the well until night comes. Then we shall see who is the worthless thief."

"Yes boss," replied the guard dragging his captive away.

The bird was taken to a lone room circular in its shape, somewhere off the beaten path towards the western wall of the island maze. There was a rope and a pulley above a pit, but no bucket for a well as the lizalfos tied the length of fibre to her handcuffs.

"Hope you not afraid of water," said the reptile mockingly.

"Hope you're not afraid of choking in your sleep," she mocked back, "maybe after this you should buy a collar."

"I'd tell ya to shut up but the sea's gonna do that for ya."

Once he tied her up, he kicked her feet out over the pit as the rope fell from her weight, sending her straight into the darkness as the wind rushed beneath her feathers. It wasn't a long drop, but it felt deeper when the tether yanked hard against her wrists and left her dangling within the abyss. She saw a deep crack in front of her exposed towards the outside world, the briefest glint of the sun on the sea with cold water just below her feet. For a while nothing happened, the gentle lap of the waves at her talons discomforting but she was used to the cold with feathers strong against the arctic winds of her mountain home. Then she heard the roaring. Then the sunlight was gone, swallowed by a wave that gushed through the crack and smashed against her body with thick freezing saltwater.

"[i]HHHHHHGHHHK![/i]"

She coughed and sputtered as the salt stung her eyes, her clothing turned cold and soggy to hug against her thighs and belly as Chihlo steeled herself for the next wave. It came thicker than before, slapping her entire stomach hard enough to cause her to swing as she gasped hoarsely from the shock. When the water subsided she noticed her feet were now half-submerged with a fearful realisation.

"Enjoyin' yer cold shower?!" said the lizardman sniggering. "Just sumthin' to help ya cool off until yer ready to come out!"

"[i]GUUH! KHHH-ACHH![/i]"

"Don't worry, I'll be back...if I don't forget about ya, hhhehah."

He walked away as she was left to face the infinite sea, a deep void that swelled and slammed into her chest forcing her to almost retch in coughing fits. The ice dripped against her skin beneath her feathers as she tensed up, burning with anger to keep warm with shivering muscles to face the coming waves. She had no concept of time in the well, only the high and low tide would exist. Her arms began to ache, her feet became numb and her chest turned rattly with cooling breaths every time the ocean roared upon her body.

Chihlo struggled to fall asleep during the low tide but it was useless in such a position. Her arms become dead, her head hanging against her chest as she tried to shut her mind out against the rushing bellows of the sea. She was barely conscious when they pulled her up, brief visions of the stone corridors flashed before her eyes with the scraping of rock against her back. Two days passed, not that she could tell moving back and forth between the well and her cage, being fed scraps and fresh water amidst the constant gaze of the mixed beasts eager to poison her mind with paranoiac visions. She stared at them in turn with hard turquoise eyes that challenged them to fight, arrogance bristling through her neck until the third day of her imprisonment.

"Ey, get up." The lizardman jailer greeted her with a clang of his spear against the bars. "Time fer you to work."

"Work?" she said with her back towards him.

"Yeah, put you to good use fer once."

"Oh, joy, I'm a slave, just what I always wanted."

"Stop complaining, I'll give ya a worse job if you want!"

Sighing with a huff she stood up and allowed herself to be taken through the halls of the mountain maze. The guard led her by a leash attached to her cuffs towards the kitchen, a large separate area with an open arch to the mess hall itself. Two workbenches hewn from smoothstone in the centre of the room for cutting food, with stonebaked kilns and washing sinks carved into the walls amidst knives and spoons placed into small pots on the shelves. Two bokoblins along with a lizalfos were toiling away but her jailer approached the moblin that was clearly chief of the kitchen.

"Oi Mohberra!" the guard pushed Chihlo between them as the chef turned. "You got yerself a new assistant."

"Huh?!"

"Boss' orders, make sure you work her real good."

"U-uhhh...okay?"

The reptile left as the rito stared upon the maroon-skinned beast that towered over her, hunking arms and washboard stomach with hairy arms, a blue-spotted kerchief round his neck and a chef's hat his horn had pierced through the top of. He wore a beige kilt round his waist full of knives and spoons as well as a thick frying pan of basalt hanging from his hip. Much to her surprise the moblin took a small knife from the shelf and placed it in her hands.

"You ever worked in a kitchen?" he asked with a sluggish voice.

"Uhhh, yeah?"

"Good, how 'bout you cut these mushrooms then?"

"Uh...aren't you worried I'm gonna stab you or something?"

"Naaaah," he croaked waving his hand nonchalant, "yer fine."

"You sure?" She cocked her head with the knife turning in her cuffed hands. "Cuz I DID strangle that guy who just left, back on my first day."

"Yeah but, I'm the head chef, an' I make the food so you kill me, then nobody gets food and then they all kill YOU."

"Hahaha, alright good point, so uh you just want me to chop these?"

"Yup, nice an' thin."

Heading over to the small pile of shrooms on a chopping board, the bird started to finely cut them despite the limited range of her hands bound in chains. The sounds of bubbling boiling pots was strangely soothing to the captive, reminiscing slightly on her days back home amidst a cautious chopping rhythm that came flooding back to her muscle memory. The chef gave her no hassle, much to her surprise as they worked together calmly, the moblin rushing around with his three assistants stirring, chopping, or tenderising meats in other pots or ovens around the room.

"Hey chef, I'm done."

"Heyyyy nice work!" The moblin leaned over her at the finely-chopped work. "You're pretty good with a knife huh?"

"Pffft please," she snorted twirling the small paring blade between her fingers, "anyone can chop a buncha veggies."

"You'd be surprised, huhuhah, I give a knife to any of those guys out there an' they'd stab their toes faster than you can say julienne."

"Hhhaha, really?! ...hmph." She straightened her face and handed back the knife tersely with handle first. "Anything else you need?"

"Uhhh yeah, stir that pot over there an' when it's all dirt-brown you tell me."

"Alrighty."

Time flew by in the blink of a feather's breeze as Chihlo worked around the various parts of the kitchen with a guarded heart, keeping an eye on the kitchen staff regardless of the moblin's words of encouragement. The two black bokoblins seemed to specialise in pastries, flinging them into ovens and pulling them out at their crispest, whilst the yellow-backed lizalfos kept watch on the stew with a horn glowing of electrical current. Sometimes she was asked to help them prepare other food whilst they kept busy, either tenderising some meat or chopping more vegetables or even just grabbing something from the other side of the kitchen.

"Gonna need a stamella over here," said the reptile with a purring voice.

"Got it!" The rito sliced up a single green mushroom into a bowl before shuffling over with manacled legs. "Sorry these chains aren't exactly makin' me fast."

"S'alright we're not in rush hour. I'm Lizanaich by the way."

"Uh...Chihlo." She shook his gloved hand with awkward clunkiness. "S-sorry, handcuffs."

"Right right. Don' worry I'm not gonna shock ya, that's why I got these." He waved his pair of rubber gloves at her with jokey finger movements. "Too many times I been holding a wok an' fried the chef when I hand it over."

"Hah, really that's a thing you gotta work with?"

"Well yeah s'part of my natural healthy glow...heheh."

"So uh...you guys seem way more chill than the rest of them out there."

"Kitchen staff are different, we're at the bottom of the ladder so we got a sortaaa solidarity."

"Even with a hostage?" she asked cocking her head.

"Listen if you work in the kitchen with us, you're one of us, screw the customers. It's us and them, not us and you."

"Hah...well that's nice to hear, even though I DID try to sneak into your base and kill some of your buddies."

"Eh, they're not friends." Lizanaich rolled his eyes with a heavy yawn and smacking lips. "Nnnnhhhaaaaa anyways uh, couldya chop up some swift carrots, the ladies over there been needin' some for a while."

"Sure."

She went to cut up the carrots, slicing them much faster than previous foods after working around her cuffs. The two bokoblins were squat stocky black beasts with surprisingly cute pinafores in stripes showing blue and yellow.

"So you're the new slave hmm?!" asked one with a purple earring.

"Yeah I guess," said Chihlo huffing with eyes upwards to the goddess realm, "so what do you girls do?"

"We make pastries!" said the other bokoblin with a brass nose piercing. "I'm Bokonette, an' this is my mom Bokorie!"

"W-wow...really, mother an' daughter I thought you two were like...sisters or sumthin'!"

"AHAHAHAHA, hahawwwww you're sweeeet!" The mother reached up to pinch her arm whilst grinning with dimpled cheeks on her long melonface. "Well you certainly brightened up my day, your name's Chihlo right?!"

"Yeah word gets round fast huh?"

"In the kitchen words spread faster than steam let me tell you! Those our carrots?!"

"Yeah uh, lizard guy said you needed 'em."

"Awhaw the sweet thing, he's always got one eye out on us don't he Nettie?"

"Well yeah that's what lizalfos DO mom," said Bokonette leaning against the wall, "yanno opposite directions an' stuff?"

"Well these carrots have been chopped just right, thank you Chihlo dear."

"No problem," the rito shrugged with a weak clinking shrug, "I was expecting some way worse attitude after they dumped me in a well for two days and your boss tried to frighten me with his toxic crap."

"Oh he's done that before," replied Bokorie with tired handwave, "did he tell you the whole thing about killing anyone who's ever nice to you?"

"Yeah he did!"

"Don't worry, we know how to deal with that, AND ANOTHER THING!" She suddenly shouted at the bird now reeling from her pointed finger. "YOU GET ME THOSE CARROTS OR I WILL GUT YOU [i]BONE-DRY[/i] YOU HEAR ME?!"

The captive said nothing, sensing the presence of somebeast behind her as the green lizalfos peered from the kitchen archway. Chihlo caught on and slinked back towards a set of carrots, pretending to chop them until the guard left and the mother bokoblin approached to tap her waist.

"See, simple and clean."

"Hah, alright I guess that works thanks."

"We're all friends in this kitchen, just various ingredients that come together and make a wondrous dish!"

"Well...heh," she rolled her eyes with a sarcastic ploy, "thanks for making my life eeeeven worse than it already is as your garbage slave."

"HAH, no problem birdbrain, heeheehahaHA!"

Trying not to give up the jig they both restrained themselves from laughing fully as they kept working away. Mohberra kept a watchful eye over the group amidst his gruelling main course which he slathered over in the form of a whole roasted bull. Stewing its juices finely with the odd smattering of herbs, he kept watch like a scientist studying a new form of protein as he alternated between different spices with taste-testing soup ladle from his belt of tools which swung gingerly against his leg.

"It was really weird," said Chihlo walking with the group, "like everyone else was a jerkwad but the kitchen was the only place I felt like I was safe."

"Well there's never like a whole group of COMPLETELY evil people," said Shantae beside her, "you always got some good guys in a bad army."

"Mmmmm...just, never HEARD of that stuff you know, I mean like all the stories my grandpappy told me, he never really met anyone like that from Ganon's army."

"Well this Hyrule's gotta be a big place," said Dixon pulling out a small black rectangle, "and if this is only a piece of it then god damn."

The five now stood upon the periphery between the world Oddclaw lived in, and the world that Chihlo had escaped from. The sweeping plains before them covered an eight-hour walk and went straight down the southern side of the mountain range with forests, pools and the old ruins of a former settlement they could see just a stone's throw away from a wide beach. The sky remained clear which they were thankful for, as Andrea made a scan of their surroundings using her smartphone's zoom feature to gauge the more uncertain elements of the land. Directly opposite of them was another set of mountain peaks with just to the right the maze island itself.

"I don't see any guards," said the physicist, "or any patrols between here and the next range."

"We can't see what's in the forests though," said Jane rubbing her arms nervously.

"I can scout ahead once we reach them," said Oddclaw firmly with a tap to his gun holster, "I can blend in with the trees."

"I can do that too!" replied the half-genie proudly with hands on hips. "Me an' Odd could check it out for ya."

"Good idea," said Chihlo nodding, "they'll be lookin' out for me so I'll just hang back and keep up a sniper position on some nearby hills."

They made their descent into the veldt keeping their eyes peeled for any roaming scout parties. It was a beautifully simple land, green and brown with a sandy patch and one small town that stood out like a blighted patch of soil amidst the piece of Hyrule. The grass was soft beneath their feet which to Oddclaw smelt unusual as both Jane and Andrea took pictures of everything they could find from little woodland creatures to sturdy grey mushrooms. Chihlo explained the various flora and fauna of Hyrule to the humans whilst Shantae and Oddie left the group and went searching into the forests to find a safe place.

"Are these poisonous?" asked Jane.

"Naaah they're good for eating," said Chihlo, "but you wanna cook 'em for the real good stuff."

The bird decided to pick some of the shrooms for such as she showed them to her.

"This is an ironshroom, you cook this with something and it toughens up your skin."

"Oooooh."

"This is a sunshroom, it adds an extra heat to your food that warms you up in cold places."

"Spicy!"

"And this is a hylian shroom, it does nothing, but it tastes good! Later when we make camp I'll cook something up for ya."

"I would love that thank you," said Jane with a courteous smile as she bowed her head.

"So, can I ask you two something?" asked the rito facing both humans. "Those uh...those things you got, are those sheikah slates?"

"Huh?"

"That thing you have, you take pictures with it right?!"

"Uhm," Dixon started fidgeting with her device, "yeah I can take pictures with it but it's called a smartphone."

"Smart-phoan? Can I look at it?"

"Uhhhh...suuure but don't drop it, it's made of glass so it's pretty fragile."

She handed over her phone carefully, the bird grasping it in both hands with a puzzled look.

"How do you uhhhh-"

"Slide your finger across the screen, like this."

"Huh, like-o-OH...oooooh!"

The screen slid over to reveal a myriad of pictures and buttons, Chihlo looking fascinated over them as she noticed not only the recent shots of foliage from around her but also a different place she had never seen. A home of steel grey walls and various other humans in long white coats or sturdy armoured cloth.

"Oh this is cooool as shit, WOW the pictures look so alive!"

"Haha yeah," said Dixon taking her phone back politely, "in the old days you would only do that with something called a camera, but now our phones can do it too."

"That's so weird! But, sorta awesome, I can't believe another world made its own sheikah slates!"

"Wait, you have this kinda stuff in Hyrule?"

"Yeah they're just about to roll them out," said Chihlo stretching her legs behind herself, "I mean once Hateno Lab manages to uh streamline the production."

"Really?!" asked Jane looking up from her phone pics. "what sort of technology you use in your world, do you have any machines or devices?"

"We got like, pulleys and cranes for mining and building stuff?"

"What about...guns?"

"Nope, never heard of those."

"But you know what THIS is?" she indicated her phone towards her.

"Yeah, well, sorta." Chihlo rubbed her head as if digging out the memories. "My grandpappy told me about how the hero Link used one, then the eggheads up at Hateno were making more of 'em for everybody to use."

"And what does this sheikah slate do?" asked Dr. Dixon.

"It takes pictures, can track specific objects, shows a map of the world using these old sheikah towers that do, some...thiiiiing I can't remember what they called it but, they take all the information out of the sky and put it into a single drop that puts it INTO the slate, grandpappy said he saw Link do it once over at the Gerudo desert."

"Towers with information in them?"

"Yeah!" Chihlo clapped her wings with a glint of excitement trotting on the spot. "The Hateno lab are gonna use them to make some kinda network, add a whole new feature to the slates so people can talk across like WHOLE distances which is CRAZY!"

"HAH, r-r-really?!" Andrea gave a look to Jane in a way that tried not to be patronising. "Tell me more about this uh...feature."

"So basically you get your slate, you put in the number of the person you wanna talk to, the slate then sorta connects through the towers to talk to them, it's really cool!"

"Do they have a name for this?"

"I think last I heard the lady at Hateno said she was gonna call it Snapchat, so you can chat to someone in a SNAP!"

The bird clicked her fingers to emphasise said snap, much to the tittering smirk of the two humans.

"S-sounds a good name!" snorted Dixon.

"Y-yeah, a real brandoohooHOOHAH!" cackled Jane.

"Yeaaaaah it's a dumb name," said the rito smirking, "but if it goes well it'd be GREAT to just talk to somebody over on Death Mountain all the way from like Zora's Domain, that'd be awesome!"

"It sure would!"

The girls sat down on a small hillock whilst waiting for the raptor and half-djinn to return. They could see the small figments of a village just south of them as Andrea tried to squint into focus.

"What's that town over there?"

"I think that's called Nabooru," said Chihlo, "surprised considering it's so far away from Gerudo Town."

"Where is Jeroodoh Town, you mentioned that before?"

"Oh it's this desert town where only women are allowed to live, it's great, it's one of my favourite places!"

"Hellll YEAH!" Dixon put up her hand for a sweet high-five from the rito's wing. "You mean It's like just one whole female colony?"

"Yep, no dudes allowed, though if you get the right clothes you could sneak in pretty well, my grandpappy did that as well as Link."

"Your grandfather did?!" asked Jane with a giggling blush. "As in he...dressed up?"

"Well yeah, long as you LOOK like a lady you can get in easy, Link did that too and from what I heard he looked uh...pretty, gorgeous, there were a LOT of admirers, boys and girls that recalled how pretty he looked."

"Is this Link like someone famous?"

"Hohohhhh, girl you don't even know, lemme tell you about the Champion's Ballad."

"Are you gonna sing?" warned Andrea with a finger raised. "Cuz I'm gonna sing the hell outta anything you give."

"Oh, shit yeah really?!"

"Yeah girl my family were in theatre, that is ABSOLUTELY my shit!"

"AWHAW YEAH alright here we go on three! One, two-"

"Oh god," murmured Jane fearfully.

Whilst three voices rang out across the plains in trying to form dual harmony, Oddclaw sniffed his way through the forest in gauging out possible enemies. Most of the animals were harmless beasts, small birds and deer with rabbits frolicking about between the trees. It was a cheerisome place, one where the scents on the breeze soothed Oddie with a sense of homesickness. Seeing no danger was about he sat himself down on a log and sighed with a fist on his cheek.

"Penny for yer thoughts?"

The voice of Shantae came from behind him as he turned to see no one but the tree in front of him. Then he saw the tree start to shiver and bend its posture before revealing two large beaming eyes of azure gaze down upon him.

"WH-WHA-AAAGH!"

"SHHH!" The genie looked around herself with tweaking pupils left and right. "Sorry, just tryin' to blend in."

"Y-y-you, you are a TREE?!"

"Uh YEAH, did you not see me turn into a monkey during that first fight?"

"Oh...yes, you...you are a very strange human."

"Well I'm not ENTIRELY human," she replied giggling with a bushy branch to her oaken lips, "but it sure helps when you gotta sneak into enemy territory."

"So...you are also a tree?" asked Oddie with a small wince confused.

"Noooo I'm a half-genie, you dunno what genies are?"

"No I do not, what is a jeanee?"

"Magic fire spirits basically, my mom was one and she met my dad and well here I am!"

"Oh, okay. So you can...turn into other beasts?"

"Oh yeah some of them, not every beast but I can turn into a lot of 'em!"

She demonstrated by transforming out of her wooden shape and re-emerging from a cloud of sweet fuchsia light as her regular self.

"Can you turn into a raptor?" asked the raptor curiously.

"Mmmmmm not sure," she replied rubbing her chin, "it's kinda hard to get a new form, you just gotta learn their aura and feel everything out, some shapes are much easier than others."

"I...u-um I do not un-derstand."

"Iiiit's kinda hard to explain, I mean if I could turn into one of those lizard guys we could-OOH YEAH, we'd have an in for Chihlo's big plan!"

"YES, that is a great idea!"

They searched deeper into the woods as Oddclaw went into hunting mode, his eyes and ears sharpening to the smallest chirps off in the distance. Fluttering soft wings and gentle hooves stepping across the loam filled the breeze with tender grass and dry moss whilst Shantae climbed a tree and hid herself in the branches. The raptor went up another tree as they leapt between branches in paths separate of each other. They heard the sound of water rushing across the stones as they slowed their pace to find a small spring in the midst of the forest. Clear and tranquil as the gentle babbling brook of purest water seemed to originate from a river that lead to the mountains.

"Ohhh neat," said the half-djinn, "this place is perfect to relax in!"

"It is!" replied Oddie. "The water smells clean and the leaves are so fresh!"

"And they got fairies!"

"Wha?"

She pointed at the group of small pink lights that hovered above the waters, gently kissing the pool's reflection by their softest wings to not even cause a ripple on the surface. Oddclaw approached as quietly as possible, knowing that smallwings were always rather flighty until he was able to touch one of them with a hand offered upwards. The fairy started to dance around his body as a warm transcendent heat flooded through his body, feeling his most recent wounds knit and seam together perfectly beneath the dust of their wings. Shantae also came forwards carefully to let herself be touched by the pixie who in turn soothed what scrapes and burns she had as they both giggled at the tingly feeling.

"Barkclaw would LOVE these," whispered Oddie with a smile.

"Whosat?" she asked quietly.

"My brother, he loves insects and they always love him too."

"Awwww...maybe we should catch one?"

"How?"

"You got a bottle?"

He brought out his bottle from his waistbelt which he drank all the water from first before inching towards a fairy. Shantae backed off to give him some space but then almost tripped on a stone that had been sitting by itself in the midst of the poolside clearing.

"[i]YAHAHAAAAA![/i]"

"WHAA-AAAAAGH!"

Shantae's shrieks frightened the fairy out of Oddclaw's grasp, scattering away from his claws as he pounced forwards to grab it only to end up falling straight into the pool itself. The splash sent every remaining fairy out of the woods as they fled into the trees like will-o-wisps at night. Shantae found herself staring at a strange little thing, a wooden doll with the face of a long thin leaf and a sword with shield made from bark in its tiny pointed fists.

"YOU FOUND ME! ...HEY, who are you?!"

"U-uh...I'm, Shantae, who are you?!"

"I'm Donkoro, hero of the Koroks!" He raised his sword with cheerful pride. "Are you one of Ganon's?!"

"Uh nooo, but I beat up some of them!"

"You did?! That means yer a good person, HEY GUYS!"

From one of the trees scurrying amongst the leaves was another child made of bark with star-shaped leaf upon its face that held a bow in its stubbed little arms. From one of the holes in a tree came another short squat imp of wood with onion-shaped leaf for a face wielding a bug-catching net.

"Sankoro!"

"Pankoro!"

"[i]The Tri-Korok Heroes UNITE![/i]"

All three of them stood together with weapons up high like musketeers, their charming leaf-faces dotted with eyeholes and slivers for mouths that seemed to react at her presence. Shantae felt their aura of purest childhood innocence and clapped her hands gleefully.

"Woooow HEROES round here?! I'm so honoured to meet three of them at once!"

"You, y-you heard of us?!" gasped the sword-swinging Donkoro.

"Oh no, I'm not from Hyrule see, but I know a hero when I see one trust me!"

She shook each of their hands gladly as they smiled with reddened blush on their leaves, giggling as the bug-net child Sankoro stuttered:

"Y-y-yer, preeeetty!"

"Awwwww thank you, you look handsome too, is that your sword?!"

"Uh, n-noooo it's a bug-catching net."

"Oh! Wait, he's got a sword, he's got a bow, soooo why do you got a net?"

"Cuz the Hero Link used one like, THOUSANDS of years ago to beat the wizard!"

"You know that's just a myth right?!" said Pankoro the archer with a teasing jab.

"N-NO, NOOO IT'S REAL, HE, h-he, he swung his net, like a WHOOSH and it knocked back the bad guy's magic like WHIWHUU!"

The boy spun round in a full circle with his net much to the half-genie's tittering chuckle with hand over her lips.

"Didya come so the faeries would heal ya?!" asked Donkoro.

"Uhhh we're actually looking for enemies, some bad guys kidnapped our friends and we're on the trail for 'em."

""Bad guys, WHERE?!" The sword-imp swung his sword out behind him ready to fight.

"I dunno, that's what we're searching for, you found any round here?"

"Nuh-uh," said Pankoro relaxing his bow towards the ground, "we checked every tree, every rock, e-even the water!"

"[i]GUUUUUUH![/i]"

"[i]A-AAAAAAGH, MONSTER![/i]"

Bursting from the waters free Oddclaw emerged with a mighty roaring breath, frightening the small children before they remembered themselves and leapt forwards with weapons brandished.

"Y-YOU SAID YOU CHECKED THE POOL PAN!"

"I DID!"

"WELL WHAT'S THAT THEN?!"

"WAIT WAIT J-JUST CALM DOWN!" Shantae threw herself in front of their weapons. "That's my friend, he's not a monster!"

"Wha?! Really?!"

"Yeah he just fell in the water cuz you surprised us, hey Oddclaw look, we got friends!"

The raptor pulled himself up from the pool and stared at the nervous twiglets keeping their weapons close in case of attack. He smiled with water flecking from his fingers as he waved.

"Hello! Um...I was trying to catch a fairy."

"O-oh, you were!?" cried Donkoro. "Ohhh jeez I'm s-sorry, we didn't mean it!"

"It is fine, I am sure they will come back. Who are you?"

"We're the Tri-Korok Heroes, I'm Donkoro!"

"S-sankoro!"

"Pankoro!"

"Heroes? Hmmmm..." the raptor rubbed his chin seeing Shantae's childish smirk in realising. "That is good! We need brave heroes to keep this land safe."

"Yeah sure do! Whut about you, are you from Hyrule?!"

"No, I am from the Hunter's Nest. I am here to save my friends and then I will go back home."

"Oh-KAY, that sounds good, can we help?!"

"D-doooon!" whimpered Sankoro the bugcatcher. "We have a mission!"

"Yeah to save people! An' we gotta help their friends!"

"U-u-uhhhh I dunno, whut if the people that kidnapped 'em are really scary!?"

"We're HEROES San, we have to be brave, the Great Deku Tree told us all heroes gotta be brave even when they're frightened!"

"But, how can ya be brave, when yer frightened?!"

"That's the point."

The genie smiled as she bent down on one knee towards the saplings.

"Being brave is about BEING frightened, you can't be brave unless you're all frightened."

"H-huh, whatcha mean?!" asked Pan scratching his head with an arrow.

"If you had no fear, then you wouldn't know what bravery was because someone that's just not afraid and then charges into danger is what we call reckless." The girl raised a knowing finger to wave at them. "Someone that knows about the danger and is actually afraid, FOR A GOOD REASON and yet still charges in to save people...THAT'S what we call a brave person."

"[i]Whaaaaa?[/i]" asked the childish roots. "[i]R-really?![/i]"

"It takes a MUCH more courageous person to fight against their fear, than it is for a person to fight anything else. And if you three can fight your fears, that makes you all true heroes."

"Woooow...issat true?" asked Sankoro breathless.

"Yeah it is!" squeaked Donkoro rattling his sword above his head. "So that's why we gotta help 'em, we hafta rescue people, that's what heroes do!"

"YEAH!" cried Pankoro raising his bow with a plucking string. "We're not saplings anymore, we came all the way out here by ourselves an' even beat up those skulltulas!"

"D-d-did we?" whimpered San rubbing his chubby head with the net's hoop. "I had my eyes closed so I dunno-"

"Well we're not dead so we must've, so let's do it!"

With bow placed out before him, Pankoro's weapon was joined by Donkoro's sword and the reluctant bug-catching net of Sankoro before they made their cry of battle.

"[i]TRI-KOROK HEROES, UNITE![/i]"

The raptor and half-djinn sniggered at such eagerness before Donkoro turned to them with sword proudly planted in the soil before himself.

"Lead us to yer friends miss, we'll save them no matter what!"

"That's the spirit!" she replied with hearty fist. "Let's go, we'll head back to our other friends and get you onto the plan we have."

"YEAH, let's go heroes!"

The two headed back with now three swelling their ranks amongst the rosy clouds of a late afternoon. The wind turned colder as the sun began to sink into the western horizon at their backs, the young sprogs chirruping a song for themselves with weapons raised like the flags of war.

"So," began Shantae with hands behind her back, "what were ya thinking about back there?"

"Hmmm?" Oddclaw turned his head towards her on his right.

"You seemed kinda sad about something." She put a hand on his shoulder with a sweet smile. "You wanna talk about it?"

"Um...I...my children are hatching soon."

"OH, congratulations!"

"I do not want to be away from my home because I...my mate Moonclaw is left at home with them, she said it was alright and they will not hatch yet but-"

"But you wanted to help your friends, that's good right?"

"Yes and we have to rescue Ade and Bose and, I know Moonclaw said it was fine but I feel-"

"Guilty?"

"Yes!"

"Well...if nobody else has a problem with it, why do you?"

"Because...I do not want to be my father."

"Huh?"

He stilted his pace, his thoughts began to grow heavy enough to sink his head.

"I do not want my children to grow up without a father."

"Oh. Ohhhhhh I see, well, you handled them lizard dudes great, you'll be fine, besides you got ME on yer side too!"

The half-genie wrapped her arm around his neck before rubbing her knuckles on his scalp in a noogie.

"I promise you'll get back home after we're done rescuing your friends, then you can chill out allll you want and raise your kids like a good dad."

"Thank you, Shantae."

The raptor smiled as they went after the three koroks back to where their friends waited. The song of the Champion's Ballad led them straight back as the koroks squealed at the sight of Chihlo.

"H-HEY, IT'S THE BIRD LADY!"

"HIIII BIRD LADY!"

"WHAH?!" she squawked stopping herself before the seventh verse to look at them. "OH, heeeey it's you three!"

"Wha-what the heeeelllll?"

Dixon was astonished alongside Jane to see the three wooden boys waddle up to them as Shantae introduced them.

"Girls this is Donkoro, Sankoro and Pankoro, they're three brave korok heroes who wanna help us!"

"[i]We sure do![/i]" chirruped the three. "[i]Tri-Korok heroes UNITE![/i]"

"Well that's a relief!" cried Chihlo clapping her hands together. "I was worried we didn't have a big enough commando group here but now we got you guys!"

"Chihlo who ARE they?" asked Addison bending down towards the leaf-children. "Are you...children?"

"We're the children of the forest!" said Donkoro proudly with sword held high. "You never seen a korok before miss?!"

"No, c-can't say I have. Where do you come from?"

"The Lost Woods, we live with the Great Deku Tree, he's super wise an' smart an' knows everything! But WE'RE heroes that are gonna save Hyrule!"

"Awwww...well I'm very glad to have you," she shook each of their hands politely to feel their oaken texture, "but are your parents not worried?"

"We don't have parents!" said Pankoro rubbing his waist with an arrow. "The Great Deku Tree makes us grow an' we live in the woods!"

"Bu-but, we used to be scared of outsiders," mumbled Sankoro putting his net over his head timidly, "until mister hero came!"

"Is that cuz you guys were protecting the Master Sword?" asked the bird.

"Y-yeah, we were keepin' it safe fer him! But after mister hero beat the bad guys the Great Deku Tree said it wuz safer fer us!"

"HEY!" The squattest korok waddled forth to point at Chihlo's bare taloned feet. "You don' got the metal thingies on ya now!"

"Cuz she escaped dummy!" said Pankoro tapping the back of his friend's head. "She got away from them nasty moblins."

"B-but, whut about that nice one she wuz with?!"

"Oh he's fine," said the bird waving her hand, "you guys still exploring the land fighting evil?"

"Y-yeah!" proclaimed Donkoro with a puffed-out chest. "We're gonna be just like mister hero Link an' keep Hyrule safe for everyone!"

"We are happy to have you with us," said Oddclaw bowing kindly, "the more of us we have the safer we will be."

"Soooo uhhhhh where to next?" asked Dixon still confused by the talking saplings whilst Jane gently tickled one of their tummies.

"We head on north," replied Chihlo, "the village ruins'll make a good camp, we'll sleep there through the night and then it's up early morning for our big plan."

"So we're really going for this island then?" asked Jane standing back up amidst giggling fits from the korok she poked.

"I got ideas for it dontcha worry, we just get over those mountains and we see it for ourselves, that way we can plan out our attack."

"Are you sure these little...koroks, will be up for it?"

"WE CAN DO IT!" cried Donkoro. "We're strong and brave and we can hide anywhere!"

"Yeah they're like masters of disguise, trust me they'll be fine! We'll need all the help we can get."

"But they're CHILDREN!" argued Jane.

"Children of the FOREST, that's different, they're not like ACTUALLY kids they're just...they're all children at heart."

"Oh that is unbelieveable, no, I'm sorry but I won't take part in anything that involves using children as bait!"

"I'm not using them as bait how dare you!" bristled Chihlo stiffening up against her. "Trust me, these little guys are better than you think, just give 'em a chance!"

"Yeah give us a chance miss!" said Pankoro pointing his arrow at her. "We'll protect ya!"

"Now come on, leeeet's march, you all know the Champion's Ballad?!"

"[i]YEAAAH![/i]"

"Allllrighty, here we go! A-one, two, three!"

"[i]Recall the Champion of Ruta's wrath, before she walked her chosen path! Mipha's kindness was known to all, which is why the princess came to call! Recall Rudania's Champion of flame, before his fated moment finally came! This is the tale of Great Daruk's task, and the princess who came to ask![/i]"

Continuing their journey to the north and crossing over the hills of green splendour, all eight of them sang throughout as Chihlo duetted with Andrea in proud bellowing form, Shantae crooned with the Tri-Korok Heroes and lastly Oddclaw croaked out-of-tune with Jane. The walk was long and arduous, the land expansive with a variety of creatures that both Chihlo and Pankoro hunted to rebuild their supplies. The rito's stronger larger arrows thunked through deer hide in single painless shots, whilst Pankoro aimed for smaller birds with his equally smaller arrows.

Several hours later the sun began to set as they reached the outskirts of what was once Nabooru Village, nestled between a forest to the west, a grand beach to the east and the second mountain range that lied much further north. The only welcome they received was a signpost in Hylian now spattered in blood and ash before seeing the place was decimated. A hollow wind shuddered through the crippled houses and skeletal structures that Jane became instantly fascinated by, hunching over the shattered pots and fractured pieces of family life as if trying to deduct the scene of a crime. The rest of the group started to circle the village for any hidden dangers, their guns, sword and arrows out as they checked the perimeter.

"This place is very old," muttered Addison, "much older than it looks. Notice how rotted the wood is from the sea."

"Must be at least a hundred years," said Shantae beside her, "maybe one-twenty."

"Why do you say that?"

"The ghosts are telling me."

Jane stood up with a nervous shake in her throat.

"G-ghosts? A-are they here?"

"They're really faint but...yeah."

The half-djinn walked forwards with soft gracious steps, her slippered feet almost walking on air until reaching the fountain in the town square, a squallid marble pit where filth had choked all remnants of water from as she closed her eyes to try and invoke her senses. The therapist watched in fascination as Shantae recited the words she snatched from the air around her.

"I hear a man who made boots...they can walk on water."

"Really?"

"Sh-shhh!" She put a hand up to Jane for silence. "A woman needs water, the fountain is not working...a man lives beneath the earth, a sorcerer, he can make swords sing with fire. A hero came here, centuries ago. Children sing about secret holes in the palace...a man in Darunia...river devils eat the weak. This place was saved...only to die once again."

Shantae gripped her head with a sickened look on her face, pallid cheeks as she hunched over from the growing pains that swirled above her.

"Hundred...and-sixty...years ago, the monsters came back. The hero...the hero did not come, he was gone, he...h-he was not there to save them, the monsters came-a-a-AAAAAH!"

Jane hurried over to grab her from falling, but the genie steadied herself with gritted teeth, standing back up to face the maelstrom unseen.

"M-monsters...vicious b-beasts, lizards, pig-faced fiends th-th-they, they killed...h-haaaah, AAAAH! I'm sorry, I-i'm sorry, I can't help I wish I-i-i...wh-what......where...where did they come from?" She looked up around herself as there came whispers of sorrow. "Is...is this why, you are restless, even after the evil is gone? ...yes...I understand, a-a book, yes, yes I...I'm going there now. Do you...do you want me to get it back? ...alright...I will. I promise."

Something released its grip from her as she staggered back into Jane's arms, shivering with cold skin as she heaved herself back onto her feet.

"Are you...alright?" she asked.

"Y-yeah," murmured Shantae sitting at the rim of the fountain. "The ghosts, they...th-they were restless."

"I can't believe this." Jane sat herself down next to her feeling weak in the knees. "First, I met a genie-"

"HALF-genie," she corrected.

"S-sorry, and then I hear that there are ghosts?! Like they're real!?"

"Of course they're real, what else do you think happens to your soul when you die?"

"Well...back in my world we have three schools of thought. Some say that good souls go up to the sky and bad souls head down into the depths of inferno. Others say that our souls are reincarnated into a new person or animal after each death. And others say that souls don't exist and we're all just cold rotting corpses in the ground."

"That last one sounds garbage," sneered the young girl with distaste, "how can anyone say the soul doesn't exist?!"

"Well it's just that people in my world don't even HAVE any proof that souls exist."

"Wait, really?!"

"Well what's your world like?" asked Jane pressing her hands down against her own thighs.

"Oh it's alright, I mean Scuttle Town is where it's at, everybody's buying, selling, fixing, inventing, yanno besides the odd pirate attack or ghostly curse there's not much going on."

"So ghosts are real in your world then?"

"Uh, YEAH, of course they are, what world do you come from?!"

"A world without magic."

Shantae struck her hand to her mouth in shock with eyes widening fast.

"Wh-...whaaaaa? No MAGIC? Ohhhhmy gosh that's AWFUL, I'm so sorry!"

"Ohhh it's fine, we have science so it's LIKE magic."

"Nonono it's not the saaaame! So wait, how did you know about MY magic?"

"Well we know OF magic, but it's all fiction to us. No one can practice it, not really, but we still tell children about it, let them think it's real in our world because maybe we hope somehow that it is and we just haven't found it. Hence why I said we don't have any proof that the soul exists, but people want to believe. We have knowledge and we have faith, and both are powerful in their own right."

"That really sucks, how do you get ANYTHING done without magic?"

"Well the same way those without magic in your world do, we build things."

"Mmmmm..." she planted a finger to her chin with a waving head, "I guess that's true, my uncle does build a lot of things for people...usually they work."

"So, if I may ask, what about your parents?" Jane sidled up closer with growing fascination. "You don't have to tell me if that's a sensitive subject."

"Well uhhh, th-there's not much to tell really," she said with a muted voice pushing her fingers together, "I mean, I don't know my father, all I know is that my mother was a genie which honestly I wanna know more about cuz I...well, why DO I have this magic? It's just so deeply a part of me that, when I almost lost it once, I was so upset like I lost m-my identity!"

"I see... what about your uncle, does he know anything?"

"Not really...he's always been more of a relic hunter than anything, but we bonded super close cuz all the townsfolk are like, real suspicious of genies and relic hunters especially when I was the only half-genie around so we sorta teamed up at the edge of town, least until the locals were willing to talk to us."

"Was it hard growing up?" asked Addison with professional courtesy. "I can't imagine how it must have been like being so isolated."

"Oh I got over it." The djinn smiled flicking back her hair as she stood up. "I was all shy at first but then I fought off some pirates and people seemed to like me more, so I ended up as their town guardian. I love Scuttle Town, I love all the people and I hope I can get back soon cuz I know my friends are all worried about me."

"So what were you doing when you got teleported here? After we rescue Ade and Bose we can certainly take you back home either way."

"That'd be awesome thank you! And well I-i was chasing a ghost actually."

"A ghost?"

"This lost spirit that was just BURNING with sadness, I just wanted to help him but then he ran off and sorta disappeared! He might have ended up in this world cuz when I fell through into the mountains back there, I could swear I felt his presence."

"Oh dear...well, wh-what do we do if we meet him?"

"Just try to talk him down, most spirits are just lonely and need someone to listen to them, that's all. They are people still."

"You're right. You're a good person Shantae."

Jane stood up to shake her hand but Shantae instead spread her arms out and pulled her into a hug.

"I promise," said the genie, "I will do everything I can to rescue your friends, you can count on me."

"I know I can. I can tell when someone is honest, it's practically my job."

"Haha, really what you do?"

"I'm a therapist!"

"OH!" The half-djinn suddenly rubbed the back of her hair with a bashful grin. "Hah, guess I did sorta end up spilling all my troubles out to ya, sorry."

"It's fine, you should never be afraid to talk to people about this sort of thing, that's what I'm here for! Why don't we set up camp and just relax a bit?"

"Sure, you get the wood and I'll make the fire happen!"

"Oh I would LOVE to see more of your magic definitely!"

The two went to find some suitable shelter and build a campfire for the rest of the group. Shantae however felt an ill wind tremble through the place, looking towards the darkened sky with arms round her shoulders.

"I hope you're safe out there spirit...I just wish I could've helped you."