Perplexing Petrification (Quill)

The walk turned out to actually be shorter than Terrel had thought, though much of that could probably be explained by her quicker pace. Castle Town seemed like a fairly safe place, but plenty of people gave her a look that lasted all too long as she hurried by, keeping her head down and her face stormy. Thankfully that crossbow that was still on her back managed to keep most of them away. For as much as she hurried between the two inns, the innkeeper at her previous tenancy was rather difficult about her leaving all of a sudden, which slowed her down a bit. After a brief screaming match between the two, Terrel paid him a tiny sum and left in a hurry with what little possessions she had in that room.

Arriving only a few minutes later than she'd anticipated because of it, Terrel once more appreciated that drying spell that hit her on the way in, even though her clothes were far from soaked this time. Glancing around the common room of the place, she caught sight of Marcus sitting by himself and decided to have a word with him before she went up to bathe. That hot water beckoned to her through the ceilings and walls, but she resisted for the time being, plopping down across from Marcus a moment later.

It looked like the kid was already clean, and Terrel did her best not to scratch at her arms where the dirt from the forest had gotten to. Dirt wasn't a foreign object to her by any means, but who didn't like to be clean? Still, she let her stuff fall to the floor next to her chair and looked at Marcus quietly for a moment as she collected herself, finally managing to say, "Good work today, kid."

Marcus smiled. It didn't sound like something Terrel said every day, especially with the long pause directly before she spoke. "You too, Terrel," he said. "Thanks."

"Ms. Strong," a voice said from behind them, and Marcus flinched involuntarily as the woman made her presence known. "Your bath is ready for you. Would you like to discuss pricing now, or would you prefer to wait until after your bath?"

Terrel jumped a little bit too when the woman approached, but once she recovered she nodded at Marcus and stood slowly to face the woman, "Thanks, ma'am. Now should be fine." The larger woman nodded, and the two made their way to another part of the room. For the next five minutes Terrel did her best to barter with the woman, despite her being quite exhausted by now. Thankfully the prices weren't too much heftier than the other place, and by the end of it she managed to work out a deal that wouldn't be too terrible. Collecting her stuff, the woman climbed the stairs and hunted for her room for a bit, finally finding a number on a door that matched her key.

Opening the thing, the heat of room hit her gently, and she almost collapsed onto the bed immediately. Finding the bathtub filled with water, she managed to strip down despite all the aches in her bones by now. Hopping in, she closed her eyes at the warmth; it felt like the first time she'd bathed in months, the water was so refreshing, and she wasted more than enough time tilting her head back and letting it sink in.

When all was done, she changed into her sleeping clothes and called the maids up, quite pleased with how quickly they managed to remove the thing. The day was done, and she was quite glad for it. Walking over to the window, Terrel looked into the darkness at the street below, wrinkling her nose a bit when she realized she had a view of the library from here. Now that she was inside, a thought struck her, and under her breath she hummed the tune she'd had in her head, putting some words to it that seemed right for a chorus of sorts.

"You are here,
I am here,
Oh, we've come a long ways;
Sing with me as it rains for days."

After singing it a couple of times under her breath, she wondered if the words had messed something up. Hardly a moment later, though, an incredible crash of thunder raked its way across the sky, lighting up a grin on Terrel's face. Hopefully the kid wasn't afraid of a storm. Turning away from the window, she dimmed the lantern in the room and crawled into bed to the sound of a hard storm coming in.

Terrel went up the stairs to her room, leaving Marcus down at the bar. He felt vaguely annoyed that she hadn't said good night; after all, he had waited for an hour for her to come back. Still, that nod was probably her version of a polite "see you later." He swung his legs out from under the bar and stood up, stretching. He couldn't hold it against her; she was exhausted, after all, and the nicities of civilization tended to crumble when people were stressed. He bid goodnight to the woman and promised to talk with her the next day about a room for another week.

As he climbed into bed, he wondered whether he really wanted to stay here. The only reason he was in Hyrule Castle Town was to learn more about the differences between Northern and Southern Healing, and after his meeting with the Alchemist, his desire to study the Library's books had been replaced by a burning drive to learn as much about Alchemy as he could.

He rolled over, trying to get comfortable. The storm had kicked up again, and rain hammered against the roof and the window as thunder crashed and lightening illuminated the otherwise dark room with shafts of forked light. The night-time crew had obviously come round for their nightly drinks, because the sounds of raucus laughter and off-key singing was easily audible through the ceilings of the three-story inn. He couldn't get comfortable, not with this fire burning in the pit of his stomach. He didn't wish it gone; he savored it. This was what he had felt when he had started learning about Healing; a burning desire to know, to understand. Unfortunately, this cleansing fire was tainted by the anxious bubble of worry that sloshed around in his stomach. What if someone else got to the Guard first? The thought inexorably popped into his conscious mind, unhindered by any barriers he set between it and his thought-stream. Together, the burning desire to learn and the frantic worry to hand over the cure first combined into something that made Marcus' stomach churn nauseatingly.

He wanted to learn more about Alchemy, but he wouldn't just yet. He knew the dangers in dropping time-proven habits and occupations for a brief flare of passion. Rushing off to chase a dream, abandoning his mission and forsaking his beloved profession, was not something that Marcus could do. He loved Healing, and he would not drop it. He would finish his studies on the differences between the Northern and Southern styles before leaving Hyrule Castle Town to study Alchemy.

Lightening flashed again, and Marcus closed his eyes. It was time for sleep, he decided, twisting the sheets around him one last time. He would meditate until he lost consciousness. He breathed in and out. In and out. In... and out.... In.... And....

Unlike Marcus, Terrel feel into sleep like an exhausted babe. As soon as she hit the bed, she was practically out, her body fading away from his mind as she slipped into unconsciousness. Like always she wrestled with her dreams of course, running after some phantom figure who carried her son. She knew exactly who they were, though she couldn't tell you why, but she could never see their faces. It wasn't the type of dream you woke up from either. It seemed to go on and on and on for the entire night, no matter what she did. Always she was just a few paces behind them, and every time she thought she'd catch up, they twisted away into the shadows leaving her alone. In frustration, Terrel pursued them until the sun broke through the window.

A cuccoo screeched somewhere in the city, and Terrel gasped for breath as she woke up, rubbing at her face in that morning delirium. One of the benefits of sleeping with your nightmares was you didn't ever really feel like rolling over and falling back to sleep, at least. Clambering out of bed, she found the stone basin that held some fresh, cold water and washed her face with the stuff until she felt as close to being refreshed as she could get. Examining herself in the small mirror they put in the room, she was a little startled to see how tired she looked. She felt fine, or fine enough anyway, but by the looks of it things were getting to her physically. When she tried to put on a smile, it fell off crookedly a moment later.

Abandoning the effort, the woman pulled on some clothes that'd suit her for the day and ran a comb through her hair a couple of times. Good enough. Exiting the room, she made her way downstairs, wondering if the place served breakfast or not.

Marcus was sipping a glass of water when Terrel came down the stairs. The pub was nearly empty; the woman in charge didn't open the place for another couple of hours, leaving her paying residents time to eat their breakfasts in peace. He loved the pub in the early hours of the morning for precisely this reason, and he always ate here in the morning. The fact that breakfast was free made its appeal even greater.

He was sitting at a small wooden table, with his pack resting on the chair beside him. His plate of scrambled cuckoo eggs and toast was nearly empty, and he waved her over. She looked awful, but he knew enough about females to not mention her appearance.

"I figured you would be hungry," he said, "so I got went ahead and got you some." He nodded at an identical plate across the table from him. "I hope you like eggs," he said, "they don't serve much else for breakfast." Since it was a free service, it was a bad idea to spend too much money making gourmet dishes when simple scrambled eggs would do just fine. Marcus didn't mind; he liked eggs. Apparently, so did most of the other patrons. They were scattered around the tables, munching quietly on their eggs and toast. It was pretty quiet, and Marcus himself spoke in an under-tone so as not to disturb their meals.

A little to her surprise, Terrel found that Marcus was already waiting for her, drinking a glass of water that she rather hoped was clean. The stuff sounded pretty good to her right about now. As he waved her over, she followed without hesitation, her eyebrows raising a hint in surprise when she realized the kid had gotten her breakfast already. Was it free or...? Looking around at the few other identical breakfasts, she assumed it probably was; if not, his fault. Slumping into the chair across from him, she looked at the meal with interest, that strange soup from last night feeling worlds away.

"Thanks," she said in response to him, her voice sounding more tired than she'd expected it would. Was she really that exhausted? Well, hopefully once they managed to turn all the people back into people, the guard would let her talk to the mage. Then maybe she'd make some progress. Terrel's stomach growled, and she immediately went for the silverware, plunging into the meal without a second's worth of hesitation. The stuff tasted pretty fresh, which was a nice change.

After a mouthful, she paused to talk after swallowing it down, but unlike Marcus she wasn't quite as reverent with her volume, ignoring the over-the-shoulder glances she got from a few people, "D'you sleep all right?"

Marcus shrugged, spearing a large group of eggs with his fork and biting into it. "Alright," he said after swallowing, "took a while, though. I'm not used to sleeping in storms." He spread some eggs out onto a piece of toast and munched into it, ignoring the pieces of egg falling back onto his plate. He washed them down with some water and continued. "Glad to see that the storm's died down."

The city outside the windows was bright and sunny, with only the occasional puddle to show that it had rained at all. "I was thinking," he said, watching Terrel eat, "that we could go see the Guard after this." He finished the egg 'n toast combo and scraped the last of his food together in one final piece. "What do you think?"

As Marcus related his tale of sleep, Terrel mumbled a 'sorry' under her breath between a mouthful of food; she'd not wanted to keep the kid up with her song. She still found it odd to no end that such a thing were even possible, and she was continually tempted to keep humming the tune simply out of fascination. That would not be the responsible thing to do, probably. With continued vigor, the woman plunged into her breakfast, almost done with the whole plate by the time Marcus phrased his question. When he asked, though, it was all the woman could do to try and stop snorting into her dish. She didn't really succeed.

"You make it sound like this thought just occurred to you," she said with a good-natured chuckle, "I know you're probably just as eager as I am to get this done, so don't pretend like you're not." With a bit of a grin, she took another bite of her food, using a finger to pile as much as she could onto the utensil before cramming it into her mouth. One of the benefits of losing everything was you stopped being able to care about the little things like being graceful.

Pushing her empty plate away from her now, Terrel crossed her arms and placed them on the table, leaning toward Marcus a bit, "We'll get our stuff and go right away then, hm?"

Marcus grinned. "Yeah," he confessed, scratching the back of his neck. "I spent a lot of time worrying that someone else would get there first." It felt good to get that out into the open; the anxiety in his chest eased a bit. There was still an awful lot left, though; it twisted his stomach into painful knots and made him a little more high-strung than he would be normally.

"Right," he said, grabbing his bag. "I've got the vials in here," he said, standing up and slinging it over his shoulder. "The food's free," he said, "so don't worry about paying." He waved goodbye to the woman, who nodded briskly back before turning to explain to a beleagured customer why she didn't want him drunk while her other patrons were enjoying a nice, quiet breakfast. "I'm going to miss this place when I leave," he said, looking around at the neat, clean walls and floor of the Cat's Cradle. "I've gotten used to free eggs every morning."

Terrel was torn between keeping the conversation with Marcus going or running upstairs real quick to get her crossbow before she left. Well, she could probably live without that right now, and she already had her rupee purse with her; since Marcus had the vials, the woman supposed they could simply leave right now. With a sigh, she ran a hand through her hair and got to her feet. The breakfast had been good indeed, and she too looked at the walls reluctantly as they were about to leave. Well, at least they'd probably not run into any more storms out there.

Instead of grabbing her stuff, she took the chance to ask Marcus a question. Maybe it wasn't terribly important, but she did regret it at least a little bit. The kid was a little weird sometimes, but she'd enjoyed yesterday despite everything. He certainly excelled in a few areas she was found to be extremely... lacking--namely that whole reading thing.

"Why're you leaving anyway, kid? Going home to your sister and folks?"

Marcus pushed open the door and held it for Terrel. "I hadn't thought about it," he said honestly. Once he had decided to finish his studies here in Healing, he had clamped down on any thoughts about where he would go after that. They had only caused him to tremble with anticipation, and frankly, he didn't need that when he was about to go to sleep. "Maybe." Nor did he need those thoughts intruding now, not when he was already nervous about the upcoming meeting with the guards. He realized that he hadn't told Terrel the truth about his sister yet; was it wrong of him to do so? No, he decided. He had a feeling that Terrel, of all people, would respect a person's need for secrets.

"I just," he bit his lip, not sure what to say. "I want to study Alchemy," he said. "Healing magic's pretty limited, and Alchemy's got so much going on. It's worth a look, I think." He scratched his neck again, holding the door open with his foot. "I don't like dropping something mid-way, so I'll finish studying here before leaving. The Western Caves has some good alchemists; I may go there. Visit some family."

Was it just her, or was Marcus a bit on edge? Maybe it was just wanting to get done with the whole thing; she could understand being disappointed with someone getting there before they did. Either way, though, cynical as it sounded, she wasn't horribly interested in un-stoning all those people. It didn't hurt, of course, but not priority number one. Thoughtfully, she waited for him to finish talking, giving him a nod and a 'thanks' as she walked through the door he held open for her. They'd just worry about things as they came, she supposed. That was something she was being forced to learn every day now.

Into the brisk morning air they went, the sunlight still fresh on the ground as she exited the building. People were already on the move, especially in this part of town, and once again Terrel remembered that she still wasn't very good at walking through crowds. Taking off into it with Marcus, she had to raise her voice a bit to be heard over that dull buzz that groups of people seemed to generate simply by existing together. Thankfully, the whole raising her voice thing wasn't out of her league.

"Well hey, y'know, if you decide to stick around here for a bit longer, it might not be so bad. We make an all right team, yeah? You and your... reading... stuff, and me and my... I don't know," she said, laughing at her own words. She really didn't know, sometimes.

"If you want to spend most of your time in the Library, sure," Marcus said, grinning as he stopped to let a wagon full or rainbarrels pass. "I'm going to be spending most of the day studying until I'm finished. Once I'm done with that-" he stopped midsentence. He was about to say that he would be going to the Western Caves once he was done studying. When had that been decided? A few minutes ago, it was only a vague idea. Now, though, the idea seemed to just fit. It seemed the most logical; no, the most desirable course of action. What was once only a vague idea had now merged with his burning desire to study Alchemy.

"Once I'm done with that," he said, continuing down the road, "I'll try and find a way back to the Western Caves." He looked at his companion. "You wouldn't happen to know a way to get there, would you?" It had only been an accident last time, after all; hopefully, Terrel would know a way that wouldn't require walking.

Terrel frowned a bit at that. She hardly knew anything about Southern Hyrule, much less an easy way to get to the place. Last she'd heard there'd been a lot of water or mountains any which-way you decided to cut the trip. Most people didn't like going down there, so the boats were pretty rare, from what she understood. Only, the odd thing was that despite all that she actually had an idea in mind for how to do the journey. It was a long shot with no guarantees, but that pretty much summed up her entire life. She might as well bring it up.

"There's a bit of a legend about a song," she began, wincing at how absurd it sounded already. Terrel decided to press on anyway. "They say it summons a storm so fierce the winds can carry you across all of Hyrule. It sounds ridiculous, I know, but that's the odd thing about songs. You think you know something about them, and then they surprise you anyway with something stranger." She scrubbed a hand through her hair, grimacing a bit, "I don't know much, but I do know that if what I've heard is true, the Ballad of Gales can take you where you wanna go."

Marcus hummed, tapping his leg to match his pace. "It's definitely worth looking into," he said. "If I've learned anything from the Alchemist, it's that magic can come from interesting places." He didn't doubt her story; if crushed bits of plants could reverse an advanced petrification curse, a few bars of an ancient song should be able to summon furious winds. After all, his experience with stretching the abilities of his Healing spell, Life, had proved that magic had very little limitations. To say that magic 'could not' do something was like saying that the world 'could not' be spinning.

He nodded down the road, through the throng of bustling city-folk. "There it is," he said. "The Guard House." Hylians in armor were streaming steadily through its doors, and the occasional civilian, nervous and hunched amidst this crowd of proud soldiers, flitted in and out the entryway. "Let's go," he said, reflexively reaching for his pack and resting a protecting hand against its flap. "This shouldn't take long."

"Hopefully," Terrel grunted in response, also making for the entrance to the guardhouse. The thing was large enough to house a lot of people, but sometimes Hylians could be particularly needy. That wanted poster for the stone people was still up, so it didn't seem like anyone had beat them to the cure. Odd thing it was, making saving people a competition of sorts. Terrel didn't particularly mind, naturally, but it was still a bit strange.

As they entered the place, she got another quality dose of trying to make it through dense areas of people without aggravating too many of them at a time. Using her shoulders and elbows, the woman pushed through most of them without much grace, looking around as best she could despite being relatively short. Not a lot of women came into this place very often, so she was mostly competing with men or, worse, Gorons. Marcus seemed to be about her height too, so that didn't help much. While she was looking for a sign or something, a deep Goron voice caught her ear.

"Look, all I'm saying is if a few pieces crack off, you will let me know, right? They've been changed to Akilia, I'm certain, which is some of the most delicious stone--"

A sharp response cut the Goron off, "I told you, they're still alive, and I will not let you eat any part of them, even if anything breaks off!" The guard looked like he wanted to bury his head in his hands, and Terrel quickly grabbed Marcus' arm and made for that desk.

As the Goron was about to respond, Terrel managed to catch the guard's eye, saving him from further conversation with the thing. "Excuse me, Gromon, but I think someone actually has something to contribute to the case behind you, so would you mind?" the guard said, and the Goron sighed with disappointment, collecting a little bag he'd left on the table and brushing past Terrel on his way out. The guard let out a heavy sigh, looking at the newcomers and shaking his head, "Are you here about the petrification too? If you wanted to try a decursing spell, don't bother, we've had half a dozen people already fail that so far."

"We're not," Marcus said, stepping forward and placing his pack on the table. He opened it and showed the guard the vials of potion sitting securely in the blanket. "Traditional spell-casting has failed thus far," he said, "but have you tried Alchemy?"

The man groaned and thumped his head on the table. "More witch doctors. Great." He eyed the vials with bloodshot eyes. "Those had better not be mashed frog guts or anything like that. I've had three people already come in-"

"They're not," Marcus said. "This is real Alchemy, the magic of the earth. Please, just let us try."

The guard sighed, and Marcus felt a surge of triumph. "Alright," he said, "might as well." He stood, stretching. It couldn't have been comfortable, sitting there and dealing with aggravating, self-absorbed citizens all day long. It was probably a relief to get away from the hustle and bustle of the office, even if it was to investigate what could possibly turn out to be another dud.

The guard led them through the throng, heading to the far back of the large room. "We keep them all in here," he said. "Didn't want them rusting or getting chipped." He opened the door and hustled them in, closing it sharply behind them. The room was brightly lit, with lamps lining the walls and windows along the back wall letting in indirect light. Scrape marks were etched all across the floor; the room must have been filled with desks before being recycled as a live gallery.

The mage hadn't been very selective in his victims. Marcus saw old men in nightclothes, women in their best market dresses, and- his heart gave a painful twitch when he saw it- a little girl in a long red cape, her eyes frozen forever in a look of terror. That look was the one thing universal to all the victims. The spell must have been slow, steadily freezing their bodies and turning them into unmoving stone. A young man sat huddled on the ground, holding his knees while staring out into space. Next to him, a young woman was in the act of running; her elbows and left knee were all cracked, and she was clumsily supported by a stack of books.

Interestingly, none of their clothes or accessories had been altered. Only their flesh had been turned to stone. This only strengthened Marcus' belief that Alchemy was the right way to counteract the curse; a normal magical spell would have transfigured the entire target- this had only worked on flesh, as would the potion. Marcus took out a vial and kneeled next to the little girl in the long red cape. He uncorked it, swallowed, and dribbled five drops down her mouth.

Into the back they went, and Terrel watched anxiously as Marcus moved to treat one of them. It made the woman grimace, looking at such a wide-array of victims. What on earth did that guy get off on? She would enjoy giving him a mouthful of her mind once this was all over; she needed to talk with him anyway. Marcus approached the same one she probably would've gone for--the girl with the red cape. Sick creature that he was, this man had had no qualm with sentencing a helpless, little girl to death. But she wasn't dead, not while they had a cure. With baited breath, she watched to see if that witch's cure would do what it was supposed to do.

The drops slid down that stone throat, and Terrel wondered what they were going to do about the ones that didn't have their mouths open. It wasn't like they could just pry them open or anything... maybe a drop on the lips would suffice. Closely now, Terrel watched the girl, and slowly she came to life. At first that warm hue of skin seemed to be only from the ample lighting in the room, but slowly she became sure that the concoction was, in fact, working. It started slowly at first, but as the girl came back to life, the process seemed to move quicker and quicker, the heat from her skin seeming to melt the stone that covered it. At least, that was the best way she could describe it.

A scream split the room, and Terrel jumped in spite of herself. Only, it was an odd scream, as if it were only the latter half of it. With an ounce of shock, the woman realized that the girl had come to! That frozen scream in her throat had never finished coming out when she had been petrified, but it had come in a rush once she had come back to life. A little awkwardly, Terrel moved to comfort the girl, but she gave a wave over to Marcus, indicating he should get the rest of them as quick as he could. Best to get this whole process over with as quick as they could.

Marcus wasn't entirely sure what to expect when she awoke, but on reflection, he should have seen this coming. As it was, though, his heart nearly stopped. He stepped forward hesitantly, but Terrel cut across him and waved him to the others.

Watching the sobbing, confused girl look round, Marcus wasn't entirely sure what to say. Anything he would have said, though, was cut off by the guard's exclamation. Marcus turned to see the guard's brown eyes as wide as shields, his ears red as he ran a trembling hand through his thinning gray hair. "Din's Eye," he swore, staring at the caped girl as she sank to the ground. He suddenly stared at the vial still gripped in Marcus' hand. "How..." he seemed to grapple with feelings too unwieldy and chaotic to properly verbalize. After a second of struggling, he swallowed, and said, "do you have enough?"

"I think so," Marcus said, shaking the vial slightly and thinking about its brethren in his pack. "I know where to get more if we need it." He crossed over to the frozen running woman, but stopped before actually dripping the potion into her open mouth. "You may want to get some more people in here," he said to the guard. He nodded over at Terrel, who was comforting the girl in the red cape. "I don't think she can handle everyone in here."