A Challenger

Break it, his instincts cried. Break the pot. There's goodies inside.

Arson doubted his instincts for twelve point three seconds before decidedly drawing his short sword and swinging it at the pot. It broke. There were no goodies.

Break another, his instincts said. Or do some light lawn clipping. Always good for rupees, that.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" a man shouted from down the alleyway, and Odie laughed, grabbing Arson by the hand and dragging him away from the scene of the crime. Arson was laughing, as well. Why he had thought breaking pots would give him rupees, he had no idea, but he was going to try it again on the next pot he saw.

It had twenty rupees. There were no angry crockery owners.

"Score!" Arson cheered, pumping his fist.

Odie hopped in place. "We should do it again!" they suggested.

"Maybe," Arson said, looking at the broken vase and considering how much that would cost to put back together. More than twenty rupees, for sure. "But we can't get caught again. That guy didn't seem to appreciate it."

"Yeah, guess so," Odie said, skipping ahead and then coming to an immediate halt as they heard someone singing, their eyes closing as they swayed in place.

Hey now, hey now, hear what we say now. Happiness is just around the corner.

The lyrics lilted along the alley, drawing them both closer to the source, which seemed to be a bar with its doors wide open, chairs strewn along the front of it. A man sang gently in the corner, fingers expertly playing the lute.

We'll be there for you.

It seemed like a nice song, Arson thought, but the thought got quickly interrupted by Odie pulling on his arm.

"What?" he asked. His friend pointed upward, at the sign, and he had an epiphany. "Ohh! That Spicy Rat."

"I still don't understand why the rat's spicy," Odie grumbled, leaning against Arson. Arson shrugged. Thought. Grinned.

"Let's find out," he suggested.

Odie gave their friend one of their patented are you kidding me looks. "We are not going into a bar. We were told explicitly to stay away from here!"

"By a creepy butcher," Arson protested. "And I'm not inclined to listen to him. Anyway, the music is nice."

"Creepy butcher might have had a point," Odie muttered and followed Arson inside anyway.

It wasn't crowded by any means, though that was likely due to the early hour, and there was a large bulletin board plastered with notices. The kids browsed it for a few moments, then decided that there was nothing interesting to see there.

The singer approached them, a gentle smile on his friendly face.

"What brings you two in here?" he asked.

"To find out why the rat is spicy," Arson answered, shifting his attention to tug at Odie's arm and break the stare-off they had started with a weird-looking guy in the corner.

"We have yet to find the answer to that," the bard said with a laugh. "It's one of those things that just is, I suppose. Anyway, it would keep the birds from eating it."

Arson shrugged, question answered, and tugged on his friend's arm again.

Odie blinked over at him, then tilted their head. "Time to go."

"Yep. Apparently, it just is." He wasn't happy with that explanation, but it seemed to be the only one they were going to get.

"Okay."

"And stop trying to pick fights," Arson chastised on their way out the door.

"Hey, he looked at me funny," Odie protested.

"I get the feeling all his looks are funny," Arson grumbled as he walked.

They followed the path for quite some time, emerging from the other side of town into a field with a farm visible down the road. To the right of the farm were some trees, a forest of sorts.

"Hey, that's Keshi Forest!" Odie cheered. "Let's go, let's go, let's go!"

"Let's no," Arson protested. "We gotta get home in the morning, and I am not getting lost in a haunted forest for my dad to come and find me."

"You suck," Odie grumbled.

Despite Arson's protests, they continued to walk until they found some chairs in the middle of a grassy area. Arson grinned and wandered off, pulling his sword to hack at the grass. Odie, on the other hand, sat down and began to play with the crystal, watching rainbows dance across the other chair. As they moved the crystal, a white spot appeared on the wood.

"Arson! Get over here!" Odie called, focusing that white spot on the corner of the chair, the grin of a troublemaker blooming across their face.

Arson - who had discovered that cutting the grass does, indeed, sometimes net rupees (and more often, bugs) - quickly joined his friend, bending over to watch the white spot on the wood begin to smoke. He cackled and clasped his hands together, kneeling to watch the sun work its magic.

The wood bloomed to fire. The troublemakers cheered.

A sharp voice cut across: "What are you doing to the furniture?"

Two heads turned quickly to the source of the voice: a girl about their age with long blonde hair and sharp blue eyes. She looked none too happy about the situation, nor the fact that the chair was now on fire.

"Put it out," she ordered. "It'll catch the field on fire."

"No it won't," Arson intoned, turning his attention back to the fire as it began to overtake the seat of the chair.

"It will, and then the fields will be in danger," the girl said, stepping closer. "Put it out, now." Her tone implied that she expected to be obeyed immediately. It was a pity that Odie and Arson had absolutely no intention of doing so.

The fire bloomed higher, threatening the back rungs of the chair.

The blonde girl opened her water skin and tossed water on the fire, causing an explosion of smoke and two very disappointed groans.

"What'd you do that for?" Odie challenged, standing up to face the girl front-on.

The blonde was not intimidated. She crossed her arms and lifted her chin. "You were going to burn the fields down if that got out of hand," she stated regally.

"Oh shit," Arson muttered, prodding Odie's side. He had just noticed her belt, the three triangles and wings on it, and knew exactly what that meant. Odie could absolutely not pick a fight with this girl.

"It wouldn't have gotten out of hand. Arson and I burn stuff all the time," Odie said, stepping forward and ignoring his friend's prodding. "And who are you to order us around like that? We don't answer to you!"

The blonde's eyes narrowed and her dainty hands clenched into fists. Arson noticed that she, too, had a sword, and judging by the crest on her belt, she probably knew how to use it.

"Odie, stop," he warned, prodding his friend again.

"I can give you any order I want. It's my job to protect this place," the girl snapped, her tone imperious.

"Bull crap. What do you got to protect it from? Nothing!" they challenged.

"Troublemakers who want to watch the world burn, clearly," the girl stated, her shoulders rolling back and chin tilting up just a bit more. The motion drew her up two inches taller than Odie.

They weren't happy with this and attempted to draw themself taller than the girl. It didn't work.

Arson, sensing disaster, stepped between them with his back to the girl.

"You need to stop, now," he warned, putting his hands on Odie's shoulders.

Even he was taller than Odie, and now that they were in a mood, they would not be stopped. "Get out of my way," they warned, hands clenched.

Arson pushed Odie to the ground.

The girl drew her sword, and Arson turned to meet it with his own, protecting his friend.

The girl huffed. "You dare draw your sword on me?" Though, admittedly, she was impressed by his speed.

"You drew first," Arson said steadily, lowering his. "I'm only protecting my friend."

To the blonde girl's disappointment, this boy didn't seem to want to fight. She tutted and put her sword away in favor of bending to pick up her waterskin.

"You need to be more careful where you're setting fires," she said. "The winds get rough around here, and one ember would have destroyed the entire season's crop." She tucked her hair behind her ear and reached forward with an open hand. "But I think we got off on the wrong foot. I'm Zelda."

Odie gaped at the girl. Zelda…as in… "Princess Zelda?" they asked from their place on the ground. Oh shit.

The girl just smiled.

"Why do you think I was trying to keep you from picking a fight with her? Didn't you see her belt," Arson grouched, turning to his friend to help them off the ground. Over his shoulder, he said "My name is Arson. This is Odie. They're a disaster."

"And Arson's an idiot," Odie supplied with a grin, familiar with this set of insults. "Too much guts for his own good, you know?"

"I am aware of the phenomenon," Zelda said, bowing her head in a greeting.

Odie tossed her a wave and stepped forward, clearly not learning their lesson. "So, why are you all the way up here?" they asked, putting their hands on their hips as they offered yet another challenge.

Arson groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose, but opted to sit down on the soaked and scorched chair instead. "If you get your ass kicked by her, I'm going to laugh at you," he said.

Zelda, on the other hand, laughed and waved a hand. "I'm visiting some family. My mother likes to travel, and I enjoy going with her. And the two of you?"

"Errands," Odie said, rolling their eyes. "Our first mission and it's errands. And Arson won't even check out Keshi Forest with me."

"Again: Not getting lost just so dad has to come find us," Arson defended, leaning forward, his elbows on his knees.

"Isn't it haunted?" Zelda asked, seeming all too excited by the prospect, given her position.

Odie grinned and nodded emphatically. "Terribly haunted. It's said that people who go in don't come out again!"

They clasped hands, snickering.

Arson took one look at the grins on the faces of those two and groaned. "Fine!" he snapped, springing up out of the chair. "I mean, can't say no to the princess, can we?"

Zelda smirked. She had gotten her way, and she knew it.

"But don't call me princess," she said, straightening up and putting her hands on her hips. "Better people don't know."