Cain - How I Saved the World (P3)

Lethe impassively watched as Cain’s shadow then took form.  Rather than a look of fear, or even surprise, an amused smirk crept across the fairy’s small amaretto face. 

“Well! How interesting…” she scoffed, drifting forward and circling around Cain, looking him up and down with two large, round irises-- like gold coins permanently catching the sunlight. This would also give Cain an opportunity to get a closer look at her. Aside from her indigo colored hair and dress, she wore what appeared to be a ring around her waist—fashioned out of indigo thread and housing a beautiful silver-white gem in the shape of a downward facing crescent. At her hip was also a small, two inch long sewing needle with a handle made out of twisted silver twine.

“And how convenient,” Lethe flitted towards a tall gravestone that gave her a good view of them both, landing without a sound. “You’re quite a ways from home, aren’t you, Misplaced One?” She closed her eyes and shook her head, smirking to herself. She’d always known the Goddesses had a sense of humor, but this was really quite funny. A Twili living in the shadow of a Chilfos… now that was really something.

“Anyways,” she continued, folding her arms and smoothing out one of her obverse indigo curls, “My name is Lethe—or, rather, that is what you are to call me. I helped you because I need your help and will, in return, continue to give you my help. And, trust me, you want my help.It’s a win-win situation.”

As she spoke, she fiddled with the ring around her waist, winding the crescent gemstone left and right in a strange pattern (like a combination lock) before the crescent suddenly made a loud high pitched ping! noise not so unlike the one before when Lethe had used Farore’s Wind. With the sound, a gentle glow of white light engulfed her, growing, shifting, and ultimately dimming away to reveal a much larger Hylian version of herself. Well... fairly larger. She was still considerably short-- standing at a mere 5'1". Her ears were a bit less prominently pointed and her sewing needle had quite miraculously transformed into a eloquent rapier. The ring was now being worn on her finger.

“Oh yeah,” the young Hylian Lethe added matter-of-factly, “and did I mention all life in Hyrule—including your own—rides on it?” She placed a hand on her hip, absentmindedly fiddling with the tip of her ear, apparently somewhat bothered by their lack of fairy-like pointy-ness. 

"Are you still listening?" she queried, shooting a worrisome look at the Chilfos, whose lack of outward emotion was obviously inevitable but nonetheless disconcerting, "What I'm basically telling you is that everyone will probably die if you don't do as I say."

If Cain was disgruntled by the fairy's lack of satisfactory response to his showy entrance, his shadowy form made the emotion impossible to read on his face. Of course, even in full-bodied form most of his head would be hidden beneath his hood and bandana. Regardless, he remained somewhat stupefied as Lethe began to circle him. There was nobody like him in the World of Light, except for Midna, of course, and perhaps Zant. To the best of his knowledge, the fairies of Hyrule were a somewhat happy-go-lucky and skittish bunch, very close to the Goddesses and without love for darkness. So why is this one unfazed?

Cain's veiled emotion did not stop his probing eyes, though. He took in the little sprite's appearance in a matter of seconds, almost snickering out loud at the sight of the sewing needle sheathed at her waist like a sword. His own weapons, gauntlets with finger-blades around a foot long, were impossibly to see from within his sleeves, shadow form or not. As quickly as the close-up had come, the mutual examination was over, and Lethe had darted over to alight on a nearby headstone. Her next words have him cause to cock his head and cross his arms.Misplaced one. How could she know? He had never once divulged his origins or true mission, not even to Frore.

He remained quiet, respectfully listening with the ears of one hungry for knowledge, until she spoke of them helping one another. That was where he drew the line—he needed no help, no pity, from the denizens of this world, particularly one so close to its deities. Cain remembered the story of his ancestors well. Still, pride could have a terrible price; the hubris of the Royal Family back in the Twilight Realm was evidence of that. Putting aside the disturbing fact that this fairy knew his secrets, he made up his mind. Frore, meanwhile, stood stolid and unmoving, though with his hood now down the morning sunlight played into his icy skin, causing it to glow with a greenish-white radiance.

After Lethe's transformation into a Hylian girl (for which Cain saw little to no purpose, as both he and Frore, whose attention had been suddenly seized by the light and its accompanying whimsical ping, still outmatched her in the height department) and her ultimatum, the Twili gave his response. “If you speak the truth, you're putting a lot of faith in us. We're not heroes. We're a monster and an outcast. Between the two of us there's less love for Hyrule that in its castle's dungeons.” Frore turned his head and glanced briefly at his partner, getting the gist of his words, then crackled in affirmation. Cain, however, had more to say. He leaned in closer to Lethe, a looming shadow, to keep his words from reaching Frore. “If you can promise me that I'll find a way home,” he reverberated in a low tone, “or find her, we'll give you a try.”

“A monster and an outcast,” Lethe repeated flatly, rolling her eyes as he loomed over her, “Yeah, trust me. I know. Don’t remind me.” She waved her hand past her face, glancing up. Remind me why I have to work with people like this again? she inwardly scowled at the heavens. 

“I’m afraid I can’t promise you jack, M.O.” she continued, “But if you’re looking for your shadow girlfriend or whatever, your best bet is to come with me. I think most folks find it rather difficult to find things when they’re dead. And anyways… what else are you going to do besides babysit our friend here? Good job keeping him out of trouble, by the way. Sir Hal-butt isn’t really the kind of guy that easily lets things go. He’ll be searching high and low for your icy friend. You won’t make it out of the village, I can tell you that much.” 

As she spoke, Lethe once again got to fiddling with the strange ring. In yet another flash of light—slightly less exuberant than the first—Lethe was back to her fairy self and already busy unstringing the ring from around her waist. 

“That’s why—ngh—you’re going to need… this!” she said, at last having pulled the final knot. “As you just witnessed, this stone can transform the race of its wearer into an entirely different race, depending on the way you rotate it. It also has a strange effect on weapons and clothes, I've noticed...." 

“You’re going to need this if you plan on leaving Kakariko any time soon, but I need your help finding the others first. Obviously the fate of Hyrule doesn’t only rest in your guys’ hands alone,” she scoffed, “Sorry, did you think you were really that special?”

She laughed lightly as if she’d just made the cutest joke in the world, “Ahem. Anyways, it’d be nice to understand what you’re saying for once, now wouldn’t it, Cold One? I’m sure you’ve got lots of interesting things to say.... But more importantly—you’ll be able to walk around the village without making everybody afraid you're going to freeze their children." She crossed her arms, setting her jaw, "I'll offer to lend it to you in exchange for helping me find the people I'm looking for. In case you need a reason not to steal it, however, you should know that I’m the only one who knows all of the proper combinations. So, obviously, you can’t use it without me. I would highly advise against just turning it around randomly in order to change yourself back."

Extending the ring towards Cain and Frore, Lethe waited expectantly, "Stay here and take your chances with Sir Halbert and his men or help me out-- it's up to you."

Though Cain and Lethe had only been a few moments in each others' presence, he had already grown tired of her attitude. Back in the Palace of Twilight the position of Royal Spymaster had been a dubious one, but the other officials had never treated him with anything other than courtesy. On the job, if he interacted with anyone at all, the result was inevitably fear. Even among Twili, his prowess with dark magic and his bladed gauntlets was remarkable. This fairy, however, treated him with infuriating disdain. His trek through both worlds in search of his monarch had been long, arduous, and hopeless; he didn't need some pixie flippantly dismissing them like some wild chirri chase. And how dare this impudent sprite denigrate the Princess! More appalling, however, was her knowledge of his most guarded secret. Any other being would have erupted in rage, but the Royal Spymaster forced himself to remain calm. The price of humility was just as hurtful as the price of pride, sometimes.

“You've got an ego far too large for your head,” Cain commented brusquely as strands of hair snaked out from the back of his cowl. Their tips adopted a slight orange glow, somewhat solidifying themselves. “And you have stolen secrets in there, too.” A shapeshifter's ring could prove to be a valuable tool, but as Lethe so kindly pointed out, it would be useless for he and Frore to try using it on their own. Cain knew he would need to get this fairy's trust. “Perhaps...they are faults we share. Our chances against Halbert and his men are better than you might expect, but unnecessary bloodshed is never an inviting prospect. We will help you find these...'others'. No one else is better equipped for seeking. But who is it we seek?” They gingerly wrapped around the outstretched ring, grabbing it, before tossing to back for Frore to catch. Naturally, Frore's reaction time was less than perfect, and the jewelry merely bounced off his cloak. He did stoop to pick it up, bony fingers closing over the tiny ring.

At that moment, however, a girl burst out of a cleft in a cliff nearby. Instantly, Cain was on alert. Hoping to preserve at least some semblance of anonymity, the Twili instinctively vanished into Frore's shadow. Frore reacted accordingly, having performed this maneuver several times in the past, and began to arm himself. Those times, however, the sudden danger had been far more dire; this unexpected visitor, both bashful and young, seemed little more than a lost villager. Cain did identify, however, that she appeared to be another race entirely, different from anyone else in Kakariko. While the girl dusted herself off, a sharp of ice in the Chilfos's hand expanded in both directions until it was a deadly spear as tall as himself. In his off hand he clutched the ring. 

“Hello, little one,” Cain greeted, attempting to pass himself off as merely the voice of Frore, as he had done for ages. “Looks like you're not afraid of the unusual. Could you be someone we are looking for?”