Operation Jack the genius (Vicis quest/Shade)

too many feelings, too small a heart

So, the albino fish finally got over his arrogance and general insensitiveness. Now with baseless hatred out of the way, perhaps they could figure something out of this. Under her hood, Kaysa nodded as their hands came to touch. Of course, it took the better party to start the peace talk first. Lesser people would not even acknowledge their mistake, let alone apologize for it. Gratefulness? Not a chance.


Kaysa didn’t hold the handshake for long. It was enough for them just to touch; a formality. Perhaps the snobbish Zora who seemed not be able to understand what slavery was would not want his hands to be dirtied anyway. If slaves could break free from their bonds so easily, would not all slaves do that? One who had never tasted anything other than ‘freedom’ would never understand.


But it was his last quip which seemingly shocked the young Zora. Her face seemed to picture a new understanding. ‘So, that was his problem? If only he would just tell that before rather than being childishly mean, things would have been far smoother.’ She needed to get this straight. “So, what should I call you, Mister? Anastasia Morozova? You gave me your full name but did not tell me what to call you. And I don't want to offend you by nicknames.

But honestly, Anastasia Morozova is too long to be said repeatedly.”


OOC Note: You can pull the thread forward, too, Crystal. It doesn't have to be me. You are very welcome to interpret the carvings as you like, for example. Or add more to the scene. A good thread is a collaborative writing!

they all disappear like raindrops

too many feelings, too small a heart

It seemed the Albino was not able speak more on the subject, so Kaysa would have to accept what he said as fact. “ ’Anna - stay – shia,’” she repeated, politely insinuating that she should be corrected if she was wrong, “I had actually hoped for a less mouthful version, but I guess I’ll have to make do…”

She shook her cowled head a little.

“And I guess Anastasia would never say his thanks…” She added, mumbling softly to herself.

She might still sound a little harsh, but even the spiteful Anastasia would know that there was no poison in Kaysa’s words now. She was not being sarcastic at all. In fact, her last sentence sounded almost like a peaceful resignation, as if she had wholeheartedly accepting the fact that perhaps it was the way of Albino Zoras to lack manners. The beggar had sealed her truce, And she would nobly held to the agreement whatever may happened.

She nodded to Anastasia’s suggestion, “I have no bloody idea. But, yeah, let’s see it.”

She led Anastasia to the pair of Hylian statues behind the first two and this time, she stayed still like a good torchbearer should do as Anastasia did his work. And a curiousity-filled soul the beggar seemed to be. As Anastasia tried to understand the inscription she sheepishly tried to look over his shoulder, trying to understand maybe a little bit of what he was doing. Should Anastasia wished to move to the other Hylian statue, she would obediently follow too.

“So, how is it, Anastasia? You know something we don’t?” she asked at the end, “If it’s nothing there… well we can always move forward.”

She moved her torch to shine on the path continuing ahead. The same sand-colored walls and the same gripping darkness were all they could see a few meters ahead. If the statues contained warning or clues of what lie further, it would be most beneficial. They still had a long way to go.

they all disappear like raindrops

too many feelings, too small a heart

"Firstly.... who is we? And secondly, among my time in these ruins, I have noticed a complete lacking of any sort of torch that would still be considered flammable.... so if I may.... how did you get that torch if you too, do not know where we are at this exact moment?"

Kaysa’s eyes widened, “We? As in: me and you, of course. Why?” she replied curiously, understandably surprised by the albino’s yet another tantrum. She could be forgiven that her face showed she was wondering whether she had somehow said another “just stop calling me this” and unintentionally angered the other Zora again. Apparently, albino Zoras are very sensitive and have painfully delicate feelings.

“And haven’t I told you before? (*) This torch was hanging nearby when I woke up tied. So, yeah, I did the smart thing and used it to free myself.” She waved the torch in a sure hint of gratitude, “Which was my greatest luck, I am sure. I doubt you’d help me like I did were you the one who found me tied. No offense, Anastasia.” She added, keeping her tone as non-confrontational as possible. She had been kind enough to apologize to this unnecessarily mean Zora, and she intended to keep it as long as possible. By nature, Kaysa hated confrontation.

Still, the young Zora looked confused, and it was rightly so. Even now her brain was still obviously thinking about the strange questions the albino asked. For example, what is the possible connection between finding a torch and not knowing where she was at this exact moment? If she did not know where she was... then she should not be able to find a torch? It was the same as saying if she did not know in which sea she was in she should not be able to stumble on a pearl.... Which any and all Zora could attest it not to be true....

Nonetheless, she seemed to decide it would be better not to address this question and assumed that Ana was asking on where she had found the torch. She hoped it was just a little slip of irrationality on the albino’s part.

However, the next instant Kaysa’s expression changed as the full implication of what the Zora said seemed to dawn on her. The torch, which she held victoriously before, now she held a little further from her, as if afraid what the torch might do.

“But now that you mention it...” she slowly mulled, “I did see no other torch here. I had assumed there would be more as I walked, but...”

She turned her head towards the albino. Her purple eyes, for the first time, looked genuinely afraid.

“You-you don’t think... this torch is a trap or something, do you, Anastasia?” she pleaded, for once truly asking for the albino’s opinion.

Kaysa, also, did not know of what lie ahead. A beggar and slave, alone in an unknown cave.

they all disappear like raindrops

too many feelings, too small a heart

Kaysa’s expression showed that she did not really care what Anastasia thought. Lowborn people like her were no stranger to suspicion; to narrow-minded people who automatically mark her as untrustworthy just because of her social standing. It is in the nature of every being to disregard those below them. And apparently, this so-called outcast was no different.

Funny to see how someone could do the very thing they despised others for doing.

Still, Kaysa did show some worry at the words ‘Definitely some sort of trap.’ Her eye-flaps furrowed, making the sharp ‘slave’ marks on her face more pronounced. She looked like she did not really hear the next words said by the Zora, as her mind seemed to be pre-occupied in deciding what to do with the torch. She held it somewhat further from her now, not holding it as confidently as before, while she looked like seriously thinking to throw it away.

But in the end, she decided to take the risk. She gritted her teeth in resolution. In this situation, it would be better to have a source of light rather than not. Traps be damned. The albino showed clear signs he would leave her for dead if he must, which means- perhaps it was in his intention to sow seeds of doubts in her? Hoping she would give up the only burning torch in this whole area? (*) Yes, that must be it. Sorry, then, mister. Kaysa’s keeping it.

She gripped the torch tighter as she began to walk along, but then the albino scholar ordered something interesting. She turned on her heels, her body angling a little to her left. Near the male Hylian statue her torch illuminated some intricate metal rings that might have been a torch stand-

Wait.

Torch stands? So this is what the scholar meant by ‘the cave stopped being a cave in that section’.Not that Shade did not know, of course. But they did not.

She was about to comment on this but then stopped mid-way, her lips only parted slightly. It would be better not to talk to much to this albino lest he got offended again somehow. So, she obediently went to those metal rings and started examining them closely.

“No writings here, although that dust might be patterned to something.” She smiled sourly at her own joke. “And no marks, either? Except pokes in the wall? What kind of parallel scraping marks anyway?”

She lightly moved along to the metal rings on her left, directly behind the male Zora statue.

“This one doesn’t have a thing either.” She said after examining it closely. Her free hand moved to scrape the metal rings. “Betcha not- hey!”

A snap was heard. Somehow, the supposedly solid metal rings shattered as Kaysa’s finger touched it. Their pieces clanged as they hit the ground, the unmistakable sound of heavy iron. They were, indeed, made from iron.

So how could they shatter so easily?

Kaysa, who had immediately took a step back, looked worried.

“What was that?” she gasped, as the sound of the rings clashing echoed in the tunnel. She now bent her back forward and brought the wall area into the light with her torch. What was left there?

(*)The whole area, down to hidden paths, had been combed by Shade's men.

they all disappear like raindrops

too many feelings, too small a heart

“Whoa!” the young Zora exclaimed, as the wall began to unravel in front of them. She took a step back, her eyes opened wide with a hint of worry. But her posture showed a little enthusiasm too. The beggar was clearly afraid of this unknown structure she found herself in, but her young age failed to prevent her eagerness. It seemed like it was not every day she had an adventure. Freedom was something expensive for her.

She noticed the albino Zora made moves as if he wanted to go inside. “You are going inside, Anastasia?” she inquired, “But this path…” she moved her torch to the original path they were following, which continued beyond the four statues “We can still continue, you know. Seems better than entering a hole in the wall.”

But she felt the albino’s intention and shrugged. “Well, you are the scholar, I suppose.”

She moved closer to the newly opened hole and peeked inside. The air was unbearably stale. She moved her torch very carefully, cautious in case something came out and bit her arm off, to reveal a large room inside. The width was at least ten times larger than the tunnel they were in, but seemed to be completely empty. There wasn’t even a single torch stand as far as Kaysa could see, although she could not be sure about the murky edges out of her torchlight range. Directly in front of them, far across the room, was something that resembled a door frame gilded in gold. That, or it could be just a painting on the otherwise barren wall.

The young Zora pulled her body out. “After you, Anastasia.”

Something else was also noticeable in the new room. Whereas the tunnel they were in had natural rocks and sands as floor, the floor of this room was certainly artificial. Smooth, square-shaped granite blocks were laid neatly as tile, dividing the floor into well-ordered grid. Each block was large, about three steps across so Kaysa guessed there were no more a hundred such squares that made up the floor. All were grey and featureless, except the tile right under them. Etched on it was an arrow pointing at the direction of the opening in the wall where they came from. Under it was two lines, written in ancient Hylian and Zora.

they all disappear like raindrops

too many feelings, too small a heart

The young Zora obediently followed the abino as he entered. It seemed like his earlier statement as “a scholar like me” had some impact on the girl’s attitude. She had suspected that the albino was some sort of academia, although until now he had not done anything remotely smart. Still, she seemed to come to a conclusion that having a learned person would be something useful, no matter how jerkass the scholar turned out to be.

And she raised her eye lids as the supposed scholar casually strolled inside. Kaysa might be a simple beggar, but even she could feel this room was somewhat unsafe. Besides a completely artificial room, it was unwise too to ignore the lines. And an arrow pointing at the tunnel? What would it mean?

“Hey, careful…”, she began, warily waving her torch around as she walked, “I don’t know why but I feel-“

*click*

Thankfully, the young Zora could react far quicker than the scholar could ever hope to be. Years living on the edge of danger and poverty seemed to have trained the beggar’s reflexes to a degree a freedom-blessed hunter could never understand. She immediately dropped down and in fact it was her who managed to drag the albino zora down by the wrist.

Objects, sharp objects were being shoot from the four walls, dense enough to riddle anyone standing with lethal holes. And it was perfectly aligned with holes on the opposite side of the wall so that the darts slid in neatly into the holes back to the walls for, Kaysa assumed, be used again. No matter how many times this trap was sprung there would be no end to their deadliness.

The albino stayed pressed, face down, but sharp-eyed Kaysa realized something else. She noticed, with horror on her face, that the barrage did not stay on the same height. It slowly receded as new, lower-positioned holes began shooting their deadly ammunition.

The scholar would feel a desperate tugging on his heels with the face of fearful Kaysa swimming in the torch light. She whispered some incomprehensible words in her panic, but the way she repeatedly pointing at the darts flying above them and then back to the hole in the wall where they came from should make her message clear. She did not wait for the albino’s response. She somehow made a turn, still pressed down, and made a run towards the entrance, her body bent so low her knees touched her chest. She managed to reach the tunnel again and hid behind one of the statues. A few darts followed through the hole and struck the unfortunate statue. One of them lodged on Kaysa’s torch.

That trap… that trap was an ingenious evil trap! Knowing the propensity of people to duck avoiding flying projectiles, it deliberately positioned its darts to shoot a little higher, lulling the unsuspecting victim into thinking it could stay safe being pressed on the ground. By the time the victim realized there were lower-positioned holes which started to shoot at them, it would be too late.

Thinking back, this mysterious cave/tunnel was clearly made for Zoras and Hylians, with the statues and the ancient writings and all that. A trap which failed to account for smallness of Zora physique so that they could easily avoid danger just by ducking down would be quite a poor trap design, wouldn’t it?

Anyone who had stayed in the room would be dead. Cautiously, Kaysa peeked over the statue she was hiding behind. The tunnel was dark as before, and the newly opened section in the wall looked like a gaping maw of some beast of darkness. Did the scholar made it out alive?

they all disappear like raindrops

too many feelings, too small a heart

Kaysa didn’t seem relieved nor annoyed that the scholar made it out alive behind her. It seemed she had lost any feelings for him since quite some time. Now, it was a matter of convenience. The beggar did want to be alone in this unknown cave until she understood why she was brought here. And that’s that.

She stepped out from behind the statue and noticed something stuck on her torch. She pulled it up. It was a sharpened wooden dart, about 20 cm long, long enough to seriously hurt if thrown at the right speed at the right place. Kaysa shuddered thinking of what would happen if it had pierced her hand instead of her torch.

The strange scholar quickly returned back to the room, but this time Kaysa stood far behind, just leaning slightly to give enough light for him to see what was to be seen. If he would try to kill them once more like when he carelessly waltzed into the room Kaysa would have no part in it, thank you very much. There was certainly some clues, she guessed. Perhaps in one of those illegible writings. But without proper communication how could she be able to help?

And yet the albino scholar spouted another nonsense. Kaysa tilted her head in confusion.

“Another passage way down the hall? I said? What the h*** are you talking about, Anastasia?”


She shook her head. “I’ve never said anything like it. Or have I? Look! Here’s my dialogue script up until now."

“Is someone there?Hello?”

“Yes this is when I met you. Next.”

“I was on the street one night, begging. And…and the next thing I knew I was tied in this cave. Thankfully this burning torch was nearby.”

“I… guess you are as clueless as I am…. Maybe we’d…or not –um, I mean….”

“Alright, you can come along…. But…I warn you. Don’t try anything funny. I-I know how to protect myself and I’ll leave with my torch should anything happen… Get it?”

“And I still mean it. Next.”

“I came from this path. It was a dead end so I know we shouldn’t go there. I was hoping that when I heard your voice it was an exit route. But it wasn’t. So I guess the only path we can take is this way.”

“I don’t need yours either, Mister. Honestly, I’ve had enough negativity thrown at me to last a lifetime thank you very much. Not to mention waking up in this dam*ed cave not knowing what happened!”

“Okay we don’t want to hear me ranting again. It was embarrassing. Skip, please.”

“We? As in: me and you, of course. Why?”

“And haven’t I told you before? (*) This torch was hanging nearby when I woke up tied. So, yeah, I did the smart thing and used it to free myself. Which was my greatest luck, I am sure.”

“And bla bla about torch. Next.”

“You are going inside, Anastasia? But this path… We can still continue, you know. Seems better than entering a hole in the wall.”

“Well, you are the scholar, I suppose.”

“Hey, careful… I don’t know why but I feel-“

“And we are back here.” She waved her hand dismissively. “I honestly see no mention of another passage down the hall, Anastasia. Much less saying I can lead to it. ”

And yet the albino scholar spouted another nonsense. Kaysa tilted her head in confusion.

“Another passage way down the hall? I said? What the h*** are you talking about, Anastasia?”

She stood there, confused, and from the look in her eyes perhaps even questioning the scholar’s sanity. Maybe he had hit his head? Could it be that the darts were coated in some hallucinogenic poison and he was caught in it? Has…has he started hearing voices?

And the beggar seemed to be a little shocked that the scholar regarded this just as a trip. Or perhaps it was his way to cope? For Kaysa, being kidnapped and waking up in the middle of nowhere would never constitute a “trip”. Unless it was the one-way trip to netherworld, which she seemed not to keen on taking yet.

they all disappear like raindrops